1. What were some of the effects of agriculture on the human species?
a. Establishment of more elaborate social and cultural patterns
b. People became more sedentary/settled
c. People became more focused on economic, political, and religious goals and activities
d. Human population rose significantly
e. Specialization within societies developed
f. New products and occupations developed
2. What did domesticated agriculture initially develop in the Middle East in an area now called
“The Fertile Crescent?”
a. Very fertile area
b. Wild grains, which could be domesticated, were abundant
c. Area wasn’t very heavily forested making planning crops easier
d. Animals were in short supply making crop food production more of a necessity
3. What were some reasons why hunter-gatherer societies resisted the spread of agriculture?
a. New life was complicated, difficult, unexciting
b. Settled peoples brought diseases
c. Settled agriculture caused deforestation which decreased the population of the animals
which were hunted
4. What material(s) replaced the stone tools of the Neolithic period?
a. Copper
b. Bronze
c. Iron
5. What evidence from the Neolithic village, Çatal Hüyük, helps support the idea that as people
became dependent on agriculture and settled in permanent villages, specialization of labor
developed?
a. Houses made of mud bricks (brickmakers/bricklayers)
b. Houses decorated with hunting scenes (artists)
c. Religious images of male hunters and “mother goddesses” (priests)
d. Trade (merchants)
e. Other evidence suggest also: toolmakers, jewelers, politicians/kings, soldiers
6. Why are cities crucial to “civilizations?”
a. They amass wealth and power
b. They allow the rapid exchange of ideas among relatively large numbers of people
c. They encourage intellectual thought and artistic expression
d. They promote specialization in manufacturing and trade
7. Why are writing systems like cuneiform important to civilizations?
a. To establish more elaborate political structures (send messages, keep records)
b. Tax more efficiently
c. Make contracts and treaties
d. Build intellectual climate
8. What negative effects did civilizations bring about?
a. Distinctions based on social class and wealth increased
b. More rigid class or caste divisions
c. Slavery
d. Greater separation between rulers and ruled
e. War
f. Greater inequality between genders
g. Negative impacts on the environment (deforestation, erosion, flooding)
9. Why did the first civilization begin in Mesopotamia?
a. Lead in agriculture/cooperation among communities to build irrigation system
b. Metalworking
c. Village structure
d. Used the wheel for transportation
e. Well established pottery industry
10. How do we know that religion played an important role in the Sumerian civilization?
a. Developed complex religious rituals
b. Each city had a patron god
c. Built impressive shrines to please gods
d. Build massive towers called ziggurats (first monumental architecture)
e. Professional priests
11. What were some of the purposes of Hummurabi’s code
a. Established rules of procedure for courts of law
b. Regulated property rights
c. Established the duties of family members
d. Set punishments for crimes
e. To promote the welfare of the people
12. What were some of the differences between the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations?
a. Egypt less open to invasion
b. Egypt retained a unified state throughout its history
c. The pharaoh possessed immense power
d. Egyptian economy was directed by the government rather than the merchant class
e. Egyptian science/alphabet not as elaborate as Mesopotamia’s
f. Egyptian math more advanced
g. Egyptian art much more complex
13. What are some of the similarities between the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations?
a. Pyramids and ziggurats – monumental architecture
b. Influence of the priestly class
c. Complex religious rituals
d. Polytheisim
14. Why is the study of the Indus River civilization so difficult?
a. Harrapan writing not deciphered
b. Invasions and natural calamities destroyed a lot of historical evidence
15. Why did the development of the civilizations along the Huanghe (Yellow River) occur in
isolation?
a. Geographical isolation from other river valley civilizations
16. What were some of the technological advancements achieved by the Huanghe civilization?
a. Learned how to ride horses
b. Skilled in pottery
c. Used bronze and iron
d. Invention of ideographic symbols
e. Music
f. Astronomy
17. What major difference did the Huanghe civilization have with the Mesopotamian and Egyptian
civilizations?
a. Lack of monumental buildings
Hammurabi’s code questions:
1) What can you tell from the Hammurabi code about the social and family structure of
Mesopotamia?
a. Social
i. There was slavery
ii. Slaves were unequal to free men
iii. Slaves were considered valuable property
iv. Women were unequal to men
b. Family
i. Hierarchial and paternal structure
ii. Wives were to be faithful to husbands
iii. Sons were to obey their fathers
2) What is the relationship between law and trade?
a. Sought to protect property rights
b. Sought to settle legal/trading disputes
3) Why did agricultural civilizations such as Babylon insist on harsh punishments for crimes?
a. For deterrence
b. To control people
c. To demonstrate the power of the ruler/god/government
4) What religious and magical beliefs does the document suggest?
a. That gods acted in the daily lives of people
b. That gods/nature influenced the actions of people
c. That gods/nature judged the actions of people
5) Using specific examples, show how interpreting this document for significant historical meaning
differs from simply reading it.
a. To determine purpose of the document (a consistent list of crimes and punishment , i.e.
codify the law)
b. To understand the intended audience of the document (specific members of this
society)
c. To understand something about the author of the document (Ruler demonstrating his
power of his people)