Chapter 1: From the Origins of Agriculture to the First River Valley Civilizations- 8000-1500 BCE Flashcards

1
Q

The Agricultural Revolutions

A

Occured at different times around the world. They were the shift from food gathering to food production.

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2
Q

What did Neolithic societies domesticate?

A

They domesticated crops and animals. The domestication of animals began with dogs to help hunters track game.

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3
Q

What is pastoralism?

A

A way of life dependant on herds of stock. People migrated with herds and stock to new pastures and watering places.

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4
Q

Why did people begin to migrate and transition from food gathering to food production?

A

Climate change caused this worldwide transition. This shift allowed for a dependable food source which led to a growth in population.

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5
Q

Compare and contrast the food aspects of Neolithic and Paleolithic communities.

A

Neolithic communities had a more reliable food supply BUT
Their diet had less variety and nutrition. Historians know this because they had shorter skeletons.
They had to work harder and longer than the 3-5 hour work Paleo work day.
Their death rate was higher due to contagious diseases and contamination that spread due to human waste in settlements.

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6
Q

What did the dependable food supply allow farmers to do over several millennia?

A

Farmers gradually outnumbered foragers over several millennia.

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7
Q

What did Neolithic people build?

A

They built megaliths, buildings related to religious beliefs.

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8
Q

What were two of the largest and most preserved Neolithic settlements?

A

Çatal Hüyük and Jericho were 2 prominent Neolithic city-states. Çatal Hüyük is in southern Anatolia and was one of the first city-states, thriving from 7500 BCE- 5700 BCE.

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9
Q

What were some of the hallmarks of a civilization?

A
  1. Advanced cities partially dependent on trade.
  2. Specialization
  3. Recordkeeping
  4. Complex institutions, like religion and government
  5. Advanced technology and arts
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10
Q

What was the first civilization and where did it arise?

A

The first civilization was Sumeria in Mesopotamia around 4000 BCE.

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11
Q

Why did the Sumerians develop irrigation?

A

Southern Mesopotamia was hot and dry, so they had to channel floodwater into nearby fields. Later on, they learned to construct canals to supply water.

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12
Q

Who created the first written record?

A

The Sumerians created the first written record at least by 5000 BCE.

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13
Q

The Semites were the first to record__?

A

Personal names.

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14
Q

Sumerians and Semites lived in peace. The Semites adopted ____?

A

Their culture. The Semites also became politically dominant around 2000 BCE, and biologically merged. Akkadian gained precedent over Sumerian. The Semitic Gods indicate cultural borrowing from the Sumerians as well.

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15
Q

Mesopotamian farmers usually lived in___?

A

Villages, which consisted of a group of familes, around a few hundred people.

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16
Q

Successful villages formed ___?

A

Satellite villages, which collected crop surplus, provided military protection, and a market, forming a city-state.

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17
Q

What did Sargon do?

A

Sargon, ruler of Akkad, conquered and united the cities c. 2350 BCE. He destroyed walls of conquered cities and adopted cuneiform, as well as a uniform weights and measures system.

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18
Q

After Akkadian rule fell, the Third Dynasty of Ur rose and revived___?

A

Sumerian language and culture.

19
Q

The Amorites founded a new city at ___ ruled by ___?

A

Babylon ruled by Hammurabi, who initiated a series of aggressive military campaigns, and Babylon became the capital.

20
Q

Hammurabi’s Law Code kept justice by physical punishment as opposed to Ur’s ____ punishments.

A

Monetary.

21
Q

The Law Code of Hammurabi classified the following social divisions:

A
  1. free landowners
  2. work force
  3. slaves
    Penalties were dependant on class.
22
Q

Over time, women____.

A

Lost social standing and freedom due to the heavy labor needed for agriculture.

23
Q

When the Semites became dominant, they equated their deities with those of the Sumerians. Religion was

A

Public, state-organized. Temples were considered the god’s residence.

24
Q

Meso: Temple rituals reflected___.

A

The Babylonian Creation Myth that humankind existed only to serve the gods.

25
Q

Meso: From where did writing originate and what was it called?

A

From a system of tokens used to keep track of property. Cuneiform was created by pressing reeds into moist clay tablets.

26
Q

Why did the Mesopotamians develop math?

A

Astronomy was a big part of their religion. They developed the base-60 system.

27
Q

Why was Egypt more self-sufficient than Mesopotamia?

A

They had more natural resources.

28
Q

Egypt: Increasing population called for more complex __

A

political structure. Originally, there were local kingships, until later unified by Menes. Thus, later kings were called the “Ruler of the Two Lands.”

29
Q

Egypt discovered ___ early on, unlike Mesopotamia.

A

Unity.

30
Q

Egypt saw pharaohs as the divinely authorized order of the universe and thus the source of law and justice, so there was no ___.

A

Impersonal code like Hammurabi’s in Mesopotamia.

31
Q

Egypt: 3rd Dynasty king Djoser ordered the construction of ___.

A

pyramids.

32
Q

In Egypt, ruling dynasties placed capitals near

A

Their original power base.

33
Q

There were no urban middle class ___ in Egypt like in Mesopotamia.

A

Traders.

34
Q

A hallmark of the ruling class in Egypt was ___.

A

Literacy.

35
Q

What system of writing developed at the beginning of the Early Dynastic period in Egypt?

A

Hieroglyphics, written with ink on papyrus.

36
Q

A larger percentage of people lived in ____ villages in Egypt than Mesopotamia.

A

Farming villages, because more wealth could be acquired from cultivating land.

37
Q

Egypt had less pronounced ___ than Mesopotamia.

A

social divisions.

38
Q

Egyptian women had ___.

A

Great respect and more legal rights than Mesopotamian women.

39
Q

The Egyptians believed in ___.

A

An afterlife. Thus, they put a lot of effort in to mummification.

40
Q

What spurred math development in Egypt?

A

Endless flooding. Math was used to calculate fields and the amount of food owed. They constructed the most accurate calendar in the world.

41
Q

The Indus River overflows ___

A

Twice a year.

42
Q

Indus: The two main cities were

A

Harappa and Mohenjo- Daro. They had the same styles and artifacts as smaller cities.

43
Q

What is the Holocene?

A

Climate change that ended the Ice Age in 9000 BCE