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Q:
The bas-relief carvings on the megalithic mosaic wall at the Initial Period site of Cerro Sechn depict:
a) a central staff god flanked by winged attendants
b) portraits of a succession of named kings of the ruling dynasty
c) warriors with trophy heads, hinting at conflict during that period
d) a rare portrayal of the Spanish Conquest in indigenous art.
e) the earliest hieroglyphic writing in the Andes
Q:
At the Preceramic sites of Supe and Caral, dietary protein came from:
a) llama and alpaca hearting
b) hunting of megafauna
c) beans
d) scavenging prey from predators
e) sea resources
Q:
Cite several specific examples of "corporate construction" projects carried out in prehistoric Peru. What do such activities reveal about the nature of the ancient societies that undertook them?
Q:
The idea that marine resources sustained population growth and that the infrastructure of fishing on the Peruvian coast eventually inspired the adoption of agriculture is called:
a) the Single State Theory
b) the Sea Peoples expansion
c) the Maritime Hypothesis
d) the Monocausal Theory
e) agropastoralism
Q:
What was the underlying unifying factor of the Chavin culture?
Q:
The Andean myth of humanity emerging from the inside of Pachamama (Mother Earth), appears to be related to the construction of:
a) henges and other concentric ringed monuments
b) dolmens
c) peak sanctuaries
d) subterranean and semi-subterranean ritual spaces
e) sacrificial wells that objects and people were thrown into
Q:
What role did marine resource exploitation have in the emergence of political complexity in South America?
Q:
Sambaquis are:
a) mounds formed out of accumulated food debris and refuse that are found in the Amazon
b) raised fields employed by the people living around lake Titicaca
c) the term for the four divisions of the Inca Empire
d) terraces cut into hillsides in the high sierra that are used to maximize farmland
e) Indigenous leaders within ancient and modern Andean communities
Q:
What factors are associated with the demise of Teotihuacan?
Q:
The spread of intensive __________ in the Andes and the desert coast was generally accompanied by the production of pottery and by loom weaving.
a) fishing
b) mummification
c) contact with Polynesia
d) farming and herding
e) writing and record keeping
Q:
What role did the Classic Maya centers fulfill?
Q:
The moist neotropics of South America are generally referred to as:
a) the Andes
b) Amazonia
c) the Altiplano
d) the Puna
e) Titicaca
Q:
Where and when did the Olmecs live, and what were some of their most notable accomplishments?
Q:
Describe the political organization of Egypt.
Q:
The practice of farming and herding in parallel, a common subsistence strategy in high sierra of the Andes, is called:
a) ethnobotany
b) agropastoralism
c) archaeobotany
d) animal farming
e) non-sedentism
Q:
Describe the origin of writing of the Sumerians. What kinds of information are typically recorded?
Q:
The great cultures of Mesoamerica developed into impressive advanced civilizations independently from and without contact with the civilizations of the Old World.
Q:
Contrast the terms city state and territorial state.
Q:
The Tlaxcalans and other native Mexican groups believed that the Spanish would eliminate their Aztec enemies and allied themselves with the conquistadors during the conquest of the Aztec.
Q:
What features define the Ubaid period in Mesopotamia?
Q:
Following the demise of Teotihuacn, a unified Late Classic Maya political empire emerges: the cities of the Maya lowlands became united under one king who ruled from the famous site of Tikal.
Q:
Most archaeologists believe that Teotihuacn was the center of a centrally administered empire that stretched from the Basin of Mexico and across the Maya lowlands; in fact, they controlled all of Mesoamerica.
Q:
Recent discoveries indicate that the people of Teotihuacn employed a system of writing.
Q:
Provide an example of a cultural explanation for the emergence of civilizations.
Q:
What are some of the characteristics of early civilizations that were enumerated by V. Gordon Childe? Why are trait lists such as Childe's generally ineffective in explaining the origin of civilizations?
Q:
What is a state? What characteristics set it apart from other forms of social organization?
Q:
The glyphs used in the Maya writing system directly represented words or sounds and they have now been largely deciphered.
Q:
What features have been used to define a civilization?
Q:
One of the reasons we know so little about Olmec culture is that many Olmec sites have been looted for their objects to sell on the art market before archaeologists could excavate.
Q:
As was true with several early civilizations, the Indus civilization's major sites declined, hundreds of smaller towns and villages outlasted them.
Q:
The Olmec cultural complex pre-dates the Classic Maya cultural complex.
Q:
Peru's coastal regions were whole-heartedly committed to subsistence agriculture after about 3,800 ya.
Q:
Maize was a remarkably easy plant to domesticate and the people of Mesoamerica adopted it quickly becoming sedentary quite early on.
Q:
No pre-Conquest civilization, including the Aztec, was able to politically or culturally unify the whole of Mesoamerica.
Q:
This Aztec ruler was killed under mysterious circumstances while under Spanish house arrest in 1520.
a) Pakal
b) Yax Kuk Mo
c) Atahualpa
d) Mexica
e) Motecezuma II
Q:
The development of the first civilizations in South America was based primarily on maritime resources.
Q:
The Aztec capital of Tenochtitln was:
a) an elaborate cliff-dwelling set in the side of a ravine
b) an urban island, reclaimed from a lake, and crisscrossed by canals
c) a beautiful deep-jungle urban center located on a high plateau in Peru
d) a tiny, unimpressive place which displayed little technological skill or urban planning
e) was located on the site of what is now Guatemala City
Q:
The end of Teotihuacn is associated with the destruction of religious temples.
Q:
The Olmec culture represents one of the first possible civilizations in the New World.
Q:
The earliest evidence for writing occurs in Egypt.
Q:
Contrary to popular belief, no Mesoamerican group ever called themselves "Aztecs." The civilization that we now call the Aztec referred to themselves as the:
a) Oaxaca
b) Olmec
c) Toltec
d) Yucatn
e) Mexica
Q:
Military conflict played little role in the formation of the Mesopotamian cities.
Q:
Best known for his conquest of the Aztec empire, this conquistador landed on the Mesoamerican mainland in 1519, encountering the Maya of Yucatn.
a) Hernan Corts
b) Francisco Pizarro
c) Hernando de Soto
d) Christopher Columbus
e) Ponce de Len
Q:
The Ubaid period represents the initial settlement of the Tigris and Euphrates floodplain.
Q:
The Maya polities of the northern Yucatn:
a) weathered the Maya collapse of the great southern Maya cities and grew into major centers in their own right
b) collapsed before the Maya kingdoms of the southern lowlands, pushing refugees south
c) never grew to be monumental in scale nor developed much in the way of architecture
d) were actually colonies established by the lords of Teotihuacn
e) were destroyed by a large earthquake at the end of the Preclassic period
Q:
The collapse of the Classic Maya:
a) did not happen suddenly
b) occurred during a period known as the Terminal Classic
c) caused an estimated 5 million people to leave the Maya lowlands
d) may have been caused by overpopulation and strain on the environment
e) all of the above
Q:
According to __________, the city of Tula, which is associated with the Toltec culture, was site of a mythical place called Tollan where the god Quetzalcoatl was worshiped.
a) the Maya
b) the Olmec
c) the Aztec
d) the Mixtec
e) the Zapotec
Q:
All early civilizations share a basic need to manage an increasingly complex society.
Q:
In the absence of a male heir, political control of a Late Classic Maya city:
a) was automatically assigned to lord of a neighboring city
b) could fall to a female regent or queen
c) was vested in a ruling junta of priests
d) was often given to an outsider from Teotihuacn
e) fell to the winner of a special ballgame
Q:
In a state level society, conflict resolution and adjudication is often resolved through kinship structures.
Q:
Each major Late Classic Maya city would have had a central precinct dominated by ___________, which would have served as temples or the palatial residences of lords.
a) man-made caves
b) pyramids
c) natural wells known as cenotes
d) ceiba tree trunks arranged in a square
e) an agora and a stoa
Q:
The term "civilization" is currently used by anthropologists to mean essentially the same as culture or society.
Q:
Which of the following are NOT usually recorded in Classic Maya inscriptions:
a) the names of rulers
b) details of wars and political alliances
c) birth and death dates of lords
d) emblems of polities and dynasties
e) information about the lives of common people
Q:
The earliest true city yet discovered is found in Mesopotamia.
Q:
Because no other Mesoamerican polity appears to have been strong enough to destroy Teotihuacn, researchers suggest that the demise of that city was due to:
a) an earthquake followed by flooding
b) internal conflict and increased factionalization
c) the Spanish Conquest
d) the adoption of a sedentary lifestyle
e) invasion by the South American Inca
Q:
An early city on the northern coast of Peru, known for its huge pyramid, unique pottery, skilled metalworking, and the rich tombs of its warrior-priests was:
a. Moche
b. Nazca
c. Cuzco
d. Tikal
e. Chavn de Huantar
Q:
The ________________ society associated with the initial development of cultural unity and centralized authority in the northern Peruvian highlands and coast?
a. Inca
b. Chavn
c. Nasca
d. Moche
e. Wari
Q:
In ad 378 a lord named Siyaj K"ak arrived at the Maya site of Tikal, founding a dynasty there; half a century later a lord named Yax Kuk Mo founded a dynasty at the Maya site of Copn. Siyak K"ak and Yax Kuk Mo were closely associated with, and may have come from, the city of __________ located hundreds of miles away.
a) Monte Albn
b) Teotihuacn
c) San Lorenzo
d) Tollan
e) Cuzco
Q:
The large temple complexes found at Sechin Alto and other related sites in Peru likely served as:
a. local "corporate" centers
b. local market centers
c. regional ceremonial and market centers
d. shrines for large numbers of local populations
e. education centers
Q:
The city of __________, located in the Basin of Mexico, was the largest city in the New World: it covered up to 8 square miles and housed up to 80,000 people.
a) Teotihuacn
b) Chichn Itz
c) Tikal
d) Monte Albn
e) San Lorenzo
Q:
The initial appearance of political complexity in South America is likely associated with:
a. coastal groups dependent on the rich maritime resources
b. Amazonian farmers largely reliant on maize and taro
c. inland groups associated with evidence of agricultural intensification
d. highland groups practicing intensive potato-based agriculture
e. coastal groups planting maize and squash in garden plots
Q:
The Zapotec city of __________ in Oaxaca may have housed over 17,000 people and is famous for its "Danzante" warrior frieze.
a) Monte Albn
b) Tikal
c) San Lorenzo
d) Teotihuacn
e) Chichn Itz
Q:
Which of the following Mesoamerican cities was the Aztec capital?
a. Teotihuacn
b. Tula
c. Tenochtitln
d. Monte Alban
e. Chichn Itz
Q:
Which of the following statements correctly characterizes the use of metal in Mesoamerica:
a) metal was used primarily for utilitarian objects such as tools and was rarely used for ritual objects
b) metal was mined and worked extensively in Mesoamerica and Mesoamerican metalwork is found throughout South America
c) metal was rarely used and, when it was, it was for ritual objects and not tools
d) the people of ancient Mesoamerica had no exposure to any metal whatsoever
e) the people of Mesoamerica were the first to develop platinum and steel
Q:
Which Mesoamerican group filled the vacuum caused by the decline of Teotihuacn?
a. Inca
b. Toltecs
c. Aztecs
d. Maya
e. Olmec
Q:
Which of the following features has NOT been associated with the end of Teotihuacn?
a. nutritional stress and disease
b. burning in the ritual precinct
c. gradual population decline over several centuries
d. high infant mortality
e. dismemberment of members of the nobility
Q:
Classic Maya rulership was closely associated with __________, which can be seen in the construction of defensive walls and earthworks, but especially through depictions of captives and sacrifice in Maya art.
a) peacekeeping
b) maritime trade
c) weaving of cloth
d) war
e) farming
Q:
Which of the following statements about the end of the Classic Period Maya civilization reflects our current understanding of the collapse?
a. It marks the end of social complexity in Mesoamerica.
b. It does not affect the lowland areas.
c. It is associated with the end of palace and temple construction.
d. It may be linked to political instability, climatic factors, malnutrition, and various other important elements.
e. Stelae were no longer produced.
Q:
Mesoamerican writing survives:
a) on stone altars and thrones
b) on ceramic vessels
c) on architectural elements of buildings
d) in accordion-folded books
e) all of the above
Q:
Maya hieroglyphics on stelae recorded which of the following subjects?
a. commerce
b. royal ancestry and noble deeds
c. taxation records
d. accounts of the Spanish Conquest
e. technological manuals for metallurgy
Q:
Cultural traits that we associate with the emergence of Mesoamerican "kingship," such as "royal portraits" on stone monuments, are first seen in:
a) the Late Preclassic Period
b) the Late Classic Period
c) the Early Formative Period
d) the Postclassic Period
e) the Early Colonial Period
Q:
The so-called __________ was a calendar system employed by the lowland Maya that starts on 11 August 3114 bc and assigns each day that passes and individual date much like our modern calendar does.
a) Ritual Round
b) Gregorian Calendar
c) Long Count
d) Solar Calendar
e) Short Count
Q:
This Preclassic culture, whose modern name is derived from a 16th-century Aztec term, is known for the production of colossal stone heads.
a) the Maya
b) the Olmec
c) the Toltec
d) the Nahua
e) the Inca
Q:
Maya centers typically served all of the following function except
a. commerce
b. religious ceremonies
c. socio-political centers
d. peasant village life
e. veneration of divine rulers
Q:
The use of __________ is sometimes considered to be a good marker for the onset of an agricultural way of life in Mesoamerica and its appearance marks the start of the Preclassic period.
a) gold
b) stone
c) pottery
d) bronze
e) cotton
Q:
Which of the following best describes the nature of Maya political organization?
a. an empire centered at Tikal
b. territorial states encompassing many large centers
c. two independent polities in the lowland and highland areas
d. independent city states and associated local centers
e. a loose confederation of allied city-states
Q:
The Classic Maya period is defined as:
a. between 1,500 and 900 BC
b. from around BC 300- AD 200
c. from roughly AD 200-900
d. from AD 900-1520
e. after the Spanish conquest
Q:
Which of the following statements best describes the current archaeological understanding of the nature of Olmec political organization?
a. It represents the first undisputed civilization in Mesoamerica.
b. It represents the first civilization in the Americas.
c. It contains characteristics of a chiefdom, or ranked society.
d. It evidences the origins of writing in Mesoamerica.
e. It represents an early development of complex society in the lowlands of the Mexican Gulf Coast.
Q:
By far the most important crop to the cultures of Mesoamerica was:
a) maize
b) potatoes
c) squash
d) rice
e) beans
Q:
The Olmec culture was located primarily:
a. along the Gulf Coast of Mexico
b. in highland Mexico
c. along the Andean coast of South America
d. in the Amazon basin of South America
e. in the southwestern United States