Hominin Hype
This early biped was discovered in Ethiopia and nicknamed "Lucy."
Who is Australopithecus afarensis?
Prehistory is defined as the time before this existed.
What is writing?
This type of science looks at past events using clues, like archaeology and geology.
What is Historical Science?
These were early museum-like displays made by rich European men.
What are the Cabinets of Curiosity?
Archaeologists study human history through these.
What are material remains?
This species had huge molars and a sagittal crest for chewing tough foods.
What is Paranthropus boisei?
Name one reason why studying prehistory matters today.
What is understanding human adaptation, origins, or correcting modern myths?
The Three-Age System includes these three periods.
What is the Bronze, Iron, and Stone Age?
This thinker grouped human cultures into savagery, barbarism, and civilization.
Who is Henry Lewis Morgan?
The study of soil and debris layers.
What is stratigraphy?
This angle at the knee helps early hominins walk upright.
What is the values angle?
Farming, cities, and even social anxiety have roots in this era.
What is Prehistory?
This method uses 14C to date organic materials.
What is radiocarbon dating?
This guy wrote easy-read summaries that justified colonialism.
Who is Sir John Lubbock?
These can't be moved, like postholes or hearths.
What are features?
This feature's position under the skull is key for upright walking.
What is the foraman magnum?
This scholar argued that prehistory was used to erase Indigenous histories.
Who is Alice Kehoe?
The exact location an object was found at a site.
What is provenience?
One way colonial archaeology treated Indigenous societies unfairly.
What is ignoring oral traditions, saying they had “no history,” or claiming they were stuck in earlier stages?
The stuff surrounding an artifact, like soil or ash.
What is the matrix?
The term for increasing brain size relative to body size.
What is encephalization?
Prehistory ended at different times globally. Name one region and its approximate date.
What is Mesopotamia (~2600 BCE), Egypt (~2690 BCE), etc.?
Franz Boas introduced this scientific principle, arguing we should judge cultures by their own standards.
What is cultural relativism?
This scholar was among the first to say Indigenous peoples had deep histories worth studying.
Who is Daniel Wilson?
What techniques are used in lithic and ceramic analysis?
What are isotope testing, lipid analysis, 3D modeling, etc.?