What Makes a Civilization? — Practice · Grade 6 Social Studies

Chapter: Early Humans & the Neolithic Revolution

What this practice covers

By the end of What Makes a Civilization? you should be able to:

10 questions, written answer, each with a worked explanation.

Vocabulary used: civilization, city, government, organized religion, writing.

Problem 1

Use civilization as an analytical term. Does the label rank human worth?
Answer and explanation

No. It describes selected organizational patterns and has a history that must be examined critically.

No. It describes selected organizational patterns and has a history that must be examined critically.

Response criteria

  • Answer the actual question with accurate details.
  • Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
  • State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.

Problem 2

Compare functions rather than labels alone. Is one language necessarily one state?
Answer and explanation

No. States can include multiple languages and language communities can span states.

No. States can include multiple languages and language communities can span states.

Response criteria

  • Answer the actual question with accurate details.
  • Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
  • State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.

Problem 3

Recognize records and missing voices. Why examine ordinary household objects alongside royal texts?
Answer and explanation

They can reveal practices and experiences that elite texts leave out.

They can reveal practices and experiences that elite texts leave out.

Response criteria

  • Answer the actual question with accurate details.
  • Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
  • State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.

Problem 4

Make a qualified comparison. What makes a comparison defensible?
Answer and explanation

Matched categories, specific evidence and explicit limits rather than a simple higher/lower ranking.

Matched categories, specific evidence and explicit limits rather than a simple higher/lower ranking.

Response criteria

  • Answer the actual question with accurate details.
  • Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
  • State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.

Problem 5

Rewrite the label and name two evidence routes.
Answer and explanation

“Its history can be studied through archaeological remains and critically contextualized oral traditions; no written archive is currently known.” Explain dates/provenance and do not treat an absence in one medium as an absence of culture.

“Its history can be studied through archaeological remains and critically contextualized oral traditions; no written archive is currently known.” Explain dates/provenance and do not treat an absence in one medium as an absence of culture.

Response criteria

  • Answer the actual question with accurate details.
  • Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
  • State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.

Problem 6

Write a three-sentence museum or atlas label explaining this case. Include what is directly supported, one inference and one limit.
Answer and explanation

“Its history can be studied through archaeological remains and critically contextualized oral traditions; no written archive is currently known.” Explain dates/provenance and do not treat an absence in one medium as an absence of culture. The label must identify its evidence and avoid turning a model into an authentic artifact.

“Its history can be studied through archaeological remains and critically contextualized oral traditions; no written archive is currently known.” Explain dates/provenance and do not treat an absence in one medium as an absence of culture. The label must identify its evidence and avoid turning a model into an authentic artifact.

Response criteria

  • Answer the actual question with accurate details.
  • Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
  • State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.

Problem 7

A writer claims the supplied case proves the same thing happened everywhere in the Eastern Hemisphere. Repair the scope and identify a useful next comparison.
Answer and explanation

“Its history can be studied through archaeological remains and critically contextualized oral traditions; no written archive is currently known.” Explain dates/provenance and do not treat an absence in one medium as an absence of culture. Limit the conclusion to the named evidence; compare a different dated setting using the same categories before widening it.

“Its history can be studied through archaeological remains and critically contextualized oral traditions; no written archive is currently known.” Explain dates/provenance and do not treat an absence in one medium as an absence of culture. Limit the conclusion to the named evidence; compare a different dated setting using the same categories before widening it.

Response criteria

  • Answer the actual question with accurate details.
  • Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
  • State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.

Problem 8

Which source or observation would most improve this explanation? Explain the information it could add and a limitation it would still have.
Answer and explanation

No. States can include multiple languages and language communities can span states. A useful new source addresses the missing information directly. Explain its provenance, access or scale; do not assume a second source answers every question.

No. States can include multiple languages and language communities can span states. A useful new source addresses the missing information directly. Explain its provenance, access or scale; do not assume a second source answers every question.

Response criteria

  • Answer the actual question with accurate details.
  • Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
  • State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.

Problem 9

Using the assigned chapter reader, connect this topic to another named society or period. Give one similarity and one difference using matched categories.
Answer and explanation

Use two specifically located details from the chapter reader and distinguish period, source purpose and scale. Matched categories, specific evidence and explicit limits rather than a simple higher/lower ranking.

Use two specifically located details from the chapter reader and distinguish period, source purpose and scale. Matched categories, specific evidence and explicit limits rather than a simple higher/lower ranking.

Response criteria

  • Answer the actual question with accurate details.
  • Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
  • State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.

Problem 10

Revise your response to the whole-unit case after checking the fourth teaching part. State exactly what you changed and why.
Answer and explanation

“Its history can be studied through archaeological remains and critically contextualized oral traditions; no written archive is currently known.” Explain dates/provenance and do not treat an absence in one medium as an absence of culture. The revision note must quote or reproduce the changed claim and explain its improved accuracy.

“Its history can be studied through archaeological remains and critically contextualized oral traditions; no written archive is currently known.” Explain dates/provenance and do not treat an absence in one medium as an absence of culture. The revision note must quote or reproduce the changed claim and explain its improved accuracy.

Response criteria

  • Answer the actual question with accurate details.
  • Explain how the evidence or language choice supports the conclusion.
  • State a relevant limit, alternative or justified revision.

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