Ch. 5 Multiple Choice
Eighty percent of the world's annual tonnage of all crops today is made up of approximately how many varieties of plant species?
12
The average birth spacing interval for hunters and gatherers is:
4 to 5 years
Beginning about 11,000 years ago, the percentage of immature sheep eaten in southwestern Asian highlands increased to approximately what percent?
50%
America's indigenous peoples were the first cultivators of what percentage of the crops grown in the world today?
60
The Mesolithic was known in the Americas as the:
Archaic
Which language group first originated in sub-Saharan Africa and then diffused?
Bantu
The microlith became common throughout the "Old World" during the:
Mesolithic
Where is the Fertile Crescent located?
Southwest Asia
Why is intensive agriculture considered to be a less stable means of subsistence than foraging?
There is less species diversity in crops.
Which of the following statements about social structure during the Neolithic is not correct?
There was a rather well-developed division of labor.
Which of the following is not an accurate portrayal of agricultural societies and food production?
They led to an overall increase in length and quality of life.
The microlith was:
a blade
All of the following are associated with plant domestication except:
a more fragile stem and seeds that shatter easily from the stalk
Which form of subsistence involves intensive crop cultivation, use of plows and fertilizers, and possibly irrigation?
agriculture
When did the Neolithic transition begin?
around 10,000 years ago
Enamel hypoplasia indicates:
arrested growth caused by famine
In Baures, Bolivia, anthropologist Clark Erickson found evidence of possible Neolithic food storage in their construction of:
artificial ponds
Harris lines manifest stress when they show up on:
bones
The hunter-gatherer birth spacing interval is primarily the result of:
breastfeeding and child-rearing techniques
Measles were believed to be first transferred to humans from:
cattle
Which of the following is not a root crop?
corn
All of the following cultural adaptations are associated with the Paleolithic period except:
development of artisan specialties
The spread of ideas, customs, or practices from one culture to another is called:
diffusion
Agriculture commonly involves use of all of the following except:
digging sticks
Which of the following is not an animal that was first domesticated in the area of modern-day Mexico?
duck
Which of the following is an effective mutagenic agent that could have affected the course toward plant domestication among the Natufians?
fire
What are weirs?
fish traps
Past human activities such as clearing forest, hunting, and gardening result in:
high biodiversity
Marshall Sahlins refers to which societies as the original "affluent society"?
hunting and gathering
Which of the following was not associated with the advent of pottery?
increased nomadism
The invention of food production occurred in both Mesoamerica and Southwest Asia through:
independent invention
Dwellings during the Neolithic period commonly involved all of the following materials except:
iron
All of the following are associated with vegeculture except:
it results in a dramatically altered field, unlike natural vegetation
Jericho was surrounded by:
massive walls
The human management of flocks shielded sheep from the effects of:
natural selection
In environments that were averse to the development of cultivation, societies tended to become:
pastoralist
Researcher Brian Hare found that dogs and humans both have the unique ability to understand:
pointing
What two significant crops grown in the world today were first domesticated by American Indians?
potatoes and maize
Which of the following best describes typical Neolithic social structure?
relatively egalitarian society, minimal division of labor, limited specialized social roles
Which of the following is believed to be the earliest plant domesticate in Southeast Asia?
rice
What crop tool did the Natufians use prior to the beginnings of domestication?
sickle
What is the clearest indicator of difference between a wild and domesticated plant?
size of edible parts
Which of the following was one of the earliest domesticates in the Americas?
squash
The portal doorway of the archaeological site of Stonehenge is aligned to coincide precisely with:
sunset at winter solstice
In an egalitarian society:
there are no social differences between people
In the early farming community of Jericho, crops could be grown almost continuously because:
there was a spring and fertile soils from a dried-up glacial lake
Wild plant domestication:
took place independently across the globe
Root crop farming is also known as:
vegeculture
The world's oldest shoe was found in a cave complex in southern Armenia dating back 6,100 years ago. What else was found in the same cave complex?
wine
The domestic dog, Canis lupus familiaris, is a subspecies of the:
wolf
Neolithic peoples were the first in human history to wear clothing made of:
woven textiles
Which of the following statements is true?
Farming populations tend to have higher rates of fertility compared to food foragers.
Fire as a mutagenic agent does all of the following except:
It drives away all animals for long periods of time.
What was most significant about the oasis theory?
It was a scientifically testable explanation for the origins of food production.
Among which cultural group practicing traditional forms of subsistence would you expect the longest period of breast-feeding?
Ju/'hoansi hunters and gatherers
Which anthropologist suggested the core-fringe-legume pattern?
Sidney Mintz
In what area of the world was the Mesolithic transition less dramatic of a change from the earlier time period?
Southwest Asia
Which of the following is not an accurate statement?
The switch from food foraging to food production allowed people to work less in subsistence pursuits.
What did the Natufians do to adapt their subsistence to changing climatic conditions?
They stayed in place and stored wild grass seeds in plaster-lined pits.
Who were the Natufians?
a Mesolithic transition culture in Southwest Asia
When did Neolithic agricultural villages become common in the Americas?
circa 4,500 years ago
Which of the following became an ideal type of plant for domestication?
colonizer plants that grow in disturbed areas
The oasis theory argues that:
drought created a need for people to congregate in limited areas and begin collecting grass seed
Compared to Paleolithic and Mesolithic peoples, those in the Neolithic:
generally show less wear on the teeth
For the most part, Neolithic crops were selected for:
higher productivity and storability rather than nutritional value
One of the ways people managed food scarcity during the Paleolithic was by:
incorporating less favored food into their diet
Domestication:
increases productivity and increases instability
Which of the following diseases has not historically been transmitted by cattle?
influenza
When applied to the Neolithic period, the idea of progress:
is culturally specific and only refers to certain aspects of change
Pointing has a particular significance to humans and dogs because it expresses:
joint attention, the ability to share awareness on a visual target
Which of the following died out at the time of the Neolithic transition?
mammoths
Some 35,000 years ago, our ancestors learned that heating clay to high temperatures allowed it to harden substantially. Many years later, using this earlier knowledge, our ancestors invented pottery. Pottery is classified as a:
secondary innovation
Early Neolithic peoples in the Americas:
used looms and hand spindles for textiles
Archaeologists have documented a sharp rise in the number of young male goats killed at a 10,000-year-old site in the Zagros Mountains, Iran. They believe this indicates domestication, as young males:
were slaughtered and females kept for breeding purposes
The domestication of sheep resulted in evolutionary changes that created more:
wool for functional use