cities. Urban areas offered further specialization of labor and more sophisticated technology. New
roles emerged as cities required administrators, collectors of taxes and tribute, and religious leaders.
Cities also acquired influence over larger territories than villages did.
Rapid Review
The Neolithic Age saw independent origins of agriculture worldwide. As the knowledge of
agriculture spread, cultural diffusion marked the ancient world. When crop cultivation produced
increasingly larger yields, some farmers specialized in other tasks or crafts. As population
concentrations grew increasingly dense, settlements grew into villages and, later, cities. Cities
developed a more complex social structure to administer wealth, provide order, and study the
meaning of life itself.
Review Questions
1 . Early agriculture in the Americas
(A) developed as a result of cultural diffusion from the Eastern Hemisphere
(B) featured the domestication of larger animals than in the Eastern Hemisphere
(C) began later than in the Eastern Hemisphere
(D) did not produce the wide variety of crops that the Eastern Hemisphere did
2 . The Agricultural Revolution
(A) began with an extensive pattern of cultural diffusion
(B) occurred about the same time throughout the world
(C) was an abrupt process beginning in 8000 BCE
(D) saw the use of agricultural methods that encouraged migration
3 . During the Agricultural Revolution, women
(A) participated in hunting activities with men
(B) experienced a decrease in status
(C) were not represented in neolithic art
(D) observed and studied the agricultural environment
4 . The Neolithic Age
(A) saw the beginnings of urbanization
(B) saw the process of agriculture carried out without the use of metal tools
(C) produced societies without class distinctions
(D) saw a decline in global populations
5 . Early urban dwellers
(A) were dominated by peoples in agricultural settlements
(B) left the pursuit of religious practices to agricultural peoples
(C) saw the need for a government
(D) were offered few opportunities to carry out specialized tasks