Rise of Sumerians - Chapter 4
  • 1. The name of Mesopotamia comes from its location, which was
A) between two rivers
B) at the site of the earliest cities
C) near a region of many conflicts
D) in mountain foothills
  • 2. The environment of Sumer was
A) high and cold, with sharp mountain peaks
B) hilly and dry, with many stones
C) low and flat, with little rain
D) thickly forested, with heavy storms
  • 3. Why were Sumerian communities called "city-states"?
A) They were all part of one great empire
B) Each of them kept written records
C) Each of the had its own ruler and farmland
D) They all depended on each other for water
  • 4. Which fact allowed people to farm in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains
A) Goats can live on dry grass
B) Shallow canals watered the fields
C) The region had plenty of rain
D) Harsh climates are good for grains
  • 5. What development caused food shortages in the Zagros foothills?
A) change in the climate
B) overuse of the soil
C) fighting between villages
D) increase in population
  • 6. What solution did people in the Zagros foothills find to fix the problem of food shortages?
A) joining villages together
B) constructing reservoirs
C) building terraces
D) moving to the south
  • 7. What is a factor that made farming in Sumer difficult?
A) growth of weeds
B) steep hillsides
C) lack of rainfall
D) large mountain ranges
  • 8. Why did the rivers flood in the spring?
A) Ice that had formed on the river broke into bits
B) Snow melted in the mountains where the rivers begin
C) Heavy rain fell throughout the area
D) Strong winds blew from the Persian Gulf
  • 9. What was the chief purpose of dams and reservoirs?
A) to store water for later use
B) to make it easier to fish
C) to allow travel by boat
D) to protect the villages from attacks
  • 10. If you were in ancient Sumer, you might see a levee beside a river, why was the levee built?
A) to control workers
B) to irrigate the crops
C) to load barges
D) to prevent floods
  • 11. Why was silt a problem for the people of Sumer?
A) It dried up the rivers
B) It ruined the soil for planting
C) It crumbled the city walls
D) It clogged the irrigation canals
  • 12. Why did the villages of Sumer depend on each other?
A) They exchanged different kids of natural resources
B) They had to fight off attacks from empires to the east
C) They cooperated to keep the irrigation system working
D) They formed caravans to safely visit the mountains
  • 13. Using natural resources found in the environment, Sumerians built strong walls with
A) bricks made of mud
B) rocks shaped into squares
C) logs with pointed tips
D) reeds cut near the rivers
  • 14. The people of Sumer constructed moats to
A) bring drinking water into towns
B) make villagers work together
C) protect cities from attacks
D) get crops to grow better
  • 15. What two rivers run through Mesopotamia?
A) Zagro and Euphrates Rivers
B) Sumer and Tigris Rivers
C) Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
D) Nile and Tigris Rivers
  • 16. The earliest cities developed by what year?
A) 3500 AD
B) 3500 B.C.E
C) 10000 B.C.E
D) 1904 AD
  • 17. What is irrigation?
A) A new method of fighting
B) A means to control water supply to the land
C) The climate that the Sumerians needed to adjust to
D) A Paleolithic tool
  • 18. A self governing city that has its own ruler and laws is known as a
A) City-State
B) State-City
C) Empire
D) Culture
  • 19. The low flat plains of Mesopotamia are know as:
A) Zagros Mountain Range
B) Sumer
C) Persian Gulf
D) Tigris River Valley
  • 20. Irrigation is still used today>
A) True
B) False
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