Early Humans
How did hunter-gatherers get their food?
They hunted animals and gathered wild plants, fruits, nuts, and seeds.
What is agriculture?
Growing crops and raising animals for food and other needs.
Which two rivers run through Mesopotamia?
The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
What was cuneiform?
A wedge-shaped writing system recorded by pressing a stylus into clay.
Who was Hammurabi, and what is he remembered for?
A king of Babylon remembered for one of the earliest known written collections of laws, Hammurabi’s Code.
What does it mean to live a nomadic lifestyle?
Moving from place to place to find resources such as food and water.
Why did the development of farming help people establish permanent settlements?
Farming allowed people to produce food in one location, helping them establish permanent communities.
What does the name Mesopotamia mean?
Land between rivers.
What was a scribe, and how did scribes help their communities?
A person trained to read and write. Scribes kept records of trade, supplies, laws, and other information.
How could written laws help a ruler maintain order?
They established rules and punishments, helped settle disputes, and supported order across an empire.
How did living in a band help early humans survive?
They cooperated to find food, share tasks, and protect one another.
A farming village has little rainfall but a nearby river. What could farmers build to water their crops?
Irrigation canals that carried river water to their fields.
Why did people settle near rivers in Mesopotamia? Give two reasons.
Rivers provided water for people and crops, fertile soil, fish, and transportation routes. Accept any two.
What was a ziggurat?
A large stepped temple tower associated with religious life in Mesopotamia.
Did Hammurabi’s Code treat everyone equally? Explain.
No. Punishments could differ according to social status and other factors. Some punishments were harsh.
What did Paleolithic and Neolithic people have in common, and what was one major difference?
Both used stone tools. Paleolithic people mainly hunted and gathered. Farming spread during the Neolithic Age, supporting more permanent settlements.
Name two benefits rivers provided for early settlements.
water, fertile soil, fish, transportation routes, or water for irrigation.
How did irrigation help farmers in Mesopotamia?
It carried water from rivers to fields, helping farmers grow crops in areas with little rainfall.
Name three Sumerian achievements.
cuneiform, copper or bronze tools, mud-brick construction, arches, columns, ramps, or ziggurats.
What is an economy, and how could a food surplus allow people to do different jobs?
An economy is how people produce, exchange, and use goods and resources. Surplus food allowed some people to specialize in building, crafting, or recordkeeping.
What is an artifact, and how could wear marks help historians determine how a stone tool was used?
An artifact is an object made or used by people in the past. Wear marks can provide evidence of how a tool was used, such as striking other materials.
How do tropical rainforest, polar, and mountain climates differ?
Tropical rainforests are warm, humid, and rainy. Polar regions are generally very cold. Mountain climates vary with elevation and location, usually becoming colder at higher elevations.
Explain how a food surplus helped farming villages grow into cities.
Extra food supported a larger population and allowed some people to do jobs besides farming, such as building, trading, and recordkeeping.
How did available natural resources influence Sumerian buildings? Make one connection to how people choose building materials today.
Sumerians used available mud to make bricks because stone and timber were scarce. Builders today also consider available resources, cost, climate, and purpose.
What is the difference between an observation and an inference? Give an example involving a stone tool.
An observation describes what you see: “The stone has a chipped edge.” An inference explains what it might mean: “People may have used it to strike another material.”