Stone Age Basics
This term means "Old Stone Age" and represents the longest period in human history.
What is Paleolithic?
his major transformation occurred around 10,000 BCE and changed human civilization forever.
What is the Agricultural Revolution?
This geographic region in Mesopotamia is known as the "cradle of civilization."
What is the Fertile Crescent?
Early humans primarily used this material, especially flint, to make tools because it could be shaped into sharp cutting edges
What is stone?
Before written language, early humans communicated through oral communication, symbols, and this creative expression.
What is art?
Paleolithic humans had to constantly move to follow food sources, making them this type of people.
What are nomads (or nomadic people)?
This process of taming plants and animals for human use was crucial for developing agriculture
What is domestication?
These bodies of water provided irrigation, fertile soil, transportation, and reliable water sources for permanent settlements.
What are rivers?
The discovery that mixing copper and tin creates this metal marked the end of the Neolithic Age.
What is Bronze?
Early humans passed knowledge from one generation to the next through these spoken traditions and storytelling.
What are oral traditions?
The Shanidar Cave burial site with flowers provides evidence that Neanderthals had these types of beliefs.
What are spiritual or religious beliefs?
This farming technique involved cutting down trees and burning fields before planting seeds.
What is slash and burn?
This social class was typically the largest in early civilizations.
Who are farmers and peasants?
Who are slaves?
his field of study focuses on examining artifacts left behind by prehistoric peoples.
What is archaeology?
This number represents how many years are in a millennium
What is 1,000?
This continent is where the earliest human ancestors (hominids) have been discovered.
What is Africa?
The agricultural revolution caused human population to explode from 6 million to this many million people between 10,000-1000 BCE.
What is 120 million?
These two groups usually held the highest positions in early civilizations' social hierarchies.
Who are priests and nobles?
Early humans showed complex thought through sophisticated tool-making, burial rituals, cave paintings, shelter construction, and planned versions of these journeys.
What are migrations?
Beyond decoration, art played this important role in recording events, expressing religious beliefs, and preserving cultural traditions.
What is recording/preserving history (or cultural preservation)?
Early humans crossed this type of frozen connection between Asia and North America during the Ice Age.
What is a land bridge?
Agriculture led to food surpluses, which allowed people to do this instead of everyone having to farm.
What is job specialization?
Early civilizations were characterized by dense populations, social hierarchies, centralized government, monuments, and these complex systems of belief.
What are polytheistic religions (or complex belief systems)?
Early civilizations tracked time using natural cycles like lunar months, solar years, and these celestial objects' positions to create calendars.
What are stars?
The development of writing systems allowed recording of laws, trade transactions, religious texts, and historical events, making this group of people who could read and write very powerful
Who are scribes?