Pollard Ch.2 Test Bank Rivers, Cities, And First States

a.

Çatal Hüyük

b.

Liangzhu

c.

Harappa

d.

Uruk

a.

People could specialize in making goods for the consumption of others.

b.

People became isolated from those living in the countryside.

c.

People relied on councils of elders to organize complex societies.

d.

People abandoned trade, as they were now self-sufficient.

a.

The development of long-distance trading networks

b.

The rise of priestly classes that demanded sacrifices of labor and taxes to local gods

c.

The collective efforts needed to build and maintain irrigation systems

d.

The need to defend against attacks from large predators

a.

It was easy to smelt and shape, and could be used to create bronze.

b.

It was considered to be the “tears of the sun,” a sacred metal.

c.

It was needed to make plows.

d.

It was used in the making of pottery.

a.

Learning to breed and ride horses

b.

Developing the compound bow

c.

Creating war chariots

d.

Learning to forge iron

a.

People settled in small mountain valleys where they could more easily keep watch over their herds.

b.

People lived in the coastal lands where water supplies were easily available for their herds.

c.

Oxen became a crucial component of survival so that nomadic pastoralists could move their villages.

d.

Herders traded meat and animal products for grains, pottery, and tools with settled agricultural communities.

a.

Horse-drawn copper plows

b.

Levees and canals

c.

Sturdy defensive walls

d.

Monumental architecture such as temples

a.

Sumerians wanted to cement political alliances by tying potential enemies to them in mutual trade.

b.

Sumerians lacked natural resources apart from fertile soil, mud, and water.

c.

Sumerian religions required sending missionaries to foreign lands.

d.

Sumerians needed to trade for food to support their growing population.

a.

Workers in a temple were required to focus solely on spiritual activities to maintain their ritual purity, whereas shamans in earlier societies engaged in trade and other economic activities.

b.

Temple priesthoods rejected long-distance trade as bringing “foreign” elements into the community, whereas earlier societies eagerly sought trade.

c.

Temples reflected increased wealth and social stratification, whereas earlier societies had less monumental architecture and concentration of wealth.

d.

Temple priesthoods maintained a strict separation of state and religion, whereas earlier societies were ruled by priest-kings.

a.

They grew very rapidly when new crops were introduced into the region.

b.

They were dominated by the central city of Eridu.

c.

They developed in a haphazard manner without planning or organization.

d.

They were spiritual, economic, and cultural centers.

a.

A strong defensive wall encircling the entire population

b.

A ziggurat at city center, with neighborhoods marking different occupational specialties on both sides of a central canal

c.

Houses showing little distinction between social classes

d.

King’s palace at city center, representing permanent secular, military, and administrative authority

a.

Both were designed as temples, and housed an elaborate bureaucracy.

b.

Pyramids were primarily tombs for the semi-divine pharaoh, while ziggurats were temples.

c.

Both were created to project the might and grandeur of the territory’s secular ruler.

d.

The ziggurat of Marduk was larger than the Great Pyramid.

a.

Egalitarian relations between husbands and wives

b.

Polygamous, with most men having several wives as well as concubines

c.

Monogamous and patriarchal

d.

Equal inheritance of property between sons and daughters

a.

Hittites spoke and wrote in a Semitic language.

b.

People in Mesopotamia adapted and used demotic hieroglyphics for everyday communication.

c.

The Hittite language and writing system was used primarily to create epic poems.

d.

Cuneiform writing was adapted and used by many different cultures.

a.

the might of Sumerian cavalry.

b.

earlier Mesopotamian innovations in irrigation, record-keeping, and urban development.

c.

excluding foreign influence that might undermine his authority.

d.

negotiating a peace between the independent city-states of Sumer and Uruk.

a.

Both were strongly shaped by the unpredictability of river flooding.

b.

Both were surrounded by vast desert lands, which held nothing of value.

c.

Both granted their rulers immense authority and built irrigation networks.

d.

Both were ruled by priesthoods that controlled many city-states along their respective rivers.

a.

By building irrigation systems to constantly supply water to fields

b.

By developing elaborate trade networks along its many western tributaries

c.

By building irrigation systems that stored water in underground cisterns for use during dry seasons

d.

By building basins that trapped rich silt as the Nile overflowed its banks

a.

Egypt had no fertile hinterland, since settlement was limited to the narrow Nile floodplain.

b.

Egypt had many internal divisions, as the Nile River created multiple isolated geographical regions.

c.

Egyptian religion focused exclusively on the role of the Nile in sustaining life.

d.

Egypt relied heavily on its strong navy to conquer territory along the Nile.

a.

Unlike Mesopotamian kings, the pharaoh did not need to establish a military, since Egypt was protected by natural borders of deserts.

b.

Unlike Mesopotamian kings, the pharaoh created monumental architecture and tombs.

c.

The pharaoh’s most important role was as a bridge to the gods to ensure the regular flooding of the Nile, but in Mesopotamia, kings organized irrigation projects to control floods.

d.

The pharaoh had the primary responsibility of ensuring that scribes were properly trained, but in Mesopotamia, that was the role of the priests.

a.

The architectural techniques used to build the tombs first came from Mesopotamia.

b.

The slaves needed to construct the tombs were imported from Europe and Central Asia.

c.

Mud bricks needed to build the tombs were imported from Mesopotamia by donkey caravans.

d.

Wood from Byblos built the ships that transported precious metals and jewels from far away.

a.

By creating a special divine language that only they could use

b.

By creating elaborate rules for selecting and training priests, and by forbidding all others from entering the temples’ inner sanctuaries

c.

By undercutting the ceremonial role of the local rulers

d.

By using the tithes sent by worshippers to launch a campaign against practitioners of competing religions

a.

Local villagers were physically far removed from temple life, and so turned to other means of satisfying their religious needs.

b.

Villagers had a different set of gods and beliefs from those of the temples and court.

c.

The priesthood in Egypt was weak and did not satisfy the needs of the local villagers.

d.

Since villagers were illiterate, they could not participate in temple rituals.

a.

Literacy immediately became important for all members of society.

b.

Scribes at first had little concern with trade and commerce.

c.

Scribes’ status was increased by the small number of people who were literate.

d.

Scribes were usually members of lower artisan classes.

a.

The divide between rural and urban settings

b.

Drought strained the irrigation system, resulting in famine.

c.

The bureaucracy introduced too many changes into water management methods.

d.

Invasion by the people of the Nubian regions of the Nile River

a.

Annual floods replenished the soil in the Indus Valley but not in the Ganges Valley.

b.

The Indus River, but not the Ganges River, brought plentiful water from its source in the Himalayas.

c.

The Indus Valley suffered less from the yearly monsoons than did the Ganges Valley.

d.

The Ganges Valley, unlike the Indus Valley, was surrounded by inhospitable deserts.

a.

Evidence of furrows, probably made by a plow

b.

Evidence of the monsoon bringing water to dried-up paleochannels

c.

Evidence of horse collars

d.

Evidence of cities on the Indus River circa 3000 BCE

a.

It was built of sun-dried brick.

b.

It housed well-made public facilities, such as the great bath.

c.

It lacked fortification and was open to all people.

d.

It contained long inscriptions describing rituals performed there.

a.

Written language was used to provide a common culture throughout the Indus Valley.

b.

The royal palace was an administrative center for the entire realm.

c.

Royal tombs contained frescoes and records that showed the existence of regional laws.

d.

Regional uniformity in urban planning; standardized weights and measures

a.

Unlike the Egyptians, Harappans built no monumental structures for their communities.

b.

Harappan farmers’ cultivation yielded surpluses, while Egyptian farmers struggled to avoid famine.

c.

Egyptian writing was limited to religious purposes, while Harappans composed epic poems.

d.

Unlike the Egyptians, there is no indication that the Harappans had kings or built royal palaces or tombs.

a.

Control of salt deposits in the Indus River basin

b.

Control of the extraction and trade of gemstones

c.

Control of navigational techniques used by sailors along the Indian Ocean coast

d.

Control of trade routes through northern India

a.

Urbanization took place more rapidly in China than in Egypt and Mesopotamia, as the rice-growing regions in the south shared information with the millet-growing regions in the north.

b.

Urbanization in China was slower than in Egypt and Mesopotamia because China did not have outside trade.

c.

Urbanization in China was slower than in Egypt and Mesopotamia because of geographic barriers and lack of easily domesticated plants and animals.

d.

Urbanization in China took place more rapidly than in Egypt and Mesopotamia because China’s open geography allowed for the rapid diffusion of intellectual and cultural breakthroughs from other parts of Afro-Eurasia.

a.

Through shipping lanes from the Korean peninsula

b.

Through the overland caravan routes from the Indus Valley

c.

Through indigenous invention in the Yangshao culture

d.

Through pastoralist nomad migrations in the Mongolian steppes

a.

Longshan kings forced tributary trade ties with steppe nomads.

b.

Longshan silk scrolls have been found in the Indus Valley.

c.

Longshan black pottery has been found as far away as Taiwan and Manchuria.

d.

Longshan iron tools made their way to Japan.

a.

China’s political and social system was hierarchical.

b.

China’s political and social system emphasized an idealized past and rule by sage-kings.

c.

China’s political and social system was not centralized.

d.

China’s political and social system relied on strong female rulers as well as males.

a.

Everyday life was dominated by weaponry rather than writing and palaces.

b.

Societies were dominated by priests and sages.

c.

Geographical obstacles led to scattered settlements.

d.

Crops from the Fertile Crescent did not produce surpluses in the Aegean world.

a.

Dried fish from Crete was exchanged for iron weapons.

b.

Copper from Crete was exchanged for luxury objects.

c.

Fine gems from Crete were exchanged for grain.

d.

Tin from Crete was exchanged for gold jewelry.

a.

The use of the plow and wheeled cart for farming

b.

Slash and burn agriculture

c.

The creation of corded ware pots

d.

The creation of megalithic structures

a.

Similarities in writing systems

b.

Similarities in citadel construction

c.

Similarities in religious artifacts

d.

Similarities in grave goods

a.

Struggles over resources between kinship groups

b.

Religious emphasis on ritual combat

c.

Need to control stone resources for the construction of megaliths

d.

Lack of sufficient agricultural resources to support urban life

a.

The population in both places declined because of persistent drought.

b.

The population in both places grew rapidly, given the large number of animals that could be hunted.

c.

Population growth increased in both places after the importation of cereal agriculture.

d.

The population in both places grew slowly, but did not lead to the development of urban centers.