On Our Terms
What is an historian?
Someone who researches the past, usually through documents and primary sources.
Give two reasons why early civilizations were located near a river.
1. The rivers provided drinking water
2. The rivers would flood and provide fertile land
3. Rivers were good for transportation
One of the advancements made during Neolithic times was the invention of writing in Sumeria. Their written language was called what?
cuneiform
Even though they weren't always fair by our standards, give one example of why Hammurabi's were an important step forward for civilization?
1. The laws were written down for the first time
2. The laws applied to everyone (even if not equally)
3. The laws set up a system of justice, rather than allowing for people to just take revenge when wronged.
This Greek word means "between two rivers"
Mesopotamia
What is an archeologist?
Someone who studies the past by digging up artifacts from the time period.
What is the term for the half-circle shaped territory, whose center was between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and which ran from modern day Iran to modern Egypt?
The Fertile Crescent
The Neolithic period led to people's ability to control animals and plants and use for their benefit. This was called _______________
domestication
What early civilization was Hammurabi from? (its capital city was Ur)
Babylon
Why might dwellings from the Neolithic age be larger and built more solidly than those from the Paleolithic times?
In the Paleolithic, people were nomadic so dwellings needed to be taken down quickly for each move!
What word can be defined as the controlling of a water source through the use of canals, levees and dams in order to have it reach more land for farming?
Irrigation
This is the continent where the first humans originated.
Africa
What is the literal meaning of "Neolithic"
Old Stone Age
"200. If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out."
This is one of Hammurabi's laws. Elsewhere it says that if a free man knocks out the teeth of a slave, he pays a small fine. This shows how Babylonian society had a _____________, where different social classes had different amounts of power.
hierarchy
What was one of the major technological inventions of the Sumerians?
1. The wheel
2. The plow
3. (Writing)
Give three characteristics of "civilization"
1. Written language 6. hierarchy/social struct.
2. Laws
3. Government
4. technology and tools
5. stable food supply/food surplus
One of the reasons early people settled by rivers was because of the rich soil that came after flooding. This was called
silt
Which OTHER characteristic of the Neolithic Revolution led to "division of labor"?
Food surplus/stable food supply
What image is carved on the top of the stele that contains Hammurabi's code?
A frieze (sculpture that comes out of a surface) of Hammurabi talking with a god.
Most of what we know about Persia comes from this Greek historian.
Herodotus
The name of the type of source where the person who created it was NOT there for the event.
Secondary
What modern day country is where Mesopotamia used to be?
Iraq
The modern day tribe of the Hazda still are hunter-gatherers who follow animals and forage for food. Studying them is a good way for researchers to understand which era?
Paleolithic
According to Hammurabi's code, "If any one open his ditches to water his crop, but is careless, and the water flood the field of his neighbor, then" what should happen?
"he shall pay his neighbor [corn] for his loss."
Why is it so hard to find primary sources from Ancient Persia? How did they usually pass on knowledge?
They didn't keep many written records; instead they used passed down oral histories (told from one generation to the next)