Is That All What's Left? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Newfoundland

Icelandic sagas suggest that Norse explorers had discovered lands to the west of Greenland in the 11th Century CE. The lands were called Halluland, Markland and Vinland. Today Halluland has been identified as Baffin Island and Markland as Labrador. There's still some discussion as to where Vinland was. It was generally accepted that 'vin' means 'vine' and since no vines grow in Newfoundland Vinland must be more to the south. Maine and Massachusetts have been suggested. More recent theories suggest that Vinland means 'land of meadows' what would fit with the landscape of Newfoundland. Whatever the truth, the excavation of L'Anse Aux Meadows shows without a doubt there was a Viking settlement on the northernmost point of Newfoundland, thus Vikings discovered America long before Columbus did.

There are numerous theories about the Norsemen going further south. In Maine a coin has been found (Maine Penny or Goddard coin) that was dated to the 11th Century. It is unknown whether Norsemen had settled in the area, the coin got there by trading with the locals, or if it was planted there as a hoax.

Also stones containing runes have been found, the most famous being the Kensington Runestone found in Minnesota, but this is generally considered a hoax. There are even theories about the Norsemen going as far south as Florida or even Yucatan, but there's not a shred of evidence for this whatsoever.

Answer: Mexico City

Before the Spanish conquest an estimate of 200,000 people lived in Tenochtitlan, what made it larger than London or Rome at the time. After it was conquered in 1521 by Spanish conquistadors led by Hernan Cortes, all Aztec buildings were destroyed. Many natives died of European diseases, the lakes were drained and Mexico City, home to 16 million people today, arose on Tenochtitlan's ruins.

The templo mayor was the main temple of Tenochtitlan, dedicated to Huitzilopochtli (god of war) and Tlaloc (god of rain). The remaining foundations show that six pyramids were built over each other. The templo mayor was located near the Zocalo (central square) of Mexico City.

In Tlatelolco, a suburb of Mexico City, you'll find the 'Plaza de las Tres Culturas' where you can see minor remains of Aztec buildings, colonial buildings and modern buildings all in the same spot.

In the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City you can see a model of how Tenochtitlan must have looked like before the Spanish conquest, as well as several Aztec artifacts, pottery and depictions of their gods. The most impressive artifact is a gigantic circular stone representing an Aztec calendar, a must see if you're ever in Mexico City.

Answer: Moche

The discovery of the tombs of the Lords of Sipan was largely coincidental. In 1987 Peruvian police had confiscated artifacts of such high quality they had to come from a major site. Soon it was discovered that these artifacts were looted from a site near the village of Sipan, close to the remains of two Moche pyramids. The name Sipan comes from the extinct Moche language and means 'temple of the moon' or 'temple of the lord'. A party of archaeologist was assembled to see what still could be saved from the looted tomb.

As it turned out the looters had only disturbed the higher level of the burial site and further excavations revealed the undisturbed grave of a Moche lord and eight of his servants, concubines and warriors. Before the remains of the lord were reached the archaeologists had to uncover eight layers of burial gifts. Among the most impressive finds is a necklace consisting of gold and silver peanuts. Also remarkable are several pectorals each consisting of thousands of tiny beads. As the threads holding the beads together had disintegrated you can imagine the effort and patience that went into restoring the pectorals.

As if this wasn't enough a second royal tomb was discovered. Because this tomb was of an earlier period than the previous one it was called the tomb of 'the Old Lord of Sipan'. This lord was only accompanied by a young girl and one llama, but just like his successor he was covered by several layers of priceless burial gifts. Among those was probably the most beautiful artifact ever found in the Americas: the spider necklace. This necklace consists of ten similar objects each representing a cobweb made of very fine golden threads. Each object consists of six different parts with up to hundred welding points. On the cobwebs there's a spider of which the body is shaped like the head of the lord.

Never before a burial site with ornaments of such artistic quality had been discovered in the Americas. To show these fantastic finds a museum, shaped like a Moche pyramid, was inaugurated in the vicinity of Chiclayo in 2002. Northern Peru is largely ignored by tourists who usually concentrate on the Inca sites, but if you're ever in Peru I guarantee a detour to the north to take a look at the Moche treasures won't disappoint you.

Answer: Orkney

The 'Stones of Stennis' is one of the oldest stone circles on the British Isles, the 'Ring of Brodgar' the largest one. On a narrow ridge between two lakes, with Stennis to the south and Brodgar to the north, a new site has been discovered. It consists of a vast network of buildings enclosed by a huge wall. It is believed to be a temple complex built 5000 years ago, long before other neolithic structures like Stonehenge.

Leading experts on the stone age believe that the Ring of Brodgar represented the land of the dead and the stones of Stennis the land of the living. Ness of brodgar was probably used as a gateway between both worlds, through which processions have passed.

Answer: Carthage

Carthage was founded by Phoenicians in the 9th Century BCE. Because of its favourable location, with a good harbour and rich agricultural hinterlands, it was a colony from the start rather than a mere trading post. After the conquest of Phoenicia by the Persians in 525 BCE Carthage continued as an independent city state and started to spread its influence over the Mediterranean. It was inevitable that this would lead to conflict with rival power Rome.

Between 264 and 146 BCE Carthage and Rome fought each other in three campaigns known as the 'Punic Wars'. During the second Punic War Carthaginian general Hannibal crossed the Alps with elephants and defeated the Romans several times on their own soil. Despite of this he could never capitalize on his victories and eventually had to retreat back to Africa. In 146 BCE Rome won a decisive victory and Carthage was razed to the ground.

In 29 BCE Augustus rebuilt the city that was to serve as Rome's capital of the province of Africa for centuries. In 686 CE it was destroyed for the second time, this time by Arab conquerors who replaced it with a new city, Tunis. With the modern city sprawl most of ancient Carthage is now covered by a residential suburb of Tunis. Despite of this excavations of the ruins have provided us with valuable data about Carthage's Punic and Roman past.

The three wrong answers are all other ancient cities located in Northern Africa.

Answer: Akhenaten

The name of this pharaoh may cause some confusion: at birth he was named Amenhotep (Amun is satisfied) after his father, pharaoh Amenhotep III. He only changed his name to Akhenaten (living spirit of the Aten) in the fifth year of his reign. To add to the confusion some scholars use his Greek name 'Echnaton'.

Akhenaten wasn't destined for kingship as he was the younger son of Amenhotep III, under whose reign Egypt had its 'golden age'. When his older brother Thutmose died he became crown prince. Another remarkable thing about Akhenaten is his unusual looks, with a long, thin face, wide hips and very long fingers. These characteristics have led to speculations that Akhenaten was suffering from some kind of genetic disease.

Once pharaoh Akhenaten started a religious revolution by accepting the 'Aten', or sun disc, as the sole new god. At first he stayed in Thebes and was tolerant towards the traditional Egyptian deities but in the fifth year of his reign he ordered the construction of a new capital Akhetaten (horizon of the Aten), in a remote desert spot (present day Amarna). There he could indulge in his new religion, together with his beautiful wife Nefertiti. These changes were very unpopular with the old priest class who had lost its power and influence and with people who detested having to move to Amarna.

It's unclear who succeeded Akhenaten, but eventually his only son Tutankhaten became the new pharaoh although he hadn't reached adulthood yet. Little more than a puppet king he was unable to carry on his father's revolution. The disgruntled took advantage of the political instability to overturn Akhenaten's revolution and reinstate the old gods. Amarna was left to the desert as people packed their backs and scurried back to Thebes. Symbolic of the systematic eradication of the cult of the Aten Tutankhaten was renamed Tutankhamun (the living embodiment of Amun). Tutankhamun died young and would have been an unsignificant pharaoh if his tomb hadn't been spared from the robbers and discovered by Howard Carter in 1922.

Although today very little is left of Akhetaton stone tablets in Akkadian writing containing diplomatic correspondence of the pharaoh were found, as well as bust of Nefertiti (now in the Neues Museum, Berlin). Akhenaten also profoundly changed Egyptian art. Previous pharaohs were depicted as perfect, godlike figures but Akhenaten was shown as he really looked, with his oddly formed body and face. Also wall carvings were found showing the pharaoh together with his wife and children.

Answer: The Temple of Artemis

Ephesus was an important Greek and later Roman city, but the wider area was already occupied since about 6,000 BCE. Because of a shift in settlement location from ancient to medieval and modern times it was well preserved and the remains were much easier to reach. Ephesus gives the visitor a good impression of how a major ancient Roman city looked like. Most noteworthy are the library of Celsus with its beautifully restored façade, a large Greco-Roman theatre and some well preserved houses of the rich.

In ancient times Ephesus was internationally renowned for the Temple of Artemis, which was considered one of the seven wonders of the world. A first temple that had stood there since the second half of the 8th Century BCE was destroyed by a flood. A new temple was built around 550 BCE and burnt down by a misguided youth whose only motive was to have his name remembered throughout history. For this crime he was put to death and Ephesians were forbidden to mention his name ever again. In the end he got what he wanted since we still know his name was Herostratus. In 323 BCE the temple was rebuilt again and this time it stood for almost 600 years. In 268 CE it was burnt down again, this time by Gothic invaders, and may have been (partially) repaired afterwards. After it had fallen into disrepair most of its stones were used for other buildings. Today only one pillar and some fragments of sculpture are left.

Answer: There were no streets

The houses of Çatalhöyük were made of mud bricks, with a framework of wooden pillars of beams. They were quite small and usually consisted of two rooms. The houses clustered together with their walls touching those of their neighbours'. People entered their houses with a ladder from a hole in the roof. The roofs consisted of wooden beams with clay on top. Although there were some small courtyards no streets existed. The village lay on sloping ground so the height of the houses varied. People walked through the village hopping from roof to roof.

Another remarkable thing is that the villagers buried the bones of the dead beneath the floor. Generations kept building their houses on top of the previous ones. Archaeologists have excavated twelve building levels, dating from between 6500 and 5500 BCE, although the site was probably inhabited from as early as 7500 BCE.

There is abundant proof for religious practices. Over forty buildings were identified as shrines. Those buildings differ from the others because they have wall paintings and relief sculpture and numerous religious artifacts such as bull horns have been found.

Today the region has dried out, but in the heyday of Çatalhöyük it lay on the banks of a river, near a lake and marshes.

Answer: Harappan Civilization had far less cities and inhabitants than Egypt or Mesopotamia

The first villages appeared in the Indus valley around 7000 BCE. Harappan culture started about 3500 BCE and reached its height around 2900-1900 BCE. With an estimated five million inhabitants and 2000 towns it was the largest civilization of the ancient world and Harappan territory stretched from the Himalayas to the Arab sea. The largest and most significant city of the Harappan civilization was Mohenjo-Daro. The centre of Harappan culture lies near present day Multan-Lahore in Pakistan.

Harappan script has not been deciphered yet, and even if it was it wouldn't give much information as only short sentences have been found. This is in contrast with Egypt where most of our information comes from papyrus and stone inscriptions, or with Mesopotamia where thousands of clay tablets containing cuneiform writings have been found.

Also in contrast with the burial sites of e.g. Tutankhamun no tombs with burial gifts have been found in Harappa. As a result we know very little of the lives of the upper classes from Harappan society.

After the decline of the Harappan civilization none of the succeeding peoples seem to have carried on their traditions. Texts of later antiquity are completely silent of the Harappans.

Answer: Ashoka

Ashoka was the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Mauryan dynasty, and ascended to the throne in 273 BCE. At first he sought to expand his nation across the Indian subcontinent and beyond. After his bloody conquest of Kalinga during which many people had died he became deeply remorseful for all the suffering he had caused. He abandoned wars and conquest and accepted Buddhism instead. He modified many of his country's harsh laws and tried to improve his subjects' lives. He encouraged the spread of Buddhism, although he advocated tolerance for all faiths.

After his death his empire lasted only a couple of years and Ashoka's name would have been lost to history if it wasn't for the rediscovery his teachings. The 'Edicts of Ashoka' were carved into stones and pillars scattered all over the Indian subcontinent. In 1837 English archaeologist James Prinsep managed to decipher the scripts in which the edicts were written (two different scripts were used depending on their location) and thereby revealed Ashoka's words to the world.

The 'Edicts of Ashoka' not only contain information about Ashoka himself, portraying him as a wise leader, but also give great insight of the early teachings and beliefs of Buddhism. From Ashoka's conversion to a enlightened peaceful ruler sprung the Indian tradition of non-violence, perhaps the most important thing of all what's left.

Siddharta Gautama is the Buddha himself, Babur was the founder of the Mughal dynasty and Tipu Sultan was a ruler of the kingdom of Mysore (1782-1799 CE).