Chapter One Vocab

Question 0

culture

Answer 0

socially transmitted patterns of action and expression

Question 1

civilization

Answer 1

any group of people sharing a set of cultural traits

Question 2

history

Answer 2

study of past events and changes in the development, transmission, and transformation of cultural practices

Question 3

Stone Age

Answer 3

the historical period characterized by the production of tools from stone and other nonmetallic substances

Question 4

Paleolithic

Answer 4

period of the Stone Age associated with the evolution of humans

Question 5

Neolithic

Answer 5

period of the Stone Age associated with the ancient Agricultural Revolutions

Question 6

Agricultural Revolution

Answer 6

the change from food gathering to food production that occurred between 8000 and 2000 b.c.e.

Question 7

megalith

Answer 7

structure and complex of very large stone constructed for ceremonial and religious purposes

Question 8

Sumerians

Answer 8

people who dominated southern Mesopotamia through the end of the third millennium b.c.e. they were responsible for the creation of many fundamental elements of Mesopotamian culture such as irrigation technology, cuneiform, and religious conceptions

Question 9

Semitic

Answer 9

family of related languages long spoken across parts of Western Asia and Northern Africa. in antiquity these languages included Hebrew, Aramaic,and Phoenician.

Question 10

city-state

Answer 10

small independent state consisting of an urban center and the surrounding agricultural territory

Question 11

Babylon

Answer 11

largest and most important city in Mesopotamia. It achieved particular eminence as the capital of the Amorite king Hammurabi in the 18th century b.c.e. and the neo Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century b.c.e.

Question 12

Hammurabi

Answer 12

Amorite ruler of Babylon. he conquered many city-states in southern and northern Mesopotamia and is best known for a code of laws, inscribed on a black stone pillar, illustrating the principles to be used in legal cases

Question 13

scribe

Answer 13

professional position saved for men who had undergone the lengthy training required to be able to read and write using early cumbersome writing systems

Question 14

ziggurat

Answer 14

a massive pyramidal stepped tower made of mud bricks associated with religious complexes

Question 15

cuneiform

Answer 15

system of writing in which wedge shaped symbols represented words or syllables. originated in Mesopotamia and was initially used for Sumerian and Akkadian but later adapted to represent other languages of Western Asia. literacy was confined to a small group of scribes

Question 16

pyramid

Answer 16

large, triangular stone monument used in Egypt and Nubia as a burial place for the king

Question 17

Memphis

Answer 17

capital of old kingdom Egypt

Question 18

Thebes

Answer 18

capital city of Egypt and home of the ruling dynasties during the middle and new kingdoms. Amon, patron deity of Thebes, became one of the chief gods of Egypt.

Question 19

hieroglyphics

Answer 19

system of writing in which pictorial symbols represented sounds, syllables, or concepts. used for official and monumental inscriptions in ancient Egypt. literacy was confined to a small group of scribes

Question 20

papyrus

Answer 20

a reed that grows along the banks of the Nile river. from it was produced a coarse, paper like writing medium used by Egyptians and many other people

Question 21

Harappa

Answer 21

site of one of the greatest cities of the Indus River valley civilizations of the third millennium b.c.e. located on the northwest frontier of the zone of cultivation

Question 22

mohenjo-daro

Answer 22

largest of the cities in the Indus River valley civilization. centrally located in the extensive flood plain in contemporary Pakistan. evidence of central planning is found in the large scale construction, orderly streets, and standardization of building materials