Ancient Vocab

Artifacts

Objects made by a human being, typically an item of cultural or historical interest; tools, bones, stone, etc.

Paleolithic Period

Also called the Old Stone Age; period in human pre-history (a time before writing) distinguished by the original development of stone tools.

Neolithic Revolution

Also known as the Agricultural Revolution; this was a wide-scale transition of many human cultures during the Neolithic period (New Stone Age) from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, making an increasingly larger population possible.

Monotheism

The belief that there is only one God.

Bronze Age

A historical period that was characterized by using bronze, specifically the making of weapons and artifacts made from copper and tin (bronze), and which also coincides with the beginning of the first civilizations.

Civilization

The stage of human social and cultural development and organization that is considered most advanced.

Hunter-gather

A member of a nomadic people who live chiefly by hunting and fishing, as well as harvesting wild food. Egalitarian, small communities and population who would move from place to place according to the environment. They had no political system, and economic distribution was more equal.

Agriculture

The art and science of cultivating the soil, growing crops and raising livestock.

Surplus

An amount of something left over when requirements have been met, an excess of production or supply over demand.

Domestication

The process of taming an animal and keeping it as a pet or on a farm. It can also refer to the cultivation of a plant for food.

Pastoralism

A form of animal husbandry, by nomadic people who moved with their herds. Livestock is herded in order to find fresh pastures on which to graze.

Kinship groups

A family, clan, or other group based on blood relationship.

Patriarchal

A system of society or government controlled by men. Also a social organization in which the father is the supreme authority in the family, clan, or tribe.

Artisans

A worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involved making things by hand.

Merchants

A person who trades in commodities produced by other people. Involved in business or trade.

Social Stratification

System in which society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy. Ex- Social Class pyramids

Ethnocentrism

Belief that one's own culture is superior to all others and is the standard by which all other cultures should be measured.

Matriarchal

A form of social organization in which a woman is the head. Hereditary lineage is traced through the mother rather than father.

Metallurgy

The process of working with metals to create individual parts, assemblies, or large-scale structures.

Cultural Diffusion

The spread of ideas, customs, and technologies from one people or place to another.

Mesopotamia

Meaning the land between two rivers (Tigris & Euphrates) in modern day Iran, it is considered the world's first civilization. Also known as the Fertile Crescent.

Sahara

A vast desert of northern Africa extending east from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea and south from the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea into the Sahel.

Desertification

The process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture.

Indus River Valley

Ancient civilization on the sub-continent of India or south Asia. Complex society which had a successful agricultural economy, trade, system of writing, sophisticated water and sewage systems, as well as the world's oldest religion Hinduism.

Deforestation

The clearing of trees, transforming a forest into cleared land.

Huang He

Earliest Chinese settlement; also known as the Yellow River due to loess. This civilization was made up of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties.

Loess

A fine, light silt deposit by wind and water. It creates the fertile soil of the Yellow River Valley in northern China.

Mesoamerica

The early civilizations that included Mexico and Central America. They relied on sedentary agriculture based on the cultivation of maize.

Animism

A religious belief that focuses on the roles of multiple gods and spirits in the natural world.

Oceania & Polynesia

A region of thousands of habitable islands in the Pacific Ocean; Australia, New Guinea, etc. Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of islands such as Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island.

Barter

To exchange goods or services for other good or services without using a monetary system.

Polytheistic

The belief in multiple gods.

Ziggurats

Massive "stepped" pyramids made from mud bricks, used as temples in city-states throughout Mesopotamia.

Hebrews, Israelites, Jews

A small early civilization/group of people whose development of a monotheistic faith provided the foundation of modern Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Jewish Diaspora

When Jews dispersed/spread from Israel, their ancestral homeland, to western Asia and Mediterranean lands.

Vedas/Vedic Age

Books of Knowledge or Wisdom; early collections of prayers and hymns that provided information about the Indo-European Aryans who migrated into India around 1500bce.

Vernation of Ancestors

Having the upmost respect for your ancestors. Practiced in China, families believed that a family's ancestors could bring good or evil fortune to the living members of the family. Families would honor spirits and offer sacrifices at the deceased elders graves.

Scribes

A professional position reserved for men who were trained to be able to read and write using their ancient civilizations writing system.

The Epic of Gilgamesh

The most famous literary work from Mesopotamia; it tells the story of one man's quest for immortality.

Cuneiform

Wedge-shaped writing in the form of symbols carved into clay tablets; used in Mesopotamia.

Hieroglyphics

Ancient Egyptian writing system in which sacred carving were made onto papyrus.

Sanskrit

An ancient language of India; used in Hinduism including the Vedas.

City-state

A self-governing urban center and the agricultural territories it controlled.

Chavin

First major urban civilization in South America located in the Andes Mountains of Peru. Precursor to the Incan Empire.

Olmec

The earliest known Mexican civilization. They lived in the rainforests along the Gulf of Mexico, developed a calendar and constructed public buildings and temples, as well as participated in trade.

Hammurabi's Code

The 1ST series of laws created by the order of King Hammurabi of Babylon. Helped create social and political order, as well as manage the economy.

Shang Dynasty

The dominant people in the earliest Chinese dynasty for which there are written records. They practiced ancestor worship, divination using oracle bones, and the use of bronze vessels for rituals.

Mandate of Heaven

The Chinese religious and political ideology developed by the Zhou, which stated it was the prerogative of Heaven, the chief deity, to grant power to the ruler of China and to take away that power if the ruler failed to conduct himself justly and in the best interest of his subjects.

Zhou Dynasty

The people and dynasty that took over the dominant position in China after the Shang. Created the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to justify their rule.