Chapter 3 Vocabulary

Georgia: The Land and Its Early People

Archaeologist

• Archaeologists dig into the earth to find artifacts that will give us information about early inhabitants.

Artifact

• Artifacts are any items that were made by people. These include pottery, weapons, tools, jewelry, and even fossils.

Shale

• Shale is a type of rock that is formed in successive layers.

Anthropologists

• Anthropologists use artifacts, cave drawings and oral history to study the culture of a group.

Culture

• Culture is a term used to describe beliefs, traditions, music, art, and social patterns of a group of people that share common experiences.

Horticulture

• The science of cultivating plants and trees began in the late Archaic period.

Tribe

• A group of people that share a common ancestry, name and way of living.

Antiquities

• Antiquities are ancient relics. A relic is an object or a personal item of religious significance.

Clan

• Clans were groups of people within a tribe that believed themselves to be related by blood.

Paleo Indians

• Paleo (from Greek, “Very Old”)

• Also called Old Stone Age• Time period lasted about

10,000 years• Nomadic (roaming)

hunters• Most tools and spear

points made of stone

Atlatl

• An atlatl or spear-thrower is a tool that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in dart-throwing.

Archaic Indians• Archaic (means “Old”)• Three time spans:

Early, Middle, Late • Early Archaic period:

8,000 B.C. to 5,000 B.C.

• Hunted large animals and small game

• Invented tools from deer antlers

• Moved with each season to find best food resources

Midden

• Used by archaeologists worldwide to describe any kind of feature containing waste products relating to day-to-day human life.

• They may be convenient, single-use pits created by nomadic groups or long-term, designated dumps used by a group of people that accumulate over several generations.