Which pairing correctly matches a cultural hearth with its associated idea or technology?

• A. Nile Valley — potato domestication
• B. Huang He — urban planning
• C. Mesopotamia — irrigation and writing
• D. Indus Valley — maize

Answer: (C)

Cultural hearths show how early societies developed key technologies and ideas in response to their environments. The pairing that fits this pattern is Mesopotamia with irrigation and writing. Along the Tigris and Euphrates, irrigation allowed people to control floods, expand farmland, and support larger populations. This surplus then made it practical to develop writing (cuneiform) for record-keeping, administration, trade, and law, helping to organize increasingly complex societal activities.

The other options don’t align as cleanly with the most well-known associations. The Nile Valley is famous for early agriculture and hieroglyphic writing, not potato domestication, which originated in the Americas. The Huang He (Yellow River) valley is tied to early Chinese agricultural practices and later state formation, but the strongest well-known urban layout example belongs to the Indus Valley, not Huang He. Maize is native to and most closely tied to the Americas, not the Indus Valley.