history before written records

a people's unique way of life

The study of human life and culture

Language, religious beliefs, art, tools & technology, family, class & social structure, government & laws, social customs, economic systems

anthropologists who first found prehistoric footprints, then skeletons of homo habilis in Africa

Old Stone Age lasted from about 2.5 million years to 8,000 BC; early humans made tools of stone

New Stone Age; began about 8,000-3,000 BC; early humans who lived during this time learned to make pottery, grow crops, and raise animals

name for the Lucy species; lived 4 million to 1 million; skeletal remains found in southern and eastern Africa; first "human-like" creature

The ways humans apply knowledge, tools, & inventions to meet their needs

"wise men"; the species name for modern humans

sub species of homo sapiens; who lived 200,000-30,000 BC; first have ritual burials; DNA test on skeleton shows that they were NOT ancestors of modern humans

They lived from 40,000-8,000 BC; fully modern humans, used spoken language, planned their hunts, and created art

People who move from place to place foraging or searching for new sources of food

Depends on hunting animals and collecting plants for food

Another name for the Agricultural Revolution; one of the greatest breakthroughs in history; shift from hunting-gathering to farming

farming technique that involves cutting down all trees & plants, then burning them. The ash is fertilizer to the crops that are planted.

Characteristics of life in the Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age)

the preserved remains or impressions of a living organism such as plant, animal, or insect.