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early humans maddie
vocab
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Prehistory | Human history in the period before recorded events |
History | The branch of knowledge dealing with past events |
Oral Tradition | A community's cultural and historical traditions passed down by word of mouth |
Neolithic | The new stone age; pertaining to, or characteristic of the last phase of the stone age, marked by the domestication of animals, the development of stone & metal tools |
Forensics | A systematic, scientific approach to investigate and analyze physical evidence to solve or answer a scientific question. |
Radio- Carbon Dating | The determination of the age of objects of organic origin by measurement of the radioactivity of their carbon content |
Clovis | pertaining to a Paleo-Indian cultural tradition of North America, esp. the American Southwest, dated 10,000-9,000 BC and characterized by a usually bifacial, fluted stone projectile point used in big-game hunting |
Genetic Drift | random changes in the frequency of alleles in a gene pool, usually of small populations |
Archaeologist | the scientific study of historic or prehistory peoples and their cultures by analysis of their artifacts, inscriptions, monuments, and other such remains, esp. those that have been excavated. |
Smithsonian Institution | an institution in Washington, D.C., founded 1846 with a grant left by James Smithson, for the increase and diffusion of knowledge: US national museum and repository |
N.A.G.P.R.A | Native American Graves Preservation & Repatriation Act; Law that requires that all ancient skeletons and grave sites in the United States be considered sacred Native American remains and turned over to selected tribes for reburial |
Caucasian | Anthropology. of, pertaining 2, or characteristic of 1 of the traditional racial divisions of humankind,marked by fair 2 dark skin,straight 2 tightly curled hair,light 2 very dark eyes, & originally inhabiting Europe,parts of North Africa,West Asia, India |
Migration | the progress or act of migrating; movement by humans, animals, birds, etc for the purpose of following the food supply, seasonal migration to nesting/spawning areas, etc. |
Nomads | a people or tribe that has no permanent home but moves about from place to place, usually seasonally and often following a traditional route or circuit according to the state of the pasturage or food supply |
Domesticate | to convert (animals, plants, etc.) to domestic uses; tame *dogs were the first animals to be tamed* |
Fertile | bearing, producing, or capable of producing vegetation, crops, etc., abundantly: prolific: fertile soil |
Atlatl | Spear or dart thrower made from wood or bone that acts as an extension of the human arm allowing the projectile to be thrown with more force |
Neanderthal | fossils of early humans found in Neanderthal, Germany who lived in Western Europe, Western Asia and the Near east from 200,000 years ago until they disappeared around 30,000 years ago. Likely co-existed for a time with modern Cro-Magnon people |
Homo Sapiens | meaning "wise man" or the first modern humans. The first anatomically modern humans emerged around 100,000 years ago, as part of the second migration out of east africa. Taller and more intelligent than neanderthals,who they eventually displaced |
Hominid | walks upright on two legs, not all fours |
Bering Land Bridge | lend connecting Alaska and Siberia that was exposed during the last ice age when sea levels were much lower due to massive continental glaciers |
Glacier | a huge, slow moving mass of ice and snow that retain vast amount of water, and slowly grind and shape the land surface beneath. |
Ice Age | there have been 11 ice ages in earth's 4.6 billion year history. all the continents were mostly covered by extensive glaciers and caused lower sea levels and exposing more land |
Australopithecus | meaning "southern ape"; this early hominid discovered in south africa combined walked upright and had features of both apes and man.( known as lucy, 3'6" tall with hands and feet with more ape like features - 3 million years old) |
Ardipithecus ramidus | discovered in Ethiopia, east Africa, was small-brained & shows an unexpected mix of advanced characteristics & of primitive traits seen in much older apes tht were unlike chimps or gorillas,she walked upright & used all 4 limbs 2 swing through the trees |
Denisovan | hominids discovered in Siberia who lived about 40,000 years ago and based on DNA tests, appear to have interbred with modern humans (cro-magnon) |
Homo | latin for the genus (family) of man |
Homo erectus | Meaning "upright man"; also known as Java Man, discovered on Indonesian island of Java in 1890. considered the first "really bug hominid" and featured a much larger brain and likely the first hominid to control fire |
Homo habilis | meaning "handy man", so named by Louis Leakey because of the stone tools found near the skeletal remains. |
B.C. | Before Christ |
B.C.E. | Before the common era; used in place of B.C. |
A.D. | Anno Dominum (latin for "in the year of our lord") in the Western Gregorian calendar, those dates after birth of Christ |
C.E. | Common era; used in place of A.D. |
Decade | a period of 10 years |
Century | a period of 100 years |
Millenium | a period of 1,000 years |
Era | a historical period distinguished by certain important or significant happenings (ex. the Modern era) |
Louis Leakey | British archaeologist who discovered Homo Habilis in East Africa |
Morphology | physical characteristics or traits of the human skull, such as height, width of cheek bones, shape of eye sockets, chin shape, etc. |
Paleolithic | meaning old stone age; sue of stones as tools, rather than the New stone age where man purposely made tools from stones |
Kennewick Man | Name given to the skeletal remains of a prehistoric man found along the Columbia river in 1996. |
Flint | type of mineral that could be fashioned into spear points (see Clovis), arrow heads and knives, commonly used by Neolithic hunter-gatherers, through a process called flint napping. it could also be used to create sparks to start a fire |
Hunter-Gatherers | Early nomadic humans who migrated following their food supply(animal herds, fish, fruits, berries, nuts, roots, etc.) |
Obsidian | shiny black sedimentary rock also used to make weapons and cutting tools by Neolihic hunter-gatherers |