151 Anthropology Mid-term #2 Short Answers
1) Beringia--landmass connecting Alaska and Russia. Hominids used Beringia when they migrated into the New World at around 11,000 years ago. Animals also used Beringia to migrate into the New World. 2) Sahul--now known as Australia, is a land comprised of Australia, New Guinea, and other neighboring islands. It formed a single continuous mass, but however due to the rise of the sea level, the land was separated. Sahul Shelf was a dry-land connecting Australia and Asia. Hominids probably migrated when this dry-land was exposed. 3) Atlatl--one of the technology developed during the change between the Middle Paleolithic and the Upper Paleolithic age. Spear Thrower. This ranges over 100 meter in distance when thrown. It was capable of killing large animals from a distance. Native Americans used Atlatl as well as it was probably introduced when hominids migrated from Asia to the New World via Beringia. 4) Sinodonty--particular pattern of teeth common among Native Americans and some people in Asia. The upper two incisors are not aligned with the other teeth, and moreover shovel-shaped. The name sinodonty literally means Chinese Teeth. 5) Megafauna--mainly used as a term defining animals weighing over 500kg to 1 ton. Most of the Megafauna have become extinct in recent times. Two main hypotheses to explain their extinction. 1. Human Intervention. Humans hunted Megafaunas and led them to extinction. When humans came, the population began to decline. 2.
Climate change. A notable increase in climate change led them to become extinct. More likely because of the lack of food. 6) Clovis--named after Clovis, New Mexico in 1932. 11,200 10,800 BP. Found throughout North America. Thought to be the first evidence of culture. Here, they found evidence where people made weapons to kill large animals. Remains of weapons found near mammoth bones. Still, there have been debates for culture older than Clovis. Monte Verde in Chile is an accepted pre-Clovis site which is suspected to be 12,500 BP. 7) Fertile Crescent--historical region in the middle-east consisting Levant, Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. This region has an impressive record of past human activity, possesses many sites with the skeletal and cultural remains of premodern and modern humans, and the area is most famous for its sites related to the origins of agriculture. 8) Natufian--an epipaleolithic culture in Levant that established permanent settlement before the introduction of Agriculture. There is evidence that they had cultivated cereal crops. Because of the change in climate, they seemed to have settled in areas with permanent water supply. They lived a sedentary life with a culture from hunting, fishing, and gathering. 9) Neolithic Revolution--term used to describe the first agricultural revolution; the transition from hunting/gathering to agriculture. There was the adoption of early farming techniques and crop cultivation. This revolution also spurred major social changes including the increase in population density, organization of a hierarchical
society, and the expansion of human control over nature. People now lived sedentary lives, permanent settlement arose and created new social, cultural, economic and political institutions. 10) Jericho--located near the Jordan River; Jericho is believed by some to be the oldest continuously occupied settlement in the world for more than 11,000 yrs and with roots in early farming towns dating to 8000BC. 11) Teosinte--type of grass under the genus Zea found in Mexico. This genus of grasses is thought to be the origins of modern-day maize or corn. 12) Sedentism--the cultural transition from nomadic to permanent, year-round settlements. The adoption of new subsistence strategies, from foraging (hunter/gather) to agricultural and animal-domestication. Rise in population and formation of villages, cities, and other community types also occurred. The Natufian culture is the first group known to live a sedentary life. 13) Social stratification--the hierarchical arrangement of social classes, castes and strata within a society. These hierarchies are not universal, but are the norms among state-level cultures. Stratification means that working-class people are not likely to advance socioeconomically, while the wealthy continue to exploit the proletariat generation after generation. 14) Catalhoyuk--located in Asia Minor, was a large Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement from around 7500 BC. It's perhaps the largest and most sophisticated Neolithic site uncovered and was thought to be the centre of advanced culture in the
Neolithic period. The complex settlement is described as the large village rather than a city. 15) Corn, beans and squash-- Ancient New World Crops are crops that were not found anywhere else in the world at the time and have been grown around the world afterwards. They are also known as the first domesticated plants in the world. 16) Chiefdom--any community led by an individual known as a chief. This social organization is more complex than a tribe and less than a state. A single lineage will be ruling the chiefdom with the greatest influence, power and prestige. Chiefdoms are a relatively unstable form of social organization since they are prone to cycles of collapse and renewal. 17) Moundville--was the political and ceremonial center of the Mississippian culture. There is an orderly arrangement of earthen monuments; the largest mound located on the northern edge of the plaza. This community plan has been interpreted as a sociogram, depicting social order based on rank. The largest mound being associated with the highest rank while the small mounds were associated with the lower-ranks. 18) Political organization--any organization or group that is concerned or involved in political process. It can also be viewed as a political system, if it includes the body of government and the entire system. 19) Ascribed status--social status a person is given from birth involuntarily later in life. Chiefdoms used this system to pass the title of chief onto the next generation.
20) Sargon--known as Sargon the Great, is the third king that created a vast empire including Mesopotamia and parts of Asia Minor. 21) Social circumscription theory--theory of the role of warfare in state formation. Losers in warfare are forced to submit to winners and therefore the two are united. The new state strives to alleviate population pressure by increasing productive capacity. 22) Mesopotamia--means between river which refers to the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers. Mesopotamia is referred as the cradle of civilization, since it was here where the first literate society developed in about 4000 BC, using highly sophisticated writing system and the emergence of the first city and complex state bureaucracies. 23) Cahokia--located in Illinois, the site is composed of a series of man-made earthen mounds. Cahokia is the largest site related to the Mississippian culture. Monk's Mound is the center of this ceremonial center as it is the largest man-made earthen mound in North America, standing about 100 feet. Woodhenge, used to make astronomical sightings, stood west of Monk's Mound. The mounds were used as burials for the high-ranked. Environmental factors such as over-hunting and deforestation or political collapse are theories used to explain the decline of Cahokia. 24) Urban revolution--process by which small, kin-based, non-literate agricultural villages are transformed into large, socially complex, civilized urban centers. Mathematics, the pyramid, organized religion, and calendars are thought to have emerged this time. Neolithic Revolution is referred as the earliest representation.
25) Hopewell--a culture which spurred in Ohio. Hopewell religious cults and distinctive burial customs were associated with an art tradition that spread far and wide through long-distance trading connections.