Anthropology 1050 Exam 3 Study Guide Chapter 10

Most of the evidence given for the hypothesis that sedentary people have larger populations than nomadic people comes from a study of the __________.

!Kung

How does overdependence on a few staple foods increase the risk of famine?

The fewer the staple crops, the greater the danger to the food supply posed by crop failure.

Which of these is an example of a composite tool?

a sickle made with microliths

The __________ site of Guila Naquitz had evidence of casual plant domestication.

cave

How did the origins of food production most likely occur?

independently around the world over a few thousand years

The first clear indication of a changeover to food production took place in the Near East about __________ B.C.

8000

Which important site was an adobe town set high in the mountains of southern Turkey?

Catal Hüyük

How do domesticated plants get to be different from their wild varieties?

Certain variations are artificially selected through the harvesting and planting process.

Why did North American agriculturalists switch to a dependence on corn?

Corn is easier to harvest and store than many other crops.

Most archaeologists believe that the __________ was one of the earliest centers of plant and animal domestication

Fertile Crescent

What is the Binford-Flannery model for the development of food production?

Food production creates adequate nutrition with less work than hunting and gathering.

Where might you find a Neolithic Natufian settlement?

Jordan

Which of these modern nations falls within what archaeologists call the Fertile Crescent?

Syria

How did the Archaic people of Highland Mesoamerica differ socially from the Natufians?

There is no evidence of social differences in Highland Mesoamerica.

What might explain the fact that agriculture spread more quickly in the Old World than in the New World?

There was less contact between cultures in the New World, which means less trade and diffusion of ideas.

Which of these archaeological finds would suggest domestication of animal species?

a disproportionate amount of one species over another

The date of domestication in mainland Southeast Asia appears to be __________.

comparable to that of Mesoamerica

At present, archaeologists define the Neolithic in terms of the presence of __________.

domesticated plants and animals

What development in the Neolithic society allowed for woven textile clothing?

domestication of sheep

Toward the end of the Upper Paleolithic period, people got most of their food from __________.

hunting

In Ali Kosh in southwestern Iran after about 5500 B.C., __________ were two important innovations.

irrigation and the use of domesticated cattle

What physical feature would be adaptive by allowing a hunter to throw a spear further and with more force?

longer limbs

The wild grass teosinte led to today's domesticated __________.

maize

The population of the world seems to have increased dramatically as a result of people __________.

settling down

Cities first appeared in the Near East about __________.

3500 B.C.

How did the process of domestication differ between Mesoamerica and the Fertile Crescent?

In the Fertile Crescent, people shifted completely from gathering wild foods to depending on domesticated foods within only a few decades.

What evidence at Ali Kosh indicates that the people depended mostly on wild plants and animals for their food?

There is no evidence of animal husbandry at this site.

Catal Hüyük was set in a remote area with few natural resources. How did the people cope with this challenge?

They lived a simple existence using just the bare necessities.

What is the most likely factor involved in the decreased birth interval seen in sedentary !Kung communities, as compared to more nomadic groups?

a shift away from the post-partum sex taboo seen in more nomadic groups

Which of these tools would most likely be made from obsidian?

atlatl

Which of these is a consequence of the rise of food production?

declining health

What evidence exists to show that African preagricultural settlements were reliant on water resources for food?

harpoons in the archaeological record and sites along the shores of rivers and lakes

The increased use of stationary food sources during the Epipaleolithic explains in part why people in the Near East began to __________.

lead more sedentary lives

Among archaic peoples of Mesoamerica, __________ were located near seasonally abundant resources.

macrobands

Based on their site of domestication, where do you expect the wild ancestors of today's sheep and goats to have lived?

the Near East

The preagricultural developments in Southeast Asia are poorly known at this point, but are most likely in response to environmental changes. What changes were occurring in the climate at this time?

a warming trend and higher sea levels

Many scientists believe that the loss of the megafauna at the end of the Pleistocene was due to overhunting. What factor gives reason to question this hypothesis?

The population of humans at the time was far too low to have had such an effect on mammal populations.

Mesoamerican farmers are often credited for the clever idea of growing maize, beans, and squash together, because the plants complement each others' nutritional needs. How would the Mesoamerican farmers likely come up with this idea?

These are the only plants that can be grown in the same field successfully, and it saves space.

How did a shift to a more sedentary lifestyle and reliance on grains affect the Natufians' health?

They suffered nutritional deficiency, as shown by their teeth.

Archaeologists speak of domestication only when there is evidence that plants and animals show a __________ wild plants and animals.

modification from