Archaeology Wordsmith

Results for armor:

armor: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: arms, armour, body armor
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Protective clothing with the ability to deflect or absorb arrows, bullets, lances, swords, or other weapons during combat. There are three main types: 1) armor made of leather, fabric, or mixed materials reinforced by quilting or felt, 2) mail, of interwoven rings or iron or steel, and 3) rigid armor of metal, plastic, horn, wood, or other tough material, including plate armor of the Middle Ages' knights. Armor was used well before historical records were kept by primitive warriors. The first was likely made of leather hides and included helmets. It was found that in the 11th century BC, Chinese warriors wore 5-7 layers of rhinoceros skin. Greek heavy infantry wore thick, multilayered linen cuirasses in the 5th century BC. Armor is found along with arrows, clubs, hammers, hatchets, and other weaponry and is often ornamented. The defensive armor, the shield, and thorax, were called hopla, and people wearing them were called hoplites.
Armorican axe: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Rather plain and shoddily made type of socketed bronze axe produced in the period 600-650 BC at the very end of the Bronze Age of northern France (Hallstatt II). Mostly found in large hoards, in which few examples appear to have been finished or used. This has led to the suggestion that they were somehow connected with emergency trade in metal rather than finished products.
Armorican coin: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Collective name for coinage issued by a range of tribes living in Brittany during the early 1st century BC, including the Coriosolites, Baiocasses, Redones, Unelli, and Osismii.
Armorico-British dagger: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Breton dagger
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Type of bronze dagger found in the ESSEX I Phase of the early Bronze Age (c.1700-1500 BC) in southern Britain which has similarities with examples from Brittany. It has a flat triangular blade, lateral grooves, and six rivets for attaching the blade to the hilt. Sometimes a small tang or languette is present to assist securing the blade to the hilt. Traces of wooden and leather sheaths have been found with some blades; the hilts were probably of wood and in the case of an example found in the Bush Barrow, Wiltshire, were inlaid with gold tacks.
mail armor: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Armor made up of interlaced metal rings.
Parian Chronicle: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Marmor Parium
CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: A document inscribed on Parian marble in the Attic Greek dialect and containing an outline of Greek history from the reign of Cecrops, legendary king of Athens, c 1582 BC, down to the archonship of Diognetus at Athens (264 BC). The author recorded the dates of festivals and when they were established, the introduction of various kinds of poetry, and the births and deaths of the poets. One large fragment is at the Ashmolean Museum (among the so-called Arundel Marbles), Oxford; another is in the Paros Museum.
plate armor: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: plate armour
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Protective armor in the form of sheet iron fittings (metal plates) tailored to the shape of the body and strapped in position. This type of armor was current in the 15th-16th century AD Europe. The knights of the European Middle Ages wore this armor composed of large steel or iron plates that were linked by loosely closed rivets and by internal leathers to allow the wearer maximum freedom of movement.
scale armor: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A form of amour made up of overlapping squares of protective material.
aegis: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A shield or defensive armor in ancient mythology. This Greek word for shield" has been used to describe the representation of a necklace on the head of a deity."
backplate: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Plate armor protecting the back; worn as part of a cuirass
Bayeux Tapestry: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A medieval embroidery depicting the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, which is considered a remarkable work of art and important as a source for 11th-century history. It consists of a roll of unbleached linen worked in colored worsted with illustrations and is about 70 m long and 50 cm deep. The work was probably commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, a half-brother of William the Conquerer, and took about two years to complete. It was likely finished no later than 1092. The tapestry depicts the events leading up to the invasion of England by William Duke of Normandy and the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, when the English King Harold was defeated and killed. Though not proven, the tapestry appears to have been designed and embroidered in England. The themes are enacted much like that of a feudal drama or chanson de geste. The technical detail and iconography of the Bayeux Tapestry are of great importance. For instance, the 33 buildings depicted offer a look at the contemporary churches, castles, towers and motte and bailey castles. The battle scenes give details on the infantry and cavalry formations, Norman armor and weapons, and the clothing and hairstyles of the time. The invasion fleet is 'Viking double enders' (clinker-built long boats, propelled by oars and a single mast). The tapestry was discovered" in the nave of Bayeux Cathedral in France by French antiquarian and scholar Bernard de Montfaucon who published the earliest complete reproduction of it in 1730. It narrowly escaped destruction during the French Revolution was exhibited in Paris at Napoleon's wish in 1803-04 and thereafter kept in the Bayeux public library."
Beowulf: CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: An heroic poem, considered the highest achievement of Old English literature and also the earliest European vernacular epic. Preserved in a single manuscript (Cotton Vitellius A XV) from c 1000 AD, it deals with events of the early 6th century and is believed to have been composed between 700 and 750. It did not appear in print until 1815. Beowulf is one of the earliest, longest and most complete examples of Anglo-Saxon verse. Although originally untitled, it was later named after the Scandinavian hero Beowulf. Its themes are essentially the conflict between good and evil and the nature of heroism; fantasy and reality are intertwined as the hero Beowulf fights Grendel and other semi-mythological monsters. There is no evidence of a historical Beowulf, but some characters, sites, and events in the poem can be historically verified. Perhaps Beowulf's greatest contribution to archaeology is the light the poem has shed on the funerary customs displayed in the Sutton Hoo ship burial. The opening passages describe how the dead King Scyld Scefing was borne out to sea in a ship; jewels were placed on his chest, armor and treasure heaped around his body, and a standard was hoisted overhead.
breastplate: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A piece of armor covering the chest
chain mail: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: mail
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A type of protective body armor in the form of interlinked metal rings, worn by European knights and other military men throughout most of the medieval period. An early form of mail, made by sewing iron rings to fabric or leather, was worn in late Roman times and may have originated in Asia, where it was worn for many centuries.
cuirass: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A piece of armor to protect the torso, both front and back, and often molded to the contours of the body. Originally made of thick leather, it was variously made of laminated linen, sheet bronze, or iron, or scales of horn, hide, or metal. In Homeric and Hellenistic times, it was made of bronze. Cuirasses of leather as well as iron were worn by officers in the armies of the Roman Empire. Later made of steel, the cuirass was forerunner to body armor worn to deflect bullets.
Dorak: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site of northwest Anatolia (western Turkey), south of the Sea of Marmora, reported to have two looted 'royal tombs' of the Copper Age comparable to, but far richer than, those of Alaca Hüyük. The material, which was photographed, drawn, and described by J. Mellaart, vanished immediately after his report -- creating controversy and doubt that the tombs even existed.
gauntlet: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Armored covering to protect the hand and wrist.
greave: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A piece of armor designed to protect the part of the leg below the knee. It originally covered the shin only, but in medieval Europe there was also a closed greave which protected both the shin and the calf.
Hallstatt: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Hallstatt period
CATEGORY: site; culture
DEFINITION: A site on Lake Hallstatt in the Austrian Alps with a cemetery of over 3000 cremation and inhumation graves with great quantities of local and imported grave goods. There were prehistoric salt mines in the area. Hallstatt is also a late Bronze age and early Iron Age cultural tradition, c 1200-6000 BC in continental temperate Europe. The term also refers to a cultural period of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in central Europe, divided into four phases, Hallstatt A, B, C, and D. In central European archaeology the terms Hallstatt A (12th and 11th centuries BC) and Hallstatt B (10th-8th centuries BC) are used as a chronological framework for the urnfield cultures of the Late Bronze Age. The first iron objects north of the Alps appear at the close of this period, and the Iron Age proper begins with the Hallstatt C (or I) stage of the 7th century BC. The area of fullest development is Bohemia, upper Austria and Bavaria, where hillforts were constructed and the dead were sometimes interred on or with a four-wheeled wagon, covered by a mortuary house below a barrow. Sheet bronze was still used for armor, vessels, and decorative metalwork, but the characteristic weapon was a long iron sword (or bronze copy). These swords are found as far afield as southeast England, in the so-called 'Iron Age A' cultures. During the Hallstatt D (or II) period, in the 6th century, the most advanced cultures are found further west, in Burgundy, Switzerland, and the Rhineland. Wagon burials are still prominent and trade brought luxury objects from the Greek and Etruscan cities around the Mediterranean. By the close of this period in the mid-5th century BC, elements of Hallstatt culture are found from southern France to Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. The Hallstatt precedes the La Tène period; the Hallstatt Iron Age culture certainly developed out of the Urnfield Bronze Age groups.
Kernonen: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A burial mound of the Armorican Early Bronze Age Tumulus Culture c 2000-2500 BC in Finistère, France. The circular stone cairn covered a rectangular dry-stone chamber. Grave goods include fine flaked flint arrowheads, amber beads, bronze axes and daggers, and wooden hilts decorated with gold nails.
lorica hamata: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Latin term for a type of body armor worn by Roman legionaries, consisting of a shirt made of iron chain mail.
lorica segmentata: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Latin term for a type of body armor worn by Roman legionaries, consisting of a cuirass made from iron strips hinged together.
lorica squamata: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Latin term for a type of body armor worn by Roman legionaries, consisting of a cuirass made from shaped scales of iron and bronze riveted together.
mace: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A small clublike weapon, usually of stone, crafted to fit snugly in the hand, for pounding. It often had a perforated head and was attached to a shaft of wood (or ivory or horn), often tapering towards the end that was gripped. Many maceheads have been excavated from Predynastic and Early Dynastic cemeteries in Egypt. In medieval times, it was made of iron and used for breaking defensive armor.
Magdalenska Gora: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Early Iron Age (Hallstatt period) complex of tumuli of the early La Tene period, located near Smarje/Sticna, in Slovenia. The cemetery comprises large barrows into which as many as 40 burials are inserted. The rich grave goods include weapons, armor, helmets, horse trappings, jewelry, and bronze vessels, including a complete bronze situlae -- all from the 7th century BC.
misericorde: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A narrow-bladed dagger of the 14th century, which was pushed through the eye slits or between armor plates of a knight immobilized on the ground by the weight of armor, and so gave the coupe de grace.
palstave: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A Middle Bronze Age form of ax with side flanges, stop-bar (or -ridge), and sometimes one or (rarely) two loops attached -- found in Europe. Its features made for more secure hafting of the ax blade by preventing lateral movement and haft splitting. This development lead to the socketed ax. It was used by the Celtic nations in war for battering the armor of the enemy.
Picene: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Piceni, Picenes
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Early Iron Age inhabitants of the Marche on the Adriatic coast of Italy. There are rich inhumation cemeteries of the 9th-6th centuries BC and evidence of trading with Greeks as early as the 7th century BC. There is much evidence of trade with communities on the other side of the Adriatic, in modern Yugoslavia, and with central Europe. They likely were warlike, with artifacts including armor, weapons, and ornaments of bronze or iron. Finds also include numerous fibulae, torcs, bracelets, girdles, ornamental pendants, and amber. They had two main centers, one at Novilara in the north, and another around Belmonte and Fermo farther south. In 268 BC their territory was annexed by Rome.
pollen: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Armored gametophytes.
shield: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A piece of armor carried in the hand or on the arm, usually the left, to ward off weapons. Examples from the Bronze and Iron Age come from bogs and rivers of northwest Europe. In the Bronze Age, shields were circular and made of wood covered with bronze. They had a raised, dome-shaped boss in the center into the back of which the hand fitted, holding the grip. In the Iron Age, shields were sometimes called bucklers, and had become long and rectangular. They were made of bronze and embossed. Some were enameled in La Tène style and lined with wood or leather. Leather shields, with few surviving, are functionally more efficient, and wooden ones are also known, notably in Mexico, where they were decorated with feather mosaic.
Wessex culture: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Wessex Culture
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Early Bronze Age culture of southern England with cemeteries of found barrows of special types (bell, disc and saucer barrows and enclosures strangely labeled 'pond barrows') c 2650-1400 BC. It developed from the Beaker tradition and was closely related to the Armorican Tumulus Culture. The Wessex I period, c 2650-2000 BC, is associated with the major rebuilding of Stonehenge (III). There are rich grave goods, including bronze daggers and axes, amber and shale beads and buttons, copper and gold. The pottery is mainly incense cups and the first collared urns. In the Wessex II period, c 1650-1400 BC, cremation replaced inhumation and there are faience beads. Bronze was normal in Wessex II, and contained up to 17 percent tin. They had contacts with Egypt, Mycenae, and Crete. Unfortunately no settlements of the Wessex culture are known.

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