Early Civilizations Unit 1 Flashcards
Bc
Before Christ
AD
Anno Domini (in the year of our lord) the year jesus was born (same as CE)
BCE
Before Common Era, (countdown to zero left on date line)
CE
Common Era (same as AD)
Archaeology
A specialized branch of anthropology that studies past people and cultures.
Artifacts
studied by archaeologists; objects made by humans from the past
Fossil
A trace of an ancient organism that has been preserved in rock.
PreHistory
the period of time before written records
Paleolithic Age
The period of the Stone Age associated with the evolution of humans. It predates the Neolithic period. AKA old stone age
Mesolithic
The “middle” Stone Age, between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic ages.
Neolithic/Neolithic Revolution
Literally “New Stone”. Agriculture is the big game changer! Begins as early as 10,000 years ago (8000 BCE) in the Middle East - with agriculture humans begin moving toward what we call “civilization”.
Nomads
people who move from place to place
Domesticate
to tame; to bring plants or animals under human control
Fertile Crescent
A geographical area of fertile land in the Middle East stretching in a broad semicircle from the Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates
Mesopotamia
A region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that developed the first urban societies. In the Bronze Age this area included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires, In the Iron Age, it was ruled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires.
Tigris and Euphrates
two rivers that form the outside border of Mesopotamia
Civilization
A complex, highly organized social order
Artisan
a skilled craftsman
Cuneiform
The earliest known form of writing, which was used by the Sumerians.
Scribes
people trained to write using the earliest forms of writing before literacy was widespread
Code of Hammurabi
A collection of 282 laws. One of the first (but not THE first) examples of written law in the ancient world.
Cultural Diffusion
The spread of ideas, customs, and technologies from one people to another
City-State vs. Empire
A political unit that included a city and its surrounding lands and villages (city-state) a group of states or territories controlled by one ruler (empire)
Babylonians
A group of people who conquered the Sumerians. They had a very famous king named Hammurabi (wrote code) Located in central-southern Mesopotamia.
Chaldeans
Southwest Asian people who helped to destroy the Assyrian Empire. They were the new Babylonians, with king Nebuchadnezzar reviving Baby’s ways. Pushed frontiers to learn, and contributed to world knowledge.
Assyrians
Known as a warrior people who ruthlessly conquered neighboring countries; their empire stretched from east to north of the Tigris River all the way to centeral Egypt; used ladders, weapons like iron-tipped spears, daggers and swords, tunnels, and fearful military tactics to gain strength in their empire
Phoenicians
located on eastern Mediterranean coast; invented the alphabet which used sounds rather than symbols like cuneiform
Hitties
The group of people who toppled the Babylonian empire and were first to iron work.
Hebrews
A smaller early civilization who lived in lands between Mesopotamia and Egypt. Whose development of a monotheistic faith that provided the foundation of modern Judaism(they developed), Christianity, and Islam assured them a significant place in world history
Monotheistic vs. Polytheistic
Belief in one god (mono), vs the belief in many gods (poly)
