HIST 1011W - Midterm Terms

Salvation

(Christianity) the act of delivering from sin or saving from evil. * Questions prosper about the afterlife: life vs. death

Yu the Great

(HECKA BIASED) Yu the Great is an ancient hero in prehistoric times, whose most remarkable accomplishment was taming the water. He was also an excellent political leader and established the Xia Dynasty (21st - 17th century BC), the first dynasty in Chinese history that followed the hereditary system. Because of his contribution, people call him Dayu in Chinese with Da meaning great. Tamed the Water In prehistoric times, people suffered a lot from torrential floods of the Yellow River. The situation became even worse while Shun was the leader. Under the command of Shun, Gun, the father of Yu, found out a way to tame the flood. He adopted a method of building embankments with soil to block the raging water. However, this traditional way no longer worked well nine years later. Powerful floodwater breached the dike and brought disaster to the people again. Yu was then ordered to succeed his father to continue the work of harnessing the floods. Drawing from his father's experiences, he figured out a way of digging channels to conduct water into the sea. After thirteen years of fighting against the billowy flood, he finally had the floods under control. After that, Yu the Great organized people to rebuild their shelters and develop agriculture by fully utilizing water and soil. He let his son teach people how to plant rice and other crops. In addition, fish, ducks, and geese were bred under the guidance of Dayu. He also directed the masses to dig ditches to lead the water flowing into the croplands. With his great help, people lived happy lives afterwards. What makes Yu the Great a legend is that just four days after his marriage, he left home to regions that were severely destroyed by floods to tame the water. He had reached almost everywhere of the country during the battle against this natural disaster. For thirteen years, he never stepped into his house although having passed it three times. His son was born during his absence, but he still did not come back. Founded the Xia Dynasty During that time, rulers were usually chosen according to their abilities, Yu the Great had proved his excellent leadership, management, and problem-solving ability when resisting the floods, and thus gained great support of people, so Shun chose Yu as a successor to govern the country. Yu the Great established the Xia Dynasty in 2070 BC and made Yangcheng (today's Dengfeng, Henan Province) the capital. The establishment of Xia opened up a new era in Chinese history, which symbolized the end of the primitive tribal alliance and the beginning of the class society. He divided the country into nine states for a better management, and dredged water channels and leveled large-scale of soil for planting crops. During his reign, he valued both cultural and military development in order to gain a long-time peace of the country, which also showed his wisdom in being a ruler. Yu the Great is admired not only for his unremitting endeavors to fight against natural disaster, but also for forgetting about his own interests to help other people.

Northern Wei

A Chinese dynasty lasting from 386-534 AD, they united Northern China and adopted Buddhism and instituted significant reforms. * The Northern Wei or the Northern Wei Empire, also known as the Tuoba Wei, Later Wei, or Yuan Wei, was a dynasty founded by the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei, which ruled northern China from 386 to 534 CE[8] (de jure until 535), during the period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Described as "part of an era of political turbulence and intense social and cultural change",[9] the Northern Wei Dynasty is particularly noted for unifying northern China in 439: this was also a period of introduced foreign ideas, such as Buddhism, which became firmly established.

Cultural Assemblage

A collection of items from a single datable component of an archaeological site

Outrigger Canoe

A small ship used in the lagoons of islands where Pacific Islanders settled; a seagoing canoe (as in South Pacific) with an outrigger to prevent it from upsetting.

Tributary States

A system in which, from the time of the Han Empire, countries in East and Southeast Asia not under the direct control of empires based in China nevertheless enrolled as tributary states, acknowledging the superiority of the emperors in China. * Tribute and Tributary States Tribute (from Latin tribuere, "to pay") refers to the regular payment of goods or services offered from a subordinate group or community to a dominant one because of the threat that the failure to pay will result in punitive sanctions by the dominant group or community. Historically stabilized tributary relations often existed between nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoral peoples and settled agriculturalists, often at the peripheries of ancient states, such as the Mongol herders on the borders of China or the Semitic herders on the borders of the Sumerian states. Some peoples who lived by raiding were willing to commute their occasional and unpredictable forays for booty (captured goods) into regularized payments of tribute, such as the "danegeld" payments collected by the Vikings from frightened and resentful communities on the coasts of the British Isles. State-Level Tribute Relations Throughout history it has been common for a conquering nation to extract payments from those it has conquered. The Romans did this —the payment was called a stipendium— as did the Assyrians of northern Iraq, the Persians of Iran, and the Hittites of Turkey. Through much of China's history, her relations with smaller surrounding peoples (such as Tibetans) depended heavily upon the rendering of goods from the smaller group to the Chinese throne, although in some cases the symbolism of the transfer seems to have mattered more than the actual value of the goods rendered. In some cases, it was a controversial policy decision whether to exterminate a community or allow it to "buy" its continued existence through regular tribute payments. The Homeric Greeks, described in Homer's Iliad, expected continuing payments from the remains of any place they plundered, but they also exterminated some of these communities, rendering them useless as sources of tribute. Tributary States Given sufficient power at the center, whole empires —"tributary empires"— can be constructed based on relations of tribute. Among the best documented historical cases are the polities of pre-Columbian Mexico, where the growth of a state depended very much on its ability, among other things, to defend itself against such demands (or accommodate itself to them) and to make such demands upon others. Arguably the greatest of these was the brief Aztec empire, which subordinated most of central and southern Mexico, forcing tribute payments from a long list of subordinate towns to the Aztec "capital" at Tenochtitlan. The demands were greater than the subordinate towns themselves could accommodate, but that was "their problem," a problem solved by their own extractions from yet more subordinate towns, which necessarily passed the burden down the line to small villages and individual households. Tributary empires have proven fragile for two reasons: They are based on coercion, the direct or implied threat of extreme violence, and hence lack political legitimacy. They are therefore subject to destruction through the rebellion of subordinate polities (especially united in coalitions) at any time when the central power is insufficient to enforce its threat of punishment. (It has been argued that the downfall of the Aztecs in the face of a coalition of rebels and enemies, would have occurred sooner or later whether or not the Spanish had arrived to precipitate and encourage it.) To the extent that the dominant population is economically dependent upon the flow of goods from subordinates, even minor disruptions in the flow of goods can result in serious deprivation. Much ancient trade involved luxury items used as symbols of elite status (so-called "powerfacts"). But a large population dependent upon trade for actual subsistence has normally proven inherently vulnerable.

Wallace Line

Alfred Russel Wallace may not be well known outside of the scientific community, but his contributions to the Theory of Evolution were invaluable to Charles Darwin. In fact, Wallace and Darwin collaborated on the idea of natural selection and presented their own findings jointly to the Linnean Society in London. Alfred Russel Wallace has become not much more than a footnote in history in that regard due to Darwin publishing his book "On the Origin of Species" before Wallace could publish his work. Even though Darwin's findings were considered complete with the data that Wallace contributed, Alfred Russel Wallace still did not get the sort of recognition and glory that his colleague Charles Darwin enjoyed. There are, however, still many great contributions Alfred Russel Wallace gets credit for discovering on his journeys as a naturalist. Perhaps his most well-known finding was discovered with data he gathered on a trip through the Indonesian islands and surrounding areas. By studying the flora and fauna in the area, Wallace was able to come up with a hypothesis that includes a part called the Wallace Line. The Wallace Line is an imaginary boundary that runs between Australia and the Asian islands and the mainland. This boundary marks the point where there is a difference in species on either side of the line. To the west of the line, all of the species are similar or derived from species that are found on the Asian mainland. To the east of the line, there are many species that of Australian descent. Along the line is a mix of the two and many species are hybrids of the typical Asian species and the more isolated Australian species. At one point in time on the Geologic Time Scale, Asia and Australia were joined together to make one giant land mass. During this period, species were free to move about on to both continents and could easily stay one species as they mated and produced viable offspring. However, once continental drift and plate tectonics started to pull these lands apart, the large amount of water that ended up separating them drove evolution in different directions for the species making them unique to either continent after a long period of time had passed. This continued reproductive isolation has made the once closely related species much different and distinguishable. Even though the Wallace Line theory holds true for both plants and animals, it is much more distinctive for the animal species than the plants. Not only does this invisible line mark the different areas of animals and plants, it can also be seen in the geological landforms in the area. Looking at the shape and size of the continental slope and continental shelf in the area, it seems that the animals observe the line by using these landmarks. It is possible to predict which types of species you will find on either side of the continental slope and the continental shelf. The islands near the Wallace Line are also collectively called by a name to honor Alfred Russel Wallace. These islands are known as Wallacea and they also have a very distinctive set of species that live on them. Even the birds, which are capable of migrating to and from the mainlands of Asia and Australia seem to stay put and have diverged over long periods of time. It is not known if the differing landforms serve as a way for the animals to know the boundary, or if it is something else that keeps the species from traveling from one side of the Wallace Line to the other. * A line in the Indonesian region that demarcates/separtes two areas, each of which is characterized by a distinct set of animal species.

Sargon of Akkad

An ancient Mesopotamian ruler who reigned approximately 2334-2279 BC, and was one of the earliest of the world's great empire builders, conquering all of southern Mesopotamia as well as parts of Syria, Anatolia, and Elam (western Iran). He established the region's first Semitic dynasty and was considered the founder of the Mesopotamian military tradition.

Ape Cultures (Chimpanzees and Bonobos)

Chimpanzees have an aggressive, patriarchal culture but Bonobos have a peaceful, matriarchal culture. Separated by Congo River, chimps had to become more aggressive because they fought for food with each other as well as gorillas.

Incest Taboo

Cultural rules forbidding sexual relations or marriage between certain relatives * Concerns of relationships * Gene mutations (Inbreeding)

Hunter-Gatherer Society

Hunter gatherers were prehistoric nomadic groups that harnessed the use of fire, developed intricate knowledge of plant life and refined technology for hunting and domestic purposes as they spread from Africa to Asia, Europe and beyond. From African hominins of 2 million years ago to modern-day Homo sapiens, the evolution of humans can be traced through the remnants of the hunter gatherers. Although hunting and gathering societies largely died out with the onset of the Neolithic Revolution, hunter gatherer communities still endure in a few parts of the world. Who Were the Hunter Gatherers? Hunter gatherer culture developed among the early hominins of Africa, with evidence of their activities dating as far back as 2 million years ago. Among their distinguishing characteristics, the hunter gatherers actively killed animals for food, as opposed to scavenging meat left behind by other predators, and devised ways of setting aside vegetation for consumption at a later date. The culture accelerated with the appearance of Homo erectus (1.9 million years ago), whose larger brains and shorter digestive systems reflected the increased consumption of meat. Additionally, these were the first hominins built for long-distance walking, pushing nomadic tribes into Asia and Europe. Hunting and gathering remained a way of life for Homo heidelbergensis (700,000 to 200,000 years ago), the first humans to adapt to colder climates and routinely hunt large animals, through the Neanderthals (400,000 to 40,000 years ago), who developed more sophisticated technology. It also spanned most of the existence of Homo sapiens, dating from the first anatomically modern humans 200,000 years ago, to the transition to permanent agricultural communities around 10,000 B.C. Tools and Technology The early hunter gatherers used simple tools, such as sharpened stones for cutting, before developing the hand-axes that marked the onset of Acheulean technology about 1.6 million years ago. Controlled use of fire for cooking and warding off predators marked a crucial turning point in the early history of these groups, though debate remains as to when this was accomplished. Use of hearths dates back almost 800,000 years ago, and other findings point to controlled heating as far back as 1 million years ago. Evidence of fire exists at early Homo erectus sites, including 1.5 million-year-old Koobi Fora in Kenya, though these may be the remains of wildfires. After Homo heidelbergensis, who developed wooden and then stone-tipped spears for hunting, Neanderthals introduced refined stone technology and the first bone tools. Early Homo sapiens continued to develop more specialized hunting techniques by inventing fishhooks, the bow and arrow and harpoons, as well as domestic tools like bone and ivory needles. Hunter Gatherer Diet From their earliest days, the hunter gatherer diet included various grasses, tubers, fruits, seeds and nuts. Lacking the means to kill larger animals, they procured meat from smaller game or through scavenging. As their brains evolved, hominids developed more intricate knowledge of edible plant life and growth cycles. Examination of the Gesher Benot Ya'aqov site in Israel, which housed a thriving community almost 800,000 years ago, revealed the remains of 55 different food plants, along with evidence of fish consumption. With the introduction of spears, dating back at least 500,000 years ago, hunter gatherers became capable of tracking larger prey to feed their groups. Modern humans were cooking shellfish by 160,000 years ago, and by 90,000 years ago they were developing the specialized fishing tools that enabled them to haul in larger aquatic life. Hunting and Gathering Society Studies of modern-day hunter gatherers offer a glimpse into the lifestyle of small, nomadic tribes dating back almost 2 million years ago. With limited resources, these groups were egalitarian by nature, scraping up enough food to survive and fashioning basic shelter for all. Division of labor by gender became more pronounced with the advancement of hunting techniques, particularly for larger game. Along with cooking, controlled use of fire fostered societal growth through communal time around the hearth. Physiological evolution also led to changes, with the bigger brains of more recent ancestors leading to longer periods of childhood and adolescence. By the time of the Neanderthals, hunter gatherers were displaying such "human" characteristics as burying their dead and creating ornamental objects. Homo sapiens continued fostering more complex societies by 130,000 years ago, interacting with other groups based nearly 200 miles away. Shelter Early hunter gatherers moved as nature dictated, adjusting to proliferation of vegetation, the presence of predators or deadly storms. Basic, impermanent shelters were established in caves and other areas with protective rock formations, as well as in open-air settlements where possible. Hand-built shelters likely date back to the time of Homo erectus, though one of the earliest known constructed settlements, from 400,000 years ago in Terra Amata, France, is attributed to Homo heidelbergensis. By 50,000 years ago, huts made from wood, rock and bone were becoming more common, fueling a shift to semi-permanent residencies in areas with abundant resources. The remains of man's first known year-round shelters, discovered at the Ohalo II site in Israel, date back at least 23,000 years. Neolithic Revolution to Modern Day With favorable conditions supporting permanent communities in areas such as the Middle East's Fertile Crescent, and the domestication of animals and plants, the agriculture-based Neolithic Revolution began approximately 12,000 years ago. The full-time transition from hunting and gathering wasn't immediate, as humans needed time to develop proper agricultural methods and the means for combating diseases encountered through close proximity to livestock. Success in that area fueled the growth of early civilizations in Mesopotamia, China and India, and by 1500 A.D., most populations were relying on domesticated food sources. Modern-day hunter gatherers endure in various pockets around the globe. Among the more famous groups are the San, a.k.a. the Bushmen, of southern Africa, and the Sentinelese of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, known to fiercely resist all contact with the outside world.

Indo-Europeans

In about the 1500s BCE these people were migrating tribes from present-day southeast Russia. Some traveled to Europe, some to Persia, and some to India. Thus, today many people in Europe, Perisa, and India share some lingustic, cultural, and biological roots.

Oral Tradition

Literature that passes by word of mouth from one generation to the next.

Megamammals

Megafaunal extinctions refers to the documented die-off of large-bodied mammals (megafauna) from all over our planet at the end of the last ice age, at about the same time as the human colonization of the last, farthest-flung regions from Africa. The mass extinctions were neither synchronous nor universal, and the reasons proffered by researchers for those extinctions include (but are not limited to) climate change and human intervention. The Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions occurred during the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition (LGIT), essentially the last 130,000 years, and it affected mammals, birds, and reptiles. There have been other, much earlier mass extinctions, impacting animals and plants alike. The five largest mass extinction events in the past 500 million years ( ma) occurred at the end of the Ordovician (443 ma), the Late Devonian (375-360 ma), the end of the Permian (252 ma), the end of the Triassic (201 ma) and the end of the Cretaceous (66 ma). Pleistocene Era Extinctions Before early modern humans left Africa to colonize the rest of the world, all of the continents were already populated by a large and diverse animal population, including our hominid cousins, Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Homo erectus. Animals with body weights greater than 45 kilograms (100 pounds), called megafauna, were abundant. Extinct elephant, horse, emu, wolves, hippos: the fauna varied with the continent, but most of them were plant eaters, with few predator species. Almost all of these megafauna species are now extinct; almost all of the extinctions occurred around the time of the colonization of those regions by early modern humans. Before migrating far from Africa, early modern humans and Neanderthals co-existed with megafauna in Africa and Eurasia for several tens of thousands of years. At the time, most of the planet was in steppe or grassland ecosystems, maintained by megaherbivores, massive vegetarians that impeded the colonization of trees, trampled and consumed saplings, and cleared and broke down the organic matter. Seasonal aridity influenced the availability of rangelands, and climate change involving increases in moisture is documented for the late Pleistocene, which is believed to have exerted extinction pressure on megafaunal rangeland grazers by altering, fragmenting and in some cases replacing the steppes with forests. Climate change, migration of humans, extinction of megafauna: which came first? Which Came first? Despite what you may have read, it is not clear which of these forces--climate change, human migration, and megafaunal extinctions--caused the others, and it is very likely that the three forces worked together to re-sculpt the planet. When our earth became colder, the vegetation changed, and animals that did not adapt rapidly died out. Climate change may well have driven human migrations; people moving into new territories as new predators might have had negative effects on the existing fauna, through overkill of a particularly easy animal prey, or the spread of new diseases. But it must be remembered that the loss of the mega-herbivores also drives climate change. Enclosure studies have shown that large-bodied mammals such as elephants suppress woody vegetation, accounting for 80% of woody plant loss. The loss of large numbers of browsing, grazing, and grass-eating mega-mammals certainly led or added to the decrease of open vegetation and habitat mosaics, the increased occurrence of fire, and the decline of co-evolved plants. Long-term effects on seed dispersion continue to affect plant species distributions for thousands of years. This co-occurrence of humans in migration, climate change, and animal die-off is the most recent time in our human history where climate change and human interactions together re-designed the living palette of our planet. Two areas of our planet are the primary focus of the studies of Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions: North America and Australia, with some studies continuing in South America and Eurasia. All of these areas were subject to massive changes in temperature, including the variable presence of glacial ice, and plant and animal life; each sustained the arrival of a new predator in the food chain; each saw related decreases and reconfiguration of the available animal and plants. Evidence collected by archaeologists and paleontologists in each of the areas tells a slightly different story. * large mammals of the Cenozoic era Examples: Megalith, Mammoth, etc.

War Elephants

New tactic by Indian soldiers that surprised Alexander

Transhumant herders

Nomads who entered settles territories in the second millennium bce and moved their herds seasonally when resources became scarced. * Pastoral Nomads

Lactose Tolerance

Occurs in relatively high frequencies among populations descended from Middle Eastern cattle herders; an unusual condition in some humans where adults can properly digest lactose; occurs when the small intestine is not producing enough of the enzyme lactase to break down the milk sugar lactose.

Uruk Expansion

Period of rapid growth in the Late Uruk Period (Ca. 3500-3100). Population shifted to concentrate around Uruk, and wealth accumulated as the city established long-distance trade.

Quanat Irrigation

One of the Persians' most ingenious contributions was the invention of qanats, underground tunnels through which water flowed over long distances without evaporating or being contaminated. (Later adopted by many cultures, this type of system moves water under arid lands even today.) Laborers from the local populations toiled on these feats of engineering as part of their obligations as subjects of the empire. In the early part of the first millennium B.C., Persians started constructing elaborate tunnel systems called qanats for extracting groundwater in the dry mountain basins of present-day Iran (see figure 1). Qanat tunnels were hand-dug, just large enough to fit the person doing the digging. Along the length of a qanat, which can be several kilometers, vertical shafts were sunk at intervals of 20 to 30 meters to remove excavated material and to provide ventilation and access for repairs. The main qanat tunnel sloped gently down from pre-mountainous alluvial fans to an outlet at a village. From there, canals would distribute water to fields for irrigation. These amazing structures allowed Persian farmers to succeed despite long dry periods when there was no surface water to be had. Many qanats are still in use stretching from China on the east to Morocco on the west, and even to the Americas. There are significant advantages to a qanat water delivery system including: (1) putting the majority of the channel underground reduces water loss from seepage and evaporation; (2) since the system is fed entirely by gravity, the need for pumps is eliminated; and (3) it exploits groundwater as a renewable resource. The third benefit warrants additional discussion. The rate of flow of water in a qanat is controlled by the level of the underground water table. Thus a qanat cannot cause significant drawdown in an aquifer because its flow varies directly with the subsurface water supply. When properly maintained, a qanat is a sustainable system that provides water indefinitely. The self-limiting feature of a qanat, however, is also its biggest drawback when compared to the range of technologies available today. Water flows continuously in a qanat, and although some winter water is used for domestic use, much larger amounts of irrigation water are needed during the daylight hours of the spring and summer growing seasons. Although this continuous flow is frequently viewed as wasteful, it can, in fact, be controlled. During periods of low water use in fall and winter, water-tight gates can seal off the qanat opening damming up and conserving groundwater for periods of high demand. In spring and summer, night flow may be stored in small reservoirs at the mouth of the qanat and held there for daytime use.

Hieroglyphs

Pictures, characters, or symbols standing for words, ideas, or sounds; ancient Egyptians used instead of an alphabet like ours.

Anthropocene

Relating to or denoting the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.

Yoke of Ashur

The Land of Ashtur: included the lands between the Zagros Mountains and the Euphrates River. Held the King ans his appointees, had abundance. The and under the Yoke of Ashur: lay outside of Assyria proper. Its inhabitants were not considered Assyrians; rather, their local rulers held power as subjects of Assyria. had to pay tribute in gold and silver if not subject to deportation, otherwise tribute was also i produced goods all going directly towards the king.

"Sea Peoples"

The Sea Peoples were a confederacy of naval raiders who harried the coastal towns and cities of the Mediterranean region between c. 1276-1178 BCE, concentrating their efforts especially on Egypt. The nationality of the Sea Peoples remains a mystery as the existing records of their activities are mainly Egyptian sources who only describe them in terms of battle such as the record from the Stele at Tanis which reads, in part, "They came from the sea in their war ships and none could stand against them." This description is typical of Egyptian references to these mysterious invaders. Names of the tribes which comprised the Sea Peoples have been given in Egyptian records as the Sherden, the Sheklesh, Lukka, Tursha and Akawasha. Outside Egypt, they also assaulted the regions of the Hittite Empire, the Levant, and other areas around the Mediterranean coast. Their origin and identity has been suggested (and debated) to be Etruscan/Trojan to Italian, Philistine, Mycenaen and even Minoan but, as no accounts discovered thus far shed any more light on the question than what is presently known, any such claims must remain mere conjecture. No ancient inscription names the coalition as "Sea Peoples" - this is a modern-day designation first coined by the French Egyptologist Gaston Maspero in c. 1881 CE. Maspero came up with the term because the ancient reports claim that these tribes came "from the sea" or from "the islands" but they never say which sea or which islands and so the Sea Peoples' origin remains unknown. The three great pharaohs who record their conflicts and victories over the Sea Peoples are Ramesses II (The Great, 1279-1213 BCE), his son and successor Merenptah (1213-1203 BCE), and Ramesses III (1186-1155 BCE). All three claimed great victories over their adversaries and their inscriptions provide the most detailed evidence of the Sea Peoples. THE SEA PEOPLES & RAMESSES II Ramesses the Great was one of the most effective rulers in the history of ancient Egypt and among his many accomplishments was securing the borders against invasion by nomadic tribes and securing the trade routes vital to the country's economy. Early in his reign, the Hittites seized the important trade center of Kadesh (in modern-day Syria) and in 1274 BCE Ramesses led his army to drive them out. Ramesses claimed a great victory and had the story inscribed in detail and read to the people. IN RAMESSES THE GREAT'S ACCOUNT, THE SEA PEOPLES ARE MENTIONED AS ALLIES OF THE HITTITES BUT ALSO AS SERVING IN HIS OWN ARMY AS MERCENARIES. His claim of total victory is disputed by the Hittite account claiming their own but the inscription is important for many other reasons than Ramesses would have had in mind and, among them, what it says about the Sea Peoples. In his account, the Sea Peoples are mentioned as allies of the Hittites but also as serving in his own army as mercenaries. No mention is made of where they came from or who they were which suggests to scholars that the audience would have already had this information; the Sea Peoples needed no introduction. Ramesses also relates how, in the second year of his reign, he defeated these people in a naval battle off the coast of Egypt. Ramesses allowed the Sea Peoples' war ships and their supply and cargo vessels to approach the mouth of the Nile where he had a small Egyptian fleet positioned in a defensive formation. He then waited in the wings for the Sea Peoples to attack what seemed to be an insignificant force before launching his full attack upon them from their flanks and sinking their ships. This battle seems to have involved only the Sherdan Sea Peoples or, at least, they are the only ones mentioned because, after the battle, many were pressed into Ramesses' army and some served as his elite body guard. Ramesses, always very confident in his inscriptions, gives the impression that he had neutralized the threat of the Sea Peoples but his successors' inscriptions tell another story. Ramesses II Seated Statue, Thebes Ramesses II Seated Statue, Thebes MERENPTAH'S INSCRIPTION Merenptah continued to be troubled by the Sea Peoples who allied themselves with the Libyans to invade the Nile Delta. Merenptah writes how, in the fifth year of his reign (1209 BCE) Mereye, the chief of the Libyans, allied with the Sea Peoples to invade Egypt. He refers to the Libyan allies as coming "from the seas to the north" and names the territories as Ekwesh, Teresh, Lukka, Sherden, and Shekelesh. Scholars have since tried to identify where these lands were and what names they came to be known by but without success. There are as many theories surrounding who the Sea Peoples were as there are scholars to refute them. Whoever they were, Merenptah describes them as formidable adversaries and, in his inscription on the walls of the Temple of Karnak and on the stele from his funerary temple, takes great pride in defeating them. At this point in their history it seems the Sea Peoples were seeking to establish permanent settlements in Egypt as the invading force brought with them scores of household goods and building tools. Merenptah, after praying, fasting, and consulting the gods in the matter of strategy, met the Sea Peoples on the field at Pi-yer where the combined Egyptian force of infantry, cavalry, and archers slew over 6,000 of their opponents and took captive members of the royal Libyan family. Merenptah claimed complete victory and Egypt's borders were again secure. To celebrate his accomplishment, he had the story immortalized in the Karnak inscription and also on the famous Merenptah Stele found in his funerary temple at Thebes. The Merenptah Stele's conclusion reads, in part: The princes prostrate themselves, saying, "Peace!" Not one of Nine Bows dares raise his head; Tehenu is plundered while Hatti is peaceful, Canaan is seized by every evil, Ashkelon is carried off and Gezer is seized, Yenoam is made as that which never existed, Israel is wasted without seed, Khor is made a widow of Egypt, All the lands are at peace. Everyone who travels has been subdued by the King of Upper and Lower Egypt. The "Nine Bows" mentioned is the customary term the Egyptians gave their enemies and Tehenu is the name for Libya. The inscription is announcing how Merenptah has defeated all the contentious regions who rose against Egypt and subdued them, bringing peace. The Merenptah Stele is the first mention of Israel in recorded history but, interestingly, refers not to a country or region but to a people. Scholars still do not know what this reference means. Like the Sea Peoples, this reference to Israel continues to intrigue historians and researchers in the present day. Merenptah himself was not concerned with Israel or with any of the other countries he lists; he was satisfied that the Sea Peoples had been defeated and Egypt secured for the future. Like his predecessor, however, Merenptah would be wrong and the Sea Peoples would return. Ramesses II at The Battle of Kadesh Ramesses II at The Battle of Kadesh RAMESSES III & THE BATTLE OF XOIS During the reign of the Pharaoh Ramesses III the Sea Peoples attacked and destroyed the Egyptian trading center at Kadesh and then again attempted an invasion of Egypt. They began their activities with quick raids along the coast (as they had done in the time of Ramesses II) before driving for the Delta. Ramesses III defeated them in 1180 BCE but they returned in force. In his own victory inscription, Ramesses III describes the invasion: The foreign countries conspired in their islands. All at once the lands were removed and scattered in the fray. No land could resist their arms, from Hatti, Kode, Carchemish, Arzawa, and Alashiya on - being cut off at one time. A camp was set up in Amurru. They desolated its people and its land was like that which had never existed. They were coming forward toward Egypt, while the flame was prepared for them. Their confederation was the Peleset, Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denen, and Weshesh, lands united. They laid their hands upon the lands as far as the circuit of the earth, their hearts were confident and trusting as they said "Our plans will succeed!" The countries mentioned in the confederation of Sea Peoples might be the regions of Palestine (Peleset) or Syria (Tjeker) but this is uncertain. It is clear, though, that these are the same people - with some additions - who attacked Egypt with the Libyans in the time of Merenptah. In this invasion, as in the earlier one, the Sea Peoples were allied with Libyans and, as Ramesses III notes, they were confident of victory. They had already destroyed the Hittite state (referred to in the inscription as Hatti) in c. 1200 BCE and when Ramesses III writes, "they were coming forward toward Egypt" he would most likely be saying they were advancing steadily without opposition. Ramesses III would have known of his predecessors' clashes with these people and that they were to be taken very seriously. He decided against a field engagement and chose guerilla tactics as a strategy instead. He set up ambushes along the coast and down the Nile Delta and made especially effective use of his archers, positioning them hidden along the shoreline to rain down arrows on the ships at his signal. Once the ships' crew was dead or drowning the vessels were set on fire with flaming arrows. The attack by sea had been crushed and Ramesses III then turned his attention to what was left of the invading force on land. He employed the same tactics as before and the Sea Peoples were finally defeated off the city of Xois in 1178 BCE. Egyptian records, again, detail a glorious victory in which many of the Sea Peoples were slain and others taken captive and pressed into the Egyptian army and navy or sold as slaves. Although Ramesses III had saved Egypt from conquest, the war was so expensive it drained the Royal Treasury and the tomb builders at the village of Set Maat (modern Deir el-Medina) could not be paid. This led to the first labor strike in recorded history where the workers walked off the job and refused to return until they were fully compensated. After their defeat by Ramesses III the Sea Peoples vanish from history, the survivors of the battle perhaps being assimilated into Egyptian culture. No records indicate where they came from and there are no accounts of them after 1178 BCE but, for almost one hundred years, they were the most feared sea raiders in the Mediterranean region and a constant challenge to the might and prosperity of Egypt. THE ENDURING MYSTERY As noted above, there is no agreement on who the Sea Peoples were even though one will find plenty of scholars and would-be scholars arguing heatedly for their particular claim. The Egyptian inscriptions discussed here provide almost all there is to know of these people outside of references in letters from the Hittites and Assyrians which shed no more light on the subject. That they were well known to the Egyptians is clear from the fact that they are never introduced as a foreign people and the possibility they were friends, or even allies, of Egypt is suggested by their presence in the army of Ramesses the Great and the sense of surprise expressed at the invasions. Historian Marc van de Mieroop writes: Both Merenptah and Ramesses III present [the attacks] as sudden events, unforeseen and with massive numbers of people involved. Ramesses III's reliefs even show carts loaded with women, children, and household goods, as if a population movement was involved. His account of the Sea Peoples' appearance in the north of the eastern Mediterranean suggests that it was unexpected, very sudden, and highly destructive. But Merenptah had reported occurrences of the same type thirty years earlier. Nor were the names of the members of the Sea Peoples new in the Egyptian record. Several of them appeared decades earlier (251-252). The Sea Peoples are also mentioned in the literature of Egypt - in The Tale of Wenamun most notably - where they appear as familiar figures in the Mediterranean landscape. Why these people rose up so regularly against Egypt - if, in fact, they did - continues to mystify historians and scholars. Historians such as Marc van de Mieroop believe the question of the Sea Peoples' identity will never be known and there is no longer a point in trying to discover it. He writes, "One can wonder why the Sea Peoples have engendered so much passion" and states, "Why they still appear in every textbook on world history remains to be explained" (259). The explanation is simple though: the Sea Peoples' actual identity remains a mystery and human beings have always been drawn to the mysterious - and always will be.

Swidden Agriculture

The form of subsistence agriculture in which crops are grown in different fields on a rotating basis. Also called shifting agriculture or slash-and-burn agriculture.

Speciation

The formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution.

Malthusian Trap

The point at which resources are exhausted by population increase, resulting in suffering, misery, famine, starvation, and population decline.

Vedic India

The period in Indian history during which the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, were composed. First society after the fall of the Indus River Civilization ran by the Aryan people 1500-500 BCE Indus River Valley area Aryans The Vedic Period (or Vedic Age) (c. 1500 - c. 500 B.C.E.) is the period in the history of India during which the Vedas, the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism, were being composed. Based on literary evidence, scholars place the Vedic period in the second and first millennia B.C.E. continuing up to the sixth century B.C.E. The associated culture, sometimes referred to as Vedic civilization, was centered in the northern and northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent. Its early phase saw the formation of various kingdoms of ancient India. In its late phase (from ca. 600 B.C.E.), it saw the rise of the Mahajanapadas, and was succeeded by the Maurya Empire (from ca. 320 B.C.E.) the classical age of Sanskrit literature, and the Middle kingdoms of India. The literary legacy from this period does not contain much detailed historical information. To some degree, this places the Vedic era within prehistory. The literary legacy, however, does take us back to one of very earliest human societies. Some claim that the line from Vedic times to today represents the oldest known continuous civilization on earth. Vedic society's sophisticated organization, its profound interest in human origins, in the question of the meaning and purpose of life combined with a refusal to speculate, its championing of order against chaos and of order within society, suggest a maturity that is often associated with humanity at a much later stage of development. The possibility that the ancient world was a more inter-connected space, with links between several continents, may also merit scholarly investigation. An inter-connected world may also have been an inter-dependent world. The development of human civilization as the result of the mixing and mingling of ideas across geo-political borders weakens race-based claims that some ethnic groups have contributed more than others to this process. Identifying the beginning of the Vedic period links with the disputed Aryan invasion theory. This theory posits that North India was originally inhabited by darker-skinned Dravidians, who may have founded the Indus Valley or Harappan civilization. Sometime around about 1,500 B.C.E. lighter-skinned invaders, known as Ayrans, pushed the Dravidians South. These invaders are said to have originated from the Iranian regions; some moved to the West, some to the East hence Indo-European languages derived from their ancient tongue are linguistic cousins. This theory also explains some similarity between the content of the Vedas and "the ancient Iranian religion of Zoroastrianism."[1] Against this theory, developed from the linguistic work of F. Max Müller[2] is the total lack of any traditions or stories describing such an invasion. According to the invasion theory, the Vedic literature would have begun as oral tradition initially developed outside India. Feuerstein, Kak, and Frawley are among those who reject the Aryan invasion, arguing that this is nothing more than "scholarly function."[3] It was the writers of the Vedas who settled the Indus Valley and that the Aryans were "native to India for several millennia, deriving their Sanskrit language from earlier Indo-European dialects."

Lactation

The secretion of milk from the mammary glands. * Women were in charge of raising and lactating the children

Venus of Willendorf

This Old Stone Age statuette exhibits exaggerated female features. * The artifact known as the Venus of Willendorf dates to between 24,000-22,000 B.C.E., making it one of the oldest and most famous surviving works of art. But what does it mean to be a work of art? What did it mean? In the absence of writing, art historians rely on the objects themselves to learn about ancient peoples. The form of the Venus of Willendorf—that is, what it looks like—may very well inform what it originally meant. The most conspicuous elements of her anatomy are those that deal with the process of reproduction and child rearing. The artist took particular care to emphasize her breasts, which some scholars suggest indicates that she is able to nurse a child. The artist also brought deliberate attention to her pubic region. Traces of a pigment—red ochre—can still be seen on parts of the figurine. In contrast, the sculptor placed scant attention on the non-reproductive parts of her body. This is particularly noticeable in the figure's limbs, where there is little emphasis placed on musculature or anatomical accuracy. We may infer from the small size of her feet that she was not meant to be free standing, and was either meant to be carried or placed lying down. The artist carved the figure's upper arms along her upper torso, and her lower arms are only barely visible resting upon the top of her breasts. As enigmatic as the lack of attention to her limbs is, the absence of attention to the face is even more striking. No eyes, nose, ears, or mouth remain visible. Instead, our attention is drawn to seven horizontal bands that wrap in concentric circles from the crown of her head. Some scholars have suggested her head is obscured by a knit cap pulled downward, others suggest that these forms may represent braided or beaded hair and that her face, perhaps once painted, is angled downward. If the face was purposefully obscured, the Paleolithic sculptor may have created, not a portrait of a particular person, but rather a representation of the reproductive and child rearing aspects of a woman. In combination with the emphasis on the breasts and pubic area, it seems likely that the Venus of Willendorf had a function that related to fertility. Without doubt, we can learn much more from the Venus of Willendorf than its diminutive size might at first suggest. We learn about relative dating and stratification. We learn that these nomadic people living almost 25,000 years ago cared about making objects beautiful. And we can learn that these Paleolithic people had an awareness of the importance of the women. The Venus of Willendorf is only one example of dozens of paleolithic figures we believe may have been associated with fertility. Nevertheless, it retains a place of prominence within the history of human art. * PERSPECTIVE!!

"Hydraulic Societies"

To a nomad, first encountering an ancient city must have been much like walking into one of our science fiction movies, only more incredible. After all, we have cities on which to base our concepts of science fiction movies. The nomad really had little or nothing to give him the idea for our ancient city. One should see what a remarkable leap forward it was when the human animal started changing the face of the earth with cities. If agriculture, with its surplus that frees other people for other pursuits, is the backbone of civilization, cities are its heart and soul. Cities are where those extra people congregate to practice the arts and skills of civilization: pottery, metallurgy, weaving, art, architecture, literature, commerce, and so on. Even the word civilization shows the importance of cities to it, since it comes from the Latin word, civitas, meaning city. The rise of hydraulic civilizations Isolated cities such as Jericho and Catal Huyuk did not create civilizations. That accomplishment depends on a number of cities spread out over an area and sharing a common culture: language, technology, religion, art, and architecture. The first civilizations arose along hot dry river valleys in Egypt, Mesopotamia, northwest India, and China. The importance of rivers to these civilizations has given rise to the term : hydraulic civilization, coming from hydra, the Greek word for water. Such rivers provided easy transportation and trade for people in their valleys. Such people traded goods and also ideas. In time, a common culture would emerge, as each village would tend to adopt the better ideas and techniques of its neighbors along the river. The rivers and the hot dry climate spawned another activity critical to early civilizations: irrigation. Let us focus on Mesopotamia, where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were the only reliable sources of water for farming. The fact that these rivers flooded annually gave the farmers the idea of bringing river water to their fields. At first, it involved nothing more than catching floodwaters and letting them gradually run back to the fields. In time, as the population and need for more farmland increased, the irrigation got more involved and complex. Such a project required a high degree of organization and cooperation, and that required leadership. Keep in mind, ancient peoples viewed rivers as gods. This meant that cutting into them and tapping their water supplies had religious implications. As a result, the local village priest supervised the irrigation. In return, the priest would get offerings of grain and farm animals. Since these offerings were much more than he could consume himself, the surplus food served as the earliest form of "capital", that is wealth that can be invested in operations beyond what is needed for survival. Naturally, the priest put the "capital" back into his "business", building a bigger temple and storehouse to hold the extra grain and animals. This involved hiring extra accountants, builders, and guards who would settle with their families around the temple. Over time, the irrigation would lead to more crops, which led to more people, which led to the need to develop more farmland and irrigation. This, in turn led to more offerings and further expansions of the temple and the settlement around it. Once the town was large enough, craftsmen would move in who would provide needed goods such as pottery and tools to the temple's workers. Thus, a third level of population below those of the priest and their workers would emerge. Over the centuries, as the population, irrigation, and temple kept expanding, what was once a small farming village evolved into a thriving city gathered around the temple. Such a city would need or want wood, limestone, metal, and other goods that the area could not supply. As a result, some men would become merchants, traveling far and wide to trade the city's surplus for other goods. In this way, the city would grow even more populous and wealthy. The long, continuous river valley of Mesopotamia meant that not just one village priest, but dozens were faced with the problems and rewards of irrigation. Thus, the process of cities growing up around temples was repeated over and over throughout Mesopotamia. Since the rivers tended to create a common culture, these cities resembled each other quite a bit in how they grew up and even in how they looked. For example, temple expansion generally took the form of building additions on top of the older temple. This gave the temples, or ziggurats as they were called, the appearance of pyramids. At this point, with dozens of cities united by a common culture springing up throughout Mesopotamia, we can say civilization has emerged. Its first people, the Sumerians, step onto the stage of history around 3000 B.C.E. Civilization brought problems as well as blessings. For one thing, the continued expansion of population and farmland to feed it eventually led to cities clashing over new lands. With civilization came the first wars. Since priests were ill suited for fighting, they would choose a lugal, ("great man") to lead them in the fight. After the war, the lugal would be expected to resign his office. However, either because of ambition or the fact that another war was always around the corner, the lugal would keep his office. In time, he became a permanent official, the king, who led the city-state in war and administered justice in peacetime. This often led to tension with priests who felt their own positions threatened. The temple (or, more technically, the gods) controlled most of the land. This often made the temple unpopular with the people, who looked to the king for protection. Eventually, the king would emerge as the most powerful figure in the city, although the temple would remain quite influential, still controlling much land, patronizing the arts, and acting as a grain bank and redistribution center during times of famine. Another problem brought on by civilization was that the larger population of cities (sometimes 20-30,000) meant that people did not always know one another. This led to distrust and oftentimes crime. The influx of wealth also meant more clearly defined social classes since the wealth was not distributed evenly. This, plus all the different types of jobs being done, led to distrust and disagreement. Law codes had to be formed and courts of justice maintained, which also led to the need for a king's strong central government. Cities and civilization also gave rise to new arts, crafts, and technology. Weaving was certainly one of the most remarkable crafts if we consider how much imagination it took to see a fabric in the fiber of the flax plant. Its importance should be obvious to anyone who wears clothes. Pottery was another craft of great significance. Sealed pottery jars could keep bugs and vermin out of peoples' food supply, preserving it in terms of quantity and hygiene. The rise of civilization also saw the evolution of two other types of technology vital to our way of life: writing and metallurgy.

Corvée Labor

Unpaid forced labor usually by lower classes, forced upon them by the government * Form of forced labor when lower class peoples were required to work for a lord or a government, usually to build public works projects, without compensation especially since there was no standard currency. In ancient China, Corvee system was used to build the Great Wall and Egyptians were used to build the pyramids. Corvee is related to social since it helped to create a hierarchy insuring that laborers were the lowest and poorest members of society.

Astral Navigation

Using stars to establish direction

Sedentarization

Voluntary or coerced settling down, particularly by pastoral nomads in the Middle East; living in groups permanently in one place. * Settling down into agriculture rather than hunter and gatherer societies or pastoral nomads; near easily accessible sources of water

Humanity / the Humanities

the quality of being human (human race)

Mahayana Buddhism

"Great Vehicle" branch of Buddhism followed in China, Japan, and Central Asia. The focus is on reverence for Buddha and for bodhisattvas, enlightened persons who have postponed nirvana to help others attain enlightenment. * Also known as popular Buddhism, is allows people more ways to reach enlightenment and boddhisatvas can help you reach enlightenment.

Bantu Migrations

(1500BCE to 500CE) As the Bantu people migrated, they spread the Bantu family of languages and culture. The Bantu also spread the use of iron, which improved farming techniques and agricultural efficiency, the greater food supply sparked economic development and population growth. The changes instigated by the Bantu migration increased the vitality of sub-Saharan Africa. The Bantu migration was one of the first formative events in African history. It's necessary to understand this if you want to understand how modern Africa came to be. The Bantu-speaking peoples migrated from Western Africa-- near modern-day Nigeria-- southward and eastward, spreading out across all of the southern half of the African continent. This migration started at about 1000 B.C.E., and ended at about 1700 A.D. although that date is still in dispute. The Bantu-speaking peoples brought agriculture to the southern half of Africa, which was mostly populated by foragers, herders, and hunter-gatherers. Bantu peoples settled land and created great empires like the Great Zimbabwe and the Zulu kingdom, and continued to expand and settle more land. This changed so much of Africa very dramatically. This migration, or expansion, was discovered through LANGUAGE. Bantu refers to several similar languages, or a 'family' of languages, that can be found throughout central and south Africa. language today, Contemporary Bantu languages are different from the ancestral languages of 3000 years ago, and it is this change and evolution in language that has allowed historians and anthropologists to track this great movement across a huge continent.

Persepolis

A complex of palaces, reception halls, and treasury buildings erected by the Persian kings Darius I and Xerxes in the Persian homelan; the capital and greatest palace-city of the Persian Empire, destroyed by Alexander the Great.

Malaria

A disease caused by mosquitoes implanting parasites in the blood; this disease is commonly associated with poverty and is spread by mosquitoes.

Environmental Determinism

A doctrine that claims that cultural traits are formed and controlled by environmental conditions.

Eurocentrism

A form of ethnocentrism that uses European ethnic, national, religious, and linguistic criteria to judge other peoples and their cultures (the dominance of European (especially English) cultural patterns).

Inflation

A general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money. * The roman economy suffered from inflation (an increase in prices) beginning after the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Once the Romans stopped conquering new lands, the flow of gold into the Roman economy decreased. Yet much gold was being spent by the romans to pay for luxury items. This meant that there was less gold to use in coins. As the amount of gold used in coins decreased, the coins became less valuable. To make up for this loss in value, merchants raised the prices on the goods they sold. Many people stopped using coins and began to barter to get what they needed. Eventually, salaries had to be paid in food and clothing, and taxes were collected in fruits and vegetables.

Sickle Cells

A group of disorders that cause red blood cells to become misshapen and break down, was a way to adapt against malaria (sickle shaped)

latifundia

A latifundium was a Roman agricultural estate worked largely by peasants and slaves. The historical importance of these states is usually brought into focus in general history books in relation to their proliferation during the second century B.C. and the implications for the health of the Roman state. Many poor farmers were displaced as aristocrats bought out large swaths of land from small farmers. The result was a deceasing pool of military recruits: only landowners could serve in the military. The brothers Tiberius and Galus Gracchus were killed owing at least in part to their plan to redistribute the land. Marius, a general and consul, dropped the requirement of land ownership in order to increase the recruitment pool for the military. He understood that the defense of the vast Roman territories required numbers. Some opposed this policy on the grounds that the admission of farmers into the army would undermine the spirit and quality of the military. After Marius' death, his reforms were undone. The same problem presented itself under Julius Caesar, as he attempted to revive small agricultural landholdings, and he was assassinated by members of the Roman aristocracy who saw this and other popular reforms as a threat to their status. In short, land reform was no laughing matter. The aristocrats who dominated the Senate struggled against the practical reforms of the rulers, so as to preserve the latifundia and their privileged position in Roman society.

"Great Leap Sideways"

A paradox in which women made breakthroughs in agriculture, which should have bettered life, but instead caused patriarchy and oppression, making their gender inferior

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.

Seed-Drill Plows

A sowing machine which uses the seed drill concept A seed drill is a device that sows the seeds for crops by metering out the individual seeds, positioning them in the soil, and covering them to a certain average depth. This makes sure the seed will be placed evenly. The seed drill sows the seeds at equal distances and proper depth, ensuring that the seeds get covered with soil and are saved from being eaten by birds. This allows plants to get sufficient sunlight, nutrients and water from the soil. Before the introduction of the seed drill, a common practice was to plant seeds by hand. Besides being wasteful, planting was usually imprecise and led to a poor distribution of seeds, leading to low productivity. The use of a seed drill can improve the ratio of crop yield (seeds harvested per seed planted) by as much as nine times. Seed drills of earlier centuries included single-tube seed drills in Sumer and multi-tube seed drills in China, and later a seed drill by Jethro Tull that was influential in the growth of farming technology in recent centuries. Even for a century after Tull, hand sowing of grain remained common.

Chauvet Cave

A spectacular discovery at Chauvet Cave, in southwestern France, in 1994 overturned all previous ideas about the development of prehistoric art. Dating to about 35,000 years ago (much older than the 20,000-year-old paintings from Lascaux, in southeastern France, or the 17,000-year-old paintings from Altamira, in northwestern Spain), they are the oldest prehistoric cave paintings known in Europe. The hundreds of representations found at Chauvet Cave are more detailed and more brilliant than the ones at Altamira and Lascaux. There are drawings of mammoths, musk oxen, horses, lions, bears, bison, and even rhinoceroses, as well as human palm prints (and footprints on the cave's floor) and "Venus" figures with exaggerated female genitalia—the latter apparently signifying a preoccupation with human fertility. These amazing engravings and paintings shocked scholars because they were produced only a few thousand years after the first modern humans appeared in Europe. * The earliest known painted cave, dated to between 38,000 and 33,000 years ago. It is located in France.

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. * In the agriculture based communities, males always were dominant. this was the case in the house and in leadership. women were left to do the laborious agricultural tasks. happened on a global level * Development of male authority is being seen as societies, like the hunters and gatherers, begin shifting towards sedentarization.

Salinization

Accumulation of salts in soil that can eventually make the soil unable to support plant growth. * The Mesopotamian technological breakthrough was in irrigation, not in agrarian methods. Because the soils were fine, rich, and constantly replenished by the floodwaters' silt, soil tillage was light work. Farmers sowed a combination of wheat, millet, sesame, and barley (the basis for beer, a staple of their diet). Unforeseen, however, was the danger of planting every year, for by estroyed by the constant accumulation of salts deposited through constant use.the third millennium the fertile soils had been d

Greek Vowels

Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda, Mu, Nu, Xi, Omicron, Pi, Rho, Sigma, Tau, Upsilon, Phi, Chi, Psi, Omega; based on Phoenician alphabet. The vowels are α, ε, η, ι, ο, ω, υ. The remaining letters are consonants. Vowels are either short or long. There are separate Greek characters (ε, η, ο, ω) for the e and o sounds, but not for a, i, and u sounds. In this book the long vowels are designated by α macron- a straight line that appears above the vowel when it is long- , η, ῑ, ω, ῡ; the short vowels are α, ε, ι, ο υ.

Silk Road

An ancient trade route between China and the Mediterranean Sea extending some 6,440 km (4,000 mi) and linking China with the Roman Empire. Connected China, India, and the Middle East. Traded goods and helped to spread culture (East to West). * The Silk Road was an ancient network of trade routes, formally established during the Han Dynasty of China, which linked the regions of the ancient world in commerce between 130 BCE-1453 CE. As the Silk Road was not a single thoroughfare from east to west, the term 'Silk Routes' has become increasingly favored by historians, though 'Silk Road' is the more common and recognized name. The Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in silk carried out along its length, beginning in the Han dynasty (207 BCE-220 CE) Though silk was the major trade item exported from China, many other goods were traded, as well as religions, syncretic philosophies, sciences, and technologies. Diseases, most notably plague, also spread along the Silk Road.[8] In addition to economic trade, the Silk Road was a route for cultural trade among the civilizations along its network. * The greatest value of the Silk Road was the exchange of culture. Art, religion, philosophy, technology, language, science, architecture, and every other element of civilization was exchanged along these routes, carried with the commercial goods the merchants traded from country to country. Along this network disease traveled also, as evidenced in the spread of the bubonic plague of 542 CE which is thought to have arrived in Constantinople by way of the Silk Road and which decimated the Byzantine Empire.

Dysentery

An infection of the intestines marked by severe diarrhea. * Dirty feces and unsanitary/unhygenic spaces * Dirty water

Easter Island

An island in the eastern Pacific Ocean, part of Polynesia, known for its giant human head statues.

Savannah

An open grassland with scattered trees. * Like all ice ages, it had warming and cooling phases that lasted between 40,000 and 100,000 years each. Between 10 and 12 million years ago, the climate in Africa went through one such cooling and drying phase. To the east of Africa's Rift Valley, stretching from South Africa north to the Ethiopian highlands, the cooling and drying forced the forests to contract and the savannas to spread. It was in this region that some apes came down from the trees, stood up, and learned to walk, to run, and to live in savanna lands—thus becoming the precursors to humans and distinctive as a new species. * Using two feet for locomotion augmented the means for obtaining food and avoiding predators and improved the chances of these creature to survive in constantly changing environments.

Asceticism

Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their practices or continue to be part of their society, but typically adopt a frugal lifestyle, characterised by the renunciation of material possessions and physical pleasures, and time spent fasting while concentrating on the practice of religion or reflection upon spiritual matters. Asceticism has been historically observed in many religious traditions, including Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Christianity, and Judaism

Orthodoxy

Authorized or generally accepted theory, doctrine, or practice.

Axial Age

Axial Age: Term often used to describe the pivotal period of the first millennium BCE, when radical thinkers across the "second generation societies" of Afro-Eurasia including the Greek philosopohers of the Mediterranean sea, Zoroaster in Southwest Asia, Buddha in South Asia, and Confucius and Master Lao in East Asia. Offered dramatically new ideas that challenged their times. The Axial Age involved powerful impulses for cultural integration. * The Axial Age (also called Axis Age) is the period when, roughly at the same time around most of the inhabited world, the great intellectual, philosophical, and religious systems that came to shape subsequent human society and culture emerged—with the ancient Greek philosophers, Indian metaphysicians and logicians (who articulated the great traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism), Persian Zoroastrianism, the Hebrew Prophets, the "Hundred Schools" (most notably Confucianism and Daoism) of ancient China....These are only some of the representative Axial traditions that emerged and took root during that time. The phrase originated with the German psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers, who noted that during this period there was a shift—or a turn, as if on an axis—away from more predominantly localized concerns and toward transcendence. * Axial Age thinkers displayed great originality and yet exhibited surprising similarity with respect to their ultimate concerns. Indian thinkers came to think of karma, the residual effects of past actions, as having direct impact upon human life, and they proposed solutions for how human beings could attain liberation (moksha) from karma's effects. In ancient Greece Socrates was the exemplar of thinkers who emphasized the use of reason in the relentless investigation of truth, and his student Plato (arguably the father of Western philosophy) adapted his teacher's insight in theorizing how the world of everyday existence and the eternal world of the ideas interrelate. Chinese thinkers striving to unify the kingdom and avert civil war disputed and debated the appropriate "way" (dao) for human society; the disciples of Confucius, for example, argued that the dao consisted in promoting a humane civilization, while the disciples of such thinkers as Zhuangzi took the Cosmic Dao as a guide for life. The Hebrew Prophets came to view the god of their nation, Israel, as the God who created heaven and earth and who shaped the destiny of all people. The tradition of Zoroastrianism (so named for Zoroaster [Persian name Zarathustra]) conceived of human history as a microcosm of the cosmic struggle between good and evil and each human life as a constant living out of the struggle to choose good over evil. Yet, in all cases, the representative thinkers saw themselves as postulating solutions to life's questions and problems not only for themselves or even for their cultures but for humankind as a whole. As local and tradition-specific as their investigations may have begun, their concerns were global, even universal. * A term coined by German philosopher Karl Jaspers to describe the period from 800 to 200 BCE, during which similar new ways of thinking appeared in Persia, India, China, and the Western world.

Baths of Caracalla

Built by Emp. Caracalla to please his citizens (vicious ruler) large pools, spas, gym, gardens...basically ancient country clubs for citizens to relax in luxury. Took many manpower to build and tend. * The Baths of Caracalla in Rome, Italy, were the city's second largest Roman public baths, or thermae, likely built between AD 212 (or 211) and 216/217, during the reigns of emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla.[2] They were in operation until the 530s and then fell into disuse and ruin.

Cyprus

Cyprus is a large island located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, east of Greece, south of Asia Minor, west of the Levant, and north of Egypt. The naming of the island is a matter of dispute amongst historians. One theory suggests that the large quantity of copper deposits on the island gave the name Cyprus, as copper has the Latin name of cuprum (the Latin symbol is Cu). Cyprus has always had strategic importance. It was a must-have strategic point for all major powers at different times. The island was occupied by the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Persians, the Rashidun and Umayyad Arab Caliphates, the Lusignans, the Venetians, the Crusaders, the English, and finally the Ottomans. STONE AGE CYPRUS: The first human presence on the island dates back to 7000 BCE. There were two important Neolithic villages on the island, both near the modern town of Limassol: Khirokitia and Kalavasos. Khirokitia had approximately 3000 to 4000 residents, and it was the first location on the island to create a strong community with houses and social organization. At the end of the Neolithic era (c. 3900 BCE), a group of settlers from Palestine came to the island, attracted by the copper deposits. From 3900 BCE to 2500 BCE, the Cypriots started working with copper and the island started rising as an economic force in the Mediterranean. During this time, there was profound interaction with the Egyptians, especially in art and the use of hieroglyphics by many Cypriot kings. BRONZE AGE CYPRUS The Bronze Age (c. 2500 BCE to 1050 BCE), was both a time of growth and foreign occupation for Cyprus. After the end of the war with Troy and due to the Dorian invasion in Greece, the Mycenaean Greeks started permanently settling on the island (c. 1100 BCE). There were ten coastal Mycenaean kingdoms on the island. It was then that the Cypriots started feeling more Greek and adopted the Greek language and religion. The Cypriot Archaic Era (c. 750 BCE to 475 BCE) was a problematic time for the island's inhabitants, as the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Persians succeeded one another as rulers of the island. Around 709 BCE Sargon II of Assyria extorted submission taxes from Cyprus in exchange for the island's independence. By 699 BCE the Assyrians were involved in other conflicts and had to leave Cyprus. Pharaoh Amasis of Egypt used the same policy as the Assyrians, when he claimed to be ruler of the island, around 560 BCE. CLASSICAL CYPRUS Full occupation of the island came with the Persians, around 546 BCE. The Persians came to the island in a peculiar way. When they heard that King Cyrus of Persia was heading west, the Cypriot kings sent him a message, surrendered their kingdoms to him, and even agreed to supply him with military forces in order to aid his conquest of Caria. Cyrus accepted the offer and in return allowed the Cypriots to mint their own coins and have their own leadership, but he also sent military troops and settlers to Cyprus in order to control the island and the Eastern Mediterranean. The Persians remained on the island until Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire and in doing so freed the island again. After Alexander's death in 323 BCE, the island became part of the Ptolemaic Empire during the Hellenistic Period. After the death of Alexander the Great, Cyprus passed on to the Ptolemaic rule. Still under Greek influence, Cyprus gained full access to the Greek culture and thus became fully hellenised. ROMAN CYPRUS When the Romans became the largest power in the Meditteranean, Cyprus became their focus for various reasons. It became a Roman province in 58 BCE, when Marcus Cato took control of the island. Cyprus suffered under Roman rule, along with bad management and severe taxes. The island also suffered great losses during the Kitos War (also known as the Second Jewish-Roman War) of 115-117 CE. The Jewish leader Artemion killed many Cypriots (reportedly up to 240,000), until he was defeated by a Roman army in 117 CE. Subsequently, the Roman government passed laws banning Jews from the island. The apostles Paul and Varnavas, along with the evangelist Marcus came to Cyprus and spread Christianity among the Cypriots. Τhe Cypriots accepted the new religion, and because the Church of Cyprus was founded by Apostles, the Cypriot church had and still has the right to have her own Archbishop - autokefalus. After the division of the Roman Empire into eastern and a western halves, Cyprus came under the rule of the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire).The Byzantine Emperors paid much attention to Cyprus, due to its vital position in the empire. Alas, Cyprus' position once more proved to be a curse for the island: The Arabs, in their strategy of encircling the Byzantine Empire, started invading Cyprus, first in 648/9 CE, when Emir Moabia invaded and destroyed the city of Constantia (the capital of Cyprus at the time). The same thing happend in 653, 743, 806, and finally 911 CE, until Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas reconquered Cyprus for the Byzantine Empire (944-966 CE).

Classicism

Deriving from the orderly qualities of ancient Greek and Roman culture; implies formality, objectivity, simplicity, and restraint; the principles and styles admired in the classics of Greek and Roman literature, such as objectivity, sensibility, restraint, and formality

Law Codes

First known laws/rules by which people had to live, developed by the Sumerians; A code of law, also called a law code or legal code, is a type of legislation that purports to exhaustively cover a complete system of laws or a particular area of law as it existed at the time the code was enacted, by a process of codification. Though the process and motivations for codification are similar in different common law and civil law systems, their usage is different. Ex. Hammurabi's code: 282 laws that applied to everyone; published and set in stone; punishments usually harsh and even death

Antonine Plague

First plague during the descent of the roman empire; 165-180 BC. Possibly smallpox brought back from the Near East; killed a quarter of those infected and up to five million in all. 5,000 people a day were said to be dying in Rome. * The Antonine Plague of 165 to 180 AD, also known as the Plague of Galen (from the name of the Greek physician living in the Roman Empire who described it), was an ancient pandemic brought back to the Roman Empire by troops returning from campaigns in the Near East. Scholars have suspected it to have been either smallpox or measles, but the true cause remains undetermined. The epidemic may have claimed the life of a Roman emperor, Lucius Verus, who died in 169 and was the co-regent of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, whose family name, Antoninus, has become associated with the epidemic. The disease broke out again nine years later, according to the Roman historian Dio Cassius (155-235), causing up to 2,000 deaths a day in Rome, one quarter of those who were affected, giving the disease a mortality rate of about 25%. The total deaths have been estimated at five million, and the disease killed as much as one-third of the population in some areas and devastated the Roman army.

Spoke-Wheel Chariots

For one thousand years, chariots rolled through the Middle East, terrifying armies, destroying infantry lines and changing the face of war. Sumerians used heavy battlewagons with solid wheels drawn by wild asses around 2600 B.C. Until the innovation of spoked wheels, the weight of the battlewagons hindered their utility in war. The domestication of the horse inspired further chariot innovation as horses increased chariot mobility and speed. Drawn by horses, with lighter carts and spoked wheels, chariots gained their status as an elite weapon and transport. Two wheeled war chariots carrying an archer and a driver, combined with the use of the composite bow, fully revamped military tactics around 1700 B.C. Chariots spread to Greece, Asia Minor, Iran, India and China. Chariot use in war declined slowly, beginning around 1000 B.C. With the advent of mounted cavalry; however, chariot use ended in the Middle East circa 500 to 300 B.C. The First Chariots: Battlewagons The antecedent of the chariot was the ox cart in Mesopotamia, used to transport trade goods and agricultural products. Not long after, Mesopotamians created wagons to carry a ruler and his soldiers to the battlefield. These battlewagons with four solid wheels were heavy, but on the battlefield, they provided a platform from which archers and spearmen could shoot and throw missiles at the enemy. The Standard of Ur shows battlewagons in the War panel. Pulled by wild asses, these battlewagons carried two men, a spear man and a driver. Both dismounted to fight. Spoked Wheels Scholars believe that people of the steppes—a wild grassy plain running from Hungary to China through Central Asia—domesticated the horse and created the first spoked-wheel chariot around 2000 B.C. North-south trade routes brought both horses and spoked wheels to the Near East cultures of Mesopotamia, Iran, Syria, Persia and Egypt. Spoked wheels were a major improvement on the heavier solid wheels, allowing a lighter, speedier vehicle. Uses of Chariots on the Battlefield Different armies used chariots in a variety of ways. The Hittites, for instance, built heavier chariots that were used to crash into infantry lines. More often, chariots were lighter, created to be a platform for archers. Masses of chariots were then used to get close to the enemy and decimate them with arrows. Egypt's armies used chariots for speedy transport on the battlefield and as all-purpose war machines. The Persians added the innovation of scythed chariot wheels, long blades that stuck out from the hubs, killing enemy foot soldiers in the hundreds. Rome kept chariots for racing, hunting and ceremonies while India used them as platforms for archers.

Gallic Invasions

Gallic Invasions of Italy B.C. 390-121 Rome — versus — Gauls of Northern Italy First Invasion: the Senones, 390-283 B.C. Conquest of Cisalpine Gaual, 232-194 B.C. Third Invasion: the Averni, 495-455 B.C. Most of Rome's neighbors were of Italian or Mediterranean descent, and were approximately as civilized as the Romans themselves. The Gauls (also known as Celts), who had settled in northern Italy were different. The had crossed over the passes of the Alps from the unknown lands of northern Europe and were ferocious, and relatively uncivilized warriors. Hostilities between the two nations began in about 400 BC and continued for several hundred years, during which time Gauls often joined forces with Rome's other enemies. Eventually Julius Caesar pacified the Gauls by conquering their home territories in Western Europe, and these wars, referred to as the Roman Conquest of Gaul, are treated elsewhere. The following are some of the major campaigns against Rome, between the fourth and first century B.C. in which the Gauls figured prominently. First Invasion : the Senones : B.C. 390-283 Gaul THE GAULS AND THE SENATORS. The Romans first encounter with the Gauls was a terrible one. In about 400 B.C. the Senones, a tribe from western Europe, crossed the Alps and settled in Northern Italy. There they swiftly came into conflict with Etruscan tribes in the area, who petitioned Rome for help. The Roman ambassadors sent to treat with the Gauls got drawn into combat in violation of the laws of diplomacy. This so enraged the Gauls they marched immediately upon Rome. The Roman army, unprepared and disorganized, was routed at the Battle of Allia, and many of the citizens fled the undefended city. The Gauls burned most of the city but a garrison held the capitol until, according to Livy, the great Roman hero Camillus arrived with an army, and drove the Gauls out. (In another version of the story, the Roman's paid a ransom.) The Romans rebuilt their destroyed city, but the incident left a great impression on the Romans, and July 18, the Day of Allia, was for hundreds of years a solemn day of remembrance on which no official business could be transacted. Samnite and Etruscan Wars After this incident, the Gauls settled down in Northeast Italy, and were a constant source of threat and nuisance to the Roman republic. They frequently joined with enemies of Rome, during her wars of Italian unification, and were especially prominent in the Samnite Wars. In 283 B.C. they served as mercenaries in an Etruscan War, and at Arretium destroyed a Roman army with over 13,000 casualties. Revenge was soon taken. At the Battle of Lake Vadimon, the Romans defeated the Etruscans and their Gallic allies, and then marched into Gallic territory, destroyed all of the Gallic towns, killed the men and enslaved the women. This remainder of the Senones tribe, having no homes to return to, migrated north, probably into the Danube area. 389 BC Battle of the Allia (First ) Gauls victory Fought July 16, 389 B.C., between the Romans, 40,000 strong, under Quintus Sulpicius, and the Gauls, about equal in numbers, under Brennus. The Romans took post on the Allia to check the advance of the Gauls on Rome. Here they were attacked by Brennus, who routed the right wing, where the younger soldiers were posted, and then broke the Roman centre and left, putting them to flight with enormous loss. 389 BC Siege of Rome (Second ) Gauls victory The first siege of Rome by the Gauls, under Brennus, took place B.C. 389. No attempt was made to defend the city, which was seized and burnt by the barbarians, the greater part of the population fleeing to Veii and other neighbouring cities. The Capitol, however, was held by the leading Patrician families, and it is said withstood a siege of six months, when Brennus accepted a heavy ransom and withdrew his army. 283 BC Battle of Arretium (Etruscan War ) Etruscans and Gauls victory Fought B.C. 283, when the consular army of L. Caecilius Metellus, marching to the relief of Arretium, which the Etruscans were besieging, met with a disastrous defeat. Thirteen thousand, including Metellus, were slain, and the rest made prisoners. 283 BC Battle of Lake Vadimon (First ) Romans victory Fought B.C. 283, between the Romans, under P. Cornelius Dolabella, and the Gauls and their Etruscan allies. Dolabella attacked the Etruscans as they were crossing the Tiber close to the lake, and destroyed the flower of their army. He then fell upon the Gauls, whom he also defeated with heavy loss, with the result that in the following year they made peace and withdrew from Italy.

"Hellenistic" Culture

Greek culture blended with Egyptian, Persian and Indian ideas, as a result of Alexander the Great's Empire.;combination of Greek, Egyptian, Persian, and Indian cultures. Culture associated with the spread of Greek influence and intermixture with other cultures as a result of Macedonian conquests.

Co-evolution

In the context of evolutionary biology, coevolution refers to the evolution of at least two species, which occurs in a mutually dependent manner. Coevolution was first described in the context of insects and flowering plants, and has since been applied to major evolutionary events, including sexual reproduction, infectious disease, and ecological communities. Coevolution functions by reciprocal selective pressures on two or more species, analogous to an arms race in an attempt to outcompete each other. Classic examples include predator-prey, host-parasite, and other competitive relationships between species. While the process of coevolution generally only involves two species, multiple species can be involved. Moreover, coevolution also results in adaptations for mutual benefit. An example is the coevolution of flowering plants and associated pollinators (e.g., bees, birds, and other insect species). * Process by which two species evolve in response to changes in each other

Sumptuary Laws

Laws that controlled consumption or how people spent their money, these regulated the dress of different classes forbidding people from wearing clothes of their social superiors- laws limiting the consumption of certain goods to particular classes of people. Ex. The Sumptuariae Leges of ancient Rome were various laws passed to prevent inordinate expense (Latin sūmptus) in banquets and dress, such as the use of expensive Tyrian purple dye. In the early years of the Empire, men were forbidden to wear silk.

Attila the Hun

Leader of the Huns: The fierce leader of a barbarian tribe that was invading Italy; 405-453, was the Emperor of the Huns from 434 until his death in 453. He was leader of the Hunnic Empire which stretched from Germany to the Ural River and from the River Danube to the Baltic Sea. During his reign, he was one of the most feared enemies of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires. He crossed the Danube twice and plundered the Balkans, but was unable to take Constantinople. His unsuccessful campaign in Persia was followed in 441 by an invasion of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, the success of which emboldened Attila to invade the West.[3] He also attempted to conquer Roman Gaul (modern France), crossing the Rhine in 451 and marching as far as Aurelianum (Orléans) before being defeated at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. He subsequently invaded Italy, devastating the northern provinces, but was unable to take Rome. He planned for further campaigns against the Romans, but died in 453. After Attila's death, his close adviser, Ardaric of the Gepids, led a Germanic revolt against Hunnic rule, after which the Hunnic Empire quickly collapsed.

Loess Soil

Loess is a geologically recent deposit of silt or material which is usually yellowish or brown in color and consisting of tiny mineral particles brought by wind to the places where they now lie. It is a product of past glacial activity in an area. It is a sedimentary deposit of mineral particles which are finer than sand but coarser than dust or clay, deposited by the wind. Loess is a type of silt which forms fertile topsoil in some parts of the world. Loess deposits are usually a few meters thick. One of the key characteristics of these deposits is the 'cat steps'. The soil has few clay particles to hold it together. It is composed mainly of quartz crystals which slide easily against each other, and is therefore very subject to erosion. Because of this, there are mini-earth slides, which form the steps. Loess was formed during the time after the Ice Age when glaciers covered a great portion of the earth. When the climate warmed up, the warm temperatures melted the glaciers creating tremendous flows of water down into a valley or river, and exposing vast plains of mud. When these plains dried, strong winds blew the exposed sediments and swept the finer materials from the flood plains into huge clouds of dust, which were deposited into the bluffs, that is, bold steep banks. As silt accumulated, higher bluffs were formed. Often several loess deposits are stacked on top of each other, because each individual glacier produced new loess deposits. Topsoils made up of loess are found in the central and northwestern parts of United States, in central and eastern Europe, and in eastern China.

Pictograms and Ideograms

Mesopotamian writings that included the interaction of pictures and symbols to express ideas 3500-1500 BC

Monsoons

Monsoons are seasonal winds that bring moist air from oceans and seas over land. The winds are in the reverse direction of flow from the non-monsoon season, and can generate copious precipitation as well as changes in the surface currents in the sea. While farming depends upon monsoons for rainfall, disastrous flooding can often occur during monsoons. A monsoon that blows from the southwest between May and September brings rain and is referred as a wet monsoon. A monsoon that blows between October and April and brings no rain is referred to as a dry monsoon. A monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea. Typically, it is a wind particular to southern Asia that causes the rainy season. At times the rain involved is continuous for long periods of time and can be very heavy. Monsoons can bring strong winds, including a lot of rain at times,which can last for months. * The semitropical Indus Valley had plentiful water from melting snows in the Himalayas that ensured flourishing vegetation. Nor did the region suffer the yearly monsoon downpours that flooded the Ganges plain. The expansion of agriculture in the Indus basin depended on the river's annual floods to replenish the soil and avert droughts (as in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China). From June to September, the rivers inundated the plain. Once the waters receded, farmers planted wheat and barley. They harvested crops the next spring as temperatures rose. At the same time, the villagers improved their tools of cultivation.

Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization Hypothesis (MFAC)

Moseley's (1975) Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization hypothesis challenges, in one of humanity's few pristine hearths of civilization, the axiom that agriculture is necessary for the rise of complex societies. We revisit that hypothesis by setting new findings from La Yerba II (7571-6674 Cal bp) and III (6485-5893 Cal bp), Río Ica estuary, alongside the wider archaeological record for the end of the Middle Preceramic Period on the Peruvian coast. The La Yerba record evinces increasing population, sedentism, and "Broad Spectrum Revolution" features, including early horticulture of Phaseolus and Canavalia beans. Yet unlike further north, these changes failed to presage the florescence of monumental civilization during the subsequent Late Preceramic Period. Instead, the south coast saw a profound "archaeological silence." These contrasting trajectories had little to do with any relative differences in marine resources, but rather to restrictions on the terrestrial resources that determined a society's capacity to intensify exploitation of those marine resources. We explain this apparent miscarriage of the Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization (MFAC) hypothesis on the south coast of Peru by proposing more explicit links than hitherto, between the detailed technological aspects of marine exploitation using plant fibers to make fishing nets and the emergence of social complexity on the coast of Peru. Rather than because of any significant advantages in quality, it was the potential for increased quantities of production, inherent in the shift from gathered wild Asclepias bast fibers to cultivated cotton, that inadvertently precipitated revolutionary social change. Thereby refined, the MFAC hypothesis duly emerges more persuasive than ever.

Compound Bows

New weapon developed in Asia that allowed for non-hand to hand combat. The Composite Bow/Chariot Combination The introduction of the composite bow around 2000 B.C. and its employment by charioteers (1700 B.C.) made the chariot an essential war machine. Composite bows were made by gluing wood, horn and sinew together, creating a vastly superior weapon over the self bow made of wood alone. Archers using composite bows could now fire much faster, with more striking power with at least twice the range of the self bow. Archers mounted on chariots could fire an arrow every six seconds with good accuracy. Formations of chariots carrying bowmen became an army's deadliest weapon. The Downside Chariots, however, were expensive to make and maintain. They required flat ground to be effective, needed constant maintenance and broke down often. Chariot repair teams traveled right with the army, ready to do maintenance when required. The Assyrian army had a special logistical branch just for chariots and cavalry. Men and horses had to be trained in its use, which gave rise to the first warrior elites, the charioteers. These men were the first warriors to be selected for their skills and not by birth. Chariot Battles While most armies used chariots as offensive weapons, the Egyptians employed chariots as defensive weapons—to protect their infantry by combating the enemies' chariots. The Hittites and the Egyptians, the two superpowers of the time, came together at the Battle of Kadesh (1274 B.C.) Thousands of chariots were used by each side, which were manned by archers shooting composite bows. The Hittite chariots were heavier and thus slower and difficult to drive. The lighter Egyptian chariots were faster and far more agile. This manoeuvrability enabled Egypt to win the day, although the Hittites retained its Syrian territory, which was the root cause of the battle. Use of chariots in warfare ended after the Battle of Gaugamela (331 B.C.) between the Persians and Alexander's Macedonian forces. When the chariots of Darius III attacked the Macedonian infantry lines, Alexander's tactic merely opened up the line and allowed the chariots to pass through, and re-closed the line. The Macedonians then surrounded the Persian chariots and destroyed them. More armies were employing trained cavalry by this time. As cavalry could go where chariots could not, the chariot's heyday came to an end.

Xiongnu

Nomadic peoples to the north of the Great Wall of China who were a frequent threat to the stability of the Chinese state. Nomadic raiders from the grasslands north of China during the reign of Han dynasty; emperor Wudi fought against them in the mid-100s BC. A confederation of nomadic peoples living beyond the northwest frontier of ancient China. Chinese rulers tried a variety of defenses and stratagems to ward off these 'barbarians,' as they called them, and dispersed them in 1st Century. (168) * Domain and influence of Xiongnu under Modu Chanyu around 205 BC Asia in 200 BC, showing the early Xiongnu state and its neighbors In 209 BC, three years before the founding of Han China, the Xiongnu were brought together in a powerful confederation under a new chanyu, Modu Chanyu. This new political unity transformed them into a more formidable state by enabling formation of larger armies and the ability to exercise better strategic coordination. The Xiongnu adopted many of the Chinese agriculture techniques such as slave labor for heavy labor, wore silk like the Chinese, and lived in Chinese-style homes.[26] The reason for creating the confederation remains unclear. Suggestions include the need for a stronger state to deal with the Qin unification of China[27] that resulted in a loss of the Ordos region at the hands of Meng Tian or the political crisis that overtook the Xiongnu in 215 BC when Qin armies evicted them from their pastures on the Yellow River.[28] After forging internal unity, Modu expanded the empire on all sides. To the north he conquered a number of nomadic peoples, including the Dingling of southern Siberia. He crushed the power of the Donghu people of eastern Mongolia and Manchuria as well as the Yuezhi in the Hexi Corridor of Gansu, where his son, Jizhu, made a skull cup out of the Yuezhi king. Modu also reoccupied all the lands previously taken by the Qin general Meng Tian. Under Modu's leadership, the Xiongnu threatened the Han dynasty, almost causing Emperor Gaozu, the first Han emperor, to lose his throne in 200 BC.[29] By the time of Modu's death in 174 BC, the Xiongnu had driven the Yuezhi from the Hexi Corridor, killing the Yuezhi king in the process and asserting their presence in the Western Regions.[5] The Xiongnu were recognized as the most prominent of the nomads bordering the Chinese Han empire[29] and during early relations between the Xiongnu and the Han, the former held the balance of power. According to the Book of Han, later quoted in Duan Chengshi's ninth century Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang:

Celts from the West

Popular cultural group of Europe; they were traders who spread goods (difficult to pin down origin). Considered a language group- spoke 'Lingua Franca', a popular trade language created for better communications across regions This book is an exploration of the new idea that the Celtic languages originated in the Atlantic Zone during the Bronze Age, approached from various perspectives pro and con, archaeology, genetics, and philology. This Celtic Atlantic Bronze Age theory represents a major departure from the long-established, but increasingly problematical scenario in which the story of the Ancient Celtic languages and that of peoples called Keltoí Celts are closely bound up with the archaeology of the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures of Iron Age west-central Europe

Arian Christianity

Religion which believed that Christ was only a mortal man begotten of God and reduced his role to the lesser demigod. The Goths, Egyptian Christians, and barbaric Christians of Europe practiced this. Attacked by Justin, which united the east and the west. Arianism is a nontrinitarian Christological doctrine which asserts the belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who was begotten by God the Father at a point in time,[1] a creature distinct from the Father and is therefore subordinate to him, but the Son is also God (i.e. God the Son). Arian teachings were first attributed to Arius (c. AD 256-336), a Christian presbyter in Alexandria of Egypt. The teachings of Arius and his supporters were opposed to the theological views held by Homoousian Christians, regarding the nature of the Trinity and the nature of Christ. The Arian concept of Christ is based on the belief that the Son of God did not always exist but was begotten within time by God the Father. * nontrinitarian (do not believe in the trinity)

Roman Road

Roman roads were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. They provided efficient means for the overland movement of armies, officials, and civilians, and the inland carriage of official communications and trade goods. Roman roads were of several kinds, ranging from small local roads to broad, long-distance highways built to connect cities, major towns and military bases. These major roads were often stone-paved and metaled, cambered for drainage, and were flanked by footpaths, bridleways and drainage ditches. They were laid along accurately surveyed courses, and some were cut through hills, or conducted over rivers and ravines on bridgework. Sections could be supported over marshy ground on rafted or piled foundations.

Decline and Fall of Rome

Rome was having a severe problem with leadership. Levels of politicians they had were not that good, higher level officials found a loophole out of the government and into the Christian church as bishops. As Rome began to decline, the institution began to decline and revolt as well, it hurt the upper class because upper class refused to do anything to help the means to trade goods, the ideas and tools of technology never advanced or got better. Brought about by Economic, Social, and succession problems and also by the Barbarian and Persian invasions Western and Eastern Empires The empire was to big so they had to give up land, they were getting attacked, disease, not much food bc farmers went to war. 1. Invasions by Barbarian tribes The most straightforward theory for Western Rome's collapse pins the fall on a string of military losses sustained against outside forces. Rome had tangled with Germanic tribes for centuries, but by the 300s "barbarian" groups like the Goths had encroached beyond the Empire's borders. The Romans weathered a Germanic uprising in the late fourth century, but in 410 the Visigoth King Alaric successfully sacked the city of Rome. The Empire spent the next several decades under constant threat before "the Eternal City" was raided again in 455, this time by the Vandals. Finally, in 476, the Germanic leader Odoacer staged a revolt and deposed the Emperor Romulus Augustulus. From then on, no Roman emperor would ever again rule from a post in Italy, leading many to cite 476 as the year the Western Empire suffered its deathblow. 2. Economic troubles and overreliance on slave labor Even as Rome was under attack from outside forces, it was also crumbling from within thanks to a severe financial crisis. Constant wars and overspending had significantly lightened imperial coffers, and oppressive taxation and inflation had widened the gap between rich and poor. In the hope of avoiding the taxman, many members of the wealthy classes had even fled to the countryside and set up independent fiefdoms. At the same time, the empire was rocked by a labor deficit. Rome's economy depended on slaves to till its fields and work as craftsmen, and its military might had traditionally provided a fresh influx of conquered peoples to put to work. But when expansion ground to a halt in the second century, Rome's supply of slaves and other war treasures began to dry up. A further blow came in the fifth century, when the Vandals claimed North Africa and began disrupting the empire's trade by prowling the Mediterranean as pirates. With its economy faltering and its commercial and agricultural production in decline, the Empire began to lose its grip on Europe. 3. The rise of the Eastern Empire The fate of Western Rome was partially sealed in the late third century, when the Emperor Diocletian divided the Empire into two halves—the Western Empire seated in the city of Milan, and the Eastern Empire in Byzantium, later known as Constantinople. The division made the empire more easily governable in the short term, but over time the two halves drifted apart. East and West failed to adequately work together to combat outside threats, and the two often squabbled over resources and military aid. As the gulf widened, the largely Greek-speaking Eastern Empire grew in wealth while the Latin-speaking West descended into economic crisis. Most importantly, the strength of the Eastern Empire served to divert Barbarian invasions to the West. Emperors like Constantine ensured that the city of Constantinople was fortified and well guarded, but Italy and the city of Rome—which only had symbolic value for many in the East—were left vulnerable. The Western political structure would finally disintegrate in the fifth century, but the Eastern Empire endured in some form for another thousand years before being overwhelmed by the Ottoman Empire in the 1400s. 4. Overexpansion and military overspending At its height, the Roman Empire stretched from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Euphrates River in the Middle East, but its grandeur may have also been its downfall. With such a vast territory to govern, the empire faced an administrative and logistical nightmare. Even with their excellent road systems, the Romans were unable to communicate quickly or effectively enough to manage their holdings. Rome struggled to marshal enough troops and resources to defend its frontiers from local rebellions and outside attacks, and by the second century the Emperor Hadrian was forced to build his famous wall in Britain just to keep the enemy at bay. As more and more funds were funneled into the military upkeep of the empire, technological advancement slowed and Rome's civil infrastructure fell into disrepair. 5. Government corruption and political instability If Rome's sheer size made it difficult to govern, ineffective and inconsistent leadership only served to magnify the problem. Being the Roman emperor had always been a particularly dangerous job, but during the tumultuous second and third centuries it nearly became a death sentence. Civil war thrust the empire into chaos, and more than 20 men took the throne in the span of only 75 years, usually after the murder of their predecessor. The Praetorian Guard—the emperor's personal bodyguards—assassinated and installed new sovereigns at will, and once even auctioned the spot off to the highest bidder. The political rot also extended to the Roman Senate, which failed to temper the excesses of the emperors due to its own widespread corruption and incompetence. As the situation worsened, civic pride waned and many Roman citizens lost trust in their leadership. 6. The arrival of the Huns and the migration of the Barbarian tribes The Barbarian attacks on Rome partially stemmed from a mass migration caused by the Huns' invasion of Europe in the late fourth century. When these Eurasian warriors rampaged through northern Europe, they drove many Germanic tribes to the borders of the Roman Empire. The Romans grudgingly allowed members of the Visigoth tribe to cross south of the Danube and into the safety of Roman territory, but they treated them with extreme cruelty. According to the historian Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman officials even forced the starving Goths to trade their children into slavery in exchange for dog meat. In brutalizing the Goths, the Romans created a dangerous enemy within their own borders. When the oppression became too much to bear, the Goths rose up in revolt and eventually routed a Roman army and killed the Eastern Emperor Valens during the Battle of Adrianople in A.D. 378. The shocked Romans negotiated a flimsy peace with the barbarians, but the truce unraveled in 410, when the Goth King Alaric moved west and sacked Rome. With the Western Empire weakened, Germanic tribes like the Vandals and the Saxons were able to surge across its borders and occupy Britain, Spain and North Africa. 7. Christianity and the loss of traditional values The decline of Rome dovetailed with the spread of Christianity, and some have argued that the rise of a new faith helped contribute to the empire's fall. The Edict of Milan legalized Christianity in 313, and it later became the state religion in 380. These decrees ended centuries of persecution, but they may have also eroded the traditional Roman values system. Christianity displaced the polytheistic Roman religion, which viewed the emperor as having a divine status, and also shifted focus away from the glory of the state and onto a sole deity. Meanwhile, popes and other church leaders took an increased role in political affairs, further complicating governance. The 18th-century historian Edward Gibbon was the most famous proponent of this theory, but his take has since been widely criticized. While the spread of Christianity may have played a small role in curbing Roman civic virtue, most scholars now argue that its influence paled in comparison to military, economic and administrative factors. 8. Weakening of the Roman legions For most of its history, Rome's military was the envy of the ancient world. But during the decline, the makeup of the once mighty legions began to change. Unable to recruit enough soldiers from the Roman citizenry, emperors like Diocletian and Constantine began hiring foreign mercenaries to prop up their armies. The ranks of the legions eventually swelled with Germanic Goths and other barbarians, so much so that Romans began using the Latin word "barbarus" in place of "soldier." While these Germanic soldiers of fortune proved to be fierce warriors, they also had little or no loyalty to the empire, and their power-hungry officers often turned against their Roman employers. In fact, many of the barbarians who sacked the city of Rome and brought down the Western Empire had earned their military stripes while serving in the Roman legions. 476 C.E.

Slave Markets

Slavery in ancient Rome played an important role in society and the economy. Besides manual labour, slaves performed many domestic services, and might be employed at highly skilled jobs and professions. Accountants and physicians were often slaves. Slaves of Greek origin in particular might be highly educated. Unskilled slaves, or those sentenced to slavery as punishment, worked on farms, in mines, and at mills: their living conditions were brutal, and their lives short. Slaves were considered property under Roman law and had no legal personhood. Unlike Roman citizens, they could be subjected to corporal punishment, sexual exploitation (prostitutes were often slaves), torture, and summary execution. Over time, however, slaves gained increased legal protection, including the right to file complaints against their masters. A major source of slaves had been Roman military expansion during the Republic. The use of former soldiers as slaves led perhaps inevitably to a series of en masse armed rebellions, the Servile Wars, the last of which was led by Spartacus. During the Pax Romana of the early Roman Empire (1st-2nd centuries AD), emphasis was placed on maintaining stability, and the lack of new territorial conquests dried up this supply line of human trafficking. To maintain an enslaved work force, increased legal restrictions on freeing slaves were put into place. Escaped slaves would be hunted down and returned (often for a reward). There were also many cases of poor people selling their children to richer neighbors as slaves in times of hardship. Throughout the Roman period many slaves for the Roman market were acquired through warfare. Many captives were either brought back as war booty or sold to traders,[9] and ancient sources cite anywhere from hundreds to tens of thousands of such slaves captured in each war.[10][11] These wars included every major war of conquest from the Monarchical period to the Imperial period, as well as the Social and Samnite Wars.[12] The prisoners taken or re-taken after the three Roman Servile Wars (135-132, 104-100, and 73-71 BC, respectively) also contributed to the slave supply.[13] While warfare during the Republic provided the largest figures for captives,[14] warfare continued to produce slaves for Rome throughout the imperial period.[15] Piracy has a long history of adding to the slave trade,[16] and the period of the Roman Republic was no different. Piracy was particularly affluent in Cilicia where pirates operated with impunity from a number of strongholds. Pompey was credited with effectively eradicating piracy from the Mediterranean in 67 BC.[17] Although large scale piracy was curbed under Pompey and controlled under the Roman Empire, it remained a steady institution and kidnapping through piracy continued to contribute to the Roman slave supply. Augustine lamented the wide scale practice of kidnapping in North Africa in the early 5th century AD.[18]

homo habilis

Species name meaning "skillfull man." Toolmaking ability made Homo Habilis the forerunners, though very distant, of modern humans. * Extinct species of upright east African hominid having some advanced human-like characteristics (first to make stone tools).

Secondary State Formation

State formation is the process of the development of a centralized government structure in a situation where one did not exist prior to its development. Wu concludes her first chapter with an overview of three forms of secondary states that she believes can be represented by the material culture and textual records of Shandong during the Zhou period. The first is the regional state, which she defines as those states that were directly established by the Zhou court through appointment of royal kin and trusted allies to govern strategic locations throughout newly conquered territories. The second type formed under direct political and economic incorporation into the larger Zhou political system, and includes those states that might have previously been part of a different political network. The third are those states that have local indigenous origins and that formed through interaction with the political more complex Zhou state. Wu examines in detail these three types of states through three important case studies in her third through fifth chapters. The third chapter focuses on the first of the three types of secondary states that Wu claims developed in Shandong over the course of the Zhou period, namely, the "regional state." She characterizes a regional state as a colony that was established directly by Western Zhou political mandate, and that was "responsible for the reproduction not only of the material components of the Zhou culture, but also of the social and political system of the Zhou" (p. 65). Using the state of Qi as a case study, Wu analyzes the process by which this kind of state was established in northern Shandong as it is exhibited by archaeological and then paleographical and historical evidence. Her archaeological analysis is divided into two sections, elite contexts and non-elite contexts; all of the archaeological sites she refers to are located in and around the modern Zibo in northern Shandong. The elite context is centered on the site of Chenzhuang, which comprises several large and elaborate burials along with a protective wall, building foundations, sacrificial earthen platforms, and pottery kilns. Wu argues that this site should best be understood as a Qi high elite cemetery site that was in use from the Early Western Zhou to the Middle Western Zhou period. This is due, she says, to the high concentration of bronzes and jades at the site that are stylistically consistent with examples from the Zhou core area in Shaanxi, as well as to the contents of the inscriptions that many of them bear, which refer to members of the Jiang 姜 clan receiving appointments and rewards for service from the Zhou kings as well as intermarrying with the Zhou royal lineage. Wu argues that these "symbols of power" are evidence of "colonial imposition" on the part of the Zhou upon the Zibo area, and were part of a system used by the Zhou to "redistribute key ritual goods...and thereby to confer prestige, building support for the state authority" (p. 90). The elites represented by this cemetery sites, she claims, were most likely individuals appointed by the Zhou king to serve as a political arm of the royal court in newly conquered territory, and that eventually developed into the state of Qi. In the fourth chapter, Wu shifts her attention to the second type of secondary state introduced in her first chapter, the "state with Dong Yi origins." These states, she says, refer to those polities that were ruled by leaders of non-Zhou, indigenous local origins and who were referred to by the Zhou as "Dong Yi" (Eastern Barbarians). In analyzing this type of state, Wu tackles the question of how much local agency can be detected into the material culture record of the Jiaodong Peninsula and thus how people may have reacted and adapted to growing Zhou presence and influence on the region. The analysis unfolds in three parts. First, she reviews the material culture conditions of the Jiaodong Peninsula prior to Zhou incursion, focusing on the ecological features that she believes contributed to settlement and indigenous cultural development independent from Central Plains cultures, such as access to shell fish, salt, and copper ore. She then identifies nine phases of archaeological cultures, primarily through pottery, of which the Zhenzhumen (ca. 1300 - 957 B.C.E.) and Nanhuangzhuang Cultures (ca. 1045 - 771 B.C.E.) correspond to the Late Shang and Early to Middle Western Zhou, respectively. Then, using archaeological evidence from three clusters of sites located in the Huang River, Wulong River, and Yantai areas of the Jiaodong peninsula, combined with bronze inscriptional evidence of Zhou military campaigns unearthed both in Shandong and Shaanxi, Wu argues that beginning in the early Western Zhou period, a "population associated with the Western Zhou state including at least some ethnic Zhou from Shaanxi...must have been active in the [Jiaodong] region" (p. 139). The focus of the fifth chapter is the third type of secondary state that formed in Shandong, specifically, those that were originally part of the Shang political network. According to Wu, these types of states can be divided into two main groups. The first are those who took part in the Rebellion of the Three Supervisors against the Western Zhou during the reign of King Cheng (r. 1042 - 1006 B.C.E.) and that were destroyed as a consequence. The second group, and the one that she explores in detail here, are those states that possibly collaborated with the Zhou and thus were able to survive into the Spring and Autumn period. Of this latter group, Wu chooses to use the state of Ji in northern Shandong as a case study due to its relatively understudied condition as well as the recent discoveries of both archaeological remains and bronze inscriptions associated with Ji from the Shouguang area of northern Shandong. Wu cleverly introduces a Late Western Zhou Ji vessel inscription unearthed in Yantai in 1969 as her lead-in to the analysis, and spends the bulk of the chapter leading the reader through the process by which this inscription came to be located northern Shandong. This process unfolds in three sections. In the final section of the conclusion, Wu outlines four factors that she believes her case studies have in common: first, each was dependent upon the Western Zhou core for their early development; second, in each case, regional-level interaction provided opportunities for transformation into important regional powers; and third, the existing pre-Zhou sociocultural situation played a crucial role in the direction of each state's development; and finally, geographical and ecological conditions also contributed to the different outcomes of these states. In essence, what Wu's case studies demonstrate is that when discussing culture change within he context of secondary state formation, no single factor is determinative of either development or decline, but that the pre-existing conditions of any social group is important to the trajectory of that group's integration into a larger system.

Yersinia Pestis

The Plague of Justinian (541-542) was a pandemic that afflicted the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, especially its capital Constantinople, the Sasanian Empire, and port cities around the entire Mediterranean Sea.[1] One of the deadliest plagues in history, the devastating pandemic resulted in the deaths of an estimated 25-50 million people in two centuries of recurrence, equivalent to 13-26% of the world's population at the time of the first outbreak.[2][3] The plague's social and cultural impact during the period of Justinian has been compared to that of the similar Black Death that devastated Europe 600 years after the last outbreak of Justinian plague.[4] Procopius, the principal Greek historian of the 6th century, viewed the pandemic as worldwide in scope.[1][5] * Black plague

"Late Antiquity"

Term ancient historians use for the Dark Ages: The multicultural period between the end of the ancient world and the birth of the Middle Ages, 250-800 C.E. Late antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages in mainland Europe, the Mediterranean world, and the Near East. The development of the periodization has generally been accredited to historian Peter Brown, after the publication of his seminal work The World of Late Antiquity (1971). Precise boundaries for the period are a continuing matter of debate, but Brown proposes a period between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Generally, it can be thought of as from the end of the Roman Empire's Crisis of the Third Century (c. 235 - 284) to, in the East, the Muslim conquests in the mid-7th century. In the West the end was earlier, with the start of the Early Medieval period typically placed in the 6th century, or earlier on the Western edges of the empire. The Roman Empire underwent considerable social, cultural and organizational changes starting with the reign of Diocletian (emperor 284 - 305 CE), who began the custom of splitting the Empire into Eastern and Western halves ruled by multiple emperors. Beginning with Constantine the Great, Christianity was made legal in the Empire, and a new capital was founded at Constantinople. Migrations of Germanic tribes disrupted Roman rule from the late 4th century onwards, culminating in the eventual collapse of the Empire in the West in 476, replaced by the so-called barbarian kingdoms. The resultant cultural fusion of Greco-Roman, Germanic and Christian traditions formed the foundations of the subsequent culture of Europe. The general decline of population, technological knowledge and standards of living in Europe during this period became the archetypal example of societal collapse for writers from the Renaissance until recent times. As a result of this decline, and the relative scarcity of historical records from Europe in particular, the period from roughly the early fifth century until the Carolingian Renaissance (or later still) was once deprecatingly referred to as the "Dark Ages". This term has been abandoned by historians: in historical scholarship of the last half-century, the late West Roman Empire, the early Byzantine empire and the Early Middle Ages are increasingly being unified in the periodization of Late Antiquity.

Diversity at Origins Principle

The Idea that at the root of a cultural development, people, or technology will have more diversity. Example: Dialects of languages are more diverse where they originated. * In The Origin of Species, Darwin proposed his principle of divergence of character (a process now termed "character displacement") to explain how new species arise and why they differ from each other phenotypically. Darwin maintained that the origin of species and the evolution of differences between them is ultimately caused by divergent selection acting to minimize competitive interactions between initially similar individuals, populations, and species. Here, we examine the empirical support for the various claims that constitute Darwin's principle, specifically that (1) competition promotes divergent trait evolution, (2) the strength of competitively mediated divergent selection increases with increasing phenotypic similarity between competitors, (3) divergence can occur within species, and (4) competitively mediated divergence can trigger speciation. We also explore aspects that Darwin failed to consider. In particular, we describe how (1) divergence can arise from selection acting to lessen reproductive interactions, (2) divergence is fueled by the intersection of character displacement and sexual selection, and (3) phenotypic plasticity may play a key role in promoting character displacement. Generally, character displacement is well supported empirically, and it remains a vital explanation for how new species arise and diversify.

Bipedalism

The ability to walk upright on two legs, characteristic of hominids. * Major trait at this stage that gave early hominins a real advantage for survival * At some point, the first hominins were able to remain upright and move about, leaving their arms and hands free for various useful tasks, such as carrying food over long distances. * Once, they ventured into open savannas (grassy plains with a few scattered trees), about 1.7 million years ago, hominins had a tremndous advantage. They were the only primates (an order of mammals consisting of humans, apes, and monkeys) to move consistently on two legs. Because they could move continuously and over great distances, they were able to migrate out of hostile environments and into more hospitable locations as needed. * Opposable thumbs

Taxation

The basic principles of taxation are nearly as old as human society—the history of taxes stretches thousands of years into the past. Several ancient civilizations, including the Greeks and Romans, levied taxes on their citizens to pay for military expenses and other public services. Taxation evolved significantly as empires expanded and civilizations become more structured. Origin of Taxation "The earliest known tax records, dating from approximately six thousand years B.C., are in the form of clay tablets found in the ancient city-state of Lagash in modern day Iraq," according to a publication on the Association of Municipal Assessors of New Jersey (AMANJ) website. This early form of taxation was kept to a minimum, except during periods of conflict or hardship. The Greeks, Egyptians and Romans also enforced tax policies that they used to fund centralized governments. The Greeks levied several types of taxes that are still enforced in many developed countries, including taxes on property and goods. Unlike early Greek taxation, the Roman policies began to weigh heavily on its citizens as the power and corruption of the empire's central government grew. The excessive tax burden on productive Roman citizens during the 4th and 5th centuries was a leading cause of the nation's eventual economic collapse5. Early taxation was not limited to European and Mediterranean civilizations, ancient Chinese societies also levied taxes on their citizens. The Chinese instituted a form of property tax around 600 B.C. that required 10 percent of cultivated land to be dedicated to the central government7. All produce generated from the dedicated portion of land was taken as a tax.

Roman Climatic Optimum

The climate of Ancient Rome varied throughout the existence of that civilization. In the first half of the 1st millennium BC the climate of Italy was more humid and cool than now and the presently arid south saw more precipitation. The northern regions were situated in the temperate climate zone, while the rest of Italy was in the subtropics, having a warm and mild climate. During the annual melt of the mountain snow even small rivers would overflow, swamping the terrain (Tuscany and the Pontine Marshes were deemed impassable in antiquity).[1] The existence of Roman civilization (including the Eastern Roman Empire) spanned three climatological periods: Early Subatlantic (900 BC-175 AD), Mid-Subatlantic (175-750) and Late Subatlantic (since 750). The written, archaeological and natural-scientific proxy evidence independently but consistently shows that during the period of the Roman Empire's maximum expansion and final crisis, the climate underwent changes.[3] The Empire's greatest extent under Trajan coincided with the Roman climatic optimum.[4] The climate change occurred at different rates, from apparent near stasis during the early Empire to rapid fluctuations during the late Empire.[3] Still, there is some controversy in the notion of a generally moister period in the eastern Mediterranean in c. 1 AD-600 AD due to conflicting publications. * The Roman Warm Period, or Roman Climatic Optimum, has been proposed as a period of unusually warm weather in Europe and the North Atlantic that ran from approximately 250 BC to AD 400.

Homo Sapiens (Anatomically Modern Humans)

The first humans; they emerged in a small region of Africa about 200,000 years ago and migrated out of Africa about 100,000 years ago. They had bigger brains and greater dexterity than previous hominin species, whom they eventually eclipsed. Homo sapiens means "wise man." * A species of the creatures Hominid who have larger brains and to which humans belong, dependent of language and usage of tools (modern humans). * The first traces of Homo Sapiens come from two sites in modern- day Ethiopia and suggest that the first modern humans emerged sometime between 200,000 and 150,000 years ago. Homo sapiens, unlike any other hominins, did not take long to become highly mobile, moving out of America sometime between 100,000 years and 60,000 years ago. * The early hominins could not form large communities, as they had limited communication skills. They could utter simple commands and communicate with hand signals, but complex linguistic expression eluded them. This achievement was one of the last in the evolutionary process of becoming human; it did not occur until between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago. Creating language enabled humans to become modern humans. * Ice age diminished other hominins leaving homo sapiens alive to migrate out of Africa

Chinese Elephants

The reintroduction of Elephants into China after there were once extinct. When reintroduced into China, they caused a shock to the population which shows how the bio-diversity of China changed over time. This relates to the agricultural theme of the course because the Chinese elephants who were once in China migrated to India due to deforestation.

Phonetics

The study and classification of speech sounds

Geography

The study of the earth's physical and cultural features.

World Systems

Theories (updating Marxism) that explain how colonialism reinforced capitalism and enabled capitalism to survive by exploiting the peripheral countries of the world. Interdependent system of countries linked by political and economic competition - For Wallerstein, "a world-system is a social system, one that has boundaries, structures, member groups, rules of legitimation, and coherence. Its life is made up of the conflicting forces which hold it together by tension and tear it apart as each group seeks eternally to remold it to its advantate. It has the characteristics of an organism, in that is has a lifespan over which its characteristics change in some respects and remain stable in others... Life within it is largely self-contained, and the dynamics of its development are largely internal" (Wallerstein, p. 347). A world-system is what Wallerstein terms a "worldeconomy", integrated through the market rather than a political center, in which two or more regions are interdependent with respect to necessities like food, fuel, and protection, and two or more polities compete for domination without the emergence of one single center forever (Goldfrank, 2000). Carlos A. Martínez Vela - ESD.83 - Fall 2001 4 In his own first definition, Wallerstein (1974) said that a world-system is a "multicultural terirtorial division of labor in which the production and exchange o basic goods and raw materials is necessary for the everyday life of its inhabitants." This division of labor refers to the forces and relations of production of the world economy as a whole and it leads to the existence of two interdependent regions: core and periphery. These are geographically and culturally different, one focusing on labor-intensive, and the other on capital-intensive production. (Goldfrank, 2000). The core-periphery relationship is structural. Semi-peripheral states acts as a buffer zone between core and periphery, and has a mix of the kinds of activities and institutions that exist on them (Skocpol, 1977). Among the most important structures of the current world-system is a power hierarchy between core and periphery, in which powerful and wealthy "core" societies dominate and exploit weak and poor peripheral societies. Technology is a central factor in the positioning of a region in the core or the periphery. Advanced or developed countries are the core, and the less developed are in the periphery. Peripheral countries are structurally constrained to experience a kind of development that reproduces their subordinate status (Chase-Dunn and Grimes, (1995). The differential strength of the multiple states within the system is crucial to maintain the system as a whole, because strong states reinforce and increase the differential flow of surplus to the core zone (Skocpol, 1977). This is what Wallerstein called unequal exchange, the systematic transfer of surplus from semiproletarian sectors in the periphery to the high-technology, industrialized core (Goldfrank, 2000). This leads to a process of capital accumulation at a global scale, and necessarily involves the appropriation and transformation of peripheral surplus. On the poltical side of the world-system a few concepts deem highlighting. For Wallerstein, nation-states are variables, elements within the system. States are used by class forces to pursue their interest, in the case of core countries. Imperialism refers to the domination of weak peripheral regions by strong core states. Hegemony refers to the existence of one core state teomporarily outstripping the rest. Hegemonic powers maintain a stable balance of power and enforce free trade as long as it is to their advantage. However, hegemony is temporary due to class struggles and the diffusion of technical advantages. Finally, there is a global class struggle. The current world-economy is characterized by regular cyclical rhythms, which provide the basis of Wallerstein's periodization of modern history (Goldfrank, 2000). After our current stage, Wallerstein envisions the emergence of a socialist world-government, which is the only-alternative world-system that could maintain a high level of productivity andchange the distribution, by integrating the levels of political and economic decision-making.

Blood Flukes

They get their start living in snails, which shed the parasites into the surrounding water. If you go wading into a blood fluke-infested pond, the missile-shaped flukes will sniff their way to your skin and drill in. Once they reach a blood vessel they surf the sanguine tide until they reach your intestines (Good-luck). * Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia, is a parasitic disease caused by trematodes from the genus Schistosoma. There are four main species that infect humans. S. mansoni, S. japonicum, and S. mekongi all cause intestinal schistosomiasis. S. haematobium causes urinary schistosomiasis. Urinary schistosomiasis is often chronic and can cause pain, secondary infections, kidney damage, and even cancer. It has been infecting humans for at least 4000 years and had its own specific hieroglyph in ancient Egyptian. In the time before treatments were widely available, it was still so prevalent in Egypt that boys were traditionally expected to go through a "male menarche"—sometime during adolescence, it was normal for them to urinate blood. S. haematobium infections continue to be a significant public health problem in much of Africa and the Middle East, second only to malaria among parasitic diseases. Continuing efforts and new strategies are needed to reduce the burden of schistosomiasis haematobium infection on the human family.

Mesopotamia

https://www.ancient.eu/Mesopotamia/

Murex Snails

made purple dye. gave the Phoenicians wealth due to trade. 60,000 snails made 1 lb dye

Body Lice

We started wearing clothes about 70,000 years ago - at least according to our lice genes. At that time the body louse (Pediculus humanus humanus) evolved from the head louse (P. humanus capitis), say Mark Stoneking and his colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. The split should correspond to the time when the body louse's habitat - clothes - became widespread. Inventing clothes may have spurred our ancestors' spread into colder climates. Archaeological and genetic evidence points to modern humans having left Africa 50,000-100,000 years ago. "It's an astonishingly good fit with the origin of body lice," says Stoneking. "It all makes sense very nicely - it's about when you'd expect humans to be picking up clothing," says evolutionary biologist Blair Hedges of Pennsylvania State University. Evidence of weaving, in the form of clay bearing the imprint of cloth, dates back 27,000 years. The oldest needles are about 40,000 years old. The first clothes were presumably animal skins. But today's lice live on woven fabrics, and it's unclear whether they infest fur coats, says louse expert Chris Lyal of the Natural History Museum in London. "If lice can live on furs, they could have exploited [clothes] as soon as we started sticking them on our bodies," he says. * Can act as a vector to transmit diseases

Gracilization

What: The process of domesticating animals mentally will affect it physically. Physical change in dogs: more childlike face, thinner bones. Why: By becoming more of a settled societies by domesticating all these species, Humans have domesticated themselves Connections -Dogs -Dimitri Belyaev

East-West Axis of Diffusion

Where: The world, specifically Asia, Europe, Africa. When: Neolithic, pleistocene era. Why is this important.. This is important because as people migrated they migrated east and west not north and south. This was because the climate stays relatively similar east to west where as it changes north to south. The reason for this has to do with climate. Think about what happens to the climate as you move in a line from the north to the south. Typically, the climate gets warmer as you go (if you are in the Northern Hemisphere). Now think about what happens to the climate as you go from east to west. In most cases, the climate does not change all that much. Now think about what that means for the plants. Plants that can thrive in one climate can typically not thrive in another climate. That is why people in Florida can grow oranges but no people in New York or Indiana cannot. When you move along an east-west axis, the same plants can grow all along that axis. That is why corn can grow in Washington State and grow in Minnesota, more than a thousand miles away. Thus a crop can diffuse along an east-west axis. A crop that is domesticated in one area can be borrowed by people living to the east or the west of that area. This allows continents with long east-west axis to have crops diffuse, helping civilization to emerge all across the continent. This is not so possible in land masses with north-south axes.

"Great Leap Forward" (Behaviorally Modern Humans)

Who/what: The evolution of communication through introduction of language to express abstract thought When/Where: 150,000-30,000 years ago * 150,000-30,000 ya, Chauvet Cave. Ability to represent concepts symbolically; capacity for abstract thought, in this case representation of the physical world through art.

Sinographic Sphere

Who: Chinese people. What: This is the symbolic picture-language utilized in the region (sphere) of China. When: Warring states period (2000 BCE or thereabouts). Where: China. Significance: Did not adopt the Greek alphabet, but instead used a 1,000 character alphabet that was visualized through picture-based language. Shows the theme of diversity at the origins as much difference is seen in writing between here and European writing. Ex. Characters move to Japan. These characters are able to be used without knowing the language, unlike alphabetic. This means that one can write and understand chinese without speaking it.