Chapter 10

The "shift" in the primary mode of subsistence that resulted in agricultural production was called the __________.

Neolithic Revolution

The importance of maize in archeology is that it

Provides strong evidence that humans understood and cultivated plants

Sedentism and increased population growth leads to __________.

social in equity nutritional deficiencie sepidemics all of the above

the generalized foraging model holds that all the following are true except

the creation of food storage sites in a territory

One theory about the relationship between global warming and the shift from foraging to food production holds that

the warming that took place after the last ice age made the environment more habitable

The moving of animal herds to different places in accordance with seasonal changes is called __________.

transhumance

As the intensity of agricultural practices increases, the range of cultigens decreases.

true

It is possible to know the nutritional problems found in early humans using fossil evidence.

true

Were you to visit the New Guinea Highlands, you might be offered a meal consisting of cooked pork and sweet potatoes, which demonstrates

use of low-intensity agricultural practices that nevertheless can provide significant food resources

Generalized foraging model

A model asserted that hunter-gatherer societies have five basic characteristics.

One of the plausible reasons for the lack of surpluses in hunter-gatherer groups is that surpluses could deplete local resources. This argument is called

An optimal foraging strategy

The tending of the sago palm to increase the amount of starch in the tree is an example of

Arboriculture

Egalitarianism is a significant part of the __________ model.

Generalized foraging model

You are an archaeologist with a site in the African Rift Valley and you think that you have discovered evidence that dates from 150,000 years ago. What dating method would you use to further your investigations?

K-Ar (Potassium-Argon) dating of volcanic rock

In what ways were principles of natural selection involved in the increasing size of food grains like corn, wheat, and barley?

Natural selection was not involved because the processes involved humans selecting the best seeds.

Foraging

Obtaining food by searching for it, as opposed to growing or raising the plants and animals people eat.

Potlatches

Opulent ceremonial feasts intended to display wealth and social status by giving away or destroying valuable possessions like carved copper plates, button blankets, and baskets of food. These were characteristic of the communities on the Northwest coast of North America.

Domestication:

Refers to converting wild plants and animals to human uses by taming animals or turning them into herds that can be raised for meat or milk or making plants able to be grown for food or other uses.

Patrilocal bands

Small groups where men controlled resources and hunting territories.

Neolithic

The "new" stone age when humans had begun growing crops and raising animals for food, using a stone-tool technology.

Maize

The indigenous species of corn that was first domesticated in Mexico—the term is often used for any variety of corn, since all current varieties are thought to have been derived from this early version of so-called Indian corn.

Mesolithic

The period from the end of the last ice age until the beginning of agriculture, a number of hunter-gatherer-forager groups had established lakeside or seaside settlements that seem to have been year-round sites during this period.

Pastoralism

The practice of animal husbandry, which is the breeding, care, and use of domesticated herding animals such as cattle, camels, goats, horses, llamas, reindeer, and yaks.

Transhumance

The practice of moving herds to different fields or pastures with the changing seasons.

Sedentism

Year-round settlement in a particular place.

Domestication is the process of

adapting wild plants and animals for human use

The importance of Marshall Sahlins' analysis of hunter-gatherer societies was to note the existence of

an entirely different cultural logic about their lives and the environment

The application of pastoral practices leads to both an increase in population and

an increase in social complexity

The development of what might be called true agriculture—the use of fertilizers or elaborations of technology—was most likely due to

an increased probability of shortages

Which of the following is NOT a reasonable account used to explain why humans started raising their own food by domesticating plants and animals?

by the end of the ice age, human brains were finally large enough and humans smart enough to learn that if they planted seeds they would grow

The amount of __________ in a piece of organic material always declines over time, and always at the same rate.

carbon

What method establishes the date or period of an organic artifact or feature from the relative proportions of radioactive carbon to non-radioactive isotopes?

carbon-14 dating

What material would be most suitable for Carbon-14 dating?

charcoal

David Rindos argues that the shift to agriculture happened because both humans and plants began to

coevolve

One of the reasons that today's agricultural dietary practices seemingly restrict the variety of food choices stems from the existence of

complex patterns of food taboos

Not all sites and materials are suitable for Carbon-14 dating. At which of the following sites would Carbon-14 dating be most appropriate?

cultural dating

One consequence of sedentism is that populations tend to grow, and people lose control over their lives as a consequence of __________.

epidemic diseases

The effects of sedentism and population growth on populations can also be seen in the presence of

epidemic diseases

The Neolithic Revolution happened only in the region we call the Middle East.

false

The shift to horticulture or simple farming typically increased the number of cultigens consumed by members of a community.

false

Women in Arctic hunter-gatherer groups do not work as hard as men because there is no option to forage.

false

One of the ways that peoples of Highland New Guinea stored their crops was by

feeding them to their herds of pigs

__________ populations have extraordinary knowledge of their natural environment, even though they may not generally seek to domesticate plants and animals.

hunter-gatherer

One of the defining hypotheses about hunter-gatherer societies that changed after the "Man the Hunter" conference is that

hunting was not the defining feature of hunter-gather societies

V. Gordon Childe understood the revolution brought by the rise of early agriculture involved all the following except

increasing brain size among the population that was at the heart of the revolution

What is the significance of tubers as a very early cultigen in the New Guinea Highlands?

it shows us that early cultigens can be something other than grains

The need to keep pace with your neighbors and maintain alliances as a reason for the rapid spread of cultivation in New Guinea was dubbed the __________.

jones effect

An important distinction between hunter-gatherers today and those of the past is

linkage to sedentary agricultural societies through trade and other social ties

Early anthropologists considered the environments of hunter-gatherer societies to be harsh, and their methods of subsistence and technology to be simple, crude, and primitive, reinforcing

long-held cultural stereotypes

During the "Man the Hunter" conference, archaeologists and cultural anthropologists presented all sorts of evidence they had gathered about hunter-gatherers. Which of the following was not one of the conclusions of their collective assessments:

most hunter-gatherers relied much more heavily on game that was hunted by men than had been understood previously

Esther Boserup argued that increases in __________ led people to work harder.

population growth

in analyzing the shift from hunter-gatherer to agricultural society, Esther Boserup examined the relationship between

population growth and food production.

For Robert Malthus, societies with small populations were limited by __________.

subsistence (food supple)

The practice of pastoralism involves

the breeding, care, and use of domesticated herding animals

Cultigens became an integral part of human life almost simultaneously in different parts of the world.

true

It now seems very likely that the earliest human efforts to manipulate plants happened through the tending of useful trees.

true

One surprising discovery about hunter-gatherer lives was that they worked only a few hours a week.

true

Patrilocal bands are small groups where men control the hunting and territorial resources.

true

Anthropologist Michael Heckenberger found evidence that human settlements had much larger populations in parts of the Amazon rainforest earlier than was previously believed. His research suggests which of the following:

unlike more customary understandings of Amazon-dwelling people,they have been cultivating the rainforest for much longer thanpreviously assumed

Which of the following is NOT a feature of the generalized foraging model?

unquestioned obedience to the leadership of the band's headman by members of the band