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

Question 1

The Agricultural Revolutions

Answer 1

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

Question 2

What did Neolithic societies domesticate?

Answer 2

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

Question 3

What is pastoralism?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

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

Answer 4

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

Question 5

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

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

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

Answer 6

Farmers gradually outnumbered foragers over several millennia.

Question 7

What did Neolithic people build?

Answer 7

They built megaliths, buildings related to religious beliefs.

Question 8

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

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

What were some of the hallmarks of a civilization?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

What was the first civilization and where did it arise?

Answer 10

The first civilization was Sumeria in Mesopotamia around 4000 BCE.

Question 11

Why did the Sumerians develop irrigation?

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Who created the first written record?

Answer 12

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

Question 13

The Semites were the first to record__?

Answer 13

Personal names.

Question 14

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

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

Mesopotamian farmers usually lived in___?

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Successful villages formed ___?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

What did Sargon do?

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

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

Answer 18

Sumerian language and culture.

Question 19

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

Answer 19

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

Question 20

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

Answer 20

Monetary.

Question 21

The Law Code of Hammurabi classified the following social divisions:

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Over time, women____.

Answer 22

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

Question 23

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

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Meso: Temple rituals reflected___.

Answer 24

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

Question 25

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

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Why did the Mesopotamians develop math?

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Why was Egypt more self-sufficient than Mesopotamia?

Answer 27

They had more natural resources.

Question 28

Egypt: Increasing population called for more complex __

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Egypt discovered ___ early on, unlike Mesopotamia.

Answer 29

Unity.

Question 30

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

Answer 30

Impersonal code like Hammurabi’s in Mesopotamia.

Question 31

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

Answer 31

pyramids.

Question 32

In Egypt, ruling dynasties placed capitals near

Answer 32

Their original power base.

Question 33

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

Answer 33

Traders.

Question 34

A hallmark of the ruling class in Egypt was ___.

Answer 34

Literacy.

Question 35

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

Answer 35

Hieroglyphics, written with ink on papyrus.

Question 36

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

Answer 36

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

Question 37

Egypt had less pronounced ___ than Mesopotamia.

Answer 37

social divisions.

Question 38

Egyptian women had ___.

Answer 38

Great respect and more legal rights than Mesopotamian women.

Question 39

The Egyptians believed in ___.

Answer 39

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

Question 40

What spurred math development in Egypt?

Answer 40

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

Question 41

The Indus River overflows ___

Answer 41

Twice a year.

Question 42

Indus: The two main cities were

Answer 42

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

Question 43

What is the Holocene?

Answer 43

Climate change that ended the Ice Age in 9000 BCE