“Living in the World”: Important Concepts, Part 2 …and other introductory info: Adapted fr. _A Message of Ancient Days_ Credit and Photo Credits at end.

Diffusion: As people move or trade, ideas, inventions, values, and beliefs get exchanged. Many are adopted (and adapted) over time. This spread of ideas, values, and inventions from one culture to another is called: cultural borrowing or diffusion

Examples of Diffusion: The development of the alphabet is just one of countless examples of diffusion: “An example of cultural diffusion is the tradition of the German Christmas pickle becoming popular in the United States. An example of cultural diffusion is the way American slang is used in other countries after having been heard in American movies.” --(y.d.c.d.)

Regions: One way that people who study humans and their relationships make sense of information is by dividing areas into regions. __________________________________ Regions are areas with distinct characteristics that differ from surrounding areas.

There are many different ways of dividing places into regions: language regions land-use regions political regions climate regions etc., etc.

The same area can be divided into many different regions to reveal different information or to serve various purposes.

Boundaries A dividing line between regions is known as a boundary, These can be natural, such as a river, or artificial (manmade), such as a fence.

Purposes of Boundaries: 1.To show the extent of a region--

Purposes of Boundaries, Cont’d: 2. To prevent passage--

A Potential Problem with Boundaries: Border Disputes

Other concepts (from class notes and discussions): 1. Culture: The beliefs, customs, art, inventions, artifacts, and achievements of a group of people (MAD).

Other concepts (from class notes and discussions) Cont’d: a.Material / Physical Culture: Aspects of culture that are tangible—objects such as tools, books, etc. b.Nonmaterial / Non-physical Culture: Aspects of culture that include ideas and beliefs, such as songs, religion, common attitudes towards something, common behaviors, etc.

Context “The circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood…”(google-dictionary). “She took my words out of context: I said I would never call her a bully!” Context Context (CLICK) in Archaeology

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