Name Date Block Mesopotamia, Sumer and Babylon Webquest Directions: Answer the questions using www.mesopotamia.co.uk AND YOUR OWN background knowledge! Click on Mesopotamia, then Geography from the left menu. (Questions with ** are for bonus points and will require you to make inferences or search elsewhere in order to answer.) PART 1: 1-3. The word Mesopotamia means BETWEEN THE RIVERS and comes from the GREEK language. It is where the country of IRAQ is today. 4-5. Name the 2 most important rivers flowing through Mesopotamia. TIGRIS and EUPHRATES. 6-7. Ancient people first lived in the more mountainous part of northern Mesopotamia. They were able to provide water for their small population because the mountains had some small streams and RIVERS. Some of the land there was very FERTILE which meant they were able to grow crops. 8-9. As the population grew, people began to move to southern Mesopotamia which was known as Sumer. Sumer s plains were very wide and flat, but at times were so dry they couldn t grow crops. The people figured out how to fix this by learning how to IRRIGATE their farmland. They dug canals in the ground that would allow the water to flow from the rivers to their fields. This was how the Sumerians made sure their people had a constant SUPPLY OF FOOD, one of the characteristics of a civilization. 10. Some of the first CITIES in the world were created along the banks of Mesopotamia s 2 rivers. Places like Ur, Nippur, Uruk, and Babylon are examples of these. For a while, the area called Sumer was taken over by the Babylonians. They set up their capital in the city of Babylon.
Click on Mesopotamia on left menu. Choose Babylonia - Trade and Transport. 11-12. Because the region of Mesopotamia had limited RESOURCES, it was important for them to TRADE with people from other lands. 13-14. Circle 2 items traders might get from Babylonian traders: textiles timber wine grains 15-16. Circle 2 items Babylonians might buy from outside traders: textiles timber wine grains 17. What are textiles? Textiles are ITEMS MADE FROM CLOTH OR FABRIC. 18. What is timber: Timber is WOOD PREPARED FOR USE IN BUILDING AND CARPENTRY. 19-20. Who would be more likely to buy a precious stone - a farmer or king? (circle) Why do you think this? SINCE THE STONES ARE CONSIDERED PRECIOUS, THIS MUST MEAN THEY ARE EXPENSIVE SO A FARMER WOULD NOT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO AFFORD THESE BUT KINGS WOULD. If finished, please use the time to work on your Mesopotamian Independent Study Project until we review Part 1.
There were many goods coming in and going out of Mesopotamia. Go back to the site (www.mesopotamia.co.uk), choose Babylonia, Trade and Transport, then click Explore at the bottom. Answer the questions by clicking on the picture of each transportation method shown below. You may need to click on other pictures to finish the questions. Part 2: Items Transported by... 21-24. Grains like BARLEY and WHEAT were grown in Mesopotamia and used to make other products. Based on what you ve learned, who do you think might buy these grains? (circle 2) craftsmen beer brewers kings breadmakers 25-27. MEATS from animals like cows, sheep, and GOATS were also traded. The fact that only the wealthy people could afford these products tells you that these products must have been very EXPENSIVE. Items Transported by... 28. A blue stone called LAPIS LAZULI was a favorite used in jewelry making. **Since it was mined in Afghanistan and brought to Mesopotamia by donkey, was it coming from the east, or the west? EAST Items Transported by... 29-30. Why were many gulf boats covered with bitumen? Gulf boats were covered with bitumen because BITUMEN IS USED TO WATERPROOF THINGS WHICH WOULD HELP KEEP A BOAT FROM SINKING. Copper was one of the most important goods brought into Mesopotamia because it could be mixed with tin to create a very strong metal called BRONZE.
31-32. Fish eyes, or PEARLS, were used to make jewelry and were brought into Babylonia by way of gulf boat. Also used in jewelry making was a reddish colored stone called CARNELIAN that was imported from India along with ivory. **Based on the reading, who might own a piece of furniture carved from ivory: a farmer a potter a king Items Transported by... 33-36. Carts were used to haul these objects used as a building material from one Mesopotamian city to another: MUD BRICKS. **Why do you think these needed to be made close to the place where they were going to be used? THEY WERE TOO HEAVY TO TRANSPORT TOO FAR OF A DISTANCE Carts pulled by oxen were also used to transport fish in pottery tanks for those who wanted to buy the fish still ALIVE. Fish could also be bought salted, PICKLED or DRIED. **Why do you think people would want to salt fish? (hint: it s not to add flavor to the fish!!) SALT PRESERVES THINGS Items Transported by... 37-40. Since the Mesopotamians had few good strong trees for timber, they imported CEDAR and PINE trees from foreign lands and floated the logs down the Euphrates on rafts. Reeds were also traded by means of river to be made into mats, HOUSES and BOATS. If finished, please use the time to work on your Mesopotamian Independent Study Project until we review Part 2.
Okay, get back into the website (www.mesopotamia.co.uk) then click Writing on the left menu. Thousands of years ago the Mesopotamians developed a written language called cuneiform which has made it possible to learn about life during this ancient civilization. Part 3: 41. Did cuneiform writing develop before or after pictograms were used? (circle) 42-46. Pictogram writing in Mesopotamia was about CROPS or TAXES, but cuneiform was used to write down things about daily life, TRADE, ASTRONOMY and even LITERATURE. 47. The Mesopotamians used CLAY TABLETS the way we use paper today. Click on Explore at the bottom. 48. One of the most important jobs in a Mesopotamia was being a SCRIBE because otherwise we would not have written records today of what life was like in ancient Mesopotamia. (Click Explore the World of a Scribe to continue...) 49. Figure out which object is a Cylinder Seal then click. These were made of stone/metal and rolled onto clay to leave an impression. Using a cylinder seal on a clay tablet was like signing your NAME. **Besides using a cylinder seal which were mainly owned by the rich, how might someone sign a tablet? USE THEIR FINGERNAIL IMPRINT 50. Click back and check out all of the other tools of a scribe in this section. A Mesopotamian writing board is like the WHITEBOARD/CHALKBOARD of ancient times. **How is a reed stylus different from a stylus you might use today. The ancient reed stylus MADE IMPRESSIONS IN CLAY but a modern stylus IS USED ON A IPAD/TOUCH SCREEN DEVICE TO WRITE.
The Mesopotamian people developed a civilization that included a unique religion. Click Mesopotamia on the left menu then choose Sumer and Ziggurats. Next click Story at the bottom. Use the right arrow to navigate. DO NOT USE MORE TO ADVANCE THE PAGES!!! 51. Eridu is the CITY where the oldest Mesopotamian temple was found. **Why do you suppose Mesopotamians wanted their gods homes to be higher than their own? Mesopotamians probably wanted to build their gods homes higher TO SHOW HOW IMPORTANT THE GODS WERE, MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE HUMANS. 52-55. Mesopotamian temples were built on top of mud-brick platforms in the CENTER of the city-states of Sumer. The platforms might have represented MOUNTAINS since ancient people believed this is where the gods originally lived. The kings were responsible for giving the gods offerings and taking care of the temples. Sometimes a king would carve or stamp his NAME into the bricks. It was his hope that doing this would please the GODS and bring his kingdom good luck. 56-58. Ur-Nammu, a king of the city of UR, was responsible for building the first ZIGGURAT which looks similar to a STEPPED PYRAMID. 59-60. I know that Ur-Nammu conquered many places because THE TEXT TELLS ME HE CREATED AN EMPIRE. Over time, new people took over Mesopotamia, cities were abandoned and many ziggurats became unrecognizable because they DECAYED. It took hundreds of years for archaeologists to uncover evidence of these incredible structures.
If finished, please use the time to work on your Mesopotamian Independent Study Project until we review Part 3.