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AP World History Ch. 1 Flashcards

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10416791976CivilizationAn 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 traits0
10416791977CultureSocially transmitted patterns of action and expression1
10416791978HistoryThe study of past events and changes in the development, transmission, and transformation of cultural practices2
10416793188Stone AgeThe historical period characterized by the productions of tools from stone and other nonmetallic substances. It was followed in some places by the Bronze Age and more generally by the Iron Age3
10416793189PaleolithicThe period of the Stone Age associated with the evolution of humans4
10416795019NeolithicThe period of the Stone Age associated with the ancient Agricultural Revolution5
10416795020ForagersPeople who supported themselves by hunting wild animals and gathering wild edible plants and insects6
10416795469Agricultural RevolutionsThe change from food gathering to food production that occurred between c. 8000-2000 BCE7
10416795470HoloceneThe geological era since the end of the Great Ice Age which ended about 11,000 years ago8
10416795471MegalithStructures and complexes of very large stones constructed for ceremonial and religious purposes in Neolithic times9
10416796381BabylonThe largest and most important city in Mesopotamia. It achieved particular eminence as the capital of the Amorite King Hammurabi in the 18th century BCE and the Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century BCE10
10416796382SumeriansThe people who dominated southern Mesopotamia through the end of the third millennium BCE. They were responsible for the creation of many fundamental elements of Mesopotamian culture- such as irrigation technology, cuneiform, and religious conceptions- taken over by their Semitic successors11
10416796383SemiticFamily 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 family is Arabic12
10416796384City-StateA small independent state consisting of an urban center and the surrounding agricultural territory13
10416797000HammurabiAmorite ruler of Babylon; he conquered many city-states in southern and northern Mesopotamia, and he is most known for a code of laws, inscribed on a black stone pillar, illustrating the principles to be used in legal cases14
10416797001ScribeIn 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 systems15
10416797002ZigguratA massive pyramidal shaped tower made of mudbricks; associated with the religious complexes in ancient Mesopotamian cities, but its function is unknown16
10416797003AmuletSmall charm meant to protect the bearer from evil; found frequently in archaeological excavations in Mesopotamia and Egypt, the reflect the religious practices of the common people17
10416797383CuneiformA system of writing in which wedge-shaped symbols represented words or syllables; it is 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 scribes18
10416797384PharaohThe central figure in the ancient Egyptian state; believed to be an earthly manifestation of the gods, he used his absolute power to maintain the safety and prosperity of Egypt19
10416797385Ma'atEgyptian term for the concept of divinely created and maintained order in the universe20
10416797975PyramidA large, triangle-shaped monument, used in Egypt and Nubia as a burial place from the king21
10416797976MemphisThe capital of Old Kinggdom Egypt, near the head of the Nile Delta. Early rulers were interred in the nearby pyramids22
10416797977ThebesCapital city of Egypt and home of the ruling dynasties during the Middle and New Kingdoms23
10416798515HieroglyphicsA system of writing in which pictoral 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 this was confined to a relatively small group of scribes and administrators. Cursive symbol forms were developed for rapid composition on other media, such as papyrus24
10416798516PapyrusA reed that grows along the banks of the Nile River in Egypt25
10416798517MummyA body preserved by chemical processes or special natural circumstances, often in the belief that that deceased will need it again in the afterlife. In ancient Egypt the bodies of people who could afford this 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 sarcophagus26
10416798518HarappaSite of one of the greatest cities of the Indus Valley civilization of the third millennium BCE. It was located on the northwest frontier of the zone of cultivation, and may have been a center for the acquisition of raw materials, such as metals and precious stones, from Afghanistan and Iran27
10416801126Mohenjo-DaroLargest of the cities of the Indus Valley civilization. It was centrally located in the extensive flood-plain of the Indus River in contemporary Pakistan. Little is known about the political institutions of the Indus Valley communities, but the large-scale of construction at this place, the orderly grid of streets, and the standardization of building materials are evidence of central planning28

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