Deck 8: Agriculture and Animal Domestication

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT one of the models to explain the origins of agriculture?

A) population pressure
B) climatic change
C) domestication of animals
D) ecological theories

Answer 1

C

Question 2

For the site of Guilá Naquitz, computer modeling was used to determine the strategy people used to gather wild plants and how this changed when they began planting. It was found that __________.

A) their strategies were always the same
B) their strategies varied based on the climate
C) once they figured out how to plant, they abandoned foraging all together
D) the computer model did not correspond with the archaeological data

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The model that can explain the development of agriculture throughout the world is __________.

A) population pressure
B) influential leaders
C) opportunistic foraging
D) a combination of models

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Agriculture was not developed in __________ due to their extensive, reliable natural resources.

A) Southern California and the Pacific Northwest
B) Mesoamerica
C) southern Africa
D) Europe

Question 5

People in tropical areas became dependent upon agriculture __________ other regions of the world.

A) before
B) after
C) at the same time as
D) without knowledge of

Question 6

Accelerator mass spectrometry is used to date an object __________.

A) using large quantities (handfuls)
B) using small quantities (a single seed)
C) within 10 years of the actual date
D) by counting decay events (beta counts)

Question 7

Consequences of food production include everything EXCEPT __________.

A) healthier lifestyle
B) disease
C) land ownership
D) more sedentarism

Question 8

Compared to hunter-gatherers, agriculturists __________.

A) are less vulnerable to famine
B) are less vulnerable to gastrointestinal infections
C) are less vulnerable to epidemics
D) have a decline in quality and perhaps length of life

Question 9

One of the initial benefits of domesticating animals was __________.

A) obtaining milk for drinking and cheese
B) having a reliable source of meat
C) using them as draught animals
D) using their skins for clothing

Question 10

Domesticated animals __________.

A) are no different from their wild counterparts
B) are selected based on their characteristics useful to humans
C) have the same herd structure (sex and age) as wild animals
D) are always larger than wild animals

Question 11

Many African agricultural peoples turned to __________ in lean years.

A) hunting
B) gathering
C) hunting and gathering
D) animal domestication

Question 12

Human induced evolution could have changed wheat and barley to have conservative seed dispersal in __________.

A) 5 to 15 years
B) 20 to 30 years
C) 50 to 60 years
D) 100 to 150 years

Question 13

Paleopathology is the study of __________.

A) the domestication of animals
B) dating ancient artifacts
C) ancient disease
D) seeds

Question 14

Swidden agriculture is __________.

A) also known as slash-and-burn agriculture
B) a method of agriculture where the natural vegetation is plowed under and then the land left fallow
C) a hunter-gatherer technique for savanna regeneration
D) used only in hardwood forests

Question 15

A rachis is __________.

A) a tool used to cultivate grain
B) a tool similar to a plow
C) the joint that attaches a seed to its stem
D) the ancestor to modern-day cattle

Question 16

According to botanists, wild populations that were the source of the first domesticated wheat crops were located in __________.

A) Mesoamerica
B) Turkey
C) Germany
D) Scandinavia

Question 17

Technological advances associated with early plant and animal domestication include everything EXCEPT __________.

A) permanent houses
B) methods of food and water storage
C) pottery
D) advanced weaponry

Question 18

Modern theories about the origins of food production revolve around __________ models, which combine many factors.

A) multiple
B) compound
C) multivariate
D) simple

Question 19

Most theories about the origins of food production __________.

A) are not easy to test
B) are easy to test and dismiss
C) do not take into account population pressure as a cause for domestication
D) ignore what indigenous plants grew in the area of question

Question 20

One suggestion as to why agriculture did not occur earlier is because __________.

A) people did not know plants were useable resources
B) people did not have the technology to process plants
C) humans were not living in areas where domesticated plants were located
D) the world's population was not large enough to limit mobility

Question 21

List and define three of the five hypotheses of the origins of agriculture and the domestication of animals.

Question 22

List five consequences of food production.

Question 23

Explain why some areas of the world did not adopt agriculture as a way of life. For those people who did adopt agriculture, why did it take so long for it to occur?