Anthropology 2

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neolithic

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the new stone age; prehistoric period beginning about 10,000 years ago in which peoples possessed stone-based technologies and depended on domesticated crops and/or animals

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mesolithic

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the middle stone age of Europe, Asia, and Africa beginning about 12,000 years ago

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archaic cultures

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term used to refer to Mesolithic cultures in the Americas

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microlith

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a small blade of flint or similar stone, several of which were hafted together in wooden handles to make tools; widespread in the Mesolithic.

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natufian culture

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a mesolithic culture living in the lands that are now Israel, Lebanon, and western Syria, between about 12,500 and 10,200 years ago.

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domestication

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an evolutionary process whereby humans modify, either intentionally or unintentionally, the genetic makeup of a population of plants or animals, sometimes to the extent that members of the population are unable to survive and/ore reproduce without human assistance.

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vegeculture

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the cultivation of domesticated root crops, such as yams and taro.

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mesoamerica

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the region encompassing southern Mexico and northern Central America

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horticulture

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cultivation of crops carried out with simple hand tools such as digging sticks or hoes

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agriculture

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intensive crop cultivation, employing plows, fertilizers, and/or irrigation

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pastoralism

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breeding and managing migratory herds of domesticated grazing animals, such as goats, sheep, cattle, llamas, or camels

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civilization

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in anthropology a type of society marked by the presence of cities, social classes, and the state.

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bronze age

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in the old world, the period marked by the production of tools and ornaments of bronze; began about 5,000 years ago in China and Southwest Asia and about 500 years earlier in Southeast Asia

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grave goods

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items such as utensils, figurines, and personal possessions, symbolically placed in the grave for the deceased person's use in the afterlife.

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hydraulic theory

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the theory that explains civilization's emergence as the result of the construction of elaborate irrigation systems, the functioning of which required full-time managers whose control blossomed into the first governing body and elite social class

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action theory

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the theory that self-serving actions by forceful leaders play a role in civilization's emergence.