Venus Figurines
Paleolithic carvings of the female form, often with exaggerated breasts, buttocks, hips, and stomachs, which may have had religious significance
Dreamtime
A complex worldview of Australia's Aboriginal peopel that held that current humans live in an echo of ancestral happenings
Clovis Culture
The earliest widespread and distinctive culture of North America; named from the Clovis point, a particular kind of projectile point
Megafaunal Extinction
The dying-out of a number of large animal species, including the mammoth and several species of horses and camels; occured around 11,000-10,000 years ago at the end of the Ice Age. The extinction may have been caused by excessive hunting or by the changing of climate of the era
Austronesian Migrations
The last phase of the great human migration that established a human presence in every habitable region of the earth. Austronesian-speaking people settled the Pacific island and Madagascar in a series of seaborne migrations that began around 3,500 years ago
"the original affluent society"
term coined by the scholar Marshall Sahlins in 1972 to describe Paleolithic societies, which he regarded as affluent not because they had so much but because they wanted/needed so little
shamans
In many early societies, a person believed to have the ability to act as a leasion between living humans and supernatural forces, often by means of trances induced by psychoactive drugs
trance dance
In San culture, a nightlong ritual held to activate a human being's innter spiritual potency [n/um] to counteract the evil influences of gods and ancestors. The practice was apparently common to the Khoisan people, of whom the Jo/'hoansi are a surviving remnant
Paleolithic settling down
The process by which some Paleolithic peoples moved toward permanent 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
Gobekli Tepe
oldest religious structure. made by hunter gathers. Indicates that religion came before organization of labor, settlement and agriculture
Fertile Crescent
A geographical area of fertile land in the Middle East stretching in a broad semicircle from the Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates
Teosinte
a wild grass found in the highlands of Mexico, is the wild ancestor of maize
Diffusion
Is the process by which a characterictic spreads
Bantu Migrations
(1500BCE to 500CE) As the Bantu people migrated, they spread the Bantu family of languages and culture. The Bantu also spread the use of iron, which improved farming techniques and agricultural efficiency, the greater food supply sparked economic development and population growth. The changes instigated by the Bantu migration increased the vitality of sub-Saharan Africa.
Ishi
The last the Yali people found in northern California in 1951. He is a good example of how the growth of agricultural societies led to the collapse of gathering and hunting communities.
"secondary products revolution"
A term used to describe the series of technological changes that began c.a. 4000 B.C.E., as people began to develop new uses for their domesticated animals, exploiting a revolutionary new source of power. Examples: milk, transportation, wool, hunting help, glue, muscle power, eggs, blood, feathers, bones, ivory, manure/fertilizer, and hides/fur.
Pastoral Societies
Based on the domestication of animals and use their products as main source of food. Groups move where there is foods but they are more settlers than nomads. Independent and warlike.
Catalhuyuk
Good example of agricultural village society. Social structure, buried dead, many people, well built houses, specialization.
Chiefdoms
A society that is led by a ruler of decent, but seldom used force to lead their people. They relied on generosity, charisma, and leadership to rule.
Paleolithic Rock Art
The hundreds of Paleolithic painting discovered in Spain and France, dating to about 20,000 years ago; these paintings depict a range of animals, although human figures and abstract designs are also found.
Neanderthals
Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, a European varient of Homo sapiens that died out about 25,000 years ago