ANTH 1150 Pearson Questions Chapter 7
What is optimal foraging theory? a theory that explains why some societies continue foraging rather than switching to agriculture or horticulture a theory that uses the philosophies of economical anthropology to explain why forager societies are the only societies that do not use leveling mechanisms a theory that explains why most foraging groups can support such large populations a theory that uses comparisons to animal foraging and decision theory to understand the behavior of foragers
a theory that uses comparisons to animal foraging and decision theory to understand the behavior of foragers
What is the primary reason that farmers try to produce a surplus of crops? to be able to relocate to a better area to survive a year or two of crop failure to increase their social standing to trade with foraging societies
to survive a year or two of crop failure
In Melanesia, how do ceremonies involving pig sacrifices affect local practices of horticulture? Sacrifices are offered to the yam spirits, who in return increase crop productivity. The sacrifice of pigs creates a surplus, which enables people to suspend horticultural activities for a season. Sacrificed pigs are given to neighboring populations in exchange for the seeds needed to plant new crops. Ceremonial sacrifices lower the pig population, enabling people to use a larger percentage of their crops to feed themselves rather than the pigs.
Ceremonial sacrifices lower the pig population, enabling people to use a larger percentage of their crops to feed themselves rather than the pigs.
How were resources allocated in most foraging societies? Certain groups, such as families, had rights over a particular area, but these groups would share the resources of the area with the rest of the community. Groups, such as families, had exclusive control over certain areas or resources, but they would trade access with other groups in exchange for goods or services. There were no concepts of ownership or rights over any area—people in the community took whatever they needed on a first-come, first-served basis. There were strict property laws that granted total ownership of land and resources to certain groups, who only occasionally shared with the larger community.
Certain groups, such as families, had rights over a particular area, but these groups would share the resources of the area with the rest of the community.
Which of the following is a horticultural society likely to do when they notice that their crop yield seems to be diminishing in quantity and quality? Choose the site of a new field and cut down and burn any vegetation on it before planting the next series of crops. Obtain fertilizer via government farm subsidy programs or through trade with neighboring industrial agriculturalists. Install a permanent irrigation system that will restore the soil's nutrients, then replant their crops. Forego growing crops for at least two years and live off of their stored surpluses.
Choose the site of a new field and cut down and burn any vegetation on it before planting the next series of crops.
What is one consequence of intensive agriculture? Diseases that affect crops have been exterminated. Most countries now have unsustainably large areas of farmland. Crop diversity has decreased. Most farmers now grow a larger variety of crops than ever before.
Crop diversity has decreased.
Which of the following statements summarizes the connection between the subsistence strategy and the social and political structures of a society? Subsistence strategies are determined by the social features of a society, but are unrelated to political elements. Subsistence strategies have no connection to the social and political dimensions of a society. Different subsistence strategies tend to correlate with certain social and political forms. Basic subsistence strategies cause identical social and political structures to develop cross-culturally.
Different subsistence strategies tend to correlate with certain social and political forms.
Why do farmers accumulate more material items than foragers and many pastoralists? Farmers have more leisure time than foragers and pastoralists, so they have more time to accumulate material items. Farmers tend to live in stable, permanent settlements, so it is easier for them to accumulate material items. Farmers are more egalitarian than foragers and pastoralists and receive more material items from their neighbors through leveling mechanisms. Farmers relocate more often than foragers and pastoralists, so they have more opportunities to accumulate material items.
Farmers tend to live in stable, permanent settlements, so it is easier for them to accumulate material items.
Historically, which of the following has prompted foragers to adopt farming or wage labor? Employers offered foragers good compensation to work in farming or industry. Food producers looking for land have usurped territories once used by foragers. Transitioning to farming and wage labor is a natural step in human evolution. Foragers saw that farming and wage labor were easier and required fewer work hours.
Food producers looking for land have usurped territories once used by foragers.
Which of the following statements best describes the foraging lifestyle in terms of how much time is spent working? Foragers spend almost all their waking time in efforts to obtain food and ensure survival. Foragers typically spend less than 20 hours a week on work-related activities. Foragers spend significantly more time working than people living in agricultural or industrial societies. Foragers typically spend less time working than people living in industrial or agricultural societies.
Foragers typically spend less time working than people living in industrial or agricultural societies.
What has enabled some indigenous societies to start selling their products commercially? Environmental changes have increased their ability to produce surpluses. Forces of globalization have increased their participation in far-reaching economic networks. Contact with European societies during colonialism introduced the concept of trade to indigenous people. Neighboring communities have started exploiting the productive capacities of indigenous societies as they encroach on their territories.
Forces of globalization have increased their participation in far-reaching economic networks.
Which of the following would be considered an act of reciprocity performed by a Ju/'hoansi man whose hunting expedition was successful? He consumes the meat before heading back to his community. He adds his cache of meat to those of other hunters so that it can be distributed by the community leader. He shares the meat with other members of the community, knowing that they will share their meat with him at some point in the future. He burns the meat as a religious sacrifice to honor the hunting spirits.
He shares the meat with other members of the community, knowing that they will share their meat with him at some point in the future.
How did the invention of agriculture impact the overall health of populations that adopted the practice? Health improved moderately due to higher levels of nutrition from reliable surpluses and crop variety. Health greatly improved due to the surplus of food and the improved medical care that came with the establishment of cities. Health remained stable because the surplus of food produced by farming balanced out the spread of disease in densely populated areas. Health decreased due to the malnutrition that comes from overreliance on a few crops and the occurrence of disease found in densely populated settlements.
Health decreased due to the malnutrition that comes from overreliance on a few crops and the occurrence of disease found in densely populated settlements.
How does horticulture differ from agriculture? Horticulture involves permanent settlements, whereas agriculture involves a nomadic lifestyle. Horticulture involves farming on a small scale, whereas agriculture involves large-scale farming. Horticulture involves farming with more complex technology, whereas agriculture involves farming with simpler technology. Horticulture involves a reliance on herd animals, whereas agriculture involves a reliance on foraging for plants.
Horticulture involves farming on a small scale, whereas agriculture involves large-scale farming.
Why is pastoralism rarely the primary economic strategy of societies today? Environmental changes are enabling domesticated animals to revert to wild forms. It is difficult for pastoralists to control enough land for grazing their animals. It is difficult for pastoralists to breed and slaughter their animals due to the rise of animal rights activism. Herd animals are becoming increasingly difficult to breed due to size increases caused by antibiotics.
It is difficult for pastoralists to control enough land for grazing their animals.
Which of the following statements best describes the system of wealth and property ownership in agricultural societies? Land is generally shared equally among all members of society, but some highly successful farmers will become wealthier than others. Land and wealth is generally shared equally among all members of society. Monetary wealth is generally shared equally among all members of society, but land is usually owned by only a few people with the highest social standing. Land and wealth is generally concentrated in the hands of select members of society.
Land and wealth is generally concentrated in the hands of select members of society.
Which of the following describes how food production was organized along gender lines in the traditional Zuni society of the American Southwest? Men were responsible for clearing the fields for the village, while women were responsible for planting, tending, and harvesting crops. Men were in charge of raising domesticated animals, while women were responsible for cultivating plant-based foods. Men grew food for private consumption, while women grew food for the community. Men and women both grew food crops, but in different areas and using different techniques.
Men and women both grew food crops, but in different areas and using different techniques.
Which of the following statements about allocating labor tasks is usually true cross-culturally? In foraging societies, men do all the hunting and trapping, while women exclusively gather plant foods. Children are not responsible for tasks associated with obtaining or producing food; such tasks are assigned to adults. Men are responsible for clearing fields in food-producing societies. In farming societies, labor is allocated according to gender alone, with men being solely responsible for growing food and women being solely responsible for raising children.
Men are responsible for clearing fields in food-producing societies.
Which of the following explains why Ju/'hoansi women provided the bulk of the calories for the community compared to men? Men's primary roles were connected to protecting the community rather than obtaining food. The type of food gathered by women is higher in nutritional value than meat. Men typically did the hunting, an endeavor that has a lower success rate than gathering. Women typically did the hunting, which provided more calories than the gathered vegetables and fruits.
Men typically did the hunting, an endeavor that has a lower success rate than gathering.
Which of the following best describes pastoralism? Most pastoralists combined herding with foraging, farming, or trade with other groups. Most pastoralist societies are easily able to maintain their traditional ways of life today. Most pastoralists were completely self-sufficient and did not supplement their lifestyle with other subsistence strategies. Most pastoralists relied upon their animals solely for their meat.
Most pastoralists combined herding with foraging, farming, or trade with other groups.
How does the typical settlement pattern of pastoralists differ from that of agriculturalists? Pastoralists live in permanent towns or cities, whereas agriculturalists typically alternate between two or three locations a year. Pastoralists typically live in small groups without stable or predictable patterns of relocation, whereas agriculturalists live in permanent towns or cities. Pastoralists typically live in small, semi-permanent villages and move only once a generation, whereas agriculturalists tend to be more mobile. Pastoralists typically alternate between two or three locations a year, whereas agriculturalists live in permanent towns or cities.
Pastoralists typically alternate between two or three locations a year, whereas agriculturalists live in permanent towns or cities.
Which of the following statements accurately describes the difference in the gendered division of labor among foragers and pastoralists? Pastoralists typically practice a more egalitarian form of allocating labor by gender than foragers do. Pastoralists typically divide labor between men and women in a less egalitarian fashion than foragers do. Pastoralists tend to emphasize age rather than gender when dividing labor, whereas foragers allocate labor strictly according to gender. Pastoralists tend to assign the bulk of the manual labor to women, whereas foragers assign such tasks to men.
Pastoralists typically divide labor between men and women in a less egalitarian fashion than foragers do.
Which of the following limits the value of applying optimal foraging models to understanding human behavior? People sometimes make decisions according to their beliefs, preferences, or other social considerations. Optimal foraging theory overemphasizes the importance of culture in making foraging decisions. Humans are more advanced than other animal species, therefore it does not make sense to use the behaviors of other animals to understand human behavior. Foraging decisions are only made on the basis of what makes the most sense in terms of adapting to environmental fluctuations.
People sometimes make decisions according to their beliefs, preferences, or other social considerations.
What impact did the invention of agriculture have on societies? People stopped gathering as many material possessions in order to make room to store crops. Populations became smaller and more spread out as farmers sought out more fertile land. Populations became larger, and societies became more sedentary. Women needed to breastfeed their children for a longer period of time, so the fertility rate declined.
Populations became larger, and societies became more sedentary.
Which of the following strategies is a pastoralist society in the Middle East most likely to use in order to ensure their animals have ample grazing lands when the seasons change? Give away livestock to neighboring villagers. Employ the principles of reciprocity to exchange grazing lands with a neighbor. Shift the herds according to the principles of transhumance. Burn the fields in order to promote future vegetative growth.
Shift the herds according to the principles of transhumance.
Which of the following summarizes the potential for a society's subsistence pattern to change? Subsistence patterns may shift in conjunction with environmental changes or influences from outside groups. Subsistence patterns naturally fluctuate depending on how organized a society is socially and politically. Subsistence patterns form the core foundation of a culture and do not change. Subsistence patterns are only likely to change if the natural environment in which they developed is destroyed.
Subsistence patterns may shift in conjunction with environmental changes or influences from outside groups.
What accounts for Jivaro women having higher status in their societies than Yanomamo women have in theirs? Jivaro women mainly perform domestic chores associated with raising children, while Yanomamo women are responsible for taking care of domesticated animals in their society. Women in Jivaro society do not have to work after marriage, while Yanomamo women are forced to perform menial labor even after they are married. The horticultural work performed by women in Jivaro society is valued in its own right, whereas women's work in Yanomamo society is considered secondary to men's work. The crops grown by Jivaro women fetch a higher price in local markets than the produce grown by Yanomamo women.
The horticultural work performed by women in Jivaro society is valued in its own right, whereas women's work in Yanomamo society is considered secondary to men's work.
Improved technology is likely to have which of the following effects on how people meet their subsistence needs? Cross-culturally, the universal appeal of advanced technology will entice people to abandon traditional subsistence strategies in order to pursue work in the industrial sector. The use of more efficient technology will require fewer people to work in agriculture and result in a redistribution of human labor into other work sectors. Industrialization will allow nomadic pastoralists to introduce new animal species into their traditional herds. Having better digging tools will encourage foragers to rely on gathered plant foods rather than hunted game.
The use of more efficient technology will require fewer people to work in agriculture and result in a redistribution of human labor into other work sectors.
What purpose is served by taboos restricting the sexual activities of nursing mothers in foraging societies? They reinforce the practice of monogamous relationships. They help increase the efficiency of women's gathering activities. They help limit the population size through birth spacing. They reduce the caloric requirements of mothers and infants.
They help limit the population size through birth spacing.
How were labor practices related to children different in agricultural societies as compared to foraging and pastoralist societies? Unlike foragers and pastoralists, agricultural societies did not rely on child labor. Unlike foragers and pastoralists, agricultural societies employed children in domestic tasks rather than tasks related to obtaining or producing food. Unlike foragers and pastoralists, agricultural societies made extensive use of child labor. Unlike foragers and pastoralists, agricultural societies did not assign children different roles based on their gender.
Unlike foragers and pastoralists, agricultural societies made extensive use of child labor.
Which of the following acts as a leveling mechanism in many pastoralist societies? an egalitarian ethic of land and property ownership that results in people pooling and sharing their resources a social emphasis on competition and risk taking, which often takes the form of gambling a system of inheritance that equally distributes property to all members of a kinship group a cultural value placed on generosity and hospitality that encourages wealthy people to share with those less fortunate
a cultural value placed on generosity and hospitality that encourages wealthy people to share with those less fortunate
What does the term "redistribution" refer to in economic anthropology? a more or less equal exchange of goods between members of equal social standing the relocation of a group of people to a different parcel of land according to national government policies shifting the grazing lands of herds according to the season an activity in which resources are pooled together and then reallocated to members of the society
an activity in which resources are pooled together and then reallocated to members of the society
Why have many foraging societies become food-producing societies over the last few centuries? because they adapted new subsistence techniques to their environments or were absorbed into a larger society with a different subsistence strategy because foraging societies stopped producing enough children to maintain the community because there are no longer enough plant and animal resources in the wild to sustain foraging societies because foraging is not a sustainable subsistence technique—eventually every society must begin to produce its own food
because they adapted new subsistence techniques to their environments or were absorbed into a larger society with a different subsistence strategy
A leveling mechanism is a practice designed to __________. equalize access to resources and prevent the concentration of wealth in only a few hands include children in the economic system of a society keep socio-economic class divisions stable over time allow men and women equal access to resources and economic opportunities
equalize access to resources and prevent the concentration of wealth in only a few hands
In order to decrease the risk of losing all of one's crops to pests or disease, a consultant might recommend which of the following? incorporating animal husbandry into the crop-growing cycle growing a diversity of crop varieties developing a monoculture using swidden farming techniques
growing a diversity of crop varieties
Which of the following describes a project that would be of interest to an economic anthropologist? analyzing stock market trends over the last 50 years investigating whether or not changes in technology and settlement structure are connected to resource availability researching the historical value of the dollar in relation to other currencies studying how population size is connected to other demographic features such as age and gender
investigating whether or not changes in technology and settlement structure are connected to resource availability
A society in the Andes mountains practices a way of life that revolves around the care and herding of llamas. Which two products are likely to be central components of their livelihood? wild grasses and vegetables cultivated potatoes and pottery woven nets and spears meat and wool
meat and wool
One theory concerning the origin of farming suggests that __________. pastoralists who originally grew grasses and grains for their animals began growing other crops for human consumption pastoralists began thinking they should make use of the lands that were cleared by their grazing herd animals and they began planting seeds foragers originally planted vegetables and fruits in order to lure large herbivores into their hunting grounds and later realized they should grow produce for their own consumption as well some foragers began gathering a surplus of food to sponsor feasts, and as demand for surpluses grew people looked for ways to produce food
some foragers began gathering a surplus of food to sponsor feasts, and as demand for surpluses grew people looked for ways to produce food
What would a foraging community in the Arctic do in preparation for the arrival of winter, the season in which natural resources become less abundant? split into settlements composed of smaller family groups merge into a larger settlement centered within the boundaries of their traditional territory build permanent shelters and large storage facilities in disparate locations migrate south to wait out the hardships of winter with other communities
split into settlements composed of smaller family groups
Over the span of several decades, a foraging society has lost much of its territory. What could the members of this society do to increase the carrying capacity of the society's current region? manufacture and accumulate a wider range of storage devices switch to a subsistence strategy that uses a different technology to extract more food from the available resources decrease the amount of territory that it needs to manage encourage people to have more children in order to increase population size
switch to a subsistence strategy that uses a different technology to extract more food from the available resources
What is the carrying capacity of a region? the number of people who can be sustained by the resources of the region the amount of biodiversity in a region that can sustain human societies the number of acres that are suitable for farming in the area the number of large game animals available for hunting in the region
the number of people who can be sustained by the resources of the region
Pastoralism is different than the animal husbandry practiced by many contemporary American farm families because __________. pastoralists do not rely on their animals for meat pastoralists often practice other farming techniques to supplement their diets the pastoralist way of life is completely adapted to large-scale herding pastoralists do not breed their animals
the pastoralist way of life is completely adapted to large-scale herding
In general, in order to understand how a society meets its subsistence needs, an economic anthropologist would look at which of the following? statistics on population size and settlement patterns in urban versus rural environments how the social and political aspects of a society's culture interact and change over time the way labor is organized, the technology used to obtain and process resources, and population size the price differences among foods that have higher and lower nutritional content, as well as their availability in local markets
the price differences among foods that have higher and lower nutritional content, as well as their availability in local markets
In pastoral societies, wealth and social status are based on __________. how much gold an individual or family has how much land an individual or family owns the size of a family's or individual's herd of animals the number of children a family can sustain
the size of a family's or individual's herd of animals
Economic anthropologists focus on which of the following? the study of how people generate a profit from the manufacture and sale of products the study of how people obtain, transform, and exchange resources to meet survival needs the study of how human behavior impacts the natural environment over time the study of the history of money in relation to changing global political networks
the study of how people obtain, transform, and exchange resources to meet survival needs
An agricultural society in Southeast Asia cultivates rice in large fields terraced into paddies that retain water. What other technique would this society likely employ in its rice cultivation efforts? using digging sticks to unearth vegetable matter moving herds of domestic animals to different pastures on a seasonal basis burning fallow fields in order to improve soil content using draft animals to work the land
using draft animals to work the land
