| A | B |
|---|
| excavation | the systematic digging and recording of a site. |
| strata | many layers of earth or levels in an archaeological site |
| absolute dating | the determination of age with reference to a specific time scale. |
| chronology | arrangement of past events in time. |
| DNA | the material which carries the hereditary instructions (the "blueprint") which determine the formation of all living organisms. |
| fossils | recognizable remains, such as bones, shells, or leaves, or other evidence, such as tracks, burrows, or impressions, of past life on Earth. |
| Geologist | A person who studies the history of the earth and its life, especially as recorded in rocks. |
| Paleontologist | a scientist who studies the history of animals through fossilized remains of animal bones |
| sherds | individual pieces of broken pottery vessels |
| Mesolithic | Middle Stone Age |
| Paleolithic | Old Stone Age |
| Neolithic | New Stone Age |
| Archaeologists | they study the tools and objects used by people in the past |
| Anthropologists | they study the behaviour of people |
| Ziggurat | Sumerian Temple |
| Mother-Goddess | Stone Age religious figure that represented life and fertility. |
| flint | stone used for making Stone Age tools and weapons and fire. |
| Cuneiform | Sumerian writing |
| Hammurabi | King of Babylon who ordered the writing of the world's first written law code. |
| Gilgamesh | Sumerian King who was the hero of the world's first written adventure story. |
| artefacts | objects made by people |
| Iraq | Modern name for ancient Mesopotamia |
| Prehistory | The time before written records. |
| Cro-Magnon | Another name for early humans, named after the area in France where evidence of their existence has been found. |
| Malta | The island on which have been found the oldest stone buildings from the Neolithic era. |
