Strayer Ch. 1-20 Quizlet
New Zealand
1,000 years ago
Easter Island & Madagascar
1,500 years ago
Out of Africa
100,000 years ago
South America
12,500 years ago
Austronesian Migrations
3,500 years ago
North America
30,000-15,000 years ago
Europe
45,000 years ago
Australia
60,000-40,000 years ago
Asia
70,000 years ago
Banpo
A Chinese archaeological site, where the remains of a significant Neolithic village has been found; 7,000-6,000 BCE.
Neanderthals
A European variant of Homo sapiens that died out about 25,000 years ago.
ziggurat
A Mesopotamian stepped pyramid. Unlike an Egyptian pyramid, it was a solid structure of baked brick, an artificial hill at the summit of which stood a temple.
San (Ju/'hoansi)
A Paleolithic people still living on the northern fringe of the Kalahari desert in southern Africa; means "real people."
insulting the meat
A San cultural practice meant to deflate individual pride; involves negative comments about the meat brought in by a hunter, expecting a successful hunter to disparage his own kill for the sake of group equality.
Dreamtime
A complex worldview of Australia's Aboriginal people that held that current humans live in a vibration or echo of ancestral happenings.
Persian Empire
A huge empire ranging from Asia Minor to India; Darius I unified the empire in the 5th century bce by creating provinces and giving each province a ruler (known as satraps); constructed 1,700-mile long royal road; encouraged a money economy with coins rather than goods.
pastoral society
A human society that relies on domesticated animals as the main source of food. They live as nomads following seasonal grazing grounds with herds of animals; 14,000-10,000 BCE.
Xia dynasty
A legendary series of monarchs of early China, traditionally dated to 2200-1766 BCE; first dynasty of China.
Hyksos
A pastoral group of unknown ethnicity that invaded Egypt and ruled in the north from 1650 to 1535 BCE. Their dominance was based on their use of horses, chariots, and bronze technology.
Hadza
A people of northern Tanzania, almost the last surviving Paleolithic society. Bees and honey figure prominently in their forest dwelling gathering and hunting culture.
Pax Romana
A period of peace and prosperity throughout the Roman Empire, lasting from 27 bce to 180 CE.
Brotherhood of the Tomol
A prestigious craft guild that monopolized the building and ownership of large oceangoing canoes, or tomols, among the Chumash people (located on coast of southern California).
end of the last Ice Age
A process of global warming between 14,000 and 9,000 BCE, changing human living conditions and opening the way for agriculture.
Norte Chico
A region along the central coast of Peru, home of a civilization that developed in the period 3000-1800 BCE. Only first civilization to not depend on a grain crop.
quipu
A series of knotted cords, used for accounting and perhaps as a form of writing in Norte Chico and later Andes civilizations.
Code of Hammurabi
A series of laws publicized at the order of the King of Babylon (d. 1750 BCE). Provides early evidence of formal system of laws, the eye-for-an-eye principle and class privileges.
Jomon culture
A settled Paleolithic culture of prehistoric Japan, characterized by seaside villages and the creation of some of the world's earliest pottery.
Hebrews
A small early society from Levant whose development of a monotheistic faith provided the foundation of modern Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
chiefdom
A societal grouping governed by a hereditary chief who typically relies on generosity, ritual status, or charisma rather than force to win obedience from the people.
secondary products revolution
A term used to describe the series of technological changes that began ca. 4000 BCE, as people began to develop new uses for their domesticated animals; as beasts of burden, fertilizer, clothing, etc.
Agricultural Revolution
Also known as the Neolithic Revolution, this is the transformation of human existence caused by the deliberate cultivation of plants and the taming and breeding of animals; 10,000 BCE.
Bantu Migrations
An African-language family, originating in West Africa, whose speakers gradually became the dominant culture of eastern and southern Africa, spreading their agricultural and ironworking skills; 3000-1000 BCE.
Austronesian Migrations
An Asian-language family whose speakers gradually became the dominant culture of the Philippines, Indonesia, and the Pacific islands, thanks to their mastery of agriculture and long-distance ocean navigation.
Minoan Civilization
An advanced civilization that developed on the island of Crete around 2500 BCE; thought to be precursor to classical Greece.
Phoenicians
An early civilization from the Levant (3200-539 BCE), creators of the first alphabetic writing system.
Olmec Civilization
An early civilization that developed along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico around 1200 BCE; beginnings of maize culture in Mesoamerica.
Catal huyek
An important Neolithic agricultural village site in what is now Turkey; 7500-5700 BCE.
Cahokia
An important agricultural chiefdom of North America that flourished around 1100 CE.
hieroglyphs
Ancient Egyptian writing system; literally, "sacred carvings"; so named because the Greeks found them prominently displayed in Egyptian temples.
Ice Age
Any of a number of cold periods in the earths history; the last one was at its peak around 20,000 years ago.
broad spectrum diet
Archaeologist's term for the diet of gathering and hunting societies, which included a wide array of plants and animals.
gathering and hunting peoples
As the name suggests, people who live by collecting wild food rather than producing domesticated plants and animals.
Pericles
Athenian leader noted for advancing democracy in Athens and for ordering the construction of the Parthenon. (495-421 BCE.)
Solon
Athenian reformer of the 6th century BCE; established laws that eased the burden of debt on farmers (also hoplite soldiers), forbade enslavement for debt, expanding democratic participation.
Han Dynasty
Chinese dynasty that succeeded the Qin in 202 BCE and ruled until 220 CE; established by peasant revolt after death of Shihuangdi; reduced taxes and brutalities, expanded empire, established civil service examination system and bureaucracy.
megafaunal extinction
Dying out of a number of large animal species, including the mammoth and several species of horses and camels, that occurred around 11,000-10,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age.
Athenian Democracy
First known example of "direct democracy." Free citizens chosen, by election and lot, to sit on large juries and assemblies and run the affairs of state.
Caesar Augustus
Great-nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar. Became emperor of Rome (27 bce to 14 CE) at end of long civil war. Began period known as Pax Romana or Roman peace. (aka Octavian.)
Indus Valley
Home of a major civilization that emerged in what is now Pakistan/India during the third millennium BCE, noted for the uniformity (with indoor plumbing) of its elaborately planned cities over a large territory.
oracle bones
In Chinese civilization, animal bones that were heated and the cracks then interpreted as prophecies. The prophecies were written on the bone and provide earliest evidence of writing in China.
trance dance
In San culture, a nightlong ritual held to activate a human being's inner spiritual potency (n/um) to counteract the evil influences of gods and ancestors.
shaman
In many early societies, a person believed to have the ability to act as a bridge between living humans and supernatural forces, often by means of trances induced by psychoactive drugs.
Aryans
Indo-European pastoralists from Central Asia who moved into India about the time of the collapse of the Indus Valley civilization; their role in causing this collapse is still debated by historians.
Indus Valley
Indoor plumbing, cattle seal, weights & measures. (2000 BCE)
Seleucid Empire
Largest of Alexander's successor states. Established by Alexander's former general- controlled Persia after Alexander died. Spread Hellenism. Faced rebellions by satraps and Parthians. (323-83 BCE)
Paleolithic
Literally old stone age the term used to describe early Homo sapiens societies in the period before the development of agriculture.
patriarchy
Literally, "rule of the father"; a social system of male dominance.
Mesoamerica
Maize squash, beans, turkey. (7000-2000 BCE)
Alexander the Great
Monarch of Macedon (356-323 BCE). Established 1st "global" empire, conquering lands from Greece to India, but no lasting bureaucracy; most lasting achievement the spreading of Hellenism (greek culture).
Native Australians
Often called "Aboriginies" these native people continued to live by gathering and hunting long after the onset of agriculture, they traded extensively, and developed elaborate spiritual traditions referred to as "Dreamtime" rooted in history. 55,000 BCE.
Norte Chico
Only first civilization not dependent on surplus grain crop, quipu, textiles, fish. (3000-1800 BCE)
China
Oracle bones, bronze, Great Wall. (2000 BCE)
Venus figurines
Paleolithic carvings of the female form, often with exaggerated breasts, buttocks, hips, and stomachs, which may have had religious significance honoring the importance of female fertility.
Paleolithic rock art
Paleolithic paintings discovered in Africa, Australia, and Europe dating to 20,000 years ago or earlier; usually depict animals, although human figures and abstract designs are also found.
Austronesian migrations
People settling the Pacific islands and Madagascar in a series of seaborne migrations that began around 3,500 year ago and ended by 500 C.E..
Zhou dynasty
Period of Chinese history from 1122 to 256 BCE: third dynasty of China.
Shang dynasty
Period of Chinese history from 1766 to 1122 BCE; second dynasty of China.
Empire
Political control of one state over others; a multiethnic and multilingual state ruled by force.
Andes Region
Potatoes, quinoa, manioc, llama, alpaca, guinea pig. (3000-2000 BCE)
Egypt
Pyramids, heiroglyphs, pharoahs, glass, math, ships. (3100 BCE)
The Gift of the Nile
Refers to the benefits provided by rich silt deposits that made possible abundant agricultural production and supported population growth in Egypt.
Fertile Crescent
Region sometimes known as Southwest Asia or Middle East; known as the earliest and one of richest independent hearths of agriculture.
China
Rice, millet, soybeans, pigs, chickens, water buffalo (6500-5000 BCE)
Qin Shihuangdi
Ruler of China who united China for the first time. He built road and canals and began the Great Wall of China. He also imposed a standard system of laws, money, weights, and writing.
Jericho
Site of an important early agricultural settlement of perhaps 2,000 people in present-day Israel; 9600 BCE.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sorghum, millet, yams, cattle. (8000-2000 BCE)
Hellenistic Era
Spread of Greek culture to southwest Asia, India, and mediterranean coast of Africa. Encouraged advancement of science and book learning. (336-31 BCE)
Olmec
Stone heads, jade, maize culture. (1000 BCE)
Eastern Woodlands of North America
Sunflower, goosefoot, sumpweed. (2000-1000 BCE)
New Guinea Highlands
Taro, bananas, yams, sugarcane. (7000-4000 BCE)
the original affluent society
Term coined by the scholar Marshall Sahlins in 1972 to describe Paleolithic societies, which he regarded as prosperous not because they had so much but because they wanted or needed so little.
Mesopotamia
The "land between the rivers"; of what is now Iraq.
Clovis culture
The earliest widespread and distinctive culture of North America, big-game hunters; named for a particular kind of commonly used spear point. May have hunted some large animals to extinction.
Mauryan Empire
The first state to unify most of the Indian subcontinent. It was founded in 324 BCE and survived until 184 BCE. From its capital at Pataliputra in the Ganges Valley it grew wealthy from taxes.
diffusion
The gradual spread of something without extensive population movement.
Mandate of Heaven
The ideological underpinning of Chinese emperors. This was the belief that a ruler held authority by command of divine force as long as he ruled morally and benevolently.
Teotihuacan
The largest city of ancient Mesoamerica; flourished around 500 CE.
Epic of Gilgamesh
The most famous literary work from ancient Mesopotamia; it tells the story of one man's quest for immortality.
Paleolithic settling down
The process by which some peoples moved toward permanent settlement in the wake of the last Ice Age. Settlement was marked by increasing storage of food and accumulation of goods as well as growing inequalities in society.
intensification
The process of getting more in return for less; for example, growing more food on a smaller plot of land.
domestication
The taming and changing of nature for the benefit of humankind.
human revolution
The term used to describe the transition of humans from acting out of biological imperative to dependence on learned or invented ways of living (or 'culture'). Weaving, boats, bow & arrow, etc. 20-40,00 BCE.
Mesopotamia
The valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in present-day Iraq. Succession of early urban civilizations that thrived in this geographic region; 4000-600 BCE.
teosinte
The wild ancestor of maize, first domesticated in central highlands valley of Mexico b7 9,000 BCE; widespread in the Americas by 2,500 BCE.
Ashoka
Third ruler of the Mauryan Empire in India (270-232 BCE). He converted to Buddhism and broadcast his precepts on inscribed stones and pillars, the earliest surviving Indian writing.
Greco-Persian Wars
Two invasions, 490 and 480 BCE, where the larger eastern imperial empire is defeated by the city states empire of maritime colonies.
stateless societies
Village-based agriculture societies, usually organized by kinship groups, that functioned without a formal government; led by council of elders and/or strict traditions.
cuneiform
Wedge-shaped writing in the form of symbols incised into clay tablets; used in Mesopotamia from around 3100 BCE.
Fertile Crescent
Wheat, barley, goats, sheep, cattle, pigs. (9000-7000 BCE)
Mespotamia
Ziggurats, wheel, base-60 math, cuneiform, bronze. (3500 BCE)
