Early Humans & the Neolithic Revolution — Problem set, Grade 6
Journey from the wandering hunter-gatherers of the Stone Age to the farming revolution that let people finally settle down — and watch the first villages grow into the world's very first civilizations.
Review the key ideas
Hunter-Gatherers of the Paleolithic Age
Foraging obtains wild foods through gathering, hunting, fishing and related knowledge. Strategies varied by season and region; not every group moved constantly. Do not infer intelligence or moral worth from whether a society farmed or wrote.
The Neolithic (Agricultural) Revolution
Domestication changes populations of plants/animals through sustained human selection and management over generations. Taming one individual animal is not the same process. Different foods were managed in different regions and at different times.
The Rise of Villages & Specialization of Labor
Food storage can support specialists when some people obtain food through exchange or redistribution. It does not automatically free everyone from farming. Ask who produces, controls and receives the stored goods.
What Makes a Civilization?
Civilization is a debated historical label often used for urban complex societies. Features such as cities, institutions, specialization and record systems help comparison; they are not a score of humanity or superiority. Definitions need qualification and societies need not fit one checklist.
Problem 1
Answer and explanation
Repeated activity and skilled resource use are plausible; seasonal remains may suggest repeated visits. The evidence alone does not establish an exact language, family structure or a claim of low intelligence.
Repeated activity and skilled resource use are plausible; seasonal remains may suggest repeated visits. The evidence alone does not establish an exact language, family structure or a claim of low intelligence.
Response criteria
- Answer the actual question with accurate details.
- Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
- State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.
Problem 2
Answer and explanation
Relevant marks, associated tools, context and repeated patterns, not one isolated bone.
Relevant marks, associated tools, context and repeated patterns, not one isolated bone.
Response criteria
- Answer the actual question with accurate details.
- Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
- State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.
Problem 3
Answer and explanation
The dated pattern suggests increasing cultivation/storage. Continuing fish remains show mixed subsistence, and the layers do not identify one universal cause or a single day agriculture began.
The dated pattern suggests increasing cultivation/storage. Continuing fish remains show mixed subsistence, and the layers do not identify one universal cause or a single day agriculture began.
Response criteria
- Answer the actual question with accurate details.
- Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
- State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.
Problem 4
Answer and explanation
Repeated dated layers with changing plant traits and subsistence remains rather than one isolated object.
Repeated dated layers with changing plant traits and subsistence remains rather than one isolated object.
Response criteria
- Answer the actual question with accurate details.
- Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
- State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.
Problem 5
Answer and explanation
Only 10 are allocated to exchange in this model;20 are reserved. The arithmetic does not establish who controlled storage, who worked or whether distribution was fair.
Only 10 are allocated to exchange in this model;20 are reserved. The arithmetic does not establish who controlled storage, who worked or whether distribution was fair.
Response criteria
- Answer the actual question with accurate details.
- Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
- State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.
Problem 6
Answer and explanation
No. Burial practices and preservation complicate that inference.
No. Burial practices and preservation complicate that inference.
Response criteria
- Answer the actual question with accurate details.
- Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
- State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.
Problem 7
Answer and explanation
“Its history can be studied through archaeological remains and critically contextualized oral traditions; no written archive is currently known.” Explain dates/provenance and do not treat an absence in one medium as an absence of culture.
“Its history can be studied through archaeological remains and critically contextualized oral traditions; no written archive is currently known.” Explain dates/provenance and do not treat an absence in one medium as an absence of culture.
Response criteria
- Answer the actual question with accurate details.
- Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
- State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.
Problem 8
Answer and explanation
Matched categories, specific evidence and explicit limits rather than a simple higher/lower ranking.
Matched categories, specific evidence and explicit limits rather than a simple higher/lower ranking.
Response criteria
- Answer the actual question with accurate details.
- Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
- State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.