Prehistory Study Guide for Unit Test
This is a place to start studying. You should also review the textbook (section 4
and 5 of chapter one and all of chapter two), notes and all worksheets.
Prehistory – period of time before recorded history
 Fossils – imprint of a dead thing
 Artifacts – things made by man
 Remains – actual parts of a dead thing ( bones, teeth )
Anthropology – study of characteristics of customs of people
 cultural – how people live
 physical – how people look
Archaeology – study of the past through excavation
Philosophy – study of life, truth, reality, and things with no answers
Legends – stories passed through generations that explain something
Excavate - digging
Carbon 14 dating – a way archaeologists can tell the age of
Specimens that were once alive
 Willard Libby – discovered how to use carbon dating 14
Mary Leaky – discovered prehuman footprints 3.6 million years old
Charles Darwin – created the idea of the “survival of the fittest”
Natural selection – only the strongest of the species survives
Paleolithic Age – Old Stone Age
Band – group of 30-50 people
Specialization – development of jobs
Lucy – Australopithecus Africanus – one of the earliest prehumans discovered
Neanderthal – first humans to bury their dead, named after the
Neander River in Germany
 Homo habilis – “ Man with ability”
 Homo erectus – “ Man who walks upright”
 Homo sapiens – “Man who thinks”
 Australopithecus – southern ape
 Ramapithecus – tooth pattern is like man
Pitfalls – used to capture animals
Cro-Magnon – first to practice art
Burin – tool that looks like a chisel
Spear throwers – weapon used to capture animals
Chief – Neolithic ruler (government)
Land bridges – how early humans were able to leave Africa
Shaman - priest