Deck 10: An Explosion of Complexity: Mesopotamia, Africa, and Europe

Question 1

Did ancient extraterrestrial visitors to Earth play a role in the development of civilization in general and the construction of the Egyptian pyramids in particular?

A) no
B) not at all
C) of course not
D) all of the above

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What does the painting in the tomb of an ancient Egyptian official, Djehutihotep, depict:

A) the process employed in moving a large carving to the tomb using a large number of laborers pulling on ropes
B) strange, inexplicable objects-in other words, UFOs-floating over the pyramids
C) the death of Tutankhamun
D) pyramid construction

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The papyrus of a man called "Inspector Merer" provides some of the mundane, everyday work involved in:

A) transporting stone used in the construction of the Great Pyramid of Khufu
B) carving the Great Sphinx
C) building the tomb of King Tut
D) obeying the work orders of the Extraterrestrial Overlords

Answer 3

A

Question 4

State societies possess one key feature that chiefdoms lack. That feature is:

A) social stratification
B) differential access to wealth
C) communal projects
D) true government

Question 5

According to archaeologist Joseph Tainter, the monumental works of civilizations provide:

A) a way of keeping armies together in between wars
B) a way of bringing people together to produce magnificent structures they could not otherwise produce
C) sacred legitimization of the power of the elite
D) an excuse for diverting the energies of the masses-energy that might otherwise be expended in revolution

Question 6

In ancient state societies, the ruling class ruled by:

A) coercion and force
B) consensus
C) democratic election
D) peer pressure

Question 7

In ancient state societies, the ruling class had the power to:

A) tax
B) conscript an army
C) command the labor of the people
D) all of the above

Question 8

A tomb like that of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun was made possible by what characteristics of ancient civilizations:

A) a food surplus
B) labor specialization
C) social stratification
D) all of the above

Question 9

In ancient Mesopotamia, power was first invested in which organization:

A) the army
B) the university
C) the temple
D) the police

Question 10

The rich floodplain of southern Mesopotamia was not occupied until 6,300 B. P. The culture that used the floodplain at this time is called:

A) Uruk
B) Ubaid
C) Hassunan
D) Ziggurat

Question 11

Archaeologist Charles Maisels describes the process by which complex societies developed in Mesopotamia as:

A) diffusionary
B) revolutionary
C) dynamic feedback
D) managerial

Question 12

The earliest Mesopotamian city-and likely the first in the world-was:

A) Uruk
B) Ubaid
C) Hierakonpolis
D) Nagada

Question 13

The oldest city in the world is found where:

A) Mesopotamia
B) Egypt
C) the Indus River valley
D) China

Question 14

Uruk became a true city about when:

A) 1,000 years ago
B) 2,000 years ago
C) 4,000 years ago
D) 5,000 years ago

Question 15

The tomb of Pu-abi exemplifies what about ancient civilizations:

A) the poor nutrition of even the rulers of the early states
B) the importance of irrigation works in the development of complex societies
C) the symbolic importance of the burials of the elite
D) the role of the army in maintaining the superior position of the upper classes

Question 16

Clay tokens found in Mesopotamia, some dating back more than 9,000 years ago, had what purpose:

A) they served as ancient money used in economic exchanges
B) they were used in communication and data storage
C) they were used as symbols of social ranking
D) they served to demarcate private property

Question 17

The clay tokens found in Mesopotamia are interpreted as recording:

A) the names of early kings
B) the names of the first city-states
C) the names of the gods
D) amounts of commodities like grain

Question 18

By about 6,000 years ago, the number of different token forms:

A) declined as cuneiform writing replaced the token system
B) declined from about 100 different forms to only about 10 as hieroglyphic writing replaced them
C) increased from about 100 to 200 as more people learned to make and "read" the tokens
D) exploded from 16 basic forms to about 300

Question 19

By 5,500 years ago:

A) token use stopped entirely
B) the number of token forms jumped from about 50 to 1,000
C) tokens were no longer used as individual counters but were stored in clay envelopes
D) token use spread throughout the Middle East, northern Africa, and south Asia

Question 20

After 5,100 years ago, the standardized impressions placed on clay tokens in ancient Mesopotamia became:

A) the world's first writing system
B) the world's first alphabet
C) hieroglyphs
D) replaced by the misnamed "Roman" numerals

Question 21

In ancient Egypt, the shift from foraging to an agricultural way of life occurred:

A) between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago
B) between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago
C) between 7,000 and 5,000 years ago
D) only after 5,500 years ago

Question 22

The term "Lower Egypt" refers to:

A) the southern reaches of the ancient Egyptian nation
B) the area of the Nile Delta
C) the agriculturally rich lowlands west of Thebes
D) the non-native Egyptian nations Egypt incorporated into its empire through military conquest

Question 23

The term "Upper Egypt" refers to:

A) the northern reaches of the ancient Egyptian nation
B) the Nile Valley south of the river's delta
C) the agriculturally rich uplands east of Thebes
D) the mountainous region, then part of the Egyptian empire and now located within the modern borders of Sudan

Question 24

In the chronological sequence of Egypt before the pharaohs, dating to between 7,000 and 6,000 years ago, the first defined cultures are labeled:

A) Badarian (in the south) and Fayum/Merimden (in the north)
B) the Hittites (in the south) and the Hyksos (in the north)
C) the Hoteps (in the north) and the Gerzeans (in the south)
D) the Deltoids (in the north) and the Ankhs (in the south)

Question 25

The first clear evidence of social inequality in Egypt was evidenced archaeologically by the presence of:

A) the palatial homes of the elites
B) artistic representations of rich and powerful rulers
C) differentiated burials
D) all of the above

Question 26

The first clear evidence of social inequality in Egypt is seen in which period(s):

A) Badarian
B) Merimden and Omri
C) Amratian and Nagada
D) Late Gerzean, Nagada II, and Maadian

Question 27

The oldest clear evidence of social inequality in Egypt is dated to:

A) 7,600 years ago
B) 6,500 years ago
C) 5,400 years ago
D) 4,500 years ago

Question 28

Dating to about 5,300 years ago, the rulers of Abydos, Nagada, and Hierakonpolis appear to have been:

A) pharaohs
B) chieftain-kings
C) military generals
D) priests

Question 29

By about 5,300 years ago, Abydos, Maadi, Buto, Nagada, and Hierakonpolis were:

A) early city-states of Mesopotamia
B) Greek city-states
C) Egyptian cities where Tutankhamun resided during his short reign
D) large Egyptian towns that became political and economic "central places" in ancient Egypt

Question 30

The mastabas at Hierakonpolis were:

A) priest rulers
B) enormous kilns used by pottery barons to produce ceramics traded up and down the Nile
C) market places
D) square stone buildings built on top of subterranean tombs

Question 31

The industry that may have provided the economic power base at Hierakonpolis was:

A) bronze
B) pottery
C) obsidian
D) all of the above

Question 32

The oldest writing found in ancient Egypt dates to about:

A) 6,200 years ago
B) 5,200 years ago
C) 4,800 years ago
D) 3,900 years ago

Question 33

The oldest writing found in ancient Egypt was in the form of:

A) marks pressed into wet clay, very similar to Mesopotamian cuneiform
B) simple hieroglyphs painted onto papyrus sheets
C) clay tokens
D) incised ivory tags

Question 34

The oldest writing found in ancient Egypt has been translated and concerns:

A) the lineage of the pharaoh
B) military victories
C) worship of the many gods in the Egyptian pantheon
D) an accounting of commodities

Question 35

The oldest writing found in ancient Egypt:

A) is very similar to Mesopotamian cuneiform
B) bears a striking similarity to the incised tokens of the Indus Valley civilization
C) is filled with symbols taken from the local environment
D) is closely related to an ancient form of Hebrew

Question 36

The significance of the Rosetta Stone rests in the fact that it:

A) allowed for the translation of Egyptian hieroglyphs
B) provided a list of all of Egypt's pharaohs
C) explained Egypt's complex calendar
D) provided architectural drawings that show how the ancient Egyptians constructed the pyramids

Question 37

The first pharaoh of Egypt was named:

A) Tutankhamun
B) Narmer
C) Saqqara
D) Rameses

Question 38

The first Egyptian pharaoh is credited with one very significant accomplishment: According to the so-called Narmer plaque or palette, this first pharaoh:

A) defeated the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia and won the independence of ancient Egypt
B) defeated and enslaved the Israelites, providing a labor pool to build the pyramids
C) united Upper and Lower Egypt into a single political entity
D) built the first pyramid for use as his own tomb

Question 39

At its peak, the population of ancient Egypt is estimated to have been about:

A) 1 million
B) 3 million
C) 8 million
D) 20 million

Question 40

About what percentage of the population of ancient Egypt were farmers:

A) 25%
B) 50%
C) 75%
D) 90%

Question 41

The people whose labor provided the underpinning for Egyptian civilization were for the most part:

A) Egyptian citizens
B) foreign captives
C) slaves
D) Nubians

Question 42

The fourth dynasty of ancient Egypt marks:

A) the appearance of the first pharaohs
B) a period of revolution initiated by Amenhotep IV, the father of Tutankhamun
C) the period of the Exodus story in the Old Testament of the Bible
D) a period called the pyramid age when pyramid building reached its zenith

Question 43

The first pyramid marks the burial of:

A) Narmer
B) Djoser
C) Khufu
D) Tutankhamun

Question 44

Djoser's burial monument is called the:

A) Bent Pyramid
B) Pantheon
C) Valley Temple
D) Step Pyramid

Question 45

The largest Egyptian pyramid was built for the pharaoh:

A) Khufu
B) Djoser
C) Narmer
D) Tutankhamun

Question 46

Kush was the name given by ancient Egyptians for:

A) the land to the south, where the civilizations of ancient Nubia were located
B) the nations of Mesopotamia
C) the land to the south, where the ancient nation of Zimbabwe was located
D) the land to the north, where the island of Crete, on which the ancient Minoan civilization with which Egyptians traded, was located

Question 47

Kerma, Napata, and Meroë were:

A) ancient cities of the dead, housing the mortal remains of ancient Egypt's elite
B) early Mesopotamia city-states
C) sites on Crete with smaller, but by no means less impressive temples than the one located at Knossos
D) ancient Nubian civilizations

Question 48

Great Zimbabwe is viewed by some archaeologists as:

A) the center of a formally organized, African state society in the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries A. D.
B) having been built by ancient Israelites more than 1,000 years ago
C) a community of ancient Egyptians who traveled up the Nile to establish a trading post nearly 4,000 years ago
D) a compound built by Carthaginian sailors some 3,000 years ago

Question 49

The population estimates for Great Zimbabwe generally fall in what range:

A) 1,000-3,000
B) 3,000-5,000
C) 5,000-18,000
D) 10,000-30,000

Question 50

The subsistence base at Great Zimbabwe included:

A) maize, beans, and squash
B) emmer wheat, chick peas, lentils, and barley
C) sorghum, millet, sheep, goats, and cattle
D) tef, fonio, groundnut, and banana

Question 51

Great Zimbabwe appears to have been:

A) isolated and unique
B) the central place of a two- or three-tiered hierarchy of settlements
C) introduced from the outside, with no historical antecedents
D) introduced from the outside, with historical antecedents in ancient Egypt

Question 52

The indigenous, ancient European civilization that developed on the Island of Crete is called:

A) Mycenaean
B) Knossos
C) Minoan
D) Atlantis

Question 53

Civilization, as defined in the book, developed on the Island of Crete about how long ago:

A) 5,800 years ago
B) 4,800 years ago
C) 3,800 years ago
D) 2,800 years ago

Question 54

The bones of the two children found at Knossos by Peter Warren:

A) bore evidence of starvation
B) show that they were crushed when the roof of the temple collapsed
C) indicate that they were not native Europeans but of African descent
D) show that they were ritually sacrificed

Question 55

A genomic analysis of the bones of 19 of the earliest human settlers of Crete shows a close relationship to the people of:

A) Egypt
B) Mesopotamia
C) Greece
D) Spain

Question 56

Cultural development on Crete was interrupted by:

A) an invasion from Egypt about 3,650 years ago
B) a little Ice Age about 3,650 years ago
C) a plague of locusts, much like the one mentioned in the Bible
D) a series of earthquakes

Question 57

Archaeological evidence shows that, in at least two separate instances, at two different times, the Minoans responded to natural disasters with:

A) abandonment of Crete
B) human sacrifice
C) a change in the gods they worshipped
D) increased militarism

Question 58

The oldest occupation of Crete dates back about how many years:

A) 5,000
B) 6,500
C) 8,000
D) 12,000

Question 59

What product of Crete provided a major source of wealth to its inhabitants in antiquity:

A) gold
B) ivory
C) olive oil
D) wine

Question 60

The catastrophic earthquake that hit Crete in 3,650 B. P. led to:

A) the abandonment of the island
B) a period of rebuilding
C) the Minoans being taken over by Egypt
D) a dramatic shift away from Knossos

Question 61

What is located at Knossos:

A) the ziggurat of Ur
B) the volcano that decimated the island of Crete
C) the Parthenon
D) the great Minoan palace

Question 62

Though most commonly called a "palace," a term that more accurately reflects the archaeology of the monumental structure at Knossos is:

A) temple
B) necropolis
C) civic center
D) apartment house

Question 63

At its peak, the population of Knossos and its surrounding territory was about:

A) 100,000
B) 45,000
C) 25,000
D) 10,000

Question 64

Wealth became concentrated and power and social complexity developed on Crete largely as a result of:

A) the presence there of abundant and highly valued obsidian
B) its location at a crossroads between Europe, Africa, and the Middle East
C) the presence there of an abundant source of gold
D) all of the above

Question 65

The volcanic eruption on Thera:

A) destroyed the Minoan civilization
B) actually encouraged its growth because of the rich soil produced on Crete from the volcanic ash
C) had no impact on the Minoan civilization because it occurred after the fall of the palace at Knossos
D) disrupted but did not bring Minoan civilization to an end

Question 66

For conflict theorists, civilization develops:

A) as an organizational solution to conflicts between social classes
B) as a result of warfare
C) when the need develops to mobilize and coordinate the labor of a large group
D) only in regions where resources are clustered, leading to territorial conflicts among those with access to those resources and those geographically isolated from those resources

Question 67

In archaeologist V. Gordon Childe's view, class societies developed:

A) where groups outgrew their territories and waged war against their neighbors
B) everywhere writing was developed
C) first in Mesopotamian city-states, and diffused from there to other world cultures
D) where trade concentrated wealth in the hands of a few

Question 68

For integration theorists, civilization develops:

A) as an organization solution to conflicts between social classes
B) as a result of warfare
C) when the need develops to mobilize and coordinate the labor of a large group
D) only in regions where resources are clustered, leading to territorial conflicts among those with access to those resources and those geographically isolated from those resources

Question 69

Karl Wittfogel traced the origins of civilization to:

A) the need to coordinate the labor of people to construct irrigation canals
B) warfare
C) the desire of a religious elite to solidify its power
D) trade and the wealth it could produce in resource-rich territories

Question 70

Robert Carniero traced the origins of civilization to:

A) the need to coordinate the labor of people to construct irrigation canals
B) warfare
C) the desire of a religious elite to solidify its power
D) trade and the wealth it could produce in resource-rich territories

Question 71

Among the builders of the pyramids, the "cattle to pig" ratio reflected in their food remains:

A) higher than that seen among Egyptian peasants not working on the pyramids
B) about the same as that seen among Egyptian peasants not working on the pyramids
C) lower than that seen among Egyptian peasants not working on the pyramids
D) similar to that seen in the houses of the rulers of ancient Egypt

Question 72

A high "Gini coeeficient" reflects:

A) the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few people
B) the equal distribution of wealth among all people
C) a scenario in which religious rulers are also secular rulers
D) a reliance on wild foods for protein in the diet

Question 73

Tutankhamun was:

A) the Egyptian pharaoh who built and is buried in the Great Pyramid at Giza
B) the pharaoh who is famous only because he was married to Cleopatra
C) the Egyptian pharaoh who enslaved the Jews and is mentioned in the Bible
D) a minor pharaoh who became famous only because his tomb was found unplundered

Question 74

The fabulous tomb of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun is emblematic of what level of sociopolitical complexity:

A) chiefdom
B) tribe
C) civilization
D) nation

Question 75

Is there any evidence of the influence of people from Lost Atlantis or extraterrestrial aliens in the development of Egyptian civilization?

Question 76

Compare the social systems of rank, chiefdom, and state societies.

Question 77

What are the diagnostic characteristics of civilization? What is the significance of the most obvious material manifestation of the state: monumental works?

Question 78

It is said that monumental works are both a cause and an effect of state level societies. Explain how this is true.

Question 79

What role does a "formal government" play in the operation of a state society?

Question 80

Describe the development of Mesopotamian civilization. Provide a chronology and description of sites.