Unit 2: Vocabulary
Development of Civilizations Vocabulary

1. historians- people who study and write about the human past. pg 9 

2. archaeologists- hunt for evidence buried in the ground where settlements might once have been. pg 9

3. artifacts- weapons, tools, and other things made by humans. pg 9

4. fossils- traces of plants or animals that have been preserved in rock. pg 9

5. anthropologists- focus on human society, study how humans developed and related to each other. pg 9

6. nomads- people who regularly moved from place to place, small groups. pg 10

7. technology-tools and methods to help humans perform tasks. pg 11

8. domesticate- to tame animals and plants for human use. pg 13

9. specialization-  the development of different kinds of jobs, hunters, farmers, and craftspeople .  pg 15

10. civilizations- complex societies that have cities, organized governments, art, religion, class divisions, 

11. irrigation- man made waterways like ditches, channels, and dams to bring water to their fields to water 

12. city-state- an isolated city and the land around it that had its own government and was not part of any 

13. artisans- skilled workers like metal workers, weavers, potters, and bricklayers. pg 20

14. cuneiform- Sumerian writing consisting of wedge shaped marks cut into damp clay tablets with a sharp-

15. scribes- an honored position in society they were mostly boys from wealthy families that received years 

of training to learn to write and keep records they often became judges and political leaders. pg 20

16. empire- is a group of many territories or nations under one ruler. pg 23

17. provinces- political districts, a part of an empire like canyon county is a district in the U.S.  pg. 28

18. caravans- groups of traveling merchants that traveled together for safety. pg 30

19. astronomers- people who study the heavenly bodies, mapped the stars, the planets, and the phases of 

20. polytheism- the belief in more than one god or goddess 

21. environment- living and nonliving things around you.

22. barter- before coin or paper money trading one  item or goods for another pg 947

23. neolithic-new stone age pg13

24. paleolithic-old stone age pg 10