Deck 14: The Development of Civilization

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a city as discussed in your text?

A) a degree of organizational complexity
B) large and dense settlement with populations at least in the thousands
C) specialization and interdependence
D) the lower limit of a city is 10,000 people

Answer 1

D

Question 2

V. Gordon Childe proposed the "Urban Revolution." It was characterized by __________.

A) the development of pottery
B) the emergence of new social classes of artisans and specialists
C) the development of villages
D) egalitarian social and economic structures

Answer 2

B

Question 3

There are three themes to ecological theories about the origins of states. These include everything EXCEPT __________.

A) diversity of local environments
B) effect of cities on the environment
C) ecological potential of river floodplains
D) adoption of irrigation agriculture

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Items mentioned in the text thought to be traded by elites to maintain their power include all of the following EXCEPT __________.

A) firewood
B) obsidian
C) copper
D) salt

Question 5

Dispersing of trade goods and other commodities from a central place throughout a society is referred to as __________.

A) taxation
B) bartering
C) redistribution
D) reciprocity

Question 6

Colin Renfrew attributed the rise of the Minoan civilization to trading contacts as well as __________.

A) the cultivation of olives and vines
B) domestication of goats and the making of feta cheese
C) the cultivation of tomatoes
D) the mining of copper ores

Question 7

The text points out that trade alone cannot be a primary source of the emergence of states. The author concludes that __________.

A) trade was not a consequence of civilization
B) only one aspect of trade can cause cultural change
C) no one aspect of trade can cause an evolution in trading practices
D) maritime shipping is the most important form of trade

Question 8

__________ suggested that warfare, which came about from inter-village fighting over agricultural land, lead to state formation.

A) Carneiro
B) Flannery
C) Renfrew
D) Rathje

Question 9

Power of states can be divided into three domains. These include all of the following EXCEPT __________.

A) political
B) corporative
C) economic
D) social

Question 10

A state of interdependence between neighboring political units, such as city-states, is referred to as __________.

A) reciprocity
B) chiefly cycling
C) a polity
D) peer-polity interaction

Question 11

According to the text, a city can be defined by its population. A generally used rule-of- thumb is a lower limit of __________ people for a city.

A) 100,000
B) 50,000
C) 10,000
D) 5,000

Question 12

James Breasted's Fertile Crescent hypothesis assumes that __________.

A) the low fertility of the Mesopotamian floodplain and the Nile Valley was a secondary cause for the appearance of cities and states in these regions
B) larger grain consumption resulted from increased agricultural efficiency
C) smaller grain surpluses resulted from social changes
D) the extra food supported non-food producers, such as artisans, priests, and traders who were the backbone of state-organized societies

Question 13

American archaeologist William Rathje developed a hypothesis that considered an explosion in long-distance exchange a fundamental cause of __________ civilization.

A) Maya
B) Egyptian
C) Mississippian
D) Toltec

Question 14

Ecologically based theories of state formation __________.

A) rely heavily on systems approaches
B) have not lasted as long as many other hypotheses
C) were extremely popular during the nineteenth century but have very few adherents today
D) require heavy environmental understanding

Question 15

In every part of the world where early civilization appeared __________.

A) people must have produced enough surplus to free some individuals of the burden to produce food
B) ceremonial centers were not a requirement
C) the ceremonial center was the tertiary focus of power, exchange, and authority
D) public executions for many violations of the law were common

Question 16

When a complex society collapses __________.

A) it usually becomes less egalitarian
B) population densities rise
C) information flow increases
D) it becomes more egalitarian

Question 17

__________ has been described as a major potential cause for civilization.

A) Earthquake response
B) Irrigation
C) Social change
D) Cultural diffusion

Question 18

The Fertile Crescent theory __________.

A) is implausible because the environment in all major centers of early civilizations is quite dissimilar
B) is based on archaeological evidence from Sumer and southern China
C) cites the fertility of the Nile and Mesopotamia floodplains as a primary reason for the emergence of cities
D) relates the environmental conditions of the Deccan Plateau

Question 19

One major criticism of the hydraulic theory is that __________.

A) in Mesopotamia, cities predate large-scale irrigation
B) early civilization did not use irrigation
C) large-scale irrigation does not necessarily require a bureaucracy
D) most ancient civilizations became dependent on trade and animal husbandry and, therefore, did not require large-scale irrigation

Question 20

Early irrigation in Mesopotamia __________.

A) required elaborate social organization
B) was conducted on a large scale
C) required a huge labor force
D) was based on flooding of farm fields

Question 21

List and discuss three of the five features common to all preindustrial civilizations.

Question 22

List and discuss three of the six classic theories of the emergence of states.

Question 23

What is meant by the statement, in the last part of the chapter, "The record of early civilizations could easily be written in cyclical terms…"?