Grade 9 · Social Studies · Unit 7 of 7
Inventions & Timelines
Writing, wheels and BCE/CE
What your child practises
Writing systems, the wheel, aqueducts, paper, concrete and other innovations, plus timeline skills: ordering BCE and CE dates, finding the years between BCE dates, and naming centuries.
Saskatchewan Curriculum outcome: RW9.3, DR9.2 · technologies of past societies that still shape life today, and placing key events on a timeline
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Put these events on a timeline, earliest first.
- 🐂about 3500 BCE: Wheels are used in Mesopotamia
- 🏚️476 CE: The Western Roman Empire ends
- 🔤about 1050 BCE: The Phoenician alphabet develops
- 🐉221 BCE: Qin Shi Huang unites China
about 3500 BCE: Wheels are used in Mesopotamia → about 1050 BCE: The Phoenician alphabet develops → 221 BCE: Qin Shi Huang unites China → 476 CE: The Western Roman Empire ends
Hint: BCE years count down toward year 1, so 3000 BCE is earlier than 500 BCE. After that, CE years count up: 100 CE is earlier than 600 CE.
Question 2
A museum has a glass bead made in 2600 BCE and a stone carving made in 800 BCE. How many years older is the glass bead?
Museum labels Artifact Made in glass bead 2600 BCE stone carving 800 BCE answer boxyears
1800 years
Hint: BCE years count down toward year 1, so the bigger BCE number is older. Subtract: 2600 − 800.
Question 3
How did the Egyptians use the Nile's yearly flood to build an important tool?
- They invented the compass
- They based a 365-day calendar on it
- They used it to make paper money
- They built the first aqueducts
They based a 365-day calendar on it
Hint: Tracking the flood each year helped Egyptians count the days in a year.
Question 4
Why was writing such an important invention?
- It replaced the need for farming
- It was only used for decoration
- It let people keep records, write down laws and pass on knowledge
- It made trade impossible
It let people keep records, write down laws and pass on knowledge
Hint: Early writing was used for trade records and taxes, then for laws, history and stories.
Question 5
One early use of the wheel in Mesopotamia was…
- mechanical clocks
- bicycles
- the potter's wheel, for shaping clay pots
- printing presses
the potter's wheel, for shaping clay pots
Hint: Spinning wheels helped potters make even, round pots. Wheels on carts came soon after.
Question 6
Why did the Romans build a huge network of roads?
- To move armies, trade goods and messages quickly across the empire
- To mark the edges of farms
- To give chariots a place to race
- Because walking on grass was not allowed
To move armies, trade goods and messages quickly across the empire
Hint: Straight, paved Roman roads connected cities across Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia.