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World History Volume 1, to 1500

Key Terms

World History Volume 1, to 1500Key Terms
Acheulean tools
stone tools made by carefully chipping away flakes of the stone core to make them into teardrop-shaped implements that replaced the cruder Oldowan hand-axes
animism
the belief that a degree of spirituality exists not only in people but also in plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena
Australopithecus
a very distant ancestor of modern humans who lived in eastern and southern Africa between 2.5 and 4 million years ago
Fertile Crescent
a crescent-shaped geographical area in the Middle East where agriculture first flourished
genus
a taxonomic rank that includes several similar and related species
Homo erectus
a member of the genus Homo who emerged in East Africa around two million years ago, living entirely on the ground and walking exclusively in an upright position
Homo habilis
the earliest member of the genus Homo, appearing in the archaeological record about two to three million years ago
Homo sapiens
modern humans, members of the genus Homo who emerged in Africa first and later migrated to other areas
hunter-gatherers
people who survive by employing the strategies of hunting animals and gathering wild plants rather than by planting crops and raising livestock
Mousterian tools
stone tools and hand-axes made beginning around 250,000 years ago and consisting of flakes rather than cores
Neanderthals
members of the genus Homo who evolved from Homo erectus and lived in Europe and western Asia between 30,000 and 200,000 years ago
Neolithic Age
the final phase of the Paleolithic Age, beginning around twelve thousand years ago when human populations began growing crops and domesticating animals
Neolithic Revolution
the shift from hunting and gathering to a life based primarily on agriculture
Oldowan tools
sharpened stones used until about 1.7 million years ago for a variety of cutting, scraping, and chopping purposes
Paleolithic Age
the period of time beginning as early as 3.3 million years ago until nearly twelve thousand years ago, when our distant pre-human ancestors began using stone tools for a variety of purposes
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