Midterm Flashcards
Process of hierarchical ranking in society
Stratification
Group consensus, community comes together to discuss/argue over decisions until everyone is on board, no one has the right to decide for others
Egalitarian
Has a leader, decides for others, classes
Hierarchial
What 3 things determine status?
kinship, rank, class
Generally hunting and gathering subsistence, roles in society determined by gender and age
Bands
Social measures in place to maintain equality among the community
Social leveling
Generally egalitarian with a leader, kinship no longer the only social bond
Tribes
Headman is a charismatic leader, role is to keep the community running through personality
Big Man Society
One recognized leader of community or group of communities
Chiefdom
Centralized rulership with coercive power/ force over an area
State
What are the major waterways in Mesopotamia?
Euphrates and Tigris
A site where we could see the evolution of temples
Eridu (site)
Earliest state society, importance of trade networks for wealth of the city, had the Anu Ziggurat
Uruk (site)
Largest city in the world from 2030-1980 BC, founded in the Ubaid period
Ur (site)
What was important during the Ubaid period?
Agriculturally dependent, temples appear, canal irrigation
What was important during the Uruk period?
Origins of states and urban cities, fortification, mass production of goods
What was important during the Early Dynastic period?
Passing of power to the next generation, metal tools, increased warfare, writing traces kings and dynasties
What was important during the Akkadian Period?
Unification of the four regions, change from Sumerian language to Kish
What was important during Ur III?
Early starts of an empire, revival of Sumerian culture
What was important during the Babylonian?
Hammurabi rule, founded during the reign of king Sargon
Why was the Nile important to Egyptians?
Provided a food source, transportation, flooding left fertile deposits
Why was agriculture slow in Egyptian civlization?
Natural environment was rich in resources
What was important during the Predynastic period? (Egypt)
Upper and Lower Egypt were separate, Neolithic occupation
What did the pharaoh do?
Ruled over Egypt, gave people land to rule
Dynastic rule follows unification, pyramids appear as tombs for kings, social stratification
Old Kingdom
What was important during the First Intermediate?
Collapse of central government, severe drought, regional governors establish power and rule among regions, end of pyramids
Built as monumental tombs for kings, designed to connect the spirits of the king to the heavens and the suns
Great Pyramids of Giza
What happened during the Middle Kingdom?
Period of calm after civil unrest, less reliance on the lower class, extension of trade routes, unification
What happened during the Second Intermediate?
Intrusion of the Hyskos, push Hyskos out of power
What happened during the New Kingdom?
Period of pharaohs with extensive power, Egypt begins empiric expansion and consolidation, period of prosperity and growth
Principal burial ground of New Kingdom nobility/ royalty, Mostly looted
Valley of the Kings
What happened during the Third Intermediate?
Theban rule falls, Egyptian civilization never returns to what it was, fracturing kingship
Technologically and architecturally complex stone construction, didn’t believe that it was built by the indigenous people, place where trade was popular
Great Zimbabwe
What are the major waterways in Mesopotamia?
Tigris and Euphrates
Why is Mesopotamia the cradle of civilization?
Provided rich soil for agriculture
What were the early forms of Mesopotamian religion and rule?
Went from bigman to state
