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3.6: Key Terms

  • Page ID
    211906
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    Bronze Age
    the period from 3500 to 1110 BCE when bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, was the preferred material for manufacturing tools and weapons
    city-state
    an independent political entity consisting of a city and surrounding territory that it controls
    Code of Hammurabi
    a list of judicial decisions that the Babylonian king Hammurabi had inscribed on stone pillars throughout his kingdom
    culture
    all the ways in which members of a human society interact with one another and with their environment and pass these ways from generation to generation
    cuneiform
    a phonetic writing system based on the sounds of words and invented by the Sumerians in about 3000 BCE
    Harappan
    a term describing the ancient Indus valley civilization, named for one of its largest cities and the first to be discovered by archaeologists
    hieratic
    a simplified form of hieroglyphics employed by Egyptian scribes for recording everyday documents such as receipts and contracts
    hieroglyphics
    a complex writing system developed around 3000 BCE in which written symbols represented both sounds and ideas
    lugal
    the Sumerians’ term for their ruler
    monsoon
    the seasonal pattern of wind and rainfall across South Asia
    nomarchs
    regional governors in ancient Egypt
    papyrus
    a type of paper Egyptians made from a common reed plant growing along the Nile
    pastoralists
    nomadic people who rely on herds of domesticated animals for subsistence
    pharaoh
    the title of the Egyptian ruler, translated as “big house”
    polytheists
    people who worship multiple gods, usually associated with different aspects of the natural world
    social stratification
    the hierarchical order of society in which people sharing the same level of wealth and status make up a distinct class or strata
    specialization
    a societal characteristic in which people perform specific tasks, such as farming (farmer) or producing tools and clothing (artisan), that contribute to the well-being of the community
    ziggurat
    an immense stepped tower with a flat top built of mud-brick that served as a temple in Sumerian cities

    This page titled 3.6: Key Terms is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by OpenStax.

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