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Quiz: Ancient Roots

Test your understanding of Chapter 2. Choose the best answer, then click Show Answer to check.

Question 1

Mehrgarh, one of the earliest farming villages in South Asia, is in which present-day country?

  1. India
  2. Afghanistan
  3. Pakistan
  4. Nepal
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. Mehrgarh is on the Kachhi Plain in Balochistan, Pakistan, near the Bolan Pass. Afghanistan is a tempting guess because the pass leads toward it, but the site itself is in Pakistan.

Concept Tested: Mehrgarh Bloom's Level: Remember

Question 2

About when did the Mature Harappan cities of the Indus Valley Civilization flourish?

  1. About 2600 to 1900 BCE
  2. About 7000 to 5000 BCE
  3. About 1500 to 500 BCE
  4. About 321 to 185 BCE
Show Answer

The correct answer is A. The planned Indus cities were at their height from about 2600 to 1900 BCE. About 1500 to 500 BCE is the Vedic Period, which came after the cities faded, and 321 to 185 BCE is the Maurya Empire.

Concept Tested: Indus Valley Civilization Bloom's Level: Remember

Question 3

Which statement about the Indus Script is accurate as of 2026?

  1. It was deciphered in the 1830s by James Prinsep.
  2. It has not been deciphered, partly because the inscriptions are very short and no bilingual text has been found.
  3. It is an early form of the Brahmi alphabet and can be read easily.
  4. It was deciphered after Tamil Nadu offered a prize in 2025.
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. The Indus Script is still undeciphered: inscriptions average about five signs, there is no Rosetta Stone, and the language is unknown. Prinsep deciphered Brahmi, Ashoka's script, not the Indus Script, and the 2025 prize has not been claimed with a decipherment experts accept.

Concept Tested: Indus Script Bloom's Level: Remember

Question 4

Which feature of Mohenjo-daro best supports the idea that the city was carefully planned?

  1. A huge royal palace at the center of the city
  2. Gold coins stamped with the names of kings
  3. Temples covered in readable inscriptions
  4. Streets crossing at right angles, with covered drains along them
Show Answer

The correct answer is D. Grid streets and covered drains fed by house bathrooms show planning. Archaeologists have not found a clear royal palace, and Indus writing cannot be read, so the other options describe things that were not found.

Concept Tested: Harappa and Mohenjo-daro Bloom's Level: Understand

Question 5

Which description of the Indo-Aryan Migration matches what most scholars accept today?

  1. A sudden invasion around 1900 BCE that destroyed the Indus cities in battle
  2. A movement of Indo-Aryan speakers from the south of India to Central Asia
  3. A gradual movement of Indo-Aryan speakers into the northwest over centuries after about 2000 BCE, mixing with people already living there
  4. A myth with no supporting evidence from language or genetics
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. Linguistic and ancient DNA evidence supports gradual migration after about 2000 BCE. The violent "invasion" story (A) is an outdated colonial-era theory that scholars reject, because the cities were already declining for other reasons.

Concept Tested: Indo-Aryan Migration Bloom's Level: Understand

Question 6

How did the Vedas survive for many centuries before they were written down?

  1. They were carved on stone pillars across the empire.
  2. Teachers passed them to students by voice, using precise memory techniques.
  3. They were painted on the walls of the Indus cities.
  4. They were copied onto paper by monks at Nalanda.
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. The Vedas were passed on by voice, using very precise recitation methods, a tradition UNESCO recognizes as intangible cultural heritage. Carved pillars (A) were Ashoka's way of sharing his edicts, much later.

Concept Tested: The Vedas Bloom's Level: Understand

Question 7

Dilan's grandmother in Kandy tells him that the Bodhi tree in Anuradhapura grew from a cutting brought from the place where the Buddha reached awakening. Using the chapter, where did that cutting come from, and which emperor's family is linked to it?

  1. Bodh Gaya, and Ashoka's daughter Sanghamitta
  2. Lumbini, and Chandragupta Maurya's son
  3. Nalanda, and the Gupta emperor Kumaragupta I
  4. Taxila, and the Kushan emperor Kanishka
Show Answer

The correct answer is A. The Buddha reached awakening at Bodh Gaya, and Sri Lankan tradition says Ashoka's daughter Sanghamitta brought the cutting in the 3rd century BCE. Lumbini (B) is the Buddha's birthplace, not the place of his awakening.

Concept Tested: Rise of Buddhism and Jainism Bloom's Level: Apply

Question 8

Your club is making a map of ancient sites by present-day country. Which site belongs under Bangladesh?

  1. Taxila
  2. Anuradhapura
  3. Pataliputra
  4. Mahasthangarh
Show Answer

The correct answer is D. Mahasthangarh, in Bogra District, is the earliest city site found in Bangladesh, dated by a Brahmi inscription to at least the 3rd century BCE. Pataliputra (C) was in Magadha, in today's Bihar, India, which is west of Bangladesh, not inside it.

Concept Tested: Maurya Empire Bloom's Level: Apply

Question 9

Ashoka's edict expressing regret for the Kalinga war appears across his empire but was left out of the inscriptions placed in Kalinga itself. What is the best conclusion?

  1. Ashoka never actually fought in Kalinga.
  2. Ashoka's inscriptions were shaped for their audience, so they show both his new ideals and his political judgment as an emperor.
  3. The Kalinga inscriptions were carved before the war began.
  4. Ashoka stopped believing in dhamma after the war.
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. The omission suggests Ashoka chose his message for each audience, since confessing to the conquered people may not have seemed wise. His own inscriptions describe the war, so A is wrong, and he promoted dhamma for the rest of his reign, so D is wrong.

Concept Tested: Edicts of Ashoka Bloom's Level: Analyze

Question 10

The Kushan Empire (about the 1st to 3rd century CE) and the Tamil kingdoms of the Sangam Age existed at the same time. What does that overlap show?

  1. That one empire ruled all of South Asia in the 2nd century CE
  2. That the Sangam poets were writing in Sanskrit for the Kushan court
  3. That different regions had their own rulers, languages and cultures at the same moment
  4. That the Kushans conquered Madurai
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. While the Kushans ruled the north from Peshawar and Mathura, Chera, Chola and Pandya kings ruled the Tamil south, where poets wrote in Tamil. Nothing in the chapter suggests a single empire (A) or a Kushan conquest of Madurai (D).

Concept Tested: Sangam Age Bloom's Level: Analyze