Deck 3: India,China,and the Americas

Question 1

In India,religion is grounded in ________,the belief in an all-pervading divine spirit.

A)polytheism
B)pantheism
C)omnicseism
D)animism

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Describe one of the ancient American civilizations that predate the Mayans and Aztecs.

Answer 2

In the first decade of the twenty-first century,archeologists established a dating of 3500 to 2600 B.C.E.for two ancient Peruvian sites,Caral and Sechin Bajo.Located in the coastal region northwest of Lima,these sites (only two of many recently uncovered in the area)are as old as,or older than,the Egyptian pyramids and predate the Mayan and Aztec civilizations.Caral,a site with six pyramids,wide plazas,numerous residences,and a sunken amphitheater,probably supported a population that exceeded 3,000 people.The remains of cotton nets suggest that fishing complemented native agricultural production.Other artifacts,such as flutes made of bird bones and cornets (horns)made from deer and llama bones,suggest a music-loving culture.At Chankillo,a third site north of Lima,archeologists have identified a group of thirteen stone towers as a 2,300-year-old solar observatory.
Another early civilization in Meso-America was that of the Olmecs.The Olmecs established urban centers on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico,south of the modern-day Mexican city of Veracruz,where priestly rulers governed on behalf of the gods.This elite cadre oversaw the spiritual life of the community-a population consisting of farmers and artisans at the lower end of the social order,and a ruling nobility at the upper end.They raised temple-pyramids on clay platforms fitted with elaborate drainage systems,created a calendrical system,developed portraiture and mirrormaking,and practiced rituals involving human sacrifice.

Question 3

The occupants of the "dragon throne" who represented China's earliest kings were the ________ dynasty.

A)Zhou
B)Shang
C)Xia
D)Neolithic

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Describe the unique features of early Hinduism.

Question 5

The ________ dynasty were famous for its bureaucracies and intricate testing systems for bureaucrats.

A)Zhou
B)Shang
C)Xia
D)Neolithic

Question 6

Describe the unique features of the first Chinese dynasties.

Question 7

The first Americans came to the continent via

A)fleets of primitive boats from Pacific islands.
B)ice bridges between Alaska and Siberia.
C)ice bridges between Nova Scotia and Greenland.
D)None of these answers is correct.

Question 8

Ancient India developed the most rigid social hierarchical ordering system of its time,called

A)ostracism.
B)caste.
C)kowtowing.
D)sari.

Question 9

The ancient history of the Americas is not as easily understood as that of India and China because

A)we know of the peoples only from their artifacts.
B)there were more varieties and numbers of cultures in the Americas.
C)written records were not kept.
D)All these answers are correct.

Question 10

Discuss the holistic character of Hindu culture as reflected in its religious literature.

Question 11

The most ancient American urban areas were located in which of the following modern countries?

A)Chile
B)Mexico
C)Bolivia
D)Peru

Question 12

The most powerful personified spirits in the ancient Chinese worldview were those of

A)great geographical features such as mountain ranges or rivers.
B)departed ancestors.
C)departed rulers.
D)None of these answers is correct.

Question 13

The Law of ________ states that the collective spiritual energy gained from good deeds determines one's physical state in the next life.

A)Yoga
B)Nirvana
C)Dharma
D)Karma

Question 14

Shang diviners heated which of the following to produce cracks the priest might then read to forecast the future?

A)iron
B)wet logs
C)round stones
D)inscribed bones

Question 15

The earliest Neolithic Chinese peoples worked to produce which of the following?

A)canals
B)silk
C)giant ships
D)All these answers are correct.

Question 16

The joining of Atman (self)and Brahman results in which of the following?

A)yoga
B)nirvana
C)dharma
D)karma

Question 17

Explain the holistic character of Chinese culture as reflected in its art and literature

Question 18

The "rubber people" of what is now Mexico were the

A)Franciscans.
B)Aztecs.
C)Mayans.
D)Olmecs.

Question 19

China's oldest known text is

A)The Book of Changes.
B)The Vedas.
C)The Bhagavad-Gita.
D)The Analects.

Question 20

The classic language of ancient India was which of the following?

A)Farsi
B)Aryan
C)Sanskrit
D)Urdu