Deck 1: Early Humans and the First Civilizations

Question 1

Archeologists and historians have identified several important milestones in the course of human evolution and societal development. Starting with the emergence of the first human-like creatures and ending with the invention of writing, identify at least four intermediate milestones and state their importance.

Answer 1

Answers will vary.

Question 2

What major economic changes resulted from the Neolithic Revolution? What social and lifestyle changes did it bring, and for which individuals and which groups in these societies?

Answer 2

Answers will vary.

Question 3

Define the term civilization , and explain why we do not apply this label to hunter-gatherer societies.

Answer 3

Answers will vary.

Question 4

"The ancient Egyptians originated nothing of their own; they simply borrowed "civilization" from the Sumerians." Discuss, pro and con.

Question 5

How did the development of writing change the societies of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, specifically, the lives of their peoples? Could those societies be described as "literate"? Why or why not? Which groups might have been most affected?

Question 6

Why does the text say that the social structure and ideas of ancient Egypt were a reflection of the influence of the Nile? Was this people-river relationship different from that which evolved in the societies of the Tigris-Euphrates region? Why or why not?

Question 7

What role did religion/spiritual beliefs play in early civilizations? How did human beings conceptualize the relationship of their world to the spiritual world? What role did spiritual beliefs play in determining how earthly power was distributed and maintained?

Question 8

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Homo sapiens

Question 9

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Australopithecines

Question 10

Two theories have been advanced that explain the spread of the earliest modern humans across the globe. Their names are: Multiregional and Out-of-Africa . Explain a) their differences and b) which one is favored by researchers and why.

Question 11

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Neanderthal

Question 12

"The ancient Hebrews were the most important peoples of the ancient Middle East." Do you agree or disagree? Why?

Question 13

Compare and contrast Neolithic society with the early civilizations in Mesopotamia and Egypt. What changed, and why?

Question 14

Compare and contrast the spiritual ideas of Zoroaster, the Hebrews, and Akhenaten. Were they more alike than different? How, and why?

Question 15

What new attitudes and practices developed during the New Kingdom in Egypt? How and why did they differ from those of the Old and Middle Kingdoms?

Question 16

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
homo erectus

Question 17

Discuss the roles of men and women in hunter-gatherer societies and early civilizations. How do the roles played by men and women change over time and with new customs and laws? Where do women fare best and worst?

Question 18

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
hominids

Question 19

How did the Assyrians and Persians maintain their empires? What methods did they use?

Question 20

What were the most significant aspects of the civil and military systems of the Persian Empire? Were personal or were institutional elements more important in determining its efficiency and success? What evidence causes you to think as you do?

Question 21

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
monotheism

Question 22

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt

Question 23

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
the Nile

Question 24

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Semitic

Question 25

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
polytheism

Question 26

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
cave paintings

Question 27

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Paleolithic Age

Question 28

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
civilization

Question 29

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Black Land and Red Land

Question 30

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Out-of- Africa Theory

Question 31

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Neolithic Revolution

Question 32

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
ziggurat

Question 33

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Son of Re

Question 34

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Mesopotamia

Question 35

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Hammurabi

Question 36

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
cuneiform

Question 37

Identify the following term(s).
Eridu, Ur, Uruk, Umma, and Lagash

Question 38

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
patriarchy

Question 39

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Sargon of Akkad

Question 40

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Sumerians

Question 41

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
the prophets

Question 42

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Great Pyramid of Giza

Question 43

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
"Sea Peoples"

Question 44

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Yahweh

Question 45

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Hyksos

Question 46

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
hieroglyphics

Question 47

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
megaliths

Question 48

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Babylonian captivity

Question 49

Identify the following term(s).
Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom

Question 50

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Indo-Europeans

Question 51

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Hittites and iron

Question 52

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Solomon

Question 53

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Hatshepsut

Question 54

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
pharaoh

Question 55

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Akhenaten

Question 56

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Phoenician alphabet

Question 57

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
ka

Question 58

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Hebrews and Israelites

Question 59

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Ramesses II

Question 60

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
kingdoms of Judah and Israel

Question 61

Homo sapiens means

A) user of tools.
B) lived in Africa.
C) wise human being.
D) tamer of animals.
E) friend to all.

Question 62

Which of these technological developments were especially significant for Paleolithic people?

A) New systems of writing
B) Fire and tool-making
C) Farming and herding
D) Drawing and painting
E) Building large structures

Question 63

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
satrapy

Question 64

What was most significant about Australopithecines, one of the earliest hominids?

A) They lived in Asia.
B) They may have been able to walk upright on two legs.
C) They were among the first to use iron tools.
D) They were in the class known as Homo sapiens .
E) They were primarily monogamous.

Question 65

What do we know about Paleolithic peoples, based on surviving cave paintings?

A) They engaged in artistic activities.
B) They lacked the use of fire, which significantly retarded their pace of development.
C) They perfected techniques that allowed them to hunt very large dinosaurs with total success.
D) They lived in brick structures.
E) They used bronze for tools and weapons, but not copper.

Question 66

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Persia and Cyrus the Great

Question 67

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Cambyses and Darius

Question 68

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Zoroastrianism

Question 69

During the Old Stone Age,

A) only Egypt had an advanced agricultural economy.
B) both men and women hunted wild animals.
C) hunting and gathering was the way most people supported themselves.
D) humans lived only in the southernmost parts of Africa.
E) communication was maintained through the use of cuneiform.

Question 70

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Indo-European migrations

Question 71

Where were Neanderthal remains discovered first?

A) Asia
B) Africa
C) Germany
D) America
E) Egypt

Question 72

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Assyrian Empire

Question 73

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Ahuramazda and Ahriman

Question 74

What was the central aspect of the Neolithic Revolution?

A) The first development of hunter-gatherer cultures
B) The successful invasion of northwestern Africa by Turkish nomads from central Asia
C) The emergence of systematic food production through the domestication of plants and animals
D) The use of fire and the cooking of food
E) The development of writing

Question 75

What was one of the most significant consequences of the Neolithic agricultural revolution?

A) Near equality between men and women
B) Rise of trade and specialized crafts
C) Emergence of writing and literary forms
D) Greater ease in traveling to faraway lands
E) Decline of religious practice

Question 76

Who were the Homo sapiens sapiens ?

A) The enemies of Homo sapiens
B) The first anatomically modern humans
C) The Neanderthals
D) The Indo-Europeans
E) The ancestors of Homo habilis and Homo erectus

Question 77

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Zend Avesta

Question 78

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Phoenicians

Question 79

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Indo-European languages

Question 80

The migration patterns of the first modern humans show that people moved beyond their familiar hunting grounds at a rate of about ____ miles per generation.

A) 2-3
B) 10-20
C) 400-60
D) 75-100
E) more than 200