Archaeology Wordsmith

Results for Aten:

Akhenaten (reigned 1353-1336 BC): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Amenhotep IV, Akhnaton, Ikhnaton, Neferkheperure Amenhotep, Greek Amenophis
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: The heretic pharaoh of Egypt's 18th Dynasty, who reigned with his queen Nefertiti towards the end of the New Kingdom. He was the son of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiy. During his reign, he attempted to replace Egypt's religions with worship of Amen-Ra, the sun disk, represented by the god Aten (or Aton). The art and literature of Egypt also was marked by rapid change during his reign. He set the tone for a new era by establishing a temple at Karnak dedicated to Aten and moved the capital from Thebes to modern Tell el-Amarna in Middle Egypt, calling the city Akhetaten. His religious reforms were fanatical and foreign affairs were neglected and his reign saw the collapse of the Egyptian Asiatic empire built by earlier rulers. His successor and probable brother, Tutankhamen, returned Egypt to the worship of Amen-Ra and the capital to Thebes. Later rulers attempted to remove all record of Akhenaten's heresy and name. Akhenaten has been controversial both in ancient and modern times.
Amarna, Tell el-: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Akhetaten; El-Amarna; Tall al-Amarna; el-Amarna
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The site of the ruins and tombs of the city of the 18th Dynasty pharaoh Akhetaton in Upper Egypt, 44 mi (71 km) north of modern Asyut and 280 km south of Cairo. Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV) built the city in about 1348 BC as his capital and the center of his reformed religion and worship of Aten. The city consisted of a group of palaces, temples, and residential quarters (and rock-cut tombs) inhabited only about 25-30 years. It was abandoned less than four years after Akhenaten's death and the capital returned to Thebes. Tell el-Amarna's remains have preserved the record of this short, fascinating period of history during which a correspondence in cuneiform between the Egyptian pharaoh, kings of the Hittites and of the Mitanni, and governors of Egyptian possessions in western Asia took place. There is Mycenaean pottery, linking the site to the Aegean and statuary which differed from the traditional art of pharaonic Egypt. The art of this brief monotheistic period was realistic and unrestrained, in contrast with the stereotyped art styles of other periods in ancient Egypt. It is one of the best-preserved examples of an Egyptian settlement of the New Kingdom.
Aten: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Aton, Yati
CATEGORY: deity
DEFINITION: The deity represented in the form of a sun disk and introduced as the sole gold by the heretic pharaoh, Akhenaten (Amenophis IV, 1353-1336 BC) during the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, c 1350 BC. Akhenaten built the city of Akhetaton (now Tell el-Amarna) and established a temple at Karnak dedicated to Aten's worship. The sun god was depicted as the solar disk with rays terminating in human hands.
catena: CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: A sequence of soils formed by the same parent material but from different landscape positions have taken on differing characteristics. Seeing these difference may assist interpretation of archaeological sites.
Matenbek: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Limestone shelter near Matenkupkum, Bismarck Archipelago, Melanesia, with occupation from c 19,000 bp. A later occupation began c 8000 bp. Obsidian from Talasea appears as well as phalanger (possum) introduced during the Pleistocene.
Matenkupkum: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Cave site in New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago, Melanesia. Marine resources were used c 32,000 bp. A stone assemblage includes unretouched flakes. Obsidian from Talasea appears c 12,000 bp.
Amarna period: CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: A phase in the late 18th Dynasty, including the reigns of Akhenaten, Smenkhkare, Tutankhamun, and Ay (1379-1352 BC), when important religious and artistic changes took place. The name is derived from the site of Akhenaten's capital at Tell el-Amarna.
Amenhotep: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Amunhotep, Amenophis
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: The name of four pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, 1390-1353 BC. Amenhotep III (Amenhotep the Magnificent) was the most powerful, reigning 1514-1593 BC. He was preceded by Amenhotep I (1514-1493 BC) and Amenhotep II (c 1426-1400 BC) and succeeded by Amenhotep IV (1352-1336 BC), who was better known by his adopted name of Akhenaten. The name meant Amun is content". Amenhotep I the founder of the dynasty extended Egypt's boundaries in Nubia (modern Sudan). Amenhotep III devoted himself to promoting diplomacy and to extensive building in Egypt and Nubia. Amenhotep IV tried to establish the monotheistic cult of Aten."
Amun: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Amun-Ra
CATEGORY: deity
DEFINITION: The supreme god of the Egyptian pantheon, who was established by the 11th Dynasty at Thebes. The name means hidden" or "secret". Amun was frequently identified with Ra the sun-god of Heliopolis and called Amun-Ra. His temple at Karnak is the best surviving example of a religious complex of the New Kingdom. His wife was Amaunet and he is depicted in male human form. Amun's supremacy was challenged only during the reign of Akhenaten."
annealing: CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: The treating of a metal or alloy with heat and then cold -- or the repeated process of heating and hammering to produce the desired shape. After casting metal, it may be necessary to further process it by cold-working, hammering, and drawing the metal -- either to produce hard cutting edges or to produce beaten sheet metal. Hammering makes the metal harder, though more brittle and subject to cracking because it destroys its crystalline structure. Annealing, the reheating of the metal gently to a dull red heat and allowing it to cool, produces a new crystalline structure which can be hammered again. The process may be repeated as often as is necessary. The final edge on a weapon may be left unannealed as it will be harder and last longer.
archaeological conservancy: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: archeological conservancy
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Any private, nonprofit organization working to save archaeological sites from destruction. This is done primarily by purchasing threatened sites and protecting the sites until they can be turned over to responsible agencies such as national parks.
Athens: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Athínai (modern Greek), Athenai (ancient Greek)
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Important classical Greek city-state with evidence for continuous occupation from the Late Neolithic, but because of its continuous occupation and the resulting disturbance of the earlier levels, its history is told from the time of the Mycenaeans in the Late Bronze Age. The citadel on the Acropolis was walled early in its history. It is the capital of Greece and generally considered to be the birthplace of Western civilization. Athens is best known for its temples and public buildings of antiquity. The Parthenon, a columned, rectangular temple built for the city's patron goddess, Athena, is considered to be the culmination of the Doric order of classical Greek architecture. Also located on the Acropolis are the Erechtheum, originally the temple of both Athena and Poseidon, and the Propylaea, the entrance of which is through the wall of the Acropolis. At the foot of the Acropolis, to the south, are the theaters of Herodes and Dionysus, while to the northwest is the Agora, the ancient marketplace of the city. The Kerameikos cemetery documents the city's Iron Age (c 11-8 BC), after which archaeology and history combine to tell of its brilliance through the classical period. It supposedly rivaled Knossos and later resisted successive waves of Dorian invaders. It is still not clear how far Athens, perhaps the base of the very early Ionian colonies, managed to ride out the 'dark age' that followed the collapse of Mycenaean civilization. There is evidence of a cultural and commercial renaissance in the 7th and 6th centuries BC. A major component of this socioeconomic revolution was the borrowing of the Phoenician alphabet for the writing of Greek. Commercial success brought rapid economic growth and a population explosion. New ideas were imported and political upheaval led to experiments in government, such as democracy. Athens resisted Persian invaders and developed a prestige which allowed the establishment of the Delian League and the extension of her political power -- the Athenian empire. In the years 447-431 BC, under Pericles, vast sums were spent on public works, such as the new group of buildings on the Acropolis including the Parthenon. Pericles would not grant the Hellenes the freedom requested by Sparta, which led to the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) after which Athens was a dependent of Sparta. Escape from Spartan imperialism in the 4th century BC was threatened by Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great. By the end of the century, Macedon dominated and Athens did not achieve independence until 228 BC. Rome then intruded in the 2nd and 1st centuries and Athens was sieged and plundered by Sulla. During the Imperial period, Athens was confined to a role as a cultural center and seat of learning for the rich -- which lasted into the 6th century AD, when the edict of Justinian in 529 closed down the schools of philosophy. By the Byzantine period, Athens had become a modest provincial town. Athens' ruins will be difficult to protect from the corrosive atmosphere and millions of visiting tourists.
bracteate: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A coin, medal, dish or ornament made of thin, beaten metal -- usually gold or silver. These items were often disk-shaped -- hollow on the underside and convex on the upper.
breadfruit: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: bread-fruit
CATEGORY: flora
DEFINITION: The fruit of a tree in the South Sea islands that is about the size of a melon and whose whitish pulp (with the consistency of new bread) requires cooking before it can be eaten. The tree was probably first cultivated from the Philippines to New Guinea, and attained great economic importance in the Polynesian Islands, especially the Marquesas and Tahiti, about 1500-2000 years ago. The fruit was also dried or allowed to ferment, and could then be stored for several years in underground pits. In 1788, Captain William Bligh was attempting to take breadfruit saplings from Tahiti to the West Indies when the famous mutiny on HMS Bounty occurred.
burh: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: burg
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: Any Anglo-Saxon stronghold or fortification; a term used for the defended settlements built by King Alfred of Wessex as a system of defense in the 9th century (known as the burghal system). Threatened by Viking (Danish) incursions, Alfred (and later his successors) built small fortified towns where the population could take refuge when threatened. Excavations in many burhs, such as Wareham, Tamworth, Wallingford, Devon, Bury, and Cricklade, show wide palisaded bank and v-shaped ditch with turf and timber revetments. Many of the burhs were also developed as market towns and gridded streets were laid out within a number of them.
cannibalism: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The eating of human flesh by men. This is done either out of dire need or for ritual purposes, when parts of deceased relatives or enemies may be eaten so that their power can be magically acquired. Disarticulated bones of humans, as well as animals, have been found in the ditches of Neolithic camps, which is thought to be suggestive of cannibalism. Its existence in Paleolithic cultures is suggested by the lengthwise splitting of long bones so as to extract marrow from them. In Mesoamerica, there is evidence among hunter-gatherers at start of Holocene through the 1st millennium BC in farming villages. There were many written documents concerning cannibalism from the Aztecs of the 15th century AD. To the Aztecs, the human flesh sacrificed and offered to the gods became a sacred food.
coconut: CATEGORY: flora
DEFINITION: The nut or seed of the coco-palm, whose white flesh may be eaten. It was probably cultivated in Southeast Asia by 3000 BC and then spread by Austronesians through the Pacific and eventually to central America, India, and East Africa. Charred fruits occur in western Melanesian sites back to c 3000 BC. The coconut must always have been of importance in coastal tropical economics owing to its enormous range of uses. It has high salt-tolerance and the seed (the coconut itself) is easy to transport.
coprolite: CATEGORY: artifact; fauna
DEFINITION: Fossilized or desiccated human or animal feces. The study of these remains can provide information about the human or animal activity in that particular locale, such as diet and disease; the study of these remains is called coprology. Coprolites only survive in exceptional circumstances -- arid, frozen, and occasionally waterlogged deposits. They can be reconstituted by the addition of chemicals like trisodium phosphate, and can then be analyzed for their plant and animal remains. This gives additional insight into what was being eaten on a site, since the evidence from pollen analysis, or flotation, only suggests what was being grown.
Coxcatlán phase: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Occupation phase of Mexico's Tehuacán Valley from c 5500-4500 BC. Maize first appeared, though wild and semi-domesticated plants were still eaten along with small game.
experimental archaeology: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: experimental studies
CATEGORY: branch
DEFINITION: The reconstruction and reproduction of past behavior and processes to obtain or evaluate archaeological data and test hypotheses about the way man dealt with subsistence and technology. The experiments involve such activities as creating and using stone tools, duplicating prehistoric methods of farming, building, and travel, etc. The term is normally used only for those experiments which deal with material culture, such as industry, the building of structures, mining, and crop processing. The more theoretical aspects, such as ideas about the development and organization of society, are generally thought of a part of processual archaeology rather than experimental. Reconstructions can be based on excavated ground plans, and some of these have been deliberately burned or left to decay so that an idea can be gained of what the archaeologist might expect to find later. Boats have been built and sailed, food has been cooked in earth ovens and eaten, stone monuments have been laboriously erected, and trumpets and stringed instruments have been made and played. Although past events are not exactly repeatable, experimental simulation can prove very instructive and is being increasingly used. One of the earliest examples was General Pitt-Rivers' observations of the rate and duration of ditch silting on his excavations at Cranbourne Chase in the 19th century.
Huns: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A nomadic pastoralist people who invaded southeastern Europe c 370 AD and over the next 70 years built up an enormous empire there and in central Europe. Originating from beyond the Volga River after the middle of the 4th century, they first overran the Alani, who occupied the plains between the Volga and the Don rivers, and then quickly overthrew the empire of the Ostrogoths between the Don and the Dnestr. Around 376 AD they defeated the Visigoths living in what is now approximately Romania and then became one of the many 'barbarian' tribes who threatened the Roman empire during the 4th and 5th centuries. There is little archaeological evidence attributed to the Huns, but they are remembered in the literature as being fearsome and bloodthirsty. During the 5th century, the Romans adopted a policy of employing 'barbarian' mercenaries to defend the empire against potential invaders, so the Huns were used to defend eastern Gaul from the Burgundians. The most notable period for the Huns was under their leader Attila, who invaded Gaul in 451. Visigothic and Roman forces joined to defeat Attila near Troyes, and after Attila's death the Huns were never again a major force in European history.
king list: CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: A term used for any text recording the names and titles of the rulers of Egypt and the length of their reigns. The most important include the Sumerian King List, which recorded the dynasties ruling southern Mesopotamia from the mythical period before the Flood to the Isin-Larsa period, and the Assyrian King List, which listed the rulers of Assyria from before 2000 BC to the Late Assyrian period. There were also lists in Egypt which incorporate information on principal events of individual reigns. Virtually all of the surviving examples are found in religious or funerary contexts and often relate to the celebration of the cult of royal ancestors, whereby each king established his own legitimacy and place in the succession by making regular offerings to a list of the names of his predecessors. The lists are often surprisingly accurate, although they are also noticeably selective, regularly omitting certain rulers who were considered to have been in any way illegitimate or inappropriate, such as Akhenaten (1352-1336 BC).
Mailhac: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A series of important Late Bronze Age and Iron Age sites near Narbonne in southwest France, dating from the 8th-1st centuries BC. The sites comprise a defended hilltop settlement (Le Cayla) and a series of urnfield cemeteries (Le Moulin, Grand Bassin I and II). The earliest phase has an urnfield-type cemetery, wooden houses, and evidence of farming supplemented by hunting. In the second phase (early 6th century BC), Hallstatt influences include iron and a chieftain's wagon burial (La Redorte). Greek and Etruscan imports appear in both graves and occupation deposits in this and in the succeeding phase. Occupation ended early in the 1st century BC with a burning, probably a Roman punitive action after threatened uprisings in the area.
Maspero, Gaston Camille Charles (1846-1916): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: French Egyptologist who succeeded August Mariette as Director of the Egyptian Antiquities Service and who edited the first 50 volumes of the immense catalog of the collection there. He excavated numerous sites from Saqqara to the Valley of the Kings. At Deir el Bahari (Dayr al-Bahri), he came upon fabulous collection of 40 royal mummies, s, including those of the pharaohs Seti I, Amenhotep I, Thutmose III, and Ramses II, in inscribed sarcophagi, as well as a profusion of decorative and funerary artifacts. Maspero's intensive study of these findings was published in Les Momies royales de Deir-el-Bahari" (1889; "The Royal Mummies of Dayr al-Bahri"). He also published an account of the Nubian monuments threatened by construction of first Aswan Dam. He helped found the Egyptian Museum in 1902. During his second tenure as director general (1899-1914) Maspero regulated excavations tried to prevent illicit trade in antiquities sought to preserve and strengthen monuments and directed the archaeological survey of Nubia. His writings include "Histoire ancienne des peoples de l'Orient classique". (1895-97; "Ancient History of the Peoples of the Classic Orient") "L'Archéologie égyptienne" (1887; "Egyptian Archaeology") "Les Contes populaires de l'Égypte ancienne" (4th ed. 1914; "Popular Tales of Ancient Egypt") and "Causeries d'Égypte" (1907; "New Light on Ancient Egypt")."
mesquite pod: CATEGORY: flora
DEFINITION: The edible, bean-like seed vessel harvested from the mesquite tree (genus Prosopis) of southwestern US, central America, and South America. Native Americans cooked the sugary pods into a syrup; the seeds could also be roasted and eaten.
millet: CATEGORY: flora
DEFINITION: Any of various grasses used as forage or cereals, probably first cultivated in Asia or Africa about 4000 years ago. Four cereals are grouped under this name. Panicum miliaceum was the most important, first recorded at Jemdet Nasr in Mesopotamia. It was widely grown in Neolithic Europe and was the staple crop in early China. Setaria italica was possibly developed in southern Europe, and even there was never as common as panicum. It was also known in China in the Neolithic. Grains of the Setaria genus were an important item of diet in parts of Mexico as early as c 6500 BC. Eleusine and Pennisetum are of more recent origin, largely confined to tropical Africa, and introduced thence to India. Millets are an important food staple in much of Asia, Russia, and western Africa. In the United States and western Europe they are used chiefly for pasture or to produce hay, although they were major grains in Europe during the Middle Ages. The millets are high in carbohydrates, with protein content varying from 6 to 11 percent and fat varying from 1.5 to 5 percent. They are somewhat strong in taste and cannot be made into leavened bread. They are mainly consumed in flatbreads and porridges or prepared and eaten much like rice.
Nefertiti (c 1380-1340 BC): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Nefertiit, Nofretete
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: The principal wife of the 18th Dynasty ruler Akhenaten (1352-1336 BC) during the 'Amarna period' and Queen of Egypt. She may also have been daughter of Ay (1327-1323 BC), who later succeeded Tutankhamun (1336-1327 BC) on the throne. She supported her husband's religious revolution and is thought by some to have adhered to the new cult of the sun god Aton even after the king began to compromise with the upholders of the old order. Nefertiti is best known for her portrait bust, found at Tell el-Amarna (ancient Akhetaton), the king's new capital. She also appears prominently at her husband's side in reliefs found at Tell el-Amarna. Nefertiti had six daughters, two of whom became queens of Egypt. In the 12th year of Akhenaton's reign, or possibly later, Nefertiti either retired after losing favor with the king or, less likely, died. Objects belonging to her have been found at the northern palace in Amarna, suggesting that she may have retired there. However, some scholars associate her with the monarch named Smenkhare who briefly succeeded Akhenaten.
New Kingdom: CATEGORY: culture; chronology
DEFINITION: A period of Egyptian history comprising the 18th-20th Dynasties, c 1550-1070 BC. It was the period following the expulsion of Asiatic Hyksos rulers and the subsequent reunification by Thutmose I-IV, Amenhotep, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, and Ramesses I-XI. The Egyptian army pushed beyond the traditional frontiers of Egypt into Syria-Palestine. The Theban conquerors established the 18th Dynasty (1550-1295 BC), creating a great empire under a succession the rulers bearing the names Thutmose and Amenhotep. The newly reunified land had a stronger economy, supplemented by resources of empire in Nubia and western Asia. To this period belongs much of the monumental architecture of Egypt. From the beginning of the New Kingdom, temples of the gods became the principal monuments; royal palaces and private houses, which are very little known, were less important. Temples and tombs were stone with relief decoration on their walls and were filled with stone and wooden statuary, inscribed and decorated stelae (freestanding small stone monuments), and, in their inner areas, composite works of art in precious materials.
Ordos: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Northern Zone
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The desert region in the northward loop of the Yellow River (Huang Ho) in northern China, the location of the Palaeolithic Ordos culture. From 8th century BC, the region was inhabited by seminomadic tribes, among them the Hsiung-Nu, threatening the Chou Dynasty and the Han Dynasty. Broad bronze daggers, curved knives, pole finials, harness ornaments, and animal-style bronze belt plaques are characteristic of the 1st millennium BC ('the Ordos bronzes'). The pictorial or narrative compositions common among these plaques, many including human figures, are typical also of Sarmatian metalwork. The distinctive metal culture of the Ordos reaches back as far as the latter part of the 2nd millennium BC, a date fixed by the discovery at Anyang of knives with animal-head pommels closely related to Ordos types. Owing to its position on the northern frontier of China, the Ordos was probably the main channel by which Chinese influences were transmitted to the steppes; it was also the route by which foreign elements reached China, especially during Eastern Chou and Han dynasties. An Upper Palaeolithic site (Sjara Osso Gol) yielded a microlithic industry. In the 1970s and '80s, Chinese scientists unearthed more than 20 human fossils from 30,000-60,000 years old at Hsiao-ch'iao-pan in the Sjara-Osso River valley. The terms Ordos man and Ordosian culture are applied to their findings. The area is now referred to as the Northern Zone.
paleodiet: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The diet of past humans -- what people actually ate rather than what was available to be eaten.
pemmican: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Preserved buffalo meat that was dried in strips by Native Americans. It could be cut up and mixed with melted fat to be eaten. Across the subarctic, people preserved meat by drying and pounding it together with fat and berries to make pemmican.
pyramid: CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A monumental tomb in the shape of a pentahedron, a square base and four straight sides converging to an apex, built by the ancient Egyptians in stone or brick to cover or contain the burial chamber of a pharaoh. Its origin lay in the mudbrick mastaba of the Archaic Period, which in the Old Kingdom became more elaborate with the use of stone, regularity of shape, and larger size. It evolved from the step pyramid as seen at Sakkara, Dahshur, and Meidum. The pyramid is the central monument in a pyramid complex and was the preferred tomb in the Old and Middle Kingdoms (3rd-12th Dynasties). The largest and most famous is the Giza group and Khufu's is the biggest with a 230 meter long base and original height of 146 meters. The elaborateness of the funerary ritual, witnessed by the mortuary temples attached to all pyramids, had the same purpose, of guaranteeing the eternal well-being of the deceased. This sepulchral chamber having been connected with the upper world by a passage sloping downwards from the north, the graduated structure was regularly built over it, the proportions of the base to the sides being constantly preserved. The building was continued during the lifetime of its destined tenant, and covered and closed immediately upon his death. The construction of the pyramids as early as the 26th century BC was an extraordinary achievement of engineering and architecture. The tradition of the pyramid as a royal tomb was revived by the kings of Napata and Meroe. In Mesopotamia, Mesoamerica, and South America, pyramids were used as temple-platforms. There are over 80 pyramids in Egypt and ancient Nubia (Sudan).
Reisner, George Andrew (1867-1942): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: American Egyptologist who set new standards in Egyptian archaeology with his meticulous excavation methods, which were then comparable only with those of the British archaeologist Flinders Petrie. He carried out long-term excavations at Giza, Nag ed-Der, Kerma, and Deir el-Ballas. He directed a campaign in Nubia to survey threatened monuments, and conducted excavations at Samaria in Palestine and in Sudan (Kerma, Meroe, Gebel Barkal). In Egypt, he excavated many tombs (Pyramid of Menkaure, tomb of Hetepheres) and the Valley Temple of Mycerinus at Giza.
rescue archaeology: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: salvage archaeology, cultural resource management; rescue projects
CATEGORY: branch
DEFINITION: The branch of archaeology devoted to studying artifacts and features on sites which are imminently threatened by development in the form of the construction of dams, buildings, highways, etc. Threats to archaeological remains occur in the form of road-building, road improvement, new building of houses, offices, and industrial complexes, the flooding of valleys for reservoirs, and improved farming techniques involving the use of deep plowing. The rescue, or salvage, archaeologist, is concerned with the retrieval of as much information as possible about the archaeological sites before they are damaged or destroyed. Frequently time is too short and funds are too limited for anything but a brief survey.
rescue project: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Any attempt by cultural resource management to study artifacts and features which are imminently threatened by development.
Salamis (Greece): CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An island and town of Attikí, Greece, the site of the straits in which the Greeks won a decisive naval victory over the Persians in 480 BC. The invading forces of Xerxes and the Persians were beaten off. The city was occupied form the Bronze Age and chamber tombs of the Early Iron Age had remains of the social elite.
salt-glazed stoneware: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: In the 14th century AD it was found that the addition of salt to the kiln gases during the firing of stoneware meant that the salt volatilized and the resultant sodium chloride vapor fluxed with the silicas in the body of the vessels to form a soda-glass glaze. As a further refinement, a brown-colored surface could be achieved by coating the vessels in a thin iron wash before firing. A patent was granted for the manufacture of such salt-glazed wares in England in 1671.
salvage: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: An emergency survey and excavation at a site that is threatened by immediate destruction due to human development or natural phenomena.
salvage archaeology: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: rescue archaeology; cultural resource management
CATEGORY: branch
DEFINITION: The branch of archaeology devoted to studying artifacts and features on sites which are imminently threatened by development in the form of the construction of dams, buildings, highways, etc. Threats to archaeological remains occur in the form of road-building, road improvement, new building of houses, offices, and industrial complexes, the flooding of valleys for reservoirs, and improved farming techniques involving the use of deep plowing. The rescue, or salvage, archaeologist, is concerned with the retrieval of as much information as possible about the archaeological sites before they are damaged or destroyed. Salvage archaeology is the location, recording (usually through excavation), and collection of archaeological data from a site in advance of highway construction, drainage projects, or urban development. In the US, the first major program of salvage archaeology was undertaken in the 1930s, ahead of the construction and dam building done by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Sesebi-Sudla: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A walled settlement in the Upper Nubia's Abri-Delgo, between the second and third cataracts, founded by the 18th Dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten (1352-1336 BC).
Sung Dynasty: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Song Dynasty
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Chinese dynasty (960-1279) that ruled the country (only in the south after 1127) during one of its most brilliant cultural epochs. The Sung dynasty was founded when Chao K'uang-yin, the military inspector general of the Chou dynasty, last of the Five Dynasties, gained control in a coup. China was reunified after the divisions of the 10th century and it was a period of great literary and artistic achievement, though constantly threatened by the Mongols.
Talasea: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Important obsidian source in western Melanesia, on the north coast of New Britain, occurring from 9000 BC (Late Pleistocene) at Matenkupkum and Matenbek. The obsidian was widely distributed in Lapita times (c 1500-1BC) to as far as New Caledonia, 2600 km away.
talatat: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: talatate
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: Typical small sandstone building blocks used in Egypt for the temples of Amenophis IV (Akhenaten) at Aten at el-Amarna and Karnak and other temples of the Amarna Period (c 1352-1336 BC). It is the Arabic word for three handbreadths, describing the length of these stones which were used for rapid construction. They are often decorated in relief. After return to orthodox worship of Amen, these monuments were dismantled and their components then used by Akhenaten's successors as rubble hardcore in later buildings.
terp: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: pl. terpen; warf, werft, wurt, wierde, wierden
CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: Manmade mound, similar to a tell, found in late prehistoric northwest Europe, created by the continual remaking of clay floors and deposition of rubbish. Terpen were good settlement sites for the Frisians and other Germanic peoples in areas threatened by flooding. The earliest go back to the 3rd century BC and many remained in use until the Middle Ages. These nucleated settlements were indigenous to the Iron Age and Migration Period cultures of the Frisian coastlands. Excavations have shown that terps were densely populated; they contain large numbers of dwellings, including buildings in which crafts were made.
Tiy (c 1400-1340 BC): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Tiye
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: Important Queen of Egypt, principal wife of the late 18th Dynasty ruler Amenhotep III (reigned 1390-1353 BC). She exerted considerable influence on her husband and son Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV; 1352-1336 BC).
trackway: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A path beaten by use; an unsurfaced communication route which does not have the status of a road. An exception is the group of timber trackways discovered in boggy areas of the Netherlands and southwest England (c 4th-3rd millennium BC).
Tutankhamun (reigning c1336-1327 BC): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Tutankhamen
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: A minor Egyptian pharaoh of the late 18th Dynasty who came into great prominence when his tomb in the Valley of Kings at Thebes was found with minimal disturbance by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon in 1922. A son of Amenhotep III, he succeeded the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten. During an undistinguished reign of nine years he began the restoration of the worship of Amen (Amun) and returned the capital to Thebes. His more orthodox successors attempted to obliterate him from memory because of the taint of Aten worship which he apparently never entirely threw off. The tomb, though probably far poorer than those of the greater pharaohs, yielded a remarkable treasure and great detail of the ritual of Egyptian royal burials. The mummy, with a magnificent inlaid gold mask, lay inside three cases -- the innermost of pure gold weighing over a ton, the outer two of gilded wood. These were enclosed in a stone sarcophagus within successive shrines also of gilded wood, nearly filling the burial chamber. Three other rooms held chariots, furniture, statues, and other possessions of the king. It took three years to clear and preserve the contents of the wealthy tomb. The discovery stirred the public imagination and opened up a great interest in archaeology.
Wilkinson, (Sir) John Gardner (1797-1875): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: British Egyptologist who traveled, surveyed, and excavated such sites as Karnak, Valley of the Kings, and ancient Nubian capital of Gebel Barkal. He was the first to produce a detailed plan of the ancient capital city of Akhenaten at el-Amarna and his map of the Theban temples and tombs was the first comprehensive survey of the region. He spent 12 years (1821-1833) copying and collecting material in Egypt and his copies of monuments and texts were then made available to European scholars.
wrought nail: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A nail that is beaten out or shaped by hammering.

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