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.