Archaeology Wordsmith

Results for bell:

animal bell: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A bell worn by an animal, e.g. sheep, goats, cows and hawks, to inform the owner of the animal's position.
beaker: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: bell beaker (see also funnel beaker, protruding foot beaker)
CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: A simple pottery drinking vessel without handles, more deep than wide, much used in prehistoric Europe. The pottery was usually red or brown burnished ware, decorated with horizontal panels of comb- or cord-impressed designs. It was distributed in Europe from Spain to Poland, and from Italy to Scotland in the years after 2500 BC and the international bell-beaker is particularly widespread, though uncommon in Britain. In Britain there are local variants, the long-necked (formerly A) beakers of eastern England and the short-necked (formerly C) beakers of Scotland. There are local developments elsewhere, such as the Veluwe beakers in Holland. Beaker vessels are commonly found in graves, which were often single inhumations under round barrows; commonly associated finds include copper or bronze daggers and ornaments, flint arrowheads, stone wristguards, and stone battle-axes. In many northern and western areas its users were the first to start copper metallurgy. The widespread distribution of beaker finds has led to the frequent identification of a Beaker people and speculations about their origins.
Beaker people: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Beaker Folk, Beaker culture; Bell Beaker culture
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A widespread Late Neolithic European people of the third and second millennium BC named after the characteristic bell-shaped beakers found buried with their dead. These people spread a knowledge of metalworking in central and western Europe from c 2500-2000 BC. They first came to Britain between 1900-1800 BC in successive waves, via Holland, from the Rhineland. Their origins are uncertain, with theories of them being the Battle-Ax people from south Russia and Spanish Megalithic people from Almeria or from Portugal and Hungary. They were copper and bronze workers and famous for their great collective tombs. The assemblages of grave goods -- decorated pottery, fighting equipment (arrowheads, wristguards, daggers) -- were characteristic of the people, who lived in small groups mainly by major river routes as they were known traders. Burial was by contracted inhumation in a trench, or under a round barrow, or as a secondary burial in some form of chamber tomb. Each burial was accompanied by a beaker, presumably to hold drink, probably alcoholic, for the dead man's last journey.
bell: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: The earliest bell founding (i.e., the casting of bells from molten metal) is associated with the Bronze Age. The ancient Chinese were superb founders, their craft reaching an apex during the Chou dynasty (c 1122-221 BC). Characteristic were elliptical temple bells with exquisite symbolic decorations cast onto their surfaces by the cire perdue, or lost wax, process. Bells had an important ceremonial role in ancient China during the Chou Dynasty. The earliest Chinese bells, of Shang Dynasty (c 1600-1123 BC), were mounted mouth upwards and struck. Later bells hung mouth downwards.
Bell Beaker: CATEGORY: ceramics; culture
DEFINITION: A type of pottery vessel found all over western and central Europe from the final Neolithic or Chalcolithic, c 2500-1800 BC. The culture's name derives from the characteristic pottery which looks like an inverted bell with globular body and flaring rim. The beakers were valuable and highly decorated. They are often associated with special artifacts in grave assemblages, including polished stone wristguards, V-perforated buttons, and copper-tanged daggers.
bell glass: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A bell-shaped glass cover used, especially formerly, as a cloche
bell-shaped cist: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A large pit whose greatest diameter is substantially larger than the diameter of its opening. A storage function is implied.
bellarmine: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A capacious round-bellied jug or pitcher bearing a grotesque human mask. Originally created in the Netherlands as a burlesque likeness of Cardinal Bellarmine, the idea spread widely and the term later became applied to any jug bearing a human mask.
bellows: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: An object used to create a blast of air.
Bellows Beach: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A coastal occupation site on Oahu, Hawaii, which has produced some of the earliest occupation dates (600-1000 AD) of the island group. The assemblage is of Early Eastern Polynesian type: shell fishhooks, stone adzes, and bones of dog, pig, and rat.
corbel vault: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: corbelled vault
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: In architecture, a simple form of vault in which the stones are overlapped on each other and topped with a capstone. As distinguished from the true arch, it has no keystone and is not self-supporting; the thrust must be take up by massive walls. The corbel vault is therefore suitable for spanning only limited spaces. In the Mayan style, corbel vaults can support a roof or upper story. Corbel vaults and arches were useful in cultures that had not yet developed curving arches and other ceiling structures.
corbelling, corbeling: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: corbeled roof
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A technique of roofing in stone-built chambers whereby successive courses of bricks or slabs are allowed to project a little further inwards than the course below until a curved or domed ceiling is achieved. The Maya used this method to create a corbelled 'false' arch, or vault with the earliest expressions in Late Chicanel tombs at Tikal and Altar de Sacrificios. The technique was also used within the megalithic tradition in Europe in some of the passage graves, such as New Grange and Maes Howe, and in the tholos tombs of the Mycenaean world. Babylonian architecture made wide use of corbel arches.
Gaussian distribution: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: bell curve, normal distribution
CATEGORY: measure
DEFINITION: A probability density function for continuous interval data.
krater: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: crater; bell krater; volute krater; calyx krater; column krater
CATEGORY: artifact; ceramics
DEFINITION: Ancient Greek vessel used for diluting wine with water. It usually stood on a tripod in the dining room, where wine was mixed. Kraters were made of metal or pottery and were often painted or elaborately ornamented. In Homer's Iliad" the prize offered by Achilles for the foot race at Patroclus' funeral games was a silver krater. The Greek historian Herodotus describes many enormous and costly kraters dedicated at temples or used in religious ceremonies. Kraters are large with a broad body and base and usually a wide mouth. They may have horizontal handles placed near the base or vertical handles rising from the shoulder. Among the many variations are the bell krater confined to red-figure pottery shaped like an inverted bell with loop handles and a disk foot; the volute krater with an egg-shaped body and handles that rise from the shoulder and curl in a volute (scroll-shaped form) well above the rim; the calyx krater the shape of which spreads out like the cup or calyx of a flower; and the column krater with columnar handles rising from the shoulder to a flat projecting lip rim. Some were fitted with a strainer."
acoustic vase: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: acoustic vessel
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Large earthenware or bronze vases which were used to strengthen actors' voices and were placed in bell towers to help boost the sound of church bells. A church in Westphalia contains fine 9th-century Badorf Wares and larger Relief-Band Amphorae were used in 10th- and 11th-century churches.
acoustic vases: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: acoustic vessels
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Large earthenware or bronze vases which were used to strengthen actors' voices and were placed in bell towers to help boost the sound of church bells. A church in Westphalia contains fine 9th-century Badorf Wares and larger Relief-Band Amphorae were used in 10th- and 11th-century churches.
Anlo: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site in Holland with a long sequence of occupation, starting with the Funnel Beaker culture. It was followed by a cattle enclosure during the Late Neolithic (protruding foot beaker) people, then a cemetery of five flat graves with foot beakers and bell beakers with cord ornament. The next phase was a settlement with late varieties of Beaker pottery, followed by a Middle Bronze Age plow soil, and a Late Bronze Age urnfield.
Ban Nadi: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A settlement site near Ban Chiang, Thailand, occupied from c 1500 BC-250 AD. It was the location of tin-bronze production after 500 BC, with axes, projectile points, and jewelry. Iron was smelted and forged for bangles, hoes, knives, and spearheads fro c 100 BC to 200 AD. The bronze wares were bowls, bracelets, and lead-bronze bells.
Barnenez: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A Neolithic site in Brittany with radiocarbon dates in the 5th millennium BC. It consists of two long cairns, one with 11 passage graves placed side by side. They display a range of architectural techniques, using both large megalithic slabs and drystone walling; some chambers had corbelled vaults. Its dates may make it one of the earliest megalithic tombs in Europe.
barrow: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: burial mound; tumulus; burial cairn
CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A round or elongated mound of earth or stones used in early times to cover one or more burials; a grave mound. The mound is often surrounded by a ditch, and the burials may be contained within a cist, mortuary enclosure, mortuary house, or chamber tomb. There are two types, the long (elongated) and the round barrow (also known as tumuli). The former were built in the Late Stone Age, the latter in the Bronze Age, though burial under a round mound was occasionally practiced during the Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Viking periods.. The long barrow was a tribal or family burial vault built of stone slabs, some weighing many tons, and covered with earth or stones. The large, round barrows were often communal. They are often found in prehistoric sites in Britain -- earthen (or unchambered) long barrows from the Early and Middle Neolithic (Windmill Hill Culture). Other long barrows were constructed over megalithic tombs of gallery grave types. Most of the British round barrows incorporate circles of stakes. Bowl barrows --- simple round mounds, often surrounded by a ditch --- were the most common form, used throughout the Bronze Age and sporadically also in the Iron Age. The Wessex Culture of the southern English Early Bronze Age was characterized by special types of barrows: bell, disk, saucer, and pond barrows. Bell barrows have relatively small mounds and a berm or gap between the mound and the ditch; disk barrows are very small mounds in the center of a circular open space, surrounded by a ditch; saucer barrows are low disk-like mounds occupying the entire space up to the ditch; while the oddly named pond barrows are not mounds at all, but circular dish-shaped enclosures surrounded by an external bank. The related term 'cairn' is used to describe a mound constructed exclusively of stone. Barrow burials occur also in Roman and post-Roman times: one of the most famous of all barrows in Britain is that covering the Anglo-Saxon boat burial at Sutton Hoo.
Bedsa: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A rock-cut Buddhist temple in Deccan, India that is dated 1st century BC. Its interior is elaborately decorated and the pillars have vase-shaped bases and bell-shaped capitals surmounted by sculpted human and animal groups. In front of the temple is a facade and a large entrance with decorated pillars.
Boudicca (d. AD 60): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Boadicea
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: Ancient British queen of the Iceni tribe or Norfolk who led a revolt against Roman rule in 60 AD. After suffering many cruelties to her family, herself, and her tribe at the hands of the Romans, Boudicca raised a rebellion throughout East Anglia. They burned Camulodunum (Colchester), Verulamium (St. Albans), the mart of Londinium (London), and several military posts; massacred approximately 70,000 Romans and pro-Roman Britons; and destroyed the Roman 9th Legion. The Roman governor Paulinus regained the province in a battle during which 80,000 of the rebelling tribesmen were killed and after which Boudicca took poison or died of shock.
campanulate bowl: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A bowl or other kind of vessel, whether of pottery, metal, or some other material, shaped to the form of an inverted bell.
Ch'u: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Ch'u state; Chu
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: One of the most important independent states of south-central China between 770-221 BC, during the second half of the Chou Dynasty. It emerged in the fertile Yangtze River Valley just outside the Chinese culture of the time. It was a great military threat other Chinese states as the state was barbarian in origin. Ch'u began to expand rapidly into China proper, conquering much of present-day Honan province, and its people soon began to acquire Chinese speech and customs. From the 8th century until its destruction by Qin in the 3rd century bc Chu was the largest and most powerful of the Eastern Zhou states. Artifacts include bronze casting of fine inlaid bronzes, weapons, ritual vessels, bells, and drums, and mirrors and the state was known also for lacquer and silk. Lacquered objects range from containers to wooden effigies, musical instruments, coffins, and other wooden tomb furniture. Sites near Tung-t'ing (Yungmeng) Lake, and in Xiasi and Xinyang, but Ch'u remains are most densely concentrated at Jiangling in southern Hubei and Changsha in northern Hunana. The Ch'u capital was at Jiangling from 689-278 BC, when the city fell to Qin. The Ch'u court retreated to the Huai valley and stayed there until its final overthrow in 221 BC. Archaeological and historical sources show it to have been a distinctive, highly civilized cultural and political entity.
Chicanel: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A phase of the Lowland Maya Pre-Classic, the Late Formative culture of Petén, dating from 300 BC to 150 AD. It was characterized by architectural and ceramic traits which convey the rise of the Classic Maya civilization: temple-pyramids, corbelled arches, and painted murals. Their sites are quite uniform and there was a variety of ceramic forms. Chicanel pottery includes dishes with wide, grooved rims, bowls, and vessels resembling ice buckets. Figurines are absent. Temple platforms (e.g. Uaxactún) were built by facing a cemented-rubble core with thick layers of plaster. At Tikal, a huge Maya ceremonial center, the Acropolis was begun in Chicanel times, and white-stuccoed platforms and stairways with polychromed masks were much like Uaxactún. There is also a huge site, El Mirador, in the northern part of Petén. The El Mirador construction dwarfs even that of Tikal, although El Mirador only flourished through the Chicanel phase. Chicanel-like civilization is also known in Yucatán, where some temple pyramids of enormous size are datable to the Late Formative. Another important site is the cave of Loltún in Yucatán.
cist: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A pit feature that is not bell-shaped but for which there is some basis for interpreting its aboriginal use as a storage pit.
claw beaker: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: elephant's trunk beaker, Rüsselbecher
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Elaborate glass beakers dating from c 500 AD onward in Early Saxon graves and Frankish burials. Also called Rüsselbecher, the beakers have two superimposed rows of hollow, trunklike protrusions curving down to rejoin the wall of the vessel above a small button foot. In form they are similar to free-standing conical beakers, but they are embellished by a series of unusual clawlike protrusions. In many cases the glass is tinted brown, blue, or yellow. The beakers were probably made in Cologne or Trier, Germany.
Corded Beaker culture: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A Late Neolithic culture in central and northern Europe from c 2800 BC, named after a characteristic cord-marked decoration found on pottery. The Corded beaker culture belongs to the so-called Battle-Ax cultures of Europe. There were two phases of new burial rites, with individual rather than communal burials and an emphasis on burying rich grave goods with adult males. The first phase, characterized by Corded Ware pottery and stone battle-axes, is found particularly in central and northern Europe. The second phase, dated to 2500-2200 BC, is marked by Bell Beaker pottery and the frequent occurrence of copper daggers in the graves; it is found from Hungary to Britain and as far south as Italy, Spain, and North Africa. At the same time, there was an increase in the exchange of prestige goods such as amber, copper, and tools from particular rock sources.
crater: CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: A large, wide-mouthed two-handled Greek or Roman bowl or vase, usually made of pottery or metal. It is characteristic of Greece in the Mycenaean and classical periods and they were used to serve wine, mixed with water in varying proportions, into individual drinking cups, and handed out at banquets and sacrifices. The word is Greek for 'mixing bowl'. There is a classification of four types: column crater, volute crater, calyx crater and bell crater, which take their names from the characteristic shape either of the handle or of the body of the vase.
crotal: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: An enclosed, round bell with a slit, sounded by a loose internal pellet.
Dong-son: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Dong Son
CATEGORY: culture; site
DEFINITION: A classic Bronze Age site in north Vietnam and its culture, dating c 500 BC to 100 AD. It was preceded by the Go Bong (c 2000-1500 BC), Dong-Dau (c 1500-100 BC), and Go Mun (c 1000-500 BC) phases of the Vietnamese Bronze Age. The Dong-son culture thus overlaps the Chinese conquest of northern Vietnam in 111 BC. Characteristic are large incised cast-bronze drums, bronze situlae (buckets), bells, tools, and weapons from elaborate boat burials and assemblages in lacquered wood coffins. Dong-son drums of presumed Vietnamese manufacture were traded through wide areas of Southeast Asia and southern China to as far as New Guinea, and the Dong-son bronze-working tradition was by far the richest and most advanced ever to develop in Southeast Asia. Iron was used for tools. There is evidence for developing urbanism in defensive earthworks and wet rice cultivation. Major sites include Chao Can, Viet Khe, Lang Ca, and Co Loa.
dotaku: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A type of bronze bell made in Yayoi period Japan that was cast from melted bronzes, some heavily decorated. They may have been used in agricultural fertility rituals.
ear flare: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ear-flare, eared (adj.)
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A large circular ear ornament, flared like the bell of a trumpet, which was often made of jade. The ear flare was an elaborate form of ear spool.
ear-flare: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A large circular ear ornament, flared like the bell of a trumpet, which was often made of jade. The ear-flare was an elaborate form of ear spool.
Fontbrégoua: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Cave site in southern France with Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic occupations, dating to c 8000 BC. Hunting and gathering remains are hazelnuts and plants; there was domestic livestock and pottery of the Cardial and Epicardial phases. Neolithic remains include pits of human bones with cutmarks and pits of butchered animals bones, possibly evidence for cannibalism. There are also Middle Neolithic Chasséen, Late Neolithic, and Bell Beaker artifacts.
Fufeng: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Fu-feng
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A district north of the Wei River in central Shaanxi province, China, rich in Western Chou/Zhou (1122-771 BC) remains. The area was the center of Chou power for several generations preceding the founding of the Chou dynasty, and the dynastic capital Zong Zhou may also have been here. Excavations have revealed a palace complex dating from the early and middle Western Chou. A hoard of 103 ritual vessels and bells is the single most important find of Western Chou bronzes ever made; the contents of the hoard span nearly the whole of the Western Chou period.
Funnel Beaker: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: funnel-necked beaker culture; Funnel(neck) Beaker; Trichterbecher or TRB
CATEGORY: ceramics; culture
DEFINITION: A vessel with a globular body and expanded neck, characteristic of the Early and Middle Neolithic culture of northern Europe. The funnel beaker is not directly related to the bell-beaker of central and western Europe. The complex culture represents the first agriculturists in Scandinavia and the north European plain, appearing from 3500 BC onwards. It is named after the characteristic pottery, which is often found in megalithic tombs in northern Germany.
Gallurus Oratory: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A boat-shaped oratory on the Dingle peninsula in Kerry, Ireland, one of the few examples of pre-11th century Irish ecclesiastical architecture to have survived. It seems to have belonged to a building tradition that falls between the beehives of the 6th and 7th centuries and the first stone churches of the 11th and 12th centuries. The building is constructed of large, flat corbelled stones, with inward-sloping walls apexing in a gable at each end.
Giant's Grave: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Italian Tomba di Giganti
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Local name for the megalithic chamber tombs of the island of Sardinia during the mid-2nd millennium BC. The burial chamber is of gallery grave type, and is set in an elongated cairn with a retaining wall. The cairn covers a long burial chamber of Cyclopean construction with a corbelled roof. Some giants' tombs have curved or horned facades enclosing a forecourt. They belong to the Nuraghic Bronze Age culture.
girth groove: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: In pottery making, a continuous horizontal groove around the belly of a vessel.
Granada: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Kingdom and city important from the 13th century in Spain. Although its origins go back to the early years of the Moorish occupation in the 8th century, Granada rose to importance after the mid-13th century when it became the capital of a new state founded by Muhammad I (1232-1273). The kingdom comprised, principally, the area of the modern provinces of Granada, Málaga, and Almería. The city was dominated by the fortified citadel and Alcazaba, Medinat-al-Hamra, now known as the Alhambra. The Alhambra was defended by a massive towered enceinte enclosing a series of magnificent palaces linked by courtyards and gardens, much of which still remains. Apart from the Alhambra, Granada also preserves many examples of Islamic architecture in the older quarters of the city. Granada was the site of an Iberian settlement, Elibyrge, in the 5th century BC and of the Roman Illiberis. As the seat of the Moorish kingdom of Granada, it was the final stronghold of the Moors in Spain, falling to the Roman Catholic monarchs Ferdinand II and Isabella I in 1492.
Hohokam: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A prehistoric tradition of southern Arizona which began as a sedentary farming culture around 300 BC and existed until 1400/1450 AD. It was a cultural unit within the Cochise subculture and it had large villages, canal irrigation, and pottery-making. The finest craft products were shell jewelry and objects of carved stone. Diagnostic traits include small villages of shallow, oblong pit-houses with no formalized community plan, cremation of the dead, plain grey or brown paddle and anvil smoothed pottery (or sometimes painted red on buff). The tradition is divided into: Pioneer (150-550 AD), Colonial (550-900 AD), Sedentary (900-1100 AD), Classic (1100-1450 AD), and Post-Classic (1450-1700 AD). Between 550-1200 AD, renewed Mexican contacts brought foreign elements to the Hohokam: courts for the ball-game, platform mounds, new types of maize, slab metates, mosaic mirrors, exotic symbolism from Mexican religion, and the use of copper bells. From about 1100, certain groups began to construct pueblos under Anasazi influence. After 1400/1450, the Hohokam territory along the Gila and Salt Rivers seems to have been partially abandoned. Their cultural heirs are the Pima and Papago Indians. Snaketown is an important Hohokam site.
Ile Carn: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Early Neolithic passage grave in Brittany, of dry-stone walling with a corbelled vault to the chamber and dated to c 3270 bc. Inside were only a few sherds and flint flakes.
Inca: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: South American Indians who, at the time of the Spanish conquest in 1532, ruled an empire that extended along the Pacific coast and Andean highlands from the northern border of modern Ecuador to the Maule River in central Chile. The Inca established their capital at Cuzco (Peru) in the 12th century. They began their conquests in the early 15th century and within 100 years had gained control of an Andean population of about 12,000,000 people. These Quechua-speaking tribes' origins are uncertain. Their vast empire had a centralized organization and at its head was the ruler, 'Son of the Sun', worshipped as a god in his own lifetime. As a divine king he was above the law, and as a despotic ruler he was very much the political head of the state. Administration was in the hands of officials drawn from the Inca nobility and from the chiefs of conquered tribes. An efficient road system, along which relays of messengers could travel 250 km in a day, ensured that Cuzco was kept informed of developments all over the empire. These same roads allowed Inca forces to be quickly moved into any province which showed signs of rebellion. This centralization was both the strength and the weakness of the Inca state. The unifying force was the ruler in person, and the death of Huayna Capac precipitated a crisis. Civil war broke out when two of his sons, Huascar and Atahuallpa, disputed the succession. Atahuallpa won the war, but before he could consolidate his position he was seized and murdered by Francisco Pizarro's Spaniards in 1532. Without a leader the Inca system could not function. Most of the empire was quickly brought under Spanish control, but an independent Inca group held out in the Urubamba valley until 1572. Viracocha Inca was the creator, culture hero, and supreme deity of the Inca, but the religion embraced a pantheon of gods of nature. The most actively worshipped were the sun and, by extension, the emperor, who was considered the son of the sun. The Temple of the Sun, built at the pre-Incan ceremonial center of Pachacamac suggests some incorporation of earlier religions. Archaeologically, the Inca culture is characterized by fine quality stone masonry, agricultural terraces, mass-produced and standardized pottery forms (aryballus), and metal objects. The considerable architectural skill of the Inca is reflected in Cyclopean masonry, although many buildings were constructed using rectangular dressed stone blocks as well as adobe. The basic dwelling-unit was a cluster of single rooms arranged around a rectangular courtyard and was most often enclosed by a wall. Writing was unknown, but the quipu was used for keeping records. Agriculture was based on plant foods, especially potato, manioc, quinoa, and maize. Domesticated animals included dog, llama, cava (guinea pig), and alpaca. Fine textiles were woven using a simple backstrap loom. The civilization was the largest and most powerful political unit in all the prehistoric America. It has been argued that the whole of Inca achievement relied heavily on a variety of political, societal and religious infrastructures already in place before their ascendancy.
Karako: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A village site in Nara prefecture, Japan, of the Yayoi culture that is the type-site for the western Yayoi pottery chronology. Over 100 dwelling and storage pits contained pottery covering the whole span of the Yayoi period in this area. Organic materials were well-preserved, including baskets, wooden agricultural tools, a bundle of rice plants, melon seeds, nuts, and bones of wild boar, deer, dogs, and cattle. A bronze bell casting mold indicated craft production.
Knowth: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: One of the largest Neolithic burial grounds on the River Boyne in County Meath, Ireland. It is a circular burial mound containing two passage graves entered from opposite sides. The first is a large but simple passage grave, with several decorated stones but no evidence of corbelling. The second tomb, also a passage grave, has a corbel-vaulted burial chamber with three niches. One of these contained a stone basin ornamented with grooves and circular designs, and there is further carving on the walls of the tomb itself. The central mound was surrounded by at least 15 smaller tombs, each under its own cairn, and these 'satellite' tombs included both entrance graves and passage graves of cruciform plan. Knowth is one of the three principal elements of the Boyne Valley megalithic cemetery, dating from the 4th millennium BC. Knowth was later reoccupied in the early historic period when Souterrains were constructed within the mound. Excavations have also revealed the remains of the Early Christian royal center here, belonging to the Northern Brega known from the Irish annals.
lunula: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: pl. lunulae
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A crescent-shaped sheet of gold, probably worn as a collar or chest ornament in the Early Bronze Age, possibly for rituals. Their incised geometric decoration suggests is similar to that on bell beakers. They originated with the food vessel people of Ireland, Scotland, and perhaps Wales in the Early Bronze Age, and traded not only to southern England but also across to northern Europe. The decoration has led to the suggestion that it imitates the multiple-strand necklaces of jet and amber that are also found during the Early Bronze Age.
Masada: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Palestinian site with a great rock fortress-palace complex built by Herod the Great (37-4 BC). It lies west of the Dead Sea, where the last survivors of the First Jewish Rebellion (Zealots) of 70 AD defied the Roman army (66-73 AD), and whose siege works can still be traced. Although first fortified by the Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus (ruled 103-76 BC), Herod was the chief builder of Masada. His constructions (37-31 BC) included two ornate palaces (one of them on three levels), heavy walls, and aqueducts, which brought water to cisterns holding nearly 200,000 gallons. After Herod's death (4 BC), Masada was captured by the Romans, but the Jewish Zealots took it by surprise in AD 66. A synagogue and ritual bath discovered there are the earliest yet found in Palestine.
Matarrubilla: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A large passage grave near Seville, southern Spain, built during the Copper Age. The tomb was built mainly of dry stone walling and the chamber was roofed with a corbelled vault. A number of crouched inhumations were discovered, with rich grave goods including an ivory necklace and a clay sandal.
Mecca: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Mekka, Makkah, ancient Bakkah, Macoraba
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A caravan town on the route from southern Arabia to Palestine, the most holy city of Islam; it was the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, and is a religious center to which Muslims attempt a pilgrimage, or hajj, during their lifetime. Located in the Sirat Mountains in western Saudi Arabia, the focal point of the pilgrimage is the sanctuary which contains the Ka'bah which, according to Islamic tradition, Abraham and Ishmael built as the house of God. The Ka'bah was built before the advent of Islam in the 7th century and has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. Now entirely of stone, it was embellished (according to Mas'udi) with mosaic brought from a church at San'a in Yemen. The town was located about midway between Ma'rib in the south and Petra in the north, and it gradually developed by Roman and Byzantine times into an important trade and religious center. The holy book of Islam, the Qur'an, was revealed to the Prophet partly on Mount Arafat, just outside Mecca.
Merenptah (d. 1204 BC?): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Meneptah, Merenptah
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: The 13th son of his long-lived father, Ramesses II, Merneptah was nearing 60 years of age at his accession in about 1213. Because of the extraordinary length of the reign of Ramesses II (1279-1213 BC), at least twelve of his sons died before him, including Khaemwaset, who was for several years the appointed heir. Early in Merneptah's reign, his troops had to suppress a revolt in Palestine by the cities of Ashqelon, Gezer, and Yenoam. Merneptah's greatest challenge, however, came from the Libyans who were encroaching on Egyptian lands. About 1209, Merneptah learned that some Sea Peoples were roving the Middle East, had joined and armed the Libyans, and with them were conspiring to attack Memphis and Heliopolis. He is responsible for the great victory over the Libyans and Sea Peoples, in which they lost nearly 9,400 men. Merneptah ordered the carving of four great commemorative texts in celebration. One of these, the famous Israel Stela refers to the suppression of the revolt in Palestine. It contains the earliest-known reference to Israel, which Merneptah counted among the peoples that he defeated. Hebrew scholars suggest that the circumstances agree approximately with the period noted in biblical books from late Exodus to Judges. A fragmentary stela from the Sudan also suggests that the king quelled a rebellion in Lower Nubia, probably after his Palestinian exploits.
mitmaq: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A Quechua term for a group of itinerant people who frequently moved over long distances. The Inca used the establishment of colonies as a strategy for breaking up disloyal groups among rebellious ones; mitmaq were also used to colonize newly reclaimed land and to make it productive.
naveta: CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A type of megalithic chamber tomb shaped like an upturned boat with rounded prow and squared stern, peculiar to the island of Minorca and dating to the earlier part of the Bronze Age c 2200-1500 BC. Navetas found on the Balearic Islands date from c 1500-800 BC. Each had an elongated U-shaped plan, a vault roofed by corbelling and a flat or slightly concave façade. The gallery-shaped burial chamber is approached by a corridor through the thickness of the wall, and there is occasionally a porthole slab partially blocking it. The best preserved example is Els Tudons.
Neo-Babylonian: CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: A political and economic period of weakness during the early 1st millennium BC which ended with the absorption of Babylonia into the Neo-Assyrian empire by 688 BC. A rebellion in the 620s evicted the Assyrians and in alliance with Medes, they destroyed the Assyrian empire in 612 BC. Persia's Cyrus invaded and occupied Babylon in 539 BC.
Newgrange: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: New Grange
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The most famous and splendidly decorated of the Irish passage graves, part of the Boyne Valley cemetery, in Meath County. The kidney-shaped mound, dated to c 3100 BC, is over 100 meters in diameter and 13 meters high. The cairn itself was carefully made of alternate layers of stones and turf. A kerb of large stones carved with wavy lines, lozenges, triangles, etc. encloses the base of the mound. On either side of the entrance the green kerbstones were topped by a retaining wall of white quartz. Some distance from the original base of the mound is a surrounding circle of free-standing stones. The burial chamber, cruciform in plan, is roofed by corbelling and has three subsidiary cells; the tomb has a very long passage, 19 meters in length, and built of orthostats. Midwinter sunrise shines through an opening above the door to illuminate the central chamber, the clearest example of an astronomical orientation recorded from a European prehistoric monument. Many stones of both chamber and passage carry pecked designs including an unusual triple spiral. Excavation has shown that the upper surfaces of the capstones had drainage channels, as well as art which would have been invisible once the overlying cairn had been built. Traces of cremation burials were found in the cells of the chamber, and soil from a habitation site, possibly close to the tomb, had been used to pack the interstices of the passage roof. There are two radiocarbon dates around 3200 BC and the site was reoccupied after the tomb-builders had left it and the cairn had begun to slump by a group which used Late Neolithic and Beaker pottery.
niello: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: nigellum; Tula work
CATEGORY: artifact; geology
DEFINITION: Powdered sulfides of copper, silver and lead, heated and used to make a bluish-black plastic substance applied to metalwork. The material was soft; it was cast into the cut-out pattern on the object and polished flat. It was used particular to decorate the inlaid daggers of shaft grave circles at Mycenae. The art of chasing out lines or forms, and inlaying a black composition was probably well known to the Greeks. The Byzantines compounded silver, lead, sulfur, and copper, and laid it on the silver in a powder, then put it through a furnace, where it melted and incorporated with the solid metal. Germanic and Anglo-Saxon metalworkers also used the technique. Objects decorated with niello, called nielli, are usually small in scale. During the Renaissance, at the height of its popularity, the technique was widely used for the embellishment of liturgical objects and for the decoration of cups, boxes, knife handles, and belt buckles.
nuraghe: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: plural nuraghi; nurhag; Nuraghic culture
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A type of tower built of cyclopean masonry and peculiar to Sardinia from c 1500 BC until the Roman conquest of the island c 800 BC. They are circular stone defensive towers with corbel-vaulted internal chambers of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. The walls of the tower slope inwards towards the top, and there are commonly two or more stories. Each floor consists of a single round room roofed by corbelling and sometimes provided with lateral cells. The turrets were as high as 30-60 feet, and some nuraghi contain stones of 100 cubic feet each in their structure. The more complex examples consist of several towers, courtyards, and curtain walls, and many nuraghi (e.g. Barumini) are surrounded by substantial outer fortifications with further stone towers. Nuraghi continued to be built during the Phoenician and Carthaginian occupation of the island, right down to the Roman conquest. There are thousands of nuraghi in Sardinia and they remain a prominent feature of the island's landscape today. The Nuraghic culture is associated with a flourishing bronze industry which in its later stages produced a series of attractive figurines and votive models. The megalithic tombs known as 'tombe di giganti' belong to the monuments including sacred wells. The Corsican torre (torri) and Balearic Island talayots share many architectural features with the nuraghi of Sardinia.
Orongo: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A ceremonial village of 48 stone houses with corbelled roofs on the rim of Rano Kau volcanic crater on Easter Island. Famous as the gathering-place for the annual 'birdman' ceremony which took place on the island, the Orongo village was probably built in the 16th century AD and the ceremony itself continued until c1878. Adjacent to the village are rock carvings (petroglyphs) of birdmen holding eggs. The corbelled houses are unique in Oceania and South American parallels have been claimed for them.
passage grave: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: passage tomb
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A category of megalithic or chambered tomb in which there is a burial chamber and a separate passage into the tomb; the chamber is reached from the edge of the covering mound via a long passage. It includes the earliest known megalithic graves of Europe, dating from about 5000 BC (in Brittany). The diagnostic features are a round mound covering a burial chamber (often roofed by corbelling) approached by a narrower entrance passage. The distinction between passage and funerary chamber proper is very marked. The origin of the passage grave is unclear. Passage graves occur throughout the area where megalithic tombs occur in Europe, but have a predominantly western distribution. In some areas, passage graves were still being constructed in the Bronze Age.
Praia das Macas: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Two Chalcolithic chambered tombs near Lisbon, Portugal. In its first phase it was a simple rock-cut tomb and subsequently a passage grave with partially corbelled chamber was added. The rock-cut tomb contained decorated slate plaques and other material of Late Neolithic or early Chalcolithic type with a date of c 2300 BC. The later tomb, which blocked the entrance to the earlier tomb, contained about 150 burials, Beaker pottery, Palmela points, and a tanged dagger. Its date is 1690 BC.
protruding foot beaker: CATEGORY: artifact; culture
DEFINITION: The typical vessel of the Late Neolithic in the Netherlands with radiocarbon dates from c 3200-2400 BC. The basic form has a splayed neck, S-shaped profile, and flat everted base. It has cord ornament, dentate spatula impressions, or herringbone incisions. The vessel also defines the culture, which had burial in either a single flat grave or a pit under a barrow, and used the battle-ax. The culture represents the Dutch branch of the widespread corded ware-battle-ax complex, or single-grave cultures. In the Netherlands, there is some hybridization between the Protruding Foot Beaker culture and the Bell Beaker.
Qin Shihuangdi (fl. 247 BC-d. 210 BC): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Ch'in Shih Huang-ti; Qin Shi Huangdi; Chao Cheng
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: A boy king (Chao Cheng) who came to China's throne and completed the Ch'in conquests and in 221 created the Ch'in empire. He proclaimed himself Ch'in Shih Huang-ti (First Sovereign Emperor of Ch'in") and instituted a rigid authoritarian government. During the Ch'in Dynasty the writing system was standardized along with weights and measures and coinage. The Great Wall was also built. Rebellion erupted after Shihhuangdi's death in 210 BC. In 206 the dynasty was overthrown and replaced by the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). His tomb is the focal point of a vast mausoleum complex that includes a buried army of 7000 lifesized terra-cotta figures."
Saladoid series: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Saladero, Salader
CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: A group of related pottery styles found along the Orinoco River in Venezuela and named after the type site at Saladero. Saladoid pottery is thin and fine, painted with white or red designs, especially white-on-red; the utilitarian wares include flat plates or griddles for making manioc bread. The everted bell, often with tabular lugs, is the favored vessel form. The Saladoid tradition may have begun before 2000 BC and lasted in some area up to c 1000 AD. Some Saladoid groups migrated to Trinidad, Virgin Islands, and the Antilles during the early centuries AD, and this movement may represent the Arawak colonization of the West Indies.
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.
sese: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: pl. sesi
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: The name given to the Bronze Age tombs on the Mediterranean island of Pantelleria, between Sicily and Tunisia. The sesi are stone cairns containing 1-11 burial chambers, each consisting of a cell roofed by corbelling and approached by an entrance passage.
Skellig Michael: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The ruins of a Celtic monastery on the east coast of Ireland, one of the best preserved of the early Irish monasteries though possibly of the 8th century. The monastic complex includes two rectangular oratories with fine corbelled roofs, a later chapel, and a series of terrace walls known as the 'monks garden'; there are also six beehive huts in which the monks lived. The island suffered Viking raids but the monastery continued to be used until the 12th or 13th century.
Stanwick: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Largest late Iron Age earthwork fortification in Britain, in Richmond, Yorkshire, once called the largest 'hillfort'. It was constructed in the 1st century AD, probably in three phases. Phase I was a hillfort, which was partly demolished in Phase II (c 50-60) when a larger enclosure was added at the north. In Phase III (c 72), it was greatly enlarge to enclose the south side. Stanwick was probably a center of the Celtic Brigantes, an Iron Age tribe which always had a strong anti-Roman faction and was in rebellion between 50-70 AD. A hoard of Celtic metal objects, mainly chariot gear of the 1st century AD, was found close to the earthworks. The whole complex may have been designed to protect not only the people, but also the livestock -- including horses -- of a basically pastoralist economy. Some time between 69-72, Stanwick fell to the Romans and the site was abandoned. It is now thought to be an enclosed private estate or demesne containing residential compounds.
staple: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A fastener made in many forms to hold wire fencing, bell wire, electric cable, screening, etc.
talayot: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Talayotic culture
CATEGORY: structure; culture
DEFINITION: Massive dry-stone towers of the Bronze and Iron Age of the Balearic Islands, mainly Majorca and Minorca, c 1000-300 BC. In its oldest and most simple form, a talayot is a round tower built of large stone blocks. It may be solid, or enclose a single cell or chamber roofed by corbelling; there may niches in the wall. In other examples the roof is of flat slabs supported by a central pillar. From c 850 BC, square talayots were also built and some of these have a second chamber above the one on the ground floor. Many later became the center of a small village of dry-stone houses and enclosed by walls of Cyclopean masonry. The architecture shows resemblances to contemporary structures in Sardinia (the nuraghe) and in Corsica. The precise function of talayots is unknown, but they could have been used as lookout towers or as refuges in times of trouble. The tower has also given its name to the local Bronze age culture.
Teotihuacán: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Very important site north of Mexico City, at its peak c 450-650 AD the largest and most powerful city in Mesoamerica. It had its beginnings as one of a number of small agricultural settlements around the shores of ancient Lake Texcoco. Teotihuacán flourished by c 300/200 BC and by 100 AD, it had about 40,000 inhabitants. Archaeological work has provided more information about Teotihuacán than about any comparable Mexican site. Teotihuacán maintained extensive political and trade contacts with lowland Mexico, and is famed for its enormous public buildings and pyramids. At its heart is a complex of magnificent architecture including the massive Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon, the Cuidadela (probably an administrative center), and the Great Compound (probably a market place); there are no ball courts. The structures are distributed along a central roadway known as the Street of the Dead. After the destruction of Cuicuilco, Teotihuacan expanded and people were housed in apartment compounds which exhibit some social differentiation. Many of the inhabitants were craftsmen, and some 500 workshop sites have been identified. Four-fifths of those sites were devoted to obsidian working. Teotihuacán controlled the central highlands of Mexico, and was in contact with all the principal centers of civilization (Monte Albán, Tikal, etc.) as far as Belize. The influence of Teotihuacán during the Early Classic was considerable and most major centers have some Teotihuacán forms. Characteristic of Teotihuacán influence are Talud-Tablero architecture, images of Tlaloc, cylindrical tripod vases, Thin Orange Ware, murals, and stylized human face masks. There is very little massive stone sculpture except as architectural embellishments. The end of Teotihuacan came fairly suddenly. A decline in its influence at other sites was evident by c 600, but the city itself was not destroyed until 750. There is much evidence of burning from that time, indicating that the city may have been sacked --possibly by the Chichimecs. The city was never rebuilt, but a small population remained in the ruined city for more than a hundred years.
tholos: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: pl. tholoi; tholos tomb; beehive tombs
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A beehive-shaped tomb built of stone and roofed by corbelling, sometimes royal, characteristic of the Mycenaean civilization. In Greek architecture, the term is generally used for the burial chambers of certain passage graves of similar plan and construction. The round chamber had an attached rectilinear entrance passage, the most famous examples being the Treasury of Atreus and Tomb of Clytemnestra at Mycenae. The corbelling is trimmed to form a smooth surface, and the ornamental doorway is approached by a masonry-lined, horizontal passage or dromos. Such a tomb is set partly underground or sometimes built into the side of a hill. In classical archaeology the term can be applied to either temples or tombs.
Tiryns: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A fortified citadel of the Mycenaeans in the Argolid, Greece, an important Bronze Age center. The palace of its rulers, a megaron opening onto a porticoed court, was decorated with frescoes after the style of the Minoans. They include one of the best surviving representations of the bull-leaping rite and the fresco of a court lady carrying an ornamental casket. The walls of cyclopean masonry contain corbelled galleries, whose construction was attributed by the ancients to the Cyclopes from Lycia. The settlement was occupied from the Early Bronze Age, but the palace and the massive defensive wall were constructed c1400 BC. Excavation also revealed an Early Helladic structure. Tiryns was destroyed c1200 BC, like other Mycenaean sites.
torre: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: pl. torri
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: The name for circular dry-stone towerlike structures built in Corsica (mainly in the south) during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. They are typically of Cyclopean masonry and measure 10-15 meters in diameter and 3-7 meters in height; normally a narrow entrance opens into a central corbelled chamber, sometimes with subsidiary niches. The basic plan was often changed to incorporate natural rock formations or extra corridors. The oldest examples are of the early 2nd millennium BC. Although the torri are superficially similar to the Naragi of Sardinia and the Talayots of the Balearic Islands, they are considerably smaller and not effective as defenses or refuges.
trumpet: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A brass wind musical instrument sounded by lip vibration against a cup mouthpiece. It has been made of horn, conch, reed, or wood, with a horn or gourd bell, as well as the modern brass instrument. The metal trumpet dates from the 2nd millennium BC in Egypt, when it was a small ritual or military instrument sounding only one or two notes. In the Late Bronze Age, it was made by riveting sheet bronze into the shape of a cattle horn.
tuyère: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A metal nozzle through which the air is forced into a forge, hearth, kiln, or furnace from the bellows. In antiquity it was usually of clay, and often survives as the only evidence for a metalworking site. This short tube made of clay, through which the air from bellows could be blown into a furnace, was used to produce the high temperatures required for metalworking and smelting.
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.
Xiasi: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Hsia-hsu
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Eastern Zhou (Chou) cemetery site in southwestern Honan province, China. Nine large tombs, five chariot burials, and 16 lesser tombs have been excavated. More than 200 bronze ritual vessels and bells were found in the large tombs and represent Chu bronzecasting. The Xiasi bronzes include the earliest cire perdue castings yet known from China, used to cast the openwork parts of a bronze table and the flamboyant handles, feet, and lid knobs of vessels. Dates are 6th century BC.
Xinyang: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Hsin-yang
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: City in southern Honan province, China, traditionally on a cultural divide between the plains and the hilly districts. The area has been settled since early times. Neolithic remains have been discovered in several sites, and important finds from the southern culture of Ch'u (722-220 BC) have also been made in the vicinity. Two large Ch'u tombs of the 4th century BC have been excavated, which included 13 bronze bells and many fine painted lacquers.
Xinzheng: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Hsin-cheng
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Area in central Honan province, China, with an Eastern Zhou (Chou) tomb which was ransacked. More than a hundred bronze ritual vessels and bells said to belong to the find are now divided among museums in Beijing and Taibei. The vessels, of the 8th-6th centuries BC, show a change to more elegant forms, often decorated with an allover pattern of tightly interlaced serpents; vessels may be set about with tigers and dragons modeled in the round and topped with flaring, petaled lids. The name of the site is now attached to these patterns. A group of monumental vessels found at Xinzheng and affiliated with Ch'u bronzes are not of this style.
Yahudiyah, Tell al-: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ancient Naytahut, Leontopolis; Tell el-Yahudiyah
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: City in the eastern Delta of Egypt dating from at least Middle Kingdom until the Roman period, c 2000 BC-200 AD. During the 19th and 20th Dynasties, the royal palace at Tell al-Yahudiyah was embellished with remarkable polychrome tiles, many of which bear figures of captive foreigners.
Yayoi: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Yayoi period
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Protohistoric period of Japan, 300 BC-300 AD, which replaced the Jomon period and precedes the Kofun. It is marked by the strengthening of mainland influences from Korea and China, as shown by the appearance of bronze and, later, iron, wet-rice growing, the potter's wheel, and cist and jar burials. These changes were absorbed into the Jomon tradition, which was only gradually replaced. Local developments include the great decorated bronze bells and Late Yayoi mound-burials foreshadow the mounded tombs of the Kofun. Large quantities of bronzes and glass imported from China. It is generally divided into three parts: Early (300-100 BC), Middle (100 BC-100 AD), and Late (100-300 AD) -- dates based mainly on imported Chinese bronze mirrors, because the radiocarbon dates for Yayoi tend to be erratic. Yayoi pottery is less ornate than Jomon ware, but is made and fired in basically the same way. It also incorporates Mumun pottery (from Korea) techniques and is related to the Haji pottery of the Kofun period. Apart from the pottery, the Yayoi culture is characterized by definite evidence of agriculture and the use of metal tools. Yayoi houses were semi-subterranean or built at ground level. A series of settlements, a large one with several smaller ones, seem to have formed a community, which was often moated.

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