Ancient Civilisations Book Back Questions 9th Social Science Lesson 2

9th Social Science Lesson 2

2] Ancient Civilisations

Book Back Questions with Answer and Do You Know Box Content

Do You Know?

Mummies of Egypt: The preserved dead body is called the mummy. The Egyptians had the tradition of preserving the dead bodies using Natron salt, a combination of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate and sodium bicarbonate. The preservation process is called mummification. After 40 days, when the salt absorbed all the moisture, the body was filled with sawdust and wrapped with strips of linen cloth and covered with a fabric. The body was stored in a stone coffin called sarcophagus.

The world “paper” comes from “papyrus”. The Egyptians wrote on the leaves of a plant called papyrus, a kind of reed, which grew on the banks of Nile.

The city of Akkad later became the city of Babylon, a commercial and cultural centre of West Asia.

The Assyrian Empire was the first military State in history. They emerged militarily powerful because they were the earliest to use iron technology effectively.

Development of Script: Development of script is an important milestone in human history. Writing system began to emerge in Sumeria in the later part of fourth millennium BC (BCE) . Hieroglyphic, the Egyptian system of writing, developed in early third millennium BC (BCE) . The Harappans also had a system of writing around the same time, but it has not yet been deciphered. The Chinese civilisation too developed a writing system from a very early period.

The Terracotta Army: The Terracotta Army refers to the large collection of terracotta warrior images found in China. They depict the armies of the king Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. They were buried with the king in 210-209 BC (BCE) . They are found at the northern foot of the Lishan Mountain, thirty five kilometres northeast of Xi’an Shaanxi Province, as part of the mausoleum of the king.

The Indus civilisation is also known as the Harappan civilisation, since Harappa was the first site to be discovered. This civilisation is known as Harappan civilisation rather than Indus Valley civilisation, since it extended beyond the Indus river valley.

Cracking the Indus Script: Harappans knew the art of writing. The script is found on seals, in moulded terracotta and on pottery. It has not been deciphered till now. Because the Indus texts are very short, the average length of the inscription is less than five signs. It has no bilingual text (like a Rosetta stone written in Egyptian and Greek) . Hence deciphering the script is difficult. It was written generally from right to left. Based on computer analysis, the Russian scholar Yuri Knorozov suggested that the Indus inscriptions have a Dravidian-like world order. Scholar and researcher Iravatham Mahadevan, who has done extensive research on Indus civilisation, says, “We may hopefully find that the proto Dravidian roots of Harappa language and South Indian Dravidian languages are similar”. According to Mahadevan, a stone Celt discovered in Mayiladuthurai (Tamil Nadu) has same marking as that of the symbol of the Indus script. In May 2007, the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department found pots with arrow head symbols at Melaperumpallam near Poompuhar, which resembled the seals in Mohenjo-Daro. According to Parpola, the sign of the Indus script is likely to represent Dravidian mono-syllabic roots.

Choose the best answers:

1. The earliest signs to denote words through pictures.

(a) Calligraphy

(b) Pictographic

(c) Ideographic

(d) Stratigraphic

2. The preservation process of dead body in ancient Egypt

(a) Sarcophagus

(b) Hyksos

(c) Mummification

(d) Polytheism

3. The Sumerian system of writing.

(a) Pictographic

(b) Hieroglyphic

(c) Sonogram

(d) Cuneiform

4. The Harappans did not have the knowledge of

(a) Gold and Elephant

(b) Horse and Iron

(c) Sheep and Silver

(d) Ox and Platinum

5. The Bronze image suggestive of the use of lost-wax process known to the Indus people.

(a) Jar

(b) Priest king

(c) Dancing girl

(d) Bird

6. (i) The oldest civilisation in Mesopotamia belonged to the Akkadians.

(ii) The Chinese developed the Hieroglyphic system.

(iii) The Euphrates and Tigris drain into the Mannar Gulf.

(iv) Hammurabi, the king of Babylon was a great law maker.

(a) i is correct

(b) i and ii are correct

(c) iii is correct

(d) iv is correct

7. (i) Yangtze River is known as Sorrow of China.

(ii) Wu-Ti constructed the Great Wall of China.

(iii) Chinese invented gun powder.

(iv) According to traditions Mencius was the founder of Taoism.

(a) i is correct

(b) ii is correct

(c) iii is correct

(d) iii and iv are correct

8. What is the correct chronological order of four civilisations of Mesopotamia?

(a) Sumerians – Assyrians – Akkadians – Babylonians.

(b) Babylonians – Sumerians – Assyrians – Akkadians.

(c) Sumerians – Akkadians – Babylonians – Assyrians.

(d) Babylonians – Assyrians – Akkadians – Sumerians.

9. Assertion (A): Assyrians of Mesopotamian civilisation was contemporaries of Indus civilisation.

Reason (R): The Documents of an Assyrian ruler refer to the ships from Meluha.

(a) A and R is correct and A explains R

(b) A and R is correct but A doesn’t explain R

(c) A is incorrect but R is correct

(d) Both A and R are incorrect

Fill in the blanks:

1. _______________ is a massive lime stone image of a lion with a human head.

2. The early form of writing of the Egyptians is known as ___________

3. ______________ specifies the Laws related to various crimes in ancient Babylonia.

4. _______________ was the master archive keeper of Chou state, according to traditions.

5. The ____________ figurines and paintings on the pottery from the sites suggest the artistic skills of the Harappans.

Consider the following the statements and tick the appropriate answer:

1. a. The Great Bath at Harappa is well-built with several adjacent rooms.

b. The cuneiform inscriptions relate to the epic of Gilgamesh.

c. The terracotta figurines and dancing girl made of copper suggest the artistic skills of Egyptians.

d. The Mesopotamians devised a solar calendar system.

2. a. Amon was an “Egyptian God”.

b. The fortified Harappan city had the temples.

c. The great sphinx is a pyramid-shaped monument found in ancient Mesopotamia.

d. The invention of the potter’s wheel is credited to the Egyptians.

Match the following:

1. Pharaoh – A kind of grass

2. Papyrus – The oldest written story on Earth

3. Great Law maker – Mohenjo-Daro

4. Gilgamesh – Hammurabi

5. The Great bath – The Egyptian king

Answers:

Choose the correct answers:

1. Pictographic 2. Mummification 3. Cuneiform 4. Horse and Iron 5. Dancing Girl 6. Hammurabi, the king of Babylon was a great law maker. 7. Chinese invented gun powder 8. Sumerians – Akkadians – Babylonians – Assyrians 9. A and R is correct but A doesn’t explain R

Fill in the blanks:

1. Sphinx of Giza 2. Hieroglyphic 3. Hmmurabi’s code of law 4. Lao Tze 5. Terracotta

Consider the following and choose the correct answer:

1. The cuneiform inscriptions relate to the epic of Gilgamesh.

2. Amon was an “Egyptian God”.

Match the following:

1. The Egyptian King 2. A kind of grass 3. Hammurabi 4. The oldest story written on Earth 5. Mohenjo-Daro