| A | B |
|---|
| prehistory | refers to the long periof of time before people invented systems of writing |
| bureaucracy | system of managing government through departments that oversaw tax collection, irrigation projects or the military |
| pictogram | simple drawings to show the words represented |
| scribe | a person who knew how to read and write and kept records |
| steppe | sparse, dry grassland |
| cultural diffusion | the spread of ideas, customs and technologies from one people to another |
| delta | triangular area of marsh land formed by deposits of silt at the mouth of the rivers |
| demotic | system of ancient Egyptian writing, simpler than hieroglyphics, that was developed for everyday use |
| papyrus | plant that grows along the Nile river used by ancient Egyptians to make a paperlike substance |
| ziggurat | pyramid-temple dedicated to the chief god or goddess of an ancient Sumerian city-state |
| cuneiform | wedge-shaped writing of the ancient Sumerians and other ancient peoples |
| loess | fine windblown yellow soil |
| oracle bone | bone used by priests in Shang China to predict the future |
