Exam 2 Flashcards
Where were Indus valley civilization located?
What is syncretism?
Cultural contact and assimilation of ideas
Where was Indus Valley located? (Monsoons)
Outside the monsoon belt
Where was the Harappan civilization located?
Indus valley of Pakistan and India
What was the climate like in Indus Valley?
It was warmer in the past
Was there agriculture in neolithic Indus valley?
Highly debated
What is Mehrgarh?
Earliest neolithic site in the Indian subcontinent
What were Mehrgarh burials like?
Buried in brick-lined tombs with baskets (lack of pottery)
What site had the oldest lost-wax technique artifact?
Mehrgarh
Where was the earliest evidence for cotton found?
Mehgarh
What age civilization was the Harappan?
Bronze age
What are the three phases of the Harappan?
Early, mature and late
What was Kot Diji (Harappan) known for?
A fortified city with defensive walls and a citadel
What types of settlements was the Harappan known for?
Villages and towns on the floodplain, beginning of urbanization
Was there evidence of centralized authority and leadership in early Harappan society?
Yes
What item was important when it came to trading in Mature Harappan?
Wheeled carts
Why were early Harappan sites hard to reconstruct?
They were buried under strata
What was local trade used for during the Harappan?
Exchange of crops from different areas
What are the three largest cities in the Harappan? (MHR)
Monhenjo-daro, Harappa, and Rakhigari
What kind of social order did Harappan cities have?
Harappa and Mohenjo-dara were occupied by middle class merchants and officials. (No temples of palaces)
Which is the largest Harappan city?
Mohenjo-daro
What was special about fired bricks?
Impermeable to water, required organization and bureaucracy
What was Monhenjo-daro city planning like?
Citadel with lower towns surrounding it
How was Harappa built?
A cluster of walled mounds within loosely built-up areas
What is there to know about Harappan political organization?
A state is unknown, evidence of some kind of authority
What are Harappan burials like?
Oval pits lined with mud bricks, few goods, no elite burials
What are Harappan script?
Pictographs
Where did Harappan religious belief come from?
With fertility goddesses
What caused the end of the Harappan civilization?
Disappearance of the Sarasvati river, drought, flooding
What are the two rivers in China?
Huanghe (Yellow) river (North), Yangtze river (South)
What was climate in the Huanghe like?
Dry, permeable soils used for (Foxtail) millet farming
Who and where did Peligang culture come from?
Earliest known neolithic culture in Huanghe River
What culture developed from the Peiligang?
The Yangshao
What culture was considered to be the root of modern day Chinese culture?
Yangshao
What was evidence of early Chinese cuisne?
Cooking vessels (Steaming pots) from the Yanshao
What was the climate like in the Yangtze river? What was cultivated there?
Warmer and rice
Why was Hemudu site so important to understanding Yangtze?
It was a wet site with many preserved artifacts like flutes and lacquered bowls
What are the three centers of complexity?
Liangzhu, Hongshan, Longshan
Where was the earliest evidence of social hierarchy found?
Yangtze River delta (Liangzhu)
What do bi and cong represent?
Heaven and earth
What kind of city was Liangzhu?
Likely a chiefdom or proto-state
What kind of city was Hongshan?
A protostate
What was special about the Niuheliang temple in Hongshan?
Life sized female figure with jade eyes
What are the distinguishable traits of the Longshan?
Evidence of social ranking, unequal distribution of wealth and increased violence
What are tou and ting?
Pedestal bowls and cooking pots
What is scapulimancy?
Predicting the future using oracle bones
What were black wares used for?
Elite grave goods
What is Hang tu?
Rammed earth
