AREC 220 Midterm Review Flashcards

Flashcards matching terms to their precise definitions from the AREC 220 Midterm Review transcript.

Indigenous (UN Forum Definition)

A group of people who self-identify as Indigenous, have historical continuity with pre-colonial societies, maintain strong ties to traditional lands, and preserve distinct cultures, languages, and social systems as a non-dominant group.

Social Evolutionism

A theoretical framework asserting that all societies progress linearly through defined stages of development from less to more complex, which led European scholars to mistakenly assume Indigenous peoples were non-farmers.

Terra Nullius

A legal concept meaning 'nobody's land' used by Europeans to claim lands not occupied by Christians and to invalidate Indigenous land titles.

Plant Domestication

An evolutionary process wherein human cultivation and selection cause plant populations to become genetically and physically distinct from their wild ancestors.

Cultivation

An activity where humans directly intervene in the life cycles of specific plants, such as preparing soil using specialized technologies.

Domestication Syndrome

A collection of traits that commonly distinguishes a domesticated plant from its wild relatives, such as larger seed size, reduced seed dormancy, and uniform maturity.

Eastern Agricultural Complex (EAC)

A suite of crops domesticated independently in North America prior to the arrival of maize, including squash, sunflower, goosefoot, marshelder, sumpweed, little barley, maygrass, and erect knotweed.

Scala Naturae

A hierarchical view of life ('ladder of being') that positions human beings above plants and other natural life.

Instrumentalism

A paradigm in which plants are viewed strictly as resources for humans, with their value determined solely by their practical usefulness.

Relational Persons

A worldview where plants are recognized as relational non-human subjects capable of reciprocal relationships, cultural identity, and ecological interconnectedness with humans.

All My Relations

An Indigenous concept expressing that humans are part of an extended ecological family, viewing plants and animals as relatives rather than simple resources.

Younger Dryas Hypothesis

A hypothesis suggesting that colder and drier climate conditions altered vegetation and game populations, encouraging humans in Western Asia to cultivate and replant wild grains.

Non-shattering Seeds

A domesticated crop trait where seeds remain attached to the plant stem during harvest rather than falling off naturally as wild seeds do.

Culture Area Concept

A descriptive classification device that groups cultures based on shared artifact trait clusters found in museum collections.

Archaeological Culture

A recurring assemblage of artifact types and sites associated with a specific geographical location and time frame.

Cultural Chronology

Archaeological data organized into temporal units based on recurring artifact styles, such as tools and pottery.

Plains Village Tradition

An archaeological tradition characterized by permanent settlements, earth lodge structures, corn agriculture, bison hunting, food storage pits, and pottery.

Polyculture

The practice of cultivating multiple crop species or animals simultaneously within the same plot to mimic natural plant communities and improve soil nutrients.

Three Sisters System

An Indigenous polyculture cropping method combining corn (structural support), climbing beans (nitrogen fixation), and squash (ground cover for moisture retention and weed suppression).

Haudenosaunee Mounds

Agricultural mounds used to control plant spacing, concentrate and recycle nutrients, reduce soil erosion, and improve soil physical properties.

Subsistence System

The set of environmental practices and cultural methods used by a society to acquire its food.

Shifting Cultivation

A farming practice where land is cleared, farmed temporarily, and then left fallow to allow natural ecological regeneration.

Companion Planting

Intercropping plant species that possess known beneficial relationships to maximize growth and crop protection.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)

A dynamic system of place-based knowledge and management practices accumulated through generations of human interaction with local ecosystems.

Cultural Burning

The deliberate application of fire based on local ecological knowledge to enhance soil fertility, stimulate plant regeneration, control pests, and direct wildlife movements.

Mast

The edible fruits of forest trees and shrubs, categorized as hard mast (acorns, hickory nuts, walnuts) or soft mast (berries and fruits).

Manoomin

Wild rice; a staple grain and superfood cultivated, tended, and harvested through ceremonial and ecological practices by Great Lakes Indigenous nations.

Clam Gardens

Intertidal rock walled terraces constructed by Northwest Coast Indigenous communities to modify beach slope and tidal height, optimizing habitat for increased clam density and growth.

Estuarine Root Gardens

Managed coastal estuary plots where root foods were cultivated through weeding, mounding, tilling, terracing, and irrigation.

Fishing Weir

A linear wall structure built across a waterway to redirect and trap upstream-swimming salmon for selective harvesting.

Intertidal Fish Traps

Rock or stake traps constructed near river mouths to capture returning salmon as the tide retreats.

Growing Degree Days (GDDs)

A thermal measurement calculated from time and temperature to determine if a growing season provides sufficient heat for maize to mature prior to a killing frost.

Little Ice Age (LIA)

A period of global cooling during the 17th and 18th centuries that reduced Growing Degree Days, shortened growing seasons, and increased agricultural volatility in North America.

Hidatsa Agricultural System

A highly organized Plains farming practice described by Buffalo Bird Woman utilizing shifting cultivation, mound planting, and scapula hoes, yielding 20 to 38 bushels of corn per acre.

Coast Salish Wapato Garden

A 3,800-year-old wetland engineering site featuring a rock pavement constructed to manage water depth and simplify the harvesting of wapato tubers.