Mesopotamia Flashcards
What does the term patriarchy mean?
A social system whre men have more power an access to resources than women and some men are dominant over other men.
A Confusion moral saying from ancient China asserts that “men _____ and women ______. Why did this division of labor take place and what impact did it have on gender hierarchy.
plow, weave
Spinning and weaving were generally done indoors, involved simpler tools and allowed the woman to do other things while plowing was harder labor and done outside. This role may have led men to be inheritors of family land.
In the story of the iceman, how long ago did he die? _______. His diet tells us that he lived in what kind of society?________ What kind of technology was he carrying with him?_________ Did he die a natural death? ________
5300 years ago
hunter/agricultural society that allowed specialization
copper axe, arrow heads, arrows and a bow
No
As early as 7,000 BCE, how many people were living in some of the villages in the Fertile Crescent? What is the common explanation for why places like Stone henge were constructed?
As many as 10,000 residents
Probably calendric, astronomical, and/or religious purposes.
Around 5,000 years which major new technology was developed and why was it developed?
Writing. To record taxes, inventories and payments amongst other things.
In the 5th century BCE, a Greek named ______ coined the term history to describe his inquiry into the past. Today we would call his methodology “_____”. He also wrote down his histories and consulted ______.
Herodotus
Oral Histories
written documents
History became associated with the invention of ______ and ________ and _______ was used to explain the time before this invention.
writing and written documents
prehistory
When evaluating which written sources should survive via copying, what kinds of sources tended to be chosen? What type were not?
A) political and military events involving major powers, records of religious traditions, those that come from perceived important authors.
B) daily life of ordinary people
Even thought many are now discarding the idea that a uniform process is required for a “civilization” to develop, everyone still agress that “about 5,000 years ago a new human ______ appeared.
Society
What explanation does the textbook provide for the initial appearance of “the state?”
Cities concentrated people and power, and they required more elaborate mechanisms to make them work than had small agricultural villages and foraging groups.
States first developed in Mesopotamia and they featured larger ______, a division of _____ and growth of cities.
populations, labor
The division of labor that plow agriculture led to the creation of social _________, division between rich and _______, elites and common _______. The Diamond thesis is an attempt to explain why there is so much inequality in the world.
hierarchies
poor
peoples
The southern part of Mesopotamia was known as ________, where irrigation led to the appearance of agricultural villages such as _____.
Sumer
Uruk
Uruk had a population of around_____.
50,000 people
The monumental architecture in these cities took the form of step-pyramids known as _______, and it was inspired by their religious beliefs
ziggurat
Religious beliefs which included a belief that there were many gods - later became known as _______.
Polytheism
The Sumerians developed a system of writing based on pictographs called_________.
cuneiform
Which Sumerian mathematical advance have impacted the ways in which we measure time?
They used a numerical system based on units of sixty, ten and six from which we derive our division of hours into sixty minutes, and minutes into sixty seconds.
The first epic poem, and some would argue the world’s first piece of literature, was entitled _____________.
The epic of Gilgamesh.
in 2300 BCE, the Sumerians were invaded from the north by forces led by a chieftain named ___________, who build the new capital city named _____________.
Sargon
Akkad
After the Sumerian invasion, the dominant Mesopotamian Empire was centered in the city of____________, and the most famous leader was name _____________.
Babylon
Hammurabi
Hammurabi encouraged the worship of _________ as the main deity.
Marduk
The word petro means ______ and the word glyphs means _____.
rock, writing
Petroglyphs are found all over the world and were frequently use by pre-historic peoples who lacked a written language, for various purposes:
religious, story-telling, etc.; written into the rock, not on
It is estimated that the Jeffers Petroglyphs were produced by Native Americans who lived in the region ______ years ago.
5000
We have no idea how they “referred” to themselves, but we do know that the Cheyenne, Ioway, Otoe, Ponca, Omaha and Dakota Indians lived in this region when ________ first arrived in 1650.
Europeans
