Part 1: Beginning of History & Early Civilizations

Comprehensive Question and Answer flashcards reviewing the emergence of humankind, Paleolithic migrations, the Agricultural Revolution, and the First Civilizations.

According to archeologists and anthropologists, when and where did the evolutionary line of descent lead to Homo Sapiens?

Around 5 to 6 million years ago in Eastern Southern Africa.

What defining physical trait was shared by members of the Homininae family, and what evolutionary feature enabled it?

Bipedalism (the ability to walk upright on two legs), which was facilitated by the evolution of increasingly flexible hip joints.

What does the word 'Paleolithic' literally mean, and what lifestyle does it describe?

It literally means the 'old stone age' and refers to a gathering, hunting, and fishing way of life prior to agriculture.

What proportion of human existence on Earth is represented by the Paleolithic era?

Over 95% of the time that human beings have inhabited the earth, lasting until 12,000 years ago (and longer in some places).

Where and when is the earliest evidence of symbolic and social human behaviors, such as body ornaments and planned burials, found?

Blombos Cave in South Africa, dating back to around 100,000 years ago.

What type of Paleolithic artifact from around 35,000 years ago is shown in this image?

A Venus figurine, carved out of stone, antlers, mammoth tusks, or baked clay, depicting women with exaggerated features.

What complex worldview was created by the aboriginal people of Australia to explain the origin of the landscape and human relationships to animals?

The 'Dreamtime,' which recounted how ancestors crossed the land, creating rivers, hills, rocks, and waterholes.

What addictive drug was exchanged among Paleolithic communities in Australia alongside stones, pigments, spear wood, and shells?

Pituri.

What was the 'Clovis culture'?

A cultural tradition formed around 13,000 years ago by bands of hunters in the Rocky Mountains.

What migration route is depicted in this map showing movement across the Pacific Basin and Indian Ocean starting around 2,500 years ago?

The migrations of Austronesian-speaking people using canoes and advanced navigation skills.

Why were Paleolithic band societies generally egalitarian with an absence of significant wealth and power inequalities?

Because bands were small (25 to 50 people) and seasonally mobile or nomadic, making it impossible to accumulate and transport excess material goods.

Why was Paleolithic society described by one scholar as 'the original - affluent society'?

Because people wanted or needed so little to satisfy their lifestyle.

What global transition is illustrated in this map showing regions such as the Fertile Crescent, Mesoamerica, and Sub-Saharan Africa?

The independent development and spread of agriculture during the Agricultural Revolution.

In agricultural context, what does the term 'intensification' mean?

Getting more for less—specifically, producing more food and resources from a given area of land.

What unique structural design was found at the early agricultural settlement of Catalhuyuk in Southern Turkey (7400–6000 BCE)?

Houses were built directly on top of each other layer by layer with no streets, requiring residents to enter homes through adjoining rooftops.

How did leaders in chiefdoms maintain authority differently from monarchs or kings?

Chiefs could not force obedience through coercion, relying instead on generosity, gift-giving, ritual status, or charisma.

What was Cahokia?

The largest chiefdom in eastern North America, which flourished around 1100 CE and was known for its extensive earthen mounds.

What were the three earliest civilizations to emerge between 3500 B.C.E. and 1800 B.C.E.?

Sumer in Southern Mesopotamia, Egypt along the Nile Valley, and Norte Chico along the central coast of Peru.

What made the economy and social structure of the Norte Chico civilization unique compared to other early civilizations?

Its economy was based on a rich fishing industry (anchovies and sardines) exchanged for cotton and food crops, and it established urban life without farming agriculture, pottery, writing, or defensive warfare.

What environmental factors contributed to the decline and abandonment of Indus Valley cities around 1700 B.C.E.?

River shifting, climate change, increased soil salinization from intensive irrigation, and massive deforestation caused by burning wood to dry mud bricks.

What was ancient Mesopotamia's largest city, holding a population around 50,000 in the third millennium B.C.E., as described in the Epic of Gilgamesh?

Uruk.

What ancient Babylonian legal text from 1775 B.C.E. prescribed punishments that varied based on social class and status?

The Code of Hammurabi.

What historical event and practice is depicted in this Assyrian Palace relief carving from 645 B.C.E.?

An Assyrian assault on an Egyptian city showing bound prisoners of war, who served as a primary source of enslaved labor in the ancient world.

How did Middle Assyrian law codes between the 15th and 11th centuries B.C.E. enforce dress codes for women in public?

Respectable women under male protection were required to wear veils outside the home, whereas non-respectable women (enslaved women and prostitutes) were forbidden to wear veils under severe penalty.

How did the legal status of women in ancient Egypt differ from that in ancient Mesopotamia?

Egyptian women were recognized as legal equals to men—able to own, administer, and sell property, write wills, sign marriage contracts, and initiate divorce.

What was the Mandate of Heaven in ancient Chinese political thought?

The concept that emperors ruled by divine authorization, but bad behavior or tyranny could result in the removal of that mandate and their overthrow.

What primary administrative function did writing initially serve in early civilizations like Mesopotamia?

Accounting, such as recording tax payments, temple debts, and worker wages.

What massive stone sculptures created by the Olmec civilization (1200–400 B.C.E.) are shown in this image?

Giant human heads carved from basalt blocks, standing over ten feet tall and weighing at least twenty tons, likely representing rulers.

What historical region, containing city-states such as Ur, Uruk, Akkad, and Babylon, is shown on this map?

Ancient Mesopotamia.

How did the environmental conditions and agricultural sustainability of Sumer compare to those of ancient Egypt?

Intensive irrigation in Sumer caused soil salinization ('turning white') requiring a shift from wheat to barley, whereas Egypt developed sustainable agriculture by utilizing the predictable annual flooding of the Nile River.