Quiz created: 081027

Ancient Metallurgy (1)

Instructions: Answer the multiple choice questions, guessing if necessary; then click on the "Process Questions" button at the end of the quiz to see your score in the adjacent message box. The program will not reveal which questions you got wrong, only how many points you have. Go back and change your answers until you get them all right. (The message box will rejoice at that point and the page will change color in delight.)

Points to note: (1) Questions with only one possible answer are one point each. (2) Questions with one or more possible answers (represented by check boxes) give a point for each correct answer, but also subtract a point for each wrong answer! (3) The program will not attempt to score your efforts at all if you have not tried at least half of the questions. (4) This quiz is for your own use only. No record of your progress is kept or reported to anyone.


1. Copper was first worked
in the Upper Paleolithic period 
by Homo erectus 
about 6000-5000 BC 
in northern Europe 
in northern Mongolia 
No Answer
2. It was first used to make
hoes  spear points  beads  spoons  harpoons  needles  No Answer
3. The "Copper Age" or "Chalcolithic" identified by archaeologists working in the Near East fits between the
Paleolithic and the Neolithic 
the Neolithic and the Bronze Age 
the Bronze Age and the Iron Age 
the Iron Age and the Roman Empire 
No Answer
4. It is a feature of copper that (Select two.)
it is often stronger in alloys than in pure form 
it melts at a little over 1000°C 
it melts at a little over 500°C; 
it often softens when exposed to hot sunshine 
it cannot be used for pipes or eating utensils because it poisons the user 
5. Bronze is an alloy of copper with
iron  aluminum  sodium  zinc  tin  ammonia  No Answer
6. The ratio of ingredients in the bronze alloy is usually about
half and half 
four to one 
seven to one 
nine to one 
fifteen to one 
thirty to one 
No Answer
7. Among the additional metals sometimes added to bronze is lead, which was used to
produce "poisoning dishes" by the Romans 
make the cannon balls used in the Trojan War 
facilitate casting 
increase the hardness of the sharp edge in weapons 
replace the more expensive copper with cheaper lead, hoping the user wouldn't notice 
produce heaver clubs for use in warfare 
No Answer
8. The major difference between bronze and brass is that brass is a compound, more difficult to create, of copper and
iron  aluminum  sodium  zinc  tin  ammonia  No Answer

      Points out of 9:

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This consummately cool, pedagogically compelling, self-correcting,
multiple-choice quiz was produced automatically from
a simple text file of questions using D.K. Jordan's
dubiously original, but publicly accessible
Think Again Quiz Maker
of October 6, 2008.