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Course: SS -
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STUDY GUIDE: Unit One Test (Chapters 1, 3, 4, 5)
1. What does an archaeologist do? What types of artifacts would he/she be interested in observing?
2. What do social scientists call an object made or used by people in the past?
3. Why do historians read diaries and letters from the past?
4. A prehistoric object is one that comes from a time ________________________.
5. What is the evidence that prehistoric cave artists built wood structures (scaffolding) to stand on?
6. If ancient paintings were found in a cave, what would be the hardest question to answer?
7. About how long ago were the objects and art described in Chapter 1 created?
8. Which question about the past does cave art most help social scientists answer?
9. Which two factors caused a change from the nomadic lifestyle to permanent settlements?
10. How did people in the Paleolithic Age get their food?
11. Why was the Fertile Crescent the site of many early settlements?
12. What was the greatest benefit to people when early farmers began to raise plants and animals?
13. Archaeologists have found houses in which the doorways were built high up on the walls. What was the
most likely reason for this?
14. What is the best title for these words: Spinners, Weavers, Basket Makers, Toolmakers?
15. The name of Mesopotamia comes from its location, which was
16. Why were Sumerian communities called city-states?
17. Why did the rivers flood in the spring?
18. What was the chief purpose of dams and reservoirs?
19. A society has a stable food supply if _____.
20. Which invention most affected the food supply in Sumer?
21. Why were scribes important in Sumerian government?
22. Which Sumerian belief about the king helped strengthen the social order?
23. What evidence found by archaeologists shows that Sumerians were NOT prehistoric?
24. An archaeologist is analyzing artifacts discovered at a site. Describe the process he/she would use to
better understand the time period and the humans that lived there.
A) In October 1912, three brothers found these clay sculptures of bison in the Tuc d'Audobert cave in southern
France. An underground river formed the cave. The room with the bison is deep inside the cave, where, even
today, it is hard to get to. Footprints of children have been found nearby.
B) Each of the two bison is about two feet long, twelve and a half inches high, and three to four inches thick.
Lines made by a tool or a fingernail represent each bisons' fur. The clay of their bodies is cracked. Scientists
believe that the cracks may have happened soon after the bison were made, while the clay was drying.
25. Read both descriptions of the bison photo above. Based upon what you've learned about this time period,
which description offers the most accurate perspective? Use Claim, Evidence, Reason, and Synthesis (CERS)
to support the description that offers the most accurate perspective.
26. Standard of Ur: Review the video found on our wiki analyzing this artifact. Analyze the photograph in
your textbook on page 44. Study each level with great care. What characteristic of civilization does each level
represent? How can you prove this?
27. Provide a description or example for each of the characteristics in the diagram below. Be sure to include
specific information for each of the seven characteristics.
28. Essay Question: Why do historians classify ancient Sumer as a civilization? Using
Claim, Evidence, Reason, and Synthesis (CERS) support the argument made by historians that
suggests Sumer is one of the world’s first civilizations.