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Chapter 1: From Human Prehistory to the Early Civilizations Flashcards

Vocabulary for Chapter 1, AP World History

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432917370Hunting and GatheringMeans of obtaining sustenance by humans before the mastery of sedentary agriculture; normally typical of band social organizations.
432917371CivilizationSocieties with reliance on sedentary agriculture, ability to produce food surpluses, and existence of nonfarming elites, along with merchant and manufacturing groups.
432917372PaleolithicThe Old Stone Age, ending in 12,000 B.C.E.; characterized by use of evolving stone tools and hunting and gathering for sustenance.
432917373NeolithicThe New Stone Age, between 8,000 and 5,000 B.C.E; the period in which adaptation of sedentary agriculture occured; domestication of plants and animals accomplished.
432917374NomadsCattle/Sheep herding societies normally found on the outskirts of civilized societies; commonly referred to as "barbarians" by civilized societies.
432917375"Savages"Societies engaged in either hunting and gathering for sustenance or in migratory cultivation; not as socially structured or specialized as civilized/nomadic societies.
432917376CultureCombination of ideas, objects, and patterns of behaviors that result from human social interaction.
432917377Homo sapiensThe species of humanity that emerged as most successful at the end of the Paleolithic.
432917378NeanderthalsSpecies of genus homo that disappeared at the end of the Paleolithic.
432917379BandA level of social organization normally consisting of between 20 and 30 people; nomadic hunters and gatherers; labor divided on a gender basis.
432917380Agrarian RevolutionOccured between 8,000 and 5,000 B.C.E.; transition from hunting and gathering to sedentary agriculture.
432917381Natufian ComplexPre-agricultural culture; located in present-day Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon; practiced collection of wild barley and wheat to supplement game; large settlement sites.
432917382MatrilocalA culture in which young men go live with the bride's family upon marriage.
432917383MatrilinealFamily descent and inheritance traced through the female line.
432917384PastoralismA nomadic agricultural lifestyle based on herding domesticated animals; tended to produce independent people capable of challenging to sedentary agricultural societies.
432917385MesopotamiaLiterally translates as "between the rivers"; the civilization that arose in the alluvial plain of the Tigres-Euphrates river valleys.
432917386Potter's WheelA technological advance in pottery making; invented about 6,000 B.C.E; encouraged faster and higher quality ceramic pottery products.
432917387SumeriansPeople who migrated into Mesopotamia about 4,000 B.C.E; created the first civilization within region; organized area into city-states.
432917388CuneiformA form of writing developed by the Sumerians using a wedge shaped stylus and clay tablets.
432917389City-StateA form of political organization typical of Mesopotamian civilization; consisted of agricultural hinterlands ruled by an urban based king.
432917390YahwehThe single god of the Hebrews; constructed a convenant with Jews as his chosen people.
432917391MonotheismThe exclusive worship of one god; introduced by the Jews into Middle Eastern civilizations.
432917392Epic of GilgameshThe first literary epic; written down in about 2,000 B.C.E; introduced the story of the Great Flood.
432917393ZigguratsMassive towers usually associated with Mesopotamian temple connections.
432917394AnimismA religious outlook that recognizes gods in many aspects of nature and appeases them in order to help control and explain nature; typical of Mesopotamian religions.
432917395Sargon I of AkkadRuler of city-state Akkad; established the first empire in Mesopotamian civilization in about 2,400 B.C.E.
432917396Babylonian EmpireUnified all of Mesopotamia in about 1,800 B.C.E.; collapsed because of foreign invasion in about 1,600 B.C.E.
432917397HammurabiThe most important Babylonian ruler; responsible for codification of the law.
432917398AknenatonEgyptian pharoh of the New Kingdom; attempted to establish monotheistic religion in replacement of the traditional Egyptian pantheon of gods.
432917399PyramidsMonumental architecture typical of Old Kingdom Egypt; used as burial sites for pharohs.
432917400MummificationAct of preserving the bodies of the dead; practiced in Egypt to preserve the body for use in the afterlife.
432917401HieroglyphsForm of writing developed in ancient Egypt; more practical than Sumerian cuneiform (the Mesopotamians).
432917402PatriarchalSocieties in which women defer to men; societies run by men and based upon the assumption that men naturally controlled political, economic, and cultural life.
432917403KushAfrican state that developed along the upper reaches of the Nile in about 1,000 B.C.E.; conquered Egypt and ruled it for several centuries.
432917404MinoansA civilizaiton that developed on Crete in about 1,600 B.C.E.; capital at the palace complex of Knossos.
432917405MycenaeThe first civilization to emerge on the Greek mainland; destroyed in about 1,000 B.C.E.
432917406PhoeniciansSeafaring civilization located on the shores of the eastern Mediterranean; established colonies throughout the Mediterranean.
432917407HittitiesAn Indo-European people who entered Mesopotamia in about 1,750 B.C.E.; destroyed the Babylonian Empire; swept away in about 1,200 B.C.E.
432917408Huanghe or Yellow River BasinSite of the development of sedentary agriculture in China.
432917409MesoamericaMexico and Central America; along with Peru, site of development of sedentary agriculture in the western hemisphere.
432917410JerichoEarly walled urban culture based on sedentary agriculture; located in modern Israel-occupied West Bank near Jordan River.
432917411Catal HuyukEarly urban culture based on sedentary agriculture; located in modern southern Turkey; larger in population than Jericho and had a greater degree of social structure.
432917412Bronze AgeFrom 4,000 to 3,000 B.C.E.; increased use of plow and metalworking; development of wheeled vehicles and writing.

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