Chapter 1 Flashcards
What are Homo sapiens?
The humanoid species that emerged as most successful at the end of the Paleolithic period
What is the Paleolithic Age?
The Old Stone Age ending in 12,000 B.C.E.; typified by use of crude stone tools and hunting and gathering for subsistence
What is the Neolithic Age?
The New Stone Age between 8000 and 5000 B.C.E.; period in which adaptation of sedentary agriculture occurred; domestication of plants and animals accomplished
What is the Neolithic revolution?
The succession of technological innovations an changes in human organization that led to the development of agriculture, 8500-3500 B.C.E.
What is hunting and gathering?
The original human economy, ultimately eclipsed by agriculture; groups hunt for meat and forage for grains, nuts, and berries
What is the Bronze Age?
From about 4000 B.C.E., when bronze tools were first introduced in the Middle East, to about 1500 B.C.E., when iron began to replace it
What is slash and burn agriculture?
A system of cultivation typical of shifting cultivators; forest floors cleared by fire are then planted
What is a band?
A level of social organization normally consisting of 20 to 30 people; nomadic hunters and gatherers; labor divided in a gender basis
What is Çatal Hüyük?
Early urban culture based in sedentary agriculture; located in modern southern Turkey; was larger in population than Jericho, had greater degree of social stratification
What is civilization?
Societies distinguished by reliance on sedentary agriculture, ability to produce food surpluses, and existence of nonfarming elites, as well as merchant and manufacturing groups
What is cuneiform?
A form of writing developed by the Sumerians using a wedge-shaped stylus and clay tablets
What are nomads?
Cattle- and sheep-herding societies normally found on the fringes of civilized societies; commonly referred to as “barbarian” by civilized societies
What is Mesopotamia?
Literally “between the rivers”; the civilizations that arose in the alluvial plain of the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys
Who were the Sunerians?
People who migrated into Mesopotamia c. 4000 B.C.E.; created first civilization within region; organized area into city-states
What are ziggurats?
Massive towers usually associated with Mesopotamian temple complexes
What is a city-state?
A form of political organization typical of Mesopotamian civilizations; consisted of agriculture hinterlands ruled by an urban-based king
What is the Babylonian Empire?
Unified all of Mesopotamia c. 1800 B.C.E.; collapsed due to foreign invasion c. 1600 B.C.E.
What is the Hammurabi?
The most important ruler o the Babylonian empire; responsible for codification of law
What is pharaoh?
Title of kings of ancient Egypt
What are pyramids?
Monumental architecture typical of Old Kingdom Egypt; used as burial sites for pharaohs
What is Kush?
An African state that developed along the upper reaches of the Nike c. 1000 B.C.E.; conquered Egypt and Ike’s it for several centuries
What is the Indus River Valley?
River sources in Himalayas to mouth in Arabian Sea; location of Harappan civilization
