First Peoples: Populating the Planet and The Agricultural Revolution

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the Paleolithic era through the Agricultural Revolution, as presented in the notes.

Paleolithic

The long period before agriculture when humans lived as hunter‑gatherers and used stone tools.

Gathering and hunting

Subsistence strategy of Paleolithic peoples relying on wild foods and game instead of farming.

Old Stone Age

Another name for the Paleolithic era.

Homo sapiens

Our species, emerged in Africa around 250,000 years ago and later spread globally.

Out of Africa

The series of migrations by Homo sapiens from Africa into Eurasia, Australia, the Americas, and the Pacific beginning around 100,000–60,000 years ago.

Ice Age land bridges

Lower sea levels during the Ice Ages that connected continents and aided human migration.

Lascaux Caves

Famous Paleolithic cave paintings in southern France dating to about 17,000 years ago.

Cave art

Paleolithic paintings and engravings found in caves, depicting animals, humans, and symbolic imagery.

Dreamtime

Aboriginal Australian beliefs about the creation of the world and ancestral beings; expresses through stories, songs, and rock art.

Aboriginal rock painting

Rock art across Australia reflecting Dreamtime beliefs and daily life; a long-standing artistic tradition.

San (Ju/’hoansi)

Gathering and hunting people of southern Africa known for mobility, sharing, and egalitarian bands.

Ju/’hoansi band

A small social unit (about 10–30 people) within San society; no formal leaders; highly egalitarian.

Insulting the meat

A Ju/’hoansi practice of downplaying a kill to prevent boasting and maintain equality.

n/um

Spiritual potency believed to reside in the stomach, activated during curing ceremonies.

Trance dance

Nightlong healing ceremonies where healers enter a trance to heal the community using n/um.

Chumash

Indigenous people of southern California who developed permanent villages, trade networks, and advanced canoes.

Tomol

Chumash plank canoe, 20–30 feet long, used for long‑distance trade and deep‑sea fishing.

Brotherhood of the Tomol

Chumash craft guild that monopolized canoe production and preserved sacred knowledge.

Chumash market economy

An early market‑based economy among gathering/hunting peoples, with bead currency, specialized crafts, and price/trade systems.

Banpo

Early Chinese Neolithic village (7000–5000 BCE) with storage pits, kilns, weaving, and millet/pig/dog domestication.

Jericho

One of the world’s earliest large agricultural villages in the Levant.

Ain Ghazal

Neolithic site in Jordan (7200–5000 BCE) with plaster statues and large stone houses.

Çatalhöyük

Major Neolithic village in southern Turkey; densely packed houses, burials beneath homes, no streets.

Domestication

The process of taming and breeding plants and animals to be beneficial to humans.

Teosinte

Wild ancestor of maize; domesticated to produce modern corn in Mesoamerica.

Maize (corn)

Domesticated crop in Mesoamerica; required complementary crops (beans and squash) for protein.

Diffusion

Spread of agricultural practices and crops through networks without large‑scale movement of people.

Migration

Movement of agricultural peoples carrying crops and techniques to new regions.

Bantus

Bantu-speaking peoples who spread agriculture, cattle herding, and ironworking across sub‑Saharan Africa.

Austronesian expansion

Seaborne spread of Austronesian‑speaking peoples across the Pacific and to Madagascar; 3,500–1,000 BCE.

Cahokia

Major agricultural chiefdom near modern St. Louis, flourishing around 1100 CE.

Stateless societies

Societies organized by kinship with no centralized state; governance through lineages and councils.

Chiefdom

Political organization with hereditary leaders (chiefs) who wield influence through ritual status and redistribution.

Secondary products revolution

Introduction of using domesticated animals for milking, wool, manure, and transport (horses/camels) beyond meat.

Çatalhöyük houses

Dense, interconnected houses with burials beneath; no streets, indicative of early urban life.

Banpo storage pits

Storage pits at Banpo illustrating agricultural settlement and food management.

Teosinte to maize process

The domestication pathway from wild teosinte to cultivated maize/corn.

Maize timeline in the Americas

Maize domestication in Mesoamerica (9000–8000 BCE), later spread and diversification across the Americas.

Diffusion of crops in the Americas

Spread of maize and other crops through diffusion and migration across regions.

Horticulture

Garden‑oriented, hoe‑based agriculture that precedes full scale farming in many regions.

Banpo, Jericho, Ain Ghazal, Çatalhöyük (early villages)

Examples of early agricultural villages illustrating different regional paths to farming.

Population growth and agriculture

Agriculture supported larger populations and led to settlements, diseases, and new social structures.

Cultivation vs domestication

Cultivation refers to planting crops; domestication includes selective breeding of plants and animals.

Agricultural villages vs chiefdoms

Villages often relied on kinship and lacked centralized state; chiefdoms introduced inherited leadership and redistribution.

Ethnographic examples (Nisa, San, Ju/’hoansi)

Insider accounts and field studies used to illustrate Paleolithic life, gender roles, and social organization.