The growth of trade, construction and writing in Mesopotamia | History

Starter quiz

What do farmers grow?
- rivers
- cities
- crops ✓
- houses
Match the starter sentences to the word to complete each sentence.
- Sumer was an ancient
  
  ⇔
  
  civilisation. ✓
- Sumer was in
  
  ⇔
  
  Mesopotamia. ✓
- Sumerians were excellent
  
  ⇔
  
  farmers. ✓
Mesopotamia means 'the land between two ...'
- 'rivers' ✓
Which two rivers was Mesopotamia between?
- Tigris ✓
- Mesopotamia
- Sumer
- Euphrates ✓
Why was farming successful in Mesopotamia?
- The land was fertile between the two rivers ✓
- There were more people to grow food
- The farmers learned to control the water ✓
- The farmers relied on the flood waters
Successful farmers grew more ______ than they needed.
- 'food' ✓

Match the keywords to the definitions.
- trade
  
  ⇔
  
  when people buy or sell items they need and want ✓
- record
  
  ⇔
  
  to write or draw ideas, events and memories ✓
- cuneiform
  
  ⇔
  
  an ancient form of writing ✓
- ziggurat
  
  ⇔
  
  a large ancient religious stone building ✓
What were some effects of successful farming?
- less food
- trade ✓
- inventions ✓
- building ✓
- hunger
Writing was first invented to record how much was ...
- 'traded' ✓
Cuneiform writing was made on ______ tablets using a stylus.
- 'clay' ✓
Which of these were ancient cities in Mesopotamia?
- Sumer
- Ur ✓
- London
- Uruk ✓
Choose the words that describe a ziggurat.
- surplus
- religious ✓
- tiers ✓
- stone ✓
- river

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Mesopotamian civilisations like the Sumerians were able to trade their extra food with people who lived far away.
Archaeologists think that as these civilisations traded more they needed a way of recording what was being traded.
They began to write down and count what they were giving and receiving in a special writing called cuneiform.
Because their farming was productive, they could stay in one place, and so they built cities with large stone buildings.
Some of the biggest of these stone buildings were called ziggurats, which were large, stepped religious buildings.

Writing is only created with pens or pencils.

Discuss different forms of writing such as print on a poster, graffiti, and lettering on clothing.

Trade - people trade by buying or selling items they need or want
Record - people write or draw to record ideas, events and memories
Cuneiform - a type of ancient writing invented in Sumer was called cuneiform
Ziggurat - a ziggurat is a large religious building made from stone during Mesopotamian civilisations