Ancient Monuments (L25)

Question 1

What was the first tomb to be constructed entirely of stone?

Answer 1

Pharaoh Djoser

an elaboration of the mastaba

Question 2

What is a step pyramid?

Answer 2

basically severall mastabas stacked atop one another

Question 3

what did many scholars think hte pyramid shape was important as?

Answer 3

as a religious statement for the Egyptians, the edges of the pyramid symbolizing the slanting rays of the sun

Question 4

What is the largest of all the Egyptian pyramids?

Answer 4

the Pyramid of Khufu

Question 5

How did crews carry the limesotne blocks?

Answer 5

they would drag or push limestone blocks up ramps and to reduce friction, the ramps were probably covered with slick mud

Question 6

What are the 3 pyramids built at Giza?

Answer 6

Khufu
Khafre
Menkaure

Question 7

The pyramids are completely solid strucutres, T or F?

Answer 7

False. within them are chambers and connecting tunnels

Question 8

What is the masin stone used to build bulk of the pyramid

Answer 8

Fossiliferous limestone

Question 9

why is the local fossiliferous limestone interesting?

Answer 9

b/c it consists almost entirely of nummulities

Question 10

what are nummulities?

Answer 10

chambered shells of extinct forms of marine, amoeba-like organisms called foraminifera that accumuluated in huge quantities long time ago

Question 11

WHere was most of hte stones in the Giza pyramids quarried?

Answer 11

on the Giza plateau itself

Question 12

Where did the white, fine-grained limestone casing come from?

Answer 12

Tura

Question 13

What is one thing that is interesting about the Sphinx?

Answer 13

there is a lot less known about its history than the pyramids

Question 14

What is the Sphinx?

Answer 14

a strange-looking monument at Giza bearing the body of a lion and the face of a human

Question 15

What is an important point about the body of the Sphinx?

Answer 15

it was carved in place from readily eroded native limestone bedrock

Question 16

How were the undulations on the front and sides of the Sphinx created?

Answer 16

due to the slight differences in weathering rates of the limestone layers

Question 17

What are 2 pieces of evidence for the suggestion that the Sphinx may have existed well before the Khafre?

Answer 17

Giza has been bone-dry since 2500 BCE and yet the Sphinx’s body and walls show a gullied surface that is typical of erosion by running water

also the lower levels of the Sphinx has been converged by sand for significant periods of time

Egypt was much wetter before 2500 BCE

Question 18

What is another hypothesis for the creation of the Sphinx?

Answer 18

Sphinx was simply a fancy dress up to convert an otherwise ugly blemish in the landscape into an attractive monument

Question 19

What was Easter Island constructed of?

Answer 19

Basaltic Lava and Pyroclastic debris sourced from mafic mantle material

Question 20

what are the best known features on Easter Island?

Answer 20

Moai, which are huge statues carved from volcanic ash

Question 21

How do we know that Moai’s were carved at the site

Answer 21

findings of several unfinished Moai

Question 22

What is the makeup of the red topknots (Moai hair)?

Answer 22

iron-rich, poroous basaltic rock called Scoria

Question 23

What were the main tools used to carve the Moai?

Answer 23

axes made of solid, non-porous basalt

Question 24

what is the current interpretation of the function of the Moai?

Answer 24

these statues were constructed as guardians of the island people

Question 25

Moai have torsos Y or N

Answer 25

Yes, but not legs as they wanted to prevent the statues from walking around

Question 26

How were Moai suggested to have been moved?

Answer 26

by rocking them back and forth to the sites

Question 27

the demise of the Easter Island population is due to ____

Answer 27

poor resource management (trees became scarce, soil erosion resulted, and food became scarce for the islanders)

Question 28

Why is it that the Easter Island culture will never be solved?

Answer 28

b/c the oral traditions of the culture died with the last of the native islanders