Test 3 vocab Flashcards
Domestication
- an evolutionary process whereby humans modify the genetic makeup of a population of plants or animals.
- Members of these populations may be unable to survive and/or reproduce without human assistance.
Evidence of Early Plant Domestication:
1.) Increased Size
2.) Decrease in natural means of seed dispersal
3.) Decrease in protective devices
Ex. Husks
4.) Seeds Ripen Faster
5.) Simultaneous ripening of the seed or fruit - Due to selection of desired traits, natural selection ended in domesticated species
- The domesticators of plants and animals sought only to maximize the food resources available to them
- As the process continued, productivity of domesticated species increased
Domesticates became increasingly important to human subsistence
Upper Paleolithic
- Characteristic of the cultures of the late Pliocene and the Pleistocene epochs
- Early phase of the Stone Age
- Appeared first in Africa with steady development of stone tools
- Later antler and bone artifacts, engravings, sculpted figures, and paintings
Neolithic Revolution
- Marked by the transition to economies based on food production and domesticated plants and animals
- “Neolithic Demographic Transition”
- Increased population
1.) 50% or more of the diet came from domesticated foods
2.) Settled (Sedentary) Village life - Neolithic = New Stone Age
- Ground and polished stone
- Tools for harvesting and processing grains
Example: Mortar and Pestle
Behavioral Modernity
- Fully human behavior based on symbolic thought and cultural creativity. Characteristics that differentiate present day humans from their ancestors.
Individual Self-Awareness
Group Identity
Social Signaling
Broad Spectrum Revolution
- People were collecting a broad spectrum of food resources during the mesolithic
- Forest animals, birds, fish, plants
- Hunter-Fisher-Gatherers
Sedentism
Practice of living in one place for a long time
Natufians
- A widespread Middle-Eastern foraging culture that existed around 12,500 -10,500 BP
- Collected Wild Grains
- Lived in sedentary villages year-round
- Mud-Brick Villages
- Plant Domestication by Natufians…
- Climate changed significantly (much warmer and dryer) which caused the range of environments that wheat grew in naturally
- Ca. 12,500 BP - Warm, humid climate
- Ca. 11,000 BP - Arid conditions
- Natufians began early plant cultivation efforts as an attempt to copy, in a less favorable environment, the dense strands of wheat and barley that grew wild in more favorable areas.
Cuneiform
- a system of writing; first developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia
- c. 3500-3000 BCE
- It is considered the most significant among the many cultural contributions of the Sumerians
- Sumerian city of Uruk which advanced the writing of cuneiform c. 3200 BCE.
- Played a key role in recording economic activities
Neolithic Demographic Transition
The NR resulted in an increase in population, as farmers have more children than hunter-gatherers because…
Fertility increases as birth spacing decreases
Child labor is needed and valued
We know the population grew rapidly at this time due to the increase in juvenile skeletons in Neolithic cemetery populations
Early Neolithic Societies…
Settled village life and permanent housing (mud brick houses)
Segmentations of domestication and public spaces
Villages of a few hundred to a few thousand peoples
Lack of marked social inequality
Late Neolithic Societies…
Much larger villages
Elaborations of burials
Construction of monuments and earthworks with calendric and ceremonial significance
Heralded profound changes in social and political organizations
Megafauna
- Large bodied animals weighing more than 100 pounds
- Most of the creatures in this group died off in the end of the Pleistocene Era
- Because of climate change or depletion from hunting.
Clovis
An early, well-established, human culture in the North American continents
First big game hunters of the Paleoindian Tradition
Highly mobile hunting strategy
C. 12,500 - 12,900
First site known as Blackwater Draw
This society ended with the end of many big game species
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
The name given to a broad, regional similarity of artifacts, iconography, ceremonies, and mythology of the Mississippian period that coincided with their adoption of maize agriculture and chiefdom-level complex social organization.
Also known as the “Southern Cult”
1,000-1,600 AD
Cahokia
The Cahokia Mounds comprise the largest archaeological site in North America
Occupied primarily during Mississippian period (800-1400)
Around 120 Mounds
Example of complex chiefdom society
“Monks Mound”
Monte Verde
Archaeological Site in southern Chile
Finds at this site suggest that the Clovis Culture were not the first humans to enter the New World, a belief that had been held for a substantial amount of time.
Suggests humans actually entered before the end of the Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago.
“Paleoindian Period”
Radiocarbon dates suggest the site was occupied at 14,800 BC
Tents covered in hides
Exploited a wide range of plant and animal resources
Eastern Agricultural Complex
Found in river valleys along tributaries of the Mississippi (Rather than the main trunk)
Starchy/Oily seeds - Little Barley, Maygrass, Knotweed, Sunflower, Squash, Chenopod
5,000 - 4,400 BP (Late Archaic)
Swift Creek
Woodland prehistoric cultural groups in Georgia
Distinctive pottery - “Swift Creek Complicated Stamped”
Carved wooden paddle to stamp pottery before it was fired
State
States are considered a Scale or Classification of Human Society
Secular Leaders, Social Classes, Armies, Taxation, Laws, Expansive Economies
Example: Mesoamerica
Causes of State formation for creation & control of…
Long-distance trade
Hydraulic systems for irrigation
Theories of State Formation… Voluntaristic Theories - Populations may voluntarily band together giving up their individual sovereignties in exchange for the security of the state Coercive Theories - Regard conflict and dominance of some population over another as key to the formation of stated
Attributes of States Controls a specific regional territory Productive Agricultural Economies Supported dense populations Intensive Agriculture (Technology) Accumulation of Resources Tribute and Taxation Accumulated and distributed at central places to support occupational specialists Social Stratification Public Buildings and Monumental Architecture Record Keeping System
States could collapse because of many diverse reasons that include multiple variables
Invasion, Disease, Famine, Drought, Environmental degradation, Social and Political upheaval, Warfare
Circumscription Theory
“A Theory of the Origin of the State” Robert Carniero 1970
A multivariate theory - involves multiple causes, factors, and variables
Environmental circumscription or resource concentration
Increasing Population
Warfare
After Defeat 3 Options - Extermination, Expulsion, Stay at a price
3rd option gives way for emergence of social and Political inequality
Winners become Elites and losers become commoners
**Urbanism- Needs more than just this **
Regional centers
Large populations
Administrative functions
It’s the Regional centers often of a large population
Center serves for Administrative functions, where the government is, lots of monuments, it’s the place where all the “government” stuff happens
A good example is cahokia
Ur
Ur, Iraq was a Sumerian City-State
A city-state is a central city and its surrounding villages, which together follow the same law, have one form of government, and share languages, religious beliefs, and ways of life
Ideology
What is an ideology?
A comprehensive vision or worldview - a way of looking at things
Tied to the belief system of a particular society
A system of abstracted meaning applied to public matters
A structure of social interaction
In complex societies the dominant ideology is produced by the dominant class, which is then pressured upon those who are not members of the ruling class
Göbleki Tepe
Built by Hunter-Gatherers in Southern Turkey.
believed that they had been early neolithic sanctuaries? - not 100% on this but found online. 10,000 BC - 12,000 BC
Stelae
An upright stone or slab with an inscribed or sculptured surface.
typically bearing a commemorative inscription or relief design, often serving as a gravestone.
Mesoamerican.
Monument
Monuments depend on size and permanence and are usually built in memory or commemoration of someone or some event
Monuments are…
Diverse
Built to remind and impress
Capable of passing on meanings and messages between generations
Mutable and contingent forms: Reused and Reinterpreted across the passage of generations (Arc de Triomphe, Paris)
Ancient world/ Pre WWI - Monuments to great men/victories in battle
Post WWI/Modern Day - Monuments as memorials to those slain in combat
