World Prehistory Question Bank
Course Introduction
World Prehistory offers a comprehensive exploration of human history before the advent of written records. The course examines key archaeological discoveries, the development and spread of early human societies, and the evolution of technology, culture, and social organization from the earliest hominins to the rise of complex civilizations. By investigating major milestones such as the emergence of Homo sapiens, the peopling of continents, the origins of agriculture, and the formation of early states, students gain a global perspective on the diverse paths that shaped humanity's shared past.
Recommended Textbook
Window on Humanity A Concise Introduction to General Anthropology 6th Edition by Conrad Kottak
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1072 Verified Questions
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Page 2
Chapter 1: What Is Anthropology
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Sample Questions
Q1) The study of interactions among past living things in a past environment is A)paleoanthropology.
B)paleoecology.
C)garbology.
D)social archaeology.
E)adaptive anthropology.
Answer: B
Q2) The pressurized cabin of an airplane flying at high altitude provides an example of a(n)
A)genetic adaptation.
B)long-term physiological adaptation.
C)short-term physiological adaptation.
D)cultural adaptation.
E)archaeological adaptation.
Answer: D
Q3) The term enculturation refers to the process through which children learn culture. A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Culture
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62 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The statement, __________, is not true.
A)"culture is a distinctive possession of humanity"
B)"culture is acquired by all humans as members of society through enculturation"
C)"culture encompasses shared, symbol-based, learned behavior and beliefs transmitted across generations"
D)"everyone is cultured"
E)"culture is transmitted genetically"
Answer: E
Q2) Cultural relativists believe that people should judge culture only according to the standards and traditions of that culture and not according to standards of other cultural traditions.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) The nuclear family is a feature of all known cultures.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 3: Doing Anthropology
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60 Verified Questions
60 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In survey research, sampling is
A)the collection of a representative subset of a larger population.
B)the interviewing of a small number of key cultural consultants.
C)participant observation.
D)the collection of life-histories of every member in a community.
E)the recording of the emic perspective.
Answer: A
Q2) Historical archaeologists use written records to supplement the archaeological record.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) Classical archaeologists investigate archaeological sites that are threatened by development.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Evolution, Genetics, and Human Variation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Differential resistance to infectious diseases such as smallpox has influenced the distribution of the enzyme lactase.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The statement, __________, is not true.
A)"genetic drift can operate in any population, large or small"
B)"fixation due to genetic drift is more rapid in large populations"
C)"genetic drift is a mechanism of genetic evolution"
D)"it is a change in allele frequency that results from chance"
E)"alleles can be lost by chance rather than because of any disadvantages they confer"
Q3) Higher amounts of melanin in the skin inhibit the body's ability to manufacture vitaminD.
A)True
B)False
Q4) One of Mendel's contributions to genetics was his discovery that traits are inherited as discrete units.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Discuss some of the problems underlying phenotype-based racial classifications.
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Chapter 5: The Primates
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Sample Questions
Q1) __________ do not have tails.
A)New World monkeys
B)Monkeys
C)Apes
D)Lemurs
E)Tarsiers
Q2) Prosimians are primarily nocturnal, while most anthropoids are diurnal.
A)True
B)False
Q3) A high level of parental investment characterize primates because most primates give birth to a single offspring.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Chimpanzee social networks involve complex dominance relationships.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Overlapping fields of vision improve depth perception.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 6: Early Hominins
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Sample Questions
Q1) The earliest known stone tools belong to the Acheulian tradition.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The fossil known as
A)sediba is important because A.there is debate if it should be a member of Homo sapiens.
B)it has no evidence of being bipedal, but it has a large brain.
C)it was found with the earliest stone tools.
D)it has anatomy similar to both australopithecines and Homo.
E)a team of prominent paleoanthropologists found it on their first day in the field.
Q3) ___________ is a difference between Homo erectus and the australopithecines.
A)H.erectus was fully bipedal.
B)The australopithecines' teeth suggest that they ate a lot more meat.
C)H.erectus's cranial capacity was much larger.
D)H.erectus had the largest sagittal crest of any hominin.
E)H.erectus's mortuary practices were less elaborate.
Q4) Analyze what makes us human.List and discuss the four key attributes of humans, and evaluate how these traits distinguish between human ancestors and apes.Include australopithecine examples in your answer.
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Chapter 7: The Genus Homo
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Sample Questions
Q1) H.erectus is generally associated with the A)Neolithic age.
B)Oldowan age.
C)Mousterian age.
D)Lower Paleolithic age.
E)Upper Paleolithic age.
Q2) All paleoanthropologists agree that the skull designated KNM-ER 1813 belongs to a separate species, H.rudolfensis.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The fossil KNM-ER 1470, sometimes called H.rudolfensis, was unusual because it A)lived at the same time as A.afarensis.
B)was found with Upper Paleolithic tools.
C)was the first hominin species found outside of Africa.
D)has a combination of large molars and a large brain.
E)was the first hominin species found in the Americas.
Q4) Identify the main anatomical differences between Neandertals and H.sapiens, and discuss how these differences have been interpreted.
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Page 9
Chapter 8: The First Farmers
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Sample Questions
Q1) Discuss the nature and tempo of the development of food production.Analyze whether the advent of food production was a true "revolution" or the result of a more gradual transition from foraging to strategies that increasingly relied on domesticated plants and animals.Cite specific archaeological evidence.
Q2) Rice was domesticated in southern China.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Unlike in the Old World, few large animals were ever domesticated in the New World. A)True
B)False
Q4) The Natufians were
A)broad-spectrum foragers who lived in year-round villages in the Middle East.
B)the first farmers in highland Peru.
C)long-distance traders responsible for the spread of food production from the Middle East to the Indus River Valley.
D)the first Siberian big-game hunters to cross the Bering land bridge.
E)the first North American Paleoindians to settle in permanent villages.
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Chapter 9: The First Cities and States
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Shang dynasty had bronze metallurgy and writing.
A)True
B)False
Q2) ___________ is the first state in Pakistan and western India.
A)Shang
B)Zapotec
C)Uruk
D)Moche
E)Indus
Q3) Teotihuacan and Çatal Hüyük were two of the earliest towns in the Middle East.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The statement, __________, is not true.
A)"Çatal Hüyük was first planned and built by the Jomon"
B)"the dwellings at Çatal Hüyük were entered through the roof"
C)"Çatal Hüyük was probably the largest Neolithic settlement in the Middle East"
D)"the dead were buried beneath house floors"
E)"Çatal Hüyük may have had as many as 10,000 inhabitants"
Q5) Discuss how chiefdoms and states differ.Identify the evidence archaeologists use to distinguish between the two.
Page 11
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Chapter 10: Language and Communication
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Sample
Questions
Q1) In his study of New York department store employees, Labov found that A)/r/ was pronounced most frequently by workers in the upper-middle-class store (Saks).
B)/r/ was pronounced most frequently by workers in the middle-class store (Macy's).
C)/r/ was pronounced most frequently by workers in the lower-middle-class store (S.Klein's).
D)workers in all three stores pronounced /r/ with the same frequency.
E)none of the workers pronounced /r/.
Q2) The statement, __________, is not true.
A)"nonhuman primate calls occur in response to environmental stimuli."
B)"nonhuman primate calls demonstrate linguistic productivity."
C)"nonhuman primate calls are automatic and cannot be combined."
D)"nonhuman primate calls vary in intensity and duration."
E)"nonhuman primate call systems produce a limited number of sounds."
Q3) Historical linguists study similarities and differences between languages spoken today in order to make inferences about long-term linguistic change.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 11: Making a Living
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe how people in all societies maximize, and identify what they maximize.Determine if maximization is a cultural universal, and explain your answer.
Q2) Most modern foragers live in remote areas, completely cut off from other modern, agricultural, and industrial societies.
A)True
B)False
Q3) __________ is not associated with the market principle.
A)Profit motive
B)The law of supply and demand
C)Fixed values for products
D)Bargaining
E)Industrialism
Q4) A mode of production is a way of organizing production, whereas the means of production include land, labor, and technology.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Describe how a rent fund is different from a subsistence fund.Cite examples to illustrate your argument.
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Chapter 12: Political Systems
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Sample Questions
Q1) For much of human history, people lived in societies characterized by a __________ sociopolitical organization.
A)band
B)tribe
C)chiefdom
D)state
E)complex chiefdom
Q2) In tribal societies, the village head leads by example and through persuasion; he lacks the ability to force people to do things.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The nuclear family and the band are the two basic social groups typically found in forager societies.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Shame and gossip are the only methods of social control in band-level societies.
A)True
B)False
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Page 14
Chapter 13: Families, Kinship, and Marriage
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Sample Questions
Q1) List ways that industrialism affected North American family organization.
Q2) The relatively high incidence of expanded family households among poorer North Americans is
A)the result of a patrilocal residence pattern.
B)an adaptation to poverty.
C)maladaptive, since smaller families would have fewer expenses.
D)the result of bifurcate merging, a practice brought to the United States by Scotch-Irish immigrants during the early part of the 20<sup>th</sup> century.
E)the reason welfare in the United States is ineffective.
Q3) In tribal societies, unlike industrial ones, marriage entails only an agreement between the people getting married; descent groups play only a minor role.
A)True
B)False
Q4) List six things that Leach argued marriage can accomplish.Discuss how these could be accomplished in a same sex marriage.
Q5) Discuss how Lobola is insurance against divorce.List what types of cultures may require this type of marital exchange.
Q6) Discuss the general patterns found in the family organization of foragers.
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Chapter 14: Gender
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Sample Questions
Q1) Male-female avoidance among the Etoro was linked to beliefs about the cycle of birth, physical growth, maturity, old age, and death.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Cross-cultural studies indicate that
A)men contribute much more to subsistence than women do.
B)a gender-based division of labor is very uncommon.
C)in most societies, women tend to be the primary child caregivers.
D)women generally are less restricted than men are with respect to premarital and extramarital sex.
E)men never contribute to child care.
Q3) Gender stratification tends to be extreme in patrilineal-patrilocal societies.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In the United States, attitudes regarding the role of women in the workplace have varied according to economic needs.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 15: Religion
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Sample Questions
Q1) Discuss the ways religion may act as a form of social control.Identify how political leaders mobilize communities and gain support for their policies.Consider the connections between religion and politics in states, both ancient and modern.
Q2) ___________ is the belief that whatever is done to an object will affect a person who once had contact with it.
A)Contagious magic
B)Imitative magic
C)Serial magic
D)Sequential magic
E)Simultaneous magic
Q3) Voodoo dolls are used to perform contagious magic.
A)True
B)False
Q4) According to Malinowski, religion provides people with emotional comfort during times of stress or uncertainty.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Explain the universality of religion.
Q6) Discuss two cases in which religion played an important role in social change.
Page 17
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Chapter 16: Ethnicity and Race
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Sample Questions
Q1) The assimilationist approach to cultural diversity encourages minority ethnic groups to retain their unique identities.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Nationalities create "imagined communities" because A)in reaction to colonial governments.
B)most members of a nationality will never meet
C)they do not exist in real terms.
D)they are comprised of many different ethnic groups and subcultures, and therefore may disintegrate at any moment.
E)the members of a nationality constantly compare their society to an idealized, quasi-historical past.
Q3) No hypodescent rule developed in Brazil.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Racial categories in Brazil are flexible.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Define hypodescent, and determine if it exists in every human society.
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Chapter 17: Applying Anthropology
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Sample Questions
Q1) __________ is not a proper role for an applied anthropologist.
A)Working with local people in addition to "experts" and officials
B)Identifying locally perceived needs for change
C)Helping to design and implement culturally appropriate development programs
D)Helping to impose development programs designed solely by international authorities
E)Protecting local people from projects and policies not in their best interest
Q2) Define overinnovation, and explain why it can undermine development projects.
Q3) An illness is a scientifically identified health threat caused by a bacterium, virus, fungus, parasite, or other pathogen.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Health care systems refer to the nationalized health care services that only exist in core industrial nations.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Describe some of the effects of increased urbanization.Detail where these effects are most pronounced, and suggest the contributions applied anthropologists can make to urban planning.
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Chapter 18: The World System and Colonialism
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Sample Questions
Q1) The statement, __________, is not true.
A)"British colonialism lacked an intervention philosophy"
B)"British colonialism consisted of two main phases"
C)"British colonialism was legitimized by the racist notion of 'the white man's burden'"
D)"British colonialism began to disintegrate following World War II"
E)"British colonialism was driven by economic interests"
Q2) BHP Billiton in Papua New Guinea
A)increased the standard of living for the majority of the indigenous population.
B)closed the mine that was not up to environmental standards.
C)denied that they have made any negative environmental impacts.
D)has caused flooding and pollution that has forced many indigenous families to move.
E)began a reforestation project.
Q3) Unlike other authoritarian regimes, multiparty political systems characterized Communist societies.
A)True
B)False
Q4) List how Marx and Weber's views on stratification differ.
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Chapter 19: Anthropologys Role in a Globalizing World
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Sample Questions
Q1) Define globalization two ways.Identify when each type began, and give examples of both definitions.
Q2) When __________, people are living multilocally.
A)migrants maintain ties with their native lands through phoning, e-mailing, visiting, sending money, and watching ethnic TV
B)individuals from warm climates move north to work during the summer, but move home in the winter
C)the indigenous people of a colonized country maintain their own customs while assimilating to the dominant culture
D)families split and live in two different countries to gain the benefits of both E)offspring live in multiple countries
Q3) The Earth's climate has always remained constant, so any changes must be human-driven.
A)True
B)False
Q4) An ethnoecology is any society's set of environmental practices and perceptions. A)True
B)False
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