World History Unit 1 Flashcards
The scholars who study our past using written records and historic art to find the answers
Historians
History before written records
Prehistory
The study of human history and prehistory through things people made, used, and left behind
Archeology
Scientists who study objects made by humans, called Artifacts, to better understand human activity
Archaeologists
Tools, instruments, or anything made by humans in past civilizations
Artifacts
Scientists who also study artifacts but are more interested in the cultural aspects of human society
Anthropologists
The first humanlike creatures
Hominids
Thumbs ability to move toward and touch the other fingers of the same hand
Opposable
Southern Ape
Australopithecus
Able Man
Homo Habilis
Upright Man
Homo Erectus
Wise Man
Homo Sapiens
Wise Wise Human
Homo Sapiens Sapiens
The old stone age
Paleolithic Era
Person who has no permanent home and travels to find food
Nomad
A time of vast movement and long-distance travel for humans
The Great Migration
The most recent glacial period, when much of the earth was covered by ice and oceans were frozen over. It lasted about 100,000 years and ended around 10,000 BCE.
The Ice Age
A carving or inscription on a rock
Petroglyph
What was the great Migration and how long did it take?
The Great Migration was a time when humans traveled from Africa and began to explore every continent except Antarctica. They hunted across the continents and found places with fresh water and fertile lands. The Great Migration took roughly one million years.
What are some reasons why early humans made cave paintings?
Early humans used cave paintings to communicate and probably to tell stories and share myths. They also drew hunting strategies and probably used the paintings as part of rituals they hoped would guarantee a good hunt.
How do scientists learn about things that happened in prehistory?
Scientists learn about prehistory through artifacts, which are objects such as tools, instruments, buildings, pottery, or anything else made by humans. They use these objects to find clues about prehistoric life.
When was the Paleolithic Era?
The Paleolithic era, or old stone age, spanned about 2,500,000 BCE to around 10,000 BCE
What effect did the Ice Age have on the planet?
The cold weather of the Ice Age pushed humans toward warmer regions. Also, sea levels were lower. so land bridges connected continents, and humans used these to travel to distant places.
What sorts of objects did Paleolithic people make?
Paleolithic people made simple tools, such as hand axes, stone spearheads, bows, arrows, harpoons, bone fishhooks, baskets, rope, statues, and flutes.
Staying in one place
Sedentary
Crops people would rely on most for food
Staple crops
To tame or adapt for your own use
Domesticate
A series of canals built to bring water to the land
Irrigation System
More than is needed
Surplus
People specializing in different roles within a society
Division of Labor
Workers skilled in a particular craft
Artisans
To exchange one good for another
Barter
Groups of families who live together
Clans/tribes
Kings & Queens
Monarchs
Belief that the right to rule comes directly from God, not from the consent of the people
Divine Right
god, goddess, or divine being
Deity
People owned as though they were property
Slaves
Society organized around a centralized government, a means of food production, a system of writing, art and architecture, and job specialization
Civilization
Passing down information from generation to generation through spoken word and memorization instead of by writing it down
Oral Tradition
Why did people abandon their nomadic lifestyle during the Neolithic era?
People stopped being nomadic because they developed systematic agriculture. During the Neolithic era, people began farming and could settle down in one place rather than chase animals for food.
What new farming techniques did the Neolithic people use?
People began picking and choosing the seeds from the biggest, best plants and planting only those in order to grow even bigger crops (this is called the domestication of plants). Farmers also used an irrigation system to control the flow of water to different areas of land by using canals.
What do we mean when we say “division of labor”?
Division of labor means that tasks in a society are performed by separate groups.
Give an example of bartering.
An example of bartering is trading a woven basket for an iron pot.
What was the role of monarchs in these new societies?
Monarchs were the new leaders of towns and cities. They used laws to keep order, and many claimed to have power based on “divine right.”
How did having leisure time advance civilizations?
Leisure time advanced civilizations because people had time to explore ideas and be creative.
What is a surplus, and why was it so important for the development of civilizations?
A surplus is an excess of food, and it is important because that is what created leisure time. It also meant that populations could expand and that people did not have to follow a herd for food anymore.
Where were the first civilizations mostly found?
The first civilizations were mostly found around Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, China, and Central America.
