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-cities that served as administrative centers
-political system based on control of defined territory rather than on kinship connections
-significant number of people engaged in specialized, non-food-producing activities
-status distinctions usually linked to the accumulation of substantial wealth by some groups
-system for keeping permanent records
-major advances in science/arts
learned patterns of action/expression; i.e.: skills/ideas deliberately passed along w/in societies involving production of artworks & tools over wide areas & long periods of time; includes material objects (dwellings, clothing, tools, crafts) & nonmaterial (beliefs, languages)
from about 2 million ya to about 4,000 ya; began w/ appearance of stone tool making (1st cultural activity); misleading title b/c not all tools made of stone (bone, skin, wood)
Old Stone Age; subdivision of Stone Age; lasted until 10,000 ya (about 3,000 yrs after end of last Ice Age - when glaciers covered N. America, Europe, Asia)
hunting/food-gathering ppls; now in Kalahari Desert of southern Africa & Ituri Forest of Central Africa - eat vegetables daily & meat @ feasts (Stone Age probably did same but tools & equip for vegs left few traces)
more precise than "Neolithic Revolution" b/c emphasizes central role of food production & signals changeover occurred many times
in southern Mesopotamia at least by 5000 B.C.E.; dominated Mesopotamia in 3rd millennium B.C.E.
family of languages spoken in parts of western Asia & northern Africa (Hebrew, Aramaic, Phoenician [ancient]; Arabic [today]); ppl maybe descendants of nomads from desert west of Mesopotamia, seemed to live in peace w/ Sumerians; language indicated by personal names recorded from northerly cities as early as 2900 B.C.E.
administrator or scholar charged by temple or palace w/ reading & writing tasks; male domination complicated efforts to reconstruct lives of women - writings reflect elite male activities
multi-story, mud-brick, pyramid-shaped tower approached by ramps & stairs; unclear function/meaning
small charms meant to protect bearer from evil; survival suggests widespread belief in magic (use of special words & rituals to manipulate forces of nature)
combo of strokes & wedges that evolved from usual method of writing (pressing point of sharpened reed into moist clay tablet - reed made wedge-shaped impressions); Latin for "wedge-shaped"; several 100 signs compared to 25 or so in alphabetic system; mastery required yrs of practice; lack of simplification by scribes due to prestige & regular employment
New Kingdom term for Egyptian king, from Egyptian phrase meaning "palace"; from Old Kingdom on, considered god on earth, incarnation of Horus & son of sun-god Re (conception of divine king may explain absence in Egypt of impersonal code of law comparable to Hammurabi's Code in Mesopotamia)
series of stone platforms laid one on top of the other at Saqqara, near Memphis; construction order by Djoser (3rd Dynasty king) around 2630 B.C.E.; 4th Dynasty rulers filled in steps of Djoser's tomb
near modern Cairo at apex of Nile Delta; capital (in area of original power base) during Old Kingdom
made from stems of papyrus reed that grew in Nile marshes; made by laying out stems in vertical & horizontal grid pattern, moistening, & pounding w/ soft mallet until adhered into sheet; "paper" comes from Greek & Roman words for papyrus
produced by removing organs for preservation & storage in stone jars laid out around corpse & filling body w/ packing materials, immersing corpse in dehydrating & preserving chemicals, wrapping in linen
Harappa & Mohenjo-Daro
urban sites that best typify Indus Valley civilization; high water table at sites makes excavation of earliest levels of settlement impossible
3.5 mi (5.6 km) in circumference may have housed 35,000 & M.D. several times that; similarities: high, thick, encircling walls of brick; streets laid out in rectangular grid; covered drainpipes to carry away waste; consistent width of streets & length of city blocks & uniformity of mud construction bricks (suggests strong central authority located possibly in citadel [elevated, enclosed, containing buildings - well-ventilated structures nearby stored grain, barracks suggest large # of artisans in organized groups); 500 mi (805 km) north of M.D.; gateway for copper, tin, stones, & other resources coming from northwest
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