Name: ______________________________________ Date:___________

Early River Valley Civilization Practice Review Mrs. Valdes

Part I
Directions: select the best possible answer that completes the following statements or questions.

Base your answer to question # 1 on the map below and on your knowledge of social studies.

1. The main purpose of this map is to illustrate the location of:

a. overseas trade routes c. river valley civilizations

b. early belief systems d. burial sites of ancient rulers

2. Four events dealing with some of the first events in global history are listed below.

A. Civilizations begin in river valleys

B. The start of the Neolithic Revolution
C. Humans first appear
D. Early societies make simple tools

Which is the correct chronological order of these events?

a. A,B,C,D c. D,C,A,B
b. C,D,B,A d. A,B,D,C

3. Which geographic feature was most important to the development of the early river valley
civilizations?

a. fertile soil c. vast deserts

b. high mountains d. smooth coast lines
 Base your answer to question #4 on the quotation below and on your knowledge of social studies.

Long before the rule of pharaohs, Egyptians grew wheat and barley and raised pigs, goats, sheep
and cattle. Spotty evidence had suggested that agriculture was practiced there more than 7,000
years ago, two millenniums earlier than the first royal dynasties.…
— John Noble Wilford, New York Times,
February 12, 2008

4. Which period in history is referred to in this excerpt?

a. Industrial Revolution
b. Neolithic Revolution
c. Scientific Revolution
d. Green Revolution

5. Which name identifies the region located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers?

a. Cape of Good Hope c. Mesopotamia

b. Sinai Peninsula d. Horn of Africa

6. One reason for the development of an early civilization in the Tigris-Euphrates river valleys was
that:
a. the location protected the people from land invasion
b. periodic flooding left rich soil, which was ideal for farming
c. these rivers provided a direct trade route between Europe and Asia
d. these rivers flowed into the Mediterranean Sea

7. Which characteristic did the early civilizations that developed along the Nile, the Tigris-
Euphrates and the Huang He (Yellow River) have in common?
a. each society’s religious beliefs were based on monotheism
b. urban communities were built using iron and steel tools
c. the form of government in each community was based on male suffrage
d. transportation and communication were promoted by a mild climate, fertile soil, and natural
waterways
8. The river valleys of Tigris-Euphrates, the Nile, and the Indus became early centers of civilization
because they:

a. had deposits of iron ore and coal

b. were isolated from other cultures
c. had rich and fertile soils from annual floods
d. were easy to defend from invaders

9. The Code of Hammurabi was a major achievement of Mesopotamia because:

a. it was the first major collection of written laws

 b. it treated men and women equally
c. it ended capital punishment
d. it was the first written language

Base your answer to question #10 on the quote below and on your knowledge of social Studies.

. . . “If a man has knocked out the teeth of a man

of the same rank, his own teeth shall be knocked
out. If he has knocked out the teeth of a plebeian
(commoner), he shall pay one-third of a mina of
silver.”. . .
- Code of Hammurabi

10. Which statement is supported by this excerpt from Hammurabi’s Code of Laws?

a. All men are equal under the law.

b. Fines are preferable to physical punishment.
c. Law sometimes distinguishes between social classes.
d. Violence must always be punished with violence.

11. The importance of the Code of Hammurabi is that it:

a. established legal principles

b. instituted democratic governments
c. provided religious freedom
d. promoted equality for all classes

12.Cuneiform and hieroglyphics are similar in that they were both:

a. religious temples
b. inventions of the Chinese
c. holy books of ancient Egypt
d. written forms of communication

13. One way in which the ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, and Mayas are similar is that these civilizations
developed:
a. irrigation systems
b. iron weapons
c. wheeled vehicles
d. block printing systems

14. One way in which King Hammurabi and Emperor Justinian are similar is that they successfully:

a. established public education systems

 b. codified the laws of their empire
c. instituted democratic governments
. d. separated church and state

Base your answer to question # 15 on the diagrams below and on your knowledge of social studies.

15. A study of these structures will show that the ancient civilizations who built these structures:

a. practiced monotheism c. originated along major rivers

b. used advanced technology d. respected human rights

16. From evidence found at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, archeologists have concluded that Indus Valley
cities :
a. were fairly small and poorly organized
b. had a difficult time providing enough food for all of its citizens
c. has a strong central government
d. evolved with little planning

17. Which statement about Egyptian civilization is an opinion rather than a historical fact?

a. The Egyptians had a written language

b. Ancient Egypt was protected from invasion by the surrounding desert
c. Egyptians produced the most beautiful art works in the ancient world
d. the pyramids were tombs for the pharaohs

 Kushites adapted Egyptian art and architecture.

 Greeks adopted Phoenician characters for an alphabet.
 Arabs used the Indian mathematical concept of zero.
18. These actions are examples of

a. filial piety c. scientific research

b. cultural diffusion d. ethnocentrism

Answer question #19 after reading the passage below about the Indus River Valley Civilization

Historians do not know why the Indus River Valley

Civilization ended around 1700 BC. Some believe it
disappeared because the Indus River may have flooded.
This could have destroyed crops needed for survival.
Others think that farmers weakened the soil by over
planting and over grazing. Some also think it collapsed
from an invasion or a natural disaster. Adding to the
mystery is the fact that historians find it hard to
translate their written language.

19. A good title for this passage would be:

a. Suspected reasons for the Disappearance of the Indus Civilization

b. Historical Proof for the Disappearance of the Indus Civilization
c. Geography destroys the Indus civilization
d. Indus Civilization Writing Mystery Solved

20. The Himalayan Mountains, Ganges and Indus Rivers, and Deccan Plateau are all geographic features
of:
a. Japan c. India
b. China d. Indonesia

21. Why is the Huang He referred to as China’s “River of Sorrows”?

a. The yellow soil made the water undrinkable

b. The river stopped flowing as it filled up with salt
c. The Chinese believed its waters were actually the tears of the gods
d. Flooding caused by the loess clogged river, destroyed crops and led to mass
starvation

22. Oracle bones, loess, and the Mandate of Heaven are all associated with early civilizations in:

a. Egypt c. India
b. Russia d. China
Base your answers to questions #23, #24 and #25 on the map below and on your knowledge of social
studies.

23. Based on the information shown on this map, in which region was the Middle Kingdom of Assyria
located?
a. southwest Asia c. South America
b. western Africa d. western Europe

24. The Middle Kingdom of Assyria was located in an area also known as the
a. subcontinent c. Fertile Crescent
b. Holy Land d. rooftop of the world

25. The development of which early civilization was influenced most directly by the Tigris River, the
Zagros Mountains, and the Syrian Desert?

a. Chinese c. Egyptian
b. Maya d. Mesopotamian
Part II: Constructed Response (20 pts.)
Directions: Answer the questions that follow each of the documents below. Your answers must
be written in either blue or black ink and may be in bulleted form.
Document #1 : Egyptian Wall Painting

1. In what early river valley civilization would you expect to see the wall drawing above? (1)

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2. In what sort of building would you most likely find this drawing? (2)

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Document # 2: Sumerian Cuneiform

3. Sumerians developed cuneiform, a wedge-shaped implement on clay tablets to represent
syllables and sounds. Cuneiform was an early system of what? (1)

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4. Why did scribes (people who could write) hold such special positions in ancient civilizations?
(2)

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Document #3: Sumerian Ziggurat

5. What society is responsible for this creation? (1)

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6. What was the purpose of the ziggurat (what was it used for)? (2)

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7. How does the purpose of the ziggurat differ from the purpose of an Egyptian pyramid? (2)

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Document #4: Ancient River Valley Map

8. List two (2) ancient civilizations that began in river valleys. (2)

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9. The world’s first civilizations developed in river valleys. List two reasons that explain the
attraction of ancient peoples to river valleys. (2)

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Document # 5: Excerpts from Hammurabi’s Code

1.
If a man brings an accusation against a man, and charges him with a capital crime,
but he cannot prove it, the accuser shall be put to death.

153.
If a woman brings about the death of her husband for the sale of another man, they
shall impale her.

195.
If a son strikes his father, they shall cut off his fingers.

196.
If a man destroys the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye.

197.
If he destroys the eye of a man’s slave or break a bone of a man’s slave, he shall pay
one half his price.

8. What is the source of the document above? (2)

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9. What evidence suggests that the justice was not equal for all people in Mesopotamia? (3)

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Document # 6:
Some several thousand years ago there once thrived a civilization in the Indus Valley. Located in
what's now Pakistan and western India, it was the earliest known urban culture of the Indian
subcontinent. The Indus Valley Civilization, as it is called, covered an area the size of western
Europe. It was the largest of the four ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and
China. However, of all these civilizations the least is known about the Indus Valley people. This
is because the Indus script has not yet been deciphered. There are many remnants of the
script on pottery vessels, seals, and amulets, but without a "Rosetta Stone" linguists and
archaeologists have been unable to decipher it.
-The Harappan Civilization by Tarini J. Carr

10. Where was the Indus River Valley located? (1)

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11. How does the Indus River Valley civilization compare to the ancient Egypt, China, and
Mesopotamia? (2)

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12. Why is there so little known about the Indus River Valley civilization? (2)

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