Anth Final Review

Polynesia

"many islands"; the largest region of Oceania; covers a large, triangular area from New Zealand in the south to Hawaii in the north to Easter Island in the east

Aztec

(1200-1521) 1300, they settled in the valley of Mexico. Grew corn. Engaged in frequent warfare to conquer others of the region. Worshipped many gods (polytheistic). Believed the sun god needed human blood to continue his journeys across the sky. Practiced human sacrifices and those sacrificed were captured warriors from other tribes and those who volunteered for the honor.

Mesoamerican Sacrifice

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Anasazi

A Native American who lived in what is now southern Colorado and Utah and northern Arizona and New Mexico and who built cliff dwellings (AD 700-1300), "developed adobe architetecture ; built the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, Colorado for protection. Worked the land extensively developed irrigation system * made cloth and baskets"

Micronesia

A Pacific Ocean region that includes the culturally diverse, generally small islands north of Melanesia. Micronesia includes the Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands, and Federated States of Micronesia

Cuzco

A city in southern Peru; capital of the Inca empire from the 1200s to the 1500s Fertile valley

Cahokia

A city of the Mound builders of the Mississippi housing 30,000 people(AD 1250). In what is now Illinois; has over 100 mounds; maize-bean-squash farmers

Moche

A civilization that coexisted with Nazca, but on northern Peruvian coast. They watered corn, bean, potato, squash, and peanut crops with irrigation from rivers flowing from the Andes mountains. They created beautiful jewelry and pottery. They pictured themselves healing, weaving, and playing musical instruments. They never developed writing. Also, their religion and reasons for falling aren't understood.

Maya

A member of an American Indian people of Yucatan and Belize and Guatemala who had a culture (which reached its peak between AD 250 and 900) characterized by outstanding architecture and pottery and astronomy.

Mississippian

A mound-building culture. Emerged in the floodplains of the major southeastern river systems around AD 800 and lasted to AD 1500. They made mounds. Maize-based agriculture. The adoption and use of riverine (or more rarely marine) shell-tempering agents in their ceramics. Widespread trade networks. The development of the chiefdom. The development of institutionalized social inequality. A centralization of control of combined political and religious power in the hands of few or one. The beginnings of a settlement hierarchy. The adoption of the paraphernalia of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex.

Mesa Verde

A place in Colorado where the Anasazi built houses along cliffs to protect them from raiders. This village had 200 room and many ladders for climbing. They lived here until the late 1200s.

Melanesia

A region in Oceania meaning "black islands", Pacific Ocean region that includes that culturally complex, generally darker-skinned peoples of New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Fiji.

Pueblos

A village of large apartment-like buildings made of clay and stone, built by the Anasazi and later peoples of the American Southwest.

Hiram Bingham

American archaeologist who stumbled across Machu Picchu in 1911 in search of Vilcabamba. He is responsible for bringing the attention of the Machu Picchu site to public eye. Discovered roughly 40,000 artifacts that he had excavated including bones, mummies, and tools.

La Venta

An ancient island town of Middle America on the east coast of what is now Mexico; center of Olmec culture in 1000 B.C. surrounded by swamps and rivers; 17 giant heads came from here w large prominent soil

Chaco Canyon

An urban center established by Anasazi located in southern New Mexico. There, they built a walled city with dozens of three-story adobe houses with timbered roofs. Community religious functions were carried out in two large circular chambers called kivas.

Mesoamerican ballgame

Ancient Mesoamerican ballgame in which two teams would play against each other with a rubber ball. The losing team would be put to death (as a sacrifice, a game that was played by the "gods" and settled disputes, there were great rewards for the victors

Nazca

Andean civilization that arose when the Chavin culture declined. This culture flourished along the southern coast of Peru from around 200 BC to AD 600. They developed extensive irrigation systems, including underground canals. Known fro their beautiful textiles and pottery.

Chinampa

Artificial gardens on floating islands/farms that surrounded Tenochtitlan. Built because of lack of available farmland

Pochteca

Aztec merchants. Extremely wealthy. Had a huge quantity of material goods etc. But explicitly forbidden to take part in political hierarchy so as not to throw off the balance of power.

Inca

Becoming human. The event and process in which the eternal Son of God took on flesh and entered human history.

Codices

Books written by pre-Columbian and colonial-era Aztecs, provide some of the best sense of Aztec culture, books made out of fig tree bark used by the Mayans

Monk's mound

Built by Cahokians. Large, pyramid like mound where nobles built there houses. Made entirely out of earth. Largest pyramid ever built in North America. 35 meters high; 1000 ft N-S, 700 ft E-W; 13-17 stages w stockade around. (AD 900-1250)

Adena

Built in the Ohio Valley. Built mounds which turned into graves. Villages smaller than Poverty Point had similar culture, however burial was entirely dependent on social status.(1000-200BC)

Tenochtitlan

Capital of the Aztec Empire, located on an island in Lake Texcoco. Its population was about 150,000 on the eve of Spanish conquest. Mexico City was constructed on its ruins., An ancient Aztec capital on the site of present-day Mexico City. Founded c. 1325, it was destroyed by the Spanish in 1521.

Hohokam

Centered on the middle Gila River and lower Salt River drainages, in what is known as the Phoenix basin. Native americans who constructed an assortment of simple canals in their various agricultural pursuits, also built and maintained extensive irrigation networks. (300 BC- AD 1450)

4 Corners Area

Colorado, Utah , New MExico, Arizona

Mana

Comprimises the directing and controlling of a group of people for the purpose of coordinating and harmonizing the group toward accomplishing a goal

Mogollon

Culture of the desert tradition. 200 BC to 900 AD. Centered in western NM and eastern Arizona. Lived in semi-subterranean houses scattered on ridges. Zunis come out of this culture;, culture whose settlement included dozens of pit houses, made by digging out a rounded pit about 15 feet in diameter and a foot or two deep then erecting poles to support a roof of branches or dirt

Tradewinds

Flows at 30 degrees north and south latitude, where air sinks, warms, and returns to the equator in a westerly direction, steady winds that blow from east to west toward the equator, replacing air that rises at the equator

Mississipian mounds

Hopewell and Adena

Mesoamerica

Is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries., "Middle America" the region extending from modern-day Mexico through Central America

Ahu

Main god of Zoroastrianism who represented truth and goodness and was perceived to be in an eternal struggle with the malign spirit Angra Mainyu.

South American domesticates

Manioc,Tomato,Cashews,Sweet Potato,Pineapple,Beans,Potato,Beans (Lima and many other types),Quinoa

Moai

Massive statues on Easter Island made by the Polynesians. ancestor figures, "discovered" on Easter sunday 1772

Vinland

Means "Land of Wine", given by Leif Ericsson to the present-day Canadian province of Newfoundland., Scandinavian name for the land explored near present day Newfoundland

Thor Heyerdahl

Name the Norwegian anthropologist who made a 4,100-mile journey from Peru to Polynesia to prove his theory about migration of people by sea routes., a Norwegian explorer that set sail in 1947 to prove his theory of Polynesians coming from Peru; wrote Kon Tiki

Hopewell

Native American culture which centered in the Ohio valley; known for earthen burial and defensive mounds.(250 BC-AD 600)

earspools

Personal ornament inserted in stretched space of pierced earlobe; stud earrings

Huaca del Sol

Temple built on Moche River. For religious and/or political purposes. Bright painted geometric designs on outside. Believed the sun was the sea and their ancestors came from the sun, City of the Moche, flat topped adobe pryamids, remanents of thousands of houses, irrigation, pyramid of moon covered in murals, each level shows different people/different styles

Little Ice Age

Temporary but significant cooling period(1200s AD- mid 1600s AD); accompanied by wide temperature fluctuations, droughts, and storms, causing famines and dislocation.

Myth of the Moundbuilders

The belief that the people who built mounds, or moundbuilders, were said to be a race of superior beings who were killed off by later people

Olmec

The first Mesoamerican civilization. Between ca. 1200 and 600 B.C.; created a vibrant civilization that included intensive agriculture, wide-ranging trade, ceremonial centers, and monumental construction.

Mississippian society

The last and most complex of the Native American mound builder societies, inhabiting the Ohio & Mississippi river valleys from about 700 CE into the 1500s; settled farming communities, including Cahokia. Used a new variety of maize called Northern Flint. Characterized by urban-ism, social stratification, craft specialization, and regional trade.

Pukao

The red hats or topknots formerly placed on top of some Moai statue. (From volcanic stone)

Accretional mounds

These burial mounds, some of them reaching heights of at least 6 meters (20 feet), are believed to have been made by the ancestors of the Manahoac and other eastern Siouan groups. They are unique in that they contained hundreds to thousands of corpses.

Cliff Dwellings

These were houses that were built on cliffs. They were unique because they placed you on top of everything. the Indians used ladders to reach them and were extremely protected, because they could remove the ladders to keep invaders from reaching them., Type of Anasazi canyon housing found at southwestern sites such as Mesa Verde

Mayan Writing

They used hieroglyphics,picture symbols, to represent sounds, words, and ideas. Hieroglyphics have been found on stoneware and other artifacts dating from possibly as early as 300 B.C.E. They often wrote about rulers, history, myths and gods, wars, elites, territories and astronomy.

Macchu Picchu

This was a major city in the Inca Empire in high altitude. The city was built around 1450 and was discovered only in 1911. It is believed to have been a major religious center., incan city that mightve been the religious center, sun temple, public buildings

kivas

Underground chambers in a Pueblo village, used by the men for religious ceremonies or councils.

Sagas

Viking Stories about the land they discovered and their pirate adventures that were passed down from parents to children and were not written down, long Icelandic stories about great heroes and events

Skraelings

Viking explorers' name for Native Americans they encountered exploring and settling Vinland (their name for North America)

Hopewell Interaction Sphere

Widespread trade and exchange network dating to the middle woodland period, marked by exchange of exotic raw materials, distinctive finished items and ideas across a broad region of the American Midwest and Southeast

Kensington Rune Stone

a 230-pound slab of greywacke covered in runes on its face and side, most probably created in modern times to claim that Scandinavian explorers reached the middle of North America in the 14th century(1898)

Sipan

a Moche archaeological site in northern Peru that is famous for the tomb of El Señor de Sipán (Lord of Sipán), excavated by Walter Alva. It is considered to be one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the last thirty years, because the main tomb was found intact & undisturbed by thieves, produced the richest burial ever found in New World, 1000s of ceramic vessels, skeletons found that look as if thrown off pyramids, art suggesting sacrafice

Teosinte

a grass from which modern maize/corn subsequently developed in a process of adaptation and "genetic engineering" over thousands of years

Kon Tiki

a raft Thor Heyerdahl used to prove his theory in 1947 to cross the Pacific, - a balsa raft designed by Thor Heyerdahl to resemble the rafts used by South American navigators at the time of European discovery. Heyerdahl sailed this raft all the way from South America to the Tuamotu Islands.

road systems in Chaco Canyon

a system of roads radiating out from many great house sites such as Pueblo Bonito, Chetro Ketl and Una Vida, and leading towards small outlier sites and natural features within and beyond the canyon limits.Provided pathways for periodic pilgrimages and facilitating regional gatherings for seasonal ceremonies. Furthermore, considering that some of these roads seem to go nowhere, experts suggest that they can be linked--especially the Great North Road--to astronomical observations, solstice marking, and agricultural cycles.

Great Serpent mound

an effigy mound located in Ohio; represents and unwinding serpent, thought by most to be about to swallow an egg; an ancient Native American ceremonial structure; has been attributed to the Adena Indians, this runs some 1,300 feet along its coils and is between 4 and 5 feet high.

Puquious

an old system of aqueducts near the city of Nazca, Peru. Out of 36 Puquios, most are still functioning and relied upon to bring fresh water into the arid desert.

Rapa Nui

another name for Easter Island. Also refers to the native Polynesian inhabitants of Easter Island. The easternmost Polynesian culture, the Rapanui people make up 60% of Easter Island's population, with some living also in mainland Chile

Adena burial mounds

best known burial mound by the early mound building culture

Woodhenge at Cahokia

circle of posts that has large upright post in the middle almost like a sundial

Chichen Itza, Tikal, Copan, Palenque

city states

Quipus

complicated system of knots tied on strings of various colors used by the inca of south america to record information., The way the Incas communicated, memorized words and sets of strings. This was the Inca's written language.

Erich von Daniken

contemporary swiss author best known for controversial claims about extraterrestrial influences on early human cuture, in books such as 'chariots of the god?' published in 1968. one of the main figures responsible for popularizing the "paleo-contact" and ancient astronaut hypotheses. wrote in book that non-rusting iron pillar in delhi was evidence of extra-terrestial influence. many question his credibility, as he has knowingly put forward fraudulent evidence to advance his hypotheses e.g. photos "depicting ufos" from archaeological dig dating back to biblical era. NAZCA LINES, PETROGLYPH, ELECTRICITY, BATTERIES OF BABYLON, MAYA STELE, a controversial Swiss author best known for his books which present claims of evidence for extraterrestrial influences on early human culture

The Three Sisters

corn,beans ,and squash- the iroquis staple food crops- were grown together

Long Count

counting from a fixed point (August 11, 3114 BC), Mayan system of dating from a a fixed date in the past, 3114 BCE; marked the beginning of a great cycle of 5200 years; allowed precision dating of events in Mayan history

Thomas Jefferson

excavated the myth of mound-builders; first scientific excavation in the 1770s

Hopewell Society

farmers from NE America that domesticated weedy plants(i.e goosefoot);built large burial mounds some about 30 feet tall to honor the dead; supported their large population with agriculture and trade

The Inka

first human inhabitants of South America; began expansion between AD 1350-1400. eventually ruled over 5500km and 9-14 million subjects. First to unite coast and highland under a single political entity. conquered by Spanish after their arrival in 1532.

Altiplanos

high altitude valleys in Peru and Bolivia which provided fertile soils, reliable water supplies, building materials, and natural protection

Mooring Stones

holes in rocks

pit houses

houses dug into the ground and covered with wood and skins, first human-made shelters; pits in the ground with roofs of branches and leaves

Proto- Polynesian expansion

is the hypothetical proto-language from which all the modern Polynesian languages descend. Historical linguists have reconstructed the language using the comparative method, in much the same manner as with Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Uralic.

Tzolkin

known as the "Sacred Round". It was the 260-day Maya calendar.

Pueblo Bonito

large complex, many rooms(800-1200 people) that are communal for worship; didn't survive droughts and was abandoned; multi storied pueblos

Templo Mayor

large pyramid located in Tenochtitlan where many human sacrifices were practiced;, a huge pyramid painted in bright colors. At the top stood two shrines. ( a place or worship dedicated to a sacred object or person). Another temple was built in the shape of a cylinder and had a huge door resembling a serpent's mouth.

Nazca Lines

line drawings created out of stone by the Nazca that are so massive that you can only see them from the air, can be seen from the sky and are outlines of animals and shapes in the surface of the Peruvian desert; made for the Gods

Teotihuacan

means "City of the Gods". First major civilization of central Mexico. Ruins lie just outside of Mexico City. At its height, it was home to about 150,000-200,000 people, earning its status as one of the largest cities in the world at the time. Became a center of a thriving trade network that extended far into Central America. Was well known for obsidian. According to theory, it abruptly declined due to an invasion by outside forces or conflict among the city's ruling classes.

Mound 72

most interesting mound in Cahokia; , Cahokia, Illinois. South of the center of Monk's Mound site. Hundreds of arrowheads. A man was laid face up on a platform of beads. 4 men buried with him with heads and hands removed. A nearby pit held 50 women who may have been killed to accompany the main burial. Shows differences in social status. Lots of evidence of feasting - pottery and animal remains, ceramic vessels. Declined quite rapidly and was abandoned by 1500 AD.

L'Anse aux Meadows

northern tip of Newfoundland(greenland) where archaeologist have found the remains of a Viking settlement. They found Viking huts, jewelry, lamps, and tools, a viking settlement, it is the only place with proof of the vikings being there

Chiefdom

one form of political; popolous just like state level socities; , A regional polity in which two or more local groups are organized under a single chief, who is at the head of a ranked hierarchy of people

Olmec Heads

portraits of rulers made of basalt; 6-10 ft tall;20 tons;60 miles;, Giant heads of pre-Columbian civilization lying in south-central Mexico in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco. 1400-400 BCE - Van Sertima believed that they were made by Africans because of the "full lips and broad noses", resembling Africans; a belief widely discredited by archaeologists b/c there is no archaeological proof.

Mayan Calendar

reflected a powerful urge to identify meaningful cycles of time and to understand human events in the context of those cycles. It consisted of two kinds of years, a solar year that consisted of 365 days for agriculture, and a ritual year for daily affairs., solar calendar of about 365, ritual calendar of 260 days

Haab

solar calendar, with 365 days total; 18 months of 20 days plus one month of 5 unlucky days; specific activities and rituals associated with each month (hunting, beekeeping, weaving, etc.); well described in codex Madrid

Olof Ohman

swedish immigrant farmer who discovered kensington stone. (runes, ostensibly viking writings) on his farm in 1898

Chasquis

system of runners, traveled roads as a kind of postal service, carrying messages from one end to the other of the empire.

Mayan Temple Pyramids

temple for elites; stairs; sacrificial ceremonies; enlarged over time;some w/ burials

Lapita

the first epoples in the pacific who around 3500 yrs ago began colonizing Remote Oceania and who specialized in horticulture and marine resources exploitation; , The ancient western Pacific culture that stretched some 2500 miles from just northeast of New Guinea to Samoa.

Maya Collapse

the period of time in which the Maya died off from diseases to which they had no natural immunity that they caught from the spaniards. They were also turned against one another by a woman named maria who the conquistadors used as a translator; AD 870, Maya slowly became deserted. Contributing factors include cycles of violence and warfare, and environmental factors such as food needs because of damage to agricultural land and droughts.

Swidden systems

this is known as slash and burn- it was used in southern parts of Mexico- tropical area- exceptions of Aztecs- which had to be engaged in poor tropical areas. It was also used to help sustain the nutrients in the soil because there is no seasonality