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| 4773008981 | Nomad | A person who does not stay long in the same place; a wanderer. | 0 | |
| 4773010108 | Foraging Societies | Consisted of people who had no consistently controlled source of food. They hunted and gathered; thus they remained at the mercy of nature. Men and women both spent their time searching for food. Not having a very efficient system of obtaining food, foraging societies were demographically small and gender equality. Always on the move, they did not build permanent shelters or dwellings and had few, if any, personal possessions. | 1 | |
| 4773011129 | Pastoral Societies | Nomadic group of people who travel with a herd of domesticated animals, which they rely on for food. The word 'pastoral' comes from the Latin root word pastor, which means 'shepherd.' Someone living in a pastoral society is called a pastoralist. Desert areas or northern climates where it's difficult to grow crops are where pastoral societies have been in existence for hundreds of years, and they were formed as a means of supporting life. Since they couldn't grow crops to help them survive, they relied on the meat and dairy from their herds. The types of livestock used in pastoral societies are all herding herbivores, such as sheep, buffalo, camels, reindeer, goats, or cattle. | 2 | |
| 4773011130 | Cuneiform | A writing system in use in the ancient Near East from around the end of the fourth millennium to the first century B.C.E. This earliest example are in Sumerian. The name derives from the wedge-shaped marks (Latin: cuneus, a wedge) made by pressing the slanted edge of a stylus into soft clay. | 3 | |
| 4773011798 | Polytheism | the belief in or worship of more than one god. | 4 | |
| 4773011799 | Ziggurat | A temple tower of ancient Mesopotamia, constructed of square or rectangular terraces of diminishing size, usually with a shrine on top built of blue enamel bricks, the color of the sky. | 5 | |
| 4773013284 | Code of Hammurabi | Babylonian legal code of the 18th century b.c. or earlier, instituted by Hammurabi and dealing with criminal and civil matters. | 6 | |
| 4773014056 | Pharaoh | A ruler in ancient Egypt. Egyptian king. | 7 | |
| 4773014861 | Hieroglyphics | The characters in a writing system based on the use of pictograms or ideograms. In ancient Egypt, hieroglyphics were largely used for monumental inscriptions. The symbols depict people, animals, and objects, which represent words, syllables, or sounds. | 8 | |
| 4773014862 | Mummification | To make into a mummy by embalming and drying. To cause to shrivel and dry up. | 9 | |
| 4773015549 | Pyramids | a monumental structure with a square or triangular base and sloping sides that meet in a point at the top, especially one built of stone as a royal tomb in ancient Egypt. | 10 | |
| 4773016015 | River Valley | The first great civilizations all grew up in river valleys. The oldest, 3300 to 2500 BCE, was along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East; the name given to that civilization, Mesopotamia, means "land between the rivers". | 11 | |
| 4773016661 | Calendar | a chart or series of pages showing the days, weeks, and months of a particular year, or giving particular seasonal information. | 12 | |
| 4773017335 | Hinduism | a major religious and cultural tradition of South Asia, developed from Vedic religion. The complex of beliefs, values, and customs comprising the dominant religion of India, characterized by the worship of many gods, including Brahma as supreme being, a caste system, belief in reincarnation, etc. | 13 | |
| 4773017336 | The Vedas | the most ancient Hindu scriptures, written in early Sanskrit and containing hymns, philosophy, and guidance on ritual for the priests of Vedic religion. Believed to have been directly revealed to seers among the early Aryans in India, and preserved by oral tradition, the four chief collections are the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Vada. | 14 | |
| 4773018386 | The Upanishads | any of a class of speculative prose treatises composed between the 8th and 6th centuries b.c. and first written a.d. c1300: they represent a philosophical development beyond the Vedas, having as their principal message the unity of Brahman and Atman. | 15 | |
| 4773018387 | Brahmans | a member of the highest Hindu caste, that of the priesthood. | 16 | |
| 4773019110 | Patriarchy | a system of society or government in which the father or eldest male is head of the family and descent is traced through the male line. | 17 | |
| 4773020495 | Mandate of Heaven | A concept in China: The ruler had moral authority so long as the heavenly powers granted it to him on the basis of his good character. A well-functioning government was evidence that the ruler possessed the Mandate of Heaven. A poorly functioning government showed that the Mandate had passed away. | 18 | |
| 4773021376 | Bureaucracy | a system of government in which most of the important decisions are made by state officials rather than by elected representatives. The officials in a bureaucracy, considered as a group or hierarchy. | 19 | |
| 4773021400 | Migration | movement from one part of something to another. | 20 | |
| 4773022570 | Zhou Dynasty | The longest-lasting of China's dynasties (1046-256 B.C.E). It followed the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BCE) and it finished when the army of the state of Qin captured the city of Chengzhou in 256 BCE. The imperial dynasty of China from 1122 to 221 BC; notable for the rise of Confucianism and Taoism. | 21 | |
| 4773023069 | Caste System | A hierarchical ordering of people into groups, fixed from birth, based on their inherited ritual status and determining whom they may marry and with whom they may eat. | 22 | |
| 4773023819 | Neolithic Revolution | "New Stone Age," the last division of the Stone Age, immediately preceding the development of metallurgy and corresponding to the ninth to fifth millennia B.C.E. It was characterized by the increasing domestication of animals and cultivation of crops, established agricultural communities, and the appearance of such crafts as pottery and weaving. | 23 | |
| 4773024564 | Agricultural Revolution | a significant change in agriculture that occurs when there are discoveries, inventions, or new technologies that change production. | 24 | |
| 4773025024 | Revolution | a forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system. | 25 | |
| 4773025025 | Bronze Age | a technological stage between the Stone and Iron Ages, beginning in the Middle East about 4500 bc and lasting in Britain from about 2000 to 500 bc, during which weapons and tools were made of bronze and there was intensive trading. The beginning of the Bronze Age is generally dated before 3000 BCE in parts of Mediterranean Europe, the Middle East, and China. | 26 | |
| 4773026418 | Mesopotamia | an ancient region in W Asia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. A region of western Asia, in what is now Iraq, known as the "cradle of civilization." Western writing first developed there, done with sticks on clay tablets. Agricultural organization on a large scale also began in Mesopotamia, along with work in bronze and iron ( Bronze Age and Iron Age ). Governmental systems in the region were especially advanced ( Babylon and Hammurabi ). A number of peoples lived in Mesopotamia, including the Sumerians, Akkadians, Hittites, and Assyrians. | 27 | |
| 4773027636 | Sumerian Civilization | An ancient country of southern Mesopotamia in present-day southern Iraq. Archaeological evidence dates the beginnings of Sumer to the fifth millennium bc. By 3000 a flourishing civilization existed, which gradually exerted power over the surrounding area and culminated in the Akkadian dynasty, founded c. 2300 by Sargon I. Sumer declined after 2000 and was later absorbed by Babylonia and Assyria. The Sumerians are believed to have invented the cuneiform system of writing. | 28 | |
| 4773028091 | Ur | an ancient Sumerian city on the Euphrates, in S Iraq: extensive excavations, especially of royal tombs. | 29 | |
| 4773029062 | Tigris and Euphrates Rivers | a river in SW Asia, rising in E Turkey and flowing southeast through Baghdad to the Euphrates in SE Iraq, forming the delta of the Shatt-al-Arab, which flows into the Persian Gulf: part of a canal and irrigation system as early as 2400 bc, with many ancient cities (including Nineveh) on its banks. Made Mesopotamia. | 30 | |
| 4773029063 | Babylon | The capital of ancient Babylonia in Mesopotamia on the Euphrates River. Established as capital c. 1750 bc and rebuilt in regal splendor by Nebuchadnezzar II after its destruction (c. 689 bc) by the Assyrians, Babylon was the site of the Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. | 31 | |
| 4773030255 | Hittites | a member of an ancient people who established a powerful empire in Asia Minor and Syria, dominant from about 1900 to 1200 b.c. An extinct language of the Anatolian branch of Indo-European, preserved in cuneiform inscriptions of the second millennium b.c. | 32 | |
| 4773031022 | Assyrians | An ancient empire and civilization of western Asia in the upper valley of the Tigris River. In its zenith between the ninth and seventh centuries bc, the empire included all of Mesopotamia and the Levant. An ancient kingdom of N Mesopotamia: it established an empire that stretched from Egypt to the Persian Gulf, reaching its greatest extent between 721 and 633 bc. Its chief cities were Assur and Nineveh. | 33 | |
| 4773031665 | Nebuchadnezzar | a king of Babylon, 605-562 bc, who conquered and destroyed Jerusalem and exiled the Jews to Babylon (II Kings 24-25). | 34 | |
| 4773032088 | Persian Empire | An empire in western Asia in ancient times. The Persians, under the kings Darius and Xerxes, attempted to conquer Greece several times in the fifth century b.c. but were defeated in the Battle of Marathon and in several other land and sea battles. | 35 | |
| 4773032666 | Egyptian Civilization | 36 | ||
| 4773032667 | King Menes | The Pharaoh and the Priest Alexander Glovatski. Menes was the king who succeeded in accomplishing the unification of Egypt. The World's Progress, Vol. I (of X) Various. At last the Ethiopian raids changed into permanent conquest, and a negro dynasty—the Twenty-fifth—sat on the throne of Menes. | 37 | |
| 4773034095 | Queen Hatshepsut | Queen of Egypt (1502-1482) who on the death of her husband, Thutmose II (c. 1504), became regent for her stepson Thutmose III. She bestowed the title of pharaoh on herself and adopted all the pharaonic customs, including the wearing of a false beard. Queen of Egypt of the l8th dynasty, built a great mortuary temple at Deir el Bahri near Thebes. | 38 | |
| 4773034674 | Akhenaten | (r. 1353-1336 BCE) was a pharaoh of Egypt of the 18th Dynasty. He is also known as `Akhenaton' or `Ikhnaton' and also `Khuenaten', all of which are translated to mean `successful for' or `of great use to' the god Aten. | 39 | |
| 4773034675 | Indus Valley civilization | an ancient civilization that flourished in the Indus River valley, from about 2500 to 1500 b.c.: extensive archaeological excavations at the main sites of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa in Pakistan. | 40 | |
| 4773035663 | Fertile Crescent | A region of the Middle East extending from the Levant across the northern part of the Syrian Desert to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Climatic and ecological conditions in the Fertile Crescent favored the Neolithic development of agriculture, eventually giving rise to such civilizations as Sumer, Egypt, Babylonia, and Phoenicia. | 41 | |
| 4773037919 | Khyber Pass | A narrow pass over the Safed Koh Range between Afghanistan and Pakistan, over which came the Persian, Greek, Tatar, Mogul, and Afghan invasions of India; scene of bitter fighting between the British and Afghans (1838-42, 1878-80). Length: about 53 km (33 miles). Highest point: 1072 m (3518 ft). | 42 | |
| 4773038514 | Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro | The civilization of the Indus River at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa arose at about 2500 BCE and ended with apparent destruction about 1500 BCE. It is uncertain whether this civilization had its roots in Sumer or Sumer had its roots in this civilization. | 43 | |
| 4773038515 | Aryans | relating to or denoting a people speaking an Indo-European language who invaded northern India in the 2nd millennium BC, displacing the Dravidian and other aboriginal peoples. | 44 | |
| 4773039054 | Shang China | A Chinese dynasty (traditionally dated 1766-1122 bc) whose second capital was present-day Anyang. The dynasty's reign was marked by a complex social structure, the development of a written language, and the use of bronze. The imperial dynasty ruling China from about the 18th to the 12th centuries BC. | 45 | |
| 4773040229 | Bantu Migration | The Expansion of the Bantu-speaking people from Cameroon and Eastern Nigeria into East, Central, and Southern Africa. Archeologists know about it because of the shared language. | 46 | |
| 4773040810 | Gilgamesh | A legendary king of the Sumerian city state of Uruk who is supposed to have ruled sometime during the first half of the 3rd millennium bc. He is the hero of the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh, which recounts his exploits in an ultimately unsuccessful quest for immortality. | 47 | |
| 4773041419 | Olmec | a member of a prehistoric people inhabiting the coast of Veracruz and western Tabasco on the Gulf of Mexico ( circa 1200-400 BC), who established what was probably the first Meso-American civilization. A people living in the same general area as the prehistoric Olmec during the 15th and 16th centuries. | 48 | |
| 4773041991 | Sargon of Akkad | 24th to 23rd century bc, semilegendary Mesopotamian ruler whose empire extended from the Gulf to the Mediterranean. | 49 | |
| 4774023102 | Chavin | An early pre-Incan civilization that flourished in northern and central Peru from about 900 to 200 bc, known for its carved stone sculptures and boldly designed ceramics. | 50 |
