Archaeology Wordsmith

           

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Results for anthropoid:

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anthropoid

SYNONYM: anthropomorphous
CATEGORY: artifact; fauna
DEFINITION: Of human form; manlike. Taken from the Greek term for man-shaped, it is used to describe sarcophagi and coffins and other artifacts of human shape. The term is also used to describe a being that is only human in form or an anthropoid ape (gibbons, orangs, chimpanzees, gorillas).

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cartonnage

SYNONYM: cartonage
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: An Egyptian mummy case made of layers of papyrus or linen soaked in gesso plaster and shaped around an embalmed body, much like papier maché, and then decorated with paint or gilding when dry. The term also refers to the material thus used and for mummy masks, anthropoid coffins, and other funerary items made in the same manner.

coffin

SYNONYM: sarcophagus
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Any box or chest, usually rectangular or anthropoid in shape, in which a corpse or mummy is enclosed for burial. Clay, stone, metal, and wood are among the materials used. Primitive wooden coffins, formed of a tree trunk split down and hollowed out, are still in use among some aboriginal peoples. The term 'sarcophagus' is used only for the stone outer container which encases one or more coffins. From the Latin word for basket" 'cophinus'."

Isis

SYNONYM: Aset, Eset
CATEGORY: deity
DEFINITION: Important Egyptian goddess, wife of Osiris and mother of Horus. She was anthropoid in form and goddess of the Moon. She was a powerful magician and also venerated as the ideal mother. She became the symbolic mother of the Egyptian king, who was himself regarded as a human manifestation of Horus. She had important temples throughout Egypt, as at Philae and Behbet el-Hagar, and Nubia. By Greco-Roman times she was dominant among Egyptian goddesses. Several temples were dedicated to her in Alexandria, where she became the patroness of seafarers." From Alexandria her cult spread throughout the Mediterranean including Greece and Rome. In Hellenistic times the mysteries of Isis and Osiris developed; these were comparable to other Greek mystery cults."

Osiris

CATEGORY: deity
DEFINITION: The ancient Egyptian god of death, represented as an anthropoid figure with mummy body. He was brother and husband to Isis and the father of Horus. Through them he was linked to the vegetation cycle myth. Slain by his brother Seth in the autumn, his dismembered and scattered remains were collected by Isis, reassembled, and returned to life as Horus in the spring. His chief sanctuary was at Abydos. Eventually, any dead person came to be referred to as 'an Osiris', i.e. a dweller in the land of the dead. He was one of the most important deities of ancient Egypt.

Philistines

SYNONYM: (Egyptian) Pulesati
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: One of the Peoples of the Sea who, repulsed from Egypt c 1200 BC, drove the Canaanites from southern Palestine (name derived from their name) and settled there, marking the beginning of the Iron Age in that region. They were a warlike, seafaring people and adopted the culture of the Canaanites, but introduced new type of pottery decorated with metopes and bird designs. The Philistine tombs at Tell Fara, contained iron weapons and pottery coffins with anthropoid lids. Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gaza, Gath, and Ekron were their five chief cities. The Philistines were eventually absorbed by the Israelites under David c 1000 BC. They are known mainly from documentary sources, appearing in Egyptian records as one of the Peoples of the Sea, and in Biblical accounts as a people who drove the Canaanites out of the coastal plain and eventually became part of the Israelite kingdom.

primate

CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Member of the order of mammals that includes monkeys, apes, and humans. The mammalian comprises two suborders: the prosimians (lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers) and the anthropoids (monkeys, apes, and man). According to fossil records, primates originated in the Late Cretaceous (97.5-66.4 million years ago) as forest-dwelling creatures. Evidence that modern man is a descendant of these early primates was first provided by Charles Darwin in his Origin of Species" (1859)."