Review Questions for Mesopotamia
NOTE: Be efficient in your responses – in most cases you don’t have to write
lengthy answers, just very focused ones. Lists are okay in some cases. Be sure
to draw on the text, lectures and video.
1.
Describe the environment adjacent to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
2.
When were the first agricultural villages established in the northern
fringes of the floodplain? What do we learn about trade and social
complexity from Hassuna, Tell as-Sawwan (a Samarran site) and Halaf?
When does Halafian pottery appear? What does its distribution suggest?
3.
Why wasn’t the southern floodplain occupied by farmers as early as the
northern region? When is it settled? What is ‘Ubaid? When did it occur?
What had to happen before it could occur?
4.
Where and when was Eridu established? Describe what happened there.
What was the early temple like? What functions did it serve? What was
significant about the T-shaped structure at the earlier site of Tell asSawwan? What were the tholoi? What is the significance of the temple
institution in Mesopotamia?
5.
Discuss ideas on the POSSIBLE relationships between irrigation and the
temple institution.
6.
What had developed in southern Mesopotamia by 4500 BC? Characterize
‘Ubaid at this time.
7.
Review the page in your text devoted to temples. What are ziggurats?
What was their symbolic value to the ancient Mesopotamians? What was
involved in building a new temple? Where was it typically located in
relation to the previous temple? What did temple administrators do?
8.
When did the Uruk period occur? The Early Dynastic period? What major
developments occurred in each of these periods? Describe Uruk.
Describe the Anu Ziggurat and White Temple. How do they mark a
transition in Mesopotamian society?
9.
Discuss the economic specialization of the 4th millennium B.C. What was
the significance of the beveled-rim bowls made during this time period?
What sort of trade can be documented for this period?
10.
What were the major innovations, technological and otherwise, of the 4th
millennium B.C.? When did they first appear?
11.
What changes occurred in the Early Dynastic period? How many people
may have resided in Uruk at its peak?
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12.
Prepare an outline that shows the development of early writing systems,
beginning with the tokens and running through the development of
cuneiform. As always, be sure you know the meaning of all terms in the
text in bold print. What is the significance of Gilgamesh?
13.
Carefully study the systems model for the development of civilization that
was handed out in class – be familiar with the various positive and
negative feedback loops and be able to explain their significance. Start
with the three positive-feedback processes associated with the
establishment of agricultural communities along the rivers. This exercise
is a good one for testing your understanding of how civilizations develop.
14.
Be familiar with the primary and secondary traits of civilizations (on the
first page of the lecture notes). Why are some considered primary and
others secondary?
15.
A key to the development of civilization in Mesopotamia was high
agricultural productivity. Written records on clay tablets provide data on
just how productive it was. What do they tell us about yield ratios for
grain?