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Humans in the Holocene Flashcards

Section II of Social Science USAD Resource Guide terms and definitions

1
Q

When is the oldest fossil record of Homo sapiens dated to?

A

300,000 years ago

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2
Q

When did Homo sapiens become the last surviving members of the Homo genus?

A

40,000 years ago

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3
Q

Before the Holocene, the global human population may not have surpassed …

A

10 million

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4
Q

What is current human population according to the United Nations?

A

8 billion

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5
Q

Pleistocene

A

A period characterized by cycles of glaciers growing or receding and, at times, covering vast portions of the Earth’s surface

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6
Q

Last Glacial Maximum (LGM)

A

It was a period when much of present-day Europe and North America were covered by ice, and Asia experienced permafrost

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7
Q

How long ago was the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM)?

A

20,000 years ago

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8
Q

Younger Dryas

A

A major glacial meltwater event caused by solar cycles that cooled ocean temperatures and reversed warming trends for roughly a millennium

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9
Q

What did the conclusion of the Younger Dryas period mark?

A

The beginning of the Holocene

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10
Q

How long ago was the Younger Dryas period

A

c. 12,900 to 11,700 years ago

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11
Q

Interglacial period

A

A warm period between ice ages

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12
Q

Quaternary Period

A

A unit of geologic time that consists of both the Pleistocene and the Holocene

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13
Q

When did the Quaternary Period begin?

A

2.6 million years ago (at the beginning of the Pleistocene)

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14
Q

How many interglacials have occurred within the past 800,000 years?

A

8

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15
Q

Milankovitch cycles

A

Patterns in the Earth’s orbit that affect the amount of solar energy the Earth absorbs at different times

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16
Q

What is the Early Holocene also known as?

A

Greenlandian Stage

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17
Q

Early Holocene

A

Occurred during part of the warmest period of the Holocene, and coincides with a meltwater event in Canada when a glacial ice sheet collapsed

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18
Q

When did the Early Holocene occur?

A

11,000 to 7,000 years ago

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19
Q

What does the Early Holocene’s classification as the Greenlandian Stage refer to?

A

An ice core in Greenland, NGRIP2

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20
Q

NGRIP2

A

An ice core that bears evidence of the onset of the Holocene at a depth of 1,492.45 meters

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21
Q

New research has investigated human practices during the Early Holocene in what places?

A

The Iberian Peninsula and Madagascar

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22
Q

The beginning of the Holocene coincides with what event in North America?

A

The extinction of dozens of large mammals

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23
Q

What is the Middle Holocene also known as?

A

Northgrippian Stage

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24
Q

When did the Middle Holocene occur?

A

8,236 to 4,250 years ago

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25
What does the beginning of the Middle Holocene coincide with?
The collapse of the glacial Laurentide Ice Sheet in Canada
26
What does the Middle Holocene's classification as the Northgrippian Stage refer to?
An ice core in Greenland that bears evidence of cooling temperatures compared to the Early Holocene
27
Laurentide Ice Sheet
A vast ice sheet that covered much of North America during ice ages throughout the Pleistocene and which advanced most recently from c. 95,000 to c. 20,000 years ago
28
Meltwater event
This accelerates the flow of icy water into the ocean
29
Mid-Holocene Transition
This period marks a turn toward the cooler temperatures that would continue in the Late Holocene when temperatures began to decline due to weakened solar energy
30
When did the Mid-Holocene Transition occur?
Between 5300 and 3700 BCE, around 7,300 years ago
31
Middle Holocene
The transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age when humans began utilizing metal instruments and built large agricultural societies
32
When was the Mesopotamian civilization established?
3500 BCE
33
What is the Late Holocene also known as?
Meghalayan Stage
34
When did the Late Holocene begin?
4,250 years ago
35
What does the Late Holocene's classification as the Meghalayan Stage refer to?
The location of Mawmluh Cave in northeast India where mineral deposits give evidence of a climatic event at the date marking the beginning of the Late Holocene
36
What does the beginning of the Late Holocene coincide with?
The Holocene Turnover
37
Mesopotamia is located in and around the current national boundaries of which country?
Iraq
38
Where does the water supply of Mesopotamia come from?
The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
39
The Sumerians
Developed writing, a priestly class, and planned cities in Mesopotamia between 3600 and 3000 BCE
40
For what period was the Akkadian Empire in place?
Between 2334 and 2218 BCE
41
What abrupt climate changes occurred in Mesopotamia at the onset of the Late Holocene in 2250 BCE?
Cooler and dryer conditions
42
Old Kingdom
The collapse of this Egyptian empire is often linked to the onset of drought at the start of the Late Holocene
43
When did Egyptians begin to utilize their own form of writing?
3200 BCE
44
By when were colossal monuments like the Pyramids built in Egypt?
2500 BCE
45
Where is the Indus Valley located?
Pakistan
46
Into what three periods are the Indus Civilization divided into?
The Early, Mature, and Late Harappan
47
When did the Early Harappan occur?
3200 to 2600 BCE
48
What is the Early Harappan characterized by?
population growth, new settlements, and urbanization
49
When did the Mature Harappan occur?
2600 to 1900 BCE
50
What is the Mature Harappan characterized by?
highly stratified social groups, complex city planning with gridded streets and drainage, and trade between multiple villages and urban centers
51
When did the Late Harappan occur?
1900 to 1000 BCE
52
What is the Late Harappan characterized by?
Populations moved out of urban centers in favor of smaller village settlements
53
In chronological order, which societies were present in the Andes?
Chavin, Inca
54
In chronological order, which societies were present in Mesoamerica?
Olmec, Maya, Aztec
55
When did the Chavin civilization rule?
900 to 200 BCE
56
When did the Inca Empire consolidate control over the Andean region?
The 1400s
57
When did the Olmec rule?
1200 to 400 BCE
58
Alexander the Great
He conquered Egypt and Persia, which established Greek as a shared common language
59
Where is Alexander the Great from?
Macedonia
60
When was the Roman Empire at its peak?
117 CE
61
What were the climatic conditions around the Mediterranean between the eighth to fifth centuries?
Cooler and wetter
62
When did the Western Roman Empire collapse?
476 CE
63
What does the fall of the Roman Empire represent?
The transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages/medieval period
64
When did the Middle Ages end?
1450 or 1500
65
When was the Renaissance?
1300 to 1600
66
What was the worst year to be alive?
536 CE
67
Why was 536 CE the worst year to be alive?
Volcanic eruptions served as a forcing factor that ushered in a cold "year without a summer" for the next fifteen years
68
Michael McCormick
This historian was the first to boldly assert that 536 CE was the worst year to be alive
69
To what dynasty do human records date back to in China?
Shang
70
Which dynasty established the mandate of heaven?
Zhou
71
Mandate of heaven
The concept that external conditions such as prosperity in the land and perhaps even favorable weather validated the authority of the current ruler
72
What is one of the most well-researched events of the Late Holocene?
The Little Ice Age (LIA)
73
When did the Little Ice Age (LIA) occur?
1300 to 1850
74
Solar minima
Periods of lower solar activity identified by a lack of sunspots
75
What were the leading causes of the Little Ice Age (LIA)?
Volcanic forcings and solar minima
76
In chronological order, which minima occurred during the Little Ice Age (LIA)?
Wolf, Maunder, Dalton
77
Wolf minimum
Occurred between 1280 through 1350 and corresponds to a glacial advance in the European Alps from the late 1200s to 1380
78
Maunder minimum
Occurred between 1654 through 1715 and corresponds to a glacial advance in the European Alps from the 1580s to 1600
79
Dalton minimum
Occurred between 1790 through 1820 and corresponds to a glacial advance in the European Alps from the 1810 to 1860
80
When did the Sahel region experience drying events?
Around 1600 and between 1800 to 1850

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