Social Studies ETA Review

Anthropology

Professionals who examine artifacts at archaeological digs to study culture. From these, anthropologists re-create a picture of early people's cultural behavior or a people's unique way of life

Archeology

Scientists who learn about the past by excavating and studying the traces of early settlements. An excavated site, called an archaeological dig, provides one of the richest sources of clues to previous ways of life.

Artifact

a human-made object, such as a tool, weapon, or piece of jewelry

Culture

a people's unique way of life, as shown by its tools, customs, arts, and ideas

Hunter-Gatherer

a member of a nomadic group whose food supply depends on hunting animals and collecting plant foods

Innovation

when an existing object or method s changed so that they are more effective and/or efficient

Magnitude

refers to its importance: how big an impact it had overall

Nomad

a member of a group that has no permanent home, wandering from place to place in search of food and water

Paleolithic Era

a prehistoric period that lasted from about 2,500,000 to 8000 B.C., during which people made use of crude stone tools and weapons - also called the Old Stone Age

Prehistory

Before written records kept but human societies formed (4 million-3000 BCE)

Catal Huyuk

an agricultural village in south-central Turkey, discovered in 1958, which peaked around 8,000 years ago. At that time it was home to between 5,000 and 6,000 people, making it one of the largest permanent settlements of the era.

Domestication (of animals)

the taming of animals for human use

Farming (slash and burn)

a farming method in which people clear fields by cutting and burning trees and grasses, the ashes of which serve to fertilize the soil.

First Agricultural Revolution

key factor was a change in climate: increasing temperatures which led to a longer growing seasons & made soil more productive; supplies of grain resulted in a population boom due to the steady supply of food it offered (compared to the unpredictability of hunting)

Neolithic Era

a prehistoric period that began about 8000 B.C. and in some areas ended as early as 3000 BCE, during which people learned to polish stone tools, make pottery, grow crops, and raise animals - also called the New Stone Age

Specialization (of labour)

the development of skills in a particular kind of work, such as trading or record keeping

Artisans

a skilled worker, such s a weaver or a potter, who makes goods by hand.

City-state

a city and its surrounding lands functioning as an independent political unit

Civilization

a form of culture characterized by cities, specialized workers, complex institutions, record keeping, and advanced technology.

Cuneiform

a system of writing with wedge-shaped symbols, invented by the Sumerians around 3000 BCE.

Empire

a political unit in which a number of peoples or countries are controlled by a single ruler.

Hammurabi's Code

The legal code established by the Babylonian king Hamurabi. It is one of the most famous examples of the ancient precept of "lex talionis," or law of retribution, a form of retaliatory justice commonly associated with the saying "an eye for an eye." Under this system, if a man broke the bone of one of his equals , his own bone would be broken in return.

Merchant

is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, anyone who is involved in business or trade.

Polytheism

a belief in many gods

Scribe

one of the professional record keepers in early civilizations

Ur

one of the earliest human cities, in Sumer ( in what is now southern Iraq), flourishing around 3000 B.C. in the early Bronze Age. It is noteworthy for its advanced social stratification and commerce

Worldview

an individual's understanding of the world and their place in it

Rationalism

a theory of inquiry that operates on the basis that reason, rather than experience, is the best means to pure truth

Empiricism

a practice of reasoning by experiment rather than by drawing theories from abstractions, especially as advocated by Francis Bacon in the 1800s.

Excommunication

getting kicked out of the church, getting removed from the ability to receive the 7 sacraments.

Geocentric

in the Middle Ages, the earth-centered view of the universe in which scholars believed that the earth was an immovable object located at the center of the universe

Humanism

a Renaissance intellectual movement in which thinkers studied classical texts and focused on human potential and achievements.

Individualism

the idea that people were entitled to seek their own fulfillment outside the needs of the community.

Secularism

focused on things that are worldly rather than spiritual, and concerned with the here-and-now; a worldview especially prevalent during the Renaissance

Patrons

a person who supports artists especially financially.

Perspective

an artistic technique that creates the appearance of three dimensions on a flat surface.

Vernacular

The everyday language of people in a region or country. A common language used by people in their local region for example French, English, Spanish, Italian etc...

Classical period

Refers to the periods of history dominated by the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Leonardo da Vinci

1452-1519 Was an Italian painter, sculptor, inventor, and scientist. A true Renaissance man, he was interested in how things work and is famous for painting the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper.

Michelangelo

1475-1564 Italian painter and sculptor who excelled as a painter, sculptor, architect and poet. Famous for his realism he portrayed the human body and works such as the dome of St. Peter's, the sistine chapel and the sculpture of David.

Raphael

Younger than Michelangelo and Da Vinci he is famous for his use of perspective when painting.

Johannes Gutenberg

developed a printing press with movable type around 1440 in Germany. This press dramatically reduced the cost of books, since they could now be produced 500 times more quickly, making them available even to the common masses

Martin Luther

a German monk, who taught theology at the university in Wittenberg, in Germany; he challenged the Catholic church with his 95 theses and thought people should live by scripture alone.

95 Theses

a set of 95 statements that criticized the Catholic Church and its practice of selling indulgences

Indulgences

a pardon releasing a person from punishments due to sin

John Cabot

"discovered" Newfoundland in 1497 sailing on behalf of England.

Christopher Columbus

a Genoese sea captain who sailed from Spain in 1492 across the Atlantic, hoping to find a new trade route to Asia ultimately landing in the Americas.

Ferdinand Magellean

was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the East Indies and circumnavigating or sailing around the world for the first time.

Nicolaus Copernicus

a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its center of the universe.

Galileo Galilei

an Italian astronomer whose findings, including sunspots, lunar craters, and several of Jupiter's moons, went against the established doctrine and cast doubt on the absolute truth of other Church teachings

Isaac Newton

mathematician and scientist best known for his landmark 1687 work The Principles of Natural Philosophy, which included, among other ideas, his law of gravitational attraction and his theories on the clockwork orderliness of the universe

Heliocentric

the idea that the earth and the planets revolve around the sun

Scientific Revolution

a major change in European thought, starting in the mid-1500s, in which the study of the natural world began to be characterized by careful observation and the questioning of accepted beliefs

Scientific method

a logical procedure for gathering information about the natural world in which experimentation and observation are used to test hypotheses

Community

is a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.

Egalitarian

relating to or believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities.

Consensus

a general agreement.

Theocracy

a system of government in which religion plays a central role.

Pharaohs

the supreme leader in Ancient Egypt, known as the "great house" originally, the royal palace in ancient Egypt.

Code of Hammurabi

a Babylonian legal code of 282 laws written in the18th century BCE. or earlier, instituted by Hammurabi and dealing with criminal and civil matters.

Polis

a city state in ancient Greece, especially as considered in its ideal form for philosophical purposes.

Acropolis

a citadel or fortified hilltop. A part of an ancient Greek city, typically built on a hill.

Monarchy

a form of government with a monarch at the head.

Aristocracy

a form of government in which power is held by the nobility or meant by the rule of the few.

Oligarchy

Greek for "Rule of the Few." a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution / government by the few.

Tyrants

An absolute ruler originating in ancient Greece who governs without restrictions, especially one who seized power illegally.

Democracy

a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. Considered to be the "Rule of the Many". can be direct or representative.

Bureaucracy

a system of government in which most of the important decisions are made by state officials rather than by elected representatives.

Government

the political system by which a country or community is administered and regulated.

Autocracy

government in which one person possesses unlimited power. It is a form of dictatorship.

Pericles

was an Athenian statesman who played a large role in developing democracy during the 400's BCE in Athens and helped make it the political and cultural center of ancient Greece.

Direct democracy

forms of direct participation of citizens in democratic decision making all citizens can vote on laws to be enacted.

Classical art

is renowned for its harmony, balance and sense of proportion.

Tragedy

branch of drama that treats in a serious and dignified style the sorrowful or terrible downfall encountered or caused by a heroic individual.

Comedy

professional entertainment consisting of jokes and satirical sketches, intended to make an audience laugh.

Peloponnesian War

was a war fought in ancient Greece between Athens and Sparta—the two most powerful city-states in ancient Greece at the time (431 to 404 B.C.E.).

Philosophers

a person who seeks wisdom or enlightenment

Socrates

an ancient Greek philosopher who studied the meaning of life. One of Greece's three great philosophers.

Plato

follower or student of Socrates who is an ancient Athenian philosopher / teacher of Aristotle. One of Greece's three great philosophers.

Aristotle

was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Lyceum, the Peripatetic school of philosophy, and the Aristotelian tradition. One of Greece's three great philosophers.

Republic

form of government in which a state is ruled by representatives of the citizen body, was a representative democracy.

Patricians

would be the wealthy upper class in ancient Rome. an aristocrat or nobleman.

Plebeians

the lower class which would be normal people in Rome.

Tribunes

an official in ancient Rome chosen by the plebeians to protect their interests.

Consuls

One of 2 government officials in the Roman Republic who served a 1 year term, commanded the army, and appointed senators.

Senate

was the governing and advisory assembly of the aristocracy in the ancient Roman Republic.consisted originally of only members of the aristocracy.

Dictator/Dictatorship

form of government in which one person or a small group possesses absolute power without effective constitutional limitations.

Legions

a military squadron of roughly 5000 men, originally the largest permanent organization in the armies of ancient Rome.

Punic Wars

also called Carthaginian Wars, (264-146 bce), a series of three wars between the Roman Republic and the Carthaginian empire, resulting in the destruction of Carthage, the enslavement of its population, and Roman hegemony over the western Mediterranean.

Hannibal

was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War in the 200's BCE.

Civil War

a violent conflict between a state and one or more organized non-state actors in the state's territory.

Julius Caesar

was a Roman general and politician who seized power and named himself dictator of the Roman Republic, a rule that lasted less than one year before he was famously assassinated by political rivals in the last days of the Roman Republic.

Augustus

was one of ancient Rome's most successful leaders who led the transformation of Rome from a republic to an empire. His birth name was Octavian.

Pax Romana

which literally means "Roman peace," refers to the time period from 27 B.C.E. to 180 C.E. in the Roman Empire. This 200-year period saw unprecedented peace and prosperity.