Paleolithic & Neolithic Life
What is the era is known as the "Old Stone Age" and is when people lived as hunter-gatherers?
The Paleolithic Era
This is the process of taming animals and plants for human use, a key development of the Neolithic Age.
What is domestication?
This type of scientist studies fossils and artifacts from ancient life to learn about the past.
Who is an archaeologist?
The first four early civilizations (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley, China) were all located near this geographical feature.
What is a river valley (or near a coast/river)?
This period followed the Neolithic Age and saw the widespread use of a specific metal alloy.
The Bronze Age
What is the shift from a nomadic lifestyle to settled communities and farming marks the beginning of this era, the "New Stone Age.
The Neolithic Age
Early farming villages like Jericho used this method to bring water to their crops of wheat and barley.
What is irrigation?
People who traveled in groups, moving from place to place to survive, are called this.
Who are nomads?
During the Ice Age, this was a land bridge that allowed early humans to migrate from Asia to North America and other continents.
What is land exposed by lower sea levels?
This material is a mix (alloy) of copper and tin, which was stronger than stone or pure copper.
What is bronze?
Besides tools and fire, Paleolithic people created these forms of art, like those found at Lascaux.
What are cave paintings?
This major shift is often called the Neolithic Revolution because it led to the development of settled communities and later, civilizations.
What is the Agricultural Revolution (or the invention of farming)?
A group of people with its own distinct and highly developed way of life and government is known as this.
What is a civilization?
These two civilizations, shown on the map near the Persian Gulf, would have most likely traded with each other via sea.
What are Egypt and Mesopotamia?
The Bronze Age is noted for the rise of these complex societies, characterized by a set of seven specific features.
What are civilizations?
This is the key social change in the Neolithic period where fewer people needed to work on farms, allowing others to become artisans or priests.
What is specialization (or division of labor)?
Farming provided this crucial benefit over hunting and gathering, leading to stable populations and the development of hierarchies.
What is a stable food source (or food surplus)?
In the first civilizations, this was the primary factor that determined an individual's social status.
What is wealth (or a person's job/role in society)?
Early humans adapted to the harsh conditions of the Ice Age by migrating to warmer climates and developing this.
What is sturdier shelters (or control of fire and better clothing)?
The Bronze Age is considered a major turning point in human history because it saw the development of three of the seven characteristics of civilization, such as specialized labor. Name two others.
What are the growth of cities, development of government, religion, social class structure, development of writing, and art/architecture?
What two key features did the Neolithic settlements of Jericho and Çatalhüyük have in common that allowed them to thrive?
What are they both had a large population and built permanent communities (or developed settled farming)?
Explain two ways farming enabled the growth of complex social structures like those seen in early civilizations.
What are: Food surpluses allowed for specialization of labor, and a stable food supply allowed for permanent settlements and population growth, which led to the development of social classes and government?
This early human group is characterized by modern hunter-gatherers and the development of spoken language.
What are modern hunter-gatherers?
Explain the main geographical reason why Neolithic sites were concentrated around the area known as the Fertile Crescent.
What is because the area had fertile soil and access to rivers/water (like the Jordan River and Mediterranean), which supported farming and permanent settlements?
Give three specific examples of Bronze Age technology that changed how people lived, and explain the impact of one.
What are the Plow (increased farming efficiency), the Wheel (aided transport and pottery), Bronze Tools/Weapons (better quality and strength), or Writing (record-keeping for business and law)? (Any three with an explanation for one.)