Sumer and Babylon: city-states, irrigation, cuneiform and written law

Grade 6 Social Studies Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Ideas from Mesopotamia

   Idea	How it worked	When
   Cuneiform	signs pressed into clay tablets with a sharpened reed	developed in the late 4th millennium BCE (3500–3001 BCE)
   Counting in sixties	numbers grouped in 60s; a talent was 60 minas, and a mina was 60 shekels	from the 3rd millennium BCE (3000–2001 BCE)
   Clay tokens and envelopes	small clay shapes standing for amounts of goods, sealed in clay envelopes	before writing began

2. 1.

   How was cuneiform written, Milo asks?

   • Signs pressed into clay with a sharpened reed
   • Ink brushed onto paper
   • Small clay shapes sealed in envelopes
   • Numbers grouped in 60s
3. 2.

   The cell marked ? is blank. Noah's chart has a blank: when was cuneiform developed?

   • The late 4th millennium BCE
   • The 4th millennium CE, far in the future
   • Before writing began
   • The 3rd millennium BCE

4. Ideas from Mesopotamia

   Idea	How it worked	When
   Cuneiform	signs pressed into clay tablets with a sharpened reed	developed in the late 4th millennium BCE (3500–3001 BCE)
   Counting in sixties	numbers grouped in 60s; a talent was 60 minas, and a mina was 60 shekels	from the 3rd millennium BCE (3000–2001 BCE)
   Clay tokens and envelopes	small clay shapes standing for amounts of goods, sealed in clay envelopes	before writing began

5. 3.

   Counting in sixties still shapes how we measure time. How many minutes are in an hour, Ren asks?

   • 24 minutes
   • 12 minutes
   • 100 minutes
   • 60 minutes
6. 4.

   A talent was 60 minas. How many minas were in 2 talents, Tala asks?

   • 120 minas
   • 200 minas
   • 30 minas
   • 62 minas
7. 5.

   Ari's chain reads: clay tokens for goods → ? → signs on flat clay tablets. What fills the blank?

   • Tablets were made first
   • Tokens pressed onto clay envelopes
   • Paper was invented
   • Numbers were grouped in 60s
8. 6.

   What was cuneiform first used for, Bo asks?

   • Keeping accounts of goods
   • Painting pictures on walls
   • Measuring floods
   • Writing long stories
9. 7.

   Cuneiform signs are made of wedge-shaped marks. Where does the name cuneiform come from, Esme asks?

   • The Latin word for wedge
   • The name of a king
   • The word for clay tablet
   • The Greek word for river
10. 8.

    Cuneiform developed in the late 4th millennium BCE. About how long ago is that, Jun asks?

    • About 500 years ago
    • More than 5,000 years ago
    • About 50,000 years ago
    • About 3,000 years ago or a little less
11. 9.

    Where else is counting in sixties still used today, Kira asks?

    • Counting people
    • Prices in a shop
    • Measuring rain
    • Angles and map coordinates
12. 10.

    Why did people use clay tokens before writing, Luz asks?

    • To play a board game
    • To keep count of amounts of goods
    • To build city walls
    • Because writing came first