Deck 1: Early Civilizations

Question 1

Jericho,which eventually became a large and densely settled city,began as a:

A)defensive fortification.
B)religious center.
C)major burial site.
D)iron-producing settlement.
E)grain-producing settlement.

Answer 1

grain-producing settlement.

Question 2

The common religion of the Sumerians:

A)was an early form of monotheism that influenced other peoples.
B)required city-states to settle their differences peacefully.
C)guaranteed free food for the poorest members of society.
D)included many gods,with a different god worshiped in each city-state.
E)was the only aspect of Sumerian society that survived the society's collapse.

Answer 2

included many gods,with a different god worshiped in each city-state.

Question 3

The ability of Neanderthals to make jewelry,bury their dead in distinctive graves,and create cave paintings,suggests which of the following?

A)Neanderthals were the most advanced ancient peoples.
B)Neanderthals had some recognizable human traits.
C)Neanderthals likely became extinct as a result of famine.
D)Neanderthal women did the same work as men.
E)Neanderthal society was highly stratified.

Answer 3

Neanderthals had some recognizable human traits.

Question 4

The Neolithic Revolution allowed women to:

A)participate fully in social and political governance.
B)become the primary laborers in the growing of crops.
C)have fewer children and devote less time to child care.
D)have more children and devote more time to child care.
E)become the religious leaders of communities.

Question 5

While ancient Sumerians shared a common religion,warfare was frequent because:

A)priests were also warriors.
B)the common religion taught that war was necessary and good.
C)most ancient Sumerians did not believe in the peaceful teachings of the common religion.
D)residents of each city believed themselves to be the servants of different gods.
E)residents of each city competed against each other for the honor of serving in the temples.

Question 6

The switch from subsistence by food gathering to food production:

A)required people to give up their faith in storm and wind gods.
B)was a momentous revolution that made stable settlements possible.
C)meant that women were no longer part of the labor force.
D)prohibited raising domestic animals as livestock.
E)required seasonal movement,allowing for summer and winter settlements.

Question 7

Cities were the result of innovations which took place roughly:

A)13,000 years ago.
B)25,000 years ago.
C)38,000 years ago.
D)50,000 years ago.
E)1,000,000 years ago.

Question 8

Agricultural surpluses and permanent settlements allowed for the unequal accumulation of wealth and thus the emergence of:

A)primitive communism.
B)a socially,economically,and politically stratified society.
C)charities dedicated to feeding the poor.
D)religious rituals dedicated to increasing agricultural production.
E)the earliest banks and trust companies.

Question 9

Since human beings in the Paleolithic period had no domestic animals,

A)great disparities developed in individual wealth.
B)they could be easily ruled by tribal kings.
C)they practiced a policy of "divide,defeat,and conquer."
D)they had no significant wealth beyond what they could carry.
E)they used wild animals as beasts of burden.

Question 10

Tens of thousands of Sumerian clay tablets have survived,

A)but unfortunately the key to the language has not.
B)documenting the United Sumerian empire,which lasted from 2900 to 2500 b.c.e.
C)telling us more about Sumer than we know about any other human society at the time.
D)probably because the Sumerians kept them in special underground archives.
E)but all deal with priestly class and reveal nothing about Sumerian society.

Question 11

The earliest primates with human characteristics originated roughly 4-5 million years ago in:

A)China.
B)Africa.
C)North America.
D)South America.
E)Northern Europe.

Question 12

Before 11,000 b.c.e. ,virtually all human societies were:

A)engaged in settled agriculture to produce crop surpluses for the gods.
B)able to use metal tools for arts,crafts,and building.
C)using men to do the hunting and women to do the gathering.
D)nomadic,moving incessantly in search of limited food.
E)settled in agricultural communities.

Question 13

Why was Sumer an uninviting environment for the first cities?

A)The area has no natural defenses.
B)The soil was sandy and the rivers flooded unpredictably.
C)The marshy land between the rivers was fertile breeding ground for malaria and other deadly diseases.
D)The rivers were largely unnavigable during long periods of the year,making trade difficult.
E)The region had no forests for timber or usable stone to quarry for building materials.

Question 14

Cave paintings,such as those found in Lascaux,France,are evidence of development of:

A)a stratified society.
B)permanent settlement.
C)language as well as religious and artistic ideas.
D)a priestly class.
E)an artistic class.

Question 15

Which of the following was an important element in the development of early settlements?

A)The development of coinage to make the exchange of goods easier
B)The standardization of burial practices throughout the Near and Middle East
C)The discovery made during the last "Little Ice Age" of freezing to preserve food
D)The establishment of first local and then long-distance trade routes throughout the Near East
E)The emergence of hereditary kingship

Question 16

An individual who successfully led a Sumerian city-state's army in battles was:

A)known as a tyrant and feared by freedom-loving citizens.
B)able to acquire prestige and power as a lugal.
C)associated with distant countries where the gods supposedly lived.
D)declared a god-king by his city's priests.
E)allowed by the gods to carouse with the wives and daughters of the nobles.

Question 17

Slavery in Sumerian society was:

A)based on the color of a person's skin.
B)strictly forbidden.
C)based on gender.
D)perpetual,with no chance for the slaves to gain their freedom.
E)usually the result of capture during war.

Question 18

To the peoples of the ancient world,the characteristic manifestations of civilization-government,literature,science,and art-were necessarily products of:

A)rural life.
B)city life.
C)religion.
D)warfare.
E)nomadic life.

Question 19

Why was life expectancy in early cities shorter than among nomadic hunter-gatherer peoples?

A)The carbohydrate-rich diet was less nutritious,and cramped housing in the cities resulted in increased exposure to infectious diseases.
B)The success of the cities and their stored supplies of food attracted attack from outside,chiefly by nomadic peoples.
C)The process of in-home burial led to an increase in contagious disease.
D)Food was often portioned out according to social class and sex,resulting in an inadequate diet for women and the poor.
E)People in early cities exercised less and ate more than people who lived in traditional hunter-gatherer societies.

Question 20

Enkidu's death in the Epic of Gilgamesh and Gilgamesh's inability to revive him illustrates that Sumerians believed that:

A)a powerful lugal owes no allegiance to the gods.
B)rural life is superior to urban life and "civilization."
C)human effort was futile to stop the forces of nature.
D)the Sumerians believed that the gods would reward those who did their bidding.
E)some Sumerians did not believe in gods and goddesses.

Question 21

Sargon of Akkad (c.2350 b.c.e. )is significant because he:

A)was the first lugal to conquer neighboring city-states.
B)subdued Sumer and exerted influence from Ethiopia to the Indus Valley.
C)built observatories and introduced the more accurate Akkadian calendar.
D)sent ambassadors to distant lands ranging from Ethiopia to Europe.
E)was the first ruler in history to take the title of "emperor."

Question 22

The great Pyramids of Giza,built in the Fourth Dynasty,were:

A)used for athletic events,concerts,and political rallies.
B)lost in the desert sands and unknown to the Greeks.
C)a good supply of building stone for Rome and Carthage.
D)temples used for worship by the priestly class.
E)constructed by thousands of peasant workers who were not slaves.

Question 23

The Egyptian system of hieroglyphics was:

A)deciphered by Champollion using the Rosetta Stone.
B)a popular version of the more complex cuneiform.
C)used until the invention of printing with movable type.
D)not written on papyrus because it was too expensive.
E)a phonetic system of writing based on the Ubaid language.

Question 24

Hammurabi's empire was founded on:

A)a policy of terror.
B)constant warfare.
C)complex trade networks.
D)political strategy and diplomacy.
E)the loyalty of his blood kin.

Question 25

Hammurabi's insistence that his subject territories worship the god Marduk was driven by:

A)his deep religious convictions.
B)his concern for the moral well-being of his people.
C)his desire to unite the territories.
D)his desire to convert nonbelievers.
E)his concerns about the eternal souls of his people.

Question 26

Shortly before 3000 b.c.e. ,people in the Near East discovered that bronze could be produced by:

A)applying advances in Sumerian mathematics and astronomy.
B)heating copper to extremely high temperatures in pottery furnaces.
C)combining copper with iron.
D)combining copper metal with arsenic or tin.
E)combining iron with tin or arsenic.

Question 27

The two gods most fundamental to Egyptian religious belief were:

A)Seth and Osiris.
B)Isis and Osiris.
C)Seth and Isis.
D)Isis and Anubis.
E)Anubis and Horus.

Question 28

The civilization that emerged in ancient Egypt arose:

A)as a part of the Old Babylonian empire.
B)at the same time as that of ancient Sumer.
C)significantly later than that of ancient Sumer.
D)significantly earlier than that of ancient Sumer.
E)as a result of Akkadian colonization.

Question 29

Due to recent research,the method of numbering Egyptian dynasties now begins with the _________ dynasty.

A)Zero
B)First
C)Initial
D)Primary
E)Scorpion

Question 30

The first Egyptian cities developed in:

A)Upper Egypt.
B)Lower Egypt.
C)the area near the Third Cataract.
D)the area near the Fourth Cataract.
E)the area near the Fifth Cataract.

Question 31

Which of the following happened during Egypt's First Intermediate Period?

A)Wealth became more evenly distributed.
B)Warfare became commonplace.
C)Trade and diplomacy with other nations increased.
D)Agriculture declined due to drought.
E)The population declined dramatically.

Question 32

Historians typically divide ancient Egyptian history into _________ to facilitate the discussion of Egyptian politics and culture.

A)intermediate eras
B)predynastic societies
C)pharaohs
D)kingdoms and periods
E)primary and secondary eras

Question 33

Egypt was a rich agricultural region because of which of the following?

A)The annual flooding of the Nile
B)Primitive forms of artificial irrigation
C)Abundant rainfall
D)The blessings of their gods
E)The unique farming practices of the Egyptians

Question 34

Because of their relationship with what was often a harsh and inhospitable environment,the Sumerians:

A)became highly knowledgeable about the weather.
B)became self-reliant and innovative.
C)became self-centered and uninterested in the world around them.
D)experienced what we know today as posttraumatic stress disorder.
E)developed strong,closely-knit families.

Question 35

The fact that Sargon installed Akkadian-speaking governors in the cities he controlled and attempted to merge Akkadian and Sumerian deities suggests that:

A)he was married to a Sumerian woman.
B)he wanted to create an empire.
C)he was skilled in foreign policy.
D)he relied on the guidance of skilled advisers.
E)he hoped to establish a new capital in Sumer.

Question 36

After 2500 b.c.e. ,the tombs of Sumerian lugals often included armor and jewelry.This demonstrates both the wealth of the lugals and shows that Sumerians believed:

A)gifts to the gods were necessary at death.
B)there was no afterlife.
C)the dead had to pay a toll to enter the land of the dead.
D)all their possessions should be buried with them.
E)items such as these would be useful in the afterlife.

Question 37

Following the decline in Akkad,a new dynasty under the leadership of _________ arose in the Sumerian city of Ur.

A)Ur-Narmer
B)Ur-Nammu
C)Ur-Engar
D)Ur-Enkidu
E)Gilgamesh

Question 38

One of the most significant developments of the late Old Kingdom was the:

A)declining influence of the pharaohs.
B)destruction of the pyramids.
C)destruction of the priestly cults.
D)mandate to worship Akhenaten.
E)increased reliance on trade.

Question 39

The Egyptians developed elaborate tombs and burial techniques:

A)to preserve their sacred cats in the harsh desert climate.
B)following the example of the Hebrews and other nomadic people.
C)because they believed deceased people would be reincarnated as animals.
D)to enable a person's afterlife and ensure he or she had all that was necessary there.
E)to demonstrate their great respect for their ancestors.

Question 40

The penalties in Hammurabi's Law Code:

A)were equal for all.
B)only applied to slaves.
C)were different depending on the class of an individual.
D)were different depending on whether an individual was a citizen or not.
E)were different depending on the age of the individual.

Question 41

Because Egyptian society was in constant turmoil,the Egyptians grew accustomed to change and welcomed new ideas.

Question 42

Agricultural surplus made it possible for early societies to become more stable and to expand in population,yet also kept early societies socially stagnant as all labor was focused on the land and the cultivation of more grain.

Question 43

Ma'at:

A)or "size," meant that temples and palaces had to be very large.
B)is equivalent to the English "human rights."
C)was a male god who made the universe move forward in time.
D)includes ideas of harmony,order,justice,and truth.
E)referred to the Egyptian belief in reincarnation.

Question 44

The Egyptians made notable advances in:

A)mathematics.
B)science.
C)military technology.
D)philosophy.
E)measuring time.

Question 45

Sumerian distrust of nature and fear of the world were paralyzing to their culture as they lacked motivation to make significant advances in science,technology,and trade.

Question 46

Hierarchical structures of leadership were uncommon in early hunter-gatherer societies.

Question 47

Labor among Paleolithic peoples was strictly divided along gender lines,as men did the hunting and women the gathering.

Question 48

Before entering an enjoyable afterlife,the deceased Egyptian supposedly:

A)would be judged by Osiris and other divine judges.
B)confessed all sins.
C)had to buy access to heaven with offerings to the gods.
D)had to build a pyramid,large or small,according to social status.
E)had to find his soul in the Duat.

Question 49

It is possible that Egyptians did not develop many laborsaving devices such as the wheel because:

A)there was a very large pool of available manpower in Egypt.
B)many craftsmen in Egypt were dedicated to designing monumental architecture.
C)Egypt did not have trade contacts with areas in which laborsaving devices had been developed.
D)the Egyptian way of farming did not lend itself to using devices such as the wheel.
E)any and all technology produced was owned by the pharaoh.

Question 50

Which comparison between Egypt and Mesopotamian civilizations is not true?

A)Each underwent a melding of religious and political leadership.
B)Each engaged in massive building projects.
C)Each developed a technique of writing,which helped them expand their influence.
D)Each enjoyed significant political and cultural interactions.
E)Each underwent a process of political consolidation in the third millennium b.c.e.

Question 51

The rituals involved in the Egyptians' preservation of the dead were created in order to:

A)honor the cat goddess,Bastet.
B)recreate the death of Anubis.
C)emulate the preservation of Osiris's body.
D)ensure a bountiful harvest.
E)protect bodies against the elements.

Question 52

Myths can be considered an early form of history.

Question 53

Egyptian coffin books or books of the dead contained:

A)lists of prominent persons who died each year.
B)funeral regulations for members of the royal family.
C)instructions about preserving bodies after death.
D)magic spells,formulas,and incantations needed in the afterlife.
E)lamentations and consoling writings to aid the bereaved in their time of sorrow.

Question 54

Which period saw Egypt expand its borders,abandon its isolationism,and change its ideal of pharaoh from a god to a "good shepherd"?

A)The Old Kingdom
B)The Middle Kingdom
C)The First Intermediate Period
D)The Second Intermediate Period
E)The New Kingdom

Question 55

Which of the following is not true regarding women in Egyptian society during the Pharaonic period?

A)They could assume pharaonic authority.
B)They could own property.
C)They could stand before the courts as individuals without male representation.
D)They could practice sexual freedom.
E)They were recognized as persons in their own right.

Question 56

Hammurabi's Law Code is the first law code that exacted equal punishment for crimes across the social spectrum.

Question 57

Sumerian innovations are directly responsible for the 30-day calendar that we still use today.

Question 58

Originally,the elaborate funerary rituals and preparations were reserved for:

A)all Egyptians.
B)Egyptian men.
C)Egyptian women.
D)the royal family.
E)the priests.

Question 59

Hammurabi's Law Code accorded no rights to women.

Question 60

The practices of Hammurabi led later rulers to allow greater religious freedom.

Question 61

Egypt in the Old and Middle Kingdoms was maintained chiefly through conquest.

Question 62

How did Sumerian advances in technology help shape society in the Fertile Crescent?

Question 63

What factors contributed to the fall of the Old Kingdom?

Question 64

To what degree can Çatalhöyük be seen as a stepping stone toward civilization?

Question 65

Compare and contrast Sumerian and Egyptian forms of religion.

Question 66

In what ways can Hammurabi's rule be described as innovative?

Question 67

What innovations characterize the Neolithic Revolution,and how did these innovations impact Neolithic society?

Question 68

Much of what we know of ancient Egypt-and the accomplishments of the pharaohs,in particular-comes from the many written records left by the Egyptians.

Question 69

How did Egypt's role in the ancient world change during the Middle Kingdom?

Question 70

Egyptian and Mesopotamian hieroglyphic writing developed independently of one another.

Question 71

How did the geography of Mesopotamia and Egypt shape their cultures?

Question 72

How did the Ubaid culture contribute to the development of urban civilization in Mesopotamia?

Question 73

The First Intermediate Period refers to a period in which Egypt ceased to be unified.

Question 74

How was Egyptian society shaped by the Nile River and in what ways did the environment shape the authority of the pharaoh?

Question 75

The early pharaohs had difficulty establishing their rule over all Egypt due to the power of local civic and religious authorities.