Archaeology and Humanity’s Story:

A Brief Introduction to World Prehistory

Chapter 15 Test Bank—Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe in Africa

Multiple-Choice Questions (30)

1. Bantu-speaking metallurgists reached southeastern Africa about __________________.

A) AD 300

B) AD 770

C) AD 1138

D) AD 1420

2. A kraal is a(n) ______________________.

A) mixture of dung and mud used to make walls

B) village chief’s daughter

C) enclosed place for livestock

D) nugget of iron ore

3. The Chifumbaze is an example of a(n) ________________ complex.

A) Early Iron Age

B) Neolithic

C) Chalcolithic

D) Late Iron Age

4. Decorative birds at Great Zimbabwe were made of __________________.

A) soapstone

B) silver

C) turquoise

D) cattle dung

5. Which animal symbolically represented the rulers of Great Zimbabwe?

A) Zebra

B) Lion

C) Crocodile

D) Jaguar

6. Schroda was a Middle Iron Age village established by ______________ people.

A) Kopje

B) Azande

C) Zhizo

D) Blombos

7. The Middle Iron Age began about _______________.

A) AD 900

B) 1475 cal BC

C) 37 cal BC

D) AD 2187

8. In this context, the abbreviation CCP stands for _________________________.

A) Corral Central Pattern

B) Central Cattle Pattern

C) Contained Cows Pattern

D) Centralized Cattle Prediction

9. The elites of Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe acquired glazed ceramics from ____________________.

A) Venezuela

B) Morocco

C) Pakistan

D) China

10. Great Zimbabwe might have had as many as _________________ residents.

A) 90

B) 800

C) 2500

D) 18,000

11. A central kraal might contain cattle but also _____________________.

A) diamond mines

B) men’s burials

C) adobe pyramids

D) pithouses

12. ____________________ were a particularly prized import in Iron Age southeastern Africa.

A) Etruscan ceramics

B) Llamas

C) Glass beads

D) Jade masks

13. What temperature must be reached to smelt iron?

A) 1100°C

B) 350°C

C) 9000°C

D) 6300°C

14. _________ may have controlled as much as 90,000 square kilometers of the plateau region.

A) Schroda

B) Great Zimbabwe

C) Zhizo

D) Bambandyanalo

15. Which of these was the defining feature of the Zimbabwe Pattern?

A) Copper bangles

B) Stone-walled enclosures

C) Hilltop kraals

D) Soapstone eagles

16. Who built the site of Great Zimbabwe?

A) Arabs

B) Phoenicians

C) Queen of Sheba

D) Zimbabwe culture

17. Lake Victoria is not bordered by ____________________.

A) Tanzania

B) Kenya

C) Egypt

D) Uganda

18. Some cognitive archaeologists interpret Great Zimbabwe’s Great Enclosure at reflecting a ____________ division.

A) plant/animal

B) male/female

C) dark/light

D) nature/culture

19. The waste of extracting iron is called ______________.

A) kraal

B) slag

C) bloom

D) daga

20. Great Zimbabwe is located in the modern nation of ____________________.

A) Zambezi

B) Botswana

C) Tanzania

D) Zimbabwe

21. All of these grains were stored at Bambandyanalo except ________________.

A) finger millet

B) sorghum

C) einkorn wheat

D) pearl millet

22. The state centered at Great Zimbabwe was the successor to the __________ state.

A) Torwa

B) Uganda

C) Mutapa

D) Mapungubwe

23. Archaeologists have used the modern ______________ traditions to infer female initiations at Great Zimbabwe.

A) Arikara

B) Hohokam

C) Venda

D) Mbuti

24. Two elite burials at Mapungubwe contained gold _____________.

A) lions

B) pheasants

C) rhinos

D) hippos

25. Mapungubwe’s peak population was probably around _____________________.

A) 12

B) 350

C) 24,000

D) 5000

26. One male burial at Mapungubwe included a gold ________________.

A) scepter

B) star

C) mask

D) phallus

27. Great Zimbabwe grew into a large town after about _______________.

A) AD 17

B) AD 850

C) AD 1290

D) AD 1670

28. When the Portuguese encountered the Mutapa State, they (the Portuguese) were primarily interested in _______________.

A) soapstone

B) iron

C) cattle

D) gold

29. Great Zimbabwe declined around _________________.

A) AD 1420

B) AD 1530

C) AD 900

D) AD 1980

30. The _________________ confluence was a good place for African settlements, like Schroda.

A) Congo Basin

B) Shashe-Limpopo

C) Shashe-Zaire

D) Zambezi

/Questions (10)

1. Limpopo and Zambezi are major rivers in southeastern Africa. (

2. European sailors who first encountered the Mutapa state were Spanish. (

3. Bambandyanalo is also known as K2. (

4. Around AD 1290–1300, Mapungubwe was abandoned. (

5. The Jaguar Paw burial was found at Mapungubwe. (

6. People of southeastern Africa used sorghum to brew beer. (

7. The primary ritual responsibility of Great Zimbabwe’s rulers was ensuring the fertility of cattle. (

8. Bambandyanalo was established by Zhizo people. (

9. The people of Great Zimbabwe were the ancestors of modern Shona speakers. (

10. Sheep and goats were introduced to southeastern Africa from the Middle East. (

1. What is the genetic origin of southeastern African cattle?

2. What is the Chifumbaze complex?

3. Why is iron metallurgy such a technologically complex process?

4. What is the Zimbabwe Pattern?

5. What is daga? How was it used in southeastern African villages?

6. By what process did rulers in this area become seen as sacred?

7. Schroda does not appear to be an ideal setting for agriculture. Why did Zhizo people establish their capital there?

8. What were the three capitals of the Mapungubwe state?

9. In what ways was metallurgy a symbolically male activity in historic times?

10. Who were the “Leopard’s Kopje” people?

1. Discuss the ritual symbolism of the crocodile in the cultures of Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe.

2. What role did cattle play in southeastern African state-level polities?

3. What was the cultural and historical significance of the “Bantu Expansion”?

4. The Central Cattle Pattern was the basis of village life in southeastern Africa for centuries. What was this pattern?

5. How did Shona oral traditions contribute to a cognitive archaeological interpretation of Great Zimbabwe’s Great Enclosure?