The Stone Age - Middle School and High School

Travel back to prehistoric times by learning this list of Stone Age vocabulary words. Explore early civilizations, the development of agriculture, and Stone Age tools. You'll also review archaeological terms, such as excavation, artifact, and and fossil.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. agriculture
    the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock
  2. archaeologist
    an anthropologist who studies prehistoric culture
  3. archaeology
    the branch of anthropology that studies prehistoric people
  4. artifact
    a man-made object
  5. blade
    the flat part of a tool or weapon that has a cutting edge
  6. carbon dating
    an analysis used to determine the age of organic materials
  7. civilization
    a society in an advanced state of social development
  8. climate
    the weather in some location averaged over a period of time
  9. Cro-magnon
    extinct human of Upper Paleolithic in Europe
  10. cutter
    a cutting implement; a tool for cutting
  11. deity
    a supernatural being worshipped as controlling the world
  12. domesticate
    make fit for cultivation and service to humans
  13. domestication
    adaptation to close association with human beings
  14. drought
    a shortage of rainfall
  15. excavation
    the site of an archeological exploration
  16. figurine
    a small carved or molded figure
  17. floodplain
    a low plain adjacent to a river that is formed chiefly of river sediment and is subject to flooding
  18. fossil
    the remains of a plant or animal from a past geological age
  19. fresco
    a mural done with watercolors on wet plaster
  20. goddess
    a female deity
  21. grain
    foodstuff prepared from the starch of cereal grasses
  22. harvest
    the gathering of a ripened crop
  23. hominid
    a member of a family of primate mammals that includes humans
  24. Homo sapiens
    the only surviving hominid
  25. hunter-gatherer
    a member of a hunting and gathering society
  26. invention
    the act of making something new
  27. mammoth
    extinct elephant widely distributed in the Pleistocene
  28. migrate
    move from one country or region to another and settle there
  29. Neanderthal
    extinct robust human of Middle Paleolithic in Europe and western Asia
  30. Neolithic
    latest part of the Stone Age beginning about 10,000 BC in the Middle East (but later elsewhere)
  31. nomad
    a member of a people who have no permanent home
  32. nomadic
    migratory
  33. Paleolithic
    second part of the Stone Age beginning about 750,00 to 500,000 years BC and lasting until the end of the last ice age about 8,500 years BC
  34. pottery
    objects made from clay and baked in a kiln
  35. prehistoric
    belonging to or existing before recorded times
  36. prehistory
    the time during human culture before the written word
  37. prey
    animal hunted or caught for food
  38. saber-toothed tiger
    any of many extinct cats of the Old and New Worlds having long swordlike upper canine teeth; from the Oligocene through the Pleistocene
  39. scarce
    deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand
  40. scraper
    any of various hand tools for scraping
  41. settlement
    a community of people smaller than a town
  42. shelter
    a structure that provides privacy and protection from danger
  43. shrine
    a place of worship associated with something sacred
  44. spear
    a long pointed rod used as a tool or weapon
  45. Stone Age
    (archeology) the earliest known period of human culture, characterized by the use of stone implements
  46. surplus
    a quantity much larger than is needed
  47. technology
    the practical application of science to commerce or industry
  48. tool
    an implement used to perform a task or job
  49. trade
    the commercial exchange of goods and services
  50. typology
    classification according to general category or kind
  51. woolly mammoth
    very hairy mammoth common in colder portions of the northern hemisphere
Created on January 12, 2017 (updated April 3, 2017)

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