Hominid: A member of a biological group including human beings and related species that walk upright.
Neolithic Revolution: The major change in human life caused by the beginnings of farming. People's shift from food gathering to food producing.
Homo Sapiens: The biological species to which modern human beings belong to.
Culture: A people's unique way of life, as shown by its tools, customs, arts, and ideas.
Artifacts: A human- made object, such as a tool, weapon, or piece of jewelry.
Nomad: A member of a group that has no permanent home, wandering from place to place in search of food and water.
Technology: The ways in which people apply knowledge, tools, and inventions to meet their needs.
Cultural Diffusion: The spreading of ideas or products from one culture to another.
Polytheism: A belief in many gods
Empire: A political unit in which a number of peoples or countries are controlled by a single ruler.
Theocracy:1. A government in which the ruler is viewed as a divine figure. 2. A government controlled by religious leaders.
Dynasty: A series of rulers from a single family
City-State: A city and its surrounding lands functioning as an independent political unit.
Hieroglyphics: An ancient Egyptian writing system in which pictures were used to represent ideas and sounds.
Subcontinent: A large landmass that forms a distinct part of a continent.
Monsoon: A wind that shifts in direction at certain times each year.
Mandate of Heaven: In Chinese history, the divine approval thought to be the basis of royal authority.Feudalism: A political system in which nobles are granted the use of lands that legally belong to their king, in exchange for their loyalty, military service, and protection of the people who live on the land.
Oracle Bone: One of the animals bones or tortoise shells used by ancient Chinese priests to communicate with the gods
Loess: A fertile deposit of windblown soil
Dynastic Cycle: The historical pattern of the rise, decline, and replacement of dynasties
Indo- Europeans: A group of seminomadic peoples who, about 1700 B.C., began to migrate from what is now southern Russia to the Indian subcontinent, Europe, and Southwest Asia.
Aryans: 1. An Indo- European people who, about 1500 B.C., began to migrate into the Indian subcontinent. 2. To the Nazis, the German peoples who formed a “master race”.
Caste: One of the four classes of people in the social system of the Aryans who settled in India- priests, warriors, peasants, or trader, and non-Aryan laborers or craftsmen.
Migration: The act of moving from on place to settle in another.
Brahmin: In Aryan society, a member of the social class made up of priests.
Vedas: Four collections of sacred writings produced by the Aryans during an early stage of their settlement in India.
Steppes: Dry, grass-covered plains.