Why farming changed everything: villages, surplus and specialists

Grade 6 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Two early farming towns

   Place	Dated to	Farming	Homes and work
   Çatalhöyük, central Türkiye	from about 7100 BCE, for more than 1,400 years	several kinds of domesticated wheat; cattle and sheep kept in pens	mud-brick houses packed together, entered through the roof; obsidian toolmaking
   Mehrgarh, Balochistan, Pakistan	7000 BCE or 5250 BCE (scholars disagree)	mostly barley, some wheat; zebu cattle domesticated there	a mud-brick farming village

2. 1.

   Which town's crops were mostly barley, Ren asks?

   • Neither town
   • Both towns equally
   • Çatalhöyük
   • Mehrgarh
3. 2.

   Which town was settled first, Tala asks?

   • Mehrgarh, by about 100 years
   • They began in the same year
   • Çatalhöyük, under either date for Mehrgarh
   • We can't tell, since one date is debated
4. 3.

   Why does the chart give two dates for Mehrgarh, Zee asks?

   • It was settled twice by the same family
   • The chart has a spelling mistake
   • It began in exactly 7000 BCE
   • Scholars disagree about when it began
5. 4.

   Obsidian tools from Çatalhöyük were probably traded for items such as Mediterranean sea shells. Which claim fits that evidence, Ari asks?

   • Çatalhöyük probably traded with distant places
   • The town was built of sea shells
   • Çatalhöyük had no contact with others
   • Çatalhöyük ruled the far-off Mediterranean coast
6. 5.

   At Çatalhöyük, archaeologists found animal pens and dung with cattle and sheep remains. Which claim fits, Bo asks?

   • The animals there were fully tame, like pets
   • People kept no animals
   • Pens show the town sold meat abroad
   • People kept and managed some animals
7. 6.

   Mehrgarh's barley and zebu cattle were domesticated there, but its wheat probably came from farther west. Which claim fits, Esme asks?

   • Mehrgarh copied its farming from the western lands, unchanged
   • Mehrgarh grew no crops
   • Mehrgarh taught farming to Çatalhöyük
   • Some farming began there, and some came from the west
8. 7.

   Obsidian toolmaking was a major industry at Çatalhöyük. What does that suggest, Jun asks?

   • Toolmakers were the rulers of the whole town
   • Some people spent their time making tools
   • The town grew no crops
   • Tools grew in the fields
9. 8.

   Çatalhöyük's houses were packed so tightly that the rooftops worked as streets. Why go in through the roof, Kira asks?

   • There were no streets between the houses
   • Front doors were not yet invented
   • Rooftops stayed dry when it rained
   • Roofs kept wild herds out
10. 9.

    Çatalhöyük grew several kinds of wheat, which helped protect food supplies against crop failure. Why grow several kinds, Luz asks?

    • To sell each kind to Mehrgarh
    • If one kind failed, others might still grow
    • To feed wild animals
    • Because one kind was not edible
11. 10.

    Noah's note says, "Çatalhöyük had wide streets between its houses." Which fix is right?

    • Leave it: towns have streets
    • Change it: the rooftops worked as streets
    • Change "wide" to "stone"
    • Change "houses" to "tents"