Archaeology Wordsmith

Results for Shu:

Ashurbanipal (fl. 7th century BC): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Assurbanipal, Asurbanipal, Assurnasirpal
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: The last of the great kings of Assyria (668-627 BC), who established the first systematically organized library in the ancient Middle East, a huge collection of Assyrian clay tablets in his palace and that of his grandfather, Sennacherib. The library has been extremely valuable in revealing the art, science, and religion of ancient Mesopotamia. Approximately 20,720 tablets and fragments have been preserved in the British Museum. This collection was assembled by royal command, whereby scribes searched for and collected or copied texts of every genre from temple libraries. Theses were added to a core collection of tablets from Ashur, Calah, and Nineveh itself. The major group includes omen texts based on observations of events; on the behavior and features of men, animals, and plants; and on the motions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars. There were dictionaries of Sumerian, Akkadian, and other words, all important to the scribal educational system. Ashurbanipal also collected many incantations, prayers, rituals, fables, proverbs, and other canonical" and "extracanonical" texts. The traditional Mesopotamian epics -- such as the stories of Creation Gilgamesh Irra Etana and Anzu -- have survived mainly due to their preservation in Ashurbanipal's library. Handbooks scientific texts and some folk tales show that this library of which only a fraction of the clay tablets has survived was more than a mere reference library. His many brilliant military campaigns served only to hold what had been already won by previous kings though Egypt regained its independence and Elam was only retained by complete devastation."
Ashurnasirpal II (fl. 8th century BC): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Assurnasirpal II
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: King of Assyria 883-859 BC, who consolidated the conquests of his father, Tukulti-Ninurta II, and commanded the last period of Assyrian power before the establishment of the New Assyrian Empire. His military expeditions took him as far as the Mediterranean and, according to his own testimony, he was a brilliant general and administrator. He set the standards of military achievement and brutality which made the Assyrians feared throughout the Near and Middle East. The details of his reign are known almost entirely from his own inscriptions and the reliefs in the ruins of his palace at Calah (now Nimrud, Iraq). He refounded Calah as a military capital beside Assur and Nineveh. By 879 BC the main palace in the citadel, the temples of Ninurta and Enlil, shrines for other deities, and the city wall had been completed. Botanic gardens and a zoological garden were laid out, and water supplied by a canal from the Great Zab River. His son and successor, Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC) expanded the empire.
Assur: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Ashur
CATEGORY: deity; site
DEFINITION: A solar deity which was the chief god of the city of Assur and the kingdom of Assyria. With the latter's conquests, Assur assumed leadership of the Assyrian pantheon and supremacy over the other gods of Mesopotamia. The deity was conceived in anthropomorphic terms. The image of the deity was fed and clothed and was responsible for fertility and security, and represented as a winged sun-disc. It is also the name of the ancient religious capital of the Assyrian empire in northern Mesopotamia, on the bank of the River Tigris at modern Qalaat-Shergat, which was a great trading center and the burial place of the kings even after the government moved to Nineveh. First recorded in the 3rd millennium BC as a frontier post of the empire of Akkad, it then became an independent city-state and finally the capital of Assyria. After Assyria's collapse in 614 BC it failed to survive but was briefly revived under the Parthians. Areas of the palaces, temples, walls, and town have been cleared, and a sondage pit was cut beneath the Temple of Ishtar (pre-Sargonid) to reveal the 3rd and early 2nd millennium levels (the first use of this technique in Mesopotamian excavation). Sumerian statues were found -- among the earliest evidence of Sumerian contact outside the southern plain. For over 2000 years successive kings built and rebuilt the fortifications, temple, and palace complexes: inscriptions associated with these monuments have helped in the construction of the chronology of the site. Three large ziggurats dominated the city with the largest being 60 m square (completed by Shamsi Adad I c 1800 bc). It was originally dedicated to Enlil, but later to Assur; the dedication of the other temples also changed through time. Representations on cylinder seals suggest that many buildings might have had parapets and towers. Assurnasirpal II (883-859 BC) moved the capital to Calah and by 614 BC the city of Assur had fallen to the Median (Medes) army.
Ba and Shu: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: also Pa and Ch'u; Pa-Shu
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Ancient kingdoms ruling the area of modern Szechwan. Pa came into being in the 11th century BC and established relations with Shu in the 5th century BC. Shortly before 316 BC, the state was conquered by the Ch'in and incorporated into the Ch'in empire. In the middle of the 3rd century BC, the Pa region became part of the kingdom of Shu and was totally independent of north and central China.. Ba and Shu cultural remains are similar, especially the boat-coffin burials on river terraces and tanged willow-leaf bronze swords. The central region of Szechwan is still sometimes known as the Pa. region.
Dahshur: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An Egyptian royal necropolis, a group of five pyramids making up the southern end of the Memphite necropolis, the nucleus of which is Saqqara (Saqqarah) on the west bank of the Nile. The most prominent of the surviving monuments at Dahshur are the two pyramids of the first 4th Dynasty pharaoh, Snefru (reigned 2575-2551 BC), of the Old Kingdom. The earliest is called either the Blunted, Bent, False, or Rhomboidal Pyramid and it represents the first attempt to build a true pyramid. It is the only Old Kingdom pyramid with two entrances. The second of Snefru's pyramids at Dahshur is called the North Stone Pyramid. Other major monuments are of Amenemhat II, Senwosret III, and Amenemhat III of the Middle Kingdom's 12th dynasty (1938-1756 BC) and they are not as well-preserved. The subsidiary tombs of Princess Khnemet and Princess Iti near Amenemhat II's pyramid yielded the Dahshur Treasure of jewelry and other personal items.
Fakheriyah, Tell: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Washukanni
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Perhaps the site of Washukanni, the capital of the kingdom of Mitanni in northern Mesopotamia on River Khabur. Tablets, statues, ivories of 2nd millennium BC have been found.
Fara: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Shuruppak
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The site of the ancient Sumerian city of Shuruppak, in southern Mesopotamia, occupied during the first half of the 3rd millennium BC. It has yielded tablets and seal impressions of Early Dynastic period II-III.
hokei shukobo: CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: Burial precincts of the Yayoi and Kufun periods of Japan. There are coffin and pit burials of adults and jar burials of children.
Houhanshu: CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: A history of the Later Han Dynasty and peoples of peripheral regions of East Asia, the Chronicles of the Later Han" compiled in 398-445 AD from the Weizhi."
Hushu: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site and culture of the Jiangsu Province in China, characterized by geometric pottery and bronze implements, tools, and vessels and contemporary with the Shang and early Chou bronze cultures.
Kapovaya: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Kapovo, Shul'gantash
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A painted cave in southern Urals of European Russia, important for cave art that is otherwise unknown in central and eastern Europe. The rare examples of east European Palaeolithic cave art include representations of woolly mammoth and woolly rhinoceros and geometric figures. A cultural layer with stone artifacts and ornaments is dated to the Upper Palaeolithic.
Leilan, Tell: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Shubat Enlil; Tall Leilan
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Site on the Wadi Jarrah, northwest Syria, identified as Shubat Enlil, the capital of Shamshi-Adad I of 1813-1781 BC. Occupation began in the early 4th and extended to the 2nd millennium BC. The sequences include 'Ubaid, Uruk, Ninevite 5, and an occupation with Khabur ware. In the 3rd millennium BC occupation, a walled lower town covered a large area and there was an upper town and possibly a karum. Documents have been recovered that should help shed light on developments in the area as well as Shamshi-Adad's empire.
Puabi or Pu-abi (c 2900-2334 BC): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Shubad; Shub-Ad
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: A queen of Ur buried in Grave 800 of the Royal Cemetery (Sumeria) around the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, whose tomb contained the bodies of more than 60 attendants. In the grave was the skeleton of Puabi, adorned with ornaments of gold, silver and lapis lazuli, and an attendant. In the entrance shaft were skeletons of richly adorned women and men, as well as a sledge and the skeletons of the two oxen which had pulled it. Rich grave goods include many vessels of gold, silver, and copper, a gaming board and a silver harp inlaid with shell and red and blue stone.
Shu: CATEGORY: deity
DEFINITION: In Egyptian religion, the god of air and sunlight, created solely by Atum. Shu and his sister and companion, Tefnut (goddess of moisture), were the first couple of the group of nine gods called the Ennead of Heliopolis; Nut and Geb were their children. In some Middle Kingdom texts, Shu was given the status of a primeval creator god.
Shub-Ad (fl 3rd millennium BC): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Puabi
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: A queen or Ur c 2600 BC (Early Dynastic Period in Mesopotamia, c 2900-2334 BC), whose tomb was discovered in the Royal Cemetery. The tomb contained the bodies of more than 60 attendants. The queen herself lay on a wooden bier within a stone-built chamber beside that of Abargi, probably her husband. She was wearing a cloak of beads of gold, silver, and precious stones, an elaborate headdress of gold ribbons with gold and lapis lazuli pendants, and large lunate gold earrings. There were also bowls and other vessels of gold, silver, and copper, as well as pottery. In the shaft of the tomb were a wooden sledge with mosaic decoration and two oxen to draw it, an inlaid gaming board, and a magnificent harp inlaid with shell, red and blue stone.
Shuidonggou: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: [Shui-tung-kou]
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Late Palaeolithic site in Ningxia Hui, China, with blade artifacts and assigned to the Ordos culture.
Shulaveri-Shomu culture: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Neolithic culture based on two sites on the Kura River in Georgia and Azerbaijan. There was coarse pottery decorated by incision or knobs and small round domestic structures. The culture is dated to mid-6th or early-5th millennia BC.
Shulgi (reigned 2094-2047 BC): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: The son and successor of Ur-Nammu, who founded the Ur III dynasty. He gained control over the economy of the empire and extended his holdings up the Tigris River and through the Zagros Mountains. His most important victory was over Elam. The empire collapsed during the reign of Shulgi's third successor. The empire only existed from c 2112-2004.
Shungurian: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: An industry of the lower Omo Valley north of Lake Turkana, Ethiopia, known for its remains of animals and hominids. Several archaeological deposits have been discovered on the site, dating back two million years. The industry is based on very small quartz flakes made from a nucleus or from the accidental shattering of pebbles used as percussion tools.
Shuruppak: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: modern Fara, Tall Fa'rah
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Ancient Sumerian city-state located south of Nippur in Iraq and originally on the bank of the Euphrates River. Excavations show three levels of habitation extending from the late prehistoric period to the 3rd dynasty of Ur (c 2112-2004 BC). The most distinctive finds were ruins of well-built houses, along with cuneiform tablets with administrative records and lists of words. Shuruppak was celebrated in Sumerian legend as the scene of the Deluge, which destroyed all humanity except one survivor, Ziusudra. Ziusudra corresponds with Utnapishtim in the Gilgamesh epic and with the biblical Noah.
Suppiluliuma I (fl. 14th century BC): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Shuppiluliumash, Subbiluliuma
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: Great Hittite king (reigned c 1380-1346 BC), who dominated the history of the ancient Middle East for the greater part of four decades and raised the Hittite kingdom to Imperial power. Suppiluliumas began his reign by rebuilding the old capital, Hattusas (Bogazköy, Turkey), and consolidating the Hittite heartland. He first subdued almost the whole of Asia Minor and then took advantage of the weakness of Armarna Egypt to establish Hittite rule in northern Syria, overcoming the Mitanni. He placed his sons, based in Aleppo and Carchemish, in authority over the Syrian territories.
Susa: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Susiana, Shushan, Seleucia
CATEGORY: site; culture
DEFINITION: Major city of western Asia, in Khuzistan, Iran, with its first four phases paralleling those of Mesopotamia (Ubaid, Uruk, Jemdet Nasr, and Early Dynastic). It was the capital of Elam in Akkadian times (3rd, 2nd, 1st millennium BC) and again in the first as a capital of the Achaemenid empire. Susa controlled important east-west trade routes and was the end of the Achaemenid Royal Road from Lydian Sardis. Darius built the citadel c 500 BC. The tell is made up of four separate mounds: 1) the acropolis, which has produced most of the prehistoric material from the site; 2) the Royal City which has important Elamite remains of the 2nd millennium BC; 3) the Apadana, with a large, impressive Achaemenid palace; and 4) the Artisans' Town, of the Achaemenid period and later. It continued under the name of Seleucia after being captured by Alexander the Great in 331 BC; it later passed to the Parthians and Sassanians. Susa's characteristic fine ceramic ware had geometric motifs painted in dark colors onto a light background. Among the more important finds of Susa are the victory stela of Naram-Sin (Akkadian period), many Kassite kudurru, and the law code of Hammurabi (Old Babylonian period), which had been brought to Susa from Babylon after an Elamite raid. Susa was traditionally associated with Anshan (Tepe Malyan) in Fars.
Tall al-Ahmar: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Tell Ahmar; Til Barsib (Barsip), Kar-Shulmanashared (Kar-Salmanasar)
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The site of the capital of the Aramaean state of Bit-Adini in Mesopotamia. From the 10th century BC, the Assyrian kings controlled the Syrian and Cilician states from this provincial capital and garrison town.
transhumance: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Transhumance; Transhumant
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A subsistence practice which forms one aspect of seasonality of occupation; the transfer of cattle from summer to winter pasture and vice versa. It consists of the movement of farmers and their herds and flocks away from the winter settlement to upland pasture. Spring to autumn is spent on high pasture and in winter animals are taken to a main settlement, often in sheltered valleys, where fodder has been collected. This movement of farmers results in the occupation of two sites at different times of the year by the same group of people. In Europe and the Old World, the term is for pastoralist farmers and livestock. In the New World, the term is used for any animal-and-human migration. Identification of transhumance patterns is a focus of palaeoeconomy.
Ai: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: at-Tall
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An ancient Canaanite town near Bethel supposedly destroyed by the Israelites and Joshua. There is a triple circuit of walls from the Early Bronze Age, c. 2900-2500 BC and imposing ruins of a temple and another large building within it. The Bronze Age site is now called at-Tall and there was only a brief reoccupation in the 12th-11th century BC.
Altheim: CATEGORY: site; culture
DEFINITION: A small site near Landshut, Bavaria (Germany) which has three concentric rings of ditches and palisades. It is also the name of the Late Neolithic-Copper Age culture of the upper Danube basin.
Assyria: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Assyrians
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The name of three different empires dating from about 2000-600 BC, the city-state of Assur, and the people inhabiting this northeastern area of Mesopotamia. Originally Semitic nomads in northern Mesopotamia, they finally settled around Assur and accepted its tutelary god as their own. After the fall of the 3rd Dynasty of Ur (2004 BC), Assyria seems to have become an independent city-state and important as middleman in international trade. In its period of greatness, 883-612 BC, there was continuous war in Assyria to keep the empire's lands which at their widest extended from the Nile to near the Caspian, and from Cilicia to the Persian Gulf (Egypt, much of the area to the west as far as the Mediterranean, Elam to the east and parts of Anatolia to the north). Its greatest kings were all warriors, Ashurnasirpal II, Shalmaneser III, Tiglathpileser III, Sargon II, Sennacherib, and Ashurbanipal, who made the name of Assyria feared throughout the ancient East through their military skill and brutality. The main achievements in Assyria, outside warfare, were in architecture and sculpture, particularly the protective winged bulls, etc., which guarded all palace entrances, and the magnificent reliefs of battles, hunts, and military processions which adorned the walls. Assurnasirpal II (833-859 BC) transferred the center of government to Calah (Nimrud). The fortunes of the empire rose and fell under the kings of the 9th-7th centuries: Assurbanipal (668-627 BC) reconquered Egypt, but in 614 BC the empire fell when the Medes invaded Assyria, captured Calah, and destroyed Assur.
Assyrian: CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: One of the two main dialects of ancient Mesopotamia, used in the north. A Semitic language very close to Babylonian, from which it is thought to have diverged at the end of the 2nd millennium. Assyrian probably disappeared with the destruction of Assyria in 7th century BC. Old Assyrian cuneiform is attested mostly in the records of Assyrian trading colonists in central Asia Minor (c. 1950 BC; the so-called Cappadocian tablets) and Middle Assyrian in an extensive Law Code and other documents. The Neo-Assyrian period was the great era of Assyrian power, and the writing culminated in the extensive records from the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (c. 650 BC).
Banpo: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The site of an early Yangshao Neolithic village, now a museum at Xi'an, China, in the basin of the confluence of the Yellow River (Huang Ho), the Fen Ho, and Kuei Shui. Radiocarbon dates range from c 4800-4300 BC. The settlement was about 50,000 sq. meters and included a cemetery and pottery kilns outside a ditch that surrounded the residences. Dogs, cattle, sheep, chicken and pigs were domesticated and millet, rice, kaoling, and possibly soybeans grown. The horse and silkworm may also have been raised. Unpainted pottery was cord-marked or stamped, and fine ceremonial" pottery vessels were painted in black or red with some simple geometric patterns and drawings of fish turtles deer and faces. There were some elaborately worked objects in jade as well as everyday objects made from flint bone and groundstone. Sites with similar remains have been excavated at nearby Jiangzhai Baoji Beishouling and Hua Xian Yuanjunmiao. These sites all exhibit the first evidence of food production in China."
Bharhut: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A village, about 100 miles southwest of Allahabad, India, famous for the ruins of a Buddhist stupa built in the time of Ashoka (c 250 BC). Originally built of brick, it was enlarged during the 2nd century BC and surrounded with a stone railing with four stone gateways (toranas) placed at four cardinal points. An inscription on these gateways assigns the work to King Dhanabhuti in the rule of the Shungas (i.e., before 72 BC). The railing is decorated with scenes from the Jataka stories. The sculptures adorning the shrine are among the earliest and finest examples of the developing style of Buddhist art in India. Discovered in 1873, the stupa's sculptural remains are now mainly preserved in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, and in the Municipal Museum (Allahabad).
Celadon ware: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: celadon
CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: A type of Chinese pottery with a pale green glaze -- either porcelain or stoneware. It was the earliest tinted Chinese pottery, dating from the Sung Dynasty of 960-1279 AD. The main kilns were in Yao-chou in Shensi province, Lin-ju in Honan province, Li-shui, and Lung-ch'uan in Chekiang province.
Chaldea: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Chaldaea; Chaldaeans
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A land in southern Babylonia (modern southern Iraq) frequently mentioned in the Old Testament and first described by Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II (reigned 884/883-859 BC). Its more important rulers were Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar, and Nabonidus, who ruled an empire from the Persian Gulf between the Arabian desert and the Euphrates delta. Nabopolassar in 625 became king of Babylon and inaugurated a Chaldean dynasty that lasted until the Persian invasion of 539 BC. The prestige of his successors, Nebuchadrezzar II (reigned 605-562) and Nabonidus (reigned 556-539), was such that Chaldean" became synonymous with "Babylonian" and Chaldea replaced Assyria as the main power in the Near East. "Chaldean" also was used by several ancient authors to denote the priests and other persons educated in the classical Babylonian astronomy and astrology and to the Aramaean tribe named for Kaldu which first settled in this area in the 10th century BC."
Chihua: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Phase of 4300-3000 BC, in the Ayacucho basin of Peru, where transhumance and agriculture may have been introduced. The beginning of agriculture in the highlands preceded settled village life, in contrast to Peruvian coastal lifeways.
cob: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Wet clay mixed with straw used in constructing walls, ovens, and other similar kinds of structure. To achieve the desired shape or form, cob was packed between wooden shuttering and allowed to dry
Dazaifu: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The remains of a frontier administrative center near Fukuoka, Japan. Established just after Japan's defeat in the Korean campaign of 663, Dazaifu remained an important outpost of the government in the western frontier for the next few centuries and was the bureaucratic gateway from Kyushu to the continent. The Dazaifu area, with administrative buildings and temples, has been excavated.
Dian kingdom: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Tien
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A Bronze Age culture and barbarian kingdom in southwest China centered on Lake Dian in Yunnan province. According to Chinese sources, the Dian royal house traced its descent from a Chu general who invaded Yunnan in the late 4th century BC and remained to rule the local tribes. In 109 BC, Dian surrendered to Han armies; a generation later the kingdom was destroyed after a revolt. The highly distinctive culture is known mainly from cemetery sites, especially Shizhaishan where the burials date from the Han occupation. Earlier burials of the period c 600-300 BC have been excavated at Dapona and Wanjiaba. Many of the objects unearthed at Shizhaishan were imports from China: coins, mirrors, belt hooks, silk, crossbow mechanisms, and a gold seal from the Han court that reads 'Seal of the King of Dian'. Other finds seem to be local adaptations of prototypes originating in the state of Chu. There was active trade with the southern Zhou states of Shu and Ba before the Han Dynasty.
Doigahama: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A Yayoi cemetery site in Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan. The remains of at least 200 men and women of various ages were found buried in pits, in extended or flexed position. Apart from personal ornaments of glass, stone and shell, the burials were sparsely furnished, unlike the Middle Yayoi burials, such as Sugus, in Kyushu. The body type is different from the Palaeoasiatic Jomon.
Elam: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Elamite
CATEGORY: site; culture
DEFINITION: An ancient kingdom of southwest Iran with its capital at Susa and other centers at Anshan and Dur-Untash. This broad valley of the Karkeh and Karun rivers was geographically an extension of the southern plain of Mesopotamia. Early on, it adopted writing and devised its own pictographic script (proto-Elamite) to suit its language; later it used Akkadian cuneiform. Politically the two regions were usually bitterly opposed and the Elamites overthrew the 3rd dynasty of Ur shortly before 2000 BC and raided as far as Babylon in the later 13th century BC. The Golden Age of Elamite civilization was c 1300-1100 BC, reaching its peak under Untash-Gal (c 1265-1245 BC), the builder of Choga Zambil. Raids into Mesopotamia brought the downfall of Kassite Dynasty in 1157 BC. The period was also remarkable for glass technology and bronze casting (cire perdue). Elam was absorbed into the Achaemenid empire in the 6th century BC, after falling to the Assyrians when Ashurbanipal sacked the city of Susa. Little is known about the Elamite language, which is not related to any known tongue and still not fully deciphered.
Emishi: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Ezo
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: The farming population of the Tohoku region (the northern districts of Honshu) of Japan.
ennead: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: pesedjet
CATEGORY: deity
DEFINITION: Groups of nine deities, nine being the plural" of three (in Egypt the number three symbolized plurality in general) but some enneads had more than nine gods. The earliest and principal ennead was the Great Ennead of Heliopolis. This was headed by the sun god and creator Re or Re-Atum followed by Shu and Tefnut deities of air and moisture; Geb and Nut who represented earth and sky; and Osiris Isis Seth and Nephthys. Enneads are associated with several major cult centers."
flood: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Flood
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The Bible and Sumerian and Babylonian myths recorded a catastrophic flood sent by the gods to destroy humankind. With the assistance of the gods, one man (variously called Noah, Ziusudra, or Utnapishtim) and his family survived by building a boat. The discovery of the legend by George Smith in 1872 in Ashurbanipal's library at Nineveh, in cuneiform tablets telling the epic of Gilgamesh, was very close in details to the Old Testament story of Noah. It is assumed by many that the stories derive from a common source. At Ur in 1929, Leonard Woolley revealed a depth of 2.5 m of silt separating the Ubaid and Uruk levels, a deposit he could account for only by just such a flood. It should be noted, however, that flood levels have been found at other sites whose dates can be more appropriately equated with Noah's. Today many archaeologists believe that the various flood stories do not represent the record of a single event, but rather a whole series of natural disasters which affected the low-lying alluvial plain of southern Mesopotamia.
Geometric pottery: CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: The well-fired, stamp-impressed pottery characteristic of c 2000 BC-300 AD sites in south and southeastern China. The 'Geometric pottery cultures' seem to have grown out of local Neolithic predecessors and characterize the protohistoric Wucheng, Hushu, and Maqiao cultures of the region.
Gobi: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The great desert of east central Asia that stretches across vast lands in the Mongolian People's Republic and the Inner Mongolia region of China. Mesolithic and Neolithic material was discovered, proving that climatic conditions were much less extreme in the past. Finds included many microliths, together with polished stone axes and coarse pottery. The items show influences from Siberia and, to a lesser extent, China. The ancient Silk Road traversed the southern part of the Ala Shan Desert and crossed the Ka-shun Gobi as it skirted north and west around the Takla Makan Desert. The Gobi region first became known to Europeans through the vivid 13th-century descriptions of Marco Polo.
Guitarrero Cave: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A stratified cave site of long occupation in the Callejón de Huaylas in northern Peru. It was occupied in the Preceramic period (c 12,500-6000 years ago) and continued through later ceramic periods, showing domesticated lima and common beans by c 8000 BC. A wide variety of artifacts, lithic and organic, in Guitarrero I (10,610 @ 360 bc) contains flaked tools similar to the Ayacucho complex and Tagua-Tagua. Stemmed points similar to those in Lauricocha II were found in the same level. There is evidence that the site was occupied by hunter-gatherers and that the subsistence was transhumance. The dates of some human bones, if dated correctly, represent the earliest human remains yet found in South America. Guitarrero II has produced a series of radiocarbon dates covering the period c 8500-5700 BC and contains bone and wood artifacts, basketry an loosely woven textiles, and the willow-leaf projectile point.
Hazor: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A large Palestinian tell site in northern Israel, occupied from the Early Bronze Age till the Hellenistic period. In the Middle Bronze Age, c 1700 BC, it was a large town with a citadel and surrounded by a rampart with sloping plaster ramp, of the type associated with the Hyksos. In c 1220 BC, the Canaanites were driven from the city by the Israelites, reputedly under Joshua. In the 10th century BC, the city was rebuilt by Solomon, who constructed a monumental gateway. This city was destroyed by the Assyrians c 734 (or 732) BC; however, the citadel continued to be used into the Hellenistic period.
Hokuriku: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An industrial region of Japan on northern Honshu Island, consisting of Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa, and Fukui prefectures. Hokuriku's traditional industries included the manufacture of silk, timber products, lacquer ware, and agricultural tools.
horizontal loom: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A structure on which woven cloth is manufactured, comprising a frame set horizontally across vertical supports. The warp threads were tied across the frame from front to back so that they could be wound out as weaving proceeded. The warp was usually arranged so that alternate threads could be raised and lowered, thus allowing the weaver to pass a shuttle containing the weft thread from side to side across the warp. The horizontal loom was developed later than the UPRIGHT LOOM and provided the basis for the development of mechanical looms during later medieval and post-medieval times.
Jericho: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Tell es-Sultan
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An important site in the Jordan Valley of Israel with a continuous sequence from the Natufian to the Late Bronze Age. Camping occupation of the Mesolithic c 9000 BC developed into the pre-pottery Neolithic c 8350-7350 BC when there was a walled town of mud-brick houses, which is amongst the earliest permanent settlements known. There was at least one massive stone tower. To the succeeding PPNB levels dated 7250-5850 BC, belongs the series of famous plastered skulls. In c 1580, the Hyksos settlement, with its tombs, plastered glacis, woodwork, basketry, pottery, and bronze, was destroyed by the Egyptians. The Late Bronze Age town captured by Joshua's Israelites has left very few traces. There was some reoccupation during the Iron Age.
Jomon: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Jomon Period
CATEGORY: culture; chronology
DEFINITION: The earliest major postglacial culture of hunting and gathering in Japan, 10,000-300 BC, divided into six phases. This early culture, its relics surviving in shell mounds of kitchen midden type around the coasts of the Japanese islands, had pottery but no metal. The pottery was heavy but elaborate, especially in the modeling of its castellated rims. The term Jomon means 'cord marked', indicating the characteristic decoration of the pottery with cord-pattern impressions or reliefs. One of the earliest dates in the world for pottery making has been established as c 12,700 BC in Fukin Cave, Kyshu. Other artifacts, of stone and bone, were simple. Light huts, round or rectangular, have been identified. Burials were by inhumation, crouched or extended. The Jomon was succeeded by the Yayoi period. There are over 10,000 Jomon sites divided into the six phases: Incipient (10,000-7500 BC), Earliest (7500-5000 BC), Early (5000-3500 BC), Middle (3500-2500/2000 BC), Late (2500/2000-1000 BC), and Final (1000-300 BC). Widespread trading networks and ritual development took place in the Middle Jomon. Rice agriculture was adopted during the last millennium BC. The origins of Jomon culture remain uncertain, although similarities with early cultures of northeast Asia and even America are often cited.
Kamegaoka: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Obora culture, Kamegaoka culture
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A waterlogged Jomon site in Aomori prefecture in northern Honshu, Japan, best known for its Final Jomon deposits with elaborate pottery and lacquered wooden dishes. The Kamegaoka complex, named after the site, is characterized by the distinctive pottery style, production of hollow figurines, stone and bone personal ornaments, salt-making out of sea water, and fishing and sea-mammal hunting with harpoons. It was partly contemporary with the Early Yayoi Culture.
Kanto: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Modern administrative district of eastern Honshu Island, Japan. It consists of Tokyo-Yokohama Metropolitan District and Gumma, Saitama, Kanagawa, Tochigi, Ibaragi, and Chiba (prefectures).
Karasuk: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A Bronze Age culture that succeeded the Andronovo culture in southern Siberia in the late 2nd millennium BC. The three main, basically successive, yet often overlapping cultures were the Afanasyevskaya, Andronovo, and Karasuk. The Karasuk culture developed when a gradual change was made from settled communities to seasonal transhumance. Two settlements of large pit houses are known and many cemeteries of stone cists covered by a low mound and set in a square stone enclosure equipped with round-bottomed pots; many of these are in the Minusinsk Basin. The Karasuk people were farmers who concentrated on sheep- and cattle-breeding. They also practiced metallurgy on a large scale; the most characteristic artifact is a bronze knife or dagger, with a curved profile and a decorated handle, related to China's An-Yang. They produced a realistic animal art, which probably contributed to the development of the later Sytho-Siberian animal art style. Remains of bridles mark the beginning of horse riding on the Siberian steppe. The character of their material culture came from exchange with the centers of Far Eastern metallurgy. The Karasuk culture originated and spread its influences farther to western Siberia and Russian Turkistan than did the Andronovo. Trade relations extended to central Russia. Chronology of this period is based on comparisons with northern Chinese bronzes. The Karasuk period persisted down to c 700 BC.
kiln: CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A chamber built for the firing (baking) of pottery, used from prehistoric times. These, usually dome-shaped, structures are designed to produce the high temperatures needed for the industry. In a pottery kiln, the pots were often stacked upside-down on a shelf. An opening for draft was left at the top, and a flue provided at the side. Fuel was piled within and around the kiln, and when the heat was at its greatest, the openings were shut to preserve the temperatures and fire the pots inside with temperatures of 800-1000 C achieved. Other versions were used glassmaking or the parching of corn. The kiln, like the potter's wheel, implies craft specialization, and appears only at advanced stages of economic development.
Kinai: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Core region of Honshu island, Japan, consisting of Yamato, Kawachi, Izumi, Settsu, and Yamashiro -- which now make up parts of Nara, Osaka, and Kyoto prefectures.
Kinki: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: District of Japan including Hyogo, Kyoto, Shuga, Mie, Nara, Osaka, and Wayakama prefectures.
library: CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: Collection of books used for reading or study, or the building or room in which such a collection is kept. The origin of libraries came in the 3rd millennium BC, when records on clay tablets were stored in a temple in the Babylonian town of Nippur. In the 7th century BC, the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal assembled and organized a collection of records, of which some 20,000 tablets and fragments have survived. The first libraries as repositories of books were those of the Greek temples and those established in conjunction with the Greek schools of philosophy in the 4th century BC. Important libraries of the ancient world were those of Aristotle, the great Library of Alexandria with its thousands of papyrus and vellum scrolls, its rival at Pergamum that included many works on parchment, the Bibliotheca Ulpia of Rome, and the Imperial Library at Byzantium set up by Constantine the Great in the 4th century AD. China also has a long tradition of record keeping and book collecting, in private libraries as well as in centralized government libraries. Extant Greek and Roman literary works were preserved alongside the early Christian literature in Constantine's library and, beginning in the 2nd century, in libraries of monasteries. The loss of the Great Library at Alexandria, which was burned to the ground in the late third century AD, was devastating. The Alexandria library had probably been established by Ptolemy I Soter (305-285 BC), who also founded the Museum ('shrine of the Muses'), initially creating both institutions as annexes to his palace. Later in the Ptolemaic period, another large library was created, probably within the Alexandria serapeum, but this too was destroyed in 391 AD.
Marrakesh: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Marrakech
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A city built in southern Morocco, founded in 1062 by Yusuf ibn Tashufin of the dynasty of the Almoravids and served as the Almoravid capital until it fell to the Almohads in 1147. It was the capital of the Almoravids from 1062-1147 and then of the Almohads from 1147-1248. Marrakesh contains one major Almoravid monument, the al-Barudiyin Qubba, a domed mausoleum built in 1109 or 1117. Of the Almohad period, there are city walls and the Kutubiya Mosque; its famous minaret was built in 1199.
Memphis: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Men-nefer
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The capital of Egypt in the Archaic Period and Old Kingdom (c 2575-c. 2130 BC), and thereafter one of the most important cities of the Near East. Located in Lower Egypt, it stood near the key point where the Nile begins to divide its waters at the head of the delta, 15 miles south of Cairo. The only surviving remains are the cemeteries west of the city, most notably the pyramids and Great Sphinx of Giza. The main pyramid fields are: Abu Ruwaysh, Giza, Zawayet el-Aryan, Abu Sir, Saqqarah (Saqqara), and Dahshur. It is said to have been founded by the 1st Dynasty ruler Menes c 2925 BC and was the seat of the creator god Ptah. During the New Kingdom (1539-1075), Memphis probably functioned as the second, or northern, capital of Egypt. Despite the rise of the god Amon of Thebes, Ptah remained one of the principal gods of the pantheon. The Great Temple was added to or rebuilt by virtually every king of the 18th dynasty. Chapels were constructed by Thutmose I and Thutmose IV and by Amenhotep III. Amenhotep III's son, the religious reformer Akhenaton, built a temple to his god, Aton, in Memphis. A number of handsome private tombs dating from this period in the Memphite necropolis testify to the existence of a sizable court. In 332 BC, Alexander the Great used Memphis as his headquarters while making plans for his new city of Alexandria. From the Fifth Dynasty onwards there was a very marked reduction in the size of the royal tombs, together with the use of materials and techniques which involved a lesser expenditure of effort and resources in their construction. By the First Intermediate period, the construction of monumental tombs seems to have stopped.
Mesopotamia: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Term meaning land between the (two) rivers" the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in western Asia (modern Iraq) which encompasses various ancient kingdoms. This land was the home of the world's earliest civilization that of the Sumerians and of the later Babylonian Akkadian and Assyrian civilizations. The chronology of the prehistoric periods is based on radiocarbon dates; the historical periods' chronology is based on a combination of documentary sources and calendrical information. The area was the focus of the development of complex societies until the collapse of Mesopotamia at the end of the 1st millennium BC. The geography of the area allowed the development of husbandry agriculture and permanent settlements. Trade with other regions also flourished irrigation techniques were created as well as pottery and other crafts building methods based on clay bricks were developed and elaborate religious cults evolved. The birth of the city took place in the 4th millennium BC and the invention of writing occurred about 3000 BC -- both in Sumer. Excavations of Sumerian cities (Eridu Kish Uruk Isin Lagash Ur) have yielded thousands of clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform writing. Sargon the king of Akkad fought wars of conquest from the Mediterranean to the Zagros and ruled over history's first empire. The Akkadians were a Semitic people and their Akkadian language became the common vocabulary. The Akkadian rule only about two centuries. After that Ur (c 2112-2004 BC) the parallel dynasties of Isin and Larsa (to c 1763 BC) and then Babylon were the powers. The outstanding ruler of Babylon was Hammurabi (c 1792-1750 BC) who is best known for the code of laws he had inscribed on a great stela. From about 1600-1450 BC Babylonian culture declined as the Hurrians and the Kassites migrated into Mesopotamia and established themselves as rulers. Some time after 1500 BC the Mitanni kingdom extended its rule over much of northern Mesopotamia. The language of the kingdom was Hurrian but its rulers may have been of Aryan origin. Toward the end of the 15th century BC the city of Ashur in northern Mesopotamia a region that came to be known as Assyria began its rise. By 1350 BC the Assyrian empire was well-established and its kings conquered large areas from the Mitanni kingdom the Kassites and the Hittites. Another Babylonian dynasty known as the 2nd dynasty of Isin revived the greatness of the Old Empire under Nebuchadrezzar I (c 1119-1098). Assyria reached new heights of power under Tiglath-pileser I (c 1115-1077) and Ashurnasirpal II (883-859). Between 746-727 BC the Neo-Assyrian empire formed and subdued the Aramaeans who had settled much of Babylonia and then conquered Urartu Syria Israel and other areas. The empire reached its after conquering Egypt in 671 and then the reign of Ashurbanipal (668-627) but its rapid decline came soon after attacks by the Medes Scythians and Babylonians. The Assyrian empire was crushed in 609. Babylon's Nebuchadrezzar II (605-561) is best known for his destruction of Jerusalem in 588/587 and his forcing of thousands of Jews into the "Babylonian exile." The Neo-Babylonian empire ended in 539 when Nabonidus surrendered to Cyrus II of Persia. Under the Persians and Alexander the Great Babylon was a rich capital. The Seleucid kings ruled Mesopotamia from about 312 BC until the middle of the 2nd century BC. In the 2nd century BC Mesopotamia became part of the Parthian empire. Human occupation of Mesopotamia began some time around 6000 BC. The prehistoric cultural stages of Hassuna-Samarra' and Halaf succeeded each other here before there is evidence of settlement in the south (Sumer). There the earliest settlements such as Eridu appear to have been founded around 5000 BC in the late Halaf period. From then on the cultures of the north and south move through a succession of major archaeological periods that in their southern forms are known as Ubaid Warka Protoliterate and Early Dynastic at the end of which -- shortly after 3000 BC -- recorded history begins. The historical periods of the 3rd millennium are in order: Akkad Gutium 3rd dynasty of Ur; those of the 2nd millennium: Isin-Larsa Old Babylonian Kassite and Middle Babylonian; and those of the 1st millennium: Assyrian Neo-Babylonian Achaemenian Seleucid and Parthian."
Middle Assyrian: CATEGORY: culture; chronology
DEFINITION: A period in the history of the Assyrian empire extending from the 14th-12th centuries BC. In the Late Bronze Age, Assyria was dominated by the Mitanni state, but in the 14th century BC, Assyria became dominant. Ashur-uballit I created the first Assyrian empire and initiated the Middle Assyrian period. With the help of the Hittites, he destroyed the dominion of the Aryan Mitanni (a non-Semitic people from upper Iran and Syria) and ravaged Nineveh. Later, allied with the Kassite successors in Babylonia, Ashur-uballit ended Hittite and Hurrian rule. By intermarriage he then influenced the Kassite dynasty and eventually dominated all of Babylonia, thus paving the way for the Neo-Assyrian mastery during the Sargonid dynasty (12th to 7th century). The succeeding Assyrian kings expanded the empire through northern Mesopotamia and the mountains to the north and briefly occupied Babylonia. Several kings weakened Assyria, but then others brought back its dominion. Middle Assyrian is also the name of a form of cuneiform that was used extensively in writing law code and other documents. Middle Assyrian laws were found on clay tablets at Ashur (at the time of Tiglath-pileser I, 1114-1076 BC).
Neo-Assyrian: CATEGORY: chronology; language
DEFINITION: A political period of the Assyrian empire in the Iron Age, an extension of the Middle Assyrian. It lasted from Assurnasirpal II (883-859 BC) till Sargon, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and finally, Assurbanipal (668-627 BC). The Assyrian empire was destroyed by the Babylonians and Medes in 612 BC. The Neo-Assyrian period was the great era of Assyrian power, and the writing culminated in the extensive records from the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (c 650 BC). Neo-Assyrian is also the name of the cuneiform script of the time.
Nimrud: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ancient Kalhu, biblical Calah
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Assyrian capital of Kalhu (Calah), founded in 883 BC by Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BC) over the ruins of an earlier city built by Shalmaneser I (1274-1245 BC) in 13th century BC. It is located by Tigris River, south of modern Mosul (Iraq) in Mesopotamia. It was the third capital city, with Assur and Nineveh, of Assyria. The statues and inscriptions found by Sir Austen Henry Layard was one of the first archaeological discoveries to stir the public imagination. Its wall was some 8 km in circuit, enclosing at one corner a citadel which contained a ziggurat, temples, and palaces. The palaces have yielded the richest finds, enormous stone winged bulls, reliefs, and exquisite carved ivories which once adorned the royal furniture. Another rich collection of ivories was found in the arsenal of Shalmaneser III in the outer town. Some of the ivories show traces of the fire which accompanied the overthrow of the city by the Medes in 612 BC. Unlike many of the cities of Mesopotamia, Nimrud was not a long-lived site occupied from the prehistoric period. Its heyday continued until c 710 BC when the capital was transferred first to Khorsabad and subsequently to Nineveh. Many of the sculptures were brought back to England by Layard and are now in the British Museum.
Nut: CATEGORY: deity
DEFINITION: In Egyptian religion, a goddess of the sky, vault of the heavens, often depicted as a woman arched over the earth god Geb. On five special days preceding the New Year, Nut gave birth successively to the deities Osiris, Horus, Seth, Isis, and Nephthys. These gods, with the exception of Horus, were commonly referred to as the children of Nut." In the Heliopolitan doctrine of the Ennead she was considered the daughter of Shu and sister-wife of Geb."
Obre: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A complex of Neolithic settlements on the Bosnia River near Sarajevo, Bosnia. Obre I comprises four occupation horizons, the first with Starcevo pottery, dating c 4500-4200 BC. It has rectangular houses similar to those at Karanovo I and Anza, and arranged in rows. Obre II represents the most complete development of the Butmir culture yet discovered, with nine habitation horizons in three main periods (dated c 4250-3950 BC, c 3900 BC, and c 3800 BC). This 1300-year cut through the Bosnian Neolithic sequence provides details on the evolution of timber-framed architecture, subsistence economy, and exchange systems. The pottery is interpreted as reflecting possible transhumant pastoralism.
oracle bones: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: oracle bone
CATEGORY: language; artifact
DEFINITION: The bones (usually shoulder blades) of oxen or tortoise under-shells used in the Shang culture of northern China for divination. Used to divine messages from ancestors, they are inscribed with either the question, answer, and/or name of the diviner. Oracle bones ordinarily record a question addressed by the Shang king to his deceased ancestors, or the response to the question, or even the ultimate outcome of the matter divined. The subjects of divination comprise a limited range of royal concerns. The Anyang kings asked chiefly about war, hunting, rainfall, harvests, sickness, their consorts' childbearing, the fortune of the coming week and, above all, sacrifices. They originated in the Lung-Shun culture and have been discovered at the Chou site of Qishan and Shang site of Anyang, dating to the late 2nd millennium BC. Anyang was the last capital of the Shang dynasty; apart from the far more limited corpus of inscriptions on bronze ritual vessels, the oracle texts are the only documents left by the Shang civilization. The depressions were made in bone and then a heated point was applied to cause bone to crack. Divination by interpretation of these cracks. The inscriptions are the earliest examples of the fully developed form of Chinese characters. Those deciphered from Anyang have helped reconstruct the Shang kinship system and aspects of the culture. These inscriptions preserve the earliest known Chinese writing and sometimes, by naming kings and ancestors, confirm the historical basis of early legends. A few examples have been found at Neolithic sites as Kexingzhuang (Dadunzi). The divination practice is called 'scapulimancy' (scapulae are shoulder blades).
Panlongcheng: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: P'an-lung-ch'eng
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Chinese archaeological site from about the middle of the Shang dynasty period (18th-12th century BC). The site, located near the confluence of the Yangtze and Han-shui rivers in central Hupei, consists of five graves and two storage pits. It is thought to be the southernmost outpost of the political system in the 15th-13th centuries BC. Palatial foundations, elite burials with Erligang-style bronze ritual vessels, and a hang-tu city wall have been excavated. There are poor burials, pottery, stone tools, and other bronze items. The earliest wood carvings yet found in China were at Panlongcheng.
Patna: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ancient Pataliputra
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A city in northeast India, founded as Pataliputra in the 5th century BC by Ajatashatru, king of Magadha. His son Udaya (Udayin) made it the capital of Magadha, which it remained until the 1st century BC. The second Magadha dynasty, the Maurya, ruled in the 3rd and early 2nd centuries BC until the city was sacked in 185 by Indo-Greeks. The Shunga dynasty followed, until about 73 BC. Pataliputra remained a center of learning and in the 4th century AD became the Gupta capital. It declined and was deserted by the 7th century. The city was refounded as Patna in 1541 and again rose to prosperity under the Mughal Empire. Part of the ancient city's rampart (reinforced with timber) and a large pillared hall survive. This hall, with its 80 pillars, has frequently been compared to similar halls found in Achaemenid Persia and it has been suggested that some Achaemenid craftsmen fled to India after the defeat of the Persians by Alexander the Great.
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).
San'in: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: District of Honshu Island, Japan, used in archaeological documents, comprising parts of modern Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures, and Tottori and Shimane prefectures.
San'yo: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: District of Honshu Island, Japan, used in archaeological documents, comprising modern Yamaguchi, Hiroshima, and Okayama prefectures and part of Hyogo prefecture.
Sanchi: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The site of three stupas in central India. They are the Great Stupa, Stupa No. 1, an Ashokan foundation enlarged over the centuries; No. 2, with railing decorations of the late Shunga period (c 1st century BC); and No. 3, with its single toran (ceremonial gateway) of the late 1st century BC-1st century AD. Other features of interest include a commemorative pillar erected by the emperor Ashoka (c 265-238 BC); an early Gupta temple (temple No. 17), early 5th century, with a flat roof and pillared portico; and monastic buildings ranging over several centuries. Sanchi sculpture is the early Indian style embellishing the 1st-century-BC gateways of the Buddhist relic mound called the Great Stupa. The region of Sanchi, however, had a continuous artistic history from the 3rd century BC to the 11th century AD.
Satsumon: CATEGORY: ceramics; culture
DEFINITION: A type of Haji-like incised-motif pottery made in early Hokkaido and northern Honshu, Japan, from c 4th-14th centuries, and to the culture characterized by this pottery. Satsumon houses are very much like Late Kofun houses. Iron tools were used and cloth was woven. The Satsumon culture is seen as the transformation of a Jomon-type culture, which continued late in northern Japan, as the result of the contacts with Haji-using people to the south. The people are thought to be the ancestors of the historic Ainu.
seasonality of occupation: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: seasonality
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The exploitation of different environments at different times of the year by the same group of people; an estimate of when during the year a particular archaeological site was occupied. Transhumance is one instance of this practice, where high pastureland is grazed in the summer. There was also exploitation of water resources for fish or water birds; the following of wild herds by hunter-gatherers. The people usually moved back to their original starting place each year.
Sempukuji: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An early Jomon rock shelter site in Nagasaki prefecture on Kyushu, Japan. There is an association of microblades with linear-relief pottery found earlier at Fukui, and an older pottery with discontinuous relief (bean-pattern). Dating puts the sight to the late 11th millennium BC, slightly younger than the Fukui date.
Setouchi: CATEGORY: site; culture
DEFINITION: Late Palaeolithic stone-working culture making side-blow flakes using sanukite. They were used for Kou knives (Kou, Osaka Prefecture) and other knives. Setouchi is also the name for the Inland Sea region of western Japan (Okayama, Hiroshima, and Yamaguchi on Honshu, and Kagawa and Ehime on Shikoku).
Shalmaneser: CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: Five kings of Assyria bore this name, starting with Shalmaneser I (fl. 13th century BC), king of Assyria (reigned c 1263-c. 1234 BC) who significantly extended Assyrian power. The second, fourth, and fifth were comparatively unimportant. Shalmaneser III (fl. 9th century BC), king of Assyria (reigned 858-824 BC) was known for his military expansion in campaigns as far as Palestine, the Persian Gulf, Urartu, and Cilicia. These were raids, however, rather than permanent conquests. The raids are graphically recorded on the Black Obelisk at Nimrud and on the bronze gates at Balawat, another of Shalmaneser's palaces. The son and successor of Ashurnasirpal, Shalmaneser III directed most of his campaigns against Syria.
Shamshi-Adad I (c 1813-1781 BC): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: The first of the great rulers of Assyria, who started with a tribe near Mari on the Euphrates River. He created an empire in northern Mesopotamia from the middle Euphrates to the mountains in the east. His capitals were at Assur and Shubat-Enlil. His sons, Ekallatum and Mari, acted as governors -- but could not maintain the empire after Shamshi-Adad's death. The remains of Shamshi-Adad's palace were partially excavated, with the most important find at the site being an archive of royal correspondence preserved on more than 1,000 cuneiform tablets. The archives consist mostly of financial and administrative records, with some diplomatic correspondence between the ruler of Shubat-Enlil and neighboring kings. They complement the archives found at the site of the ancient city of Mari in the great palace of Zimrilim.
Snefru (fl 26th-25th c BC): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Snofru, Sneferu
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: First pharaoh of the 4th Dynasty (c 2575-2465 BC) in Egypt, who was deified by the Middle Kingdom and celebrated in later literature as a benevolent and kind ruler. He created a centralized administration which marked the end of the Old Kingdom. The pyramids at Dahshur and the completion of the pyramids at Meidum are attributed to him. After a 24-year reign, Snefru was succeeded by his son, Khufu, the renowned builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza.
Sugu: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Sugu site group
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Site in Fukuoka prefecture, Japan, with many Yayoi settlements, cemeteries, and workshops. The Sugu site proper is a cemetery containing over 200 jar burials. The most famous burial was that of a probable political leader inside two jars, set mouth to mouth, along with at least 33 imported Chinese bronze mirrors, several bronze weapons, and ornaments of glass, stone, and antler. The fine pottery used in the funerary jars is known as the Sugu type, characteristic of the Middle Yayoi (100 BC-100 AD) of Kyushu.
Tanutamon (reigned 664-656 BC): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Tantamani, Tanwetamani
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: Last of the 25th Dynasty pharaohs, successor of Taharqa, who led an invasion of Lower Egypt and captured Memphis. He defeated and killed the Assyrian-backed Saite ruler Nekau I in 664 BC. In 663 BC, the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal drove Tanutamon out, sacking Thebes.
Tefnut: CATEGORY: deity
DEFINITION: Egyptian goddess associated with moisture or damp air. She was one of first gods created by Atum along with brother/husband Shu. Her children were Geb (earth god) and Nut (sky goddess). Shu and Tefnut were the first couple of the group of nine gods called the Ennead of Heliopolis.
Tohoku: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: District of northern Honshu Island, Japan, used in archaeological documents, comprising Aomori, Iwate, Akita, Yamagata, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures.
winged disk: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: winged disc; Egyptian 'py wer
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A sun disk with an outspread pair of wings attached, found in Egypt from the 1st Dynasty. It is associated with Horus of Behdet (Edfu), and symbolizes the sun, especially in architecture on ceilings, cornices, and stelae. It was often copied outside Egypt -- used in the Levant and by the Hittites, and in Assyria it represented the sun god Shamash and perhaps Ashur. It was adopted by the Achaemenid Persians to represent their chief god Ahuramazda.
Yamatai: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A polity of Japan known from Chinese chronicles, the Wei chih" ("Weizhi") and "Houhanshu" thought to be either in northern Kyushu or in the Kinai district (central Honshu). The site of Yoshinogari is thought to be contemporaneous with the polity c 3rd century AD. The queen Himiko/Pimiko is the first known ruler of Japan and the supposed originator of the Grand Shrine of Ise still considered the most important Shinto sanctuary in Japan."
Yasumiba: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Late Palaeolithic site in Shizuoka prefecture, Honshu, Japan, with hearths dated c 14,300 years ago. Over four hundred microblades made from conical cores were found.

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