World History                                                                          Name:______________________________

STUDENT WORKSHEET

Chapter 2a (“a” means it’s the first half of the chapter)

Stop reading at p. 42 “Ancient Egypt”

/09

 

1)      According to evolution, man completed his biological “evolution” from one million to _______ million years ago.

 

2)      However, the evolutionist does agree with the creationist that civilization began in Mesopotamia, or the Middle East, only a few _______________ years ago.

 

3)      Which model – creation or evolution – can most easily lead to racism? ______________

 

4)      According to the Bible, how many races are there? __________________

 

5)      Mesopotamia was part of a larger area that was well watered by several rivers and therefore it was fertile and good for growing crops. This area curved around south toward Egypt in the shape of a crescent (as in “crescent” moon), so it is known as the “______________________________.”

 

6)      Mesopotamia means “between the rivers.” Which two rivers is it in between? _______________________   and ________________________.

 

7)      When an area is populated by many cities, but each city is separate, independent, and has its own government and king, the cities are called ___________________________.

 

8)      The first people to develop a written language were the ____________________.

 

9)      They wrote in a style called cuneiform (say “koo-NEE-uh-form’), a word which means __________________________.

 

10)  The Sumerian number system was based on how many digits? ________     What is our number system based on? ____________ (if you don’t know, find out)

 

11)  What do we use today that actually still operates with a system of numbers based on 60? ____________________

 

12)  There are some drawings at the bottom of p. 36 that show what cuneiform looks like. You don’t hear as much about this style of writing because it isn’t as beautiful or exotic looking as hieroglyphs. Read the blurb to the side of the drawings – When we write in English, we write from left to right. In what direction was cuneiform written? ______________________________________

 

13)  Cuneiform was usually “written” by symbols being scratched or pressed  into_______________________ with a sharp stylus.

 

14)  The Sumerians built early forms of pyramids which were called _______________________________. (see drawing on p. 37 at the bottom)

 

15)  Who is the man (an “Akkadian”) who conquered the independent city-states of Sumer and forged the very first “empire” in Mesopotamia? ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­________________________________

 

16)  Eventually the Sumerians were able to fight the Akkadians and take back their own territory and gain independence once again. Then the city of _____________________ became powerful and it became the capital city of a new empire in Mesopotamia.

 

17)  What famous Bible character – and “millennium head” – came from the city of Ur? (read Genesis 11:31 and also Gen. 15:1-7)   _______________________________.

 

18)  The practice of worshipping many gods is called:__________________________

 

19)  Now, the book is switching scenes and moving to another location – India. India also had one of the earliest civilizations on earth.  What mountain range cuts the big peninsula of India off from the rest of the world? _______________________________________

 

20)  About 500 years after Sumer’s civilization began, a group of people migrated to a river  valley in what today is north-west India. They settled along which river? ____________________________

 

21)  Can you guess why people usually choose to settle along rivers? Put down at least three reasons that you can think of –__________________________________________________________   __________________________________________________________   __________________________________________________________   __________________________________________________________   __________________________________________________________

 

22)  Houses in early India, like the houses in Mesopotamia, were not built like ours with a front door and back door and everything in-between enclosed under a roof. Instead, the rooms were built around ____________________  and each room would open out into this area.

 

23)  If I asked you, which was more “civilized” – a European city in 1200 AD, or a city in the Indus River Valley in 2500 BC, what would your guess be and what reasons would you give? Jot down some notes here (doesn’t matter if it’s “right” or “wrong” – just what your first thoughts are ).

 

 

 

 

 

 

24)  The Indus River Valley people (people of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa) also developed a written language. What story do they have in their records that matches with one of our Biblical stories?_______________________________

 

25)  This very early civilization of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa were TOTALLY UNKNOWN until the year _______________ when an archaeologist spotted writing on a rock among some rubble.

 

26)  These early cities of the Indus River Valley were conquered by the Aryans. Which group, do you think, is usually considered to be more “civilized”? – the Aryan invaders or the people in the cities like Mohenjo-Dara and Harappa? _________________________

 

27)  Were the people of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa warlike? ________Were the Aryans? ________

 

 

28)  Why did they cremate the dead? _________________________________

 

29)  What is the written language of the Aryans called? __________________

 

30)  “Why does a red cow give white milk,” is a question from the section of the Vedas known as the __________________________.

 

31)  Until the early 1900’s historians thought Sanskrit was the oldest written language of India. Was that correct?  ­­­­­­­­­­­­­________