Deck 1: Nature, Humanity, and the First River-Valley Civilizations

Question 1

The reli gions of pastoralist communities t ended to focus on

A) a male sky-god .
B) an Earth Mother.
C) a variety of important gods.
D) sacred groves and springs.
E) moon worship.

Answer 1

a male sky-god .

Question 2

What was the primary source of food for early foragers?

A) Crops
B) Wild game
C) Domesticated animals
D) Fish
E) Wild plants

Answer 2

Wild plants

Question 3

Which of the following was not a result of the transition to agriculture?

A) A more dependable food supply.
B) The establishment of permanent settlements.
C) Population growth.
D) A more varied and nutritious diet.
E) Increased reliance on domestic animals.

Answer 3

A more varied and nutritious diet.

Question 4

The Mesopotamian writing system is called

A) Linear A.
B) Linear B.
C) phonetic.
D) hieroglyphics.
E) cuneiform.

Question 5

The Agricultural Revolutions occurred in which era?

A) Megalithic
B) Ostrolithic
C) Neolithic
D) Paleolithic
E) Monolithic

Question 6

What cultural activity extends as far back in time as the earliest human remains?

A) Rug weaving
B) Cave painting
C) Toolmaking
D) Written language
E) Hearth building

Question 7

The term city-state refers to

A) a large city surrounded by a protective wall.
B) the political institution that ruled over ancient kingdoms.
C) an urban center and the agricultural hinterlands it controlled.
D) an association of mutually dependent cities.
E) any number of small states that engaged in long-distance trade.

Question 8

Which of these distinctively human characteristics was the first to appear in early hominids?

A) A large brain
B) A larynx positioned low in the neck
C) The ability to walk upright
D) Opposable thumbs
E) The ability to use language

Question 9

The earliest historically documented people of Mesopotamia were the

A) Sumerians.
B) Egyptians.
C) Hyksos.
D) Hittites.
E) Medes.

Question 10

Homo sapiens first evolved in:

A) Asia
B) Africa
C) Europe
D) North America
E) Australia

Question 11

Metalworking in the late Neolithic period was used for

A) making metal-tipped weapons.
B) objects representing status and power.
C) agricultural purposes.
D) making cooking implements.
E) making coins.

Question 12

Which recent discovery has led archaeologists to question the old idea that complex societies arose in Mesopotamia in order to organize labor on irrigation projects?

A) That Mesopotamian societies did not actually coordinate labor on such a scale.
B) That complex societies appeared at the same time in nearby areas with agriculture sustained by rainfall.
C) That irrigation was not as important to Mesopotamian societies as previously thought.
D) That agriculture is less important than bureaucracy in sustaining a complex civilization.
E) None of these.

Question 13

Early foragers probably spent how many hours per day, on average, obtaining food, clothing and shelter?

A) 1 to 3
B) 3 to 5
C) 5 to 8
D) 8 to 12
E) 12 to 15

Question 14

What is the primary evidence that religion at Çatal Hüyük centered on worship of a fertility goddess?

A) Megaliths
B) Sacred texts
C) Temples
D) Shrine sculpture
E) Traces of offerings

Question 15

Agriculture in Mesopotamia depended on

A) artificial canals and irrigation.
B) the region's high annual rainfall.
C) the introduction of wheat crops.
D) large numbers of animals for fertilizer.
E) a highly motivated work force.

Question 16

The two centers of power in Mesopotamian city-states were

A) the barracks and the royal palace.
B) the marketplace and the barracks.
C) the courthouse and the royal palace.
D) the temple and the barracks.
E) the temple and the royal palace.

Question 17

Which factor do scholars now think was most important in causing the Agricultural Revolutions?

A) Climate change
B) The development of metalworking
C) Desire for luxury goods
D) The need to marshal resources for warfare
E) Religious beliefs

Question 18

Cave art is generally representative of

A) religious or mythological stories.
B) population counts.
C) an inventory of hunting and gathering.
D) early graffiti.
E) We don't k now for sure.

Question 19

Pastoralism differe d from farming because

A) pastoralists led less stressful lives.
B) pastoralists were mobile populations without many material goods.
C) herds were used for transportation only.
D) the diet was entirely based on meat, with no vegetables.
E) farmers did not practice animal husbandry.

Question 20

Why did the earliest civilizations emerge in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley , and China ?

A) These areas were easily defended from invaders.
B) In each location, environmental stability provided a means for survival.
C) These areas were connected to one another through crossroads.
D) They were all in river flood plains that provided good land for agriculture.
E) They were good sites for hunting and gathering.

Question 21

The most important social consequence of long-distance trade in the Old Babylonian period was

A) a decrease in the amount of land in private hands.
B) a tendency for the rich to covet exotic goods.
C) a love of foods from distant lands.
D) the emergence of an independent merchant class.
E) an increase in the number of enslaved people.

Question 22

The Babylonian leader Hammurabi is best known for his

A) religious reforms.
B) modern political organization.
C) expansion of the Mesopotamian economy.
D) physical strength.
E) law code.

Question 23

In the third millennium B.C.E., the political ruler in Sumer was a(n)

A) pharaoh.
B) vizier.
C) lugal .
D) kniaz .
E) emperor.

Question 24

Egyptian history was characterized by a tension between

A) civilian and military power.
B) a centralizing monarchy and a decentralizing bureaucracy.
C) aristocrats and commoners.
D) slaves and freemen.
E) commercial interests and the interests of the state.

Question 25

Historians can infer that Mesopotamian society consisted of

A) two classes.
B) three classes.
C) five classes.
D) seven classes.
E) no classes.

Question 26

The abundance of amulets in Mesopotamia suggests

A) that the society was extremely materialistic.
B) a large quantity of semiprecious stones was available.
C) that Mesopotamian artisans were very skilled.
D) a belief in the value of magic.
E) the egalitarian nature of Mesopotamian religion.

Question 27

Improvements in the Mesopotamian military technology included all of the following except

A) bronze weapons.
B) chariots.
C) metal-tipped arrows used by squads of archers.
D) siege machinery.
E) incendiary devices.

Question 28

Egyptians viewed the universe as an orderly and beneficent place because

A) their gods protected them from danger.
B) their environment was largely stable and predictable, unlike Mesopotamia's.
C) they thought they were alone in the world.
D) they had nilometers by which they could measure the river.
E) they ha d clear borders between red land and black land.

Question 29

Women in Mesopotamian society had a lower status than they did in a hunter-gatherer society because of

A) the requirement to serve as temple prostitutes.
B) their role as primary agricultural producers.
C) their role in the military.
D) the loss of their role as the community's major providers of food.
E) the requirement that they not leave the house.

Question 30

Crucial to Egypt's agriculture was

A) a complex system of aqueducts.
B) regular rainfall south of the delta.
C) the regular and predictable flooding of the Nile.
D) favor of the gods.
E) its desert, which meant that there was almost no agriculture in Egypt.

Question 31

The culture that developed in Egypt was unique largely because of

A) Egypt's interaction with other civilizations.
B) Egypt's natural isolation and material self-suffici ency.
C) Egyptian dominance in metalworking.
D) The crops grown in Egypt and Egyptians' desire to undertake foreign trade.
E) Egypt's large population.

Question 32

Egyptians used writing for

A) instruction manuals.
B) hymns to the gods.
C) love poems.
D) administrative matters.
E) All of these.

Question 33

Which of the following about women in Mesopotamia was probably not true?

A) They manufactured textiles.
B) They brewed beer and ran taverns.
C) They worked as prostitutes and fortune tellers.
D) They could own property.
E) They could be appointed to government positions.

Question 34

According to Egyptian belief, the function assigned by the gods to the Egyptian kings was to maintain ma'at , or the

A) separation of the divine and natural spheres.
B) divinely authorized order of the universe.
C) subservience of the people to the king.
D) welfare and prosperity of the country.
E) accumulation of royal wealth.

Question 35

Economic activity in Egypt was marked by

A) the role it gave to a strong and independent merchant class.
B) urban production of goods in artisanal workshops.
C) extensive government involvement in production and trade.
D) an emphasis on low taxes.
E) All of these.

Question 36

Mesopotamian gods were anthropomorphic; that is, they

A) took form as the elements of nature.
B) were humanlike in form and conduct.
C) appeared in the bodies of kings while on earth.
D) were divine and perfect beings.
E) were omniscient.

Question 37

T he kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur did all of the following except

A) organize a system of standardized weights and measures.
B) establish a uniform writing system.
C) build a great wall to protect against invaders.
D) attack Egypt.
E) establish a network of messengers and road stations.

Question 38

Mesopotamia's most abundant resource was

A) stone.
B) wood.
C) clay.
D) lamp oil.
E) bronze.

Question 39

What motivated Mesop otamian city-states to conquer neighboring territories?

A) The desire to spread the religion of Baal.
B) The search for new trade goods.
C) The need for vital resources like metal and wood.
D) The search for living space for the burgeoning population.
E) The desire to capture slaves.

Question 40

The first great pyramid was constructed

A) by Djoser, to serve as his tomb.
B) out of mud bricks.
C) by Hebrew slaves.
D) to demonstrate the pharaoh's military power.
E) by Menes after unifying Upper and Lower Egypt.

Question 41

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
Sumerians

Question 42

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
ziggurat

Question 43

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
Hammurabi

Question 44

Fundamental concepts of Egyptian religion were based on

A) the desires of the pharaohs.
B) extending Egyptian control over competing cultures.
C) the vision of a cosmic order that the physical environment of the Nile Valley evoked.
D) ideas brought to Egypt from Mesopotamia.
E) each person's individual reflection on what god is like.

Question 45

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
city-state

Question 46

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
Stone Age

Question 47

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
Paleolithic

Question 48

The majority of the Egyptian population was comprised of

A) farmers who lived in villages.
B) scribes and bureaucrats.
C) urban craftsmen.
D) nomadic pastoralists.
E) settlers pushed out of the Sahara by climate change.

Question 49

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
civilization

Question 50

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
scribe

Question 51

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
history

Question 52

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
Babylon

Question 53

Much of our knowledge of daily life in Egypt comes from

A) ancient papyrus scrolls.
B) hieroglyphic inscriptions on temples and monuments.
C) objects found in tombs.
D) archaeological evidence of urban settlements.
E) All of these.

Question 54

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
culture

Question 55

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
megalith

Question 56

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
forager

Question 57

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
Agricultural Revolution

Question 58

Women in Egypt seemed to have

A) rights of divorce.
B) rights to property.
C) more status than women in Mesopotamia.
D) subordinate status to men.
E) All of these

Question 59

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
Semitic

Question 60

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
Neolithic

Question 61

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
pyramid

Question 62

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
mummy

Question 63

Describe the conditions leading to the transition from food gathering to food cultivation. Also, briefly describe the differences and similarities in agriculture around the world.

Question 64

How did the status and experience of women change as Mesopotamian society developed into a civilization?

Question 65

Social divisions (or class/status) is a feature of most civilizations. Describe those divisions in early Mesopotamia.

Question 66

Explain how the first Egyptian civilization was shaped by its natural environment.

Question 67

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
cuneiform

Question 68

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
hieroglyphics

Question 69

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
Memphis

Question 70

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
ma'at

Question 71

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
pharaoh

Question 72

Describe the process by which the main framework of civilization was created in Mesopotamia.

Question 73

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
Thebes

Question 74

What can researchers discover about foragers by studying present-day foragers and nonhuman primates?

Question 75

What effect did geography and climate have on the development of early civilizations? Choose a civilization and explain its development based on geography and climate.

Question 76

People began to settle into permanent communities (what we call Neolithic culture) around 10,000 B.C.E. What were the advantages and disadvantages?

Question 77

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
papyrus

Question 78

There is common agreement on what defines civilization. Describe the development of early civilizations using an agreed-upon definition of civilization.

Question 79

Instructions: Explain/Define the following terms.
amulet

Question 80

Prehistoric cultures of Old Stone Age and New Stone Age both used stone tools. What distinguishes the two?