| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Prehistory | 5,000 years before the invention of writing |
| Archaeologist | a scientist who excavates "digs" for fossils and artifacts |
| Anthropologist | a scientist who studies artifacts to understand a culture or way of life |
| Lucy | 3.5 million hominid of the australopithicus afarensis species whose skeletal remains indicated she could walk upright |
| Paleothic Age | Old Stone Age, 2.5 m. -8,000 B.C. ; created a simple tool called the hand axe |
| Neolithic Age | New Stone Age, 8,000 B.C. -3,000 B.C.; polished stone tools, pottery, cultivation of crops and domestication of animals |
| Homo Hablis | lived 2.5 million; called "Man of Skill" made lava rock simple tools for cutting meat or breaking bone |
| Homo Erectus | lived 1.6 million; intelligence to develop technology-improved tools, used language, discovered fire, and migrated out of Africa |
| Neaderthal | lived 200,000 - 30,000 years ago, wore animals hides, powerfully built, made shelters, tools like scrapers and blades, had ritual burial rites |
| Cro-Magnon | lived 40,000 years ago; skeleton of modern man, spear throwers, planned hunts |
| Culture | A people's way of life, including customs, family life, religion and social relationships |
| Hominids | Humans and other creatures that walk upright |
| nomad | one who wanders from place to place |
| hunter-gatherer | member of a nomadic group that hunts animals and collects plant food |
| Neolithic Revolution | major change in human life; the beginning of farming around 8,000 B.C. |
| slash-and-burn | a farming method in which people clear fields by cutting and burning trees and grasses, the ashes fertilize the soil |
| domestication | the taming of animals for human use |
| Ice Man | Neolithic man whose frozen body was found in 1991 |
| Jarmo | Neolithic village in Iraq |
| Catal Huyuk | Neolithic village in Turkey where the houses are built on a mound with no entry doors |
| civilization | a form of culture characterized by cities, specialized workers,complex institutions, record keeping, and advanced technology |
| specialization | development of skills in a particular kind of work-example: scribe |
| artisan | skilled worker such as a weaver or potter |
| institution | an complex organization such as government or religion |
| scribe | professional record keepers |
| cuneiform | system of writing with wedge shaped symbols invented by the Sumerians around 3,000 B.C. |
| Bronze Age | Beginning in 3,000 B.C. people began using bronze instead of stone or copper for weapons and tools |
| barter | form of trade in which people exchange good and services without the use of money |
| ziggurat | a tiered, pyramid-shaped structure that formed part of a Sumerian temple |
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