| A | B |
|---|
| Australopithecus | Extinct, lived in Africa, first hominid that walked on two feet. "Lucy" is its most famous fossil. |
| "Southern Ape" | What "Australopithecus" means |
| Better view of countryside, hands are free to carry things and use tools. | Advantages of Australopithecus walking upright. |
| Latin | Many scientific terms come from this language. |
| Culture | The knowledge and achievements passed on from one generation to the other to form their way of life. |
| Western Civilization, or the West. | Common culture shared by most people living in Europe and North America. |
| The East | Term for Asian Culture or Eastern Civilization. |
| Homo Erectus | Human culture may have begun with this extinct hominid. |
| First to hunt large animals, first to leave Africa, migrating to Asia and Europe. | Two things that Homo Erectus was the first to do. |
| Construction of shelters, use of hand axes and fire, possibly spoken language | Things developed by Homo Erectus. |
| Homo Sapiens | Biological classification for modern humans. |
| Neanderthal | Earliest homo sapiens that went extinct after encountering a more advanced human species. |
| "Wise human" | The term "Homo Sapiens" means this. |
| The Bering Strait | During Ice Ages, Homo Sapiens were able to spread to the Americas by using this "land bridge." |
| Strait | Narrow body of water connecting two larger bodies of water. |
| Asia | The people which would become the Native Americans of North and South America traveled from this continent. |
| Stone, Bronze and Iron | Three historic "ages" based on the tools humans used during those times. |
| Stone Age | "Age" when human ancestors learned how to use fire, make basic tools and weapons, developed spoken language and farming, art. |
| Paleolithic | Early Stone Age time - humans were hunter/gatherers, scavenging and gathering wild food. |
| Neolithic | Late Stone Age time - agriculture began, copper tools develop |
| The Big Bang | Most astronomers agree that the universe likely began with this (give its name). |
| Galaxies and stars are moving away from each other. | Astronomers observed this, which led them to the theory of a large explosion starting our universe. |
| The stars look like spilled milk across the sky. | The Milky Way galaxy got its name because of this. |
| About 15 billion years old | The Universe is about this many years old. |
| About 5 billion years old. | The earth is about this many years old. |
| The Ural Mountains | These mountains separate Europe from Asia. |
| Less than 1% | This is how much of the earth’s water is fresh water. |
| Plate Tectonic Theory | This theory holds that the earth is like a cracked eggshell, with the pieces moving. |
| Between plate boundaries | This is where earthquakes and volcanoes often occur. |
| Wind and water | Two forces which cause erosion. |
| 4 eras of history | prehistory, ancient times, middle ages, modern times |
| prehistory | era before humans knew how to read or write. |
| 12,000 years ago | How long ago humans first cultivated the wild wheat plant. |
| river valleys | Areas where first civilizations settled. |
| Mesopotamia | First civilization - also invented first written language |
| Mesopotamia, Egypt, India | These three civilizations created an early international trading network. |
| ideas, inventions, disease | As populations increased, these increased also. |
| Sub-Saharan Africa, the Americas | Two areas on earth which developed more slowly due to barriers like oceans and deserts. |
| agriculture | This replaced hunting and gathering for most people in the ancient world. |
| priests, kings | These people were the most powerful ones when civilizations began to divide themselves into classes. |
| nomad | A person who does not farm, moves from place to place following herds. |
| riding horses/cavalry skills | Nomads from central Eurasia became very good at this which helped them attack surrounding areas. |
| money, armies, iron, math, literature, democracy, major religions | Some of the inventions of ancient times |
| 4000 years | How long ancient times lasted |
| 500 AD | The Middle Ages began around this year. |
| China | This civilization was very powerful in the late middle ages. |
| The modern era | This era began around 1500 AD |
| Industrial Revolution | Wave of history marked by increase mass production of goods created by machines fueled by burning fuels. |
| primary sources | Examples are art works, artifacts, govt. records, diaries, letters, speeches, news articles. |
| secondary sources | Examples are history books, textbooks, encyclopedias. |
| Their own opinions, or lack of information. | These may influence what historians write. |
| The Chinese and Islamic calendars | Calendars based on the moon's phases |
| Solar calendar | Ancient Egyptians invented this type of calendar |
| The sun | Our calendar is based around this. |
| Before Christ | BC |
| Anno Domini | AD |
| Before the Common Era | BCE |
| hemisphere | Any half of the earth's surface. |
| The equator | Divides the earth into Northern and Southern hemispheres. |
| The Prime Meridian | Divides the earth into Eastern and Western hemispheres. |
| The Tropics | Climate between the equator and 23 1/2 degrees N and S. |
| The temperate zones | Climate between tropic lines and Arctic/Antarctic Circles. |
| The Arctics | Climate regions above the 66 1/2 degree lines on earth. |
| 23 1/2 degrees North | Location of the the Tropic of Cancer. |
| 23 1/2 degrees South | Location of the Tropic of Capricorn |
| 66 1/2 degrees North | Location of Arctic Circle |
| 66 1/2 degrees South | Location of Antarctic Circle |
| Temperate zones | Climate where most population on earth has live throughout history. |
| Asia, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Europe, North America, South America | The seven continents are... |
| Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic | The 4 oceans are... |
| Great Rift Valley | Large area in Eastern Africa where two plates are spreading apart exposing very old fossils. |
| Olduvai Gorge | Area in the Great Rift Valley where many famous discoveries by Louis and Mary Leakey, and other paleontologists were made. |
| technology | inventions and tools that help us do things better or more easily. |
| Edwin Hubble | Astronomer who discovered that our universe is expanding. |
