Deck 13: Understanding Key Transitions In World Prehistory

Question 1

In anthropological terms, a civilization refers to:

A) a complex urban society with a high level of cultural achievement in the art and sciences, craft specialization, a surplus of food and/or labor, and a hierarchically stratified social organization.
B) a wide range of social formations that lie between egalitarian foragers and ranked societies that are normally horticultural and sedentary with a higher level of competition than seen among nomadic hunter-gatherers.
C) any society that has the power to coerce, that includes military and fiscal specialists, and that is controlled by elites.
D) any stratified society that practices full-time agriculture.

Answer 1

a complex urban society with a high level of cultural achievement in the art and sciences, craft specialization, a surplus of food and/or labor, and a hierarchically stratified social organization.

Question 2

A(n) perspective demonstrates that the first plants to be domesticated and eventually turned into today's agricultural staples began as wild plants with low return rates, plants that were used when other, better resources were depleted.

A) optimal foraging
B) historical particularist
C) post-processual
D) unilineal evolutionary

Answer 2

optimal foraging

Question 3

Plant and animal domestication occurred independently in several centers across the globe. Which of the following is not a major independent hearth of plant domestication?

A) The Americas (North, Central, and South America)
B) Australia
C) Central Africa
D) Southeastern Asia

Answer 3

Australia

Question 4

The theory proposed by Robert Braidwood, arguing that agriculture arose in areas where the wild ancestors of domesticated wheat and barley grew, and resulted from human efforts to increase the productivity and stability of their food base, is the:

A) hilly flanks theory.
B) density-equilibrium theory.
C) oasis theory.
D) optimal foraging theory.

Question 5

The process through which some individuals survive and reproduce at higher rates than others because of their genetic heritage is known as:

A) natural selection.
B) Social Darwinism.
C) unilineal cultural evolution.
D) biological evolution.

Question 6

Nineteenth century social Darwinism provided justification for:

A) helping primitive peoples escape a fate of extinction.
B) boasian ideas of historical particularism and cultural relativism.
C) a rejection of ethnocentrism.
D) unfettered economic competition and warfare.

Question 7

Egalitarian societies are associated with , while chiefdoms and states are associated with .

A) foraging and horticulture/intensive agriculture
B) foraging/horticulture
C) pastoralism/intensive agriculture
D) horticulture/pastoralism

Question 8

In the 19th century's most influential archaeology textbook, Pre-historic Times, as Illustrated by Ancient Remains, and the Manners and Customs of Modern Savages (1865), John Lubbock argued that:

A) because the world's food supply is inherently inadequate, infants in primitive societies must struggle to survive; those who do survive possess favorable characteristics, and thus pass these characteristics on to future generations.
B) conflict between societies and between classes within the same society benefits humanity in the long run because it removes unfit individuals and social forms.
C) contemporary "primitives" were living approximations of what Europeans used to be (in other words, these primitives had not evolved to the same degree that Europeans had).
D) human cultural evolution could be divided into three phases: savagery, barbarism, and civilization.

Question 9

The "density-equilibrium theory," which explains the origins of agriculture as a product of population growth that eventually causes the human population to exceed the hunting and gathering carrying capacity of an environment, was proposed by:

A) Childe.
B) Binford.
C) Carneiro.
D) Braidwood.

Question 10

The period during which people began using ground stone tools, manufacturing ceramics, and relying on domesticated plants and animals is known in the Near East as the:

A) Natufian.
B) Upper Paleolithic.
C) Neolithic.
D) Younger Dryas.

Question 11

If you live in a city with a high population density, with different types of specialized subsistence strategies and non- food producing specialists, where elites control access to strategic resources and where social organization is based on class membership (elite or commoner), you live in a:

A) tribe.
B) band.
C) state.
D) chiefdom.

Question 12

In the early 20th century, Franz Boas and his students:

A) rejected unilineal evolution as a valid means of studying human cultural diversity.
B) argued that all human cultures are unique and should be valued as such.
C) argued for the accumulation of ethnographic detail and historical facts prior to the construction of any generalities about human cultural evolution.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 13

The difference between modern cultural evolutionary paradigms and 19th century unilineal evolutionism is:

A) modern evolutionism highlights the role of ecological, demographic, and/or technological factors in conditioning cultural evolution.
B) modern evolutionism does not contain the racist overtones inherent in 19th century unilineal evolutionary schemes.
C) modern evolutionists agree that cultural behavior is not controlled by biology, and that the human past is much more complex than 19th century evolutionists imagined it.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 14

One effect of the 19th century comparative method was:

A) indigenous peoples were viewed from their own historical perspective, rather than a grand sequence of human evolution.
B) the domination of "primitive" peoples by Europeans was legitimized because it was seen as the natural order of things.
C) scientific proof that humanity was improving biologically, culturally, intellectually, and spiritually.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 15

The paradigm known as unilineal cultural evolution:

A) argues that human societies have evolved along a single developmental trajectory, with western civilization as the most advanced evolutionary stage.
B) argues that cultures can only be understood in their own terms, and cannot be usefully compared to other cultures.
C) argues against ethnocentrism, stressing the equality of all cultures, with none superior to any other.
D) has proven extremely useful for understanding cultural change; most anthropologists operate within this paradigm today.

Question 16

The theory made popular by V. Gordon Childe in the 1940s, explaining the origin of animal domestication as a response by animals and people to arid conditions following the end of the Pleistocene, which caused them to congregate around water sources is the:

A) hilly flanks theory.
B) density-equilibrium theory.
C) oasis theory.
D) optimal foraging theory.

Question 17

While today the comparative method refers to the testing of hypotheses against a range of human societies, in the 19th century the comparative method:

A) tested hypotheses only within the same types of societies; in other words, only egalitarian hunter-gatherers of arctic environments, or only stratified desert agriculturalists would be examined.
B) was a political tool used to argue against the racist idea that some living peoples had made it further up the evolutionary ladder of progress than others.
C) translated cultural diversity into an evolutionary sequence in which different living peoples represented different stages in humanity's march towards progress.
D) referred to the same thing; there has been little change in how the comparative method is used since the 19th century.

Question 18

Unilineal cultural evolution and the comparative method were rooted in:

A) renaissance philosophy.
B) enlightenment philosophy.
C) Social Darwinism.
D) processualism.

Question 19

The position held by Franz Boas, which maintained that each culture is the product of its own unique sequence of developments and in which chance plays a major role in bringing about change is called:

A) unilineal evolution.
B) cultural relativism.
C) Social Darwinism.
D) historical particularism.

Question 20

If you live in an egalitarian foraging society with a low population density that occupies temporary camps, where everyone has equal access to resources through sharing and reciprocity, where there are no permanent positions of authority, and where membership is flexible, you live in a:

A) tribe.
B) band.
C) state.
D) chiefdom.

Question 21

What can likely explain the formation of the Maya state?

A) Stress on food resources created by high population density
B) The need for an overarching system of integration
C) Opportunities for economic control
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 22

Ethnographic research has turned up evidence of hunters and gatherers who know about but who continue to .

A) social complexity/remain archaic
B) fishing/farm
C) agriculture/hunt and gather
D) hunting/fish

Question 23

The "irrigation hypothesis" argues that large-scale irrigation was directly responsible for the origin of archaic states. This hypothesis was suggested by:

A) Karl Wittfogel, who argued that irrigation inherently calls for regulation of water use and an extraordinary level of coordination above the individual farmer.
B) Robert Carneiro, who argued that irrigation would lead to fights over land rights.
C) Karl Wittfogel, who argued that irrigation would lead to fights over land rights.
D) Robert Carneiro, who argued that irrigation inherently calls for regulation of water use and an extraordinary level of coordination above the individual farmer.

Question 24

Egalitarian societies are associated with and .

A) intensive farming/ domestication of animals
B) hunting and gathering/agriculture
C) hunting and gathering/horticulture
D) horticulture/agriculture

Question 25

Which of the following is likely to have played a part in the origins of agriculture?

A) Climatic change; foragers could not become agriculturalists until the environment was capable of supporting agriculture.
B) Population pressure; people were required to expand their diets and rely more heavily on plants.
C) Human intentionality; changes in wild cereals suggest that humans intended to increase harvest productivity and efficiency.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 26

Ethnocentrism means

A) the study of ethnic ideology.
B) the attitude or belief that one ethnicity is shared by all.
C) the attitude or belief that one's own cultural ways are superior to another.
D) a force that ethnicity's apply to increase social complexity.

Question 27

A basic knowledge of plant reproduction is for an agriculturalist.

A) sufficient
B) necessary
C) critical
D) nonessential

Question 28

"Archaic" in relation to states is used to distinguish

A) ancient social forms from modern industrial states.
B) ancient forms of society with elected officials and prime ministers.
C) outdated forms of society.
D) states with small, declining population numbers.

Question 29

The Maya developed three calendrical accounts of time using complex astronomical observations and mathematics. Which two calendar types overlap so that a renewal point is reached every 52 years?

A) The Long Count and the Vague Year
B) The Vague Year and the Sacred Almanac
C) The Sacred Almanac and the Long Count
D) None; the Mayans only used a single calendar

Question 30

The Classic period (AD250-700), when the lowland Maya took on the characteristics of the archaic state, was characterized by continuous population growth. Survey data indicate that as many as people lived in the lowland Maya area at this time.

A) 10 thousand
B) 500 thousand
C) 1 million
D) 10 million

Question 31

When analyzing the origins of agriculture

A) there is a single prime mover to account for the development
B) there is no single prime mover to account for the development
C) various paradigms each contribute something to a final explanation.
D) there is no single prime mover to account for the development and various paradigms each contribute something to a final explanation.

Question 32

Which of the following is true of Maya kings?

A) They claimed to be descended from the gods, and conducted rituals to appease the gods and prevent the universe from collapsing.
B) They received annual tribute from conquered populations, and allowed lesser nobles to earn privileges and acquire control over conquered resources by helping the king.
C) They competed with one another to determine who was the greatest among them, using war to subdue unruly neighbors as well as to demonstrate their ability to prevent chaos in the world.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 33

The difference between sufficient and necessary conditions in an explanation is that sufficient conditions are

A) those that must exist for a change to happen.
B) those that are the maximum ones needed for a change to occur.
C) those that are the minimum ones needed for a change to occur.
D) easier to ascertain than are necessary conditions.

Question 34

All of the following characterize the rise of archaic states, except:

A) monumental architecture.
B) warfare.
C) hunting and gathering.
D) market economies.

Question 35

Once archaeological data began to accumulate, archaeologists shifted their attention from of plant and animal domestication to .

A) species/varieties
B) dates/places
C) what and when/why
D) biology/culture

Question 36

Explanations for the collapse of culture on Rapa Nui include:

A) Surrounding waters lacked reefs that support fish for food.
B) They cut down trees to build homes and canoes.
C) Rats feasted on pine nuts and birds' eggs.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 37

Archaeology constructs specific historical sequences in order to

A) establish theories about necessary conditions.
B) establish theories about major cultural evolutionary transitions.
C) compare and then look for patterns to determine what conditions are necessary and sufficient to explain major cultural evolutionary transitions.
D) argue about the rise of agriculture in the New vs. Old World.

Question 38

Anthropology the paradigm of unilineal cultural evolution.

A) still embraces
B) recently discarded
C) does not recognize as important to the history of anthropological thought
D) long ago discarded

Question 39

Maya hieroglyphics were used to record:

A) economic information relating to trade networks.
B) significant events in Maya history.
C) information about human sacrifice.
D) information about farming techniques.

Question 40

The hypothesis, proposed by Robert Carneiro, attributes the origin of the state to a combination of population growth and limited agricultural resources which leads to increased warfare, which in turn fosters centralized political organization.

A) irrigation hypothesis
B) warfare and circumscription hypothesis
C) hilly flanks hypothesis
D) density-equilibrium hypothesis

Question 41

Evidence supporting the idea of Unilineal Evolution includes the adoption of agriculture; ethnographic data show that once hunter-gatherers become aware of agricultural techniques, they adopt them quickly.

Question 42

Prior to about 12,000 years ago, all humans lived in chiefdoms.

Question 43

John Lubbock's influential archaeology textbook Prehistoric Times (1865) led to the belief that contemporary "primitives" were living relics of prehistory; therefore questions about the past could be answered simply by observing a living culture that approximated the archaeological culture in question.

Question 44

Ideology is a set of cultural, religious, or cosmological beliefs that rationalizes exploitative relations between classes or social groups, masking the fact that one group is exploiting another.

Question 45

The comparative method of 19th century social science took diversity in the world's cultures and put them in an evolutionary sequence. Those with "simple" technology were at the bottom of the scale, and those with the most complex technology were at the top.

Question 46

Agriculture developed only once roughly 10,000 years ago in the Near East, and from there spread rapidly throughout much of the world.

Question 47

To an archaeologist, "civilization" refers only to those cultures with writing systems, public performance in the form of plays, and full-time musicians.

Question 48

Archaic state formation did not occur anywhere until roughly AD 500; archaic states then spread rapidly from their birthplace in the Near East throughout much of the world.

Question 49

A basic knowledge of plant reproduction is necessary for an agriculturalist, but such knowledge is not sufficient to inspire all foragers to transform themselves into agriculturalists.

Question 50

Although unilineal cultural evolution collapsed under the assault by Boas and his students and is still rejected by anthropology today, archaeological data do show strong regularities in human cultural evolution.

Question 51

The density equilibrium model argues that people will adopt domesticated plants and agriculture whenever they are exposed to them because of the superior productivity of agriculture.

Question 52

Optimal foraging theory operates on the principle that humans will select foods that offer high return rates, or the most calories for the amount of time invested in procurement and processing.