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?

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

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

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

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.

   Which came first, cuneiform or counting in sixties, Pia asks?

   • Both began in the same year
   • Counting in sixties: 3rd comes before 4th
   • Cuneiform, in the 4th millennium BCE
   • Neither: both are CE
6. 4.

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

   • 12 minutes
   • 100 minutes
   • 60 minutes
   • 24 minutes
7. 5.

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

   • 200 minas
   • 30 minas
   • 120 minas
   • 62 minas
8. 6.

   A mina was 60 shekels. How many shekels were in half a mina, Zee asks?

   • 50 shekels
   • 120 shekels
   • 6 shekels
   • 30 shekels
9. 7.

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

   • Tokens pressed onto clay envelopes
   • Numbers were grouped in 60s
   • Paper was invented
   • Tablets were made first
10. 8.

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

    • The name of a king
    • The word for clay tablet
    • The Greek word for river
    • The Latin word for wedge
11. 9.

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

    • About 500 years ago
    • About 3,000 years ago or a little less
    • More than 5,000 years ago
    • About 50,000 years ago
12. 10.

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

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