Prehistoric Art and the Fertile Crescent (Paleolithic–Neolithic; Fertile Crescent Chapter 2)

Vocabulary flashcards covering Paleolithic and Neolithic periods and Fertile Crescent city-states from the provided lecture notes.

Paleolithic period

The early Stone Age (about 40,000–9,000 BCE) characterized by nomadic hunter‑gatherers and early, often ritual, art.

Neolithic period

The later Stone Age (about 9,000–2,300 BCE) marked by farming, domestication, settled communities, and new architectural structures.

Conscious representation

The shift from merely recognizing human and animal forms to deliberately depicting them in art.

Ritual purposes in Paleolithic art

Early artwork often served fertility and hunting-related rites.

Food production

The adoption of farming and animal domestication in the Neolithic period, enabling settled life.

Built settlements

Permanent or long-term communities that developed as a result of farming.

Fertile Crescent

A vast Near Eastern region (ca. 3500 BCE–636 CE) where early city-states and civilizations arose.

City-states

Independent urban centers within the Fertile Crescent, each with its own government.

Regions with major finds

Africa; France; Spain; Germany; England; Turkey; and Iraq—sites yielding early Paleolithic/Neolithic art.

Chapter 2 timeframe

Ca. 3500 BCE to 636 CE, covering developments in the Fertile Crescent's city-states.