Concept Taxonomy
Concepts in this learning graph are organized into 13 categories spanning methodology, the five UCLA Big Eras, the Axial Age and Islamic civilization (split out for visibility), the pre-Columbian Americas (otherwise easily overshadowed), and the bridge unit. No single category exceeds 15% of the total — well within the 30% guideline.
| TaxonomyID | Category Name | Concepts | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| METH | Methodology and Historical Skills | 18 | 6.1% |
| THEME | Thematic Axes | 4 | 1.4% |
| COSMIC | Cosmic and Biological Origins | 12 | 4.1% |
| HOMIN | Hominin Evolution | 18 | 6.1% |
| PALEO | Paleolithic Humanity | 40 | 13.5% |
| NEO | Neolithic Revolution | 20 | 6.8% |
| BRONZE | Bronze Age and Primary Civilizations | 43 | 14.5% |
| CLASS | Classical Empires | 41 | 13.8% |
| AXIAL | Axial Age and World Religions | 25 | 8.4% |
| POSTC | Post-Classical World | 42 | 14.2% |
| ISLAM | Islamic Civilization | 13 | 4.4% |
| AMER | Pre-Columbian Americas | 10 | 3.4% |
| BRIDGE | Eve of Integration (~1100–1200 CE) | 11 | 3.7% |
Category descriptions
METH — Methodology and Historical Skills
Course-wide framework concepts including the Big Era framework itself, the AHA Tuning competencies, and the historical-thinking skills (chronological reasoning, contextualization, argumentation, synthesis, source analysis, periodization, causation, comparative method, systems thinking, historiography). Also includes archaeological method nodes (Ancient DNA Revolution, LIDAR Archaeology) because they are methods that apply across multiple eras.
THEME — Thematic Axes
The three thematic lenses that organize every unit: Humans and the Environment, Humans and Other Humans, and Humans and Ideas. Small but distinct meta-conceptual category.
COSMIC — Cosmic and Biological Origins
Big Era 1 deep-time content from the Big Bang through pre-hominin biological evolution: cosmic inflation, stellar nucleosynthesis, formation of Earth, origin of life, Cambrian explosion, mass extinctions, mammalian and primate evolution.
HOMIN — Hominin Evolution
The hominin lineage from Australopithecus through Homo sapiens emergence, including recent additions (Sahelanthropus, Ardipithecus, Paranthropus, Homo Naledi, Jebel Irhoud Finds, Lomekwi Stone Tools), early stone tool technology, control of fire, the cognitive revolution, and the foundation of symbolic thought.
PALEO — Paleolithic Humanity
Big Era 2 content: hunter-gatherer societies, Out-of-Africa migration, peopling of Eurasia/Australia/Americas, ice-age climate context (including Doggerland and Sundaland-Sahul), the full Paleolithic visual culture cluster (Cave Painting, Pigment Technology, Hand Stencils, Lascaux, Chauvet, Sulawesi, Lion-Man, Blombos), Neanderthals/Denisovans, language evolution, and recent paradigm-shifting sites (Misliya Cave, Madjedbebe, White Sands Footprints).
NEO — Neolithic Revolution
Big Era 3 transition concepts: plant and animal domestication, the Fertile Crescent, sedentism, agricultural villages, Çatalhöyük and Jericho, pottery, social stratification, Neolithic population growth, plus the paradigm-shifting Pre-Pottery Neolithic monumental sites (Göbekli Tepe, Karahan Tepe, Tas Tepeler) and Liangzhu Culture's hydraulic state.
BRONZE — Bronze Age and Primary Civilizations
The Bronze Age itself, metallurgy origins, urban revolution, writing systems, and all primary civilizations of Big Era 3 (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus, Yellow River) plus their major periods, regimes, and material culture. Also includes the Late Bronze Age system and its collapse, Yamnaya Migration / Proto-Indo-European / Steppe Pastoralism (Bronze Age in date and impact), Sanxingdui, Erlitou, Stonehenge, and the 4.2 Ka climate event.
CLASS — Classical Empires
Big Era 4 classical-period empires and their characteristic structures: Greek poleis, Persian Empires, Hellenistic world, Roman Republic and Empire, Han and Qin dynasties, Mauryan and Gupta India, Parthian and Sasanian Persia, the Silk Road, Roman-Indian Ocean trade, imperial bureaucracy, tribute systems, frontier strategy, Bantu Migrations, and the Antikythera Mechanism (Hellenistic astronomical computer included as a "lost technology" highlight).
AXIAL — Axial Age and World Religions
The intellectual and religious breakthroughs of ~800–200 BCE plus their later development: Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism, Hindu synthesis and Vedic/Upanishadic foundations, the Buddha and Buddhism's first major schools, Greek philosophy (Socrates → Plato → Aristotle), Hebrew prophetic monotheism and Second Temple Judaism, early Christianity, and the umbrella concept of the universal religion.
POSTC — Post-Classical World
Big Era 5 (300–1200 CE) transformations excluding the Islamic civilization (split out): Late Antiquity, Byzantine Empire, Tang and Early Song China, Carolingian Empire and feudal Europe, Vikings and Kievan Rus, trans-Saharan trade and Ghana, Aksum, Igbo-Ukwu, Kilwa Kisiwani, the Indian Ocean trade system, Srivijaya, Chola, Heian Japan, Korean Three Kingdoms, Khmer Empire and Angkor Wat, the Buddhist transformation of East/Southeast Asia, Polynesian expansion, plus the Late Antique Little Ice Age and Justinianic Plague.
ISLAM — Islamic Civilization
The formation, institutional development, and intellectual flourishing of the Islamic world: origins, Muhammad, the Quran, Hijra, Five Pillars, Sunni-Shia split, Rashidun, Umayyad, and Abbasid caliphates, Baghdad House of Wisdom, the Islamic Golden Age, dar al-Islam, and Sufism. Split out from POSTC because of its distinctive coherence and pedagogical importance.
AMER — Pre-Columbian Americas
The American hemisphere across the entire course timeframe: Olmec civilization, Mesoamerican origins, Caral-Supe (earliest American urbanism), Classic Maya civilization and Maya Calendar, Teotihuacan, Toltec civilization, Aguada Fenix (LIDAR-revealed Maya monumental complex), Cahokia, and Chaco Canyon. Split into its own category because the original concept list under-represented the Americas.
BRIDGE — Eve of Integration (~1100–1200 CE)
The bridge unit setting up the post-1200 companion course: World in 1200 CE, Song economic revolution, Chinese iron industry, paper money origins, mature dar al-Islam, European urban revival, three-field system, high medieval universities, Indian Ocean maturity, pre-Mongol Eurasia, and the Eve of Integration concept itself.