Mesopotamian and Egyptian Settlement Patterns

Mesopotamian and Egyptian Settlement PatternsOn the basis of available evidence, there existed in ancient state-levelsocieties a variety of urban types. These have been classified under a numberof different headings, ranging from city-states to territorial- or village-states.Mesopotamia and Egypt, for example, traditionally represent the two opposingextremes along a spectrum of possible settlement distributions and types.According to paragraph 1, which of the following best describes how ancientsocieties were organizedA.Ancient societies were classified as either city-states or village-states.B.Most ancient societies started out as city-states and then becameterritorial- or village-states.C.With the exception of Mesopotamia and Egypt, ancient societies weregenerally not urbanized.D.Ancientsocietieslikelyfollowedanumberofdifferenturbansettlement patterns.Mesopotamian city-state systems were made up of densely populated urbanareas that shared a common language, status symbols, and economicsystems, but their elites tended to compete with each other, often militarily, tocontrol territory, trade routes, and other resources. Each city-state controlled arelatively small territory, often only a few hundred square kilometers, and hadits own capital city, which in many cases was enclosed by a wall. In addition toits capital, a city-state might govern a number of smaller centers, as well asnumerous farming villages and hamlets. Ancient Sumer is a classic exampleof such a system.The author mentions Ancient Sumer as an example ofA.an unusual settlement that differed from the classic city-stateB.a small farming village under the control of a large cityC.a city-state consisting of a capital and outlying settlementsD.a city-state that was particularly small in size for MesopotamiaIn ancient Mesopotamia, urban centers tended to be relatively large, withpopulations ranging from less than 1,000 to more than 100,000 inhabitants,depending on the ability of a particular city-state to control and collectpayments from its neighbors. Often, a considerable number of farmers lived inthesecenterstosecuregreaterprotectionforthemselvesandtheirpossessions. It is estimated that in southern Mesopotamia (circa 2900¨C2350BC) more than 80 percent of the total population lived in cities.According to paragraph 3, what determined the size of an urban center inancient MesopotamiaA.The number of people defending itB.The amount of available space between the city and its nearestneighborC.The extent of its political and economic enforcement power over itsneighborsD.The number of farmers and the amount of food they producedThese cities also supported craft production, which sought to satisfy thedemands of the urban elite and society as a whole. The development of craftspecialization and commercial exchanges between town and countryside aswell as between neighboring urban centers encouraged the growth of publicmar...