OCN 105 Exam 3

Why has the Nile River remained in the same place for 30 million years?

A magma hot spot in Earth's interior creates a slope from Ethiopia to the Mediterranean Sea.

What evidence is there for the Green Sahara?

A mega lake in the Sahara larger than the great lakes combined, saharan dust flux from deep-sea sediment cores, pollen from grasses and sedges in sediment core records, detailed ancient artwork depicting hippos and giraffes

What contributed to the desertification of the Sahara?

A shift in Earth's natural orbital cycles, Cooling of the northern hemisphere, A southward shift of the monsoons

Why is it important to understand the cause and impacts of the Younger Dryas?

A. To know that climate changes can occur quickly B. To understand the sustainability and survival of human civilization C. To predict the impact of current continental ice melt

Ancient Egyptian farmers experienced the same soil salinization problems as the Sumerians.

False

Mesopotamis is a Greek term that means "the land between rivers". The two rivers were the Nile River and the Euphrates River.

False

The transition to sedentism led to more community or tribe oriented societies with less social hierarchy.

False Truth: Transition led to the departure from community or tribe oriented societies with more emphasis on the importance of their family living in the structure that they built. This led to class system and private property.

Cuneiform is a type of building structure.

False Truth: its a type of writing

Sedentism, or staying in one place rather than moving with the seasons, was the result of the development of agriculture.

False Truth: Sedentism resulted from the changes in climate that made access to wild food more reliable.

What was the paradox of farming/food production?

Farming communities were less well nourished than HFGs because human population densities rose slightly more steeply than did the availability of food.

What is the correct sequence of events?

Hunter-gatherer, sedentism, farming

An agricultural society dependent on the rivers made them vulnerable to enemies who were situated upstream.

True

Large volcanic eruptions cause droughts in monsoon areas by releasing sulfurous gases and aerosols into the stratosphere which reflect solar radiation.

True

The south-easterly winds during the summer monsoon bring moist air from the ocean towards East Africa, thus causing heavy rainfall in Ethiopia from June to September.

True

The three Intermediate Periods in the history of ancient Egypt mark the collapse of Egyptian governments (the Old, Middle, and then New Kingdom) caused by natural cycles of drought.

True

Times when summer monsoons were less intense at the Blue Nile in Ethiopia led to:

famine and instability, civil unrest and political turnover, a lack of fertile black silt in the soil

What is the correct sequence of events that contributed to the Younger Dryas?

1. The melting of the Laurentide ice sheet. 2. The melting glacial dams containing Agassiz Lake 3. A mega flood of fresh water running into the Arctic Ocean 4. Partially fresh water from the Arctic mixing with the Atlantic Ocean 5. The slowing or stopping of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) which transports heat from the tropics 6. A 1,000 year long drought

Which statement is false? A. Fermenting grain to make beer was developed as early as 10,000 years ago. B. Beer provided the social liberation necessary to become more expansive in their thinking, as well as more collaborative and creative. C. Rigid social cooperation within Homo sapien clans ensured safety and survival, but discouraged exploration and inventiveness that make for a vibrant civilization. D. Around the world, beer was discovered accidentally while people were collecting grains to make bread.

D.

What is allowed for sedentary behavior?

Dependable access to wild game and plants, a warmer, more stable climate.

Over 80% of the water in the Nile River comes from the White Nile River originating at Lake Victoria 3,000 miles away.

False

The African Humid Period, or Green Sahara, ~11,000 to 5,000 years ago, was an isolated event that occurred only once in the past 8 million years.

False

The benefits of farming were so abundant and apparent that the HFGs switched to farming immediately when the technology was developed.

False

The Uruk model of city-states included houses that were spread out throughout the city. Each house had its own garden that they harvested. This model lacked walls that provided protection against enemies.

False Truth: The model was the opposite, so center core with houses etc. providing majority of structures around the temple. A wall was built around the center core. Orchards and gardens for fruits and other more seasonal crop s were looked after as a community.

There was an area within the Fertile Crescent where most of the technological advancements occurred called the Garden Square.

False Truth: There is an area in the northern region of the Fertile Crescent were most of the technological advancements occurred called the Golden Triangle. It contains Gobekli Tepe.

Studies of mouse molars from wild versus house mice revealed that:

Hunter-gatherers alternated between nomadic and sedentary lifestyles for thousands of years before settling into agriculture.

Why is Gobekli Tepe so important?

It may provide a connection to the development of written language, show collaboration between different HFG groups as a communal ritual site, and its artwork features the human form rather than just animals. It was NOT the first structure built by humans (it was the first PERMANENT structure built by humans.)

What contributed to sedentary behavior in Mesoamerica?

Large, migratory herd animals disappeared.

What new technolgies helped to support ancient Egypt's agriculture?

New ways of record keeping such as calendars, nilometer to measure the depth of the nile, water lifting devices such as shaderoof and noria, irrigation canals, dams, dikes, and water storage facilities.

Paleoenvironmental records from Mesoamerican lake sediment cores show that:

Precipitation increased bewteen 12,000 and 9,000 years ago; Forbs dominated until 9.000 years ago.

Ancient Egyptian jobs and religion were based around the seasons. Match the ancient Egyptian seasons with the modern calendar months.

Sept. - Dec. = Flood season/akht Jun. - Aug. = Harvest season/shomu Jan. - Apr. = Agriculture season/beret

What are the Milankovitch cycles?

The cycle of changes in Earth's wobble, tilt, and orbit

What happened during the "4.2k event"?

There was a shift in climate that led to aridification of the region, there was a decline in rainfall, the amount of water flowing in the rivers declined.

How did civilizations adapt to the unpredictable floodings of the rivers?

They built large reservoir dam to store water, they used water lifts to transport to flood furrowed fields, and they used sluices and diversion ditches to drain fields.

The Inter Tropical Convergence Zone is a band of rainfall in the tropics that is located farther south in the northern hemisphere summer than in the winter and is responsible for summer monsoons in India.

True

The Younger Dryas was a small ice age that occurred 13,000 years ago and lasted for 1,000 years.

True

The Natufians:

were egalitarian hunter-gatherers, developed the first sedentary society, lived in the Levant region, lived in 13,000 - 10,500 years ago in the mesolithic. They didn't die out unexpectedly.