MTTC History Exam (09) Part 1 World History With
Questions And Correct Answers
Prehistory(definition and three periods)-ANSWER The period of human history before
writing was developed. The three periods are Lower Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic, and
Neolithic.
Lower Paleolithic-ANSWER Around 1 million years ago. Humans used crude tools. The
"Old Stone Age". Early humans used tools
such as 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.
Elements necessary for a Civilization - ANSWER Use of metal to make weapons and
tools
Written language
A defined territorial state
A calendar
The earliest civilizations were found in river valleys where reliable, fertile land was
, readily available.
Early Civilizations - ANSWER 4-3,000 BCE developed 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)
Selection of crops
Hunting along river-gathering place for wild animals
Deposition of rich soil-regular flooding.
Irrigation - ANSWER This method helped distribute the water to where it was needed
most-to keep herds of domesticated animals healthy and to supply crops, which were
growing larger and more varied.
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.