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Test Bank For A History of World Societies, Combined Volume 12 Edition
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks , Roger Beck, Jerry Davila
Chapter 01_Essay
Answer each of the following questions with an essay. Be sure to include specific examples that
support your thesis and conclusions.
1. What are some of the problems in using evidence from contemporary gatherer societies to study early
humans?
M
2. How did early Homo erectus spread out of East Africa into other parts of the world? Where did they
go, and how early did they reach those places?
ED
3. What were the key features of Paleolithic food attainment and Paleolithic diets?
4. What are some of the theories about gender relationships in Paleolithic societies? What changed in
ST
those relationships in the Neolithic period? What kinds of evidence are used in supporting or arguing
against these theories?
U
5. What is the relationship between pastoralism, disease, and humans?
D
6. How did material goods create, define, and perpetuate social hierarchies in Neolithic societies?
Y
Answer Key
1. Answer would ideally include:
• Because the earliest humans did not leave behind written evidence, scientists have studied more
recent societies that lived by similar gathering means. However, most evidence about recent gatherer
societies was written by external sources and thus includes their biases and expectations, such as the
inferiority of foraging as a lifestyle. Furthermore, few modern foragers or gatherers are truly isolated from
the influence of other agricultural or industrial cultures. Also, this approach assumes that gatherer
societies are somehow static and remain unchanged over many centuries, which ignores the evidence of
how adaptable such societies really are.
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2. Answer would ideally include:
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• Homo erectus migrated out of East Africa into central Africa, and then into northern Africa. This
migration took place 2 million years ago. As early as 1.8 million years ago, Homo erectus had spread to
Asia, reaching China and Java by 1.5 million years ago. These migrations took place over land, along
coastline routes. Because sea levels were lower then, individuals could cross from the mainland of China
to Java on foot. Homo erectus also moved northward from Africa, into Spain by 800,000 years ago and
into Germany 500,000 years ago. In each of these places, they adapted hunting and gathering techniques
to the local environment.
3. Answer would ideally include:
M
• The Paleolithic diet consisted of a combination of plants and animal protein. Paleolithic peoples
foraged for their food, engaging in what we would consider a combination of hunting, scavenging, and
ED
gathering. Most of what they ate were plants. Animal protein often came from scavenged foods like
insects and shellfish rather than being hunted directly. It is unknown as to whether labor was divided
between genders, but in today's foraging societies, there is some division, with men engaging in hunting
large animals and women responsible for gathering plants and small animals. It took between ten and
twenty hours per week to gather food, but this number varied depending on environmental factors and
ST
group decisions. Because Paleolithic peoples had to forage for their diet, they expended energy and, in
general, avoided diseases common in sedentary societies. Life spans were kept in check by accidents,
injuries, and infections.
U
4. Answer would ideally include:
D
• Studies of more recent foraging societies suggest that women were valued for their labor, which
was recognized as equal to the work of men. Both men and women foraged for food, and both
Y
participated in hunting. Other scholars theorize that even in Paleolithic society one person may have
emerged as a leader, perhaps based on personal skill, and that this person was almost always a man. It is
more certain that by the Neolithic period, after the invention of plow agriculture, society became more
hierarchical and men took on more of a public, elite status. Women were limited to the home or enclosed
spaces, and land inheritance favored men over women. Evidence for gender roles in the Neolithic period
comes from later written traditions.
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TEST BANKM
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TEST BANK
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,MEDSTUDY.COM
Test Bank For A History of World Societies, Combined Volume 12 Edition
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks , Roger Beck, Jerry Davila
Chapter 01_Essay
Answer each of the following questions with an essay. Be sure to include specific examples that
support your thesis and conclusions.
1. What are some of the problems in using evidence from contemporary gatherer societies to study early
humans?
M
2. How did early Homo erectus spread out of East Africa into other parts of the world? Where did they
go, and how early did they reach those places?
ED
3. What were the key features of Paleolithic food attainment and Paleolithic diets?
4. What are some of the theories about gender relationships in Paleolithic societies? What changed in
ST
those relationships in the Neolithic period? What kinds of evidence are used in supporting or arguing
against these theories?
U
5. What is the relationship between pastoralism, disease, and humans?
D
6. How did material goods create, define, and perpetuate social hierarchies in Neolithic societies?
Y
Answer Key
1. Answer would ideally include:
• Because the earliest humans did not leave behind written evidence, scientists have studied more
recent societies that lived by similar gathering means. However, most evidence about recent gatherer
societies was written by external sources and thus includes their biases and expectations, such as the
inferiority of foraging as a lifestyle. Furthermore, few modern foragers or gatherers are truly isolated from
the influence of other agricultural or industrial cultures. Also, this approach assumes that gatherer
societies are somehow static and remain unchanged over many centuries, which ignores the evidence of
how adaptable such societies really are.
Page | 2
,MEDSTUDY.COM
2. Answer would ideally include:
M
ED
ST
U
D
Y
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• Homo erectus migrated out of East Africa into central Africa, and then into northern Africa. This
migration took place 2 million years ago. As early as 1.8 million years ago, Homo erectus had spread to
Asia, reaching China and Java by 1.5 million years ago. These migrations took place over land, along
coastline routes. Because sea levels were lower then, individuals could cross from the mainland of China
to Java on foot. Homo erectus also moved northward from Africa, into Spain by 800,000 years ago and
into Germany 500,000 years ago. In each of these places, they adapted hunting and gathering techniques
to the local environment.
3. Answer would ideally include:
M
• The Paleolithic diet consisted of a combination of plants and animal protein. Paleolithic peoples
foraged for their food, engaging in what we would consider a combination of hunting, scavenging, and
ED
gathering. Most of what they ate were plants. Animal protein often came from scavenged foods like
insects and shellfish rather than being hunted directly. It is unknown as to whether labor was divided
between genders, but in today's foraging societies, there is some division, with men engaging in hunting
large animals and women responsible for gathering plants and small animals. It took between ten and
twenty hours per week to gather food, but this number varied depending on environmental factors and
ST
group decisions. Because Paleolithic peoples had to forage for their diet, they expended energy and, in
general, avoided diseases common in sedentary societies. Life spans were kept in check by accidents,
injuries, and infections.
U
4. Answer would ideally include:
D
• Studies of more recent foraging societies suggest that women were valued for their labor, which
was recognized as equal to the work of men. Both men and women foraged for food, and both
Y
participated in hunting. Other scholars theorize that even in Paleolithic society one person may have
emerged as a leader, perhaps based on personal skill, and that this person was almost always a man. It is
more certain that by the Neolithic period, after the invention of plow agriculture, society became more
hierarchical and men took on more of a public, elite status. Women were limited to the home or enclosed
spaces, and land inheritance favored men over women. Evidence for gender roles in the Neolithic period
comes from later written traditions.
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