Deck 5: Subsistence Strategies and Resource Allocation I: What Challenges Face Foragers

Question 1

The first evidence of early human subsistence strategies comes from

A) archaeological sites with Acheulean hand axes and evidence of butchering.
B) archaeological sites with Oldowan tools and stone cut marks overlying animal chew marks on bones.
C) archaeological sites with projectile points and fire hearths.
D) archaeological sites in the Mediterranean and Europe where Oldowan tools are found.

Answer 1

archaeological sites with Oldowan tools and stone cut marks overlying animal chew marks on bones.

Question 2

The neoevolutionary model of culture developed by Elman Service is characterized by

A) sociocultural stages of development based on degree of economic specialization.
B) evolutionary stages of development based on technological types.
C) evolutionary stages of development based on levels of political organization.
D) sociocultural stages of development based on subsistence patterns.

Answer 2

sociocultural stages of development based on subsistence patterns.

Question 3

The earliest substantial material evidences of human culture is found in

A) North America.
B) Asia.
C) Africa.
D) Europe.

Answer 3

Africa.

Question 4

Which of the following provides anthropologists with the earliest substantial archaeological evidence of tool making?

A) Projectile points
B) Tools from Olduvai
C) Tools from Gona
D) Fire hearths in Africa

Question 5

What model aims to understand how foragers gather food with the least expenditure of time, calories, and other factors?

A) neoevolutionary models
B) evolutionary-ecological models
C) functionalist models
D) optimal foraging models

Question 6

What type of evidence is used to analyze the evolutionary model of human cultural adaptations?

A) ethnographical and ethnological data
B) historical and descriptive linguistic data
C) optimal foraging data
D) carrying capacity data

Question 7

Which of the following involves the study of the processes by which a society adapts to its environment?

A) functionalist model
B) cultural ecology model
C) unilineal evolutionary model
D) neoevolutionary model.

Question 8

The word technology, as used by anthropologists, means

A) how machines affect human evolution.
B) the tools, knowledge, and skills used by humans.
C) the mechanical skills acquired through enculturation.
D) the cars, computers, and machines used by humans.

Question 9

The primary function(s) of technology include the following:

A) creating leisure time.
B) the procurement of food, water and shelter.
C) making more efficient use of time.
D) aid groups in communication and contact.

Question 10

Native California groups used fire for all EXCEPT to:

A) control pests.
B) stampede deer and elk.
C) increase grass seed yields.
D) increase new redbud shoots.

Question 11

The term ethnographic present means a society is

A) described as it is today.
B) studied through fieldwork.
C) described as when first described ethnographically.
D) studied using present day ethnographic methods.

Question 12

Which insect is in demand as a food and is sold commercially in Botswana?

A) Ants
B) Locusts
C) Silkworm pupae
D) Mophane caterpillers

Question 13

The taste of insect pupae and grubs that are eten by humans is often like the taste of

A) peanut butter.
B) lobster.
C) lard.
D) chicken.

Question 14

American government regulations allow this many insect fragments per 100 grams in peanut butter:

A) 0
B) 30
C) 60
D) 90

Question 15

Foragers are organized into groups called

A) bands.
B) tribes.
C) chiefdoms.
D) hunter-gatherers.

Question 16

The Washo exemplify the organizational pattern known as a

A) tribe.
B) family band.
C) patrilocal band.
D) hunter-gatherer band.

Question 17

Which foraging group relies most heavily on the gathering of wild plant foods?

A) Haida, North America
B) Mbuti, Africa
C) Caribou Inuit, North America
D) Dobe Ju/'hoansi, Africa

Question 18

Foraging societies such as the Haida of the North Pacific Coast make the creation of evolutionary paradigms difficult because they don't meet all of the criteria of the model.In the case of the Haida, this is because they

A) are sedentary.
B) are partly horticulturalists
C) are nomadic for only half of the year.
D) hunt but don't forage.

Question 19

One factor that allowed the aboriginal Haida to remain in permanent communities was the abundance of

A) acorns.
B) elk and deer.
C) piñ on nuts.
D) salmon.

Question 20

A society is called "egalitarian" when its members have equal access to

A) status, wealth and power within the same age group.
B) status and wealth.
C) status and power within the same kin group.
D) the same status through balanced reciprocity.

Question 21

A societal type common in foraging groups and marked by egalitarian social structure and lack of specialization is a

A) band.
B) tribe.
C) chiefdom.
D) state.

Question 22

The ability of an econiche to support an organism is called its

A) adaptive strategy.
B) carrying capacity.
C) nutritional balance.
D) ecological succession.

Question 23

An anthropologist who assesses the nutritional quality of available food, the availability of water and shelter, plus disease and predation and the effect of these on how many organisms, including humans, a plot of land can support is studying the

A) ecological viability.
B) foraging spectrum.
C) carrying capacity.
D) evolutionary-causation model.

Question 24

The concept of carrying capacity refers to

A) the amount of food foragers can locate in their territory.
B) the ability of an ecological niche to support a particular organism.
C) conclusions drawn from optimal foraging models.
D) the ability of the patrilocal band to care for its members.

Question 25

Generalized reciprocity involves

A) giving gifts to everyone, including neighboring groups.
B) giving of time, objects, and food among close kin.
C) giving where a reciprocal gift is expected.
D) gift exchange with the aim of receiving more than is given.

Question 26

What foods are most important to the Washo?

A) deer, berries, wild greens
B) insects, rabbits, seeds, berries
C) fish, berries, pinon nuts, acorns
D) pronghorn antelope and sage grouse

Question 27

The Washo of California and Nevada exemplify which of the following foraging group?

A) patrilocal band
B) patrilocal tribe
C) nomadic tribe
D) family band

Question 28

Low energy budgets are associated with

A) foragers.
B) horticulturalists.
C) pastoralists.
D) agriculturalists.

Question 29

A low energy budgets means that people have all of the following EXCEPT

A) more leisure time.
B) less leisure time.
C) fewer work hours each week.
D) less energy expenditure to acquire food.

Question 30

The Inuit families come together in winter and disperse in the summer.This is an organizational feature of

A) family bands.
B) patrilocal bands.
C) seasonal tribes.
D) composite tribes.

Question 31

In the last twenty-five years, the Dobe Ju/'hoansi have

A) maintained a foraging life style.
B) transitioned to work as farm laborers.
C) ceased to exist as a society.
D) no longer hold traditional egalitarian values.

Question 32

Today the Ju/'hoansi occupy lands in the

A) San People's Conservancy.
B) Botswana Conservancy.
C) Nayae Nayae Conservancy.
D) Dobe Conservancy.

Question 33

Major changes experienced by the Dobe Ju/'hoansi since the 1960s include all of the following EXCEPT

A) increases in cholesterol and high blood pressure problems.
B) they have become active in developing ecotourism.
C) they are more sedentary.
D) no one forages anymore.

Question 34

Today the Washo tribe do all of the following EXCEPT

A) govern themselves and are federally recognized.
B) oversee natural resource conservation in their land.
C) rely on gathered foods as their dietary mainstay.
D) manage a resort at Lake Tahoe.

Question 35

Key elements of the sociocultural adaptive strategies held in common by hunter-gatherers-foragers include all BUT:

A) market economy.
B) kinship structure.
C) type of leadership.
D) economic reciprocity.

Question 36

A primary advantage of using the evolutionary-ecological model is that

A) it allows comparisons of cultures with similar subsistence strategies.
B) similar subsistence strategies will have similar sociocultural adaptations.
C) it allows comparisons of cultures from different parts of the world.
D) all of the above.

Question 37

One difficulty with applying Leslie White's neoevolutionary model described in the text is

A) the mathematical formulas require sophisticated computers.
B) local environmental differences affect the data.
C) raw ethnographic data is no longer available.
D) archaeological data is incomplete.

Question 38

Marshall Sahlins and Elman Service built their model of cultural development based on changes in _________ organization.

A) economic
B) religious
C) social
D) political

Question 39

This anthropologist identified categories of economic reciprocity.

A) E.B. Tylor
B) Elman Service
C) Julian Steward
D) Marshall Sahlins

Question 40

List five features that are common to foragers.

Question 41

Why, according to Chagnon, do the Yanomamo make micro moves of villages?

Question 42

Defend the statement "Washo foragers eat a nutritionally balanced diet."

Question 43

Briefly describe the division of labor among foragers.

Question 44

Briefly explain why foragers do not own property.

Question 45

Describe the dietary changes of the Dobe Ju/'hoansi from 1964 to 1993.

Question 46

List and describe three dietary advantages of eating insects.

Question 47

Discuss and cite examples of three different human subsistence strategies.

Question 48

Compare and contrast foragers in two different parts of the world with respect to technology, subsistence, division of labor, and systems of distribution.Cite specific examples to illustrate your discussion.

Question 49

Compare and contrast the environments, technologies, and subsistence strategies of two societies you have read about, learned about in lecture, or seen in a video.

Question 50

Describe the differences between generalized, balanced, and negative reciprocity.Cite specific examples of each of these from your readings, and make comparisons with these forms of economic distribution in our society.

Question 51

Describe the technology of _________ (name group) and explain why this group's technology and food subsistence strategy would be characterized as _________ (name a type of subsistence strategy).

Question 52

Describe the features of foraging societies, and cite specific examples showing how the Washo fit these features.

Question 53

Describe how lives of the Ju/'hoansi people are different today than as first described ethnographically.