praj-17/QA-MCQ-Open-ended huggingface dataset:
Title: Sumer
Context: The Ubaid period is marked by a distinctive style of fine quality painted pottery which spread throughout Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf. During this time, the first settlement in southern Mesopotamia was established at Eridu (Cuneiform: NUN.KI), c. 5300 BC, by farmers who brought with them the Hadji Muhammed culture, which first pioneered irrigation agriculture. It appears that this culture was derived from the Samarran culture from northern Mesopotamia. It is not known whether or not these were the actual Sumerians who are identified with the later Uruk culture. Eridu remained an important religious center when it was gradually surpassed in size by the nearby city of Uruk. The story of the passing of the me (gifts of civilization) to Inanna, goddess of Uruk and of love and war, by Enki, god of wisdom and chief god of Eridu, may reflect this shift in hegemony.

question: Fine quality painted pottery is a distinctive style of what period in Sumerian history? 

answer: Ubaid

question: Where could the pottery be found spread throughout? 

answer: Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf

question: During the Ubaid, where was the first settlement in southern Mesopotamia established? 

answer: Eridu

question: What type of agriculture did the farmers settling at Eridu bring with them? 

answer: irrigation

question: Who was the chief god of Eridu? 

answer: Enki
Title: Sumer
Context: By the time of the Uruk period (c. 4100–2900 BC calibrated), the volume of trade goods transported along the canals and rivers of southern Mesopotamia facilitated the rise of many large, stratified, temple-centered cities (with populations of over 10,000 people) where centralized administrations employed specialized workers. It is fairly certain that it was during the Uruk period that Sumerian cities began to make use of slave labor captured from the hill country, and there is ample evidence for captured slaves as workers in the earliest texts. Artifacts, and even colonies of this Uruk civilization have been found over a wide area—from the Taurus Mountains in Turkey, to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and as far east as central Iran.

question: How were trade goods transported in southern Mesopotamia? 

answer: transported along the canals and rivers

question: What facilitated the rise of Sumerian cities? 

answer: trade goods

question: How many people lived in the cities? 

answer: over 10,000

question: During which period did Sumerian cities begin using slave labor? 

answer: Uruk

question: What have been found as far east as central Iran? 

answer: Artifacts
Title: Sumer
Context: Sumerian cities during the Uruk period were probably theocratic and were most likely headed by a priest-king (ensi), assisted by a council of elders, including both men and women. It is quite possible that the later Sumerian pantheon was modeled upon this political structure. There was little evidence of organized warfare or professional soldiers during the Uruk period, and towns were generally unwalled. During this period Uruk became the most urbanized city in the world, surpassing for the first time 50,000 inhabitants.

question: What is an "ensi"? 

answer: priest-king

question: What type of leadership did Sumerian cities during the Uruk period probably have? 

answer: theocratic

question: Who assisted the ensi? 

answer: a council of elders

question: What was the most urbanized city in the world at the time? 

answer: Uruk

question: Over how many people lived in Uruk? 

answer: 50,000
Title: Sumer
Context: The earliest dynastic king on the Sumerian king list whose name is known from any other legendary source is Etana, 13th king of the first dynasty of Kish. The earliest king authenticated through archaeological evidence is Enmebaragesi of Kish (c. 26th century BC), whose name is also mentioned in the Gilgamesh epic—leading to the suggestion that Gilgamesh himself might have been a historical king of Uruk. As the Epic of Gilgamesh shows, this period was associated with increased war. Cities became walled, and increased in size as undefended villages in southern Mesopotamia disappeared. (Gilgamesh is credited with having built the walls of Uruk).

question: Who is the earliest king that is authenticated by actual physical evidence and not just legend? 

answer: Enmebaragesi

question: What dynasty was Etana the 13th king of? 

answer: Kish

question: What is the name of the earliest dynastic Sumerian king? 

answer: Etana

question: What is the period of Enmebaragesi's reign associated with? 

answer: increased war

question: Where is Enmebaragesi's name mentioned? 

answer: Gilgamesh epic
Title: Sumer
Context: Although short-lived, one of the first empires known to history was that of Eannatum of Lagash, who annexed practically all of Sumer, including Kish, Uruk, Ur, and Larsa, and reduced to tribute the city-state of Umma, arch-rival of Lagash. In addition, his realm extended to parts of Elam and along the Persian Gulf. He seems to have used terror as a matter of policy. Eannatum's Stele of the Vultures depicts vultures pecking at the severed heads and other body parts of his enemies. His empire collapsed shortly after his death.

question: What city-state was the rival of Lagash? 

answer: Umma

question: What did Eannatum annex? 

answer: practically all of Sumer

question: What is one of the first empires known in history? 

answer: Eannatum of Lagash,

question: What did Eannatum use to keep the people of the time in line? 

answer: terror

question: What happened to Eannatum's empire after his death? 

answer: collapsed
Title: Sumer
Context: The Semitic Akkadian language is first attested in proper names of the kings of Kish c. 2800 BC, preserved in later king lists. There are texts written entirely in Old Akkadian dating from c. 2500 BC. Use of Old Akkadian was at its peak during the rule of Sargon the Great (c. 2270–2215 BC), but even then most administrative tablets continued to be written in Sumerian, the language used by the scribes. Gelb and Westenholz differentiate three stages of Old Akkadian: that of the pre-Sargonic era, that of the Akkadian empire, and that of the "Neo-Sumerian Renaissance" that followed it. Akkadian and Sumerian coexisted as vernacular languages for about one thousand years, but by around 1800 BC, Sumerian was becoming more of a literary language familiar mainly only to scholars and scribes. Thorkild Jacobsen has argued that there is little break in historical continuity between the pre- and post-Sargon periods, and that too much emphasis has been placed on the perception of a "Semitic vs. Sumerian" conflict. However, it is certain that Akkadian was also briefly imposed on neighboring parts of Elam that were previously conquered by Sargon.

question: Where is the Semetic Akkadian language first found? 

answer: proper names of the kings of Kish

question: Where is the Semetic Akkadian language found preserved after 2800 BC? 

answer: king lists

question: During whose rule was the use of Old Akkadian at its peak? 

answer: Sargon the Great

question: What language did scribes use over Akkadian? 

answer: Sumerian

question: How long did Akkadian and Sumerian coexist as spoken languages? 

answer: about one thousand years
Title: Sumer
Context: Later, the 3rd dynasty of Ur under Ur-Nammu and Shulgi, whose power extended as far as southern Assyria, was the last great "Sumerian renaissance", but already the region was becoming more Semitic than Sumerian, with the rise in power of the Akkadian speaking Semites in Assyria and elsewhere, and the influx of waves of Semitic Martu (Amorites) who were to found several competing local powers including Isin, Larsa, Eshnunna and eventually Babylon. The last of these eventually came to dominate the south of Mesopotamia as the Babylonian Empire, just as the Old Assyrian Empire had already done so in the north from the late 21st century BC. The Sumerian language continued as a sacerdotal language taught in schools in Babylonia and Assyria, much as Latin was used in the Medieval period, for as long as cuneiform was utilized.

question: Which dynasty of Ur was the last great Sumerian renaissance? 

answer: 3rd

question: Who guided Ur during the last gasp of power? 

answer: Ur-Nammu and Shulgi

question: Even during the 3rd dynasty, what was happening to the racial makeup of the region? 

answer: more Semitic than Sumerian

question: What was there an influx of waves of coming into Sumerian lands? 

answer: Amorites

question: How long did the Babylonians and Assyrians continue to teach the Sumerian language in their schools? 

answer: for as long as cuneiform was utilized.
Title: Sumer
Context: This period is generally taken to coincide with a major shift in population from southern Mesopotamia toward the north. Ecologically, the agricultural productivity of the Sumerian lands was being compromised as a result of rising salinity. Soil salinity in this region had been long recognized as a major problem. Poorly drained irrigated soils, in an arid climate with high levels of evaporation, led to the buildup of dissolved salts in the soil, eventually reducing agricultural yields severely. During the Akkadian and Ur III phases, there was a shift from the cultivation of wheat to the more salt-tolerant barley, but this was insufficient, and during the period from 2100 BC to 1700 BC, it is estimated that the population in this area declined by nearly three fifths. This greatly upset the balance of power within the region, weakening the areas where Sumerian was spoken, and comparatively strengthening those where Akkadian was the major language. Henceforth Sumerian would remain only a literary and liturgical language, similar to the position occupied by Latin in medieval Europe.

question: What effect was rising salinity having on the agricultural productivity of the Sumerian lands? 

answer: compromised

question: The salinity of what in the region was long recognized as a major problem? 

answer: Soil

question: Poorly drained irrigated soils in an arid climate with a good deal of evaporation is responsible for leaving what? 

answer: dissolved salts

question: What did cultivation shift from to salt-tolerant barley during the Ur III phase? 

answer: wheat

question: How much did the population of the region decline due to the decrease in crop productivity?  

answer: by nearly three fifths
Title: Sumer
Context: The Sumerians were a non-Semitic caucasoid people, and spoke a language isolate; a number of linguists believed they could detect a substrate language beneath Sumerian, because names of some of Sumer's major cities are not Sumerian, revealing influences of earlier inhabitants. However, the archaeological record shows clear uninterrupted cultural continuity from the time of the early Ubaid period (5300 – 4700 BC C-14) settlements in southern Mesopotamia. The Sumerian people who settled here farmed the lands in this region that were made fertile by silt deposited by the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers.

question: Who were a non-Semitic caucasoid people? 

answer: The Sumerians

question: What influences did the Sumerian language seem to retain? 

answer: earlier inhabitants

question: What do archaeological records clearly show about the Sumerian culture? 

answer: uninterrupted cultural continuity

question: When were settlements started in southern Mesopotamia? 

answer: early Ubaid period

question: Why were the lands in the region the Sumerian people settled fertile? 

answer: silt deposited by the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers
Title: Sumer
Context: It is speculated by some archaeologists that Sumerian speakers were farmers who moved down from the north, after perfecting irrigation agriculture there. The Ubaid pottery of southern Mesopotamia has been connected via Choga Mami transitional ware to the pottery of the Samarra period culture (c. 5700 – 4900 BC C-14) in the north, who were the first to practice a primitive form of irrigation agriculture along the middle Tigris River and its tributaries. The connection is most clearly seen at Tell Awayli (Oueilli, Oueili) near Larsa, excavated by the French in the 1980s, where eight levels yielded pre-Ubaid pottery resembling Samarran ware. According to this theory, farming peoples spread down into southern Mesopotamia because they had developed a temple-centered social organization for mobilizing labor and technology for water control, enabling them to survive and prosper in a difficult environment.[citation needed]

question: Where do some archaeologists speculate Sumerians originally moved from? 

answer: the north

question: What had the Sumerians perfected before coming south? 

answer: irrigation agriculture

question: Who were the first to practice a primitive form of irrigation agriculture? 

answer: the Samarra

question: How many levels of pre-Ubaid pottery were excavated by the French in the 1980s? 

answer: eight

question: What did the temple-centered social organization of the farming peoples allow them to mobilize? 

answer: labor
Title: Sumer
Context: Though women were protected by late Sumerian law and were able to achieve a higher status in Sumer than in other contemporary civilizations, the culture was male-dominated. The Code of Ur-Nammu, the oldest such codification yet discovered, dating to the Ur-III "Sumerian Renaissance", reveals a glimpse at societal structure in late Sumerian law. Beneath the lu-gal ("great man" or king), all members of society belonged to one of two basic strata: The "lu" or free person, and the slave (male, arad; female geme). The son of a lu was called a dumu-nita until he married. A woman (munus) went from being a daughter (dumu-mi), to a wife (dam), then if she outlived her husband, a widow (numasu) and she could then remarry.

question: How were women protected in Sumerian society? 

answer: law

question: What gender dominated Sumerian culture? 

answer: male

question: Whose code reveals a bit about the societal structure through Sumerian law? 

answer: Ur-Nammu

question: Who was at the top of the power pyramid in Sumerian society? 

answer: the lu-gal

question: How many strata existed in Sumerian society? 

answer: two
Title: Sumer
Context: The most important archaeological discoveries in Sumer are a large number of tablets written in cuneiform. Sumerian writing, while proven to be not the oldest example of writing on earth, is considered to be a great milestone in the development of man's ability to not only create historical records but also in creating pieces of literature both in the form of poetic epics and stories as well as prayers and laws. Although pictures — that is, hieroglyphs — were first used, cuneiform and then Ideograms (where symbols were made to represent ideas) soon followed. Triangular or wedge-shaped reeds were used to write on moist clay. A large body of hundreds of thousands of texts in the Sumerian language have survived, such as personal or business letters, receipts, lexical lists, laws, hymns, prayers, stories, daily records, and even libraries full of clay tablets. Monumental inscriptions and texts on different objects like statues or bricks are also very common. Many texts survive in multiple copies because they were repeatedly transcribed by scribes-in-training. Sumerian continued to be the language of religion and law in Mesopotamia long after Semitic speakers had become dominant.

question: What were the most important discoveries for archaeologists from Sumer? 

answer: tablets written in cuneiform

question: What is Sumerian writing considered to be in the development of man's ability to create literature? 

answer: milestone

question: What followed cuneiform in writing? 

answer: Ideograms

question: How many texts in the Sumerian language have survived to modern day? 

answer: hundreds of thousands

question: What was the Sumerian language used for long have their civilization had diminished?  

answer: religion and law in Mesopotamia
Title: Sumer
Context: The Sumerian language is generally regarded as a language isolate in linguistics because it belongs to no known language family; Akkadian, by contrast, belongs to the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. There have been many failed attempts to connect Sumerian to other language groups. It is an agglutinative language; in other words, morphemes ("units of meaning") are added together to create words, unlike analytic languages where morphemes are purely added together to create sentences. Some authors have proposed that there may be evidence of a sub-stratum or add-stratum language for geographic features and various crafts and agricultural activities, called variously Proto-Euphratean or Proto Tigrean, but this is disputed by others.

question: Akkadian's language can be traced to the Semitic branch of what languages? 

answer: Afroasiatic

question: Why is the Sumerian language usually thought of as a language isolate in linguistics? 

answer: belongs to no known language family

question: In Sumerian, what are morphemes added together to create? 

answer: words

question: What has been the result of attempts to connect Sumerian to other language groups? 

answer: failed

question: What are morphemes? 

answer: "units of meaning"
Title: Sumer
Context: Sumerian religion seems to have been founded upon two separate cosmogenic myths. The first saw creation as the result of a series of hieros gami or sacred marriages, involving the reconciliation of opposites, postulated as a coming together of male and female divine beings; the gods. This continued to influence the whole Mesopotamian mythos. Thus in the Enuma Elish the creation was seen as the union of fresh and salt water; as male Abzu, and female Tiamat. The product of that union, Lahm and Lahmu, "the muddy ones", were titles given to the gate keepers of the E-Abzu temple of Enki, in Eridu, the first Sumerian city. Describing the way that muddy islands emerge from the confluence of fresh and salty water at the mouth of the Euphrates, where the river deposited its load of silt, a second hieros gamos supposedly created Anshar and Kishar, the "sky-pivot" or axle, and the "earth pivot", parents in turn of Anu (the sky) and Ki (the earth). Another important Sumerian hieros gamos was that between Ki, here known as Ninhursag or "Lady Sacred Mountain", and Enki of Eridu, the god of fresh water which brought forth greenery and pasture.

question: How many cosmogenic myths does the religion of the Sumerians appear to be founded upon? 

answer: two

question: What does one myth see creation as being the result of? 

answer: a series of hieros gami

question: In the Enuma Elish, what is creation seen as the union of? 

answer: fresh and salt water

question: What were the titles given to the gate keeps of the E-Abzu temple of Enki? 

answer: the muddy ones

question: Who was the Lady Sacred Mountain? 

answer: Ninhursag
Title: Sumer
Context: These deities formed a core pantheon; there were additionally hundreds of minor ones. Sumerian gods could thus have associations with different cities, and their religious importance often waxed and waned with those cities' political power. The gods were said to have created human beings from clay for the purpose of serving them. The temples organized the mass labour projects needed for irrigation agriculture. Citizens had a labor duty to the temple, though they could avoid it by a payment of silver.

question: What did the Sumerian deities form? 

answer: a core pantheon

question: Why did the gods create human beings from clay? 

answer: for the purpose of serving them

question: What could Sumerian gods be associated with? 

answer: different cities

question: What did the religious importance of city gods wax and wan with? 

answer: those cities' political power

question: How could a citizen avoid their labor duty to their local temple? 

answer: a payment of silver
Title: Sumer
Context: Ziggurats (Sumerian temples) each had an individual name and consisted of a forecourt, with a central pond for purification. The temple itself had a central nave with aisles along either side. Flanking the aisles would be rooms for the priests. At one end would stand the podium and a mudbrick table for animal and vegetable sacrifices. Granaries and storehouses were usually located near the temples. After a time the Sumerians began to place the temples on top of multi-layered square constructions built as a series of rising terraces, giving rise to the Ziggurat style.

question: What were Sumerian temples known as? 

answer: Ziggurats

question: What was the central pond in the forecourt of a Ziggurat for? 

answer: purification

question: Who were the rooms on either side of the aisles in the temple for? 

answer: the priests

question: What was the mudbrick table in the temple for? 

answer: animal and vegetable sacrifices

question: Where did the Sumerians usually locate their granaries and storehouses? 

answer: near the temples
Title: Sumer
Context: It was believed that when people died, they would be confined to a gloomy world of Ereshkigal, whose realm was guarded by gateways with various monsters designed to prevent people entering or leaving. The dead were buried outside the city walls in graveyards where a small mound covered the corpse, along with offerings to monsters and a small amount of food. Those who could afford it sought burial at Dilmun. Human sacrifice was found in the death pits at the Ur royal cemetery where Queen Puabi was accompanied in death by her servants. It is also said that the Sumerians invented the first oboe-like instrument, and used them at royal funerals.

question: What type of afterlife could Sumerians look forward to? 

answer: confined to a gloomy world

question: Where were dead Sumerians buried? 

answer: outside the city walls in graveyards

question: What realm was guarded by gateways containing various monsters? 

answer: Ereshkigal

question: Who was Queen Puabi accompanied in death by? 

answer: her servants

question: What type of instrument are the Sumerians thought to have invented to use at royal funerals? 

answer: oboe-like
Title: Sumer
Context: In the early Sumerian Uruk period, the primitive pictograms suggest that sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs were domesticated. They used oxen as their primary beasts of burden and donkeys or equids as their primary transport animal and "woollen clothing as well as rugs were made from the wool or hair of the animals. ... By the side of the house was an enclosed garden planted with trees and other plants; wheat and probably other cereals were sown in the fields, and the shaduf was already employed for the purpose of irrigation. Plants were also grown in pots or vases."

question: When do the pictograms suggest Sumerians had domesticated livestock? 

answer: Uruk period

question: What might be found by the side of a Sumerian house? 

answer: enclosed garden planted with trees and other plants

question: What animal did Sumerians use primary to facilitate transportation? 

answer: donkeys

question: What was the primary purpose of oxen for Sumerians?  

answer: beasts of burden

question: Where were plants also grown besides the garden? 

answer: pots or vases
Title: Sumer
Context: The Sumerians were one of the first known beer drinking societies. Cereals were plentiful and were the key ingredient in their early brew. They brewed multiple kinds of beer consisting of wheat, barley, and mixed grain beers. Beer brewing was very important to the Sumerians. It was referenced in the Epic of Gilgamesh when Enkidu was introduced to the food and beer of Gilgamesh's people: "Drink the beer, as is the custom of the land... He drank the beer-seven jugs! and became expansive and sang with joy!"

question: What was Sumerians one of the first societies known to consume? 

answer: beer

question: What was the key ingredient in early Sumerian brews? 

answer: Cereals

question: What kinds of beer did the Sumerians brew? 

answer: wheat, barley, and mixed grain

question: How important was beer brewing to Sumerians? 

answer: very important

question: What did Enkidu become and do after consuming seven jugs of beer? 

answer: expansive and sang with joy