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Sumerians

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A group of ancient people who built a civilization in the land of Sumer in Mesopotamia.

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Archaeology

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Study of past societies through an analysis of what people left behind

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Anthropology

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Study of human life and culture

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Anthropologists

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Scientists studying physical and cultural characteristics of humans using artifacts and fossils.

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radiocarbon dating

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Determining the age of an object by measuring the amount of carbon-14 remaining in it.

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Difference between Archaeology and Anthropology

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Archaeology is the scientific study of the material remains of past human life and activities, such as artifacts and monuments. Anthropology is the scientific study of Man. Anthropologists mainly study the physical characteristics of man, human origins, human behavior, human societies, and culture.

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hominid

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A member of a biological group including human beings and related species that walk upright

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Home sapiens sapiens

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"wise human being" a hominid species that emerged around 150,000 - 200,000 years ago, the first anatomically modern humans.

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"Out-of-Africa" theory

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also called the replacement theory; the theory that Homo sapiens sapiens began spreading out of Africa to other parts of the world about 100,000 years ago and replaced populations of earlier hominids in Europe and Asia

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survive

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To remain alive or in existence

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Paleolithic Age

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"old stone age" The early period of human history (2,5 million B.C. to 10,000 B.C.) in which humans used simple stone tools.

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flint

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A piece of hard stone used for making stone tools.

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Paleolithic Peoples

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They learned how to adapt to nomadic lifestyle, improve on their primitive tools, and use fire to their advantage, thus enabling them to create a more sophisticated human culture.

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importance of fire

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it help early humans make food also good for protection from animals

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revolution

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This word means "a major change".

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systematic agriculture

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The keeping of animals and the growing of food on a regular basis

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agricultural revolution

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The time when human beings first domesticated plants and animals and no longer relied entirely on hunting and gathering.

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Mesolithic Age

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The "Middle Stone Age," the period from 10,000 to 7,000 B.C. characterized by a gradual shift from a food-gathering/hunting economy to a food-producing one

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Southwest Asia

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Place where people began growing wheat and barley and domesticating pigs, cows, goats and sheet by 8000 B.C.

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Southeastern Europe

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Farming spread here first from Southwest Asia.

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Central Europe

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By 4000 B.C., farming was well established here and along the coastal regions of the Mediterranean Sea.

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Nile Valley of Egypt

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By 6000 B.C., the cultivation of wheat and barley spread into these regions.

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Sudan and Ethiopia

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Two areas within Africa where wheat and barley were grown.

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Tubers

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A root crop such as a yam.

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Tree crops

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Bananas are an example of these.

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Rice

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By 5000 B.C., farmers first in Southeast Asia and then in China were growing this.

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Mesoamericans

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These inhabitants of present day Mexico and Central America grew beans, squash and maize.

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Neolithic Farming Villages

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Permanent settlements supporting larger populations made possible by growing crops on a regular basis

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Jericho

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8000 BCE. Located near a natural spring, a large and elaborate agricultural settlement. It was near the Dead Sea

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Catalhuyuk

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One of the first Neolithic villages (located in modern day Turkey)

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Artisans

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Skilled workers who make goods by hand. They became into existence once all people in a society were not needed for food production/needs.

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Barter

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To exchange goods without involving money.

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Division of labor

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Division of work into a number of separate tasks to be performed by different workers

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Impact of Division of labor on men and women

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men began to take on a more dominant role in life.

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Heating metal

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Craftspeople discovered that by doing this it could be molded to make tools and weapons.

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Culture

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Beliefs, customs, and traditions of a specific group of people. A way of life.

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Copper

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First metal to be used to make tools.

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Copper and Tin

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When mixed together, these metals produce bronze

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Bronze

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A metal alloy ( metal mixture ) consisting of mostly copper, but also with tin or lead. It is harder and stronger than plain copper.

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Bronze Age

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A period between the Stone and Iron ages, characterized by the manufacture and use of bronze tools and weapons. Begins around 1300 B.C.

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Iron Age

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the period following the Bronze Age; characterized by rapid spread of iron tools and weapons. Begins around 1000 B.C.

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Civilization

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A complex culture where large groups share common elements such as cities, government, religion, social structure, writing and art.

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River Valleys

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Geographical areas where the earliest civilizations developed.

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Driving Forces for the Growth of Governments

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Growing numbers of people, the need to maintain food supply, and need to build walls for defense led to the growth of governments. Governments regulate human activity.

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Priests

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In early urban civilizations, important and powerful people who supervised rituals aimed at pleasing gods and goddesses.

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Upper class

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Priests, government officials and warriors were part of this group.

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Free people

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Farmers, artisans and craftspeople were part of this group

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Slave class

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This was the lowest group of people in society.

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Writing

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This was used in many societies as the method for keeping records.

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Inca in Peru

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They did not write to keep records, they used their excellent memories.

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Temples, pyramids, paintings and scupltors

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These are all examples of significant artistic activity in new civilizations.

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The Fertile Crescent

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The curved or horseshoe-shaped area of land that extends between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf.

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Mesopotamia

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The land here was fertile because of the soot deposited by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

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Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

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the two rivers that surround Mesopotamia. These rivers would flood and provide silt that made the soil fertile.

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Irrigation and Drainage Ditches

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These techniques made farming in ancient Mesopotamia possible

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City-state

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A city with political and economic control over the surrounding countryside.

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Polytheistic

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Having a belief in more than one god

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Mud bricks

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Common for building on Mesopotamia.

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Sumerian cities

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They were typically surrounded by walls.

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Uruk

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This Sumerian city was surrounded by a six mile wall. It had a population of around 50,000 by 2700 B.C., making it one of the larger city-states.

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Arch and Dome

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The Sumerians in Mesopotamia were the first to build these.

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Ziggurat

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A massive stepped tower on which was built a temple dedicated to the chief god or goddess of a Sumerian city

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theocracy

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A government established by divine authority.

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Sumerians believed kings derived their power from

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The Gods.

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Sumerian traders

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They had a great impact on society as they traveled to faraway places to exchange grain, dried fish, wool and metal goods for imported metals (gold, silver, copper) and precious stones

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The wheel

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This invention make the transport of goods much easier.

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Three major socials groups of Sumerian city-states

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Nobles, commoners, slaves

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Nobles

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Those in this group included royal/priestly officials and their families.

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Commoners

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Those in this group included farmers, merchants, fishers and craftspeople. 90 percent or so of the people in this group were farmers.

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Slaves

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Those in this group belonged to palace officials for lower class labor like building projects, weaving cloth, grinding grain and farming.

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cuneiform

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A system of writing in which wedge-shaped symbols represented words or syllables. It originated in Mesopotamia and was used initially for Sumerian and Akkadian but later was adapted to represent other languages of western Asia.

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Writing was important because...

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It allows records to be kept and knowledge to be passed from person to person and generation to generation.

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The Epic of Gilgamesh

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A story about the legendary Uruk king Gilgamesh and his quest for immortality

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Sundial

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A device invented by the Sumerians that used the position of shadows cast by the sun to tell the time of the day

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Sumerian number system

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This was based on the number 60 (hours, minutes,seconds came from this system)

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Sumerian technology

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This included the invention of the wheel, arithmetic, cuneiform, their astronomy and the discovery of bronze.

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