Ways of the World Chapter 1 - mine

Paleolithic "settling down"

The process by which some Paleolithic peoples moved toward permanent settlement in the wake of the last Ice Age. Settlement was marked by increasing storage of food and accumulation of goods as well as growing inequalities in society.

Megafaunal Extinction

Dying out a number of large animal species, including the mammoth and several species of horses and camels, that occurred around 11,000-10,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age. The extinction may have been caused by excessive hunting or by the changing climate of the area.

Dreamtime

A native Australian Aborigines' belief; Dreamtime is a place beyond time and space in which the past, present, and future exist wholly as one. Tribes-people could enter this alternate universe through dreams or various states of altered consciousness, as well as death, Dreamtime being considered the final destination before reincarnation.

Clovis Culture

The earliest widespread and distinctive culture of N. America; distinctive because they hunted large animals; Mammoth, Bison. named from a particular kind of projectile point (See image)

Austronesian Migrations

The last phase of the great human migration that established a human presence in every habitable region on Earth. These people settled in the Pacific Islands and Madagascar in a series of seaborne migrations that began around 3500 years ago.

Banpo

A Chinese archeological site where the remains of a significant Neolithic village have been found

Bantu Migration

The spread of Bantu-speaking peoples from their homeland in what is now southern Nigeria or Cameroon to most of Africa in a process that started ca. 3000 BCE and continued for several millennia.

Catalhuyuk

A settlement in present day southern Turkey, which existed from approximately 7500 BC to 5700 BC, and flourished around 7000BC. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date.

Chiefdom

A societal grouping governed by a chief who typically relies on generosity, ritual status, or charisma rather than force to win obedience from the people.

Diffusion

The gradual spread of agricultural techniques without extensive population movement.

Fertile Crescent

Region sometimes known as Southwest Asia that includes the modern states of Iraq, Syria, Israel/Palestine, and southern Turkey; the earliest home of agriculture.

Pastoral Society

A human society that relies on domesticated animals rather than plants as the main source of food; lead their animals to seasonal grazing grounds rather than settling permanently in a single location.

Göbekli Tepe

A ceremonial site (in modern day Turkey) of a hunting and gathering society. This type of structure is normally only associated with agricultural societies

"Gathering and Hunting Peoples"

People who live by collecting food rather than producing it.

Paleolithic

"Old Stone Age"; used to describe early Homo Sapiens societies in the period before the development of agriculture

Paleolithic Rock Art

Used to describe the hundreds of Paleolithic paintings discovered in Spain and France and dating to about 20,000 years ago; these paintings usually depict a range of animals, although human figures and abstract designs are also found.

Ice Age

Any number of cold periods in the earth's history; the last Ice Age was at its peak around 20,000 years ago.

Jomon Culture

A settled Paleolithic culture of prehistoric Japan, characterized by seaside villages and the creation of some of the world's earliest pottery.

Neanderthals

A European variant of Homo Sapiens that died out about 25,000 years ago.

N/Um

A spiritual potency among the San, that becomes activated during "curing dances" and protects humans from the malevolent forces of gods or ancestral spirits.

"The Original Affluent Society"

The term coined by the scholar Marshall Sahlins in 1972 to describe Paleolithic societies, which he regarded as affluent because they had so much but because they wanted or needed so little

Shaman

A person that is believed to have the ability to act as a bridge between living humans and supernatural forces, often by means of trances including psychoactive drugs.

Trance Dance

A night long ritual in San culture, that was held to activate a human being's inner spiritual potency (n/um) to counteract the evil influences of gods and ancestors. The practice was apparently common to the Khoisan people, of whom the Ju/'hoansi are a surviving remnant.

Cultural Diffusion

the spread of cultural and social activities from, one group to the other