Geography
and Farming
and Farming
Both societies depended on this activity to produce food.
Farming or agriculture.
The packet uses “Harappan” as another name for this civilization.
The Indus Valley civilization.
Which early Chinese society is compared with the Indus Valley in this lesson?
Shang China or the Shang dynasty.
A student writes, “I can see a drain in this image.” Is this an observation or an inference?
An observation.
Name the river associated with the Indus Valley civilization.
The Indus River.
Name the city feature in the packet that helped move wastewater away.
Drainage systems or drains.
The packet names rulers and these military leaders when discussing Shang authority.
Warlords.
A student writes, “The drains suggest people coordinated construction.” Is this an observation or an inference?
An inference: it interprets the observed feature.
Seasonal rains could help crops grow. What vocabulary word names the seasonal wind pattern that brings these rains?
Monsoon.
Give two features or activities from the packet that supported Indus urban life.
Any two: planned cities, drainage systems, river farming, or exchange.
The packet identifies specialized work in this metal as a Shang development.
Bronze.
Why should each borrowed evidence detail include a page reference?
So another reader can locate and check the evidence. Accept traceability or verification.
Explain a two-step chain showing how a productive river valley could support a growing settlement.
Water and fertile land could support farming; reliable food supplies could support more people. Accept a similarly accurate cause-and-effect chain.
Explain how a drainage system could benefit people living close together in a city.
It could remove wastewater from living areas and help keep shared spaces cleaner. Must connect the feature to a benefit for residents.
Explain one way specialized work and leadership could be connected in Shang society.
Leaders could organize or control resources and skilled labor for bronze production; this could support their authority. Must connect specialized work to leadership, rather than only list them.
Page 50 describes later ancient Indian society. Why cannot it alone prove that Harappans used the same social rankings?
It concerns a different, later period. Evidence from that period cannot by itself establish how earlier Harappan society was organized.
Imagine rains arrive late for several years in an Indus community. Use farming and exchange to explain two possible connected effects.
Late rains could reduce crop harvests; lower food supplies or fewer surplus goods could put pressure on exchange. Must connect both effects and use cautious language such as “could” or “might.”
A visitor says, “The drains prove all Harappans had equal wealth.” Give a supported replacement claim and identify what remains unknown.
Drains suggest planning and investment in urban infrastructure; they do not establish equal wealth or equal access. Accept another cautious claim about organization plus a clear limit on what drains prove.
The reading gives clearer names and roles for Shang political authority than for Harappan rulers. State one supported comparison and one conclusion we must avoid.
We know more specific political roles for Shang from this reading. We must avoid concluding that Harappans had no rulers or no hierarchy simply because their leaders are less clearly identified.
A museum label says, “Late rains definitely caused the end of Harappan civilization.” Repair this claim and explain why the original overreaches.
Late rains could have created farming pressures, but the hypothetical scenario does not prove why Harappan civilization declined. Must give both a cautious revision and the evidence limitation.