Examkin

Question

Difficulty: HardIndigenous Societies and Diverse Environments

Read the excerpt below and answer the question that follows.

"In the thirteenth century, a series of severe droughts disrupted the ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) centers in Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde, forcing a massive migration. Rather than collapsing, these societies adapted by dispersing into smaller, more flexible communities along the Rio Grande and its tributaries. They developed sophisticated dry-farming techniques, constructed check dams to trap seasonal runoff, and reorganized their social structures to prioritize communal resource management. The pueblos that the Spanish encountered in the sixteenth century were not remnants of a declining civilization, but rather the product of dynamic, long-term adaptations to a highly volatile arid environment."
—Adapted from archaeological studies of the Pre-Columbian Southwest

Which of the following historical developments in the pre-Columbian Southwest is best explained by the environmental adaptations described in the excerpt?

  1. The development of diverse, localized agricultural strategies and dispersed settlement patterns to manage scarce water resources.Answer
  2. B
    The transition of all regional tribes to a highly mobile hunter-gatherer lifestyle similar to that of the Great Plains.
  3. C
    The adoption of European cultivation techniques and livestock to maximize crop production in drought conditions.
  4. D
    The creation of coerced labor networks modeled on the Spanish encomienda system to build public works.

Answer

The development of diverse, localized agricultural strategies and dispersed settlement patterns to manage scarce water resources.
The correct answer is correct because the Ancestral Puebloans reacted to the thirteenth-century droughts by migrating from highly concentrated centers like Chaco Canyon to dispersed communities. In these new locations, they developed dry-farming and runoff management (such as check dams) to continue agricultural production in an arid climate.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the historical stimulus to identify the geographic region, timeframe, and environmental challenges.
The text describes the pre-Columbian Southwest in the thirteenth century, facing severe droughts that disrupted major centers.
Establishing the geographic and temporal context helps avoid chronological and regional errors.
2
Examine the specific adaptations described in the source.
Puebloans responded to drought by migrating to river valleys, dispersing into smaller communities, implementing dry-farming and check dams, and organizing communal resources.
This identifies the specific response of Southwest societies to environmental volatility.
3
Evaluate the choices to determine which one accurately reflects these pre-Columbian adaptations.
The option emphasizing localized agricultural strategies and dispersed settlement patterns aligns directly with the text's description of dry-farming, check dams, and moving to smaller communities.
This links the evidence from the source to the correct historical concept of regional environmental adaptation.

Key Concept

Indigenous Societies and Diverse Environments
Rate this question

Topics

Indigenous Societies and Diverse Environments

More questions from this topic