MTTC HISTORY EXAM (09) PART 1:
EXAM 2024/2025
Prehistory (definition and three periods) - Answer The period of human history before writing was
developed. The three periods are the Lower Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic, and Neolithic.
Lower Paleolithic - Answer About 1 million years ago. Humans used crude tools. The "Old Stone Age".
Early humans used tools
like needles, hatchets, awls, and cutting tools.
Upper Paleolithic - Answer Development of more specialized, better-made tools. Humans began to wear
clothes, practice art, and organize themselves into groups with a definite social structure. Most lived in
caves during this period.
Neolithic - Answer Increased complexity of social structures (a sense of family, religion, and
government.) Domestication of animals, cultivation of crops. Humans built houses, started fires with
friction tools. Knitting, spinning, and weaving textiles.
Three Divisions of the Stone Age - Answer Paleolithic (with three sub-categories), Mesolithic and
Neolithic Eras.
Anthropology: Definition, description, and three major divisions. - Answer The study of human culture.
Study groups of humans, how they relate to one another, and the similarities and differences between
different cultures by using cross-cultural research and comparative research.
There are three major divisions within anthropology:
Biological and cultural anthropology
Archaeology
Linguistics
,Archeology - Answer This discipline studies past human cultures by evaluating what they leave behind.
This can include
bones, buildings, art, tools, pottery, graves, and even trash.
Archaeology teaches us that humans (or near-humans) have existed for about 600,000 years. More
primitive humans are believed to have appeared about 1 million years ago. These humans developed
into Cro-Magnon man and then Homo sapiens.
Neolithic Age - Answer The "New Stone Age" from 8,000-6,000 BCE (approximately). During this time
textiles and pottery was developed, the wheel was discovered, and people began to practice agriculture,
make polished tools, and had some domesticated animals.
Bronze Age - Answer 3,000 BCE. Metals are discovered and the first civilizations emerge as humans
become more technologically advanced.
Iron Age - Answer 1,200-1,000 BCE. Metal tools replace stone tools as humans develop knowledge of
smelting.
Necessary elements of a Civilization - Answer Use of metal to make weapons and tools
Written language
A defined territorial state
A calendar
The earliest civilizations developed in river valleys where reliable, fertile land was easily found.
Earliest Civilizations - Answer 4-3,000 BCE saw the development of the civilizations in Mesopotamia (on
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers) and in the Nile River valley in Egypt. Both a part of the "Fertile Crescent".
Also, civilizations in:
Indus River
, Hwang Ho in China
Fluvial civilizations - Answer Located near rivers and fresh water. Fresh water was important because it
could be used for:
Drinking water (for people and domesticated animals)
Cultivation of crops
Hunting along river (gathering place for wild animals)
rich soil deposits due to regular flooding.
Irrigation - Answer This technique helped direct water where it was most needed--to sustain herds of
domestic animals and to nourish crops (which were increasing in size and quality.)
Fertile Crescent - Answer The area in the Near East where the earliest civilizations arose. The region
includes modern day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine and Jordan. It provided raw materials for
increasingly advanced civilizations. As such, it also saw waves of migration and invasion, leading to
earliest wars and conquests and the absorption of other cultures.
Six Ancient Mesopotamian Civilizations and their Characteristics - Answer Sumerians, Amorites, Hittites,
Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians
They were autocratic. Ruler often controlled all aspects of life: law, trade, religious activity, etc. All had
mythologies, religious systems, mathematical innovations.
Egyptians - Answer One of the most advanced ancient cultures. Highly developed construction (great
pyramids) and writing system (hieroglyphics). Complex polytheistic religion, practices included advanced
techniques for preservation of bodies after death. The Egyptians also made paper from papyrus (a plant
commonly found along the Nile), invented the decimal system (?), created a solar calendar, and
advanced knowledge of arithmetic and geometry.
Sumerians - Answer Consisted of a dozen city-states in the southern part of Mesopotamia. Each had its
own gods and the leader was both ruler and high priest. Cultural legacies include:
The invention of writing (cuneiform).
Invention of the wheel
EXAM 2024/2025
Prehistory (definition and three periods) - Answer The period of human history before writing was
developed. The three periods are the Lower Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic, and Neolithic.
Lower Paleolithic - Answer About 1 million years ago. Humans used crude tools. The "Old Stone Age".
Early humans used tools
like needles, hatchets, awls, and cutting tools.
Upper Paleolithic - Answer Development of more specialized, better-made tools. Humans began to wear
clothes, practice art, and organize themselves into groups with a definite social structure. Most lived in
caves during this period.
Neolithic - Answer Increased complexity of social structures (a sense of family, religion, and
government.) Domestication of animals, cultivation of crops. Humans built houses, started fires with
friction tools. Knitting, spinning, and weaving textiles.
Three Divisions of the Stone Age - Answer Paleolithic (with three sub-categories), Mesolithic and
Neolithic Eras.
Anthropology: Definition, description, and three major divisions. - Answer The study of human culture.
Study groups of humans, how they relate to one another, and the similarities and differences between
different cultures by using cross-cultural research and comparative research.
There are three major divisions within anthropology:
Biological and cultural anthropology
Archaeology
Linguistics
,Archeology - Answer This discipline studies past human cultures by evaluating what they leave behind.
This can include
bones, buildings, art, tools, pottery, graves, and even trash.
Archaeology teaches us that humans (or near-humans) have existed for about 600,000 years. More
primitive humans are believed to have appeared about 1 million years ago. These humans developed
into Cro-Magnon man and then Homo sapiens.
Neolithic Age - Answer The "New Stone Age" from 8,000-6,000 BCE (approximately). During this time
textiles and pottery was developed, the wheel was discovered, and people began to practice agriculture,
make polished tools, and had some domesticated animals.
Bronze Age - Answer 3,000 BCE. Metals are discovered and the first civilizations emerge as humans
become more technologically advanced.
Iron Age - Answer 1,200-1,000 BCE. Metal tools replace stone tools as humans develop knowledge of
smelting.
Necessary elements of a Civilization - Answer Use of metal to make weapons and tools
Written language
A defined territorial state
A calendar
The earliest civilizations developed in river valleys where reliable, fertile land was easily found.
Earliest Civilizations - Answer 4-3,000 BCE saw the development of the civilizations in Mesopotamia (on
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers) and in the Nile River valley in Egypt. Both a part of the "Fertile Crescent".
Also, civilizations in:
Indus River
, Hwang Ho in China
Fluvial civilizations - Answer Located near rivers and fresh water. Fresh water was important because it
could be used for:
Drinking water (for people and domesticated animals)
Cultivation of crops
Hunting along river (gathering place for wild animals)
rich soil deposits due to regular flooding.
Irrigation - Answer This technique helped direct water where it was most needed--to sustain herds of
domestic animals and to nourish crops (which were increasing in size and quality.)
Fertile Crescent - Answer The area in the Near East where the earliest civilizations arose. The region
includes modern day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine and Jordan. It provided raw materials for
increasingly advanced civilizations. As such, it also saw waves of migration and invasion, leading to
earliest wars and conquests and the absorption of other cultures.
Six Ancient Mesopotamian Civilizations and their Characteristics - Answer Sumerians, Amorites, Hittites,
Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians
They were autocratic. Ruler often controlled all aspects of life: law, trade, religious activity, etc. All had
mythologies, religious systems, mathematical innovations.
Egyptians - Answer One of the most advanced ancient cultures. Highly developed construction (great
pyramids) and writing system (hieroglyphics). Complex polytheistic religion, practices included advanced
techniques for preservation of bodies after death. The Egyptians also made paper from papyrus (a plant
commonly found along the Nile), invented the decimal system (?), created a solar calendar, and
advanced knowledge of arithmetic and geometry.
Sumerians - Answer Consisted of a dozen city-states in the southern part of Mesopotamia. Each had its
own gods and the leader was both ruler and high priest. Cultural legacies include:
The invention of writing (cuneiform).
Invention of the wheel
