River Valley Civilizations

Which action is most closely associated with the early Mesopotamian civilizations?

• building floating gardens to grow corn

• establishing representative democracies

• developing a writing system using cuneiform

• constructing Hindu temples

Which river system is found in Mesopotamia?

• Nile River

• Yellow River

• Tigris and Euphrates rivers

• Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers

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

• Chinese

• Maya

• Egyptian

• Mesopotamian

• If a son has struck his father, they shall cut off his hand

.• If a seignior has destroyed the eye of a member of the aristocracy, they shall destroy his eye.

• If he has broken another seignior's bone, they shall break his bone.

Which document contains these statements?

• Ten Commandments

• Code of Hammurabi

• Edicts of Asoka

• Twelve Tables

... "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...

Which statement is supported by this excerpt from Hammurabi's code of laws?

• All men are equal under the law

• Law sometimes distinguishes between social classes.

• Law sometimes distinguishes between social classes.

• Violence must always be punished with violence.

The Code of Hammurabi was a major contribution to the development of civilization because it

• treated citizens and slaves equally

• ended all physical punishment

• recorded existing laws for all to see

• rejected the principle of filial piety

One similarity in the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, ancient Indian (Harappan), and ancient Chinese civilizations was that they each developed

• democratic governments

• monotheistic religions

• irrigation systems

• industrialized economies

The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt were similar in that both cultures

• developed along rivers

• used the ziggurat form for their temples

• established trade routes to China

• used a hieroglyphic writing system

One reason for the development of an early civilization in the Tigris-Euphrates river valleys was that

• the location protected the people from land invasion

• periodic flooding left rich soil, which was ideal for farming

• these rivers provided a direct trade route between Europe and Asia

• these rivers flowed into the Mediterranean Sea

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. ...

- Tarini J. Carr, "The Harappan Civilization" (adapted)

Based on this passage, what is a valid conclusion about civilization in the Indus Valley?

• Lack of a Rosetta stone has hindered linguists from deciphering Indus Valley script.

• The absence of pottery vessels and seals from the Indus Valley indicates limited urban development.

• The Indus Valley civilization controlled a territory that extended from western Europe to China.

• Artifacts suggest the Indus Valley civilization is older than the civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia.