Prehistoric Archaeology

Start Studying!

Terms

undefined, object

copy deck

Which culture in Mesopotamia shifted toward the riverbanks?: Hassuna
Did irrigation start earlier in the north or the south of Mesopotamia?: The north (7,000 BC). 6,000 BC for the south.
What was the earliest culture in southern Mesopotamia?: Sammaran
The rapid population increase in the south of Mesopotamia was due to what?: The wheat and barley agriculture made possible by the rich delta area.
The descendant culture of the Hassuna was called what?: Halafian
How can we tell chiefdoms may have developed in the Halafian culture?: Specific types of pottery show spheres of influence of larger towns.
What is a chiefdom?: A kin-based political system in which some families have power over others.
When was the period of slightly more rainfall in Mesopotamia and what was the result of this?: 7000-6000 BC. It helped spread agriculture.
When was the Ubiad and what was its significance?: 5800-4600 BC. It signalled the beginning of a transition to urbanism.
When was the early Sumerian culture?: 4600-3800 BC.
What was the first city of the Sumerian culture?: Uruk
When did writing begin and why?: 3400 BC, for accounting
Why was metallurgy originally developed and what did it later become?: First developed for ornaments, it later became an arms race
When was cold-hammered copper developed?: 6,000 BC
When and where was smelting and casting copper developed?: 5000-4000 BC in Iran
When was bronze technology invented?: 3000 BC
When and by whom was iron technology invented?: 1400 BC, by the Hittites
When was the wheel invented?: 3000 BC
When were fully agricultural villages seen in Mesoamerica?: 2300 BC
When was the preclassic period in Meso?: 1500 BC-300 CE
When was the classic period in Meso?: 300-900 CE
When was the postclassic period in Meso?: 900-1521 CE
What is the bestknown preclassic civilization? When and where did they exist?: Olmecs in southern Mexico, 1500 BC to 300 CE
Who held most of the political power in the Olmec civilization?: the priesthood
What was one unifying factor of the Olmec culture?: A common religion characterized by the weir-jaguar motif
What is the most important site of the Olmec culture?: La venta
When did the population of Teotihuacan peak?: 600 CE
What was one important factor in Teotihuacan's control of outlying areas?: Trade (mostly pottery)
Did Teotihuacan have irrigation?: Yes. They used stream water from surrounding volcanic mountains.
What led to the collapse of Teotihuacan?: salinization of agricultural fields
Where was the Mayan civilization located?: Southern Mexico
How were crops grown in the Mayan civilization?: On the ridges of mud between slow-flowing streams, harvested by raking out water lilies.
Explain the Mayan calander: 52-year cycle, continuation of time ensured by human sacrifice
Why did the Mayan civilization decline?: chronic warfare between ceremonial centers
What was the capital of the Aztec civilization?: Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico city)
Was the Aztec society stratified?: Yes- priestking and professional army
What is chinampa?: The Aztec's highly efficient agricultural system: floating gardens fertilized by mud from lake bottom
What led to the collapse of the Aztec civ?: Conquest by the Spanish, who had made alliances with Aztec's enemies
What is a civilization?: Complex society with true cities. Complex economy with fulltime religious leaders
What is a city?: Concentrated settlement with population above 5,000
Who was the first to consider the origins of civilization?: VG Childe
What was the prevailing theory about the origins of civilization before VG Childe?: Unilinear theory (all civilization spread from a single source)
What was VG Childe's theory of the beginnings of civilization?: Civ. began simultaneously in Egypt, Mesoamerica, East Asia, and the New World. Metallury was the trigger (it required fulltime specialists, leading to a need for a food surplus, leading to trade)
What are six characteristics of civilization?: economic classes competing for political power, writing, markets and money, leadership cross-cutting family ties, organized religion, and monumental architecture
What is the Hydraulic Theory of civilization beginnings and who proposed it?: Wittfogel. The need to regulate water supply led to hierarchies.
What is one problem with VG Childe's Metallurgy theory about the beginning of civilization?: The characteristics of civ. don't always appear in the order he described.
What is one problem with Wittfogel's Hydraulic theory of civilization?: Water is plentiful in Mesoamerica, and irrigation in Mesopotamia doesn't fit the timeline.
What is the trade theory of civilization beginnings and what is one problem with it?: Trade led to political power being held by merchants. However, in most cases, merchants do not hold power.
What is the warfare theory of civ. origin and what is one problem with it?: Villages were forced to organize for defense and offensive purposes. In Mesoamerica, most cities lack fortifications.
What is the ecology model of civ. origin and what is one problem with it?: fertile areas produce enough food to support craft specialists. It fits in Mesopotamia but not in Mesoamerica
What is the population growth model of civ. origin and what is one problem with it?: Civilizations develop to relieve the stresses caused by population growth. However, not all large societies form civs.
What are the six theories of civ. origin?: Metallurgy, hydraulic, trade, warfare, ecology, population growth
Art in ancient times was produced by which species?: ONLY AMHs
When does art appear in different parts of the world?: 29000 BP in Australia
31000 BP in France
patterns, 70000 in Australia
animals, 50000 in Australia
what is the best-supported theory of the purpose of art?: Shamanic trance visions
When did technology grow advanced enough to allow people to occupy extremely cold environments?: Upper Paleolithic
What effect did the move north in the UP have on the population and territories of humans?: Populations decreased but territories grew larger due to wide territory range of food resources
When did people arrive in New Guinea and Australia?: 38000 BC for New Guinea, 60000-33000 BC for Australia
What is the evidence for people sailing to the New World in ancient times? What is this hypothesis called?: Boqueirao rock shelter, Brazil, 45500 BC
Calico Hills 30000 BC
Pre-Clovis Hypothesis
How much lower were the sea levels during the Wisconson glacial period than they are today?: 100 m
When was the Bering strait land bridge open and where did the first migrants probably originate from?: 40000- 8000 BC, North China or Japan
Why did people migrate to the New World?: following prey
What is the earliest securely dated site in NA and when is it from?: Meadowcroft rock shelter, Penn. 12500 BC
what is the earliest phase of human culture in NA and when did it take place?: Clovis culture, 11200 to 10900 BC
What is one possible explanation for the rapid expansion of the Clovis culture?: They hunted mammoths, which had large territories.
Why is it unlikely that the Clovis hunting of mammoths led to their extinction? What is a more plausible explanation?: Humans hunted megafauna in Africa for 500,000 yrs and they didn't go extinct. More likely: greater seasonal fluctuations
After the Clovis culture, what are some examples of cultures?: Folsom culture on the plains, buffalo hunters
Desert tradition in the SW, ate small desert animals and vegetables
Archaic period in eastern forests, plant foods and deer (bow and arrow)
When did the Mesolithic period begin?: 12000-10000 BC
On what did the people of the epipaleolithic subsist?: they were advanced hunter-gatherers
Why did the subsistance patterns change at the end of the Pleistocene?: Large herd animals disappeared, so people shifted to plant foods and smaller game (intensification)
When did the Ice Age end?: 13000 BC
When were modern sea levels reached?: 5000 BC
What climate event happened 10950-9650 BC?: the Younger Dryas Interval, a cold episode
What population changes were discussed by Fekri Hassan?: humans, like other predators, were rare. Intensification in the UP led to an increase in population to 8.5 million, nearly the carrying capacity of 9 mill.
What was one important technological innovation in the epipaleolithic?: Microliths: small backed elements on composite tools
-maximizes usable stone
-small and light, good for arrows
-often with poison
What are four theories of the origins of food production?: the Oasis theory, the population pressure theory, the broad spectrum theory, and the social causes theory
Describe the Oasis theory of food production(who it's by, what it entails, and a problem with it): By VG Childe. At the end of the Pleistocene, areas became desert as rainfall moved north. People moved to oases of favorable conditions; loss of big game led to domestication of wheat, barley and rye. However, some early sites are outside the oasis areas.
What is the population pressure theory of food production?: Binford and Cohen. Population increased to carrying capacity. Pushed to non-favorable areas, need food production to survive there. Problem: Some early food production sites in favorable areas.
What was Cohen's modifiation to Binford's theory of food production?: Population increases in favorable areas led to food production in order to increase carrying capacity, spurred on by Younger Dryas Interval. Problem: skeletons don't show nutritional stress
What is the Broad Spectrum theory of food production and who was it developed by?: Kent Flannery. From 20,000-9000 BC, big-game hunting was replaced by seasonal resources exploitation. People moved resources, reducing the need to move.
What is the social causes theory of food production, who was it developed by, and what is one problem with it?: Barbara Bender. complex societies developed social elites; agriculture developed to support them. Encouraged by the need to trade luxury goods for food. Problem: ignores influence of environmental change, trade and elites are often AFTER agriculture
Describe the Kebaran culture.: 12,000-9,000 BC. Microlithic tech. Hunter-gatherers. Epipaleolithic.
Describe the Natufian culture.: 9,000-8,500 BC. Microlithic tech. Large sites. Grindstones. Sickle gloss (possible farming). Late Epipaleolithic to Neolithic.
Describe the pre-pottery Neolithic.: 8,500- 7,500 BC (ex Jericho). Agriculturists. Settled villages. Microlithic tech. Hunting and fishing. Domestic animals.
When was rye domesticated?: 10,000 BC
When and where were the first domesticated animals?: Sheep in Iraq, 8,900 BC
When were cows domesticated?: 6,800 BC
Which six areas did food production develop in?: Middle East, sub Saharan Africa, Yangzi and Huangho valleys (China), Thailand, New Guinea
The theory of evolution was developed simultaneously by who?: Charles Darwin and Alfred R Wallace
What is adaptive radiation?: evolution of species to adapt to a new niche
When were the earliest primates?: 70-65 MYBP
What led to reduction of territory for apes?: A drought in 13 MYBP, leading to reduction of forests
When is the Upper Miocene fossil gap?: 8-4.5 MYBP
What is the earliest hominid characteristic?: Bipedalism
When was the earliest true hominid, and by what date were they definitely present in Ethiopia?: 7 MYBP in Chad, definitely present by 4.4 MYBP
Describe Stem Australopithecines: 7-2.5 MYBP. bipedal. slow but energy efficient.
What species developed from Stem Australopithecines?: Australopithecus afarensis in East Africa, Australopithecus aetheopicus in East Africa, and Australopithecus africanus in South Africa
From which species in Homo habilis descended?: Australopithecus africanus
When were the first stone tools and what was the tradition called?: 2.6 MYBP, Oldowan
When was the Lower Paleolithic?: 2.6 MYBP- 200,000 BP
Which two technological traditions were in the Lower Paleolithic?: Oldowan (2.6-1.6 MYBP)
Achulian (1.6 MYBP-200,000 BP)
By what date was stone tool manufacture common?: 2 MYBP
When did Homo habilis evolve into Homo erectus?: 1.8 MYBP
When did humans expand out of Africa?: 1.8 MYBP
What is a palimpsest?: A mix of archaeological material in which behavioral patterning is obscured by post-depositional disturbance
What is the Taphonomic Bias?: Meat preserves better than plant matter.
By what date was art a worldwide phenomenon?: 25,000 BC
When did people most likely cross to NA?: 20,000 BC, during the last Ice Age
What important event happened during the last Ice Age?: Globalization
When was the Holocene?: After 10,000 yrs ago
What is the warm part of the Holocene called? The cold part?: Warm= Bölling-Alleröd Interstadial
Cold= Younger Dryas Interval
What effect did the retreating ice during the Holocene have on settlement?: large areas in NA and Europe were now available for settlement which hadn't been previously
Why did plants grow so well during the Holocene?: The atmosphere was 1/3 richer in CO2 than today
What was one important faunal change in the Holocene?: megafauna were replaced by deer
When did the population near carrying capacity and what was one direct effect of this?: 10,000 BC. Forced people to solve problems locally
When was the bow and arrow invented and when did it reach NA?: 9,000 BC in Africa and the Middle East, 200 BC to the Americas
What are microliths?: Geometrically shaped barbs on weapons
when was the European Mesolithic?: 8,000- 3,500 BC
Why is Star Carr significant?: As a testing ground for theories about hunter-gatherer societies
What were the three periods of the European Mesolithic?: 7,500-5,700 BC Maglemose
5,700-4,600 BC Kongemose
4,600-3,200 BC Ertebölle
What is ecotone?: The transitional zone between environments
What is ma-ast?: The rich fruit droppings of trees
What technology allows analysis of food domestication?: SEM (Scanning electron microscopy)
What is swidden agriculture?: Slash and burn
What effects did food production have on human life?: Quality and length declined
What are the three important characteristics of animal domestication?: Control of feeding, breeding, and movement
What is the time period when food production began?: The Neolithic
Where are the earliest farming sites located?: The Levantine corridor
Netiv Hagdud is an example of what?: An attempt to cultivate only one crop
When were the earliest farmers in Egypt and Sudan?: 4,300-3,300 BC
What are some characteristics of maize as a crop?: It is not easy to cultivate and does not stand alone in a diet.
What was the tool tradition in which the first tools were created for specific tasks?: Achulean
When was the first controlled use of fire?: SA: 1.2 MYBP
North India: 700,000 BP
China: 460,000 BP
What were the consequences of fire use?: Ability to inhabit cold climates, food is easier to digest, requires pre-planning to stockpile fuel, sleep-wake cycle altered, and possible development of language
How did late Homo erectus hunt?: Close combat. This requires great musculature
What is one advantage of males hunting?: They are more reproductively expendable
In the Oldowan and early Achulean, how was feeding conducted?: Individually... little sharing
When did symbolic thought develop in Northern Europe?: 35-42,000 BP
What is the replacement model of MP-UP transition?: Chris Stringer proposed an abrupt cultural/biological transition
Which humans have the most varied DNA?: Africans
What does the small variation in mDNA mean?: AMHs split of from Archaic Homo sapiens recently
When did AMHs split from Archaic Homo sapiens?: 150,000 BP
When was the cognitive leap?: 50-35,000 BP
What was the difference between settlement patterns of Neanderthals and in the UP?: Neanderthals settled in a radiating pattern, 15km radius.
UP settled in a circulating pattern, 60km radius
When did true ethnic groups separated by language develop?: Upper Paleolithic
What were the three major pre-Dynastic chiefdoms in Egypt?: Naqada, Nekhen, and Maadi
What is another name for the Egyptian chiefdom of Nekhen?: Hierankopolis or "City of the Falcon"
What is one important artifact found in the chiefdom of Nekhen?: The Narmer Palette
When did writing become fully developed in Egypt?: 3100 BC
What is a nome?: A province
When was the Old Kingdom in Egypt?: 2575-2180 BC
When was Egypt unified, and by whom?: 3150 BC, by Narmer
When was the Middle Kingdom in Egypt?: 2040-1640 BC
When was the New Kingdom in Egypt?: 1530-1070 BC
What was the Egyptian capital during the Old Kingdom?: Memphis
What was the religious significance of pyramids?: Ladders on which the Pharaoh climbed to take his place among the stars.
What was the Egyptian capital during the Middle Kingdom?: Thebes
What was the image of the Pharoah in each of the three Egyptian time periods?: Old Kingdom: Gods
Middle Kingdom: "Classical period" Humans
New Kingdom: Powerful military leaders
What led to the downfall of Egypt?: After the death of Ramses III, foreign rulers threatened the throne. Egypt was conquered by Persians in 343 BC and Alexander the Great in 332 BC.
What two commodities fueled the Saharan camel trade?: Gold and salt

Start Studying!

Deck Info

Number of cards 160