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Unite one Vocab

Terms in this set (89)

The original affluent society
Term coined by the scholar Marshall Sahlins in 1972 to describe Paleolithic societies, which he regarded as wealthy not because they had so much but because they wanted so little.
pastoral societies
Human societies that relies on domesticated animals rather than plantsas a main source of food; nomads lead their animals to seasonal grazing grounds rather thsn settling permanently in a single location
Paleolithic settling down
The process by which peoples moved towards 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
Banpo
A chinese archaeological site, where the remains of a significant neolithic village have been found
Diffusion
The gradual spread of agricultural techniques without extensive population movement
Gobekli tepe
A ceramonial site comprising 20 circles made up of carved limestone pillars livated in south easyern Turkey. The site, which dates to 11,600 years go, was built by gathering and hunting people who lived at least part of the year in settled villages
Secondary products revolution
A term used to describe the series of technological changes began circa 4000 BCE, as people began to devalop new uses for their domesticated animals, exploiting a revolutionary new source of power.
Teosinte
The wild ancestor of maize
Fertile Crescent
Region sometimes known as southwest Asia that includes the modern stated of Iraq, Syria, Israel/Palestine, and southern Turkey; and the earliest home of agriculture.
Austronesian Migrations
The last phase of the great human migration that established a human presence in every habitable region on earth
Catalhuyuk
An important neolithicsite in what is modern day turkey
Megafanuel extinction
Dying out of a number of large animal species, including the mammoth and several species of horses and camels, that occurred around 10,000 years ago, at the end of the ice age. May have been caused by excessive hunting or changing climate of the era.
Dreamtime
A complex worldview of Australias Aboriginal people that held that current humans live in a vibration or echo of ancestral happenings
Trance dance
In San culture, a night long ritual held to activate human beings inner spiritual potency to counteract the influences of gods and ancestors
Clovis culture
The earliest wide spread and distinctive culture of North America; named from the projectile point the group was famous for
Bantu Migration
The spread of Bantu-speaking peoples from their homelands in what is now southern nigeria or Caeroon to most of Africa, in a process that started ca 3000 BCE and continued for ceveral millenia.
Shamans
In many early societies, people believed to have the ability to act as a bridge between humans and supernatural forces, often by means of trances induced by phsychoactive drugs
Venus figurines
Paleolithic carvings of the female form, often with exaggerated breasts, buttocks, hips and stomachs, which may have had a religious significance
Cheifdom
Societal groupings governed by groupings governed by cheifs who typically rely in generosity, ritual status, or chsrisma rather than force to win obedience from the people
Ishi
The last surviving member of a gathering and hunting group known as the Yuhi who lived in Northern California. His people were driven into extinction during the second half of the 18th century by the instrusion of farming and herding "civilized" societies
Norte Chico
A region alonf the central coast of Peru, home of a civilization that devaloped in the period 3000-18000 BCE. Also home to the largest of some 25 urban centers that emerged in the area at the time.
Uruk
The largest city of ancient Mesopotamia
The gift of the Nile
The term for the region that benefited from the Nile's annual flood, which provided rich silt deposits and made agriculture possible and made it possible to support a significant human population.
Paneb
A egyption foremanin charge of a crew of tomb workers whose misdeeds in life were recorded by a rival.
Nubia
A civilization to the south of Egypt in the Nile Valley, noted for development of an alphabetical writing system and a major iron-working industry by 500 BCE.
Patriarchy
Literally "rule of the father"; a social system of male dominance.
Olmec civilization
An early civilization that developed along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico around 1200 B.C.E.
Epic of Gilgamesh
The most famous extant literary work from ancient Mesopotamia, it tells the story of one man's quest for immortality.
Indus Valley Civilization
an early civilization that did not generate a state structure. There were no palaces, temples, elaborate graves, kings, or warrior classes.
Rise of the state
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.
Central Asian/Oxus civilization
A major First Civilization which emerged around 2200 B.C.E. in central asia in what is now northern Afghanistan. An important focal point for a Eurasian-wide system of intellectual and cultural exchange.
Mahenjo Daro/ Harappa
Major cities of the Indus Valley Civilization; both of ehich flourished around 2000BCE
Code of Hammurabi
A series of laws publicized at the order of the King of Babylon. Not actually a code, but a number of laws that proclaim the king's commitment to social order
Alexander the great
Conqueror from Macedon; conquered the Persian Empire and part of northwest India
Helenistic era
The period from 323 to 30 BCE in which Greek culture spread widley in Eurasia and North Africa in the kingdoms ruled by Alexander's political successors.
Han dynasty
Dynasty that ruled China from 206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E., creating a durable state based on Shihuangdi's state-building achievement.
Persian Empire
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.
Greek-Persian Wars
Two major Persian invasions of Greece, in 490 BCE and 480 BCE, in which the Persians were defeated on both land and sea.
Trung trac
A Veitnamese woman from an aristocratic military family who led an ultimately unsuccessful revolt against China following the execution of her husband.
Pax Romana
The "Roman Peace," a term typically used to denote the stability and prosperity of the early Roman Empire, especially in the first and seconf centuries.
Athenian Democracy
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.
Qin Shihuangdi
Literally "first emperor"; forcibly
reunited China and established a strong and repressive state.
Augustus
The great nephew and adopted son of Julius Ceasar who emerged as sole ruler of the Roman state at the end of an extended period of civil war.
Ashoka
The most famous ruler of the Mauryan Empire (268-232 B.C.E.), who converted to Buddhism and tried to rule peacefully and with tolerance.
Mauryan Empire
A major empire that encompassed most of India (332-185 BCE)
Confucianism
The Chinease philosophy advicateing the moral example of superior as the key element of social order
Bhavgavad Gita
A great hindu epic text, part of the much larger Mahabharata which affirms the performance of caste duties as a path to religious liberation.
Church of the East
A theologically and organizationally distinct Christian church based in Syria and Persia but with followers in southern India and Central Asia.
Socrates
Early greek philosopher who turned rationilism toward questions of human existence was killed when he refused into exile
Theravada
One of the two forms of buddhism refers to the teachings of the elders reffered to the buddha as an immensely wise teacher and model but not divine. It was championed by monks and nuns who withdraw them selves from society to devote themselves to the quest for nirvana
Greek rationalism
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.
Daoism
A Chinese philosophy/popular religion that advocates simplicity and understanding of the world of nature, founded by the legendary Laozi.
Perpetua
Christian convert from northern Africa who, in 203 C.E., was killed by the Romans for her faith.
Legilism
A chinease philosophy distinguished by an adherence to clear laws with vigorous punishment.
Judiasm
The monotheistic religion developed by the Hebrews, emphasizing a sole personal god (Yahweh) with concerns for social justice.
Siddhartha Gautama
The indian prince turned ascetic who founded buddhism.
Saint paul
The first great popularizer of Christianity
Vedas
The earliest religious texts of india a collection of ancient poems hymns and rituals that were transmitted orally before being written down circa 600 BCE
Ban Zhao
A major female Confucian author of Han dynasty China whose works give insight into the implication of Confucian thinking for women.
Zoroastrianism
Persian monotheistic religion founded by the prophet Zarathustra.
Unpanishads
Indian mystical and philosophical works written between 800 and 400 BCE
Jesus of Nazareth (PBUH)
The prophet/god of christianity.
Plato
One of the earliest greek philosophers who wrote the republic a design for good society
Mahayana
one of the two forms of Buddhism, stressed that help was available to reach enlightenment the buddha became something of god
Aristotle
Greek philosopher who was the student of plato and teacher of Alexander the great
Yellow Turban Rebellion
A massive Chinese peasant uprising inspired by Daoist teachings that began in 184 C.E. with the goal of establishing a new golden age of equality and harmony.
Aspasia and Pericles
this couple is notable for their equitable relationship, a rarity in Athens for this era
Three obediences
In Chinese Confucian thought, the notion that a woman is permanently subordinate to male control: first to her father, then to her husband, and finally to her son.
Ge hong
Born into an upper class family in China during troubled times (283-343 C.E.), his efforts to balance Confucian service to society and his own desire to pursue a more solitary and interior life in the Daoist tradition reflected the situation of many in his class.
China's scholar gentry class
A term used to describe members of chinas landowning famillies reflecting their wealth from the land and the privilege that they derived as government officials
Varna and jati
THe system of social organization in india that has evolved over mellenia; it is based on an original division of the populace into fiur inherited classes, with an addition of thousands of social distinctions based on occupation, which became the cell of social life in india.
Greek and roman slavery
In greek and roman world, these were captives from war and privacy, absndoned children, and victims of long-distance trade. Household service was a common occupation, while others were forced to work in mines and on plantations.
Empress Wu
The only female "emperor" in Chinese history, She patronized scholarship, worked to elevate the position of women, and provoked a backlash of Confucian misogynist invective.
Rituel purity in india
The idea that members of higher castes must adere to strict regulations limiting or forbidding their contact with objects members of lower castes to preverse their own caste standing and their relationship with the gods.
Wang Mang
A Han court official who usurped the throne and ruled from 8-23 C.E.; noted for his reform movement that included the breakup of large estates.
Spartacus
A Roman gladiator who led the most serious slave revolt in Roman history from 73 to 71 B.C.E.
Helots
The dependent,semi-enslaved class of ancient sparta whose social disconnect prompted the militarization of spartan society
Piye
Ruler of kush who conquered egypt reuniting it under his rule
Teorihuacan
The largest city of pre-columbian America, with a population between 100,000 and 200,000. Seemingly built to plan in the Valley of Mexico. The name is an Aztec term meaning "city of the gods."
Chavin
Andean town that was the center of a large Peruvian religious movement from around 900 to 200 B.C.E.
Chaco Phenomenon
Name given to a major process of settlement and societal organization that occurred in the period 860-1130 C.E. among the peoples of Chaco canyon, in what is now northwestern New Mexico; the society formed is notable for its settlement in large pueblos and for the building of hundreds of miles of roads (the purpose of which is not known).
Mound Builders/Cahokia
A number of these cultures developed east of the Mississippi river in what is now he united states and that are distinguished by their large eastern mounds. The dominant city center of the Mississippi valley was located near modern dag st. Louis
Moche
An important regional civilization of peru; governed by warrior-priests; flourished arounf 100 to 800 CE.
Meroe
City in southern Nubia that was the center of Nubian civilization between 300 B.C.E. and 100 C.E.
Niger Valley Civilization
Distinctive city-based civilization that flourished from about 300 B.C.E. to about 900 C.E. in the floodplain of the middle Niger and that included major cities like Jenne-jeno; the Niger Valley civilization is particularly noteworthy for its apparent lack of centralized state structures, having been organized instead in clusters of economically specialized settlements.
Bantu expansion
Gradual migration of Bantu-speaking peoples from their homeland in what is now southern Nigeria and the Cameroons into most of eastern and southern Africa, a process that began around 3000 B.C.E. and continued for several millennia. The agricultural techniques and ironworking technology of Bantu-speaking farmers gave them an advantage over the gathering and hunting peoples they encountered.
Wari and Tiwanaku
Two states that flourished between 400 and 1000 C.E. in the highlands of
modern Bolivia and Peru. At their height they possessed urban capitals with populations in the
tens of thousands and productive agricultural systems.
Maya civilization
A major civilization of mesoamerica; flourished from 250 to 900
Axum
Second-wave-era kingdom of East Africa, in present-day Eritrea and northern Ethiopia;
flourished from 100 to 600 C.E.
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