Deck 15: The First Civilizations

Question 1

Which of the following statements concerning the relationship between climate change and the emergence of civilizations is accurate?

A) Climate change is insufficient alone to explain the rise of all civilizations.
B) Climate change always played an important role.
C) There is little correlation between climate change and the emergence of civilizations.
D) Climate change can never account for the emergence of civilizations.
E) The presence of severe drought conditions can be linked to the emergence of civilizations.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Kwang-chih Chang has linked the development of civilization in China to:

A) the restricted access to the means of communication
B) the development of irrigation systems
C) the emergence of agriculture
D) extended periods of cold and dry weather
E) the emergence of efficient transportation systems

Answer 2

A

Question 3

States, as defined by Morton Fried, are characterized by which of the following?

A) egalitarian organization
B) lack of social differentiation
C) concept of citizenship
D) lack of administrative bureaucracies
E) dependence on informal leadership

Answer 3

C

Question 4

What common factor does Bruce Trigger propose all early civilizations share?

A) comparable periods of environmental change
B) the presence of increasingly limited access to information
C) the need to manage increasingly complex societies through political and administrative institutions
D) all early civilizations emerged in the same basic type of environment
E) less top-down management

Question 5

Social stratification accompanies the earliest states, which means there is archaeological evidence of

A) no real social classes
B) most people performed essential specialized tasks of craft production, military service, trade, and religion
C) lack of the presence of a hereditary ruling class
D) few elite individuals who controlled access to goods and services produced by others
E) no real way to levy and collect taxes

Question 6

The appearance of cities in Mesopotamia has been linked to all of the following factors except

A) the presence of military conflict
B) economic competition
C) the outgrowth of increased agricultural productivity
D) the building of irrigation systems
E) the decrease in social problems and pollution

Question 7

The development of the Egyptian civilization may be linked to influence from

A) Mesopotamia
B) Hierakonpolis
C) Harrappa
D) Nubia
E) Mohenjo-Daro

Question 8

Archaeologists agree that to date, the earliest true city yet discovered is:

A) Jericho
B) Uruk
C) Çatalhöyük
D) Jarmo
E) Mohenjo-Daro

Question 9

Which feature of Ubaid society likely influenced the development of community organization and cooperation?

A) the construction of massive irrigation systems
B) the development of extensive trade contacts
C) the development of an institutional bureaucracy
D) the rise of a full-time military
E) the development of a writing system

Question 10

Most of the content of most early Sumerian writing does not concern

A) administrative records
B) economic issues
C) legal accounts
D) mythic narratives
E) matters typical of complex bureaucratic societies

Question 11

Arie Issar and Mattanyah Zohar have argued that what factor was likely responsible for the development of early civilization in the Near East?

A) need to construct and maintain irrigation systems
B) fluctuating availability of water resources caused by major climatic changes
C) need for a communal flood defense system
D) population growth and nucleation
E) the development of a religious hierarchy

Question 12

The development of formal, non-kin, organization means that:

A) the appropriation of the right by the state to decide which acts will be punished as crimes
B) the end of kin relations as an important factor in society
C) political succession based on a family system
D) the transition from a ranked to an egalitarian structure
E) the end of an institutional religion

Question 13

Which of the following best characterizes the term "civilization"?

A) the last in a series of stages of cultural development through which most human groups have developed
B) the larger social order and set of shared values in which states are culturally embedded
C) the modern, European social and cultural system
D) any state level society
E) people with culture

Question 14

The term, city, applies to urban centers that are characterized by all of the following except

A) specialized occupations
B) social complexity
C) formal organization
D) having been around for all of human history
E) support by lesser communities

Question 15

Modern day Iraq is better known to archaeologists studying Old World civilizations as a part of the region of

A) India
B) China
C) Mesopotamia
D) Europe
E) Egypt

Question 16

The ziggurat, is typically associated with which ancient civilization?

A) Sumerian
B) Egyptian
C) Qin dynasty
D) Indus Valley
E) Mayan

Question 17

Which of the following best describes the nature of Sumerian political organization?

A) large, loosely organized confederations of allied cities
B) autonomous city-states with smaller satellite communities and associated cropland
C) a single empire based in Uruk city
D) two independent societies located along the Upper and Lower Euphrates
E) large urban centers and autonomous rural farming communities

Question 18

The Ubaid farmers of Mesopotamia are associated with:

A) the initial period of agriculture in the Near East
B) the settlement of the alluvial plains along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
C) the development of the first cities in India
D) the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt
E) the adoption of dry-farming techniques in the Upper Euphrates valley

Question 19

The decline of Sumerian civilization may be linked to:

A) constant competition between city-states
B) agricultural use of fertilizers
C) the presence of a prolonged drought in Mesopotamia
D) lack of competition among internal agencies
E) military stagnation

Question 20

The style of writing of ancient Mesopotamia, which employed a wedge shaped stylus pressed into damp clay, is known as:

A) hieroglyphs
B) pictographs
C) cuneiform
D) scapulamancy
E) faience

Question 21

Which Mesoamerican group filled the vacuum caused by the decline of Teotihuacán?

A) Inca
B) Toltecs
C) Aztecs
D) Maya
E) Olmec

Question 22

Maya centers typically served all of the following function except

A) commerce
B) religious ceremonies
C) socio-political centers
D) peasant village life
E) veneration of divine rulers

Question 23

What factor contributed to the concentration of wealth and the emergence of social hierarchies during the Longshan period?

A) control of irrigation technology
B) the circulation of luxury products
C) trade with the Indus Valley civilization
D) population nucleation associated with climate shifts
E) the establishment of a standing military

Question 24

The evidence of writing during the Shang dynasty in China was typically associated with

A) recording economic transactions
B) the process of divination or prophecy
C) religious texts
D) records of the succession of royal families
E) property records

Question 25

Which of the following explanations may account for the urbanization of the Indus Valley?

A) period of drought years
B) increased warfare
C) increased threat of flooding
D) the development of increasingly productive agricultural practices
E) unification under a single ruler

Question 26

Which of the following statements about the end of the Classic Period Maya civilization reflects our current understanding of the collapse?

A) It marks the end of social complexity in Mesoamerica.
B) It does not affect the lowland areas.
C) It is associated with the end of palace and temple construction.
D) It may be linked to political instability, climatic factors, malnutrition, and various other important elements.
E) Stelae were no longer produced.

Question 27

Which of the following best describes the nature of Maya political organization?

A) an empire centered at Tikal
B) territorial states encompassing many large centers
C) two independent polities in the lowland and highland areas
D) independent city states and associated local centers
E) a loose confederation of allied city-states

Question 28

The hieroglyphic writing system is

A) a complex system of impressions in wedge-shaped clay graphs
B) Egyptian in form but possibly Mesopotamian in inspiration
C) an epic account featuring the adventures of Gilgamesh
D) a pictographic from of Sumarian writing, but using hundreds of standardized signs
E) associated with lower status individuals

Question 29

The legendary Xia dynasty, proclaimed in myth as the dawn of the Chinese civilization, may be evidenced in in the increased complexity of Erlitou at around

A) 8,000 - 7,600 ya.
B) 6,500 - 6,250 ya.
C) 5,000 - 4,000 ya.
D) 4,600 - 3,200 ya.
E) 3,900 to 3,600 ya

Question 30

The large temple complexes found at Sechin Alto and other related sites in Peru likely served as:

A) local "corporate" centers
B) local market centers
C) regional ceremonial and market centers
D) shrines for large numbers of local populations
E) education centers

Question 31

The ________________ society associated with the initial development of cultural unity and centralized authority in the northern Peruvian highlands and coast?

A) Inca
B) Chavín
C) Nasca
D) Moche
E) Wari

Question 32

Maya hieroglyphics on stelae recorded which of the following subjects?

A) commerce
B) royal ancestry and noble deeds
C) taxation records
D) accounts of the Spanish Conquest
E) technological manuals for metallurgy

Question 33

The Olmec culture was located primarily:

A) along the Gulf Coast of Mexico
B) in highland Mexico
C) along the Andean coast of South America
D) in the Amazon basin of South America
E) in the southwestern United States

Question 34

The initial appearance of political complexity in South America is likely associated with:

A) coastal groups dependent on the rich maritime resources
B) Amazonian farmers largely reliant on maize and taro
C) inland groups associated with evidence of agricultural intensification
D) highland groups practicing intensive potato-based agriculture
E) coastal groups planting maize and squash in garden plots

Question 35

The inhabitants of the Indus Valley urban centers:

A) had previously occupied the higher valley margins to the west
B) had previously practiced hunting and gathering in the Indus valley
C) migrated there from the upper Indus valley
D) adopted farming and herding when they settled on the valley floor
E) represent a long term sequence of occupation of the valley floor

Question 36

Which of the following best defines a primary difference between the Indus Valley and Egyptian civilizations?

A) the presence of extensive trade
B) the degree of evidence indicating a state level form of political organization
C) the importance of intensive agriculture
D) the degree of urbanization
E) the presence of irrigation agriculture

Question 37

Which of the following statements best describes the current archaeological understanding of the nature of Olmec political organization?

A) It represents the first undisputed civilization in Mesoamerica.
B) It represents the first civilization in the Americas.
C) It contains characteristics of a chiefdom, or ranked society.
D) It evidences the origins of writing in Mesoamerica.
E) It represents an early development of complex society in the lowlands of the Mexican Gulf Coast.

Question 38

Which of the following Mesoamerican cities was the Aztec capital?

A) Teotihuacán
B) Tula
C) Tenochtitlán
D) Monte Alban
E) Chichén Itzá

Question 39

The Classic Maya period is defined as:

A) between 1,500 and 900 BC
B) from around BC 300- AD 200
C) from roughly AD 200-900
D) from AD 900-1520
E) after the Spanish conquest

Question 40

Which of the following features has NOT been associated with the end of Teotihuacán?

A) nutritional stress and disease
B) burning in the ritual precinct
C) gradual population decline over several centuries
D) high infant mortality
E) dismemberment of members of the nobility

Question 41

The Ubaid period represents the initial settlement of the Tigris and Euphrates floodplain.

Question 42

Peru's coastal regions were whole-heartedly committed to subsistence agriculture after about 3,800 ya.

Question 43

Describe the origin of writing of the Sumerians. What kinds of information are typically recorded?

Question 44

The earliest true city yet discovered is found in Mesopotamia.

Question 45

The Olmec culture represents one of the first possible civilizations in the New World.

Question 46

The earliest evidence for writing occurs in Egypt.

Question 47

What features define the Ubaid period in Mesopotamia?

Question 48

Military conflict played little role in the formation of the Mesopotamian cities.

Question 49

As was true with several early civilizations, the Indus civilization's major sites declined, hundreds of smaller towns and villages outlasted them.

Question 50

An early city on the northern coast of Peru, known for its huge pyramid, unique pottery, skilled metalworking, and the rich tombs of its warrior-priests was:

A) Moche
B) Nazca
C) Cuzco
D) Tikal
E) Chavín de Huantar

Question 51

The development of the first civilizations in South America was based primarily on maritime resources.

Question 52

Provide an example of a cultural explanation for the emergence of civilizations.

Question 53

The term "civilization" is currently used by anthropologists to mean essentially the same as culture or society.

Question 54

All early civilizations share a basic need to manage an increasingly complex society.

Question 55

In a state level society, conflict resolution and adjudication is often resolved through kinship structures.

Question 56

What features have been used to define a civilization?

Question 57

The end of Teotihuacán is associated with the destruction of religious temples.

Question 58

What is a state? What characteristics set it apart from other forms of social organization?

Question 59

Contrast the terms city state and territorial state.

Question 60

What are some of the characteristics of early civilizations that were enumerated by V. Gordon Childe? Why are trait lists such as Childe's generally ineffective in explaining the origin of civilizations?

Question 61

Detail the development of civilization in Mesoamerica in ecologically diverse locations, including the Olmec and the Aztec.

Question 62

What role did marine resource exploitation have in the emergence of political complexity in South America?

Question 63

What factors account for the rise and fall of early civilizations in Mesopotamia? What aspects of the social, political, and economic organization?

Question 64

Describe the political organization of Egypt.

Question 65

What factors are associated with the demise of Teotihuacan?

Question 66

Compare and contrast New and Old World Civilizations in terms of the lifeways of the residents. What are the major similarities, and what are some of the substantial differences?

Question 67

What role did the Classic Maya centers fulfill?

Question 68

How has "civilization" been defined in the past? Compare and contrast the use of this term by Childe, Kluckhohn, and current anthropologists.

Question 69

What was the underlying unifying factor of the Chavin culture?

Question 70

Cite several specific examples of "corporate construction" projects carried out in prehistoric Peru. What do such activities reveal about the nature of the ancient societies that undertook them?

Question 71

Compare and contrast the environmental and cultural explanations used to explain the development of civilization. What are the central principles of each approach? How have these theories been applied to the development of civilization in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and China?

Question 72

Where and when did the Olmecs live, and what were some of their most notable accomplishments?