Chapter 1 Identifications: Pre-History

Question 1

height of last Ice Age

Answer 1

ca. 16,000 BCE

Question 2

melting of the ice

Answer 2

btwn. ca. 12,000 and 9,000 BCE

Question 3

Stone Age

Answer 3

• precedes Bronze Age and Iron Age
• marked by use of stone implements and weapons
• subdivided into Paleolithic and Neolithic periods

Question 4

Bronze Age

Answer 4

• characterized by use of the metal copper and alloy bronze (mix of tin and copper)
• begins in Middle East w/ rise of Sumer in 4th millennium BCE

Question 5

Iron Age

Answer 5

• follows Stone Age and Bronze Age

- marked by use of implements and weapons made of iron

Question 6

Paleolithic Era

Answer 6

• ca. 250,000 BCE-9,000 BCE)
• means “Old Stone Age” in Greek
• people being making tools made of bone and wood
• covers 99% of human history
• humans were formed in small bands
• gatherer hunters
• nomads
• lived in caves/temp shelters
• very little is known

Question 7

Neolithic Era

Answer 7

-9,000 BCE-3,000 BCE
-“New Stone Age”
-agriculture is introduced
-

Question 8

Homo Sapiens

Answer 8

pre-historic humans

Question 9

Venus of Willendorf

Answer 9

• Austria
• ca. 30,000 BCE
• made of limestone
• anatomical exaggeration
• no facial features
• idealized (vs. realistic)
• could be seen as a fertility image

Question 10

Hohle Fels Venus

Answer 10

• 35,000 year old figurine

- oldest known 3-D representation of female form

Question 11

Idealized vs. Realistic Art

Answer 11

• very realistic art

- over-exaggerated features

Question 12

Fertility Figurines

Answer 12

• Venus of Willendorf
• Venus of Lespugue (France)
• Venus of Laussel

Question 13

Neolithic Revolution

Answer 13

• double breakthrough
• rising of the seas
• irrigation
• control of floods
• farming tools (wheel and plow)
• individual houses for families
• storage facilities for seeds/surplus food
• evolution of town and cities
• governments
• beginnings of law
• urban planning
• extra food=larger populations
• trade
• specialized crafts
• not necessary for all to farm
• artisans, priests, professional warriors
• social hierarchy
• written permanent records
• earliest form of writing (ca 3000 BCE)
• cuneiform tablets
• early money
• fortified communities

Question 14

Cereals

Answer 14

• mainly wheat or barley

- grasses cultivated for edible components of their grain

Question 15

Domesticated plants and animals

Answer 15

• goats and sheep first
• means to tame an animal and keep as a pet or for farm produce
• pigs
• cattle

Question 16

Pastoralism

Answer 16

-practice of herding as the primary economic activity of a society

Question 17

Fertile Crescent

Answer 17

• area of fertile land

- Tigris and Euphrates and Nile Rivers

Question 18

Social Hierarchy

Answer 18

• governments
• administrations
• slaves

Question 19

Patriarchy

Answer 19

-strong male rule

Question 20

Stonehenge (ca. 4,700-2,000 BCE)

Answer 20

• near Salisbury, England
• circles like Stonehenge sometimes had permanent settlers
• some dedicated to religious rituals
• prosperous, well organized, centrally led communities
• astronomy
• no writing

Question 21

Newgrange, Ireland (ca. 3,300-2,900 BCE)

Answer 21

-most famous Neolithic site in Ireland
-dawn on winter solstice, narrow beam of sunlight illuminates floor of chamber at end of long passageway
-500 years older than pyramids in Egypt
-

Question 22

Copper

Answer 22

• extracted from rocks in a furnace

- heat would melt the metal

Question 23

Bronze

Answer 23

• mixed tin and copper

- bronze tools first seen in Mesopotamia ca. 3500 BCE

Question 24

Smelting

Answer 24

-melting metals