DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTION Period 1

Using the following documents and your knowledge of world history, compare and contrast images that humans made of themselves in the era before C. 600 B.C.E. 

Document 1 The Statues of Ain Ghazal

Among the largest of the early agricultural settlements investigated by archeologists is that of Ain Ghazal, located in the modern state of Jordan. Inhabited from about 7200 to 5000 B.C.E. in its prime it was home to some 3,000 people, who lived in multi-roomed stone house; cultivated barley, wheat, peas, beans, and lentils; and herded domesticated goats. These remarkable statues,

around three feet tall and made of limestone plaster applied to a cored of bundled reeds, were among the most starling finds at that site. Did they represent heroes, gods, goddesses, or ordinary people? No one really knows. (Courtesy Department of Antiquities of Jordan. Photo by John Tsantesi. Courtesy of Dr. Gary O. Rollefson)

Document 2 Nok Culture

The agricultural and iron-using Nok culture of northern Nigeria in West Africa generated a remarkable artistic tradition of terra-cotta, or fired clay, figures depicting animals and, especially, people. This one dates to somewhere between 600 B.C.E. and 600 C.E. Some scholars have dubbed this and many similar Nok sculptures “thinkers.” Does it seem more likely that this notion reflects a present-day sensibility or that it is an insight inot the mentality of the ancient artist who created the image? (Musée du Quai Branly/Scala/Art Resource, NY)

Document 3 Raherka and Mersankh

Writing was one of the defining features of civilizations almost everywhere. In ancient Egyptian civilizations, the scribes who possessed this skill enjoyed both social prestige and political influence. This famous statue shows Raherka, an “inspector of the scribes” during Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty (circa 2350 B.C.E.), in an affectionate pose with his wife, Mersankh.(Musée du Louvre, Paris, France/ Grand Palais/Art Resource NY)

Document 4 Olmec Head

This colossal statue, some six feet high and five feet wide, is one of seventeen such carvings, dating to the first millennium B.C.E. that were discovered in the territory of the ancient Olmec civilization. Thought to represent individual rulers, each of the statues has a distinct and realistically portrayed face.(Danny Lehman/Corbis)

Document 5 Man from Mohenjo-Daro

The absence of grand temples or palaces, elaborate burial sites, and monuments has left scholars guessing about the social and political organization of the Indus River Valley civilization. Archeologist Jonathan Kenoyer has suggested that the great cities were likely controlled not by a single ruler, but by a “small group of elites, comprised of merchants, landowners, and ritual specialists.” This seven-inch tall statue found in Mohenjo-Daro likely depicts one of these elite men.

(Jean-Louis Nou/akg-images)