Deck 13: Our Last 10,000 Years: Agriculture, Population, and Biology

Question 1

The human population increase of the Holocene was probably due to:

A)a decrease in disease as a result of sedentism.
B)more effective medical practices.
C)decreased birth spacing.
D)a dramatic increase in nutritional quality as a result of agriculture.

Answer 1

decreased birth spacing.

Question 2

Comparisons of the bones from hunter-gatherers' to later agriculturalists' to modern peoples':

A)show a remarkable decline in size.
B)show an increase in size.
C)show variation in size to a high degree.
D)demonstrate biological change over time.

Answer 2

show a remarkable decline in size.

Question 3

The adoption of agriculture resulted in the development and spread of:

A)weight gain.
B)infectious disease.
C)an increase in health generally.
D)both a and c

Answer 3

infectious disease.

Question 4

Dental caries in the New World increased at the same time that populations were producing:

A)nuts.
B)corn.
C)seeds.
D)animal protein.

Question 5

One of the most important adaptive transitions in hominin evolution is:

A)the shift from foraging to farming.
B)having color depth perception.
C)a larger brain.
D)a change in the arm-to-leg ratio.

Question 6

As towns and cities began to compete for increasingly limited resources:

A)organized warfare developed.
B)cooperation among neighbors developed.
C)agriculture increased as well.
D)violence decreased.

Question 7

Domestication produced more food per unit area of land than had hunting and gathering, meaning:

A)more people were needed to produce more food.
B)more people could be fed from the same amount of land.
C)more storage was necessary for the extra food provided by domestication.
D)fewer people were available for labor.

Question 8

Some cases of anemia, which cause red blood cell production to increase in response to iron deficiency or blood loss, may lead to:

A)cribra orbitalia in eye orbits.
B)expansion and porosity of long bones.
C)a parasitic infection.
D)a genetic disease.

Question 9

In the American Midwest, native seed crops goosefoot, sumpweed, and sunflowers were farmed about:

A)11,500 yBP.
B)8,000 yBP.
C)6,000-1,000 yBP.
D)10,500 yBP.

Question 10

New World domesticated products include:

A)wheat.
B)rice.
C)cotton.
D)pigs.

Question 11

Based on the archaeological record from various areas, the initial effect of agriculture on height was that height:

A)decreased.
B)increased.
C)became more variable within the population.
D)stayed the same.

Question 12

The archaeological record suggests that farming began in southeastern Turkey by:

A)6,000 yBP.
B)4,000 yBP.
C)1,500 yBP.
D)10,500 yBP.

Question 13

Two-thirds of calorie intake comes from the key cereal grains domesticated in the earlier Holocene, especially:

A)barley, sorghum, and wheat.
B)wheat, barley, corn, and rice.
C)oats, wheat, and rice.
D)corn, rice, and beans.

Question 14

The dog was the first animal to be domesticated by:

A)15,000 years ago.
B)the beginning of the Middle Paleolithic.
C)the Lower Paleolithic.
D)the beginning of the Cenozoic.

Question 15

The Neolithic demographic transition resulted in:

A)a decrease in birthrate.
B)earlier weaning.
C)a slow increase in the world's population.
D)a shift from low birthrate to high birthrate.

Question 16

The frequent occurrence of agriculture around the world was accompanied by two phenomena:

A)an increase in population size and food shortages.
B)a change in climate and consequent change in environment.
C)the distribution of land wealth and trade of produce.
D)a decline in nutritional quality and increase in infectious disease.

Question 17

Extreme anemia can lead to:

A)cancer.
B)porotic hyperostosis.
C)heart disease.
D)measles.

Question 18

Tooth size and jaw size have reduced in the last:

A)17,000 yBP.
B)10,000 yBP.
C)6,000 yBP.
D)3,000 yBP.

Question 19

Cavities in the teeth are also called:

A)hypoplasias.
B)enamel defects.
C)dentin foramina.
D)dental caries.

Question 20

The masticatory-functional hypothesis states that:

A)over time there was a clear reduction in the size of the face and jaws.
B)tooth and jaw size have decreased over time.
C)change in skull form represents a response to decreased demands on the chewing muscles.
D)tooth and jaw size increased over time.

Question 21

The last 10,000 years is called the:

A)Cenozoic.
B)Quaternary.
C)Solutren.
D)Holocene.

Question 22

Agriculture resulted in:

A)higher-quality nutrition.
B)a stable, healthy food source.
C)population sedentism and crowding.
D)a shift in social dynamics, resulting in larger families.

Question 23

Parasitic infections are a primary cause of _______ in many regions of the globe.

A)iron-deficiency anemia
B)Staphylococcus aureus
C)treponematoses
D)endemic disease

Question 24

Hunter-gatherers' skeletons tend to show:

A)less osteoarthritis.
B)higher levels of activity.
C)lower workload/activity.
D)bones with lower density.

Question 25

Bone comparisons between hunter-gatherers and later agriculturalists, then modern peoples show:

A)an increase in size.
B)greater robusticity of the long arm bones only.
C)a decline in size.
D)a stasis in bone density.

Question 26

What form of subsistence pattern is found in the Neolithic period? Name three geographic regions where Neolithic lifeways appeared independently.

Question 27

Common types of plants exist mostly in areas of the world with temperate climates and they include a range of crops and their wild ancestors such as:

A)rye and rice.
B)sorghum and millet.
C)wheat and barley.
D)both a.and c.

Question 28

A round cross section of a long bone suggests that the bone will:

A)have greater strength through one of its axes.
B)have less strength through its y-axis.
C)have equal strength in all directions.
D)break given a small amount of tension.

Question 29

During your lab you are asked to identify the pathological feature of spongy bone invading the eye socket that occurs in the interior upper surface of the eye sockets; you diagnose the condition as:

A)porotic hyperostosis, resulting from iron-deficiency anemia.
B)periosteal reaction, resulting from changes in diet.
C)ameloblasts, resulting from changes in diet and parasitic infection.
D)cribra orbitalia, resulting from iron-deficiency anemia or parasitic infection.

Question 30

Modern diseases made possible by overcrowding include, but are not limited to:

A)measles, mumps, and cholera.
B)smallpox and influenza.
C)chicken pox.
D)both a.and b.

Question 31

What effect did the advent of agriculture have on the level of interpersonal violence seen in the archaeological record?

A)Violence increased.
B)Violence decreased.
C)Violence stayed about the same.
D)Intercultural violence increased.

Question 32

Agricultural foods eventually shifted nutrition from a generalized diet to one focused on:

A)carbohydrates.
B)high levels of fat.
C)poorer-quality protein.
D)both a.and c.

Question 33

_______ iron is found in some foods that provide all the amino acids humans require in their diet.

A)Heme
B)Nonheme
C)Flat
D)Raw

Question 34

A(n) _______ is a scientist who studies plant remains in the archaeological record.

A)paleontologist
B)paleoethnobotanist
C)ethnologist
D)zooarchaeologist

Question 35

The Neolithic site Çatalhöyük is located in:

A)southwest Asia.
B)southern Africa.
C)central Mexico.
D)India.

Question 36

A symptom of anemia where spongy bone invades the eye sockets is called:

A)hyperostosis.
B)trabeculitis.
C)orbital arthritis.
D)cribra orbitalia.

Question 37

An oval cross section of an adult femur suggests that the individual:

A)was likely very physically active.
B)was lethargic and largely sedentary.
C)had a nutritional deficiency as a child.
D)You cannot discern anything from the shape of a bone.

Question 38

By the close of the Pleistocene the human population numbered:

A)several thousand.
B)7 billion.
C)several million.
D)1 billion.

Question 39

The domestication of wheat and barley spread to Greece by:

A)1,000 yBP.
B)7,000 yBP.
C)15,000 yBP.
D)8,000 yBP.

Question 40

The core of the adaptive success characterized by population explosion was the result of:

A)a decreased food supply.
B)an increased food supply.
C)agriculture.
D)a sedentary lifestyle.

Question 41

What two models discuss how innovations spread? By what mechanism did wheat spread from the Levant into Europe?

Question 42

Domestication of plants and animals led to stable food supplies during the Holocene; however, it also resulted in significant environmental and health problems.Discuss these problems in terms of natural selection.

Question 43

Discuss the evidence from the skeletons and teeth of early agriculturalists.Then describe the negative consequences of a shift from food foraging to the domestication of food in terms of pathologic evidence.

Question 44

Discuss how morphologic changes to modern humans' faces, mandibles, and teeth changed after the shift to agriculture and consumption of softer foods.

Question 45

Discuss how the process of globalization affects human biocultural variation today.