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

Created with That Quiz — where a math practice test is always one click away.