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Ancient World History Test

Multiple Guess
Identify the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

1. Which of the following claimed the “Mandate of Heaven” to justify their rule?
A. The Aryans
B. The Mesopotamians
C. The Egyptians
D. The Chinese

2. Which of these would you be least likely to find in an agrarian society?

A. Cities
B. Nomadic lifestyles
C. Sedentary family units
D. Economic dependence on crops

3. Which of the following ideologies acted as a guideline for the Chinese bureaucratic system
during the reign of every Chinese dynasty from the late centuries BCE through the modern
period?
A. Confucianism
B. Islam
C. Shinto
D. Buddhism

4. Which of the following was not a reason early human civilizations were centered in river
valleys?
A. Ready access to food such as fish and waterfowl
B. The ability to irrigate crops
C. Human beings are descended from aquatic creatures
D. A steady supply of silt leading to fertile soil

5. The main definitional difference between prehistory and history is ______________.

A. the availability of written records
B. monotheistic religions
C. metal working
D. organized religion

6. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a Mesopotamian poem originally written in __________.

A. the Latin alphabet
B. ancient Greek
C. Chinese
D. cuneiform
7. Which religion's followers seek enlightenment as a path to nirvana?
A. Buddhism
B. Daoism
C. Confucianism
D. Hinduism

8. Which of these is the best generalization of the benefits people gained from learning to use
fire?
A. Fire made domesticating animals easier
B. Fire allowed for the first utilizations of metals
C. Fire improved early humans' diets
D. Fire changed gender roles

9. The Neolithic Revolution primarily involved __________.

A. the invention of language
B. the invention of agriculture
C. the use of stone tools for the first time
D. the use of iron tools for the first time

10. The Paleolithic Era was characterized by all of the following except ______________.
A. the use of stone tools
B. the use of wood tools
C. the manipulation of fire
D. the domestication of animals

11. The Neolithic agricultural revolution directly led to all of the following except ___________.
A. An increasingly large population
B. A more sedentary lifestyle centered in towns and villages
C. The nation-state
D. A food surplus

12. Zoroastrianism was the primary religion in which of these empires?

A. Egyptian
B. Persia
C. Hittite
D. Umayyad

13. Which of these best describes the Vedas?

A. A collection of Hindu hymns, rituals, and religious guidelines
B. A political system designed to ensure the maintenance of order in ancient Pakistan
C. An agricultural system designed to ensure protection from flooding during monsoon
season in Southeast Asia
D. A collection of Buddhist prayers, rituals and practices
14. What was the purpose of mummification to Ancient Egyptians?
A. to preserve the body for mourners at the funeral
B. to preserve the body for use in the afterlife
C. to harvest organs to be used for scientific analysis
D. to harvest organs for use in medicine

15. Tombs from Egyptian prehistory, especially those found above the Nile floodplain around
4000 BCE, often contain jewelry, personal items, and foodstuff ___________________.
A. indicating that these tombs were originally homes
B. indicating that Egyptians shut up people into these tombs while still alive
C. indicating that prehistoric Egyptians had a formalized concept of life and death
D. indicating that this area used to be nearer to the Nile, which has shifted dramatically over
the course of human history

16. Leaders of early Neolithic societies tended to be __________.

A. merchants or artisans
B. farmers or hunters
C. women
D. religious figures or warriors

17. The history of which ancient civilization is divided into three periods - The Old Kingdom,
The Middle Kingdom, and The New Kingdom?
A. Egypt
B. China
C. India
D. Babylon

18. During the Paleolithic Era human society was divided into ______________.
A. small, nomadic groups of hunter-gatherers
B. large, nomadic groups of hunter-gatherers
C. small agricultural communities
D. large agricultural communities

19. Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were the two major cities of __________.
A. the Nile River civilization
B. ancient Mesopotamia
C. ancient China
D. the Indus Valley civilization

20. Which of these caused the decline of the Indus Valley civilization?
A. Invasion from neighboring people
B. It is not known what caused the decline of the Indus Valley civilization
C. Widespread drought and famine
D. A series of weak rulers destabilized the central government
21. What gave people the capability to abandon their nomadic lifestyle and begin settling into
permanent civilizations was __________.
A. stone tools
B. animal husbandry
C. agriculture
D. writing

22. The first four civilizations all developed ___________________.

A. on different continents
B. along oceans
C. in the same climate zone
D. in river valleys

23. Homo sapiens originated, and then migrated out of __________________.

A. the Americas
B. Africa
C. Eurasia
D. Oceania

24. The Xia were the earliest state builders in the history of which of these modern-day nations?
A. China
B. India
C. Japan
D. Russia

25. David and Solomon were famous rulers of __________.

A. the Minoan civilization
B. the Assyrian Empire
C. the Carolingian Empire
D. the Hebrew Kingdom

26. For what purpose did the Ancient Egyptians use papyrus?
A. Mummifying
B. Farming
C. Building
D. Writing

27. What is often considered to be the oldest surviving work of literature?

A. The writings of Socrates
B. Epic of Gilgamesh
C. The Qur'an
D. The Book of Genesis
28. What is a ziggurat?
A. A political district in ancient Persia
B. A temple in ancient Sumeria
C. An irrigating technique in ancient China
D. A language-group in ancient India

29. The Phoenicians are primarily remembered for _____________.

A. their wide-ranging trade and innovative alphabet
B. their military prowess and monotheistic religion
C. their colonization of Africa and polytheistic religion
D. their conflict with the Hebrews and settlement in Iberia

30. Which Babylonian ruler is most notable for his code of laws?
A. Nebuchadnezzar
B. Gilgamesh
C. Hammurabi
D. Solomon

31. ___________ allowed people in early civilizations to specialize in different types of labor,
such as merchants, scribes, priests, and artisans.
A. Writing
B. Patriarchy
C. Trade
D. Surplus food

32. The land between which two rivers is known as Mesopotamia?

A. Tigris and Euphrates
B. Ganges and Indus
C. Nile and Congo
D. Nile and Ganges

33. Which of these best describes the difference between the impact of geography on civilization
in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia?
A. Egypt was well-suited to the development of agriculture, whereas Mesopotamia lacked
access to rivers and had a very arid climate
B. Mesopotamia was geographically isolated giving it protection from invaders, whereas
Egypt lacked natural barriers and was under constant threat of invasion
C. Egypt was geographically isolated giving it protection from invaders, whereas
Mesopotamia lacked natural barriers and was under constant threat of invasion
D. Mesopotamia was well-suited to the development of agriculture, whereas Egypt lacked
access to rivers and had a very arid climate