agricultureFarming: planting crops and keeping herds. Farming produced enough food for people to live in cities.
city-stateA single city that acts as a nation by itself. In Sumer, each city-state had its own ruler.
civilizationA people settled in cities, with rulers and records. Sumer, in southern Mesopotamia, is the earliest known civilization.
dynastyRulers from one family, one after another. Historians divide the long histories of Egypt and China by their dynasties.
empireA state that holds power over several nations. The word comes from the Latin imperium, the right to command.
irrigationWatering farmland with canals instead of rain. Irrigation has been used in farming for over 5,000 years.
law codeA written collection of the laws of a land. A Babylonian law code, the Code of Hammurabi, was carved on a tall stone.
scribeA record keeper skilled in reading and writing. Scribes kept records for kings, temples and cities.
social classPeople who share the same rank in a society. Civilizations were divided into social classes, often with a ruling class at the top.
specializationEach worker keeping to one kind of job. Historians also call it the division of labor.
surplusAn amount left over after needs are met. Growing a surplus of food is one of the marks of a civilization.
tradeSwapping one thing of value for another. The people of Mesopotamia traded over long distances more than 5,000 years ago.
Show all 36 terms (24 more)
Writing, belief and building 12
afterlifeA life that many faiths say follows death. Belief in an afterlife is one reason tombs were filled with goods.
cuneiformA script of small pointed marks made with a stylus. Its name comes from the Latin for wedge, the shape of its marks. It is the earliest known writing system.
hieroglyphsThe picture symbols Egyptians carved as writing. At first the script had more than a thousand different signs.
papyrusAn early paper made from strips of a wetland plant. The papyrus plant once grew thickly in the delta of the Nile.
pharaohThe title of a monarch of Egypt long ago. The word comes from the Egyptian for great house.
polytheismThe worship of several gods, not just one. The Greek roots of the word mean many and god.
priestA person who leads the rites of a religion. In Mesopotamia, priests performed rituals on the platform of a ziggurat.
pyramidA monument whose sloping sides meet at a point. Most pyramids in Egypt were built as tombs for pharaohs.
stylusA hand tool for pressing signs into soft clay. A stylus was also used to write on wax tablets.
templeA holy building where a god is honored. In Sumer, people held that a god lived in the temple of a ziggurat.
tombA room or building where the dead are laid. A tomb may be above the ground or below it.
zigguratA mud-brick platform in tiers, crowned by a shrine. Ziggurats were built in the cities of ancient Mesopotamia.
Rivers, places and ages 12
archaeologistAn expert who reads the past from ruins and objects. Archaeologists study artifacts, buildings and whole sites.
Bronze AgeThe age when people made their tools of bronze. Bronze is copper mixed with tin or another metal.
Fertile CrescentA curve of good farmland in the Middle East. Settled farming is believed to have begun there.
floodplainLow ground along a river that its overflow covers. Floods leave behind silt, which makes the soil of a floodplain rich.
Indus ValleyHome of an early civilization in South Asia. Its cities were laid out in a grid of streets.
Iron AgeThe last of the three ages, when iron tools spread. It followed the Stone Age and the Bronze Age.
MesopotamiaThe home of Sumer, between two great rivers. The name is Greek for between two rivers: the Tigris and the Euphrates.
Nile RiverThe river that ancient Egypt grew up beside. The Nile flows north to the Mediterranean Sea.
prehistoryThe ages before there were written records. The earliest known writing is more than 5,000 years old.
river valleyA long dip in the land carved by a river. Sumer, Egypt, the Indus Valley and the valley of the Yellow River are called cradles of civilization.
Stone AgeThe long time when tools were made of stone. It lasted for millions of years and ended as people began to work metal.
Yellow RiverThe river of northern China, also called the Huang He. An early Chinese civilization grew up in its valley.
How this list was compiled: Term list chosen for this site on 2026-10-11. Each meaning is written in our own words and was checked that day against the English Wikipedia article on the term (https://en.wikipedia.org/), whose text is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: Civilization, Agriculture, Irrigation, Division of labour, Social class, City-state, Empire, Dynasty, Scribe, Trade, Code of law, Code of Hammurabi, Cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Papyrus, Ziggurat, Pyramid, Egyptian pyramids, Pharaoh, Polytheism, Temple, Priest, Tomb, Afterlife, Stylus, Cradle of civilization, Floodplain, Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia, Nile, Indus Valley Civilisation, Yellow River, Sumer, Archaeology, Prehistory, Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Ancient history. Surplus, specialization, social class and river valley were checked against the entry for the term in Wiktionary, the free dictionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/), under the same license. The history in the meanings and the facts was checked a second time against the entries Civilization, Mesopotamia, Sumer, Cuneiform, Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Egyptian Papyrus, Ziggurat, Pyramid, Pharaoh, Tomb, Fertile Crescent, Nile, Indus Valley Civilization, Stone Age and Trade in Ancient Mesopotamia of World History Encyclopedia (https://www.worldhistory.org/). The fact after each meaning is in our own words. Licence: own work
How it works
This ancient civilizations worksheet is a matching sheet: twelve terms down the left, from civilization and empire to law code, their meanings in another order down the right, and an answer key as the last page.
Read the full guide
Writing, belief and building
In Set, the second of the three ancient civilization worksheets has cuneiform, hieroglyphs, papyrus, stylus, ziggurat, pyramid, pharaoh, polytheism, temple, priest, tomb and afterlife.
Rivers, places and ages
The third has river valley, floodplain, Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia, Nile River, Indus Valley, Yellow River, archaeologist, prehistory, Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. Under the tool each term has a fact from the history, checked against World History Encyclopedia.
The terms come from Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley and China; Greece and Rome are left to their own pages.
Questions and answers
What were the four early river valley civilizations?
Mesopotamia on the Tigris and the Euphrates, Egypt on the Nile, the Indus Valley civilization in South Asia and early China on the Yellow River. They are counted among the cradles of civilization.
What makes a civilization?
Historians look for cities, a government, a writing system, a surplus of food and a division of labor. Not every civilization had every one of them, which is why the word is hard to define.
What is the difference between cuneiform and hieroglyphs?
Cuneiform is the script of Mesopotamia: wedge-shaped marks pressed into soft clay with a stylus. Hieroglyphs are the picture symbols of Egypt, carved on stone and other surfaces and written on papyrus.