Lesson 1: The Rise of Sumerian City-States TEST 2023

What development caused food shortages in the Zagros foothills?

• overuse of the soil
• change in the climate
• increase in population
• fighting between villages

What solution did people in the Zagros foothills find to fix the problem of food shortages?

• building terraces

• moving south to the plains between the 2 rivers

• constructing reservoirs

• joining villages together

Why did the rivers flood in the spring? 

• Heavy rain fell throughout the area
• Strong winds blew from the Persian Gulf
• Ice that'd formed on the rivers broke into bits
• Snow melted in the mountains where the rivers began

What was the main purpose of dams and reservoirs?

• to allow travel by boat
• to make it easier to fish
• to store water for later use
• to protect villages from attack

Using natural resources found in the environment, Sumerians built strong walls with

• bricks made of mud.
• logs with pointed tips.
• reeds cut near the rivers.
• rocks shaped into squares.

The people of Sumer constructed moats to

• get crops to grow better.
• protect cities from attack.
• make villagers work together.
• bring drinking water into towns. 

Why did the villages of Sumer depend on each other?

• They formed caravans to safely visit the mountains.

• They cooperated to keep the water systems working.

• They exchanged different kinds of natural resources.

• They had to fight off attacks from empires to the east.

What happened to the Sumerian farming villages between 3500-3000 B.C. E.?

• some grew into towns, and towns grew into some of the world's first cities.

• large-scale private estates were created.

• bands of hunters and gatherers worked together.

• abandoned archaeological sites were found.

Mesopotamia is a Greek word that means what? 

• the land between two mountains
• the land between the rivers
• the land developed by farmers
• dry land

Which two rivers surround Mesopotamia?(Check 2)

• Nile

• Tigris

• Mediterranean

• Euphrates

• Hudson