Prehistory – time before recorded or written history *Written record begins approx 5,ooo yrs ago

Anthropologists – scientists who study early humans

Hominids – any species of humans

Archeologists Scientists who recover physical evidence of early humans

Archeologists working on a “dig”

Artifact Any object produced by Humans *Exs. -

Culture All aspects of any human society Exs. -

Radiocarbon Dating One of many methods used to date artifacts found, this process measures the amount of carbon in the artifact

Great Rift Valley Geologic feature in East Africa where many early hominid remains have been found

Donald Johanson Noted anthropologist who found hominid remains in The Rift Valley

Australopithecus >“Southern Ape” >Considered one of earliest primates that are hominids or humans

Lucy An Australopithecus specimen found in the Rift Valley *Named after -

Neanderthals A Hominid species, the remains of which were first found in the Neander Valley of Germany

Cro-Magnon Man This term relates to a cave in France, but Cro-Magnon is modern man or us *(Homo Sapiens) *The scientific community today doesn’t use the term Cro-Magnon anymore. They now use the term or phrase “Early Modern Human” or EMH

Homo Sapiens – “Thinking Man” Term referring to modern man

Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age) From earliest hominids to about 10,000 years ago > Tools of stone, bone, antler, control of fire, clothing, etc. >Nomadic hunter-gatherers > Spoken languages, religion, art, etc.

Ice Ages  Polar ice caps grew, ocean levels dropped, and glaciers covered much of the earth  Last ice age ended approximately 10,000 – 12,000 years ago > Evidence shows we experienced 4 separate ice ages

Asian-North American Land Bridge Generally accepted theory as to how the Americas became populated

Neolithic Age Era following Ice Ages was marked by increased technology, the development of agriculture, and permanent settlements

Domestication To tame or train for human use *Animals or plants

Neolithic Revolution The development of Agriculture and the establishment of permanent settlements *Also called the Agricultural Revolution

River Valley Civilizations Nile River Tigris & Euphrates Rivers Indus River Yellow River *In today’s Pakistan *In Egypt *Largely in today’s Iraq *In China *Oldest advanced civilizations In the world

Characteristics of “Civilization” include: >Technology >Government >Division of Labor

Copper First metal to be worked

Bronze An alloy of copper and tin *Led to the era known as the “Bronze Age”

Iron A metal more durable than bronze, leading to the “Iron Age”

Forge A furnace used to work metal Bellows

Artisan Any Skilled Craftsman

Cultural Diffusion The spreading of aspects of one culture to another culture Exs. – military technology, foods, Clothing styles, music, gov’t, etc.

Calendar Method of measuring in writing the passage of time and the seasons – either lunar(moon) or solar(sun) based Egyptian CalendarMaya

Pictograms The Development of Writing A picture represents a thing

Ideograms A picture represents an idea or concept

Phonogram A picture represents a sound

Piltdown Man Hoax An orangutan jaw bone was placed in a dig site to intentionally mislead archeologists into thinking the connection between man and apes (the “missing link”) had been found * Discovered in 1912 Fully disproved in 1953

“Salted” Dig Intentionally placing something in a dig that didn’t belong there

Mandible A lower jaw bone

Charles Darwin British scientist who promotes the theory of “Natural Selection” (Evolution) in mid 1800’s *VERY controversial…

On the Origin of Species Darwin’s book which suggested that species are competing to exist and that the “fittest” survive while others become extinct i.e. “Natural Selection” or evolution

Atlatl Device used to throw a “dart” – an improvement over the simpler and heavier spear