China
What is the main difference in agricultural fertility between Northern and Southern China?
Southern China has heavy forests, while Northern China has river valleys which allowed for agricultural fertility. Remember, only 10% of land is farmable in early China.
Why did Upper Egypt depend more heavily on Nile flooding for agriculture?
Because Lower Egypt's Nile Delta is more humid, there is more room for agriculture and also an ability to grow a wider variety of crops.
What is another name for the Indus Valley Civilization?
The Harappan Civilization
When did the Beringian Land Bridge submerge?
around 11,000 BP
What is a were-jaguar?
It is a creature which powerful elites of MesoAmerica could turn into. The transformation required advanced ritual training so it was limited to religious specialists and elites. It is usually represented by an inside out upper lip, a downturned mouth, and almond, cat-like eyes.
Which came first in China, sedentism or domestication?
Sedentism. Early Chinese villages often exploited wild foods, which eventually led to a dependence on and the domestication of millet and rice.
What happened during the Gerzean cultural period of Egypt?
- emergence of political centers like Hierakonpolis and Naqada
- increase in warfare and conquest
- increase in social stratification
What distinguishes Indus Valley Civilization from Ancient Egypt?
Less intense social differences in status and wealth. While there were modest differences, it seems like a more corporate, egalitarian society.
What is the Clovis First Theory?
What is the settling in hypothesis?
As people lived in one place and focused on resource management, they gradually developed domesticated plants through continued cultivation and management. It links sedentism and resource management to the origins of agriculture.
What characterizes the Yangshao Culture?
Huge population growth and increasing social stratification.
Where did Narmer establish the new capital of Egypt after Unification?
Memphis. Narmer also increased irrigation and created more political organization.
True or false: we can understand Harappan writing.
False. No one has yet deciphered the Harappan writing system, a series of 400 unique signs.
That modern Native American people are directly connected to Siberian populations. This confirms earlier migrations from Siberia and disproves the Clovis culture debate.
Where did most of the domestic plants of the Americas originate?
In the neo-tropical forests via backyard or dooryard cultivation
What characterizes the Longshan Culture Period?
Increasing craft specialization and increasing trade of all kinds, short and long distance.
What does the Bent Pyramid tell us about pyramid design?
The bent pyramid is interesting because it had a structural failure halfway through. The initial angle was too ambitious and so they had to adjust halfway through. It shows the trial and error which went into creating the pyramids we now associate with Giza and their 52 degree angles.
What does the Aryan Invasion Theory suggest about the Indus Valley?
That a violent invasion from outside forces led to the collapse of the civilization.
What was Monks Mound?
A large earth work which was the result of specialized labor and organized labor. The Mound served as a symbol of elite authority and demonstrated advanced labor organization.
What is Seasonal Scheduling?
The use of seasonal encampments to take advantage of resources which are seasonal in nature. People would move from place to place to exploit specific resources available only at certain times of the year. The Seasonal Scheduling Hypothesis of agriculture links mobility, cultivation, and population growth to the origins of domestic plants.
What is scapulimancy?
The use of oracle bone divination using the scapula of a large animal.
Who was the Pharoah the son of?
The Sun God Ra.
What evidence at Mohenjo-daro supports the Aryan Invasion Theory?
- unburied bodies suffering violence
- sudden abandonment of sites
-unclear if this is from invasion or from tectonic uplift and flooding. Likely a combination of both.
What does San Jose Mogote show us about early monumental structures?
That they were animated via ritual practices of sacrifice. This came in the form of buried offerings, human sacrifice, and auto sacrifice.
What is auto sacrifice?
The act of blood letting by ritual specialists or elites in order to give an offering to religious deities, ancestors, or other spiritual figures. This was usually achieved by cutting the body with a sting ray spine or obsidian instrument in a region with high vascularity. Places to cut commonly included the tongue, the cheek, the lips, and the genitals, since they are areas rich in capillaries.