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| The last phase of the great human migration that established a human presence in every habitable region of the earth. Austronesian-speaking people settled the Pacific islands and Madagascar in a series of seaborne migrations that began around 3,500 years ago. (pron. aws-troe-NEEZH-an) |
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| The last surviving member of a gathering and hunting group known as the Yahi who lived in northern California. His people were driven into extinction during the second half of the nineteenth century by the intrusion of farming and herding “civilized” societies. |
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| An important Neolithic site in what is now Turkey. (pron. cha-TAHL-hoo-YOOK) |
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| a ceremonial site comprising twenty circles made up of carved limestone pillars located in southeastern Turkey. The site, which dates to 11,600 years ago, was built by gatherer hunters who lived at least part of the year in settled villages. |
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| The spread of Bantu-speaking peoples from their homeland in what is now southern Nigeria or Cameroon to most of Africa, in a process that started ca. 3000 B.C.E. and continued for several millennia. |
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| A societal grouping governed by a chief who typically relies on generosity, ritual status, or charisma rather than force to win obedience from the people. |
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| The earliest widespread and distinctive culture of North America; named from the Clovis point, a particular kind of projectile point |
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| The gradual spread of agricultural techniques without extensive population movement. |
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| A complex worldview of Australia’s Aboriginal people that held that current humans live in a vibration or echo of ancestral happenings. |
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| Region sometimes known as Southwest Asia that includes the modern states of Iraq, Syria, Israel/Palestine, and southern Turkey; the earliest home of agriculture. |
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| A Chinese archeological site, where the remains of a significant Neolithic village have been found. (pron. bahn-poe) |
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| Dying out of a number of large animal species, including the mammoth and several species of horses and camels, that occurred around 11,000–10,000 years ago, at the end of the Ice Age. The extinction may have been caused by excessive hunting or by the changing climate of the era. (pron. meg-ah-FAWN-al) |
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| Paleolithic settling down |
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| The process by which some Paleolithic peoples moved toward permanent settlement in the wake of the last Ice Age. Settlement was marked by increasing storage of food and accumulation of goods, as well as growing inequalities in society. |
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| the original affluent society” |
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| Term coined by the scholar Marshall Sahlins in 1972 to describe Paleolithic societies, which he regarded as affluent not because they had so much but because they wanted or needed so little. |
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| A human society that relies on domesticated animals rather than plants as the main source of food; pastoral nomads lead their animals to seasonal grazing grounds rather than settling permanently in a single location. |
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| In many early societies, a person believed to have the ability to act as a bridge between living humans and supernatural forces, often by means of trances induced by psychoactive drugs. |
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| “secondary products revolution” |
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| A term used to describe the series of technological changes that began ca. 4000 B.C.E., as people began to develop new uses for their domesticated animals, exploiting a revolutionary new source of power. |
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| The wild ancestor of maize. (pron. tay-oh-SIN-tay) |
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| Village-based agricultural societies, usually organized by kinship groups, that functioned without a formal government apparatus. |
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| In San culture, a nightlong ritual held to activate a human being’s inner spiritual potency (n/um) to counteract the evil influences of gods and ancestors. The practice was apparently common to the Khoisan people, of whom the Ju/‘hoansi are a surviving remnant. |
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| Paleolithic carvings of the female form, often with exaggerated breasts, buttocks, hips, and stomachs, which may have had religious significance. |
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| Central Asian/Oxus civilization |
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| A major first civilization that emerged around 2200 B.C.E. in Central Asia along the Oxus or Amu Darya river in what is now northern Afghanistan. An important focal point for a Eurasian-wide system of intellectual and cultural exchange, it faded away about 1700 B.C.E. |
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| Norte Chico is a region along the central coast of Peru, home of a civilization that developed in the period 3000–1800 B.C.E. Caral was the largest of some twenty-five urban centers that emerged in the area at that time. |
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| “the gift of the Nile”: Egypt is often known as “the gift of the Nile” because the region would not have been able to support a significant human population without the Nile’s annual inundation, which provided rich silt deposits and made agriculture possible. |
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| A civilization to the south of Egypt in the Nile Valley, noted for development of an alphabetic writing system and a major ironworking industry by 500 B.C.E. |
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| Indus Valley civilization |
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[Flip Card]Mark for Quizzing:
a major civilization that emerged in what is now Pakistan during the third millennium B.C.E., in the valleys of the Indus and Saraswati rivers, noted for the uniformity of its elaborately planned cities over a large territory. |
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| Major cities of the Indus Valley civilization, both of which flourished around 2000 B.C.E. (pron. moehen-joe DAHR-oh) (pron. hah-RAHP-uh) |
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| A series of laws publicized at the order of King Hammurabi of Babylon (d. 1750 B.C.E.). Not actually a code, but a number of laws that proclaimed the king’s commitment to social order. (See the excerpt of the code in Document 2.2, pp. 118–121.) |
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| The most famous extant literary work from ancient Mesopotamia, it tells the story of one man’s quest for immortality. |
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| An early civilization that developed along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico around 1200 B.C.E. |
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| A circa 1300 B.C.E. Egyptian foreman in charge of a crew of tomb workers whose misdeeds in life were recorded by a rival. |
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| Literally “rule of the father”; a social system of male dominance. |
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| A process of centralization that took place in the First Civilizations, growing out of the greater complexity of urban life in recognition of the need for coordination, regulation, adjudication, and military leadership. |
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| The largest city of ancient Mesopotamia. (pron. OOH-rook) |
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| Alexander III of Macedon (356–323 B.C.E.), conqueror of the Persian Empire and part of northwest India. |
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| The period from 323 to 30 B.C.E. in which Greek culture spread widely in Eurasia and North Africa in the kingdoms ruled by Alexander’s political successors. |
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| A radical form of direct democracy in which much of the free male population of Athens had the franchise, and officeholders were chosen by lot. |
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| A sizable and prosperous empire in the region that now makes up northwestern India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. This empire was linked to the Silk Road trading network and featured a blending of Greek, Indian, and Buddhist cultures. |
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| Two major Persian invasions of Greece, in 490 B.C.E. and 480 B.C.E., in which the Persians were defeated on both land and sea. |
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| Dynasty that ruled China from 206 B.C.E to 220 C.E., creating a durable state based on Shihuangdi’s state-building achievement. (pron. hahn) |
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| The most famous ruler of the Mauryan Empire (r. 268–232 B.C.E.), who converted to Buddhism and tried to rule peacefully and with tolerance. (pron. ah-SHOKE-uh) |
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| The great-nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar who emerged as sole ruler of the Roman state at the end of an extended period of civil war (r. 31 B.C.E.–14 C.E.). |
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| A major empire (322–185 B.C.E.) that encompassed most of India. |
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| The “Roman peace,” a term typically used to denote the stability and prosperity of the early Roman Empire, especially in the first and second centuries C.E. (pron. pox roh-MAHN-uh) |
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| A major empire that expanded from the Iranian plateau to incorporate the Middle East from Egypt to India; flourished from around 550 to 330 B.C.E. |
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| Literally “first emperor from the Qin”; Shihuangdi (r. 221–210 B.C.E.) forcibly reunited China and established a strong and repressive state. (pron. chin shee-hwang-dee) |
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[Flip Card]Mark for Quizzing:
A Vietnamese woman from an aristocratic military family who led an ultimately unsuccessful revolt against China around 40 C.E. following the execution of her husband. |
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| A Greek polymath philosopher (384–322 B.C.E.); student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. |
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| “Great Vehicle,” the popular development of Buddhism in the early centuries of the Common Era, which gives a much greater role to supernatural beings and proved to be more popular than original (Theravada) Buddhism. (pron. mah-hah-YAH-nah) |
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| A great Hindu epic text, part of the much larger Mahabharata, which affirms the performance of caste duties as a path to religious liberation. (pron. BAH-gah-vahd GHEE-tah) |
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| A village in the Bihar region of northeastern India where a huge monastic complex dedicated to Buddhist learning was built in the 5th century C.E. Many have viewed this building as the world’s first university. |
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| The Chinese philosophy first enunciated by Confucius, advocating the moral example of superiors as the key element of social order. |
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| Christian martyr (181–203 C. E.)from an upper class Roman family in Carthage. Her refusal to renounce her faith made her an inspiration for other early Christians |
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| A secularizing system of scientific and philosophic thought that developed in classical Greece in the period 600 to 300 B.C.E.; it emphasized the power of education and human reason to understand the world in nonreligious terms. |
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| A disciple of Socrates whose Dialogues convey the teachings of his master while going beyond them to express Plato’s own philosophy; lived from 429 to 348 B.C.E. |
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| The monotheistic religion developed by the Hebrews, emphasizing a sole personal god (Yahweh) with concerns for social justice. |
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| The first great popularizer of Christianity (10–65 C.E.). |
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| A major female Confucian author of Han dynasty China (45–116 C.E.) whose works give insight into the implication of Confucian thinking for women. (pron. bahn joe) |
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| Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) |
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| The Indian prince turned ascetic (ca. 566–ca. 486 B.C.E.) who founded Buddhism. (pron. sidd-ARTH-uh gow-TAHM-uh) |
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| A theologically and organizationally distinct Christian church based in Syria and Persia but with followers in southern India and Central Asia. |
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| A Chinese philosophy/popular religion that advocates simplicity and understanding of the world of nature, founded by the legendary figure Laozi. (pron. dow-ism) |
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| The prophet/god of Christianity (ca. 4 B.C.E.–ca. 30 C.E.). |
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| A Chinese philosophy distinguished by an adherence to clear laws with vigorous punishments. |
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| The first great Greek philosopher to turn rationalism toward questions of human existence (469–399 B.C.E.). |
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| “The Teaching of the Elders,” the early form of Buddhism according to which the Buddha was a wise teacher but not divine and which emphasizes practices rather than beliefs. (pron. THAIR-ah-VAH-dah) |
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| Indian mystical and philosophical works, written between 800 and 400 B.C.E. (pron. ooh-PAHN-ish-ahds) |
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| The earliest religious texts of India, a collection of ancient poems, hymns, and rituals that were transmitted orally before being written down ca. 600 B.C.E. (pron.VAY-dahs) |
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| Persian monotheistic religion founded by the prophet Zarathustra. (pron. zor-oh- AST-ree-an-ism) |
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