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| "Southern ape," oldest known ancestor of humans; it lived from around four million down to around one million years ago, and it could walk on hind legs, freeing up hands for use of simple tools. |
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| Important Neolithic settlement in Anatolia (7250--6150 B.C.E.). |
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| Permanent Paleolithic settlement in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. |
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| Homo sapiens sapiens, who appeared forty thousand years ago during the Paleolithic age and were the first human beings of the modern type. |
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| A creature belonging to the family Hominidae, which includes human and humanlike species. |
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| "Upright-walking human," which existed from 1.5 million to two hundred thousand years ago; used cleavers and hand axes and learned how to control fire. |
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| "Consciously thinking human," which first appeared around two hundred fifty thousand years ago and used sophisticated tools. |
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| First human being of the modern type, which appeared roughly one hundred thousand years ago; Cro-Magnon falls into this category. |
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| Earliest known Neolithic village. |
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| Paleolithic settlement located in central Japan. |
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| Permanent Paleolithic settlement in the eastern Mediterranean. |
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| Early humans (100,000 to 35,000 years ago) who were prevalent during the Paleolithic period. |
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| Old Stone Age, a long period of human development before the development of agriculture. |
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| The period before the invention of writing. |
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| Small Paleolithic statues of women with exaggerated sexual features. |
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| Belief that dead ancestors can influence one's fortunes in life. Those who practice often conduct rituals and ceremonies to the memory or remains of their ancestors. |
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| European tribes who settled in India after 1500 B.C.E.; their union with indigenous Dravidians formed the basis of Hinduism. |
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| Southwest Asian people who built an empire that reached its height during the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E.; it was known for a powerful army and a well-structured state. |
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| Mesopotamian empire with a centralized bureaucracy and Law Code centered around its capital, Babylon. |
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| Material made from copper and tin used for weapons and agricultural tools. |
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| Urban areas that controlled surrounding agricultural regions and that were often loosely connected in a broader political structure. |
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| Written language of the Sumerians, probably the first written script in the world. |
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| Legendary king of the Mesopotamian city-state of Uruk (ca. 3000 B.C.E.), subject of the Epic of Gilgamesh, world's oldest complete epic literary masterpiece. |
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| Sophisticated law code associated with the Babylonian king Hammurabi (r. 1792-1750 B.C.E.). |
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| Gardens at the palace of the New Babylonian empire (600-550 B.C.E.) that showed off its great wealth and luxury. |
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| Group that settles in central Anatolia around 2000 B.C.E., establishes powerful kingdoms, conquers the Babylonian empire in 1595 B.C.E., and dissolves about 1200 B.C.E. Technological feats include iron metallurgy and light horse-drawn chariots. |
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| Series of tribes from southern Russia who, over a period of millennia, embarked on a series of migrations from India through western Europe; their greatest legacy was the broad distribution of Indo-European languages throughout Eurasia. |
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| Material used for weapons and tools that became cheap and more widely available around 1000 B.C.E. |
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| "Law of retaliation," laws in which offenders suffered punishments similar to their crimes; the most famous example is Hammurabi's Laws. |
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| Term meaning "between the rivers," in this case the Tigris and Euphrates; Sumer and Akkad are two of the earliest societies. |
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| Belief in only one god, a rare concept in the ancient world. |
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| System of social organization in which males dominate the family and where public institutions, descent, and succession are traced through the male line. |
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| A maritime civilization of the Mediterranean that developed extensive trade and communication networks as well as an early alphabetical script (1500 B.C.E). |
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| Earliest Mesopotamian society. |
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| Moral and ethical standards for followers of Moses. |
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| Compilation of teachings that guide Judaism. |
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| A language that is predominant in Pakistan. |
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| God of the monotheistic religion of Judaism that influenced later Christianity and Islam. |
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| Egyptian pharaoh (c. 1500 B.C.E.), founder of the New Kingdom. |
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| Egyptian god, combination of the sun god Re and the air god Amon. |
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| Monotheistic god of Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaton (r. 1353-1335 B.C.E.) and arguably the world's first example of monotheism. |
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| African peoples who originally lived in the area of present-day Nigeria; around 2000 B.C.E. they began a centuries-long migration that took them to most of sub-Saharan Africa; they were very influential, especially linguistically. |
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| They believed that Osiris was associated with the Nile, crops, mortality, and immortality after his wife, Isis, gathered his fallen body and allows the gods to restore him to life in the underworld. |
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| Ancient Egyptian written language. |
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| Invaders who seized the Nile delta and helped bring an end to the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. |
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| Nubian African kingdom that conquered and controlled Egypt from 750 to 664 B.C.E. |
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| Area south of Egypt; the kingdom of Kush invaded and dominated Egypt from 750 to 664 B.C.E. |
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| Ancient Egyptian god that represented the forces of nature. |
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| Egyptian kings considered to be gods on earth. |
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| Peoples who produced the brilliant Harappan society in India, 3000-1500 B.C.E. |
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| Early brilliant Indian society centered around Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. |
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| Early Indian god associated with the Aryans; he was the king of the gods and was associated with warfare and thunderbolts. |
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| Indian word for a Hindu subcaste. |
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| Hindu concept that the sum of good and bad in a person's life will determine his or her status in the next life. |
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| Hindu caste of warriors and aristocrats. |
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| A moral code prepared in the first century B.C.E. in India dictating the role of women in Indian society. |
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| Hindu concept of the salvation of the soul. |
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| New Stone Age (10,000-4000 B.C.E.), which was marked by the discovery and mastery of agriculture. |
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| Daily-use language of the early Aryans. |
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| Hindu term for the concept of transmigration, that is, the soul passing into a new incarnation. |
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| Sacred language of the early Aryans |
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| Sati (Also known as suttee) |
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| Indian practice of a widow throwing herself on the funeral pyre of her husband. |
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| Hindu caste of landless peasants and serfs. |
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| Indian reflections and dialogues (800-400 B.C.E.) that reflected basic Hindu concepts. |
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| Hindu caste of cultivators, artisans, and merchants. |
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| Aryan god who watched over the behavior of mortals and preserved the cosmic order. |
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| "Wisdom," early collections of prayers and hymns that provide information about the Indo-European Aryans who migrated into India around 1500 B.C.E.; Rig Veda is most important collection. |
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| First great Persian empire (558-330 B.C.E.), which began under Cyrus and reached its peak under Darius. |
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| Main god of Zoroastrianism who represented truth and goodness and was perceived to be in an eternal struggle with the malign spirit Angra Mainyu. |
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| Book that contains the holy writings of Zoroastrianism. |
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| Zoroastrian works believed to be compositions by Zarathustra. |
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| A frontier state north of the Greek peninsula. |
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| Those who preserved the teachings of Zarathustra in writing. |
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| Indo-European branch that settled in northern Persia and eventually fell to another branch, the Persians, in the sixth century. |
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| Persian dynasty (247 B.C.E.-224 C.E.) that reached its peak under Mithradates I. |
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| New capital of the Persian Empire established under the reign of Darius in 520 B.C.E. |
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| Persian underground canal. |
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| Later powerful Persian dynasty (224-651) that would reach its peak under Shapur I and later fall to Arabic expansion. |
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| Persian administrators, usually members of the royal family, who governed a satrapy. |
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| Persian empire (323-83 B.C.E.) founded by Seleucus after the death of Alexander the Great. |
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| Persian prophet (ca. 628-551 B.C.E.) who founded Zoroastrianism. |
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| Persian religion based on the teaching of the sixth-century-B.C.E. prophet Zarathustra; its emphasis on the duality of good and evil and on the role of individuals in determining their own fate would influence later religions. |
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| Jain term for the principle of nonviolence to other living things or their souls. |
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| Hindu concept for the pursuit of economic well-being and honest prosperity. |
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| Ancient Indian political treatise from the time of Chandragupta Maurya; its authorship was traditionally ascribed to Kautalya, and it stressed that war was inevitable. |
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| The ancient region stretching from the Hindu Kush mountain range to the ancient Ganhara region of the Indian subcontinent. |
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