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