Grade 6 Social Studies · Early Humans

Grade 6 Early Humans Practice Test

Build Grade 6 Social Studies skills with five 10-question practice tests on human origins, migration, hunter-gatherers, tools, fire, art, farming, domestication, settlements, and archaeology.

Early Humans Practice Tests

These Grade 6 Social Studies practice tests help students explain early human origins, migration, adaptation, technology, food systems, and settlement. Students examine fossils, artifacts, hunter-gatherer life, fire, tools, art, the Neolithic Revolution, domestication, archaeology, and the movement of people across changing environments.

Skills covered

  • Using fossils, artifacts, sites, and scientific dating as historical evidence
  • Explaining bipedal movement, adaptation, migration, and environmental change
  • Understanding hunter-gatherer life, cooperation, tools, fire, art, and symbolic communication
  • Explaining agriculture, domestication, food surpluses, villages, storage, and irrigation
  • Comparing Paleolithic and Neolithic societies without treating all groups as identical
  • Analyzing cultural diffusion, trade, and the limits of archaeological evidence

How to use these practice tests

Begin by identifying whether the evidence describes movement, technology, food production, settlement, or culture. Then connect the evidence to the environment and the needs of the group. When more than one explanation is possible, choose the answer that is best supported and most careful about the limits of the evidence.

For more Grade 6 Social Studies practice, return to the Grade 6 Social Studies category.

1. Test

Grade 6 Early Humans Practice Tests

A 10-question Grade 6 Social Studies practice test on early human evidence, migration, hunter-gatherers, tools, fire, art, farming, domestication, settlements, and archaeology.

Use evidence about environment, tools, food production, migration, settlement, and archaeology to choose the best answer about early human history.

10 Questions
0/10 Questions0 %
Correct 0
Incorrect 0
Unanswered 10
1. QuestionMultiple choice

What is a hominin?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: A

The correct answer is A human or close human relative that walks upright.

  1. Identify the early human history concept: Determine whether the question focuses on evidence, movement, technology, subsistence, settlement, or social change.
  2. Use the evidence: Hominins are members of the human family and close relatives, including species that developed upright walking.
  3. Check the historical connection: Connect environment, adaptation, technology, resources, and archaeological evidence to confirm the answer.

Hominins are members of the human family and close relatives, including species that developed upright walking.

2. QuestionMultiple choice

Why is Africa important in the study of early humans?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: B

The correct answer is Many of the oldest known hominin fossils and tools have been found there..

  1. Identify the early human history concept: Determine whether the question focuses on evidence, movement, technology, subsistence, settlement, or social change.
  2. Use the evidence: Fossils and archaeological evidence from Africa provide important information about early human development.
  3. Check the historical connection: Connect environment, adaptation, technology, resources, and archaeological evidence to confirm the answer.

Fossils and archaeological evidence from Africa provide important information about early human development.

3. QuestionMultiple choice

What is a fossil?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: C

The correct answer is Preserved remains, impressions, or traces of past life.

  1. Identify the early human history concept: Determine whether the question focuses on evidence, movement, technology, subsistence, settlement, or social change.
  2. Use the evidence: Fossils can include bones, teeth, footprints, impressions, and other preserved evidence.
  3. Check the historical connection: Connect environment, adaptation, technology, resources, and archaeological evidence to confirm the answer.

Fossils can include bones, teeth, footprints, impressions, and other preserved evidence.

4. QuestionMultiple choice

Why are early human fossils useful to historians and scientists?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: D

The correct answer is They provide evidence about bodies, movement, diet, age, and relationships among populations..

  1. Identify the early human history concept: Determine whether the question focuses on evidence, movement, technology, subsistence, settlement, or social change.
  2. Use the evidence: Fossils reveal physical traits and can be compared with tools, environments, and other evidence.
  3. Check the historical connection: Connect environment, adaptation, technology, resources, and archaeological evidence to confirm the answer.

Fossils reveal physical traits and can be compared with tools, environments, and other evidence.

5. QuestionMultiple choice

What does adaptation mean in the study of early humans?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: A

The correct answer is A physical or behavioral feature that helps a group survive in its environment.

  1. Identify the early human history concept: Determine whether the question focuses on evidence, movement, technology, subsistence, settlement, or social change.
  2. Use the evidence: Adaptations can help people obtain food, avoid danger, move efficiently, or live in changing environments.
  3. Check the historical connection: Connect environment, adaptation, technology, resources, and archaeological evidence to confirm the answer.

Adaptations can help people obtain food, avoid danger, move efficiently, or live in changing environments.

6. QuestionMultiple choice

Why was walking upright useful for some early humans?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: B

The correct answer is It freed the hands for carrying, gathering, using tools, and other tasks..

  1. Identify the early human history concept: Determine whether the question focuses on evidence, movement, technology, subsistence, settlement, or social change.
  2. Use the evidence: Bipedal movement allowed hands to perform tasks while people traveled on two legs.
  3. Check the historical connection: Connect environment, adaptation, technology, resources, and archaeological evidence to confirm the answer.

Bipedal movement allowed hands to perform tasks while people traveled on two legs.

7. QuestionMultiple choice

What is an artifact?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: C

The correct answer is An object made or changed by humans.

  1. Identify the early human history concept: Determine whether the question focuses on evidence, movement, technology, subsistence, settlement, or social change.
  2. Use the evidence: Tools, pottery, jewelry, weapons, and structures are examples of artifacts.
  3. Check the historical connection: Connect environment, adaptation, technology, resources, and archaeological evidence to confirm the answer.

Tools, pottery, jewelry, weapons, and structures are examples of artifacts.

8. QuestionMultiple choice

Why should archaeologists study both artifacts and the place where they are found?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: D

The correct answer is The location and context can reveal how an object was used and how people lived..

  1. Identify the early human history concept: Determine whether the question focuses on evidence, movement, technology, subsistence, settlement, or social change.
  2. Use the evidence: An artifact is more informative when its position, nearby materials, and environmental setting are also considered.
  3. Check the historical connection: Connect environment, adaptation, technology, resources, and archaeological evidence to confirm the answer.

An artifact is more informative when its position, nearby materials, and environmental setting are also considered.

9. QuestionMultiple choice

Which evidence can help scientists estimate the age of a fossil or artifact?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: A

The correct answer is The layer where it was found and scientific dating methods.

  1. Identify the early human history concept: Determine whether the question focuses on evidence, movement, technology, subsistence, settlement, or social change.
  2. Use the evidence: Stratigraphy and dating methods help place evidence in a chronological sequence.
  3. Check the historical connection: Connect environment, adaptation, technology, resources, and archaeological evidence to confirm the answer.

Stratigraphy and dating methods help place evidence in a chronological sequence.

10. QuestionMultiple choice

Why do scientists revise explanations about early humans?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: B

The correct answer is New evidence can change or improve interpretations of the past..

  1. Identify the early human history concept: Determine whether the question focuses on evidence, movement, technology, subsistence, settlement, or social change.
  2. Use the evidence: Scientific and historical knowledge develops as researchers evaluate new fossils, artifacts, and methods.
  3. Check the historical connection: Connect environment, adaptation, technology, resources, and archaeological evidence to confirm the answer.

Scientific and historical knowledge develops as researchers evaluate new fossils, artifacts, and methods.

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Frequently asked questions about Grade 6 Early Humans

What topics are covered?

The page covers human origins, fossils, artifacts, adaptation, migration, hunter-gatherers, tools, fire, art, the Neolithic Revolution, domestication, farming, settlements, archaeology, trade, and cultural diffusion.

How should students analyze early human evidence?

Identify the evidence, consider its archaeological context, connect it to environment and human needs, and avoid conclusions that go beyond what the evidence supports.

How many questions are on this page?

The page includes five mini tests with 10 questions each, for 50 Grade 6 Early Humans questions in total.