American History-Chapter 5 Quiz
1) When was the Mayan writing system deciphered?
A) during the Russian Revolution
B) after WWII
C) during the 1980s
D) after the discovery of the Rosetta Stone
2) How did Knosorov’s research affect current theories regarding Mayan writing?
A) He realized that Mayan writing was phonetic, not hieroglyphic.
B) He realized that the Mayan writing system was actually begun by the Toltec.
C) He realized that Mayan writing was hieroglyphic.
D) He realized that most Mayan writing centered on religion.
3) Why is the term “Native Americans” rejected by some historians and anthropologists?
A) because the term “Indian” was used first
B) because the first people on the continent were actually Europeans
C) because the first people on the continent were actually Africans
D) because no human life was “native” to the Western hemisphere
4) What is another common term for the Amerinds?
A) Native Americans
B) Native Asian Indians
C) African American Indians
D) Asian Indians
5) What conclusion can be drawn from anthropological evidence regarding the origins of the Amerinds?
A) They are of African descent.
B) They are of European descent.
C) They are of Asian descent.
D) They are of Australian descent.
6) What is the significance of the archeological findings at Monte Verde?
A) The findings challenge earlier scholarship regarding the time period in which humans entered South America.
B) The findings challenge earlier scholarship regarding religious practices among Amerinds.
C) The findings challenge earlier scholarship regarding the arrival of Europeans in the Western hemisphere.
D) The findings challenge earlier scholarship regarding the writing system of the Maya.
7) Which of these is refuted by the dating of archaeological evidence of Monte Verde?
A) the idea that Native Americans created complex societies
B) the Bering Strait theory
C) the idea that only in Mesoamerica did Amerinds create cities
D) the idea that Amerinds entered the Americas before 5000 C.E.
8) The significance of the skulls found by archaeologists in Washington and Nevada is the implication that
A) all Amerinds were of central Asian origin.
B) Amerinds did not arrive in the Western hemisphere as early as previously believed.
C) some Amerinds were of African origin.
D) not all Amerinds were of Central Asian origin.
9) Which of the following accurately describes the first inhabitants of North America?
A) They were farmers.
B) They were very warlike.
C) They were nomadic hunter-gatherers.
D) They were not of Asian descent.
10) Which of the following is NOT one of the four principal types of preinvasion Amerind groups?
A) mound builders
B) hunter-gatherers
C) limited-scale tribal societies
D) farmers
11) The full-scale tribal societies differed from the complex societies in being
A) hunter-gatherers.
B) farmers.
C) semi-nomadic.
D) settled.
American History-Chapter 5 Quiz-12) Which of the following does NOT apply to the preinvasion Eskimo?
A) They are also classified as Inuit people.
B) They never developed complex societies.
C) They were nomadic hunter-gatherers.
D) They are classified as a “Great Basin” society.
13) Which of these groups most resembled the earliest Amerinds?
A) Inuits
B) Cherokees
C) Adena
D) Creeks
14) Which of the following best explains the reason for the loose affiliation among the Algonquian peoples in the eastern Canadian Sub-Arctic?
A) They realized that they must cooperate in order to expel the European settlers.
B) They realized that they could grow enough crops to feed the entire tribe if they planted communal gardens instead of each family planting its own individual garden.
C) They banded together for the purposes of fishing for salmon and smoking it to ensure a year-round abundance of food.
D) They banded together for the purpose of hunting caribou.
15) Which of these is a culture area?
A) full-scale tribal
B) Great Plains
C) moundbuilders
D) Pueblo
16) The Pueblos were part of what culture area?
A) Southwest
B) Eastern Woodlands
C) Northwest Coast
D) Great Plains
17) Which of the following does NOT accurately portray the Pueblo Indians?
A) They were town-dwellers.
B) They were nomadic.
C) They produced woven baskets and cotton cloth.
D) They developed complex irrigation techniques.
18) Which of these was a shared characteristic of the Pueblo and Mississippian cultures?
A) They lived in what is today the Southwest.
B) They were urban dwellers.
C) They lived along great rivers.
D) Large mounds were at the center of their communities.
19) The mound builders included all EXCEPT which of these?
A) Haudenosaunee
B) Adena
C) Hopewell
D) Mississippian
20) Which of the following groups is NOT classified as a full-scale tribal society?
A) Plains
B) Apache
C) Haudenosaunee
D) Creeks
21) Which of the following does NOT accurately describe the Cheyenne?
A) They were seminomadic.
B) They were among the most highly organized Plains Indians.
C) They were ruled by a council selected by birth.
D) They were buffalo hunters.
22) Which tribe was known for its rigid hereditary castes such as the “Suns” and the “Stinkards”?
A) Natchez
B) Creek
C) Choctaw
D) Chickasaw
23) Who were the moundbuilders of the Ohio River valley?
A) Powhatan
B) Adena
C) Natchez
D) Choctaw
American History-Chapter 5 Quiz-24) The suggestion that contact might have occurred between the early Mississippians and the Amerinds of Mesoamerica is supported by all of these EXCEPT which?
A) the discovery of skeletons in Cahokia that had fillings in the teeth.
B) the fact that Mississippians cultivated potatoes.
C) the discovery of carefully positioned bodies in the mound excavated at Cahokia.
D) The discovery that the layout of Cahokia was similar to Mesoamerican cities.
25) Where is the Great Serpent Mound located?
A) Mexico City
B) Peru
C) Pennsylvania
D) Ohio
26) Which of the following crops was NOT one of the “three sisters”?
A) corn
B) beans
C) squash
D) potatoes
27) Which North American Amerind society is most comparable to the Asian and North African river civilizations?
A) Hopewell
B) Natchez
C) Mississippians
D) Iroquois
28) Which of the following was NOT a Mesoamerican society?
A) Olmec
B) Maya
C) Toltec
D) Apache
29) Which of the following locations represents “Mesoamerica”?
A) Central and South America
B) Mexico and southern North America
C) Mexico and northern Central America
D) North and Central America
30) Which region of the Western hemisphere was home to the most complex of Amerind civilizations?
A) North America
B) Mesoamerica
C) South America
D) Alaska
31) The Maya resemble the Akkadians and Aryans in what sense?
A) In creating large pyramid complexes.
B) In their linguistic roots.
C) In having conquered and then adopted the practices of an earlier civilization.
D) In having a state religion founded on human sacrifice.32) Which people built San Lorenzo and Tres Zapotes?
A) Olmec
B) Maya
C) Toltec
D) Apache
33) Which people created the famous heads of San Lorenzo?
A) Maya
B) Natchez
C) Mississippian
D) Olmec
34) According the Long Count calendar, when is the world scheduled to end?
A) 2099
B) 2012
C) 2020
D) 2053
35) Which of the following does NOT accurately describe the Long Count calendar?
A) It was created by the Mayan Indians.
B) It contained a cogwheel with 365 notches for the days of the solar year.
C) It contained a cogwheel with 260 notches for the days of the sacred almanac.
D) It was useful in the areas of astronomy and agriculture.
American History-Chapter 5 Quiz-36) Which civilization most profoundly affected the development of Mayan society?
A) Natchez
B) Olmec
C) Navajo
D) Apache
37) Which of the following civilizations did NOT believe in the idea of recurrent historical cycles?
A) Olmec
B) Egyptian
C) Chinese
D) Roman
38) Which of the following does NOT accurately describe Mayan society?
A) Free peasants and serfs were commoners.
B) Merchants were commoners.
C) Slavery was hereditary.
D) Priests were part of the nobility.
39) Which of the following does NOT accurately portray Mayan religion?
A) The practice of bloodletting was a common ritual.
B) The Maya feared death because they thought most common people went to the underworld.
C) Only kings and priests were allowed to take part in religious rituals.
D) They were polytheistic.
40) Teotihuacán had about how many pyramids?
A) 10
B) 50
C) 150
D) 600
41) Which of the following does NOT accurately describe the Mayan civilization?
A) complex
B) scientific
C) contemplative
D) warlike
42) What was the status of the Maya about 700?
A) Maya culture survived.
B) The Maya states were at their height.
C) Maya states were just emerging.
D) The Maya states and people disappeared.
43) In which area of society did the Teotihuacanos and Maya differ greatly?
A) military
B) government
C) religion
D) commerce
44) There are varying opinions regarding the cause of the collapse of Classic Mesoamerican civilization. Which viewpoint is most widely accepted today?
A) Epidemic disease destroyed Mesoamerican civilization.
B) Natural disasters destroyed Mesoamerican civilization.
C) Internal rebellion destroyed Mesoamerican civilization.
D) Invasion by other Amerind tribes destroyed Mesoamerican civilization.
45) When the first Spanish invaders entered central Mexico, many Amerinds showed great reverence to them because they
A) had just experienced a powerful earthquake and they believed that the gods had sent these messengers from heaven to help them.
B) hoped that the Spanish would help them defeat the Toltecs.
C) were experiencing a great famine, and the Spanish brought plenty of food.
D) believed that this was a fulfillment of Quetzalcoatl’s prophecy.
46) Who was the “feathered serpent”?
A) Hernán Cortés
B) Quetzalcoatl
C) Tania Proskouriakoff
D) Kukulcán
47) The Aztec Empire referred to its artisans by the name
A) Mayan.
B) Chiché
C) tolteca.
D) quetzal.
48) Which inhabited region of the world is the least thoroughly explored?
A) North America
B) Central America
C) South America
D) Africa
49) About when did hunter-gatherers arrive in the Andes?
A) 7000 C.E.
B) 10,000 C.E.
C) 1000 C.E.
D) 500 C.E.
50) Which of the following does NOT accurately portray the landscape of west South America?
A) The Andes mountains are between Chile and Argentina.
B) Earthquakes and mudslides are common.
C) There are numerous active volcanoes.
D) The landscape mirrors the eastern region of the continent.
51) Which of the following does NOT accurately represent Chavín civilization?
A) It was the first Andean society.
B) It had a strong central government.
C) It was a polytheistic civilization.
D) It was a farming civilization.
52) The civilization of Chavín differed greatly from that of Mesoamerica in what way?
A) Chavín lacked a ceremonial center.
B) Chavín was isolated from neighboring cultures.
C) Chavín cannot be considered a civilization.
D) Chavín had no organized religion.
53) Which of the following statements accurately portrays relations between the Nazca and the Moche?
A) They engaged extensively in trade.
B) They frequently engaged in conflict.
C) They eventually combined forces through intermarriage.
D) They eventually combined forces through peace treaties.
54) Which region of the Western hemisphere was home to the Moche?
A) Brazil
B) Peru
C) Mississippi
D) Argentina
55) How did Chimor’s social structure mimic Mayan social structure?
A) Both had “social pyramids.”
B) Both rejected the practice of slavery.
C) Both viewed artisans as nobility.
D) Both viewed priests as commoners.
56) The Yucatan Peninsula was home to a tribe of Amerinds known as
A) Aztecs.
B) Incas.
C) Maya.
D) Cherokee.
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