Essay on multiple choices exam

The massive pyramids of Giza:

Question 1 options:

Were the only pyramids ever built in ancient Egypt, and likely their construction was so expensive that it led to the collapse of the Egyptian state

Were the invention of King Tutenkamen, and contained the wealthiest burials ever excavated by archaeologists

Can trace their architectural development from earlier stepped pyramids of Djoser and earlier mastaba morturary architecture

Were built entirely of mud brick and mortar by Egyptian slaves

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Question 2 (2 points)

Domestication and the transition to agriculture happened as an independent event:

Question 2 options:

simultaneously at the end of the ice age in 5 different parts of the world

only in three separate areas of the Old World: China, Near East & Egypt

only in the ” fertile crescent”

at different times in 8 different locations

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Question 3 (2 points)

Which of the following is true about the transition to farming?

Question 3 options:

It happened quickly, in one or two generations, because the advantages of better health and more leisure time were obvious to people

It happened simultaneously all over the world at the end of the Ice Age

It changed social relations in society because people became invested in plots of land and personal food stores, eventually leading to stratified societies

all of these are true

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Question 4 (2 points)

Which of the following is NOT one of the criteria necessary for successful domestication of large mammals?

Question 4 options:

they must be social animals that have a herd mentality, and follow and alpha leader

they must have calmer, less flighty dispositions and not be panicky in enclosures

they must grow quickly and produce offspring 1-2 times per year

all of these are true

they must have the largest horns and teeth, and have a larger proportion of males in their herds

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Question 5 (2 points)

According to the video Guns, Germs & Steel, why did early domesticated plants spread so quickly east and west from the Fertile Crescent, rather than north and south?

Question 5 options:

Crops that were domesticated in the fertile crescent grew well in similar climates and hours of daylight found at comparable east/west latitudes

People living north and south did not live in areas amenable to irrigation systems that allowed them to farm intensively

People in sub-saharan Africa were resistant to farming and preferred foraging

all of these are true

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Question 6 (2 points)

According to the video Guns, Germs and Steel, what important factors about the domesticates found in Europe and Asia, allowed for the development of complex civilization in those areas, rather than in New Guinea?

Question 6 options:

All of these are true.

The large, domesticated animals in Europe and Asia could be used to plow fields and transport goods, and provided additional milk, hides and wool.

The surpluses generated from the domesticated species of plants and animals in Europe and Asia supported specialists who were freed from farming and could govern, create art and develop new tools & technologies.

Domesticated wheat and barley in Europe and Asia had higher protein content and could be stored for long periods, allowing for rapid population growth.

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Question 7 (2 points)

What is a ziggurat?

Question 7 options:

A Sumerian temple

An early Egyptian tomb

A Natufian grain storage structure

A Mesopotamian palace

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Question 8 (2 points)

Which statement best describes the initial process of domestication in Western Asia/Middle East?

Question 8 options:

conscious modification of wild seed reproduction to create new species

human activities that enhanced the natural wild plant seed dispersal mechanisms

constructing canals to irrigate fields of wild wheat to increase their fertility

harvesting of wild plants that initially may have led to the loss of the species natural seed dispersal mechanisms

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Question 9 (2 points)

What was the ‘western Asian skull cult?’

Question 9 options:

The placement of ancient auroch skulls on the walls of shrines in early village houses, suggesting ritual and beliefs related to bulls

early figurines that show up at the beginning of the Mesolithic that appear to have been widely traded, and may be related to shared ideology about ancestry

Plastered skulls, which were removed from bodies after death, buried in corners of Natufian homes perhaps to honor ancestors or establish rights to territory and property

human sacrifice, and potentially cannibalism, as evidenced by the placement of skulls buried at the base of Mesopotamian temples as offerings to early deities

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Question 10 (2 points)

What does Jared Diamond argue is true about most early, ancient states and monumental architecture?

Question 10 options:

none of these are true

monumental architecture is most massive in early civilizations when leaders are trying to impress the populace and surrounding societies

leaders in all early states were more focused on warfare and controlling trade, and had neither the time nor manpower to construct massive monuments

monumental structures become more grandiose and lacking in practical utility as leaders become more powerful

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The very first evidence of domestication comes from the Nile Valley in Egypt, where wheat was domesticated during a period of prolonged drought.

Question 11 options:

True

False

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Question 12 (2 points)

Why didn’t domestication, or the transition to agriculture, ever begin in Australia before its colonization by Europeans?

Question 12 options:

All of the above

Despite trade and contact between Native Australians and peoples from Indonesia or New Guinea over the past 9000 years, no sago palms, dogs or other domesticated species that might thrive in Australia were ever introduced

Australia completely lacked wild ancestors of plants that were suitable for domestication, such as millet or yams

The reasons may have been partly ideological, as suggested by many modern Native Australians who have continuously rejected an agriculture lifestyle because they prefer the taste of wild foods, and historically have had abundant wild resources that were consistently available and required less labor to obtain

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Question 13 (2 points)

According to the information presented by Ristvet, what health ailments likely plagued hunter-gatherers during the Paleolithic, as opposed to those of early agriculturalists?

Question 13 options:

all of these are true

smallpox, measles, and diarrheal diseases from unsanitary conditons

physical accidents, infections and arthritis

the common cold, allergies, and flu

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Question 14 (2 points)

The Natufians were:

Question 14 options:

sedentary foragers in the fertile crescent who lived in circular structures organized in compounds

the first farmers in Mesopotamia who lived in large villages with retangular structures

Sedentary foragers in California who develped chiefdoms and large populations based on a subsistence diet of acorns, shellfish, tuna and salmon

the first to invent a system of pictographic writing

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Question 15 (2 points)

Early Neolithic farming villages appear to have been constructed according to a pre-planned layout, like city blocks, suggesting the presence of leaders such as chiefs.

Question 15 options:

True

False

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Question 16 (2 points)

Which of the following is true of the difference between the Progressivist and the Revisionist approaches to understanding the transition to agriculture?

Question 16 options:

All of these are true

The Progressivists see the transition to agriculture as part of the natural evolution of human society toward complexity and civilization, and necessary for all the technological advancement we enjoy today

The Progressivists see the transition to agriculture as a step in human development that led to better overall health and more leisure time for the human species

The Revisionists see the transition to agriculture as an adaptive strategy adopted by humans during a climatic downturn, necessary to ensure their survival, which ultimately led to increased disease, poverty and overpopulation seen in todays world

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Question 17 (2 points)

What kind of subsistence strategy was practiced by the Kebarans, and how did it differ from the Natufians?

Question 17 options:

The Kebarans depended on domesticated rye and barley, but they maintained a mobile subsistence strategy, storing grains and returning to them periodically

The Kebarans were pastoralists that depended on sheep and goat products, and traded with the Natufians for wild cereals and other plants

The Kebarans were sedentary foragers in Australia who, like the Natufians relied on wild plants, but who did not hunt wild game

The Kebarans were foragers that had a ‘broad-spectrum’ diet, which included a wide variety of plants and animals, and who used some grinding tools that were later adopted by Natufians for processing grains

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Question 18 (2 points)

At Abu Hureyra, the earliest archaeological deposits of the Natufians reveal:

Question 18 options:

huts constructed of mammoth bones and covered with skins, indicating a return to ice age conditions just prior to the domestication of rye and barley

small round huts and complexes arranged in circles, which contained hearths and grains silo in external spaces, indicating a society that likely held property in common and was organized into extended family groups

rectilinear dwellings with storage pits full of domesticated grain, pens for domesticated sheep and burials under the floors, indicating a society organized into nuclear families that kept their resources separate from the larger group

the very first stone monuments of the ancient world, suggesting not only the origins of agriculture occurred in the fertile crescent, but also the development of craft specialization as recognized by stone masonry

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Question 19 (2 points)

What was the Younger Dryas?

Question 19 options:

The desert village that is the location of the earliest known tombs of Egyptian pharoahs, which contained buried wooden boats that allowed the king to sail down the Nile into the underworld

A thousand-year span of Ice Age conditions beginning 11, 000 years ago and causing wild food sources in the Fertile Crescent to disappear

The name of the first chief in the Ubaid culture of Mesopotamia, who gained power through the control of irrigation canals among several villages

A millennium of drought that led to domestication of sheep and goats, due to increased human reliance on milk and blood from those animals to survive

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Question 20 (2 points)

According to the archaeological data summarized in the Diamond (1987) article, which of the following is NOT true of the health of early farming people all over the world?

Question 20 options:

there was an increase in stress injuries due to labor-intensive repetitive activities such as grinding

there is evidence of more infectious diseases from living in close quarters to people, waste & animals

there was an immediate increase in life expectancy of women due to better birthing conditions

teeth and bones show evidence of nutritional stress resulting from unpredictable harvests, famines and diets high in carbohydrates

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Question 21 (2 points)

What do archaeologists look for in order to determine if an ancient society was chiefdom?

Question 21 options:

Evidence of organized labor, in the form of irrigation systems or monumental architecture

Presence of craft specialists, as evidenced by workshops and labor intensive artifacts which likely required specialized knowledge and technology

The presence of food surpluses, evidenced by storehouses and/or intensified agricultural production

all of the above

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Question 22 (2 points)

According to Ristvet, why is surplus production essential to the development of Chiefdoms?

Question 22 options:

Chiefs often gained power by manipulating cultural rules of reciprocity whereby gifts he receives and stores could be redistributed to people in times of need

Surplus food production could support craft specialists that provided chiefs with labor-intensive items that indicated their rank and religious authority

Surplus food production supported trade networks that provided chiefs with opportunities to trade with other chiefs and hold feasts, both of which would increase his prestige

all of these

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Question 23 (2 points)

Which of the following is NOT one of the theories about the origins of state societies discussed by Ristvet?

Question 23 options:

The development of states requires a charismatic chief or ruler who has the capabilities and resources to conquer surrounding territories, unite them, and maintain control over them

The development of states is the result of competition for  agricultural land, which as populations grew, increased the likelihood of warfare and the conquering of surrounding territories

The development of early states came about as the need for organized, efficient control of irrigation systems became essential, and ruling elites emerged as a way to manage the large work forces needed to maintain canals.

The earliest states developed as the first writing systems in chiefdoms allowed leaders to control information, record-keeping, histories and propaganda and, which gave them unprecedented power.

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Question 24 (2 points)

Which of the following statements is NOT true about the role of trade and irrigation in the emergence of chiefdoms in El Paraiso, Peru and among Ubaid towns in Mesopotamia?

Question 24 options:

Chiefdoms that arose along the arid coastline of Peru exploited schools of tiny fish that could be dried and stored as fishmeal, and created large irrigation projects from Andean streams to grow cotton

Chiefdoms at El Paraiso raided and took over trade networks in which silver and copper was mined from the foothills of the Andean mountains

Irrigation agriculture along the Tigris and Euphrates, which had fertile soils built up from river silts, allowed Ubaid farmers to get up to three times higher yields and provides surpluses that supported the beginnings of temple economies

Ubaid towns bordered varied environments that allowed these groups to trade locally available materials such as grain, oil and textiles for pearls and fish from the Arabian Coast and Persian Gulf.

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Question 25 (2 points)

How did the development of state civilizations differ in Egypt and Mesopotamia?

Question 25 options:

In Egypt, early states developed as the earliest rulers united villages along the Nile, in both Upper and Lower Egypt, by expanding existing ideologies that the pharaohs were gods that maintained natural order in the universe

In Egypt, the earliest states grew out of the development of large urban areas that controlled long-distance trade, and capitalized on the exchange of materials from a varied environment

The differences between Egypt and Mesopotamia were minimal, and both state civilizations emerged because bronze technology gave warrior chiefs in both cultures advantages over neighboring groups.

In Mesopotamia, the earliest city-states developed as warrior chiefs conquered surrounding villages an united them in the name of the sky god Anu