AP World History Unit 1 Vocab

an ambiguous term often used to denote more complex societies but sometimes used by anthropologists to describe any group of people sharing a set of cultural traits

the study of past events and changes in the development, transmission, and transformation of cultural practices

the historical period characterized by the production of tools from stone and other nonmetallic substances;it was followed in some places by the Bronze Age and more generally by the Iron Age

socially transmitted patterns of action and expression

the period of the Stone Age associate with the evolution of humans;it predates the Neolithic period

the period of the Stone Age associated with the ancient Agricultural Revolution(s); it follows the Paleolithic period

people who support themselves by hunting wild animals and gathering wild edible plants and insects

the change from food gathering to food production that occurred between ca. 8000 and 2000 B.C.E.; also known as the Neolithic Revolution

corn

grain

cattle

early town in the Middle East; located on the west bank of the Jordan River; unusually large and elaborate agricultural settlement; located near a natural spring

early town in the Middle East; located in central Turkey; larger than Jericho; prospered from long-distance trade in obsidian;hunting, religion, and metalworking important

structures and complexes of very large stones constructed for ceremonial and religious purposes in Neolithic times

people who dominated southern Mesopotamia through the end of the third millennium B.C.E; responsible for the creation of many fundamental elements of Mesopotamian culture, such as irrigation technology, cuneiform, and religious conceptions

family of related languages long spoken across parts of western Asia and northern Africa; in antiquity these languages included Hebrew, Aramaic, and Phoenician; most widespread modern member of blank family is Arabic

largest and most important city in Mesopotamia; achieved particular eminence as the capitol of the Amorite king Hammurabi in the eighteenth century B.C.E. and the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century B.C.E.

Amorite ruler of Babylon; conquered many city-states in southern and northern Mesopotamia and is best known for a code of laws, inscribed on a black stone pillar, illustrating the principles to be used in legal cases

"big man"; king; emerged in Sumerian cities

system of writing in which wedge-shaped symbols represented words or syllable; originated in Mesopotamia and was used initially for Sumerian and Akkadian but later was adapted to represent other languages of western Asia; because so many symbols had to be learned, literacy was confined to a relatively small group of administrators and settlers

a massive pyramidal stepped tower made of mud bricks; associated with religious complexes in Mesopotamian cities, but function is unknown

small charm meant to protect the bearer from evil; found frequently in archaeological excavations in Mesopotamia and Egypt; reflect the religious practices of the common people

alloy of copper with small amount of tin (or sometimes arsenic); harder and more durable than copper alone; term 'blank Age' applied to ear when blank was primary metal for tools and weapons; demand for it helped create long-distance networks of trade

central figure in the ancient Egyptian state; believed to be an earthly manifestation of the gods; used his absolute power to maintain the safety and prosperity of Egypt

Egyptian term for the concept of divinely created and maintained order in the universe; reflected the ancient Egyptians' belief in essentially beneficent world; divine ruler was the earthly guarantor of this order

large, triangular stone monument; used in Egypt and Nubia as a burial place for the king

capitol city of Egypt and home of the ruling dynasties during the Middle and New Kingdoms; Amon, patron deity of blank, became one of chief gods of Egypt; monarchs were buried across river in the Valley of the Kings

capitol of Old Kingdom Egypt, near head of the Nile Delta; early rulers interred in the nearby pyramids

system of writing in which pictorial symbols represented sounds, syllables, or concepts; was used for official and monumental inscriptions in ancient Egypt

reed that grows along banks of the Nile River in Egypt; used to produce course, paperlike writing medium used by Egyptians and many other peoples in the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East

body preserved by chemical processes or special natural circumstances, often in the belief that the deceased will need it again in the afterlife

site of one of the great cities of the Indus Valley civilization of the third millennium B.C.E.; located on northwest frontier of the zone of cultivation (in modern Pakistan), and may have been center for acquisition of raw materials, such as metals and precious stones, from Afghanistan and Iran

"Mound of the Dead" is an ancient Indus Valley Civilization city that flourished between 2600 and 1900 BCE. It was one of the first world and ancient Indian cities.

fine, light silt deposited by wind and water; constitutes the fertile soil of the Yellow River Valley; since isn't compact, can be worked easily, but leaves region vulnerable to earthquakes

the dominant people in earliest Chinese dynasty for which we have written records; major elements of their culture included ancestor worship, divination by means of oracles bones, and use of bronze vessels for ritual purposes

was the capital of the Bronze Age Shang Dynasty in northern Henan province, China, between 1554 and 1045 BC. Excavations at this site have recovered extensive architectural foundations, tombs, chariots, thousands of bronze vessels, almost uncountable ceramics, and about 150,000 oracle bones. The oracle bones attest to a rich written language, primarily used for divination.

the people and dynasty that took over dominant position in north China from the Shang and created concept of Mandate of Heaven to justify their rule; the blank era, especially during the early period, remembered in Chinese tradition as time of prosperity and benevolent rule; during later period, centralized control broke down, and warfare among many small states became frequent

Chinese religious and political ideology developed by the Zhou, according to which it was the prerogative of Heaven, the chief deity, to grant power to ruler of China and to take it away if ruler failed to conduct himself justly and in the best interests of his subjects

western name for Chinese philosopher Kongzi; his doctrine of duty and public service had great influence on subsequent Chinese thought and served as a code of conduct for government offcials

Chinese school of thought, originating in the Warring States Period with Laozi; offered alternative to Confucian emphasis on hierarchy and duty; blankists believe that world is always changing and is devoid of absolute morality or meaning and accept world as it is

in Chinese belief, complementary factors that help to maintain the equilibrium of world; blank associated with masculine, light, and active qualities; blank associated with feminine, dark, and passive qualities

Egyptian name for Nubia, region alongside the Nile River south of Egypt, where an indigenous kingdom with its own distinctive institutions and cultural traditions arose beginning in early second millennium B.C.E.; deeply influenced by Egyptian culture and at times under control of Egypt, which coveted its rich deposits of gold and luxury products from sub-Saharan Africa carried up the Nile corridor

capitol of flourishing kingdom in southern Nubia from fourth century B.C.E. to fourth century C.E.; in this period Nubian culture shows more independence from Egypt and influence of sub-Saharan Africa

peoples sharing a common language and culture that originated in central Europe in first half of first millennium B.C.E.

first Mesoamerican civilization; between 1200 and 400 B.C.E., blank people of central Mexico created vibrant civilization that included intensive agriculture, wide-ranging trade, ceremonial centers, and monumental construction; had great cultural influence on later Mesopotamian societies

most important Olmec center after 900 B.C.E.; developed around same time as San Lorenzo

last dominant Olmec center; rose after La Venta destroyed or collapsed in 600 B.C.E.

earliest major Olmec center; 1200-900 B.C.E.;

first major urban civilization in South America (900-250 B.C.E.); its capitol, blank de Huantar, located high in Andes Mountains of Peru; became politically and economically dominant in densely populated region that included two distinctive ecological zones, the Peruvian coastal plain and the Andean foothills

hoofed animal indigenous to Andes Mountains in South America; only domesticated beast of burden in the Americas before arrival of Europeans; provided meat and wool; use of this animal to transport goods made possible specialized production and trade among people in different ecological zones and fostered integration of these zones by Chavin and later Andean states

city located in present-day Tunisia; founded by Phoenicians ca. 800 B.C.E.; became major commercial center and naval power in western Mediterranean until defeated by Rome in third century B.C.E.

historians' term for period during which iron was primary metal for tools and weapons; advent of iron technologies began at different times in different parts of world

The largest mountain range in Iran and Iraq. (Indus Valley in ancient civilization)

a people from central Anatolia who established an empire in Anatolia and Syria in Late Bronze Age; with wealth from trade in metals and military power based on chariot forces, the blank vied with New Kingdom Egypt for control of Syria-Palestine before falling to unidentified attackers ca. 1200 B.C.E.

queen of Egypt (r. 1473-1458 B.C.E.); dispatched a naval expedition down the Red Sea to Punt, the faraway source of myrrh; there is evidence of opposition to a woman as ruler and after death her name and image were frequently defaced

Egyptian pharaoh (r. 1353-1335 B.C.E.); built a new capital at Amarna, fostered a new style of naturalistic art, and created a religious revolution by imposing worship on the sun-disk; the Armana letters, largely from his reign, preserve official correspondence with subjects and neighbors

long-lived ruler of New Kingdom Egypt (r. 1290-1224 B.C.E.); reached an accommodation with the Hittites of Anatolia after standoff in battle at Kadesh in Syria; built on a grand scale throughout Egypt

prosperous civilization on the Aegean island of Crete in the second millennium B.C.E.; people of blank engaged in far-flung commerce around the Mediterranean and exerted powerful cultural influences on the early Greeks

part of Crete; had only palace not deliberately destroyed around 1450 B.C.E.q

site of a fortified palace complex in southern Greece that controlled a Late Bronze Age kingdom

term used for burial sites of elite members of Mycenaen Greek society in the mid-second millenium B.C.E.; at bottom of deep shafts lined with stone slabs, bodies were laid out along with gold and bronze jewelry, implements, weapons, and masks

set of syllabic symbols, derived from the writing system of Minoan Crete, used in the Mycenaean palaces of the Late Bronze Age to write an early form of Greek; used primarily for palace records, and surviving tablets provide substantial information about economic organization of Mycenaean society and tantalizing clues about political, social, and religious institutions

empire extending from western Iran to Syria-Palestine, conquered by Assyrians of northern Mesopotamia between tenth and seventh centuries B.C.E.; used force and terror and exploited the wealth and labor of their subjects; also preserved and continued cultural and scientific developments of Mesopotamian civilization

the forcible removal of relocation of large numbers of people or entire populations; practiced by Assyrian and Persian empires; meant as terrifying warning of consequences of rebellion; also brought skilled and unskilled labor to the imperial center

in antiquity, the land between the eastern shore of Mediterranean and the Jordan River, occupied by the blanks from the early second millennium B.C.E.; modern state of blank founded in 1948

collection of scared books containing diverse materials concerning the origins, experiences, beliefs, and practices of the Israelites; most of the extant text compiled by members of the priestly class of the fifth century B.C.E. and reflects the concerns and views of this group

belief in the existence of a single divine entity; some scholars cite the devotion of Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten to Aten (sun-disk) and his suppression of traditional gods as earliest instance; the Israelite worship of Yahweh developed into an exclusive belief in one god, and this concept passed down into Christianity and Islam

Greek word meaning "dispersal"; used to describe communities of given ethnic group living outside their homeland

Semitic-speaking Canaanites living on coast of modern Lebanon and Syria in first millennium B.C.E.; from major cities such as Tyre and Sidon, blank merchants and sailors explored Mediterranean, engaged in widespread commerce, and founded Carthage and other colonies in western Mediterranean

walled enclosures in Carthage and other western Phoenician towns where thousands of small, sealed urns containing the burned bones of children lay buried

Greek who lived around 100 C.E.; wrote about Carthaginians; described them as "a hard and gloomy people, submissive to their rulers and harsh to their subjects"; said they went to extremes

Under the Chaldaeans (nomadic kinship groups that settled in southern Mesopotamia in the early first millennium B.C.E.), blank again became a major political and cultural center in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E. After participating in the destruction of Assyrian power, the monarchs Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar took over the southern portion of the Assyrian domains.