Deck 1: The Neolithic Revolution and the Birth of Civilization

Question 1

Which of the following is the most advanced stage of human evolution?

A) Homo Erectus
B) Homo Africanus
C) Homo Habilis
D) Homo sapiens

Answer 1

Homo sapiens

Question 2

The creation of agricultural surpluses resulted in

A) social stratification.
B) an industrial revolution.
C) matrilocal patterns of marriage.
D) a lack of social stratification.

Answer 2

social stratification.

Question 3

The rise of farming took place in the

A) Paleolithic Era.
B) Bronze Age.
C) Neolithic Era.
D) Iron Age.

Answer 3

Neolithic Era.

Question 4

The Neolithic or New Stone Age lasted from

A) 3000 to 500 B.C.E.
B) 8000 to 3500 B.C.E.
C) 12,000 to 8000 B.C.E.
D) 4000 to 3000 B.C.E.

Question 5

The agricultural revolution allowed which of the following transformations in human culture to take place?

A) Spread of regularly cultivated fields
B) Domestication of animals
C) Development of towns
D) All of the above

Question 6

The Paleolithic or Old Stone Age had ended by

A) 5000 B.C.E.
B) 8000 B.C.E.
C) 3000 B.C.E.
D) 15000 B.C.E.

Question 7

Which of the following attributes was NOT an advantage held by Homo sapiens?

A) Opposable thumbs
B) A larger brain
C) Superior speed and body strength
D) Erect posture which freed hands

Question 8

What was one of the technological advances of the Paleolithic peoples?

A) Stone tools
B) Caves
C) Monumental architectural structures
D) Bronze tools

Question 9

Given the location and subject matter of Paleolithic cave paintings, it is likely that the early art served

A) to relieve the otherwise drab interiors of caves.
B) as maps to locate game herds.
C) religious or ritual purposes.
D) to indicate the limited level of thinking of Paleolithic men and women.

Question 10

The continent on which humans originated was

A) Asia.
B) Africa.
C) Europe.
D) Australia.

Question 11

By the late Paleolithic Age, humans had colonized

A) all of the continents of the Eastern Hemisphere.
B) Africa, Europe, and Asia.
C) all of the continents except Australia.
D) all of the continents except Antarctica.

Question 12

Most human societies in the Paleolithic Age consisted of

A) urbanized civilizations.
B) small groups of hunters and gatherers.
C) sedentary agricultural groups.
D) cave-dwelling bands.

Question 13

Hunting and gathering bands normally consisted of groups of men and women numbering

A) between 20 and 30.
B) between 30 and 50.
C) between 50 and 100.
D) between 100 and 500.

Question 14

In hunting and gathering bands, labor

A) was shared equally by all members of the group.
B) fell entirely to dominant males within the group.
C) was divided according to gender.
D) fell entirely to females within the group.

Question 15

Which of the following was NOT a likely contribution by females to hunting and gathering bands?

A) Application of Medicinal Plants
B) Giving birth to maintain the size of the band
C) Hunting game
D) Gathering of food for basic subsistence

Question 16

Two of the areas where humans devised more intensive hunting and gathering patterns that permitted establishment of permanent settlements were

A) the chichimec culture of Mexico and the pastoral settlement of Catal Huyuk.
B) central Russia and the Natufian complex of the Jordan river valley.
C) the Natufian complex of the Jordan river valley and the Peruvian complex of Mesoamerica.
D) central Russia and the Peruvian complex of Mesoamerica.

Question 17

The probable cause of the decline of the Natufian complex after 9000 B.C.E. was

A) a climatic change that caused the region to become more arid.
B) an invasion by ?barbarians.?
C) a natural disaster, possibly an earthquake.
D) an unknown epidemic disease.

Question 18

The term for young men going to live with their wives? families is

A) matrilineal.
B) matrilocal.
C) patrilineal.
D) patrilocal.

Question 19

The term for family descent and inheritance traced through the female line is

A) matrilineal.
B) matrilocal.
C) patrilineal.
D) patrilocal.

Question 20

Lifestyles of intensive hunting and gathering groups living in permanent locations remained precarious because

A) they failed to develop better shelters or more secure supplies of food.
B) they failed to increase the size of the hunting and gathering bands.
C) they remained vulnerable to attacks from nomadic groups.
D) they were dependent on particular animals and plants that could disappear if changes in the climate occurred.

Question 21

All of the following factors may have led to the adoption of sedentary agriculture EXCEPT

A) less labor was required for sedentary agriculture than for hunting and gathering.
B) climatic changes leading to changes in the grazing locations of game animals.
C) climatic changes leading to changes in plant ecology.
D) an increase in human population.

Question 22

The transition to sedentary agriculture is referred to as

A) the Paleolithic revolution.
B) the Bronze Age revolution.
C) the Mesolithic revolution.
D) the Neolithic revolution.

Question 23

The first grains domesticated in the Middle East were

A) wheat and rice.
B) wheat and oats.
C) millet and rice.
D) wheat and barley.

Question 24

Which of the following were the most difficult animals to domesticate?

A) Horned Cattle
B) Pigs
C) Dogs
D) Sheep and Goats

Question 25

Which of the following was NOT an advantage gained from the domestication of animals?

A) Expanded choice of materials for clothing
B) Materials for boats
C) Additional sources of protein
D) Animal power for farming

Question 26

Pastoralism has NOT thrived in which of the following areas?

A) The savanna zone of east and south Africa
B) Australia
C) Central Asia
D) The Sudanic belt south of the Sahara desert

Question 27

The greatest challenge to sedentary agriculture was a form of social organization based on intensive herding known as

A) hunting and gathering.
B) pastoralism.
C) civilization.
D) bands.

Question 28

Which of the following regions did NOT originate an agricultural system?

A) Egypt
B) Australia
C) The Huanghe valley of China
D) The Middle East

Question 29

Agricultural systems in the Middle East, China, and the Americas were all

A) based on the same grains -- wheat and barley.
B) based on a combination of domesticated plants and animals.
C) based on different domesticated plants in each region.
D) dependent on pastoral forms of social organization.

Question 30

The transformations associated with the agrarian revolution occurred

A) only in the Middle East, the area where agriculture was first initiated.
B) only in Africa, the area where humans first developed.
C) only in the Eastern Hemisphere.
D) in all of the world where civilizations emerged.

Question 31

The Neolithic revolution caused the population of humans to

A) decline as fewer people were needed to produce more food.
B) stay the same as few people became sedentary.
C) abandon hunting and gathering as a means of subsistence.
D) increase from 8 million to 60 or 70 million.

Question 32

Which of the following technological innovations was associated with the transition to sedentary agricultural communities?

A) Gigging sticks, axes, and plows
B) Fire
C) Wheeled vehicles
D) Steel

Question 33

In sedentary agricultural communities, social distinctions were heightened,

A) and organization into distinct classes occurred.
B) but well-defined social stratification and class identity was non-existent.
C) but there was little division of labor and occupational specificity.
D) but no political elites emerged.

Question 34

In comparison to the position of women in hunting and gathering societies, the social status of women in sedentary agricultural communities

A) improved.
B) stayed about the same.
C) allowed them to monopolize the religious and political elites.
D) declined.

Question 35

To the Chinese, a ?barbarian? was anyone who

A) was racially different.
B) did not speak Chinese or adopt Chinese ways.
C) did not farm.
D) was not a member of the political and religious elite.

Question 36

The concept of ?barbarians?

A) was strictly a Chinese idea.
B) was only developed in nineteenth-century European culture.
C) was commonly used to distinguish between cosmopolitan, urban -focused cultures and nomadic peoples.
D) was dropped in modern cultures.

Question 37

People referred to as barbarians were often

A) members of urbanized cultures.
B) members of hunter-gatherer bands.
C) sedentary agriculturalists.
D) pastoral herdsmen.

Question 38

The concept of civilization based on racial characteristics was

A) common among the Chinese.
B) developed by thinkers in western Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
C) adopted by the Romans and the Greeks.
D) never taken seriously.

Question 39

Racial concepts of civilization were utilized to justify

A) nineteenth-century imperialism.
B) the establishment of the Shang dynasty in China.
C) the Roman empire.
D) the enslavement of conquered peoples in the ancient world.

Question 40

Combinations of the ideas, objects, and patterns of behavior that result from human social interaction are referred to as

A) culture.
B) society.
C) civilization.
D) social stratification.

Question 41

By about 7000 B.C.E., techniques of agricultural production in the Middle East had reached a level that

A) permitted the establishment of the first towns.
B) permitted the establishment of huge cities.
C) forced a return to hunting and gathering.
D) allowed most people to engage in other occupations.

Question 42

In densely populated Middle Eastern agricultural settlements, occupational specialization and political-military elites

A) advanced significantly.
B) failed to develop.
C) were retarded by the general failure of organized religion.
D) remained at the level of hunting and gathering societies.

Question 43

Which of the following developments was NOT a key ingredient of early Middle Eastern civilization?

A) The existence of specialized non-farming producers
B) The existence of non-farming political and religious elites
C) Crafts such as pottery and metalworking
D) Heavy reliance on pastoralism

Question 44

Jericho, one of the early town centers, was located

A) in Egypt.
B) in Asia Minor.
C) in the Jordan river valley.
D) in the Huanghe river valley.

Question 45

The economy of Jericho was based primarily on

A) hunting and trade.
B) pastoralism.
C) the manufacture of flint tools.
D) cultivation of barley and wheat.

Question 46

Catal Huyuk, one of the early agricultural communities, was located

A) in Egypt.
B) in southern Turkey.
C) in the Jordan river valley.
D) in the Huanghe river valley.

Question 47

In comparison to Jericho, Catal Huyuk had a population

A) that was larger and more diversified.
B) one-half to one-third as large.
C) that was about the same.
D) nearly 10 times as large.

Question 48

The many religious shrines at Catal Huyuk indicate the existence of

A) human sacrifice on a massive scale.
B) the rejection of female fertility cults.
C) a powerful priesthood.
D) poverty among the citizens of the town.

Question 49

Which of the following was NOT a transformation associated with the fourth millennium B.C.E. (4000 to 3000 B.C.E.)?

A) Increased use of the plow
B) The harnessing of animal power on all continents
C) Use of bronze for weapons
D) The development of writing

Question 50

What was the ?heart? of the Neolithic Revolution that became the basis for the spread of human societies?

A) Innovative technologies and modes of agrarian production
B) Religion
C) Hunting
D) Architecture

Question 51

What were the most significant human achievements before the Neolithic period?

Question 52

Compare the Paleolithic Age (the Old Stone Age) and the Neolithic Age (the New Stone Age) in terms of means of subsistence and social organization.

Question 53

Compare the status of women in the Paleolithic Age with that of women in the sedentary agricultural communities of the Neolithic era.

Question 54

Define ʺcivilization.ʺ How has the concept of civilization changed over the ages?

Question 55

How did the existence of sedentary agricultural towns such as Jericho and Catal Huyuk contribute to the development of civilization?