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Vocabularyabode – n. 1. residence; home 2. stay; sojourn abyss – n. an immeasurably deep chasm, depth, or void alluvial – adj. (alluvium) sedimentary matter, as sand or mud, deposited by flowing water alluvion – adj. form of alluvium altar – n. a raised structure on which gifts or sacrifices to a god are made ancestor – n. a person from whom one is descended, especially if more remote than a grandparent; a forebear annuity – n. a sum of money payable yearly or at other regular intervals anthropology – n. the scientific study of the origin, the behavior, and the physical, social, and cultural development of humans archaeology – n. the systematic study of past human life and culture by the recovery and examination of remaining material evidence, such as graves, buildings, tools, and pottery ascertain – v. to find out definitely authenticity – n. the quality of having a claimed and verifiable origin or authorship; not counterfeit or copied biased – adj. a preference or an inclination, especially one that inhibits impartial judgment boundless – adj. beyond limit or boundary calumet – n. a long-stemmed sacred or ceremonial tobacco pipe used by certain Native American peoples case study – n. a detailed analysis of a person or group, especially as a model of medical, psychiatric, psychological, or social phenomena cession – n. a yielding to another chasm – n. a deep cleft in the earth's surface; gorge citadels – n. pl. a fortress for defending a city comparative literature – n. study of literary works from different cultures (often in translation) composition – n. a literary, musical, or artistic production, especially one showing study and care in arrangement connote – v. to mark along with; to suggest or indicate as additional; to designate by implication; to include in the meaning; to imply contemporary – adj. current, modern credible – adj. capable of being believed; plausible cupolas – n. pl. a light structure on a dome or roof Dawes Act – n. An act passed by Congress in 1887 to allot land on reservations to Native Americans defiance – n. a bold resistance to authority or force density – n. degree of opacity diction – n. choice and use of words in speech or writing divested – v. to strip, as of clothes ecosystem – n. a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their physical environment eddy – n. a current of water or air running counter to the main current endangered – adj. threatened with extinction erroneously – adv. containing an error; incorrect folklore – n. the traditional beliefs, myths, tales, and practices of a people, transmitted orally formal – adj. pertaining to the form, shape, or mode of a thing, esp. as distinguished from the substance germed – (form of germinate) v. to begin or cause to grow or develop; sprout gesture – n. a motion of the limbs or body made to express or help express thought or to emphasize speech gorge – n. a narrow ravine with steep rocky walls gypsum – n. a common soft mineral used to make plaster of Paris and as a fertilizer habitat – n. type of environment in which an organism or group normally lives or occurs history – n. the discipline that records and interprets past events involving human beings Homestead Act – n. An act passed by Congress in 1862 promising ownership of a 160-acre tract of public land to a citizen or head of a family who had resided on and cultivated the land for five years after the initial claim horrid – adj. such as to cause an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something shocking or terrifying imperial – adj. of, relating to, or suggestive of an empire or a sovereign, especially an emperor or empress Indian Removal – n. the forced relocation of Native Americans from their homelands to areas designated by the United States government indulging – v. to yield to or gratify keel-boat – n. a boat with a central stuctural member in the bottom of a ship's hull, extending from the stem to the stern leadership – n. capacity or ability to lead legend – n. an unverified story handed down from earlier times, especially one popularly believed to be historical longhouse – n. a long communal dwelling of some North American Indians (as the Iroquois) luxuriant – adj. abundant in growth, as vegetation … producing abundantly, as soil … florid, as ornamentation material culture – n. The everyday objects that an individual owns and uses every day, such as shoes, clothes, toothpaste, books, cans of soup. By looking at these items from an anthropological perspective, we can learn about the values and mores of the culture from which they come mode – n. a manner, way, or method of doing or acting monotonous – adj. tediously unvarying motive – n. emotion, desire, physiological need, or similar impulse that acts as an incitement to action opaque – adj. impenetrable by light; neither transparent nor translucent oral tradition – n. the spoken relation and preservation, from one generation to the next, of a people's cultural history and ancestry, often by a storyteller in narrative form organism – n. an individual form of life, such as a plant, animal, bacterium, protist, or fungus; a body made up of organs, organelles, or other parts that work together to carry on the various processes of life pictograph – n. a picture representing a word or idea; a hieroglyph picturesque – adj. of, suggesting, or suitable for a picture porticoes – n. pl. a porch or walkway with a roof supported by columns, often leading to the entrance of a building pose – n. a bodily attitude or position, especially one assumed for an artist or a photographer powwow – n. an American Indian ceremony (as for victory in war); an American Indian social gathering of fair, usually including competitive dancing prairie – n. an extensive area of flat or rolling, predominantly treeless grassland, especially the large tract or plain of central North America primary source – n. a first hand account, such as a journal entry, interview, or other method of report that documents an event from the perspective of someone who participated in or witnessed that event prudent – adj. wise in handling practical matters; exercising good judgment or common sense ramparts – n. pl. a fortification consisting of an embankment, often with a parapet built on top refracted – v. the turning or bending of any wave, such as a light or sound wave, when it passes from one medium into another of different optical density relic – n. an object kept for its association with the past; a memento reliquary – n. a receptacle, such as a coffer or shrine, for keeping or displaying sacred relics reservation – n. a tract of public land set aside (as for use by American Indians) Sacred Land – n. land having religious significance to Native Americans serpentine – adj. of or resembling a serpent, as in form or movement; sinuous setting – n. the context and environment in which a situation is set; the background smallpox – n. an acute, highly infectious, often fatal disease caused by a poxvirus and characterized by high fever and aches with subsequent widespread eruption of pimples that blister, produce pus, and form pockmarks sociology – n. 1. the study of human social behavior, especially the study of the origins, organization, institutions, and development of human society. 2. analysis of a social institution or societal segment as a self-contained entity or in relation to society as a whole species – n. a fundamental category of taxonomic classification, ranking below a genus or subgenus and consisting of related organisms capable of interbreeding spires – n. pl. a structure or formation, such as a steeple, that tapers to a point at the top steamer – n. a ship powered by one or more steam engines sublime – adj. inspiring awe; impressive summit – n. the highest point or part; the top symbol – n. something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible syntax – n. grammatical arrangement of words in sentences terraces – n. pl. a porch or walkway bordered by colonnades toil – v. to labor continuously; work strenuously topography – n. the surface features of a place or region turbid – adj. having sediment or foreign particles stirred up or suspended; muddy unregulated – adj. not subject to rule or discipline verdure – n. the lush greenness of flourishing vegetation wampum – n. beads of polished shells strung in strands, belts, or sashes and used by North American Indians as money, ceremonial pledges, and ornament Western – adj. relating to or characteristic of regions of western parts of the world written tradition – n. the written relation and preservation, from one generation to the next, of a people's cultural history and ancestry |
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