Name:__________________________Due Date__________
A.P. WORLD HISTORY
Theme-“Formation of Civilization and River Valleys”
Unit #1- Technological & Environmental Transformation (8000-600 BCE)
OVERVIEW:
The Neolithic Revolution led to the rise of small villages and towns based around
agriculture and the domestication of animals. Humans now had more time to develop
characteristics that led to the rise of the first civilizations the world’s history. This theme
will explore how the Neolithic Revolution was truly revolutionary. Over time, large and
complex civilizations and cultures developed in the Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
THEMATIC SUB-TOPIC: After mastering this theme, you should be able to
satisfactorily describe, analyze, and discuss the following topics:
Points:______
1. Mesopotamia
2. Egypt/Nile
3. Indus
4. Yellow River/China
5. Olmec/Zapotec/Chavin
KEY TERMS:
Define each of the following terms in your spiral notebooks in your own words.
Include for each term the “Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How?” You may
not type your definitions… they must be hand-written in your spiral notebook!!
Google is your friend!!
Neolithic
Irrigation
Fertile Crescent
Innovation
Diffusion
Ziggurat
Sargon of Akkad
Bas Reliefs
Pictograms
Cuneiform
Ideogram
Epic of Gilgamesh
Polis
Hieroglyphics
Rosetta Stone
Book of the Dead
Pyramid
Harappan Civilization (Indus River Valley)
Mandate of Heaven
Dynastic Cycle
Oracle Bone
Hegemony
Dominance
MULTIPLE CHOICE/TRUE-FALSE: For each of the questions below, choose the
answer that best fits.
______1. The Neolithic Age:
A. preceded the Paleolithic Age
B. is named for the characteristics of its tools
C. began substantially prior to the founding of the first cities
D. was a time in which trade was virtually nonexistent
______2. Which of the following empires was organized first?
A. Persian
B. Hittite
C. Neo-Babylonian
D. Assyrian
______3. Most experts think that innovative primary urbanization:
A. could not have happened without diffusive urbanization
B. occurred only in the Fertile Crescent
C. occurred only in Asia
D. must have begun after the practice of agriculture
______4. As cities became more developed:
A. new class hierarchies emerged
B. the need for armies diminished
C. decision making became much more egalitarian
D. contact with other communities became less common
______5. The world’s first system of writing evolved in:
A. the Indus Valley
B. southeast Asia
C. Sumer
D. Khmer
______6. T-F The earliest cities evolved along major river systems as a result of
diffusion rather than innovation.
______7. T-F As cities became larger, their organization became more complex.
______8. In Sumer after about 2800 B.C.E., members of this group ruled in conjunction
with kings:
A. temple priests
B. large landowners
C. rich artisans
D. peasants’ representatives
______9. Scholars know the least about this civilization:
A. Greek city-states
B. Indus valley
C. Nile valley
D. Tigris-Euphrates valley
______10. The early twentieth century excavations of the Harappan civilization in the
Indus valley reveal that it likely:
A. was originated by Aryan immigrants from Persia
B. began around 4500 B.C.E.
C. developed independently from civilizations in Mesopotamia
D. had many small towns, but no cities
______11. The art and craftwork of the Indus Valley indicates:
A. that the civilization was not very well developed
B. they participated in active interregional trade
C. they did not possess metallurgical skills
D. they were a nomadic people
______12. T-F Archeological evidence reveals the mutual trade of goods between the
Indus valley and Mesopotamia.
______13. We know less about ancient Egyptian cities when compared with ancient
Mesopotamian cities primarily because the Egyptian cities were:
A. destroyed by war
B. few and far between
C. destroyed by the Nile River
D. changed so drastically by the British in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
______14. The economies of the villages that developed along the Nile River were based
on:
A. commercial trade
B. cereal agriculture
C. fishing
D. warfare
______15. Chinese oracle bones:
A. have been useful to archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians for at least
three centuries
B. first came to the attention of scientists after they were found at excavation sites
C. have provided useful information about the rulers of the Shang dynasty
D. were usually made from human bones
______16. T-F The Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties were all located around the Huang
He (Yellow River) valley.
______17. T-F There is some evidence that women could wield power in the earliest
Chinese dynasties.
______18. What did the first cities in the Americas have in common with the first cities
of Asia?
A. use of pack animals
B. use of the wheel
C. use of metal tools
D. use of draft animals
______19. T-F By 5000 B.C.E., the early inhabitants of the Americas were cultivating
maize.
______20. Empires:
A. usually grow through conquest
B. by definition share rule with conquered peoples
C. have been few and far between in human history over the last five millennia
D. exist primarily to enrich conquered areas
______21. Usually the most important administrative function of an empire is to:
A. provide uniformity of language to ensure good communication with conquered
peoples
B. efficiently collect taxes from all peoples in the empire
C. enforce a just and comprehensive legal code
D. create and enforce a good system of weights and measures
______22. Of the following, which is NOT a major cause of the decline and fall of
empires?
A. overextension of the administration
B. fanatical belief in the ideology of the empire
C. economic collapse
D. failure of leadership
______23. The Hittite empire was centered in:
A. Mesopotamia
B. Palestine
C. the upper Nile
D. Anatolia
______24. Under Sargon, the Mesopotamian empire connected which of the following
bodies of water?
A. the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea
B. the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf
C. the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea
D. the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea
______25. T-F By 650 B.C.E., the Assyrian Empire included Egypt.
SHORT ANSWER: Answer the below questions in complete sentences. Remember to
restate the question. Refer to pages in Spodek’s The World’s History that were
referenced when defining the above “Key Terms.”
•
Compare and contrast the toolkit used by hunter-gatherers with that used by
farmers.
•
Explain why written language was one of the most revolutionary inventions in
human history.
•
Compare the probable rights and powers of women in the typical pre-urban
village with those of women living in the typical urban Sumerian city. Did the
establishment of cities help women overall, or did it hurt them? Explain
•
Describe the power of the pharaohs that ordered the construction of the Great
Pyramids. Also discuss what the pyramids represented.
•
Which of the many theories concerning the decline of the Indus civilization do
you find most convincing? Explain your reasoning.
•
Describe how modern investigators of early Chinese history used texts, oracle
bones and archaeological techniques to gain information.
•
Describe the factors that contributed to the decline of the Mesopotamian empire.