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"Last" Ice Age |
Ends about 10,000yrs ago, beginning of Neolithic revolution, New stone age develops, Climates starting to get warmer. |
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Afro-Eurasia |
The largest land mass or super-continent on earth. Part of the "Old" world. Created interconnections between those living in Africa, Europe, and Asia. |
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Bureacracies (Political) |
rationally created formal organizations that are based on hierarchical authority and explicit rules of procedure. |
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CE/BCE |
Common Era and Before Common Era |
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Civilization |
a society in an advanced state of social development (e.g., with complex legal and political and religious organizations) |
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Demography |
the branch of sociology that studies the characteristics of human populations |
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Egalitarian |
of, relating to, or believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities, Characterized by belief in the equality of all people, especially in political and social life. |
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Forced Labor System |
People who were always demanded to work in agricultural fields., slaves, servants, |
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Hunter-Gatherer/Hunter-Forager |
Someone who hunts animals and gathers plants for food; Paleolithic Age -Complete or near-complete reliance on hunted, fished, or gathered foods – Highly mobile – Original subsistence strategy • Historically present around globe |
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Ice Age |
Period of time when huge sheets of ice covered much of the earth’s land, formed from ocean water, leaving ocean levels lower than they are now which exposed dry land that connected the continents. |
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Kinship |
a close connection marked by community of interests or similarity in nature or character; a social bond based on common ancestry, marriage, or adoption |
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Metallurgy |
the science or art of metals. It includes the study of their properties and structure, the separation and refining of metals from their ores, the production of alloys, and the shaping and treatment of metals by heat and rolling. |
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Neolithic Revolution |
the shift from hunting of animals and gathering of food to the keeping of animals and the growing of food on a regular basis around 8,000 BC |
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Neolithic Villages |
settlements that were more permanent and able to support larger populations due to the growing of crops on a regular basis |
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Paleolithic |
The period of the Stone Age associated with the evolution of humans. It predates the Neolithic period. |
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Pastorialism |
A type of agriculture activity based on nomadic animal husbandry or the raising of livestock to provide food, clothing, and shelter. (Domesticating Livestock for agricultural purposes) |
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Patriarchy |
a form of social organization in which a male is the family head and title is traced through the male line. |
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Savanna |
grassland with scattered trees; found in tropical regions of Africa, Australia, and South America |
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Social Stratification |
a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy; one of two components, together with agricultural surplus, which enables the formation of cities; the differentiation of society into classes based on wealth, power, production, and prestige |
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Specialization of Labor |
To train or specialize people in certain areas of work so that people can accomplish tasks quicker; Training people for one specific task; Started by Surplus |
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Tundra |
a vast, level, treeless plain in the arctic regions. The ground beneath the surface of the tundras is frozen even in summer |
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Zorastrianism |
A religion founded in ancient Persia by the Prophet of the similar name. The religion centers on the worship of a god named Ahura Mazda and it teaches that a strict dualism of good and evil operates in the world until good triumphs over evil in a final apocalypse |
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Abraham |
Founder of Judaism who, according to the Bible, led his family from Ur to Canaan in obedience to God’s command. |
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Anatolia/Asia Minor |
two names for a huge peninsula in modern-day Turkey that juts out into the Black and Meditteranean Seas;, modern-day western Turkey, has mountains that have served as a refuge for persecuted groups throughout history and that still do today |
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Assyrians |
known as a warrior people who ruthlessly conquered neighboring countries; their empire stretched from east to north of the Tigris River all the way to centeral Egypt; used ladders, weapons like iron-tipped spears, daggers and swords, tunnels, and fearful military tactics to gain strength in their empire |
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Babylonia |
Ancient Near Eastern empire, located in southern Mesopotamia, which dominated Judah in the later seventh and sixth centuries B.C. |
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City-State |
a sovereign state comprising a city and its immediate hinterland |
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Cuneiform |
Sumerian writing made by pressing a wedge-shaped tool into clay tablets |
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Epic of Gilgamesh |
The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Ancient Mesopotamia and is among the earliest known works of literary fiction. |
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Hammurabi’s Code |
A legal code developed by King Hammurabi of Mesopotamia. The code was influential in the establishment of Hebrew and Islamic law and in the U.S. judiciary system. It specified crimes and punishments to help judges impose penalties. Judgments also depend on social status and how bad of the crime. |
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Hebrews |
Early group of people who lived in lands between Mesopotamia and Egypt. They developed the religion Judaism; the ethnic group claiming descent from Abraham and Isaac (especially from Isaac’s son Jacob) |
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Hittites |
A people from central Anatolia who established an empire in Anatolia and Syria in the Late Bronze Age. With wealth from the trade in metals and military power based on chariot forces, the hittites vied with New Kingdom Egypt over Syria; First to use Iron Metallurgy |
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Indo-European Migrations |
Tribes from southern Russia that migrated to India as well as Europe and distributed language |
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Judaism |
A religion with a belief in one god. It originated with Abraham and the Hebrew people. Yahweh was responsible for the world and everything within it. They preserved their early history in the Old Testament. |
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Mesopotamia |
first civilization located between the Tigris & Eurphrates Rivers in present day Iraq; term means "land between the rivers;" Sumerian culture |
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Monotheism |
belief in a single God; Abraham’s belief |
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Moses |
(Old Testament) the Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites from Egypt across the Red sea on a journey known as the Exodus |
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Pastoral Nomads |
a person who domesticates animals for food and clothing and moves along regular migratory routes to provide a steady source of nourishment for those animals; Steppes |
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Polytheistic |
worshipping or believing in more than one god |
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Phoenicians |
located on eastern Mediterranean coast; invented the alphabet which used sounds rather than symbols like cuneiform |
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River-Valley Civilizations |
The first civilizations that formed around water sources 5000-700 BCE. They have high levels of social stratification and patriarchy. E.g. Mesopotamia on the Tigris and Euphrates, Egypt on the Nile, Harappa on the Indus, Shang on the Yellow river, Olmecs in Mesoamerica, and Chavin in the Andes |
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Scribe |
someone employed to make written copies of documents and manuscripts |
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Semitic |
Family of related languages long spoken across parts of western Asia and northern Africa. In antiquity these languages included Hebrew, Aramaic, and Phoenician. The most widespread modern member of the this language family is Arabic. |
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Sumer/Sumerian |
Earliest Mesopotamian Society. An ancient region in southern Mesopotamia that contained a number of independant cities and city-states of which were first established possibly as early as 5000 BCE. |
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Tigris/Euphrates |
The Tigris is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates, which flows from the mountains of Turkey through Iraq. |
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Torah |
(Judaism) the scroll of parchment on which the first five books of the Hebrew Scripture is written |
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Yahweh |
a name for the God of the Old Testament as transliterated from the Hebrew consonants YHVH |
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Ziggurat |
a rectangular tiered temple or terraced mound erected by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians |
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Bantu |
Collective name of a large group of sub-Saharan African languages and of the peoples speaking these languages. |
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Bantu Migrations |
The Bantu expansion was a millenia long series of physical migrations, a diffusion of language and knowledge out into and in from neighboring populations, and a creation of new societal groups involving inter-marriage among communities and small groups moving to communities and small groups moving to new areas. Bantu-speakers developed novel methods of agriculture and metalworking which allowed people to colonize new areas with widely varying ecologies in greater densities than hunting and foraging permitted. |
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Book of the Dead |
a description of the ancient Egyptian conception of the afterlife and a collection of hymns, spells, and instructions to allow the deceased to pass through obstacles in the afterlife |
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Coptic |
language spoken/written in Egypt that followed ancient Egyptian language and contained some ancient Egyptian words |
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Egypt |
society was ruled by a pharaoh considered the incarnation of the sun god who controled acces to the Nile; they had hieroglyphics, the 365-day calender, they were polythestic and worshipped the dead |
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Hieroglyphics |
an ancient Egyptian writing system in which pictures were used to represent ideas and sounds |
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Hyksos |
the people who invaded Egypt thus beginning the second Intermediate period during which the Hyksos ( a word meaning "foreigner) ruled as pharaohs in Lower Egypt and exacted tribute from the royal families in Thebes. |
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Kush |
An African state that developed along the upper reaches of the Nile c. 100 B.C.E.; conquered Egypt and ruled it for several centuries. |
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Nile River/Nile Valley |
fertile land in North Africa near the Nile River |
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Nubia |
an ancient region in the Nile River Valley, on the site of present-day southern Egypt and northern Sudan |
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Pharaoh |
a king of ancient Egypt, considered a god as well as a political and military leader |
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Sub-Saharan Africa |
The region south of the Sahara Desert in Africa; includes some of the world’s richest deposits of minerals, yet still remains one of the largest regions of undeveloped natural resources in the world. |
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Sudan |
A large region of West Africa that became part of a major exchange circuit |
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