River Valley Civilization Study Guide
Key Terms
Neolithic Revolution
Papyrus
Fertile Crescent
Rosetta Stone
Silt
Hyksos
City-state
Monsoons
Dynasty
Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
Cultural diffusion
Subcontinent
Polytheism
Loess
Ziggurats
Peking man
Epic of Gilgamesh
Oracle bones
Cuneiform
Ancestor worship
Sargon of Akkad
Mandate of Heaven
Empire
Dynastic cycle
Hammurabi (and his legal code)
Feudalism
Babylonians
Shang
Nile delta
Zhou
Menes
Maize
Pharaohs
Mesoamerica
Theocracy
Olmec
Pyramid
Chavin
Old kingdom, Middle Kingdom
Jaguar worship
Mummification
Colossal heads
Hieroglyphics
Things to be able to label on a map
Rivers: Nile, Amazon, Tigris, Euphrates, Indus, Huang, Yangtze
Major bodies of water: Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, Yellow Sea
Major land forms: Himalaya Mountains, Andes Mountains, Gobi Desert
Key Concepts
Dates of the following: Neolithic revolution, Civilization in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China,
Mesoamerica, South America
Specific environmental features and challenges for each civilization
How power and authority are organized for each civilization
Religious aspects of each civilization
How women were treated in each civilization
Specific scientific and technological developments for each civilization
For all of these you should be able to compare/contrast the civilizations as well as defend an argument
about them (the way we practiced in class)