Deck 11: Early States in the Old World

Question 1

A hierarchical settlement pattern of major city, towns, village and hamlets is often characteristic of state societies.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Craft specialists who worked for early states had to produce their own food.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

All states must have an army to control their citizens.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The development of irrigation agriculture was an important factor in the rise of early states in Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Indus.

Question 5

Cities, states and writing appear at roughly the same time in Mesopotamia.

Question 6

Sargon of Akkad was the first king of Egypt.

Question 7

A ziggurat is a pyramid-like structure.

Question 8

The Narmer palette depicts the unification of Egypt.

Question 9

Ancient Egypt was a loose confederation of independent regions.

Question 10

Ancient Egypt was rich in mineral resources, but poor in good quality wood.

Question 11

Slaves built Egyptian pyramids.

Question 12

The Indus state was the earliest state of Pakistan and India.

Question 13

The Indus state was ruled by a dynasty of hereditary kings.

Question 14

Stone architecture dominates Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa.

Question 15

Shang kings were not powerful politically.

Question 16

Shang bronze technology was an indigenous development.

Question 17

State development in tropical Africa was the direct result of Arab influence.

Question 18

Stone stellae at Aksum probably served as tomb markers.

Question 19

There is clear evidence for a controlling authority at Jenné-jeno.

Question 20

The primary importance of monumental architecture is to

A) exploit local resources
B) keep citizens busy with work
C) symbolize the power of the state
D) promote places of worship

Question 21

The systems model of state development considers

A) an increase in population size to be the defining factor in state formation
B) states as part of an integrated cultural and ecological whole in which change in one area affects other areas
C) warfare to be the defining factor in state formation
D) the expansion of trade to be the defining factor in state formation

Question 22

Which of the following is NOT associated with the rise of states in Mesopotamia:

A) writing
B) extensive trade networks
C) domestication of wheat
D) increased bureaucratic control

Question 23

The purpose of early writing seals and tablets at Uruk-Warka was primarily to

A) record myths about Mesopotamian gods
B) set out state laws
C) record administrative details of the state
D) record dynastic lineages

Question 24

Sourcing the origin of raw materials from which artifacts are made

A) permits the elaboration of geological maps
B) shows the location of mines
C) potentially allows the reconstruction of trade routes
D) indicates sites where artifacts are made

Question 25

Ancient Egyptians planted their seed crops

A) just before the yearly Nile floods
B) during the yearly Nile floods
C) just as the Nile floods subsided
D) during the dry season

Question 26

Demotic writing was an Egyptian script that

A) replaced hieroglyphic script for religious inscriptions
B) replaced hieratic script for everyday purposes
C) was used in association with hieratic for religious inscriptions
D) preceded hieroglyphic and hieratic scripts for religious inscriptions

Question 27

Standardization in the Indus state is indicated by

A) city planning at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
B) building techniques
C) a system of weights and measures
D) all of the previous

Question 28

Indus religion appears to be connected with

A) female fertility figurines found at all Indus sites
B) Shiva, the Hindu god
C) ritual cleansing
D) the 'priest king'

Question 29

For which of the following is there clear evidence for state colonies beyond state borders?

A) Mesopotamia and Shang
B) Indus and Mesopotamia
C) Indus and Shang
D) Aksum and Jenné-jeno

Question 30

Which of the following correctly defines Shang oracle bones: they were

A) medium through which people received counsel from their ancestors
B) the medium on which Shang laws were inscribed
C) the remains of ritual feasting
D) the only form of Shang writing

Question 31

Shang bronzes are often very large because

A) there was an abundance of bronze available
B) they were needed for communal feasting
C) Shang elite used them as a form of conspicuous consumption in ritual offerings
D) Shang bronze smiths could not make small items

Question 32

Construction of monumental buildings using wattle-and-daub superstructures set on pounded earth platforms was characteristic of

A) Egyptian architects
B) Mesopotamian architects
C) Shang architects
D) Indus architects

Question 33

Sources of information for the Aksumite state include

A) archaeology and classical writings
B) archaeology and stone inscriptions
C) archaeology and coinage
D) all of the previous

Question 34

The development of the Aksumite state was due to

A) close association with Egypt
B) a secure subsistence base, access to exotic items, and its location on trade routes
C) war with surrounding areas
D) irrigation agriculture

Question 35

Palaces in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Aksum were

A) solely royal compounds
B) primarily used for religious purposes
C) probably administrative centers as well as royal living quarters
D) used as state grain storage areas as well as royal living quarters

Question 36

Which of the following appear to lack monumental architecture, writing and social stratification?

A) Aksum
B) Indus
C) Mesopotamia
D) Jenné-jeno

Question 37

Archaeological evidence at Jenné-jeno indicates specialist working in

A) iron working
B) salt production
C) glass production
D) bronze manufacture

Question 38

Which of the following appear to have functioned WITHOUT a writing system

A) Indus
B) European Oppida
C) Aksum
D) Shang

Question 39

Trade networks of Iron Age Oppida in temperate Europe were

A) poorly developed
B) linked primarily with other Oppida
C) directed at regional centers and Rome
D) directed primarily towards trade with Rome

Question 40

List five hypotheses proposed to explain the rise of states.

Question 41

What is Mesopotamia and why is it important?

Question 42

Evaluate the contribution of cylinder seals and writing tablets from Uruk-Warwka to our understanding of Sumerian City States.

Question 43

Why was the Nile River important in the rise of the Egyptian state?

Question 44

What is the importance of the Giza Plateau Mapping Project to our understanding of Ancient Egypt?.

Question 45

To what extent is the Indus state an enigma?

Question 46

Evaluate the use of clay as a building material in the Indus state.

Question 47

What role did the military play in the Shang state?

Question 48

Axum was the first state in Ethiopia? Discuss.

Question 49

Is Jenné-jeno an example of an egalitarian state society?

Question 50

Is there evidence for propaganda in early states? If so, what form did it take?

Question 51

What features characterize state societies and how can they be detected archeologically?

Question 52

Compare the social, economic, and political organization of two of the following: Sumeria city states, the early Egyptian state, the Shang state.

Question 53

Discuss with examples the information that burials provide about state societies?

Question 54

Compare the social, economic, and political organization of an early state in Europe or Asia, with one from Africa.

Question 55

Discuss the role of trade in early States.

Question 56

What part, if any, did writing play in the development of early states in the Old World?