Chapters 1-5 WHAP

Mungo Man

remains of a male found near Mungo Lake in the southeastern Australian state of New South Wales, dated to about 40,000 BCE

Ocher

A reddish-brown iron-based pigment that ancient peoples used to color the soil and to decorate cave walls

Homo sapiens sapiens

Biological term for modern human beings belonging to the genus Homo, species sapiens, and subspecies sapiens.

hominins

Term referring to all humans and their ancestors but not to chimpanzees, gorillas, or orangutans.

evolution

Model proposed by Charles Darwin to explain the development of new species through genetic mutation and natural selection.

mitochondrial Eve

The first female ancestor shared by all living humans, who was identified by analysis of mitochondrial DNA.

religion

Belief system that holds that divine powers control the environment and people's futures.

Neanderthals

Group of premodern humans who lived between 100,000 and 25,000 BCE in western Asia and Europe, eventually replaced by Homo sapiens sapiens.

Beringia

Landmass now submerged below water that connected the tipi of Siberia with the northeastern corner of Alaska.

Monte Verde, Chile

Earliest site in the Americas, where evidence of human occupation has been found dating to 12,000 B.C.E.

stratigraphy

Archaeological principle that, at an undisturbed site, material from upper layers must be more recent than that from lower layers.

carbon-14

Isotope of carbon whose presence in organic material can be used to determine the approximate age of archaeological samples.

Clovis technological complex

The characteristic stone spear points that were in use around 11,000 BCE across much of modern-day America.

agriculture

The planting of seeds and harvesting of crops using domesticated animals.

Neolithic

"New Stone Age," the archaeological term for societies that used stone tools and practiced agriculture.

Catalhoyuk

The world's largest early settlement, with a population of 5,000 in 6000 BCE, located in modern Turkey.

Mesopotamia

Greek for "between the rivers": the region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in today's Iraq and eastern Syria.

Gilgamesh

Name of a historic king of Uruk (modern-day Warka, Iraq) who ruled between 2700 and 2500 B.C.E. Also the name of an epic about him.

complex society

Society characterized by a large urban center with specialized labor and social stratification, as well as the belief that rulers and deities were entitled to the surpluses the society produced.

city-state

A city whose ruler governs both the city center and the surrounding countryside.

bronze

An alloy of copper and tin used to make the earliest metal tools.

wheel

An important innovation in transport dating to 3500 B.C.E.

Sumer

A geographical term from Akkadian meaning the ancient region of southern Mesopotamia.

cuneiform

The term, meaning "wedge-shaped", for the writing system of Sumer in its late stages, when the script became completely phonetic.

Sargon of Akkad

(r.2334-2279 BCE) The first ruler to unify Mesopotamia. Changed the language of administration to Akkadian.

empire

A large territory in which one people rule over other subject peoples with different languages and different religious traditions.

pharaoh

The god-king who ruled the unified kingdom of Egypt from at least 3100 BCE.

Nubia

Region south of the First Cataract on the NIle, in modern-day Egypt and Sudan; was an important trading partner of Egypt.

papyrus

A convenient but perishable writing material made from a reed that grew naturally along the Nile.

hieroglyphs

The writing system of ancient Egypt, which consisted of different symbols, some pictorial and some phonetic, used on official inscriptions.

Hittites

A people based in Anatolia, Turkey, and Syria who spoke the Indo-European language of Hittite and learned to work iron around 2000 BCE. The Hittite empire reached its greatest extent between 1322 and 1220 BCE and ended around 1200 BCE.

iron

A metal used to make farm tools and weapons; iron smelting was an important technology because iron implements were much more durable than those made of bronze.

monotheism

Belief in only one god.

Jew

A term (derived from Hebrew) that originally meant a member of the nation of Judah and later came to refer to all Hebrews.

Ashoka

(r. 268-232 BCE) The third king of the Mauryan dynasty (ca. 320-185 BCE), the first Indian ruler to support Buddhism.

dharma

A Sanskrit term meaning correct conduct according to law and custom; Buddhists, including Ashoka, used this concept to refer to the teachings of Buddha.

monsoon

A term referring both to seasonal winds in South Asia blowing northeast in spring and early summer and southwest in fall and winter, and to the heavy seasonal rains they bring.

Indus River Valley

Site of the earliest complex society on the Indian subcontinent (2600-1700 BCE), characterized by brick cities, drainage systems, open plazas, and broad avenues.

Sanskrit

A language, such as Latin, Greek, and English, belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken by Indo-Aryan migrants to north India around 1500-1000 B.C.E.

Rig Veda

A collection of 1,028 Sanskrit hymns, composed around 1500-1000 BCE but written down around 1000 CE One of the most revealing sources about Indo-Europeans who settled in north India.

Vedic religion

Religious belief system of Indo-European migrants to north India; involved animal sacrifice and elaborate ceremonies to ensure that all transitions in the natural world-day to night, or one season to the next proceeded smoothly.

nomads

A term for people who migrate seasonally from place to place to find grass for their animals. They do not usually farm but tend their herds full-time.

varna

From the Sanskrit word for "color": the four major social groups of ancient Indian society, ranked in order of purity (not wealth or power): Brahmin priests at the top, then warriors, then farmers and merchants, and finally dependent laborers.

jati

A term, sometimes translated as "subcaste," for groups of five thousand to fifteen thousand people in modern India. Many, but not all, Indians marry someone from the same jati and share meals on equal footing only with people of the same jati.

karma

The sum of one's deeds in this and all earlier existences that determines one's rebirth in the next life.

Jainism

An Indian religion founded around the same time as Buddhism that emphasizes right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct: a key tenet is not to harm any living beings.

Buddha

The founder of the Buddhist religion, Siddhartha Gautama (ca. 600-400 BCE); also called the Buddha, or the enlightened one.

nirvana

A Sanskrit word that literally means "extinction", as when the flame on a candle goes out. In Buddhism the term took on broader meaning: those who followed the Eightfold Path and understood the Four Noble Truths would gain true understanding.

Mauryan dynasty

(ca. 320-185 BCE) A dynasty that unified much of the Indian subcontinent. Relying on trunk roads, it exercised more control in the cities than in the countryside.

chakravartin

Literally "turner of the wheel," a Buddhist term for the ideal ruler who patronized Buddhism but never became a monk.

ceremonial state

State whose ruler sponsored religious observances and construction of religious edifices in the hope that his subjects would willingly acknowledge him as ruler. Usually contrasted with rulers who depended on sheer force to govern.

lay Buddhist

A Buddhist devotee who observes the five precepts not to kill, steal, commit adultery, lie, or drink alcohol, but continues to live at home and does not join the Buddhist order.

dhows

Small sailboats used in the Indian Ocean made from teak planks laid edge to edge, fastened together with coconut fiber twine, and caulked to prevent leaking.

First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty

Founder of the Qin dynasty (221-207 B.C.E.) and the first ruler to unify ancient China. Eliminated regional differences by creating a single body of law and standardizing weights and measures.

Shang dynasty

China's first historic dynasty. The earliest surviving records date to 1200 BCE, during the Shang. The Shang kind ruled a small area in the vicinity of modern Anyang, in Henan province, and granted lands to allies in noble families.

oracle bones

The earliest surviving written records in China, scratched onto cattle shoulder blades and turtle shell bottoms, or plastrons, to record the diviners' interpretations of the future.

ancestor worship

The belief in China that dead ancestors could intercede in human affairs on behalf of the living. Marked by frequent rituals in which the living offered food and drink to the ancestors in the hope of receiving help.

Sima Qian

The author of Records of the Grand Historian, a history of China from ancient legendary times to the first century BCE.

Zhou dynasty

The successor dynasty to the Shang that gained the Mandate of Heaven and the right to rule, according to later Chinese historians. Although depicted by later generations as an ideal age, the Zhou witnessed considerable conflict.

Mandate of Heaven

The Chinese belief that Heaven, the generalized forces of the cosmos (not the abode of the dead), chose the rightful ruler. China's rulers believed that Heaven would send signs before withdrawing its mandate.

Confucius

(551-479 BCE) A teacher who made his living by tutoring students. Known only through The Analects, the record of conversations with his students that they wrote down after his death.

Confucianism

The term for the main tenets of the thought of Confucius, which emphasized the role of ritual in bringing out people's inner humanity (a quality translated as "benevolence", "goodness", or "man at his best".)

Daoism

A Chinese belief system dating back to at least 300 BCE that emphasized the "Way," a concept expressed in Chinese as "dao." The Way of the early Daoist teachers included meditation, breathing techniques, and special eating regimes.

Legalism

A school of thought, originating in the fourth century BCE and associated with Qin dynasty rulers, that emphasized promotion for officials and soldiers alike on the basis of merit and job performance, not heredity.

Qin dynasty

(221-207 B.C.E.) The first dynasty to rule over a unified China; heavily influenced by Legalist teachings that promoted soldiers and officials strictly on the basis of accomplishment, not birth.

Han dynasty

(206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.) The immediate successor to the Qin dynasty. Han rulers denounced Legalist governance but adopted much of the Qin blueprint for empire. Because of its long rule, the Han dynasty was a model for all subsequent dynasties.

Imperial Academy

Established in 124 BCE by the Han emperor, Emperor Wu (r. 140-87 BCE), to encourage the study of Confucian texts.

Ban Zhao

(45-120 CE) A historian and the author of Lessons for Women, a book that counseled women to serve men and advocated education for girls starting at the age of seven.

Xiongnu

Nomadic people north of China whose military strength derived from brilliant horsemanship. Regularly defeated the Han armies in battle until 60 BCE, when their federation broke apart.

Mau Piailug

(1932-2010) Native of Satawal island in the Caroline islands who studied traditional Polynesian navigation as a child and successfully guided a reconstructed double-hulled canoe from Hawai'i to Tahiti in 1976.

Mesoamerica

The region that includes the southern two-thirds of modern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.

Olmec

A complex society (1200-400 BCE) that arose on the Gulf of Mexico coast from modern-day Veracruz to Tabasco. Known particularly for the massive colossal heads hewn from basalt.

Long Count

A calendar that ran cumulatively, starting from a day equivalent to August 11, 3114 BCE, and continuing to the present. Came into use in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, when inscriptions of bars and dots showed different calendar units.

Teotihuacan

The largest city in the Americas before 1500, covering 8 square miles (20 sq km), located some 30 miles (50 km) northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Was occupied from around 200 BCE to 650 CE and had an estimated population at its height of 40,000-200,000.

Maya

Indigenous people living in modern-day Yucatán, Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala. Their complex society reached its height during the classic period, when they used a fully developed written language.

Copán

A typical Maya city-state. At its peak in the eighth century, Copán had a population of 18,000-20,000 divided into sharply demarcated groups: the ruling family, the nobility, ordinary people, and slaves.

obsidian

A naturally occurring volcanic glass used by different peoples in the Americas to make fine art objects, dart tips, and knife blades sharper than modern scalpels. The most important good traded by the Maya.

Popul Vuh

One of the few surviving sources in the Mayan language, this oral epic features a series of hip ballgames between the gods and humans. Originally written in Mayan glyphs, it was recorded in the Roman alphabet in the 1500s.

Mississippian peoples

The first northern people (800-1450) to build large urban centers in the Mississippi River Valley.

Caral

The earliest complex society (3100-1800 BCE) in the Americas, whose main urban center was located at Caral in modern-day Peru, in the Andes.

Chavín

Andean complex society (1200-200 BCE) in modern-day Peru. Best known for its temples and large stone sculptures of animals.

Polynesian Triangle

An imaginary triangle with sides 4,000 miles (6,500 km) long linking Hawai'i, Easter Island, and New Zealand and containing several thousand islands.

Lapita pottery

Named for a site in Melanesia, a low-fired brown pottery with lines and geometric decorations made with a pointed instrument. In use between 1500 and 1000 B.C.E, it reveals the direction of migration into the Pacific.

double canoe

A sailing vessel made by connecting two canoes with rope to a wooden frame. Used by the ancestors of modern Polynesians for ocean voyages. Capable of speeds of 100-150 miles (160-240 km) per day.

etak

Traditional Polynesian system of navigation that uses the stars, clouds, waves, and bird flight patterns to steer on sea voyages.

moai

The name for the 887 statues, probably of ancestral leaders, made from tufa volcanic rock and erected on Easter Island around 1000. The largest are more than 70 feet (21 m) high and the heaviest weighs 270 tons.