Unit 1 Test - Prehistory, the Neolithic Revolution, and Civilizations

The study of the origins and development of people and their societies

• Archaeology
• Sociology
• Prehistory
• Anthropology

the way of life of a society, which is handed down from one generation to the next by learning and experience

• family structure
• anthropology
• culture
• norms

What type of evidence would give a historian the best first-hand account of what occurred in the past?

• written documents
• clothing
• artwork
• tombstone etchings

What might an archaeologist at a hominid site learn from a pile of sharpened stones mixed with cracked animal bones?

• how the hominids made weapons for hunting animals
• how the hominids prepared the animals for cooking
• how the hominids stored the bodies of dead animals
• how the hominids learned to domesticate animals

The "Out of Africa" theory is one explanation for

• the geographic beginnings of Homo sapiens.
• the similarities between Neanderthals and early modern humans.
• why Homo erectus remains are found in Europe and Asia.
• why Homo erectus developed into Homo sapiens outside Africa.

Scholars gave one group of hominids the name Homo habilis, or "handy man," because they thought this group was the earliest to

• build shelters.
• make tools out of animal bones.
• make stone tools.
• use fire.

a person who studies how people lived in the past

• Historian
• Archaeologist
• Anthropologist
• Paleontologist

How might the development of spoken language have influenced the religious beliefs of Stone Age people?

• Spoken language would have made family groups more suspicious of outsiders.
• Spoken language would have allowed religious beliefs to spread more quickly.
• Spoken language would have created a new class of religious leaders.
• Spoken language would have encouraged humans to create religious cave paintings.

Why would Old Stone Age humans bury the dead with tools and weapons?

• a belief in an afterlife that was peaceful and plentiful
• a belief in a supreme being that met all their needs in the afterlife
• a belief in an afterlife that was similar to their current life
• a belief in spirits but not an afterlife

Which of the following might have been the main reason Neolithic farmers began domesticating plants and animals?

• to keep a supply of food on hand for later use
• to create a surplus of food to be used as barter
• to develop settled villages and cities
• to stop hunting and gathering activities