,OpenStax World History, Volume 1, to 1500 Instructor Answer Guide
OpenStax World History: Volume 1, to
1500 Instructor Answer Guide
Chapter 1: Understanding the Past................................................................................................2
Chapter 2: Early Humans................................................................................................................5
Chapter 3: Early Civilizations and Urban Societies ......................................................................... 9
Chapter 4: The Near East..............................................................................................................15
Chapter 5: Asia in Ancient Times..................................................................................................20
Chapter 6: Mediterranean Peoples..............................................................................................26
Chapter 7: Experiencing the Roman Empire.................................................................................33
Chapter 8: The Americas in Ancient Times...................................................................................38
Chapter 9: Africa in Ancient Times...............................................................................................42
Chapter 10: Empires of Faith........................................................................................................48
Chapter 11: The Rise of Islam and the Caliphates........................................................................52
Chapter 12: India, the Indian Ocean Basin, and East Asia............................................................57
Chapter 13: The Post-Roman West and the Crusading Movement..............................................62
Chapter 14: Pax Mongolica: The Steppe Empire of the Mongols.................................................67
Chapter 15: States and Societies in Sub-Saharan Africa...............................................................73
Chapter 16: Climate Change and Plague in the Fourteenth Century ........................................... 77
Chapter 17: The Ottomans, the Mamluks, and the Ming.............................................................83
Chapter 1: Understanding the Past
Review Questions
1. What is an example of a primary source?
a. a diary entry by a person who lived in the period under discussion
b. a modern biography of a person in the period under discussion
c. an account of a nineteenth-century battle in a twenty-first century textbook
d. an article in an academic journal
[Answer: A]
2. Whom do the Chinese view as the father of history?
a. Homer
b. Santayana
For more free, peer-reviewed, openly licensed resources visit OpenStax.org.
3/27/2023 2
,OpenStax World History, Volume 1, to 1500 Instructor Answer Guide
c. Herodotus
d. Sima Qian
[Answer: D]
3. What interpretation of history assumes that history can be viewed primarily through the
lives and choices of leaders?
a. great man theory
b. progressive interpretation
c. gender interpretation
d. Marxist interpretation
[Answer: A]
4. The belief that history is moved primarily by class struggle is the ______ of history.
a. social interpretation theory
b. revisionist view
c. progressive interpretation
d. Marxist interpretation
[Answer: D]
5. What is the most immediate motivator of a historical event?
a. the tertiary cause
b. the primary cause
c. the action of a great man
d. the social construct
[Answer: B]
6. Our perspectives are deeply rooted in _______, which we learn from our upbringing and
environment.
a. education
b. social constructs
c. historical empathy
d. causation
[Answer: B]
Check Your Understanding Questions
1. What does it mean to be a global citizen?
[Answer: A global citizen sees themselves as a member of, and responsible to, a world
community rather than a single nation.]
2. What are the features of this textbook, and how will they enhance your learning
experience?
[Answer: This text uses a chronological approach, maps, and feature boxes focused on
documents and images in order to actively engage in interpreting events in the past.]
3. What is a primary source, and what are some examples of primary sources?
[Answer: A primary source is evidence from the era under discussion. It might be a letter, a
diary, a photograph, a song, a painting or other work of art, or a speech.]
4. What are the four types of questions we should ask about textual sources and why?
[Answer: We should ask questions about the author, audience, intent, and context of the
source. These questions are necessary so we can interpret sources effectively.]
3
,OpenStax World History, Volume 1, to 1500 Instructor Answer Guide
5. Define causation as it is used in the study of history.
[Answer: Causation is the “why” behind events, that is, the immediate contributing factors and
long-term reasons why an event occurred. Causation helps historians make sense of the past.]
6. Describe the process you would go through to establish the primary, secondary, and tertiary
causes of a historical event.
[Answer: Gather the facts and then arrange items in order of importance. Evaluate which
causes were close to the event in time and which ones provide the background.]
Application and Reflection Questions
1. How do you see your knowledge of world history helping you achieve life goals? What do
you hope to learn from this text?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
2. Why is it important to consider competing sources about the same topic?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
3. What primary source materials do you think you will leave behind for later generations?
How would you want them to be interpreted?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
4. If you could suggest a revisionist addition to the history you have been taught so far, what
would it be? Why?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
5. Provide three examples of social constructs that affect the way you view the world and
explain why.
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
6. Which historical interpretation interests you most? Why?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
7. Choose a recent event you have followed in the news or on social media and establish a
history of that event. In a few short paragraphs, tell the story and rank the causes in order
of importance. Then write the history again, using one of the major interpretive theories in
the chapter (progressive, intellectual, gender, etc.). Your goal is to produce a different
viewpoint on the same story.
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
For more free, peer-reviewed, openly licensed resources visit OpenStax.org.
3/27/2023 4
,OpenStax World History, Volume 1, to 1500 Instructor Answer Guide
Chapter 2: Early Humans
Review Questions
1. Which human species is likely the earliest member of the genus Homo?
a. Homo sapiens
b. Homo erectus
c. Homo habilis
d. Homo neanderthalensis
[Answer: C]
2. What was one of the consequences of the digestive organs moving lower and into a smaller
space when members of the Homo genus began walking upright?
a. It led them to build shelters.
b. It led them to adopt foods that were easier to digest.
c. It led them to seek protection in trees.
d. It led them to migrate to warmer environments.
[Answer: B]
3. Which statement best describes the multiregional evolution model?
a. Fully evolved modern humans left Africa about 100,000 years ago.
b. All modern humans evolved from a population of Homo erectus in Asia.
c. Modern humans evolved in many places in a piecemeal fashion.
d. Fully evolved modern humans descended directly from Australopithecus.
[Answer: C]
4. How did migrating modern humans reach Australia?
a. They walked on exposed land.
b. They walked over frozen ice sheets.
c. They took rafts over open water.
d. They built crude bridges between islands.
[Answer: C]
5. Which phrase best describes Acheulean tools?
a. hand-axes made by careful chipping of stones
b. stone blades attached to handles
c. stone spearheads attached to wooden shafts
d. stone cores with a sharp edge for cutting
[Answer: A]
6. Human migration to which area was made possible by lower sea levels during the last ice
age?
a. India
b. China
c. North America
d. The Near East
[Answer: C]
7. Why were small groups of humans better suited to survival in the Paleolithic Age?
a. It was hard to feed larger groups of people.
b. Large groups were more likely to settle.
5
,OpenStax World History, Volume 1, to 1500 Instructor Answer Guide
c. Small groups created more sophisticated tools.
d. Small groups tended to get along better than larger ones.
[Answer: A]
8. Where have archaeologists uncovered evidence of Paleolithic shelters made of mammoth
bones?
a. eastern Europe
b. Australia
c. South America
d. eastern Africa
[Answer: C]
9. What was an advantage of adopting agriculture?
a. greater mobility
b. a more reliable food supply
c. greater food variety
d. more leisure time
[Answer: B]
10. In which location did the Neolithic Revolution take place first?
a. China
b. North America
c. the Fertile Crescent
d. sub-Saharan Africa
[Answer: C]
11. What Neolithic settlements were the first to develop rice agriculture?
a. those in the Yangtze River valley
b. those in the Danube River valley
c. those in the Fertile Crescent
d. those in northeastern Mexico
[Answer: A]
12. Which region independently began cultivating maize about six thousand years ago?
a. the Yangtze River region
b. the Andean region
c. sub-Saharan Africa
d. central Mexico
[Answer: D]
13. What tasks were commonly done by men in agricultural communities?
a. preparing food
b. plowing fields
c. making pottery
d. weaving cloth
[Answer: B]
For more free, peer-reviewed, openly licensed resources visit OpenStax.org.
3/27/2023 6
,OpenStax World History, Volume 1, to 1500 Instructor Answer Guide
Check Your Understanding Questions
1. To which genus and species do modern humans belong? What were some of the other
human species and what happened to them?
[Answer: Modern humans are classified as Homo sapiens. Other human species include Homo
habilis, Homo erectus, and Homo heidelbergensis; these species became extinct over time.]
2. In what ways was language a useful tool for modern humans?
[Answer: Language allowed modern humans to coordinate daily tasks, work much more
efficiently in groups, describe abstract ideas, and pass important information to successive
generations.]
3. What evidence supports the claim that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens may have mated?
[Answer: The discovery of small amounts of Neanderthal DNA in many populations of modern
humans supports the claim that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens may have shared their DNA.]
4. Why do most scholars now dismiss the idea that Paleolithic cave paintings were designed to
be popularly admired by those groups that created them?
[Answer: Paleolithic cave paintings are usually in dark parts of the caves where sunlight for
viewing the art could not reach.]
5. How would scholars describe the religious traditions of hunter-gatherer peoples, and what
evidence might they use?
[Answer: Paleolithic humans likely had religious traditions similar to animism—the idea that a
degree of spirituality exists not only in people but also in plants, inanimate objects, and even
natural phenomena like fires. Cave paintings might be used as evidence of their ideas about the
supernatural.]
6. What types of tools might have helped ancient humans migrating into cold environments
and why?
[Answer: Stone tools for scraping and sewing needles made from bone or wood were used to
create warmer clothing from the hides of hunted animals. Controlled fires could be used for
heat, cooking, and scaring off predators. Fire could also be used in the manufacture of tools, to
make them stronger or easier to chip and mold.]
7. What do you imagine would have happened if a Paleolithic hunter-gatherer community
grew too large for the surrounding resources to support? Why?
[Answer: If a community grew too large, it would probably split into smaller bands. Some of
these bands might also migrate to another region where resources were more plentiful.]
8. Why might some groups have decided not to adopt agriculture?
[Answer: Groups that saw no advantage in agriculture over their traditional lifestyle or lived in
areas where agriculture wasn’t feasible were less likely to adopt it.]
9. How did the relationship between men and women change with the advent of agriculture?
[Answer: The more fluid divisions of labor among the sexes in hunter-gatherer societies gave
way to new and more rigid divisions, with men spending the majority of their time working
outside the home while women ran the domestic sphere.]
10. How did agriculture lead to the development of social hierarchies?
[Answer: By producing surpluses of food that could be traded, agriculture allowed some people
to acquire wealth and have time for other occupations.]
7
,OpenStax World History, Volume 1, to 1500 Instructor Answer Guide
Application and Reflection Questions
1. What are some of the reasons our distant ancestors evolved in a way that took them out of
the trees?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
2. What types of tools do you imagine Paleolithic humans may have developed that have not
survived in the archaeological record?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
3. What type of environment would you look for if you were a Paleolithic hunter-gatherer?
Why?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
4. Why might egalitarianism among hunter-gatherer groups be a successful social strategy?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
5. Was the Neolithic Revolution an example of modern humans making progress? Why or why
not?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
6. How might groups living in Neolithic settlements like Jericho or Çatalhöyük have thought of
hunter-gatherer communities living around them? Why?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
For more free, peer-reviewed, openly licensed resources visit OpenStax.org.
3/27/2023 8
,OpenStax World History, Volume 1, to 1500 Instructor Answer Guide
Chapter 3: Early Civilizations and Urban Societies
Review Questions
1. What is a characteristic of early civilizations?
a. nomadic lifestyle
b. egalitarian society
c. specialization
d. subsistence economy
[Answer: C]
2. What does the construction of the tower at Jericho suggest about that Neolithic
settlement?
a. It likely revered ancestors.
b. It likely had some type of government.
c. It likely performed animal sacrifices.
d. It likely had a small population.
[Answer: B]
3. The population of what Neolithic town in today’s Turkey may have shared a belief in a
mother-deity?
a. Çatalhöyük
b. Jericho
c. Caral
d. Anyang
[Answer: A]
4. The earliest known script, cuneiform, was written by pressing a stylus made of reed into
what type of material?
a. wet clay
b. hot bronze
c. dry papyrus
d. gold plates
[Answer: A]
5. How large do scholars estimate the population of the city of Uruk may have been by the end
of the fourth millennium BCE?
a. twenty thousand
b. thirty thousand
c. forty thousand
d. fifty thousand
[Answer: D]
6. Who is credited with establishing the first-known empire in world history?
a. Hammurabi
b. Ur-Nammu
c. Naram-Sin
d. Sargon of Akkad
[Answer: D]
7. What two adjectives best describe the gods of Mesopotamia?
9
, OpenStax World History, Volume 1, to 1500 Instructor Answer Guide
a. pleasant and helpful
b. fickle and easily angered
c. distant and unconcerned
d. weak and cautious
[Answer: B]
8. What adjective best describes the afterlife, according to the Sumerian belief system?
a. gloomy
b. happy
c. exciting
d. scary
[Answer: A]
9. Who do scholars believe was the first pharaoh to unite all Egypt?
a. Narmer
b. Amenemhat I
c. Caral
d. Khufu
[Answer: A]
10. What was another role of the pharaoh, in addition to being the political head of the state?
a. merchant
b. scribe
c. high priest
d. farmer
[Answer: C]
11. Imhotep built a large stone step pyramid for what pharaoh?
a. Djoser
b. Khufu
c. Menkaure
d. Snefru
[Answer: A]
12. What role did the nomarchs play in the decline of the Old Kingdom and beginning of the
First Intermediate Period?
a. They instituted important religious practices.
b. They assumed more control over their regions.
c. They allowed for greater Hyksos immigration.
d. They rejected the authority of the priests.
[Answer: B]
13. What was significant about the reign of Sobekneferu?
a. She was both pharaoh and priest.
b. She was the last pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom.
c. She gave unprecedented power to the nomarchs.
d. She was the first woman to rule since before the Old Kingdom.
[Answer: D]
For more free, peer-reviewed, openly licensed resources visit OpenStax.org.
3/27/2023 10
OpenStax World History: Volume 1, to
1500 Instructor Answer Guide
Chapter 1: Understanding the Past................................................................................................2
Chapter 2: Early Humans................................................................................................................5
Chapter 3: Early Civilizations and Urban Societies ......................................................................... 9
Chapter 4: The Near East..............................................................................................................15
Chapter 5: Asia in Ancient Times..................................................................................................20
Chapter 6: Mediterranean Peoples..............................................................................................26
Chapter 7: Experiencing the Roman Empire.................................................................................33
Chapter 8: The Americas in Ancient Times...................................................................................38
Chapter 9: Africa in Ancient Times...............................................................................................42
Chapter 10: Empires of Faith........................................................................................................48
Chapter 11: The Rise of Islam and the Caliphates........................................................................52
Chapter 12: India, the Indian Ocean Basin, and East Asia............................................................57
Chapter 13: The Post-Roman West and the Crusading Movement..............................................62
Chapter 14: Pax Mongolica: The Steppe Empire of the Mongols.................................................67
Chapter 15: States and Societies in Sub-Saharan Africa...............................................................73
Chapter 16: Climate Change and Plague in the Fourteenth Century ........................................... 77
Chapter 17: The Ottomans, the Mamluks, and the Ming.............................................................83
Chapter 1: Understanding the Past
Review Questions
1. What is an example of a primary source?
a. a diary entry by a person who lived in the period under discussion
b. a modern biography of a person in the period under discussion
c. an account of a nineteenth-century battle in a twenty-first century textbook
d. an article in an academic journal
[Answer: A]
2. Whom do the Chinese view as the father of history?
a. Homer
b. Santayana
For more free, peer-reviewed, openly licensed resources visit OpenStax.org.
3/27/2023 2
,OpenStax World History, Volume 1, to 1500 Instructor Answer Guide
c. Herodotus
d. Sima Qian
[Answer: D]
3. What interpretation of history assumes that history can be viewed primarily through the
lives and choices of leaders?
a. great man theory
b. progressive interpretation
c. gender interpretation
d. Marxist interpretation
[Answer: A]
4. The belief that history is moved primarily by class struggle is the ______ of history.
a. social interpretation theory
b. revisionist view
c. progressive interpretation
d. Marxist interpretation
[Answer: D]
5. What is the most immediate motivator of a historical event?
a. the tertiary cause
b. the primary cause
c. the action of a great man
d. the social construct
[Answer: B]
6. Our perspectives are deeply rooted in _______, which we learn from our upbringing and
environment.
a. education
b. social constructs
c. historical empathy
d. causation
[Answer: B]
Check Your Understanding Questions
1. What does it mean to be a global citizen?
[Answer: A global citizen sees themselves as a member of, and responsible to, a world
community rather than a single nation.]
2. What are the features of this textbook, and how will they enhance your learning
experience?
[Answer: This text uses a chronological approach, maps, and feature boxes focused on
documents and images in order to actively engage in interpreting events in the past.]
3. What is a primary source, and what are some examples of primary sources?
[Answer: A primary source is evidence from the era under discussion. It might be a letter, a
diary, a photograph, a song, a painting or other work of art, or a speech.]
4. What are the four types of questions we should ask about textual sources and why?
[Answer: We should ask questions about the author, audience, intent, and context of the
source. These questions are necessary so we can interpret sources effectively.]
3
,OpenStax World History, Volume 1, to 1500 Instructor Answer Guide
5. Define causation as it is used in the study of history.
[Answer: Causation is the “why” behind events, that is, the immediate contributing factors and
long-term reasons why an event occurred. Causation helps historians make sense of the past.]
6. Describe the process you would go through to establish the primary, secondary, and tertiary
causes of a historical event.
[Answer: Gather the facts and then arrange items in order of importance. Evaluate which
causes were close to the event in time and which ones provide the background.]
Application and Reflection Questions
1. How do you see your knowledge of world history helping you achieve life goals? What do
you hope to learn from this text?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
2. Why is it important to consider competing sources about the same topic?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
3. What primary source materials do you think you will leave behind for later generations?
How would you want them to be interpreted?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
4. If you could suggest a revisionist addition to the history you have been taught so far, what
would it be? Why?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
5. Provide three examples of social constructs that affect the way you view the world and
explain why.
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
6. Which historical interpretation interests you most? Why?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
7. Choose a recent event you have followed in the news or on social media and establish a
history of that event. In a few short paragraphs, tell the story and rank the causes in order
of importance. Then write the history again, using one of the major interpretive theories in
the chapter (progressive, intellectual, gender, etc.). Your goal is to produce a different
viewpoint on the same story.
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
For more free, peer-reviewed, openly licensed resources visit OpenStax.org.
3/27/2023 4
,OpenStax World History, Volume 1, to 1500 Instructor Answer Guide
Chapter 2: Early Humans
Review Questions
1. Which human species is likely the earliest member of the genus Homo?
a. Homo sapiens
b. Homo erectus
c. Homo habilis
d. Homo neanderthalensis
[Answer: C]
2. What was one of the consequences of the digestive organs moving lower and into a smaller
space when members of the Homo genus began walking upright?
a. It led them to build shelters.
b. It led them to adopt foods that were easier to digest.
c. It led them to seek protection in trees.
d. It led them to migrate to warmer environments.
[Answer: B]
3. Which statement best describes the multiregional evolution model?
a. Fully evolved modern humans left Africa about 100,000 years ago.
b. All modern humans evolved from a population of Homo erectus in Asia.
c. Modern humans evolved in many places in a piecemeal fashion.
d. Fully evolved modern humans descended directly from Australopithecus.
[Answer: C]
4. How did migrating modern humans reach Australia?
a. They walked on exposed land.
b. They walked over frozen ice sheets.
c. They took rafts over open water.
d. They built crude bridges between islands.
[Answer: C]
5. Which phrase best describes Acheulean tools?
a. hand-axes made by careful chipping of stones
b. stone blades attached to handles
c. stone spearheads attached to wooden shafts
d. stone cores with a sharp edge for cutting
[Answer: A]
6. Human migration to which area was made possible by lower sea levels during the last ice
age?
a. India
b. China
c. North America
d. The Near East
[Answer: C]
7. Why were small groups of humans better suited to survival in the Paleolithic Age?
a. It was hard to feed larger groups of people.
b. Large groups were more likely to settle.
5
,OpenStax World History, Volume 1, to 1500 Instructor Answer Guide
c. Small groups created more sophisticated tools.
d. Small groups tended to get along better than larger ones.
[Answer: A]
8. Where have archaeologists uncovered evidence of Paleolithic shelters made of mammoth
bones?
a. eastern Europe
b. Australia
c. South America
d. eastern Africa
[Answer: C]
9. What was an advantage of adopting agriculture?
a. greater mobility
b. a more reliable food supply
c. greater food variety
d. more leisure time
[Answer: B]
10. In which location did the Neolithic Revolution take place first?
a. China
b. North America
c. the Fertile Crescent
d. sub-Saharan Africa
[Answer: C]
11. What Neolithic settlements were the first to develop rice agriculture?
a. those in the Yangtze River valley
b. those in the Danube River valley
c. those in the Fertile Crescent
d. those in northeastern Mexico
[Answer: A]
12. Which region independently began cultivating maize about six thousand years ago?
a. the Yangtze River region
b. the Andean region
c. sub-Saharan Africa
d. central Mexico
[Answer: D]
13. What tasks were commonly done by men in agricultural communities?
a. preparing food
b. plowing fields
c. making pottery
d. weaving cloth
[Answer: B]
For more free, peer-reviewed, openly licensed resources visit OpenStax.org.
3/27/2023 6
,OpenStax World History, Volume 1, to 1500 Instructor Answer Guide
Check Your Understanding Questions
1. To which genus and species do modern humans belong? What were some of the other
human species and what happened to them?
[Answer: Modern humans are classified as Homo sapiens. Other human species include Homo
habilis, Homo erectus, and Homo heidelbergensis; these species became extinct over time.]
2. In what ways was language a useful tool for modern humans?
[Answer: Language allowed modern humans to coordinate daily tasks, work much more
efficiently in groups, describe abstract ideas, and pass important information to successive
generations.]
3. What evidence supports the claim that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens may have mated?
[Answer: The discovery of small amounts of Neanderthal DNA in many populations of modern
humans supports the claim that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens may have shared their DNA.]
4. Why do most scholars now dismiss the idea that Paleolithic cave paintings were designed to
be popularly admired by those groups that created them?
[Answer: Paleolithic cave paintings are usually in dark parts of the caves where sunlight for
viewing the art could not reach.]
5. How would scholars describe the religious traditions of hunter-gatherer peoples, and what
evidence might they use?
[Answer: Paleolithic humans likely had religious traditions similar to animism—the idea that a
degree of spirituality exists not only in people but also in plants, inanimate objects, and even
natural phenomena like fires. Cave paintings might be used as evidence of their ideas about the
supernatural.]
6. What types of tools might have helped ancient humans migrating into cold environments
and why?
[Answer: Stone tools for scraping and sewing needles made from bone or wood were used to
create warmer clothing from the hides of hunted animals. Controlled fires could be used for
heat, cooking, and scaring off predators. Fire could also be used in the manufacture of tools, to
make them stronger or easier to chip and mold.]
7. What do you imagine would have happened if a Paleolithic hunter-gatherer community
grew too large for the surrounding resources to support? Why?
[Answer: If a community grew too large, it would probably split into smaller bands. Some of
these bands might also migrate to another region where resources were more plentiful.]
8. Why might some groups have decided not to adopt agriculture?
[Answer: Groups that saw no advantage in agriculture over their traditional lifestyle or lived in
areas where agriculture wasn’t feasible were less likely to adopt it.]
9. How did the relationship between men and women change with the advent of agriculture?
[Answer: The more fluid divisions of labor among the sexes in hunter-gatherer societies gave
way to new and more rigid divisions, with men spending the majority of their time working
outside the home while women ran the domestic sphere.]
10. How did agriculture lead to the development of social hierarchies?
[Answer: By producing surpluses of food that could be traded, agriculture allowed some people
to acquire wealth and have time for other occupations.]
7
,OpenStax World History, Volume 1, to 1500 Instructor Answer Guide
Application and Reflection Questions
1. What are some of the reasons our distant ancestors evolved in a way that took them out of
the trees?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
2. What types of tools do you imagine Paleolithic humans may have developed that have not
survived in the archaeological record?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
3. What type of environment would you look for if you were a Paleolithic hunter-gatherer?
Why?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
4. Why might egalitarianism among hunter-gatherer groups be a successful social strategy?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
5. Was the Neolithic Revolution an example of modern humans making progress? Why or why
not?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
6. How might groups living in Neolithic settlements like Jericho or Çatalhöyük have thought of
hunter-gatherer communities living around them? Why?
[Answer: Answers may vary.]
For more free, peer-reviewed, openly licensed resources visit OpenStax.org.
3/27/2023 8
,OpenStax World History, Volume 1, to 1500 Instructor Answer Guide
Chapter 3: Early Civilizations and Urban Societies
Review Questions
1. What is a characteristic of early civilizations?
a. nomadic lifestyle
b. egalitarian society
c. specialization
d. subsistence economy
[Answer: C]
2. What does the construction of the tower at Jericho suggest about that Neolithic
settlement?
a. It likely revered ancestors.
b. It likely had some type of government.
c. It likely performed animal sacrifices.
d. It likely had a small population.
[Answer: B]
3. The population of what Neolithic town in today’s Turkey may have shared a belief in a
mother-deity?
a. Çatalhöyük
b. Jericho
c. Caral
d. Anyang
[Answer: A]
4. The earliest known script, cuneiform, was written by pressing a stylus made of reed into
what type of material?
a. wet clay
b. hot bronze
c. dry papyrus
d. gold plates
[Answer: A]
5. How large do scholars estimate the population of the city of Uruk may have been by the end
of the fourth millennium BCE?
a. twenty thousand
b. thirty thousand
c. forty thousand
d. fifty thousand
[Answer: D]
6. Who is credited with establishing the first-known empire in world history?
a. Hammurabi
b. Ur-Nammu
c. Naram-Sin
d. Sargon of Akkad
[Answer: D]
7. What two adjectives best describe the gods of Mesopotamia?
9
, OpenStax World History, Volume 1, to 1500 Instructor Answer Guide
a. pleasant and helpful
b. fickle and easily angered
c. distant and unconcerned
d. weak and cautious
[Answer: B]
8. What adjective best describes the afterlife, according to the Sumerian belief system?
a. gloomy
b. happy
c. exciting
d. scary
[Answer: A]
9. Who do scholars believe was the first pharaoh to unite all Egypt?
a. Narmer
b. Amenemhat I
c. Caral
d. Khufu
[Answer: A]
10. What was another role of the pharaoh, in addition to being the political head of the state?
a. merchant
b. scribe
c. high priest
d. farmer
[Answer: C]
11. Imhotep built a large stone step pyramid for what pharaoh?
a. Djoser
b. Khufu
c. Menkaure
d. Snefru
[Answer: A]
12. What role did the nomarchs play in the decline of the Old Kingdom and beginning of the
First Intermediate Period?
a. They instituted important religious practices.
b. They assumed more control over their regions.
c. They allowed for greater Hyksos immigration.
d. They rejected the authority of the priests.
[Answer: B]
13. What was significant about the reign of Sobekneferu?
a. She was both pharaoh and priest.
b. She was the last pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom.
c. She gave unprecedented power to the nomarchs.
d. She was the first woman to rule since before the Old Kingdom.
[Answer: D]
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