Week 6 - Ancient Civilizations - Test 2

Question 1

What is a state?

Answer 1

a form of social and political organization that has a formal, central government. Differential access to resources is based on social stratification.

started from competition among chiefdoms. The most powerful chiefdom conquered the others. Archaeologists know now that state formation typically involves one chiefdoms incorporating several others into the emerging state in controls

States may collapse when they fail to keep social and economic order or to protect themselves against outsiders

Question 2

What were the attributes that distinguished states from earlier forms of society?

Answer 2

Early states arose from compeitino among chiefdoms as the most powerful chiefdoms conquered the other
Early states had productive agricultural economies which supported large and dense populations
Early states used tribute and taxation to accumulate at a central place or treasury
States are stratified into social classes
Early states had imposing public buildings and monumental architecture (temples)
Early states had record keeping

Question 3

what are 3 key factors in interacting to promote state formation?

Answer 3

environmental, circumscription, population increase and warfare.

Question 4

what were early threats to states?

Answer 4

invation, disease, famine, drought, soil exhaustin, erosion and build up of irrigation salts

Question 5

What is social stratification?

Answer 5

Division of society into classes

Question 6

What is chiefdom?

Answer 6

societies in which relations among villages as well as among individuals are unequal

A form of sociopolitical organization intermediate between the tribe and the state; kin-based with differential access to resources and a permanent political structure. A ranked society in which relations among villages as well as among individuals are unequal, with smaller villages under the authority of leaders in larger villages; has a two-level settlement hierarchy.

Question 7

What is hydraulic agriculture?

Answer 7

Water-based - manage systems of irrigation, drainage and flood control. It can feed more people while requiring more labor, irrigated agriculture sustains and fuels population growth which in turn promotes expansion of the system.

use of fluid power to operate machinery, control implements and perform various tasks on a farm.

Question 8

What is stratification?

Answer 8

The arrangement or classification of something into different groupes

Question 9

what is metallurgy?

Answer 9

the branch of science and technology concerned with the properties of metals and their production and purification

Question 10

What is smelting?

Answer 10

process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product.

Question 11

What is record keeping?

Answer 11

Early states developed some form of record-keeping system, frequently a written script.

Question 12

What is Cahokia?

Answer 12

largest and most influential urban settlement of the Mississippian culture. Known for its Mounds. (located in Illinois)

Question 13

what are the main characteristics of state formation in Mesopotamia

Answer 13

First chiefdoms (around 7,000 y.a.)
First states (around 6,000 to 5,500 y.a.)

Question 14

What are examples of archaeological evidence?

Answer 14

vessels, ceramics, defensive walls surrounding cities, Standard of Ur

Question 15

What was the beginning of hydraulic agriculture?

Answer 15

The first use of hydraulics in agricultural machinery can be found in the Ferguson Three-Point Hitch tractor. Made in the early 20the century, this tractor would be this hydraulic system that would act as the start of hydraulic technology being used in tractors and a range of agricultural machinery to this day.

Question 16

What was the main characteristics of state formation in the Americas?

Answer 16

First chiefdoms in Mesoamerica (around 3,000 y.a.)
The Zapotec state
The Inca state

Question 17

What is the Olmec?

Answer 17

a member of a prehistoric people inhabiting the coast of Veracruz and western Tabasco on the Gulf of Mexico (c.1200–400 BC), who established what was probably the first Meso-American civilization.

Question 18

What is Zapotec state?

Answer 18

Mesoamerica’s earliest state, which developed in Mexico’s Valley of Oaxaca from a chiefdom by about 100 b.c.e. and lasted until it is overthrown by Spain in the 1500s.

Question 19

What is at stake in political concentration?

Answer 19

resource management, technology, warfare, consequences

Question 20

What is resource management?

Answer 20

territory, economic surplus

Question 21

What is at stake in political concentration with technology?

Answer 21

irrigation, writing, metallurgy - both drive change and bring responses to new challenges

Question 22

What is the largest mount in Cahokia?

Answer 22

Monks Mound - there are many other mounds

Question 23

What is warfare?

Answer 23

engagement in or the activities involved in war or conflict.

Question 24

How did the Mississippian civilization come to be?

Answer 24

The Mississippian Tradition arose after people began devoting greater efforts to growing corn. This provided a surplus of storable food and allowed populations to increase. Settlements tended to concentrate in river valleys, with their good soils and abundant wild foods. Larger communities produced new forms of cooperation and competition.

Question 25

What are methods of investigation?

Answer 25

use of pottery style, absolute dating, relative dating, horizon markers

Question 26

What is absolute dating?

Answer 26

process of determining an age on a specified chronology

Question 27

What is relative dating?

Answer 27

method of determining the relative order of past events.

Question 28

How did anthropologists study the Mississippian?

Answer 28

They did extensive archaeological digs at various sites specifically the Cahokia Mounts in Illinois where they unearthed artifacts, structures and evidence of daily life.

Question 29

What are specific examples of Jericho?

Answer 29

The earliest known town , located in what now is Israel, at a well-watered oasis near the Dead Sea

Question 30

What are specific examples of Catal Huyuk?

Answer 30

located on a river, which deposited rich soil for crops, created a lush environment for animals, and was harnessed for irrigation by 7000 b.p. Over the mound’s 32 acres (12.9 ha), up to 10,000 people once lived in crowded mud-brick houses packed so tightly that residents entered from their roofs.

Question 31

What are specific examples of Eridu?

Answer 31

Eridu (located in iraq)is one of the earliest settlements in the region, founded c. 5400 BC during the Early Ubaid period, at that time close to the Persian Gulf near the mouth of the Euphrates River though in modern times about 90 miles inland. Excavation has shown that the city was founded on a virgin sand-dune site with no previous habitation.

Eridu is listed as the city of first kings

Ziggurat of Enki is located in Eridu and is the best known and preserved Mesopotamian temple

Question 32

How do states differ from chiefdoms and what are their main characteristics?

Answer 32

Chiefdoms lack socioeconomic stratification and stratum endogamy

Question 33

What are the social order of the Mississippians?

Answer 33

Chiefdoms - each consisting of several towns, each town had a chief, families were divided into high and low social ranks

Question 34

What are evidence of rituals?

Answer 34

Burial mounds and cemeteries, effigy pottery and sculptured tobacco pipes and wooden or copper jacketed wood masks were found in burial contexts.

Elaborate headdresses, ritual weapons and other artifacts were created for ceremonial purposes.

Question 35

What are the chunkey game?

Answer 35

game of native american origin. Played by rolling disc shaped stones across the ground and throwing spears at them in an attempt to land the spear as close to the stopped stone as possible