Review! Period 1 Flashcards
What abilities were developed before the Neolithic revolution?
Spoken language, fire, making tools from stone
What were foraging/ hunter-gatherer societies?
Small groups of people who traveled depending on availability of plants and animals, could not store food long term
What characterizes pastoral societies?
Domestication of animals, more egalitarian than later, followed herds
What was the Agricultural Revolution?
Shift from nomadic to agricultural lifestyles
What are some consequences of the Agricultural/ Neolithic Revolution?
Constant supply of food, less varied diet, ability to build and sustain cultural traditions, beginning to think of property in terms of ownership, specialization of labor
What was one of the most significant advances of the Neolithic Era?
Knowledge of how to use metals> Bronze Age
Where was Mesopotamia? What civilizations arose there?
Tigris and Euphrates
Sumer, Babylon, and Persia
What characterized the Sumerians?
cuneiform, wheel, calendar, mathematical system using base 60
Polytheism, ziggurats
What rose to dominate after Sumer?
The Akkadians- first known code of laws in cuneiform which they learned from the Sumerians
What was Akkad overrun by?
Babylon
What characterizes Babylon?
Hammurabi’s Code> distinguishes between major and minor offenses, applied laws to mostly everyone
Who overran Babylon?
Kassites and then Hittites
What did the Hittites learn to do?
Use iron in their weapons- became military superpower
Who overran the Hittites and what did they do?
Assyrians- learned to use iron
Hated by those it conquered- frequent uprisings, sent large groups of people into exile- enhanced cultural diffusion
Who were the Assyrians defeated by?
The Medes and Chaldeans
What did the Chaldean king Nebuchadnezzar do?
Rebuild Babylon,
What writing system did the Egyptians use?
Hieroglyphics
What were the 3 major kingdoms in Egypt?
Old middle and new
What did Queen Hatshepsut do and what does this show?
Expanded Egyptian trade expeditions
Women had rights- could buy, sell, and inherit property and do what they wanted with it
What was the Egyptian social structure?
Pharaoh Priests Nobles Merchants and artisans Peasants Slaves
What were the 2 major cities in the Indus Valley civilization?
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
Who were the Aryans and what did they do?
Nomadic tribes from north of the Caucasus Mountains
Defeated populations of Indus River Valley using advanced weaponry, settled I Indus Valley and gave up nomadic lifestyles
What beliefs did the Aryans bring with the Indus Valley conquest?
Belief in reincarnation, recorded in the Vedas and Upanishads
Became basis for Hinduism
Aryan social structure formed the basis of what?
Caste system
Movement was allowed, but it became more complex and subcastes were added and mobility was prohibited
What characterized Shang China?
Isolated, had ethnocentric attitude because they believed themselves to be at the center of the world
Accomplished bronze workers
What type of family structure existed in Shang China?
Patriarchal structure, ancestor veneration
Who were the Shang ousted by?
Zhou Dynasty
What characterized Zhou Dynasty and what did they do?
Maintained many of traditions and customs developed under Shang
Believed in Mandate of Heaven- would grant zhou power only as long as rulers governed justly
What type of system did the Zhou develop?
Feudal system-king gave nobles protection as long as remained loyal
What we’re he Bantu migrations?
Farmers from W. Africa began migrating south and east, bringing languages and knowledge of agriculture and metallurgy
What civilizations existed in the Americas before 600 BCE
Olmec in Mexico and chavin in Andes
What is different about the Olmec and Chavin than other civilizations during this time period?
Same patterns of development occurred in entirely different parts of globe
Didn’t develop in river valley
