Vocabulary

Mission #1Prehistory and Native American History before

European Contact(30,000 B.C. – A.D. 1492)

Radiocarbon Dating

• Definition: – Method of determining how old biological objects are by

measuring the radioactivity left in a special type of carbon.

Ice Age

• Definition: – A period of

extremely cold temperatures when part of the planet’s surface was covered with massive ice sheets.

glacier

• Definition:– A huge ice sheet.

Nomad

• Definition: – A person who continually moves from place to

place, usually in search of food.

Agricultural Revolution

• Definition: – Period when early Americans learned how to plant

and raise crops.

maize

• Definition: – One of the first crops grown by early Americans,

known today as corn.

civilization

• Definition: – A highly organized

society marked by knowledge of trade, government, the arts, science, and, often, written language.

obsidian

• Definition: – A dark glass formed by the cooling of molten lava.

kiva

• Definition:– Circular ceremonial room built by the Anasazi.

Pueblo

• Definition: – Spanish for village, term used by early Spanish

explorers to denote large housing structures built by the Anasazi.

kachina

• Definition:– A good spirit that the Pueblo people believed

brought messages from the gods to their town each year.

Slash-and-burn agriculture

• Definition:– Farming technique in which land is cleared and

made fertile by cutting down and burning forests.

longhouse

• Definition: – Large, rectangular building with barrel-shaped

roofs covered in bark, used by some Native Americans.

wigwam

• Definition: – Conical or dome-shaped dwelling built by Native

Americans using bent poles covered with hides or bark.

Kinship group

• Definition:– Large group of extended families.

Feudalism

• Definition:– Political system in

which powerful leaders gave land to nobles in exchange for pledges of loyalty and service.

manorialism

• Definition:– Economic system in which peasants provide

services to a feudal lord in exchange for protection.

Renaissance

• Definition:– French for rebirth, a

period in Europe from 1350 to 1600 during which a rebirth of interest in the culture of ancient Greece and Rome occurred.