Word Puzzle
The following statements give more information about life in Mesopotamia. A key word has been omitted from each sentence. Fill in the spaces with the letters of the missing word. Note that one or more letters in each answer have been provided as clues.
1. Archeologists believe that the oldest C _ _ _ _ _Z_ _ _ _ N on earth began in Mesopotamia about 3500 B.C.E.
2. Mesopotamia was located in the eastern part of the “Fertile Crescent,” an arc of fertile land that stretched from the M_ D______N Sea to the Persian Gulf.
3. The southern part of Mesopotamia was called “Sumer” after the Sumerian nomads who settled in the valleys of the T _ G_ _S and Euphrates rivers.
4. Early farming villages grew into 12 “city-states,” each consisting of a C _ T_ and its surrounding farmlands.
5. The Sumerians, like many other ancient peoples, believed in “polytheism”—the worship of many
g_ _ s.
6. To please the gods, a T_M _ _ E with a massive step-tower – called a “ziggurat”—was erected in the center of each city.
7. It is believed that the Sumerians were the first people on earth to invent a system of W_ _ __ _ N_.
8.. They also invented the arch to support heavy walls over doorways and windows, and they made the world’s first P_ _ _ to prepare their fields for planting.
9. The Sumerians divided a circle into 360 degrees, an hour into 60 minutes, and a minute into 60
_ _ _ o _ _ _.
10. There were three social classes in Sumer: (1) Priests, government officials, and wealthy nobles (2) merchants and artisans (3) peasants and SL_ _ _S.
11. In the cuneiform method of writing, about 600 different symbols were drawn on soft _ _ _ Y tablets which eventually dried and became hard.
12. The Sumerians wrote on clay because they did not know how to make _ _ P_ _.
13. Most of the people of Sumer were F_ _ _ _ _S.
14. The farmers grew grain, vegetables, and dates, and raised cows, sheep, and _ _ _TS.
15. Because plenty of _ _ _ D was being produced, many people were able to work as traders and artisans.
16. Houses were made of sun-dried clay B_ __K_.
17. S_H_ _ _ _ were set up in the temples and run by priests.
18. Only upper class B_ _ _ _ received an education.
19. The most important subjects were writing and S______G.
20. Each of the 12 C_ _ _-S _ A_ _ _ of Sumer were thought to belong to a different god or gods.
21. PR_ _ _ _S managed the god’s land, directed worship, and governed the city.
22. The Sumerians feared their gods because they believed that the gods had the power to destroy their cities with FLO_ _ _.
23. Individual city-states sometimes fought _ _ _S against each other.
24. Weakened by a lack of unity, the city-states of Sumer were conquered by Hammurabi and other invaders who periodically swept into ME______A.
25. Rather than destroying the early civilization of Mesopotamia, begun by the _ U_ _ R_ _ _ S, the invaders adopted Sumerian ways and built upon them in the years which followed.
Word Puzzle
The following statements give more information about life in Mesopotamia. A key word has been omitted from each sentence. Fill in the spaces with the letters of the missing word. Note that one or more letters in each answer have been provided as clues.
1. Archeologists believe that the oldest C _ _ _ _ _Z_ _ _ _ N on earth began in Mesopotamia about 3500 B.C.E.
2. Mesopotamia was located in the eastern part of the “Fertile Crescent,” an arc of fertile land that stretched from the M_ D______N Sea to the Persian Gulf.
3. The southern part of Mesopotamia was called “Sumer” after the Sumerian nomads who settled in the valleys of the T _ G_ _S and Euphrates rivers.
4. Early farming villages grew into 12 “city-states,” each consisting of a C _ T_ and its surrounding farmlands.
5. The Sumerians, like many other ancient peoples, believed in “polytheism”—the worship of many
g_ _ s.
6. To please the gods, a T_M _ _ E with a massive step-tower – called a “ziggurat”—was erected in the center of each city.
7. It is believed that the Sumerians were the first people on earth to invent a system of W_ _ __ _ N_.
8.. They also invented the arch to support heavy walls over doorways and windows, and they made the world’s first P_ _ _ to prepare their fields for planting.
9. The Sumerians divided a circle into 360 degrees, an hour into 60 minutes, and a minute into 60
_ _ _ o _ _ _.
10. There were three social classes in Sumer: (1) Priests, government officials, and wealthy nobles (2) merchants and artisans (3) peasants and SL_ _ _S.
11. In the cuneiform method of writing, about 600 different symbols were drawn on soft _ _ _ Y tablets which eventually dried and became hard.
12. The Sumerians wrote on clay because they did not know how to make _ _ P_ _.
13. Most of the people of Sumer were F_ _ _ _ _S.
14. The farmers grew grain, vegetables, and dates, and raised cows, sheep, and _ _ _TS.
15. Because plenty of _ _ _ D was being produced, many people were able to work as traders and artisans.
16. Houses were made of sun-dried clay B_ __K_.
17. S_H_ _ _ _ were set up in the temples and run by priests.
18. Only upper class B_ _ _ _ received an education.
19. The most important subjects were writing and S______G.
20. Each of the 12 C_ _ _-S _ A_ _ _ of Sumer were thought to belong to a different god or gods.
21. PR_ _ _ _S managed the god’s land, directed worship, and governed the city.
22. The Sumerians feared their gods because they believed that the gods had the power to destroy their cities with FLO_ _ _.
23. Individual city-states sometimes fought _ _ _S against each other.
24. Weakened by a lack of unity, the city-states of Sumer were conquered by Hammurabi and other invaders who periodically swept into ME______A.
25. Rather than destroying the early civilization of Mesopotamia, begun by the _ U_ _ R_ _ _ S, the invaders adopted Sumerian ways and built upon them in the years which followed.