History 1H - Exam 1 Questions
What is necessary for a complex society?
- Agriculture
Who was Sargon the Great?
- Also known as Sargon of Akkad, ruled Mesopotamia from 2334-2279 BCE. - Leader of Akkadians and conquered Sumer - Broke holes into temple - Allowed private ownership of land - Spread the use of cuneiform
How were the cities laid out in the first complex society?
- Built around ziggurats. - Cities were walled off.
What are major characteristics of Sumer?
- Centered around Temples (Ziggurats) - Run by priests - First developed writing - First City - First used intensive agriculture - First complex society
What are the primary characteristics of a complex society?
- Cities - Full time specialization of labor - Concentration of economic surplus - Class-structured society - State Organization
What factors caused people to start experimenting with agriculture? (x2)
- Competition - Climate Change - Population Growth
What were the results of agricultural development?
- High Mortality - Disease - Complex Societies - Writing
What are possible explanations for early cave paintings?
- Hunting Magic - Social Knowledge - A Teaching Tool - Religion
Where did agriculture develop first and why in this area? (x2)
- Intensive Agriculture first developed in Mesopotamia. - Another area that first developed agriculture is the Fertile Crescent. - Why did it develop in the Fertile Crescent? - Water, Mediterranean Climate, Complex Geography (multiple biomes), Some animals are able to be domesticated.
Where was the first writing system originated?
- Large cities of southern Mesopotamia (Sumer)
How did Egyptian Influence spread throughout the Mediterranean?
- Much of the domestication of plants and animals in Mesopotamia spread to Egypt. Egyptian trade also spread to the Mediterranean and Middle East. - Egyptian influence is clear in the art of Minoan civilization. - Egypt carried out long distance trade.
What were the gradual changes that happened to writing in Mesopotamia?
- Phonetic Sounds - Simplified the writing system
What is the significance of Gobekli Tepe?
- Spiritual center: Temple for religious ceremonies - There was no evidence of habitation - It raises more questions than answers and changes the understanding of development of human society.
Why did a new disease environment develop?
- Zoonosis - Domestication of animals
What is a food surplus?
A food surplus is an overabundance of food or 'more than needed' type situation.
What are hafted tools?
A hafted tool is when an artifact (stone, metal or bone) is attached to a haft (handle or strap). (Something mounted onto something else).
What were the last areas of the planet to be colonized?
Antarctica, New Zealand, Islands in the Pacific
How did the end of the last Ice Age contribute to the development of agriculture?
At the end of the Ice Age, the climate was moister, there were numerous lakes and springs, and a higher water table. Many biomes started supporting many different types of plants and animals.
What is the importance of the hominid species Australopithecus afarensis in the history of human evolution?
Australopithecus afarensis is the first hominid species to habitually walk upright. 'Lucy' is an example of an Australopithecus afarensis. She was found in Ethiopia in 1974.
How did members of hunting and gathering band societies treat each other?
Band societies, such as hunters and gatherers, are egalitarian meaning that woman and men are held to equal standards.
What evidence is there to say that humans had complex spiritual practices?
Cave Paintings and Burial Sites.
Why didn't agriculture develop everywhere?
Certain areas of the world did not have plants and animals that were able to be domesticated and without those certain plants and animals agriculture is not able to be developed in those certain areas of the world.
What was the first writing system called?
Cuneiform
What animals were domesticated in the Fertile Crescent?
Goats (Zagros Mountains), Sheep (N. Syria and S. Turkey), Pigs (Anatolia), Cattle (Anatolia).
What is the importance of the hominid species Homo erectus in the history of human evolution?
Homo erectus is the first species thought to walk completely upright. Erectus had more sophisticated tools and was the first species to leave Africa (Near East China, Java). Erectus also has 1/2 the brain size of humans.
Why are the populations for hunter gatherer societies smaller than agricultural societies?
Hunter Gatherer societies are probably smaller due to characteristics of being nomadic without permanent membership. Since they are nomadic, they have smaller populations due to the fact it is a setback to carry children while on the move.
What is a complex society?
It is the beginnings of a social, political, and cultural world that we would recognize today (more-or-less)
What are the 2 major theories explaining the rise of complex societies?
Karl Wittfogel - Theory of mass irrigation and mass labor. (Hydraulic-Managerial Hypothesis) Robert Carneiro - Warfare, Population Growth, and Environmental Circumscription
Where did humans first begin to experiment with agriculture?
Levantine Corridor
What is the Greek name for the plain between the Tigris and Euphrates River?
Mesopotamia
What is the process were writing develops into representing human speech?
Phonetisation
What were survival adaptations of the Pleistocene Band Society?
Pleistocene Band societies were basically small groups that had flexible membership, organized ways to gather supplies, were egalitarian, and practiced institutionalized sharing.
What are the four basic activities of agriculture?
Propagation: Selective sowing of seeds and breeding of animals Husbandry: The care of those plants and animals while they grow Harvesting: Collection of food resources thus produced Storage: Keep some seed and animals for next production cycle
Where is or was Sumer?
Southern Mesopotamia
What is the significance of priests and temples in Sumer? (x2)
Temples were the center of redistributive economy, temples owned the land around it, priests were an important part of the society and controlled the temples.
What written documentation do we have recording the earliest disease outbreak?
The Epic of Gilgamesh
What is the "Great Leap Forward" was and what were its results?
The GLF was caused by communication...The results of the GLF included, different artifact styles (local variation), long distance trade, sewn clothing, body ornamentation, base camps, and better hunting (specific species targeted). Basically, a technological leap forward.
Where did early humans migrate to by traversing land bridges?
The Last Ice Age caused many ice sheets to form, in turn, forming land bridges so many were able to travel to various regions. Britain was then joined to Europe; Eastern Siberia was connected to Alaska; and parts of what is now Indonesia were linked to mainland Southeast Asia.
Why was writing first invented?
The economy centered on the temples and the temples needed to keep records of the exchanges.
Where did the first complex society develop and what happened to it?
The first society developed in Sumer and the Akkadians took it over.
Why did the Pleistocene megafauna go extinct?
There are many reasons to explain this extinction. Humans may have been too proficient hunters (Clovis points), humans kill everything, climatic change could have affected food sources and the fauna's ability to adapt to the weather. In addition, hyper-disease could have been a factor to their extinction.
What did the human populated world look like 12,000 years ago?
There was one hominid species Homo sapien sapiens. Language had been developed and colonization had come about. There were also similar tools and technology everywhere.
What are ideograms?
Things that are not depicted by a complete picture, but by a part of the thing.
What do "virgin land outbreaks" refer to?
Virgin Land Outbreaks refer to an event where a disease spreads to a population that it hasn't affected yet. In result, it causes a high mortality rate. For example, the Europeans transferred small pox knowingly and unknowingly to natives within the Americas.
How are the "First Civilizations" (and the states they created) different from the earliest human societies that came before them?
With the advent of new complex societies, much of the egalitarianism within earlier societies disappeared. Social stratification or hierarchies of classes developed due to wealth, status, or power.
What was the process of animals transferring diseases to humans?
Zoonosis