Terms : Hide Images
| 5835620159 | Civilization | An ambiguous term often used to denote more complex societies but sometimes used by anthropologists to describe any group of people sharing a set of cultural traits 1. cities as administrative centers 2. a political system based on control of a define territory rather than kinship connections 3. many people engaged in specialized, non-food-producing activities 4. status distinctions based largely on accumulation of substantial wealth by some some groups 5. monumental building 6. a system for keeping permanent records 7. long-distance trade 8. major advances in science and the arts | 0 | |
| 5835634174 | Earliest civilizations | Developed in the floodplains of great rivers: the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq, the Indus in Pakistan, the Yellow in China, and the Nile in Egypt in the 4th millennium B.C.E. | 1 | |
| 5835744180 | Culture | Socially transmitted patterns of action and expression; material culture refers to physical objects, such as dwellings, clothing, tools, and crafts; culture also includes arts, beliefs, knowledge, and technology | 2 | |
| 5835747751 | History | The study of past events and changes in the development, transmission, and transformation of cultural practices | 3 | |
| 5835749593 | Stone Age | The historical period characterized by the production of tools from stone and other nonmetallic substances; it was followed in some places by the Bronze Age and more generally by the Iron Age | 4 | |
| 5835754102 | Paleolithic | The period of the Stone Age associated with the evolution of humans; it predates the Neolithic period; Old Stone Age | 5 | |
| 5835756452 | Neolithic | The period of the Stone Age associated with the ancient Agricultural Revolution (s); it follows the Paleolithic period; New Stone Age | 6 | |
| 5835765377 | Foragers | People who support themselves by hunting wild animals and gathering wild edible plants and insects | 7 | |
| 5835898662 | Neolithic Revolution | "Agricultural Revolutions"; started in Middle East because got warmer and dryer; also, grasslands became forests, reducing wild foods; overall, shortages of food; occurred between ca. 8000 and 2000 B.C.E. | 8 | |
| 5835901013 | Pastoralism | A way of life dependent on large herds of small and large stock; predominated in the more arid parts of Africa and Central Asia | 9 | |
| 5835930754 | Megaliths | Structures and complexes of very large stones constructed for ceremonial and religious purposes in Neolithic times | 10 | |
| 5835934047 | Mesopotamia | "Land between the Rivers" (Tigris and Euphrates); the "Fertile Crescent" | 11 | |
| 5844771811 | Sumerians | The people who dominated southern Mesopotamia through the end of the third millennium B.C.E.; 5000-4000 B.C.E.; were responsible for the creation of many fundamental elements of Mesopotamian culture, such as irrigation technology, cuneiform, and religious conceptions (gods, who reflected forces of nature, were feared, and thus, needed to be appeased); also, made wheeled carts and bronze weapons and tools; discovered mathematics and astronomy; taken over by their Semitic successors | 12 | |
| 5844865388 | Culture of Mesopotamia | Sumerians - 5000 - 4000 BCE § Southern Mesopotamia - created framework for Mesopotamian culture: Temples for deities in cities § Gods were feared; reflected forces of nature. Needed appeasement § Ziggurat - most visible part of temple. Scientific / technological development: § Writing - cuneiform. Many symbols to learn; few were literate § Wheeled carts § Bronze - weapons and tools. Metals had to be imported o Bronze Age - bronze became primary metal for tools Discoveries: Mathematics & astronomy | 13 | |
| 5844867181 | State of Mesopotamia | Villages and cities predominated in Mesopotamia. City-states mostly evolved from villages. Irrigation systems - canals & dams. Examples of projects that required coordinated efforts - large #s of organized people. Government institutions § Temple and king's palace - two main centers of power o Leading priests played large political and economic roles. § Gradually became dependent on the king o King § Bureaucracy of administrators developed under king § Babylon - Largest and most important city in Mesopotamia · Hammurabi was one of most famous Babylonian kings o Created Law Code of Hammurabi: severe punishments § Powerful states - armies. 2,000 BCE - horses appeared in western Asia --> chariots. | 14 | |
| 5844871820 | Economy of Mesopotamia | § There was a need for raw materials in Mesopotamia o Prompted conquest and long-distance trade § Merchants were mainly employed by priests and kings | 15 | |
| 5844875093 | Social structure of Mesopotamia | Urban civilizations (cities) develop social classes: Rise of cities, specialization of labor, centralized power, written records à set some above others. Three main social classes in Babylonia - reflected in Hammurabi's Law Code 1) Free land owners: Royalty, priests, merchants, some artisans.... 2) Dependent farmers / dependent artisans, 3) Slaves - captives / debtors. Slavery not as widespread as it would be in Greece / Rome o Hammurabi's Law Code: penalties varied with social class. Lowest got most severe punishments. Gender - Women may have lost standing with shift from hunting / gathering to agriculture § Women had provided food from gathering activities - highly valued work. § Mesopotamia - agriculture require heavy, physical work; surplus food allowed families to have more children. § Status of women declined over time - laws came to favor rights of husbands. | 16 | |
| 5844781656 | 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 Semitic family is Arabic | 17 | |
| 5844791628 | City-state | A small independent state consisting of an urban center and the surrounding agricultural territory; a characteristic political form in early Mesopotamia, Archaic and Classical Greece, Phoenicia, and early Italy | 18 | |
| 5844880874 | Babylon | The largest and most important city in Mesopotamia; achieved particular eminence as the capital of the Amorite king Hammurabi in the eighteenth century B.C.E. and Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century B.C.E. | 19 | |
| 5844888521 | Hammurabi | Amorite ruler of Babylon (r. 1792-1750 B.C.E.); he conquered many city-states in southern and northern Mesopotamia and is best known for a code of laws, inscribed on a black stone pillar, illustrating the principles to be used in legal cases | 20 | |
| 5844896950 | Scribe | In the governments of many ancient societies, a professional position reserved for men who had undergone the lengthy training required to be able to read and write using cuneiforms, hieroglyphics, or other early, cumbersome writing systems | 21 | |
| 5844901997 | Ziggurat | A massive pyramidal stepped tower made of mud bricks; associated with religious complexes in ancient Mesopotamian cities, but its function is unknown | 22 | |
| 5844905754 | Amulet | Small charm meant to protect the bearer from evil; found frequently in archaeological excavations in Mesopotamia and Egypt, they reflect the religious practices of the common people | 23 | |
| 5844914780 | Cuneiform | A system of writing in which wedge-shaped symbols represented words or syllables; originated in Mesopotamia and was used initially for Sumerian and Akkadian but later was adapted to represent other languages of western Asia; because so many symbols had to be learned, literacy was confined to a relatively small group of administrators and scribes | 24 | |
| 5844926262 | Bronze | An alloy of copper with a small amount of tin (or sometimes arsenic), it is harder and and more durable than copper alone; the term "Bronze Age" is applied to the era (the dates of which vary in different parts of the world) when bronze was the primary metal for tools and weapons; the demand for bronze helped create long-distance networks of trade | 25 | |
| 5844939351 | Geography and climate of the Nile River Valley Region | § Located at intersection of Africa and Asia § Natural isolation - surrounding deserts and marshy seacoast -- protected § Material self-sufficiency - natural resources § Trade and communication § "Upper" and "Lower" Egypt § Regularity of flooding & agriculture § Due to climate changes in the Sahara --> migration to the Nile Valley | 26 | |
| 5844947630 | Polytheism | Belief in many gods | 27 | |
| 5844950558 | Book of the Dead | Contained rituals to ensure safe passage | 28 | |
| 5844948892 | Pharoah | Divine, chief priest of Egypt; central figure in the ancient Egyptian state; believed to be an earthly manifestation of the gods, so he used his absolute power to maintain the safety and prosperity of Egypt; maintained ma'at | 29 | |
| 5844996102 | Ma'at | Egyptian term for the concept of divinely created and maintained order in the universe; reflecting the ancient Egyptians' belief in an essentially beneficent world, the divine ruler was the earthly guarantor of this order | 30 | |
| 5844945592 | Culture of Egypt | Deities connected with nature - polytheism (belief in many gods) Pharaoh - divine; chief priest of Egypt Much wealth spent on religion / building temples Strong belief in afterlife § Book of the Dead - contained rituals to ensure safe passage § Mummification Advances in medicine, math, engineering, astronomy | 31 | |
| 5844954474 | State of Egypt | Unified early in history Dynasties developed - centralized political power --> impressive cultural achievements Pharaoh (King) - central figure of state. Believed to be divine. Absolute power. § Pyramids - royal tombs. Construction with stone tools; bronze was expensive and rare. o Many available workers. § Bureaucrats ran country / collected taxes o Administrators were literate - hieroglyphics --> record keeping § System of pictorial symbols § Used for record keeping and inscriptions § Literacy confined to small group of scribes and administrators - long study required to master hieroglyphics · Also used for Egyptian literature o papyrus (writing material) § Gov't had a monopoly over long-distance trade & controlled key sectors of economy § Lack many real cities - were extensions of palace and central government o Towns and cities did exist, but most people lived in villages and were farmers. | 32 | |
| 5844960840 | Pyramid | Royal tomb; construction with stone tools because bronze was expensive and rare; many available workers; a large, triangular stone monument, used in Egypt and Nubia as a burial place for the king; the largest pyramids, erected during the Old Kingdom near Memphis with stone tools and compulsory labor, reflect the Egyptian belief that the proper and spectacular burial of the divine ruler would guarantee the continued prosperity of the land | 33 | |
| 5844965332 | Papyrus | A reed that grows along the banks of the Nile River in Egypt; from it was produced a coarse, paperlike writing medium used by the Egyptians and many other peoples in the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East | 34 | |
| 5845041538 | Mummy | A body preserved by chemical processes or special natural circumstances, often in the belief that the deceased will need it again in the afterlife; in ancient Egypt, the bodies of people who could afford mummification underwent a complex process of removing organs, filling body cavities, dehydrating the corpse with natron, and then wrapping the body with linen bandages and enclosing it in a wooden sarcophagus | 35 | |
| 5844970566 | Economy of Egypt | Nile River --> trade, communication, agriculture | 36 | |
| 5845016914 | Memphis | The capital of Old Kingdom Egypt, near the head of the Nile Delta; early rulers were interred in the nearby pyramids | 37 | |
| 5845019308 | Thebes | Capital city of Egypt and home of the ruling dynasties during the Middle and New Kingdoms; Amon, patron deity of Thebes, became of the chief gods of Egypt; monarchs were buried across the river in the Valley of the Kings | 38 | |
| 5845024931 | Hieroglyphics | A system of writing in which pictorial symbols represented sounds, syllables, or concepts; it was used for official and monumental inscriptions in ancient Egypt; because of the long period of study required to master this system, literacy in hieroglyphics was confined to a relatively small group of scribes and administrators; cursive symbol-forms were developed for rapid composition on other media, such as papyrus | 39 | |
| 5844981011 | Social structure of Egypt | No formal class structure emerged, but there were differences in wealth § King / high-ranking officials § Lower-level officials, priests, professionals, wealthy farmers § Peasants - vast majority of people Women were subordinate to men, but § Love poetry shows lovers addressing each other as equals / emotions of romantic love § Law - could own property, inherit from parents Some females priests and female deities | 40 | |
| 5844984573 | Geography and environment of Indus Valley Civilization | Civilization developed along Indus River, modern-day Pakistan River and monsoon rain flooding --> two crops a year. | 41 | |
| 5845073268 | The two great cities of the Indus Valley Civilization | Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro; these two cities are important because the culture of the Indus Valley civilization is best understood from the remains of the cities | 42 | |
| 5845074077 | Harappa | Site of one of the great cities of the Indus Valley civilization of the third millennium B.C.E.; it waas located on the northwest frontier of the zone of cultivation (in modern Pakistan) and may have been a center for the acquisition of raw materials, such as metals and precious stones, from Afghanistan and Iran | 43 | |
| 5845083455 | Mohenjo-Daro | Largest of the cities of the Indus Valley civilization; it was centrally located in the extensive floodplain of the Indus River in contemporary Pakistan; little is known about the political institutions of Indus Valley communities, but the large scale of construction at Mohenjo-Daro, the orderly grid of streets, and the standardization of building materials are evidence of central planning | 44 | |
| 5845095031 | Culture of Indus Valley Civilization | § Metals widely available - more than in Mesopotamia --> used for tools / every day items and not just jewelry / ornamentation § Writing system | 45 | |
| 5845101509 | State of Indus Valley Civilization | § Many sites existed; best known two were the cities Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro o Advanced cities: 2600-1900 BCE Uniform construction, standardized street girds, drainpipes for wastewater, irrigation, large public buildings --> suggest a strong central government | 46 | |
| 5845106780 | Economy of Indus Valley Civilization | § Widespread trading contacts o Access to metals and other resources from Iran & Afghanistan, and India o Within Indus Valley, goods moved on rivers § Long-distance trade: Indus Valley to Mesopotamia o Indus Valley merchants served as middlemen, shipping goods to the Persian Gulf | 47 | |
| 5845109764 | Social structure of Indus Valley Civilization | Possible hereditary occupations with priests predominating | 48 | |
| 5845111192 | Decline of Indus Valley Civilization | Cities were abandoned around 1900 BCE § Ecological disaster / climate change or natural disasters - might possibly have brought civilization to an end. | 49 |
