Unit 1 Flashcards
What are disadvantages of farming?
- changes/alterations to environment
- hard to do
- social inequality
What does BCE mean?
Before common Era.
What does CE mean?
Common Era.
What is Beringia?
A landbridge connecting Siberia to the Americas.
What are homo sapien sapiens?
Modern humans.
What are hominins?
Ancestors of homo sapien sapiens.
What were characteristics of neanderthals?
- Longer clavicle
- wider structure
- thicker
What is religion?
A belief system that holds divine power and people’s future.
What does paleolithic mean?
Old stone age?
What does neolithic mean?
New stone age.
What was the last continent to be populated by humans?
The Americas
What is a city-state?
A city and the surrounding land that functioned as an independent entity.
What is a dynasty?
Series of rulers from a single family or bloodline.
What hs polytheism?
Belief in dieties.
What is social stratification?
The existance of different social classes in a group.
What is a ziggurat?
A religious, trapezoidal, temple. It showed the mesopotamians were capable of math.
What were some major inventions of the mesopotamians?
The wheel, sail and plow.
How did the political structure of Mesopotamia change over time?
It went from a priest in charge to a king in charge of each city-state.
What are 3 very important facts about writing in Mesopotamia?
- For the upper class
- First time history was recorded
- Created jobs
What are nomads?
People that constantly travel, have no home, and attacked Mesopotamians.
What are the advantages of farming?
- controlled food supply
- food surplus
- job specialization
- can be practiced all over
What is a pharaoh?
The king of Egypt who was viewed as a living god
What is a theocracy?
A type of government in which rule is based on religious authority.
What is a pyramid?
Stricture designed to serve as a tomb for deceased pharaohs.
What is mummification?
Embalming and drying if a corpse to prevent decaying.
What is the last place to be populated by humans?
The Americas
What do historians use to study early humans?
To study early humans, historians use archeaological evidence to reconstruct history, and now we can derive information from DNA and use carbon 14 dating.
During what time period did neanderthals exist and what were their physical characteristics.
Neanderthals existed about 150,000 years ago. The neanderthals faces, skulls, and bodies were longer and broader than homosapiens. They were shorter, but stronger.
What did Neanderthals use ocher for?
Neaderthals used ocher to color the soil.
What was the mitochondrial eve?
Using mtDNA, scientists have identified a single female ancestor known as mitochondrial eve.
What caused the population of anatomically modern humans to change?
The development of agriculture
Describe the settling of Asia between 80,000 and 60,000 BCE?
The humans settling from Africa modified their tool, speech, and watercraft to adapt. The probably followed coastlines, rivers, and lakes for water access.
What evidence is there that early man practiced some kind of religion?
They buried their dead and colored the soil.
What is being depicted in the cave art from Chauvet, France?
Extraordinary paintings of animals that may have been hunted.
What is a subcontinent?
A large landmass that sets it apart from to rest of its continent
Which rivers were in the Indus river valley, what did they do and where were they?
The Indus river is in the west, and the Ganges in the east, civilization was centered around these rivers.
What was monsoon season?
A time during the late summer and fall with extremely heavy rains.
Which directions did the wind blow during different times of the year in the Indus River Valley?
NE in the spring and SW in the fall/winter.
What were the two large cities in the Indus River Valley?
Harappa and Mahenjo-Daro
What was the writing system like in the Indus Valley?
- 400-450 symbols/pictograms
- Animals
- Clay seals found traded with mesopotamia
- Undeciphered
What are monsoons?
Seasonal winds that affect the climate and way of life.
Why was the Indus Valley so hot?
The mountains blocked cold air
How were the Indus Valley cities planned/structured?
The were built in a grid pattern and a fortress built on a brick platform overlooked each city(probably center of givernment and religion).
What were the houses like in the Indus Valley cities?
- Houses were made of oven baked bricks
- Each house had at least one bathroom with plumming to sewers
- Houses rose several stories and had enclosed courtyards
How did sewage become a problem and what did people do about it?
Sewage started to pile up under the city and disease started to spread, so the Harappans started to make sewage flow away from them.
What was trade in the Indus Valley like?
They traded with others, including mesopotomians. They traded bronze/copper tools, gold jewelry, cotton, shells, ivory, clay pots, and silver containers.
How and when did Indus Valley Civilization collapse?
Not much is known about the collapse around 1500 BCE due to lack of written records.
What are the three theories about why the Indus Valley civilization collapsed?
- Giant earthquake changes course of rivers
- Outsiders coming in and taking over, little evidence if produced weapons by Indus Valley people
- Environmental disaster
Who is the largest cotton producer for most of world history?
India
What did most people do as an occupation in Indus Valley civilization?
They farmed
Are the Indus Valley people the ancestors of the people currently living there today?
No
Why is the Huang He river called the Yellow River?
When the silt on the river rose it looked yellow.
How much of China is mountains and what is the mountain range called?
1/3 mountains, the Himilayan mountains.
What climate was in northern China and what is the name of the area.
It was desert, it was called the Gobi desert.
What is the oldest continuous civilization up to date?
China
Who were the only 2 non-chinese societies to rule China?
Manchurians and Mongolians.
How did mountains affect early settlers?
Mountains influenced the climate, served as natural barriers to outsiders, and provided different climates themselves apart from where the settlers already lived.
Where was early agriculture practiced? Where was it not practiced?
Early agriculture was practiced in the middle east, east Asia, the Andes,ncentral mesoamerica, and the nile river valley
It was not practiced in Europe, most of Asia, Australia, Africa, of north America
Describe the town of Catalhoyuk, Turkey, and why it is important to historians.
Catalhoyuk was by far the largest settlement in south central anatolia with a populat of 5000 in 6000 BCE. It did not resemble other early settlements, it had no external wall or surrounding moat. Residents lived in mud brick buildings touching each other, as the exteriors of the house formed to perimeter of the town and a protective wall.
It is important to historians because the walls of the dwellings depicted hunters, gods, animals, and the earliest known painting of a volcano exploding.
What was the Epic of Gilgamesh? Why is it important to historians? What early civilization does it describe?
The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the worlds earliest recorded works of literature. It describes the early civlization of mesopotamia.
How are the bible of the Epic of Gilgamesh related?
The Epic of Gilgamesh is related to the bible because when Gilgamesh journeys to the land of the dead, he learns about a flood surprisingly like that described in the Hebrew bible.
What are the defining characteristics of a conplex and large urban center?
- population of tens of thousands
- residents pursue different occupations(mark of specialized labor)
- Social classes and stratification
- Writing system
- Surplus of material goods and labor
- believed their rulers, gods, and human representitives, and priests were entitled to a large share of these surpluses
Where was the city of Uruk located? What made it a large and complex urban society?
Uruk was located in Mesopotamia and it was a complex society because its population numbered between forty and fifty thousand, its inhabitants had specialized occupations and were divided into social classes.
How and why did writing develop?
Writing started as people started drawing pictures on clay tablets that represented a specific animal and could not be mistaken for anything else. Writing was at that time, needed to record increasingly sophisticated transactions. Over time it became phonetic.
What does it mean when a writing system is described as phonetic?
When a writing system’s marks lose their orginal shapes, and each symbol becomes represented by a certain sound over time, the writing system has become phonetic.
What evidence shows that early human civlizations went to war with one another?
The evidnce that early civilizations went to war with each other is that they mass produced weapons and built walls around their cities. There is also evidence that people had conquered the entire mesopotamian region during certain time period and that their descendants continued rule.
How do we know what we know about early neanderthals and modern humans and how they expanded?
Archeological remains and evidence and carbon-14 dating
Where is the Fertile Creacent located?
It is the region lying between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in south west Asia.
Why does the Fertile Crescent have its name?
It’s unoredictable floods made the soil good for farming and it had many domesticabke plants and animals with the right climate for settling.
How did leadership work in sumarian city states?
Early sumarian governments were controlled by high priests, who eventually passed control to high military leaders. Generals used armies to rule over cities, they became dynasties.
How did one become a slave in Sumarian society?
One could become a slave through being a war prisoner, commiting crime, or paying off debt.
What were sumarian religious beliefs like?
They were polytheistic and believed gods controlled different aspects of nature. They gave gods human qualities, and they were wrathful. People lived to please these gods and art and literature were centered around them.
How was Sumarian society set up socially?
Sumarian cities had social classes and women had many rights for that time, it was still patriarchal though.
What were the names if the two different kingdoms in egypt and why?
Upper Egypt was in the south and Lower Egypt was in the north because of the way the Nile flowed
How did flooding abnormalities affect life in Egypt?
Over flooding destroyed stuff and injured people, reduced flooding led to failure in agriculture.
When did the two kingdoms in Egypt unite and what capitol did they establish?
The unified in 3000 BCE and established the capitol of Memphis, where the kingdoms met.
Who in egypt had their bodies preserved?
The royal and wealthy class.
What are hieroglyphics?
A form of pictographic writing.
What is papyrus?
Reeds used to make a paper like sheet.
What were 4 areas that were developed in Egyptian science and tech?
- Calendar
- Mathematics
- Achitecture
- Medicine
What were Egypts social classes like?
- Formed a pyramid; royalty at the top, peasants at the bottom
- Social mobility
What were womens rights like in Egypt?
Women had many rights for that time period.
What was the effect of late or light monsoons in the Indus Valley?
Poor crops and starvation.
What did most people do for a living in the Indus Valley?
They farmed.
How did the Yellow River gets its name and what is its Chinese name?
It got its bame because when the silt kn the river rises it looks yellow and its Chinese name is the Huang He river.
What factors isolated Egypt from other people?
They are surround by vast deserts.
What factors isolate China from other people and what effects did they have within China culturally?
- Himilayan mountains
- Gobi desert
They prevented cultural diffusion and created a strong sense of national identity.
What was the Shang religion like?
- They performed special ceremonies for good weather, crops, etc.
- Believed in ancestor worship
- Used oracle bones
What was the Shang’s writing system like?
- Characters represented objects, ideas and sounds
- Had to memorize each character to understand script
- Priest and the wealthy could read and write
- tens of thousands of characters
Describe China’s mettalurgy during the Shang dynasty.
- Produced world’s finest and sought after bronze objects
* wove silk into beautiful cloth for upper class
How/why did the Shang dynasty collapse?
- Lacked strong leaders
- Collapsed under attack
- Zhou dynasty was set up
What was the Mandate of Heaven?
A “law” or idea that if rulers were effective, they recieved authority to rule, if not, they were overthrown.
What are the 12 chinese dynasties in order?
Shang, zhou, qin, han, sui, tang, song, yuan, ming, qing republic, mao and deng.
How do we get knowledge of the Olmec civilization?
2 main excavation sites discovered in the 1930’s
Where was Olmec civlization located?
In mesoamerica near the gulf of Mexico
What structures were the Olmecs known for and what were they made from?
Gigantic stone heads carved from basalt, they were heads of rulers.
What does the main Olmec god look like?
A human body with the cat like face of a jaguar
Describe how the Olmecs farmed.
They used slash and burn farming; they cut trees to clear land and burnt whatever was left. They planted maize and other crops among fertile ashes.
What was a problem the Olmecs experienced with slash and burn farming?
Soil became exhausted of nutrients after about 2 years
What game did Olmecs play for entertainment and how did it work?
They played pok-a-tok and a game where rubber balls were batted back and forth across a walled court.
How did the Olmecs get rubber?
Sap in certain kinds of trees.
Describe Olmec religion.
- performed rituals and ceremonies of human sacrifice to satisfy gods
- temples and pyramids were built where thousands could gather for religious ceremonies and festivals
What is the basic concept of Hammurabi’s Law Code?
If you bring harm to someone else that is a social equal to you, the identical shall be your punishment.
Who took over Babylonia after the death of Hammurabi?
Hammurabi’s dynasty ended after the Hittites sacked the city, but the kingdom remained politically separate from other kingdoms.
How were Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations similar?
- Social stratification; large difference between poor and rich
- job/occuptation specialization
- Ruler governed with support of the gods and citizens owed them a surplus
How were peruod of strong governments in Egypt classified?
They were classified as Kingdoms or Intermediate periods.
What characteristics of the Nile set it apart from other rivers?
- It flows from South to North
* Has cataracs
What writing system did the Egyptians use?
Egyptians used hieroglyphs to write.
Describe the Old Kingdom of Egypt.
- Lasted 500 years
- Period of prosperity and political stability, no invasions
- Also called pyramid age; government organized construction of the pyramids
How did the Pharaohs use farmers and craftsmen?
Farmers in Egypt owed a share of their crop to the pharaoh and the craftspeople owed him labor, they performed fixed intervals on roads and buildings.
What types of workers built the pyramids?
Approximately 15000-20000 laborers, male and female, that were NOT slaves, worked and earned a wage to build the pyramids.
What was the purpose of mummification in ancient Egypt?
People hoped to travel into the after life with their bodies preserved and in tact.
What areas did Egyptian trade networks spread into and where were Egyptian armies sent to conquer?
Modern-day Syria and Lebanon to the north, and Nubia to the south. Armies were sent to conquer territory in Palestine and Nubia.
Who were the Hittites? Where were they from?
The Hitties were a group of people that formed a powerful Kingdom based in Anatolia, Turkey, and Syria. They were rivals to the Egyptians.
Whow as Abraham and why was he important to the founding of Judaism?
Abraham is a person in the Hebrew bible who spoke directly to god and was a leader of the people. He is a center of events in the Hebrew bible is used to convey the bible’s message
Why is very little known about ancient India?
Ancient Indians used perishable items like palm leaves for writing, leaving no written documents before the third century BCE.
What are the two main rivers that helped to form early Indian Civilization?
The Indus and Ganges rivers.
How are ancient India and Mesopotamia similar?
- Learned to make pottery
* Learned to work metal(copper and bronze)
Where did the first urban society develop in India?
The Indus River Valley
What city was at the center of Harappan civilization?
Harappa
Why is the word sorrow used to describe the Yellow River?
The Yellow River has been dangerously flood prone throughout recorded history.
What is an oracle? How did the Chinese use Oracle Bones?
Oracles were used to consult higher powers in ancient Chinese religion. Oracle bones are the excavated bones that they wrote on.
Chinese characters and language symbols first appeared on what?
The first recognizable ones appeared on Oracle Bones.
Describe Shang cities.
Shang cities were small, walled settlements.
Why was North China well suited for agriculture?
North China was well suited for early agriculture because a layer of fine yellow dirt, called loess, covered the entire valley.
What was Beringia and what land masses did it connect?
Beringia was a land bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska
What is millet and what was it made into?
Millet is a domesticated grass with seeds that can be made into gruel, baked as bread, or cooked as noodles.
Describe how Shang kings administered their rule.
Shang kings exercised controll over a small area. The Shang king traveled up to 400 miles to fight enemies. There was no fixed capital, but they simply moved from settlement to settlement.
Where is mesoamerica?
Mexico and central America.
Where di agriculte begin in Mesoamerica?
A plateau region in the highlands of Mexico.
What evidence is there that the Mesoamerica s were aware of the wheel? Who invented the wheel?
The mesoamericans were aware of the wheel because they had toys with wheels. The mesopotamians invented the wheel.
Who were the Olmec?
The Olmec were a group of people who built the first larger settlements and lived in the gulf of Mexico.
What did the Olmec build that is still in existance today?
The Olmec built giant colassal heads of their leaders.
Describe the Olmec solar calendar.
The solar calendar ran 365 days in a year consisting of 18 months lasting 20 days each, with 5 extra days at the end of each year.
Describe the characerisitics of Teotihuacan.
- neatly gridded steets
- ordinary people lived in one-story apartment conpounds
- plumbing/sewage system
- complex society
What unique religious practice did Mesoamericans use?
They thought blood was sacred. They held rituals of bloodletting and human sacrifice.
Describe each stage of the dynastic cycle and what happens in between each stage.
New dynasty: Brings peace, (Re)builds infrastructure, gives land to peasants, protects people
then…. Gernerations go by, New dynasty becomes Old dynasty
Old dynasty: Taxes too much, stops protecting people, lets infrastructure decay, treats people unfairly
then…. Old dynasty loses Mandate of Heaven and has problems
Problems: Natural disasters, peasant revolt, invaders attack, bandits raid countryside
then….. new dynasty claims mandate of heaven
