Prehistory: a time before written history.
Artifacts: objects made or used by humans.
Atlatl: a spear thrower
Archaeologist: someone who researches ancient cultures by examining their material remains.
Homo sapiens: species of bipedal primates characterized by language and making and using. tools; thinking man.
Homo sapiens sapiens: modern man; wise man.
Genome: a life form’s genetic material.
Anthropologist: one who studies human development, culture and behavior.
Fossil: the remains, no matter how small, of a living thing from a previous geologic age.
Hominid: human and human-like beings.
Paleontologist: studies fossil remains.
Radiocarbon dating: method for determining the amount of radioactive carbon left in organic remains and thereby determining its time of death. Radioactive carbon decays at a given rate.
Australopithecus afarensis: southern ape from Afar.
Ardipithecus ramidus: meaning ground ape and root respectively. It comes from the Afar language.
Bipedal: the ability to walk upright.
Homo erectus: person who walks upright.
Homo habilis: person with ability.
Neanderthal: likely the first homo sapiens. Named for the Neander Valley in Germany.
Cro Magnon: earliest homo sapiens sapiens or modern man. They are not believed to be a separate species; the name designates the rock shelter in France in which the fossil remains were first found.
Ice Ages: Four extended periods of extreme cold that occurred between two million and ten thousand years ago. Ocean levels dropped during the four glacial periods causing land masses usually separated by water to connect. (i.e. - land bridges between Japan and mainland Korea, Great Britain and Ireland, Malay Peninsula and Indonesia, Asia and North America).
The Stone Age: used to describe the period of time predating writing in which early man used stone tools.
Paleolithic: Old Stone Age, ~ 2.5 million years ago to 12,000 BCE.
Mesolithic: Middle Stone Age, ~ 12,000 BCE to 8000 BCE.
Neolithic: New Stone Age, ~8000 to 5000 BCE.
Neolithic Revolution: Refers to the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture that occurred following the last Ice Age. This shift dramatically changed the way people lived but did not occur at the same time throughout the world. This gradual change to agriculture can be seen as far back as 8000 BCE in the Middle East but not until sometime between 5000 and 4000 BCE in the Americas and China.
