1. Scientists estimate that the earth may be as many as 
A. a) 10 billion years old 
B. b) 5-6 million years old 
C. c) 6 billion years old 
D. d) 100 million years old 
Answer: C 
2. The Paleolithic Age is characterized by 
A. a) domestication of animals 
B. b) the beginning of agriculture 
C. c) a hunting and gathering existence 
D. d) both A and B 
Answer: C 
3. The shift to agriculture and animal husbandry in the Neolithic Age coincided with 
A. a) a division of labor according to sex 
B. b) advances in stone tool technology 
C. c) the arrival of civilization 
D. d) the beginnings of religious faith 
Answer: A 
4. Civilization is best defined as 
A. a) a human form of culture in which many people live in urban centers, have mastered the art of smelting metals and have developed a method of writing 
B. b) the ways of living built up by a group and passed on from one generation to another 
C. c) a society where the population engages in abstract thought and promotes policies of peace rather than war 
D. d) the complex interrelationships among human beings which result in writing, literature and cities 
Answer: A 
5. The agricultural revolution of the Neolithic Age 
A. a) produced an immediate population explosion 
B. b) produced a greater incidence of disease 
C. c) produced the need to maintain population control of animals 
D. d) led people to build permanent structures 
Answer: D 
6. The Neolithic Revolution is best represented by 
A. a) a permanent, settled existence, with population growth 
B. b) the domestication of animals and the beginning of agriculture 
C. c) humans as hunters and gatherers 
D. d) all of the above 
Answer: B 
7. In which area did the earliest Neolithic society appear? 
A. a) Mideast 
B. b) China 
C. c) India 
D. d) Mexico 
Answer: A 
8. Civilization first developed in 
A. a) North America 
B. b) Egypt 
C. c) Mesopotamia 
D. d) the area of modern day France 
Answer: C 
9. Place the following eras in proper chronological order: 
A. a) Bronze Age, Paleolithic, Neolithic 
B. b) Paleolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age 
C. c) Paleolithic, Bronze Age, Neolithic 
D. d) Neolithic, Bronze Age, Paleolithic 
Answer: B 
10. How do scientists account for the shift to agriculture by late Paleolithic peoples? 
A. a) climatic change 
B. b) answer is unclear 
C. c) interference from raiders 
D. d) a decline in population 
Answer: B 
11. Civilization in the Ancient Near East around 3000 B.C.E. is characterized by the use of what metal? 
A. a) iron 
B. b) bronze 
C. c) tin 
D. d) copper 
Answer: B 
12. Bronze Age cultures usually give evidence of 
A. a) urban centers 
B. b) writing 
C. c) metal weaponry 
D. d) all of the above 
Answer: D 
13. Who developed the form of writing called cuneiform? 
A. a) the Assyrians 
B. b) the Egyptians 
C. c) the Babylonians 
D. d) the Sumerians 
Answer: D 
14. Large-scale irrigation in Mesopotamia 
A. a) rose as a consequence of urbanism 
B. b) was a cause of urbanism 
C. c) was never as efficient as irrigation in Turkey 
D. both A and C 
Answer: A 
15. The most famous king of Akkad was 
A. a) Sargon 
B. b) Hammurabi 
C. c) Lagash 
D. d) Eridu 
Answer: A 
16. The first civilization was established in Mesopotamia by the 
A. a) Babylonians 
B. b) Hebrews 
C. c) Semites 
D. d) Sumerians 
Answer: D 
17. The Epic of Gilgamesh recounts the story of 
A. a) a great flood 
B. b) the travels of an ambassador to Egypt 
C. c) a great victory of the Egyptians over the Hittites 
D. d) the invasion of Egypt by the Hyksos 
Answer: A 
18. The Babylonian king Hammurabi lived around what year? 
A. a) 3500 B.C.E. 
B. b) 1750 B.C.E. 
C. c) 1250 B.C.E. 
D. d) 650 B.C.E. 
Answer: B 
19. The Code of Hammurabi was 
A. a) an outline of religious practice 
B. b) a body of civil and criminal law 
C. c) the moral teaching of Hammurabi 
D. d) a system of writing developed by the Babylonians 
Answer: B 
20. The Code of Hammurabi reveals 
A. a) a relaxed, flexible society 
B. b) a rigid class structure which was unequal 
C. c) a rigid class structure which was equal 
D. d) an original attempt to organize society 
Answer: B 
21. Bronze is an alloy of 
A. a) copper and gold 
B. b) silver and gold 
C. c) tin and silver 
D. d) none of the above 
Answer: D 
22. In Babylonia, the king 
A. a) served as chief priest 
B. b) was less important than priests 
C. c) was separate in stature and function from priests 
D. d) both B and C 
Answer: C 
23. The Sumerian religion is characterized by 
A. a) gods in the shape of humans who were usually identified with some natural phenomenon 
B. b) gods who were often frivolous, quarrelsome and childish 
C. c) a concentration on problems of this world and a gloomy picture of the afterworld 
D. d) all of the above 
Answer: D 
24. Mesopotamian slavery 
A. a) was brutal and primitive 
B. b) was relatively enlightened 
C. c) was restricted to enemies captured in battle 
D. d) did not consider humans to be property 
Answer: B 
25. Hieroglyphs means 
A. a) "Great house" 
B. b) "wisdom literature" 
C. c) "wedge writings" 
D. d) "sacred coverings" 
Answer: D 
26. Amun-Re was 
A. a) the god of the Underworld 
B. b) worshiped by Akhenaten 
C. c) connected with worship at El Amarna 
D. d) none of the above 
Answer: D 
27. The primary cause of the collapse of the Old Kingdom was 
A. a) foreign invasion by the Hyksos 
B. b) civil wars between governors of nomes and rebellion against the pharaoh 
C. c) the rebellion of slaves who were forced to build the pyramids 
D. d) the economic collapse of the government due to exhaustive spending on the pyramids 
Answer: B 
28. Which of the following is incorrect? 
A. a) all religious and political power was united in the pharaoh 
B. b) no law codes were necessary in Egypt; the pharaoh was the direct source of law and justice 
C. c) people obeyed the pharaoh primarily because of his overwhelming military force 
D. d) pharaohs and nobles often had their bodies preserved in order to achieve eternal life 
Answer: C 
29. The governors of regions of Egypt were called 
A. a) viziers 
B. b) satraps 
C. c) proconsuls 
D. d) monarchs 
Answer: B 
30. The New Kingdom is well known for 
A. a) the new religion of Akhenaten 
B. b) the domination of the Hyksos 
C. c) military expansion 
D. d) both A and C 
Answer: D 
31. The Egyptian god Aten 
A. a) was conceived of as a universal god 
B. b) promoted an ethical religion, with emphasis on truth and love 
C. c) was worshiped by Akhenaten and his wife 
D. d) all of the above 
Answer: D 
32. The Hittites 
A. a) were a Semitic people who lived near modern Saudi Arabia 
B. b) were successful in part because of their use of iron weapons 
C. c) were finally wiped out by an Egyptian invasion 
D. d) all of the above 
Answer: B 
33. The Assyrians 
A. a) were a fierce, well-disciplined and cruel people 
B. b) were a culturally superior civilization 
C. c) loosely controlled their empire without taxation 
D. d) rejected the creation of vassal kings 
Answer: A 
34. The Book of the Dead was 
A. a) written by Akhenaten 
B. b) a collection of spells 
C. c) a manual on mummification 
D. d) a record of items buried with the pharaoh 
Answer: B 
35. The Phoenicians were important for their 
A. a) contributions to the establishment of an alphabet 
B. b) exploration and colonization 
C. c) transmission of culture from the west to the east 
D. d) both A and B 
Answer: D 
36. The great city of Nineveh was a capital of which empire? 
A. a) Assyrian 
B. b) Kassite 
C. c) Amorite 
D. d) Hittite 
Answer: A 
37. The Hebrew Bible 
A. a) is the main source for the history of the Israelites 
B. b) was not intended as history and should not be taken seriously as a historical source 
C. c) records the establishment of the united kingdom of Solomon 
D. d) records the entry of Abraham into Mesopotamia from Egypt 
Answer: A 
38. The northern and southern kingdoms of the Israelites were destroyed by the 
A. a) Assyrians and Kassites 
B. b) Egyptians and Babylonians 
C. c) Assyrians and Babylonians 
D. d) Persians and Amorite 
Answer: C 
39. The Jewish God 
A. a) is not a natural force, but conceived of as a man 
B. b) cannot be pictured in any form 
C. c) made a covenant with Noah 
D. d) revealed his law to Abraham 
Answer: B 
40. The Jewish religion 
A. a) demands that humans be righteous 
B. b) views God as a harsh and unfair deity 
C. c) regards Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah 
D. d) all of the above 
Answer: A 
41. Generally, Near Eastern cultures 
A. a) viewed the gods as human in form 
B. b) considered the gods to be capricious 
C. c) believed that the gods were not bound by laws or morality 
D. d) all of the above 
Answer: D 
42. For the Greeks, laws 
A. a) had no connection with the gods 
B. b) were made by men, not gods 
C. c) were not as important to a society as its defense from attack 
D. d) none of the above 
Answer: B 
43. Thales was the first 
A. a) Hebrew prophet 
B. b) Greek physician 
C. c) conqueror of the Israelites 
D. d) Greek philosopher 
Answer: D 
44. The earliest Greek philosophers were concerned with questions involving 
A. a) ethical conduct 
B. b) a rational explanation of phenomena 
C. c) the ideal political system 
D. d) none of the above 
Answer: B 
45. The earliest Greek philosophers 
A. a) lived on the Ionian coast of Asia Minor 
B. b) were also politicians 
C. c) often believed in the supernatural power of the gods 
D. d) were subsidized in part by the Persian government 
Answer: A