2. People who study past societies by analyzing their remains and the things they left behind. Mary Leakey on one of her dig sites.

3. Scientists who study the anatomic and genetic links between fossils and human DNA to see if there is a connection. Notice that the skulls above have grown larger over time.

4. The study of human life and culture. Using artifacts and human fossils, they determine how people lived.

5. Fossils – The remains of a living organism from a past geologic age that has been preserved in the Earth’s crust.

6. Artifacts – Man made items like tools, pottery, paintings, weapons, and buildings left behind by early people. Above – tools made out of rock or stone.

7. Technology – the ability of humans to make things that will help them live, or give them some control over their environment.

8. Chemists use radiocarbon dating to test how old an artifact or fossil is. Also called C-14 dating.

9. Thermo luminescence dating –measures the light given off by electrons in the soil around fossils and artifacts. Can date items back to 200,000 years ago. DNA testing and biological analysis of plants.

10. Prehistoric – ( 4,000,000 B.C. --- 8,000 B.C.). - This is the time before written records existed. Scientists make inferences about how these people lived based on their burial sites,cities and their cave drawings.

11. Synonym for the “Stone Age” – Time when humans used simple stone tools. 2,500,000 – 10,000 B.C. Early man crafting stone weapons and tools.

12. Nomadic – small groups of people who moved from place to place in search of food and safe lodging. No permanent dwelling or city. Hunter/Gather society – men hunted and women gathered plants.

13. Matrilineal – a culture that traces the family line through the mother, not the father. The women passed land and their last name on to their daughters. “Earth Mother” figure

14. The shift of hunting of animals and gathering of food to the domestication of animals and the systematic growing of food.

15. Systematic agriculture – growing food on a regular basis. Domestication of animals- adapting animals for human use.

16. Food Surplus – plenty of food is produced. Populations increase, and the extra foods are stored or traded for goods from other villages. *This is a good thing!

17. Artisan – Skilled workers who made things like weapons or jewelry. Flower bowl, Cosmetics container, Queen Puabi’s jewelry head dresses, and a jar from Uruk.

18. Culture – The customs or way of life a group of people follow.

19. Civilization – a complex culture in which a large number of people share the same characteristics. View of the 1 st Civilization, Sumer