Chronological Periods - Key Terms

Vocabulary flashcards covering key chronological periods and related dates/events from the lecture notes.

Upper Paleolithic

The earliest phase of the Paleolithic (roughly 40,000–12,500 BC) featuring early Homo sapiens behavior, advanced stone tools, and cave art.

Mesolithic

The middle Stone Age between the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic, typically dating from about 10,000–8,000 BC, with regional hunter-gatherer adaptations and microlithic tools.

Neolithic

New Stone Age (roughly 8,000–4,500 BC); development of agriculture, settled communities, and domestication of plants and animals.

Bronze Age

A period (approximately 3,300–1,200 BC) defined by bronze metallurgy and social complexity; subdivided into Early, Middle, and Late Bronze Age.

Early Bronze Age

First phase of bronze toolmaking and social complexity within the Bronze Age, dating approximately 3,300–2,100 BC.

Middle Bronze Age

Intermediate Bronze Age phase with intensified trade, urban centers, and fortifications, dating approximately 2,100–1,600 BC.

Late Bronze Age

Final Bronze Age phase preceding societal collapses and transitions to later eras, dating approximately 1,600–1,200 BC.

Iron Age

Period after the Bronze Age (roughly 1,200 BC – 600 BC, varying by region); often equated with the Dark Age or Proto-Geometric in some traditions; rise of iron tools.

Geometric Period

Ancient Greek art period (about 900–700 BC) characterized by geometric motifs and vase painting.

Domestication of Goats

The process of taming goats for farming, dairy, and meat in early animal husbandry, with earliest evidence around 8,000 BCE.

Walls of Jericho

Ancient fortifications at Jericho, among the earliest known walled settlements, with earliest phases dating to around 8,000 BC.

Invention of Ceramic Pottery

Creation of durable pottery vessels for storage, cooking, and transport, with earliest known examples dating to around 18,000 BC in some regions.

Invention of Writing

Development of written symbols to record language and information, with earliest forms appearing around 3,400 BC in Mesopotamia.

Alphabet appears in Greece

Adoption of alphabetic writing in ancient Greece, derived from Phoenician sources, around the 8^{th} century BC.

Hesiod Theogony

Hesiod’s Greek poem describing the origins and genealogies of the gods, composed