Western Civ Flashcards
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.
Paleolithic 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.
Neolithic Age
The way in which people apply knowledge, tools, and inventions to meet their needs.
Technology
The biological species to which modern human beings belong.
Homo Sapiens
A farming method in which people clear fields by cutting and burning trees and grasses, the ashes of which serve to fertilize the soil
Slash - and - Burn Farming
A form of a culture characterized by cities, specialized workers, complex institutions, record keeping, and advanced technology.
Civilization
The development of skills in a particular kind of work, such as trading or record keeping.
Specialization
A long-lasting pattern of organization in a community.
Institution
A tiered, pyramid-shaped structure that formed part of a Sumerian temple.
Ziggurat
A human-made object, such as a tool, weapon, or piece of jewelry.
Artifact
A people’s unique way of life, as shown by its tools, customs, arts, and ideas
Culture
A member of a biological group including human beings and related species that walk upright.
Hominid
A member of a group that has no permanent home, wandering from place to place in search of food and water
Nomad
A member of a nomadic group whose food supply depends on hunting animals and collecting plant foods.
Hunter-Gatherer
The major change in human life caused by the beginnings of farming - that is, by people’s shift from food gathering to food producing.
Neolithic Revolution
The taming of animals for human use.
Domestication
A skilled worker, such as a weaver or a potter, who makes goods by hand
Artisan
One of the professional record keepers in the early civilizations.
Scribe
A system of writing with wedge-shaped symbols, invented by the Sumerians.
Cuneiform
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.
Bronze Age
A form of trade in which people exchange goods and services without the use of money.
Barter
It’s curved shape contains the rich lands for farming.
Fertile Crescent
It is a plain between the Euphrates and Tigris River. When flood waters receded, they produce mud called silt for farming. Rain and floods were unpredictable, there were no natural barriers, and little natural resources.
Mesopotamia
Sumerians made irrigation ditches, walls, and traded for resources. They were the first civilization and had city-states.Priests controlled the government while the toughest fighter was the commander. Slowly, commanders had complete control. Rulers passed the power to heirs. Their trades caused cultural diffusion
Sumer
It is a city and the surrounding land.
City-State
It is a series of rulers from a single family.
Dynasty
It is where ideas or products spread from one culture to another.
Cultural Diffusion
They were polytheistic and kept gods happy. Enlil was god of storm and air and most powerful. Demons protected from evil demons. They used ziggurats. They had social classes divided by money and gender. They used cuneiform, made arches, columns, ramps, arithmetic, geometry, time, and the base 60.
Sumerian Culture
It is the belief in more than one god.
Polytheism
It brings different peoples together under one ruler.
Empire
King Hammurabi of the Babylonian Empire made a set of laws and were placed all over the empire
Hammurabi’s Code
Egypt settlements started here. It had a regular yearly pattern and flooded every July. It was so great, it was worshiped as a god. High or low floods could be disastrous. The deserts were natural barriers.
Nile River
It was where the Nile River started and started to fan out in many direction. It consisted of Lower Egypt due to the low elevation and the rest of the river all the way to the First Cataract was Upper Egypt.
Delta
Evidence shows that Narmer was the King that unified Upper and Lower Egypt by the Narmer Palette.
Narmer
They were kings that were considered gods.
Pharaoh
It is a government based on religious authority.
Theocracy
It was the resting place of the king after death.
Pyramid
It embalmed and dried the corpse to prevent decaying. It ensured the could could return to the body.
Mummification
It was the collection of spells, prayers, and hymns to guide souls in the afterlife.
Book of the Dead
It was the writing system used and was more flexible. It could be used like an alphabet or an idea.
Hieroglyphics
It was the reeds used to write on. They were grown in the marshy delta and were placed crosswise and glued.
Papyrus
It was the civilization that lived in the Indus Valley. Harappa is a very important archaeological site. They had sophisticated city planning and a citadel, the major buildings, and plumbing. They unexpectedly ended.
Harappan Civilization
The language is impossible to decipher. There were little weapons and had lots of animals on items. It might have been a theocracy. Trade was successful.
Harappan Culture
