Before History Flashcards

Based on the very first chapter of Bentley's Traditions and Encounters

47570855	Prehistory	The period of time before the invention of writing	0
47570856	Australopithecus	first appeared four million to one million years ago in East Africa. Walked upright on two feet and used well-developed hands. Developed stone tools and mastered fire. An example is Lucy.	1
47570857	Homo Erectus	Lived 2.5-200,000 YA in East Africa. Large brain, sophisticated tools, control of fire, language skills (developed in well-coordinated hunts of large animals), migrated to Asia and Europe	2
47570858	Homo Sapiens	Evolved about 200,000 YA, brain w/ large frontal regions for conscious/reflective thought, spread through Eurasia starting more than 100,000 YA; Ice Age land bridges enabled them to populate other continents; used knives, spears, bows & arrows; brought tremendous pressure on other species. Modern human. Name means "wise human".	3
47570859	Examples of permanent Paleolithic settlements	Natufians in E Mediterranean, Jomon in Central Japan, and Chinook in Pacific NW area of N. America	4
47570860	Neanderthals	Lived in Europe and SW Asia 100,000-35,000 YA. Their careful, deliberate burials (ex: Shanidar) = evidence of a capacity for emotion and feelings	5
47570861	Cro-Magnons	First humans of the fully modern type; appeared 40,000 YA. Venus figurines showed an interest in fertility. Cave paintings of animals could show sympathetic magic	6
47570862	Neolithic Era	"New Stone Age". 12,000-6,000 YA. Refined tools. Women began systematic cultivation of plants. Men began to domesticate animals	7
47570863	Jericho	Oldest known Neolithic community located at a freshwater oasis N of the Dead Sea. Had mud huts and defensive walls and a population of about 2,000.	8
47570864	Catal Huyuk	Neolithic village in modern-day Turkey that housed about 8,000 people	9
47570865	Prehistoric craft industries include:	Pottery (= earliest), metallurgy (copper @ 1st), and textile production.	10
47573056	Slash and burn cultivation	The earliest known agricultural technique	11
47573057	Cities	decisively influenced the economic, political, and cultural life of large regions	12
48207439	50	About how many people were in a Paleolithic band?	13