| A | B |
|---|
| archaeologist | an expert who studies the past by examining objects that people have left behind |
| historian | an expert who studies and records the past |
| geographer | an expert who studies and creates maps of Earth's natural and human-made features |
| artifact | an object made or used by people in the past |
| prehistoric | before written history |
| ritual | relating to a ceremony, such as a religious ceremony |
| primary source | a document or physical object created by people who lieved during the time it describes. |
| secondary source | an account written or created later than the time it describes by someone who was not present. |
| decade | a measurement of time of 10 years |
| score | a measurement of time of 20 years |
| century | a measurement of time of 100 years |
| millennium | a measurement of time of 1000 years |
| paleoanthropologist | a social scientist who specializes in studying the development and culture of the earliest hominids |
| Lucy | nickname of an Australopithecus female whose partial skeleton was discovered in Africa in 1974 |
| anthropologist | a scientist who studies human development and culture |
| hominid | an early ancestor of humans |
| biped | an animal having two feet |
| capability | ability or skill |
| Australopithecus | “southern ape” |
| Homo habilis | “handy man” |
| Homo erectus | “upright man” |
| migrate | to move from one geographic region to another |
| Homo neanderthalensis | “Neanderthal man” |
| community | a group of people who live in the same area and are united by common interests |
| Homo sapiens sapiens | “doubly wise man” (modern human) |
| contribute | to give, along with others, to a common cause |
| trait | a special feature or characteristic |
| Stone Age | a time period when prehistoric people made and used stone tools |
| Paleolithic Age | the first period of the Stone Age, called the Old Stone Age, from about 2 million years ago to around 8000 B.C.E. |
| Neolithic Age | the later part of the Stone Age, called the New Stone Age, from around 8000 B.C.E. to 3000 B.C.E. |
| hunter-gatherers | food collectors |
| Fertile Crescent | an arc-shaped region in Southwest Asia, with rich soil |
| Catal Hoyuk | a Neolithic town discovered in central Turkey |
| stable | not changing or fluctuating |
| domesticate | to train a wild animal to be useful to humans |
| agriculture | the business of farming; growing crops and raising animals |
| temporary | for a limited time |
| nomad | one who moves from place to place with no permanent home |
| efficiently | working well; producing very little waste |
| division of labor | when each worker specializes in a particular task or job |
| trade | the business of buying and selling or exchanging items |
| resource | something that can be used to fulfill a need |
| enable | to provide the means or ability to do something |
| complex | arranged in a difficult way |
| Mesopotamia | in ancient times, the geographic area located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers |
| Tigris River | one of the two largest rivers in Southwest Asia that flow from mountains in Turkey to the Persian Gulf |
| Euphrates River | one of the two largest rivers in Southwest Asia that flow from mountains in Turkey to the Persian Gulf |
| Sumer | an area in southern Mesopotamia, where cities first appeared |
| reliable | dependable |
| irrigation | a means of supplying land with water |
| levee | a wall of earth built to prevent a river from flooding its banks |
| canal | an artificial waterway |
| reservoir | a place where water is collected and stored for use |
| silt | fine particles of rock |
| dispute | a strong disagreement |
| city-state | an early city that was like a small, independent country with its own laws and government |
| stele | an upright slab of stone inscribed with letters and pictures to depict important events |
