TERM | DEFINITION |
prehistoric | Before history was written down; no written records.
Scientists learned about the people by what they left behind. |
homosapiens | People with the same skull structure and physical characteristics we have today; HUMANS |
Stone Age | A prehistoric time when the first humans made tools by chipping away at stone in order to shape it to do a specific job. |
hunter-gatherers | people who live off wild game, plants, fish, fruit, and seeds |
agriculture | working the land to grow plants on it |
irrigation | direct water to fields through a system of ditches |
domestication | the taming and raising of wild animals.
This gave people a steady supply of meat and milk. |
surplus of food | far more food than they need |
specialization of labor | people became skilled at specific jobs that helped the entire community |
class | group of people make about the same amount of money and hold the same social position in society. |
Fertile Crescent | Area where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow into the Persian Gulf. |
silt | fine particles of soil from the lands they passed through |
cuneiform | wedge shaped writing that contained over 800 signs |
culture | the custom beliefs and a whole way of life of a group of people |
belief | a system of ideas by which people live ideas in which people have confidence and trust |
rituals | a form of ceremony associated with a religious cultural or political procedure |
global village | a term that compares the world to a small village wherefast modarn communication allows news to travel quickly |
anthropologist | a scientist who studies people and their cultures |
arhaelogist | a scientist who studies past civilications by examining ancient pottery buildings and remains |
artifact | a object from the past of historicalinterest such as ancient tools and pottery |
fossil | the remains of traces ofa plant or animalsfrom an earlier age |
site | aplace where scientists search for signs of past human civilization |
Bible | a book of ancient writings sacred to Christianity and Judaism |
Covenant | a solemn agreement |
Nomad | a person who moves from place to place in search of food and water |
Monothaism | the worship of one all poweful god |
Diaspora | the scattering of jews throughout the world since ancient times |
Rabbi | a religious scholar or leader in the jewish faith |
Snyagogue | a place for worship and study in the jewish faith |
polytheistic | worshipping many gods |
Code of Hammurabi | best preserved ancient code of laws |