Mesopotamia
This region, called the "land between the rivers," is where early cities developed.
What is Mesopotamia
One of the five characteristics: cities that act as centers of trade and population
What is Advanced Cities
Define "Fertile Crescent" in one sentence.
What is the rich, curved region between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean where early agriculture began?
This turning point—when humans began farming and settling—ended constant migration for food
What is the Neolithic Revolution
Name 2 Mesopotamian cities Page 17 map
Ur, Uruk, Babylon, Lagash, etc
Name the massive tiered temple that served as both a religious center and city administrative hub.
What is a ziggurat?
Surplus food led directly to this social change where people learned trades like pottery and metalwork
What is specialization or specialized workers?
Define "theocracy."
What is a government ruled by religious leaders or by divine guidance?
What key environmental factor made river valleys ideal for early farming?
What is silt or nutrient-rich soil deposited by annual floods
Name the Cultural Hearth that the Olmec belonged to... Page 25 map
Mesoamerica
This code of 282 laws, carved on a stone pillar, emphasized "an eye for an eye."
What is Hammurabi's Code
The use of written records for taxes, laws, and inventories is this characteristic
What is record keeping?
Define "specialization" as used in civilization studies.
What is the process by which individuals develop skills in specific jobs because not everyone must farm
Place these three developments in order: food surpluses, Neolithic farming, complex institutions
What is Neolithic farming → food surpluses → complex institutions/record keeping
How many cataracts existed on the Nile river and who conquered land south of the first cataract
2 and the middle kingdom pharaohs
This writing system used wedge-shaped marks pressed into wet clay by Sumerian scribes.
What is cuneiform
Building irrigation canals, passing laws, and organizing labor are examples of this broad social system.
What are complex institutions or government?
Define "cultural diffusion" and give one Mesopotamian example.
What is the spread of ideas and goods between cultures; for example, Phoenician alphabetic ideas spreading from Mesopotamian writing traditions
Explain briefly why unpredictable flooding of the Tigris/Euphrates influenced Mesopotamian religious views.
What is because unpredictable, destructive floods led people to see gods as angry or vengeful and to perform sacrifices and build temples to appease them
Name the bodies of water that surround mesopotamia
Mediterranean, Persian gulf, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Red Sea*
This epic poem from Mesopotamia explores heroism and human mortality and was written about a legendary king.
What is the Epic of Gilgamesh?
Name two technological innovations credited to Sumerians that transformed transport and farming.
What are the wheel and the plow? — also credit sail or bronze
Define "irrigation" and explain its role in the development of centralized government.
What is the controlled supply of water to crops; it required coordinated labor and leadership to build and maintain canals, which encouraged the development of government and laws?
Describe two costs and two benefits of civilization listed in the unit
Benefits — steady food supply, technological advances/protection; Costs — social inequality/taxes, spread of disease
How long as Ms. Evans been working at Desoto High School
3 years