MIDTERM :( Flashcards
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bnCj1MU45dHif1EomAsDWEcSU9P3Fk3T7vBTTwaitOc/edit#slide=id.p
What was the Neolithic Revolution?
the shift from food gathering to food producing
When did the Neolithic Revolution occur?
around 10,000 years ago (around 8,000 BC)
What was happening before the Neolithic Revolution and what happened after?
before = people were nomadic hunter-gatherers that moved from place to place hunting and gathering their food
after = people are sedentary, staying in one place and farming and killing domestic crops and animals for food
What did the Neolithic Revolution lead to?
humans were able to set up permanent residence, allowing for the formation of the first civilizations
Where did the Neolithic Revolution happen first? Where did it happen most recently?
Mesopotamia
Australia
What was the oldest domesticated crop?
rye
What are the 5 characteristics of civilization?
specialization, advanced cities, record keeping, complex institutions, advanced technology
What does it mean to have specialization?
a civilization has a food surplus that allows for divisions of labor to be formed because they don’t need more farmers raising food
people can take jobs such as being government officials, artisans, priests, merchants, etc.
What does it mean to have advanced cities?
a civilization includes a large urban population and centers that are engaged in trade
What does it mean to have record keeping?
a civilization has physical, though not necessarily written, records of things that occur in the civilization, such as religious and political events, laws, and/or transactions
What does it mean to have complex institutions?
a civilization has administrative and organizational entities that provide rule and order, such as governments, religions, economies, and/or social hierarchies
What does it mean to have advanced technology?
a civilization has innovation, engineering, and infrastructure that improve life in some way, whether that means computers, couches, or plows for farming
What is a barter economy?
an economical system in which people directly trade goods and services for other goods or services without using money
What is a scribe?
a professional record keeper
What is something’s form? What is its function?
a description of the way it looks/appears
how it is used and what it is used for
What are 5 examples of early record keeping systems?
cuneiform, quipu, hieroglyphics, codices, and oracle bones
Where was cuneiform used?
Sumer in Mesopotamia
What was cuneiform’s form?
wedge-shaped writing on baked clay tablets
What was cuneiform’s function?
track business transactions, taxation data, astronomical events, and calendar dates
Where were hieroglyphics used?
Ancient Egypt
What were the hieroglyphics’ form?
pictographs carved into wood or stone
What were the hieroglyphics’ function?
record rulers, quantities of goods, and cosmological and religious ideas
Where were oracle bones used?
Shang Dynasty in China
What were the oracle bones’ form?
text written on animal bones
What were the oracle bones’ function?
record religious and technological ideas and events and to ask questions to the ancestors and record their answers
How were oracle bones used?
- a question to the ancestors was asked
- heated pokers were applied to certain points on the bone
- cracks formed due to the heat and were read, determining the ancestors’ answer
- the answer was recorded by carving it into the bone
Where were codices used and by whom?
the Maya in MesoAmerica
What were the codices’ form?
books made of wood written in with a system of glyphs
What else were glyphs recorded on?
stone
What were the codices’ function?
record history, dynastic rulers, and cosmological events
What is the singular form of “codices”?
codex
Where was quipu used and by whom?
the Inca in MesoAmerica
What was the quipu’s form?
colorful cotton strings with knots in them
What was the quipu’s function?
a counting/accounting device used similarly to receipts to record amounts of goods sold, etc.
What is papyrus? What is it the basis of/what modern invention was based off of it?
a writing surface made of reeds
paper
Who invented papyrus? Why?
the Egyptians
it was significantly lighter than stone and wood, which is what they used to write on
What is MesoAmerica?
the cultures located in North and South America before the arrival of the Europeans
What is the Rosetta Stone? What was it made to do? What is it used for now?
a large stone containing the same text written in hieroglyphics, demotic, and ancient Greek
used to track taxes
helps us to learn how to better translate/understand hieroglyphic texts by translating the Ancient Greek