First Test Stuff Flashcards
When was the big bang?
13.7 billion yrs ago
First to have whites in their eyes
Ergaster
Caveman who was good at making things
Homo Habilis; “handy man”
Made first stone tools
First made stone axes?
Homo Egaster
What did Heidelbergensis in the north eventually come to be?
Neanderthals
What advantages did Neanderthals have for survival in the north?
- smaller
- short limbs to keep heat in
- bigger broader noses (cooling off)
- TOUGH
What advantages did Heidelbergensis in the south have?
- taller, slimmer
- dark skin
- IMAGINATION~~
Name three hominids that existed 3.5 million yrs ago
- Parethopus Bosei
- Homo Habilis
- Homo Rudolfensis
Why did bipedalism develop?
- adapt to changing of nature; appearance of grass
- able to see further
- save nrg for sex
- free hands for making stuff & raising children
Name of the ancestor that first began walking on two feet.
Australopithecus Afarensis
Bipedalism
Walking on two feet
What are the 10 major types of myths?
creation myths, cosmology, origin of humanity, flood stories, introduction of disease & death, afterlife, presence of supernatural beings, end of the world, dawn of civilization, foundation myths
Why did art matter?
It showed that people were able to think, imagine, create; symbolic thought
What is the difference between legends, folktales, and myths?
Legends - story based on a true event. Folktale - entertainment or cautionary tale. Myth - Story involving gods, goddesses, or supernatural beings in relation to people.
What was the village made of mammoth bones called?
Mezhirich site (built 150 years ago)
Greek root word for ‘myth’
Mythos = “story”
What are venus figures?
miniature sculptures of big-breasted, broad-hipped women
symbol for fertility & reproduction
List the days and what God did when he created the world
Day 1 - light, seperation of light and dark (day and night).
Day 2 - vault (sky)
Day 3 - lands and plants
Day 4 - Stars in night sky, sun, moon
Day 5 - Sea creatures and birds
Day 6 - land creatures and people/Adam and Eve
What was special about Jericho?
It was an early trading center on route from Asia to Egypt (allowed ideas to be passed on)
What two new ideas did potters develop?
wheel, smelting of copper & other metals to make weapons (saw)
Who was James Ussher?
18th century archbishop, determined the year of creation (Oct 23, 4004BC, 9:00am) by retracing events in Bible
How many miles did a hunter and gatherer need to survive? A farmer?
Hunter and gatherer - 10 sq miles. Farmer - 1/10th of a mile.
What is the Great Chain of Being?
all living beings created in an “ultimate form”, ranked from simplest to most complex, w/ humans at the top of the chain
How did people domesticate animals?
Kill aggressive ones, breed docile ones.
Who was Thomas Malthus?
Wrote Essay on Population, which sparked Darwin’s theory of natural selection
(Population increased faster than food supply did, therefore natural law of struggle)
Who was Charles Darwin?
English naturalist who came up with the theory of evolution through natural selection, making organisms biologically or physically suited for their environment. His book (The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, of the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Like, god what a mouthful) challenged the Biblical creation myth.
Who was Gregory Mendel?
theorized laws of genetic inheritance in 1865 by studying colour of pea flowers over successive generations
What is natural selection?
Theory of evolution where creatures with favourable adaptations (ie positive adaptations) survive better than others and live to pass on their adaptation to their offspring. “Survival of the fittest.”
Where was Sumer located?
fertile plain between Tigris & Euphrates (Mesopotamia; land between 2 rivers)
Why and how did irrigation develop?
deficiency of rainfall in the region
Broke through river bank, allowed water to flood fields
Built & maintained canal system
Resulted in a workforce paid by the government through taxing peasants
What are chance mutations?
Random DNA errors which occur in all organisms, some producing variations/mutations in offspring. Supplemented Darwin’s theory of evolution by providing a mechanism of change.
What is the Babylonian king Hammurabi famous for?
Hammurabi’s Code - the first written legal code.
What is a ziggurat?
large pile of dirt which temples were built on (rebuilt on top of the one before)
Who were the earliest people to live in Mesopotamia?
The Sumerians
List the kingdoms that lived in the fertile crescent (in order)
Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians & Chaldeans, Persians, Hebrews & Phoenicians
What is the legend that the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark may have been based on
Gilgamesh
What were the first three main river systems in Asia settled by early hominids?
Euphrates (Mesopotamia), Yellow (China), Indus (India)
What are the Hebrew writings called today?
the Old Testament (Torah)
How did Homo Sapiens Sapiens differ from Homo Erectus?
⅔ the weight, developed language/able to exchange ideas, evolved definitive brain size, built more complex tools.
Who was the first king of the Hebrews?
Saul
How many tribes did Jacob (son of Abraham) divide the Israelites into?
12
What were the disadvantages of having bigger brains?
Female birth canals not big enough to deliver babies
Babies were completely dependent on parents for 6 years before brain would become independent, as opposed to 12 months of typical species
Who was Menes and what did he do?
first pharaoh, joined Egypt into one country
in 70 AD, Rome conquered the region where the Jewish lived and dispersed them all over Europe. What was this event called?
The Diaspora.
Who was Cyrus the Great?
a man who joined the Persians and the Medes together, made Persia into a great country
What did the Cult of the Mother Goddess believe in?
Believed that the Earth was the ‘Mother Goddess’ as it/she provided food.
What unbreakable rule came from the Paleolithic era?
You must marry outside of your own clan.
What diseases resulted from the domestication of animals?
Tuberculosis, dysentery, typhoid, malaria, cholera, leprosy
What metal did people first began to smelt?
Copper.
What were two major cities of Phoenicia?
Tyre, Sidon
What was bronze made out of?
Copper and tin.
What was the “plastic of the Neolithic age?” Why?
Pottery. Used to preserve food, water, beer, fuel, could be used to recook food, promoted business and trade (transport goods)
What did the Phoenicians invent?
alphabet w/ 22 letters
What was trepanation?
Drilling a hole into the head so evil spirits & demons could leave the body, and soul could return
What were the three main cities of Sumer?
Uruk, Eridu, Ur
What was the Miracle Food?
Bread (Invented by women)
What three things are required for a city to develop?
1) Good agricultural land. 2) Specialization of jobs. 3) Existence of a social hierarchy (i.e. elite = rulers)
Why was cooking food important?
Killed bacteria
Easier to digest proteins/carbohydrates, allowing more nutrients to be absorbed, and more energy to be stored
Why did writing develop?
To keep records of trade.
What two things did Persia develop for their country (that is now used worldwide)?
Roads, mail system.
Why does writing = power?
used by kings to spread will across state, used for propaganda, written laws, convey knowledge to people
What is the name of the Jewish God?
Jehovah/Yahweh
How old is the earth?
4.5 billion years old
What two things made the first primates successful?
1) forward facing eyes
2) flexible hands with 5 digits
What are hubs?
Centers of trade networks
What happened during the Cambrian explosion?
Animal groups evolved, increased in size and complexity
Not just bacteria
Name the top 5 world religions
Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism
What connected China to Europe?
Silk roads
What was the Moabite Stone? What happened to it?
Stone tablet buried in the desert, which recounted a king’s battle, paralleled an event described in the bible
Heated over a fire, water poured over it continuously until it was destroyed (thought it contained gold)
Who was Nebuchadnezzar?
A Babylonian King who captured Jerusalem in 586BC
What happened to the Israelites after Jerusalem was captured?
10k captives lead to Babylon in chains
What was written in Babylon? ¿Por qué?
The Old Testament written by captured Israelites to preserve their identity (record of religion)
What were four things invented by the Sumerians?
Wheel, gardening, mud bricks, 60second minute, government
What is the capital city of the Assyrian empire?
Nineveh
Who was Sennacherib?
An Assyrian King who pillaged Israel
Who was Hezekiah?
Israelite King who built an underground water system in Jerusalem
