- a. Calligraphy
- b. Pictographic
- c. Ideographic
- d. Stratigraphic
The earliest signs that denote words through pictures are pictographs; therefore 'Pictographic' is correct.
b
- a. Sarcophagus
- b. Hyksos
- c. Mummification
- d. Polytheism
Preservation of dead bodies in ancient Egypt was done by mummification; hence option (c).
c
- a. Pictographic
- b. Hieroglyphic
- c. Sonogram
- d. Cuneiform
The Sumerians used cuneiform script (wedge-shaped signs impressed on clay); therefore (d) is correct.
d
- a. Gold and Elephant
- b. Horse and Iron
- c. Sheep and Silver
- d. Ox and Platinum
Harappan/Indus Civilisation shows little evidence of horses or iron usage; iron and domestic horse use became common later. So (b) is correct.
b
- a. Jar
- b. Priest king
- c. Dancing girl
- d. Bird
The well-known bronze 'Dancing Girl' of Mohenjo-daro indicates skilled casting techniques such as lost-wax; so (c).
c
- a. (i) is correct
- b. (i) and (ii) are correct
- c. (iii) is correct
- d. (iv) is correct
Only statement (iv) is correct: Hammurabi was a famous lawgiver. (i) is wrong (Sumerians were the oldest), (ii) is wrong (Chinese developed logographic characters, not Egyptian hieroglyphs), (iii) is wrong (Tigris and Euphrates drain into the Persian Gulf).
d
- a. (i) is correct
- b. (ii) is correct
- c. (iii) is correct
- d. (iii) and (iv) are correct
Only (iii) is correct: gunpowder was invented in China. (i) is incorrect — the Yellow River (Huang He) is called 'China's Sorrow'; (ii) is incorrect — major Great Wall construction attributed to Qin Shihuang and later dynasties; (iv) is incorrect — Mencius was a Confucian philosopher, not founder of Taoism (Laozi/Tao Te Ching).
c
- a. Sumerians - Assyrians - Akkadians - Babylonians
- b. Babylonians - Sumerians - Assyrians - Akkadians
- c. Sumerians - Akkadians - Babylonians - Assyrians
- d. Babylonians - Assyrians - Akkadians - Sumerians
Chronological sequence: Sumerians (earliest city-culture), then Akkadian Empire, then Babylonian prominence, and later Assyrian empires. So (c).
c
- a. A and R are correct and A explains R
- b. A and R are correct but A doesn't explain R
- c. A is incorrect but R is correct
- d. Both A and R are incorrect
Both statements are accepted in school texts: Mesopotamian states (including early Assyrian polities) had contacts with the Indus (referred to as Meluhha), and references to Meluhha ships indicate contemporaneity — so A and R are correct and R supports A.
a
- a. The Great Bath at Harappa is well-built with several adjacent rooms.
- b. The cuneiform inscriptions relate to the epic of Gilgamesh.
- c. The terracotta figurines and dancing girl made of copper suggest the artistic skills of Egyptians.
- d. The Mesopotamians devised a solar
Option (b) is correct: the Epic of Gilgamesh is preserved in cuneiform inscriptions. (a) is inaccurate in location — the Great Bath is at Mohenjo-daro, not Harappa; (c) is wrong — the 'Dancing Girl' is an Indus bronze, not Egyptian; (d) is truncated/invalid.
b
- a. Amon was an "Egyptian God".
- b. The fortified Harappan city had the temples.
- c. The great sphinx is a pyramid-shaped monument found in ancient Mesopotamia.
- d. The invention of the potter's wheel is credited to the Egyptians.
Amon (Amun) is an Egyptian god — so (a) is correct. Other options are incorrect: Harappan cities show little evidence of large temples; the Great Sphinx is Egyptian (not Mesopotamian) and is not pyramid-shaped; the potter's wheel originated in Mesopotamia.
a
Correct matches (correcting the scrambled pairings in the OCR):
1. Pharaoh → The Egyptian king.
2. Papyrus → A kind of grass (papyrus plant used for writing material).
3. Great Law → Hammurabi (Code of Hammurabi is the Great Law).
4. Gilgamesh → The oldest written story on Earth (Epic of Gilgamesh).
5. The Great Bath → Mohenjo-daro (the Great Bath is at Mohenjo-daro).
| # | Correct match |
|---|---|
| 1 | The Egyptian king |
| 2 | A kind of grass |
| 3 | Hammurabi |
| 4 | The oldest written story on Earth |
| 5 | Mohenjo-daro (site of the Great Bath). |
The Great Sphinx (of Giza) is the massive limestone statue with a lion's body and a human head.
The Great Sphinx
The early Egyptian script is called hieroglyphics — pictorial symbols used for inscriptions and religious texts.
Hieroglyphics
Hammurabi's Code (Code of Hammurabi) is the Babylonian legal code that specifies laws and punishments for various crimes.
Hammurabi's Code
According to the textbook passage (page 33), Lao Tze (Laozi) is described in tradition as the master archive keeper of the Chou (Zhou) state. He is also noted as the founder of Taoism.
Lao Tze
The terracotta figurines and painted pottery recovered at Harappan sites (for example female figurines, animals, and painted motifs) demonstrate their artistic skills and craftsmanship.
terracotta
Key illustrations: pyramids (Giza) as royal tombs showing advanced planning and masonry; temples (Karnak, Luxor) with columns and reliefs; the Great Sphinx and statuary demonstrating realistic and idealized human forms; richly decorated tomb paintings and funerary art; use of stone, precise alignments, and large labor organisation.
Egyptians excelled in monumental architecture (pyramids, temples, obelisks), sculpture (colossal statues, sphinx), tomb and wall paintings, refined stone carving and relief work, and developed engineering skills for large-scale stone construction.
Salient features: built of sun-dried and fired mud-brick; multi-tiered/stepped platforms; a temple or shrine at the summit for the city’s patron deity; no large interior public spaces like later temples; served as religious center and symbol of city-state power.
Ziggurats were stepped, terraced temple towers of mud-brick in Mesopotamia with a shrine on top, serving religious and administrative functions; massive platforms elevated the temple, and access was via ramps or stairways.
Key points: inscribed on a stone stele for public display; contains nearly 282 laws covering family, property, trade, labour and criminal matters; introduces principle of proportionate justice ('eye for an eye') though punishments varied by social class; shows central role of the king in law and order and influenced later law traditions.
Hammurabi's Code is one of the earliest and most complete written legal codes; it lists laws and corresponding punishments, establishes justice principles (including lex talionis), and reflects social structure and state authority in Babylon.
Hieroglyphics: ancient Egyptian script of pictorial signs representing objects, ideas and sounds; used for religious texts and inscriptions; written on stone and papyrus; direction could vary (read toward faces).
Cuneiform: developed in Sumer (Mesopotamia); initially pictographic for recording goods and transactions, later became syllabic and used for several languages (Sumerian, Akkadian); written by pressing a reed stylus into clay to make wedge-shaped marks; durable clay tablets preserved administrative, literary (e.g., Gilgamesh), and legal records.
Hieroglyphics: Egyptian picture-based script combining logograms and phonetic signs, used on monuments and papyri; formal, pictorial, and often written in rows/columns. Cuneiform: Mesopotamian wedge-shaped script impressed on clay tablets, began as pictographs then evolved into abstract signs representing syllables and words.
Extent of influence: Confucian thought (Confucius, Mencius) provided moral/political framework for China and neighboring countries, affecting education and bureaucracy; Daoism (Laozi, Zhuangzi) influenced spirituality, arts and naturalist aesthetics; Legalism influenced state organization; literature — classical poetry, prose, and history (Shiji, dynastic histories) established literary standards; calligraphy and literary culture became markers of elite status. Chinese philosophical and literary traditions deeply shaped East Asian civilizations (Korea, Japan, Vietnam) through language, institutions and education.
Chinese influence in philosophy and literature is profound: Confucianism and Daoism shaped ethics, statecraft and personal conduct; classical texts (Analects, Tao Te Ching) guided thought; later dynastic historiography and classical poetry (Tang, Song) influenced East Asia's literary traditions.
Summarise the principal archaeological finds and their significance: town planning, drainage, Great Bath, seals and script, craft specialisation, metallurgy, standard weights and external trade.
The “hidden treasure” of the Indus (Harappan) civilisation refers to its remarkable urban, technological and cultural achievements revealed by archaeology. Key treasures include: well‑planned grid towns with baked‑brick houses, multi‑storey buildings and lanes; sophisticated drainage and sanitation systems; the Great Bath (public water structure) and granaries suggesting surplus storage; standardized weights and measures and modular bricks showing administrative control; seals with pictographic script and animal motifs indicating trade and identity; high‑quality crafts such as bead‑making, metallurgy (copper, bronze, gold), shell and faience work, terracotta figurines and painted pottery; and evidence of long‑distance trade with Mesopotamia and Iran. Together these features show an advanced, organised society with skilled artisans, long‑distance connections, and administrative sophistication—its lasting archaeological “treasure.”