West Civ Flashcards
Learn Unit 1
Hominid
A member of a biological group including human beings and related species that walk upright.
Neolithic Age
A prehistoric period that began about 8000 B.C. and in some areas ended as early as 3000 B.C., during which people learned to polish stone tools, make pottery, grow crops, and raise animals - also called the New Stone Age.
Technology
The way in which people apply knowledge, tools, and inventions to meet their needs.
Neolithic Revolution
The major change in human life caused by the beginnings of farming - that is, by people’s shift from food gathering to food producing.
Specialization
The development of skills in a particular kind of work, such as trading or record keeping.
Artisan
A skilled worker, such as a weaver or a potter, who makes goods by hand.
Cuneiform
A system of writing with wedge-shaped symbols, invented by the Sumerians.
Hunter-Gatherer
A member of a nomadic group whose food supply depends on hunting animals and collecting plant foods.
Domestication
The taming of animals for human use.
Artifact
A human-made object, such as a tool, weapon, or piece of jewelry.
Culture
A people’s unique way of life, as shown by its tools, customs, arts, and ideas.
Paleolithic Age
Paleolithic Age
A prehistoric period that lasted from about 2,500,000 to 8000 B.C., during which people made use of crude stone tools and weapons - also called the Old Stone Age.
Homo Sapiens
The biological species to which modern human beings belong.
Nomad
A member of a group that has no permanent home, wandering from place to place in search of food and water.
Slash - and - Burn Farming
A farming method in which people clear fields by cutting and burning trees and grasses, the ashes of which serve to fertilize the soil.
Civilization
A form of culture characterized by cities, specialized workers, complex institutions, record keeping, and advanced technology.
Institution
A long-lasting pattern of organization in a community.
Scribe
One of the professional record keepers in early civilizations.
Bronze Age
A period in human history, beginning around 3000 B.C. in some areas, during which people began using bronze, rather than copper or stone, to fashion tools and weapons.
Barter
A form of trade in which people exchange goods and services without the use of money.
Ziggurat
A tiered, pyramid-shaped structure that formed part of a Sumerian temple.
Fertile Crescent
An arc of rich farmland in Southwest Asia, between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea.
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
rivers of the Fertile Crescent that frame the Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamia
region of Fertile Crescent where the first civilization arose and first empire arose
City-state
A city and its surrounding lands functioning as an independent political unit.
Dynasty
A series of rulers from a single family
Cultural diffusion
The spreading of ideas or products from one culture to another.
Polytheism
A belief in many gods.
Empire
A political unit in which a number of peoples or countries are controlled by a single ruler.
Hammurabi
Babylonian emperor who created the first written set of laws
Babylon
city in Mesopotamia that became an important capital
Delta
A marshy region formed by deposits of silt at the mouth of a river.
Narmer
pharaoh given credit for uniting Upper and Lower Egypt
Pharaoh
A king of ancient Egypt, considered a god as well as a political and military leader.
Theocracy
A government in which the ruler is views as a divine figure.
Pyramid
A massive structure with a rectangular base and four triangular sides, like those that were built in Egypt as burial places for Old Kingdom pharaohs.
Mummification
A process of embalming and drying corpses to prevent them from decaying.
Hieroglyphics
An ancient Egyptian writing system in which pictures were used to represent ideas and sounds.
Papyrus
A tall reed that grows in the Nile delta, used by the ancient Egyptians to make a paper-like material for writing on.
Nile River
river whose regular flood cycles helped build Egyptian civilization
Indus River
river of northwest India that helped give rise to the Harappan Indus Valley civilization
According to Jared Diamond, what are the three major elements that separate the world’s “haves” from the “have nots”?
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Jared Diamond refers to the people of New Guinea as “among the world’s most culturally diverse and adaptable people in the world”, yet they have much less than modern Americans.Diamond has developed a theory about what has caused these huge discrepancies among different countries, and he says it boils down to geographic luck. Give several examples from the film to support Diamond’s theory.
Frequently on the move, Hunter gatherers, Lived in temporary homes, Various crops
For thousands of years, people have been cultivating crops. Describe the process used to domesticate crops and create plants that yielded bigger, tastier harvests.
People would choose certain times in the year to plan and bugger seeded plants which provided better taste.
According to Diamond, livestock also plays a significant role in a civilization’s ability to
become rich and powerful. How did the domestication of animals help people? Give several examples.
If you domesticate cows then you can have the meat and also the milk from the cow. Cows could also provide leather for clothing and protection. Also having animals to eat up the rest of the grass that was left helped them with a place to grow and the animals produced fertilizer for the land.
List the animals that can be domesticated and where they can be found.
Goats- Mid East Sheep- Mid East Cows- Europe Horses- Europe Pigs- New Guinea
Looking at the list of animals and locations from question 5, discuss how Diamond’s theory about geographic luck applies here.
His theory applied here because ultimately the domestication increased productivity and helped the people eat and farm.
How did the movement of the early civilizations of the Fertile Crescent (Middle East) further support Diamond’s idea that geography played a key role in the success of a civilization?
It supported it because in the area that the fertile crescent was, when animals or food got dry or dehydrated they could have them to Asia and Europe.
Do you agree with Jared Diamond when he says of a civilization’s ability to gain power,
wealth, and strength, “…what’s far more important is the hand that people have been dealt, the raw materials they’ve had at their disposal.” Why or why not?
I believe this because no matter where you are located, if you don’t have any recourse then you will not survive. It is like having an A in a class but not having any knowledge in anything that class has taught, it’s pointless.
