Archaeology Wordsmith

Results for feature:

bedrock feature: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A feature constructed into bedrock that does not fit any other feature type.
constructed feature: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A feature deliberately built to provide a setting for one or more activities, such as a house, storeroom, or burial chamber.
cumulative feature: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A feature that has been formed without deliberate construction or constraints. The feature results from accretion, for example, in a midden, or subtraction, for example, in a quarry.
feature: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A nonmoveable/nonportable element of an archaeological site. It is any separate archaeological unit that is not recorded as a structure, a layer, or an isolated artifact; a wall, hearth, storage pit, or burial area are examples of features. A feature carries evidence of human activity and it is any constituent of an archaeological site which is not classed as a find, layer, or structure.
feature interface: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: Unit of stratification resulting from the destruction of pre-existing stratification, rather than by the deposition of soils.
feature record: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A comprehensive and detailed summary of how a given feature was excavated, what was found in or associated with it, and an interpretation of what the feature represents.
feature termination: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: feature fracture
CATEGORY: lithics
DEFINITION: A gradual thinning of a lithic flake at the distal end to an extremely sharp point or edge.
horizontal feature interface: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The area associated with upstanding units of stratification and marking the interfacial levels to which the units have been dug.
vertical feature interface: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A unit marking a distinct event, such as the digging of a pit, and resulting in the destruction of pre-existing stratification.
activity area: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A place where a specific ancient activity was located or carried out, such as food preparation or stone toolmaking. The place usually corresponded to one or more features and associated artifacts and ecofacts. In American archaeology, the term describes the smallest observable component of a settlement site. See data cluster.
actualistic study: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Detailed observation of the actual use of archaeological artifacts, ecofacts, and features, used to produce general analogies for archaeological interpretation.
aerial archaeology: CATEGORY: branch
DEFINITION: The study and location of archaeological sites and features through the use of aerial observation, photography, and surveys.
aerial photographic map: CATEGORY: tool
DEFINITION: A map of a site, feature, or region made through aerial photography. Professional photographic and cartographic techniques make possible the preparation of contour maps and three-dimensional models of surfaces.
aerial photography: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: air photography, aerophotography, aerial reconnaissance
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A technique of photographic observation and survey of the ground from an aircraft, spacecraft, or satellite which provides detailed information about sites and features without excavation. It is most important for locating archaeological sites before destruction of the landscape through building, road construction, or modern agricultural practices. When viewed from the air, sites may be revealed as crop marks, soil marks, shadow marks, or frost marks. For example, the plan of a site, ditches, walls, pits, etc. can be reflected in the way the crops grew (crop marks) or a pattern of dark occupation soil may show against a lighter topsoil or stone from walls may be just under the surface (soil marks). Oblique aerial photos, from lower altitudes, detect shadows created by earthworks and permit more detailed interpretations of known sites (shadow marks). Variations in the amount of frost retained on the ground may indicate the presence of buried archaeological features (frost marks). Though these can sometimes be recognized on the ground by careful fieldwalking and contour planning, much larger areas can be examined from the air and overall patterns will be clearer. The same site may not be susceptible every year to aerial photographs, as local climatic variation affects the nature of the feature fillings; a site may only be seen once in ten or twenty years. The use of false-color infrared photography has increased the versatility of aerial photography and the development of photogrammetry allows the accurate mapping of both archaeological and geographical information. Recording of thermographic and radar images complements photographic methods. Aerial photography has proved to be one of the most successful methods of discovering archaeological sites. Large areas of ground can be covered quickly, and the ground plan of a new site can be plotted from the photographs. Features can be revealed in extraordinary detail by these means. The pioneers of this technique were O.G.S. Crawford and Major Allen in Britain and Père Poidebard in Syria, though its first use goes back to 1906 at Stonehenge.
agora: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: plural agorae
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: In ancient Greek cities, an open space, serving as a commercial, political, religious, and social center. The word, first found in Homer, was applied by the Greeks of the 5th century BC in regard to this feature of their daily life. It was often a square or rectangle, surrounded by public and or sacred buildings and colonnades. The colonnades, sometimes containing shops (stoae) often enclosed the space, which was decorated with altars, fountains, statues, and trees. There were several kinds of agora, (1) archaic, where the colonnades and other buildings were not coordinated, and Athens is an example of this, (2) Ionic, more symmetrical, often combining colonnades to form either three sides of a rectangle or square, often with two or more courtyards, such as Miletus and Magnesia. In highly developed agora, like that of Athens, each trade or profession had its own quarter. It also served for theatrical and athletic performances until special buildings and places were made for those purposes. Under the Romans, it became a forum where one side was a vast basilica and the rest colonnades.
Agrelo culture: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: The Agrelo culture was centered in northwestern Argentina and dates from AD 1 to 1000. The type site is just south of Mendoza and it features distinctive deep, wide-mouthed pottery with parallel stepped incised lines, punctations, and fingernail impressions, typical of southern Andean tradition. Pottery spindle whorls, crude figurines, labrets, clubheads, triangular projectile points, and beads of stone have been found. Pit inhumations were marked by stone circles. The Agrelo represents the agriculture-pottery threshold in this semi-arid area. Nearby coastal pottery styles (Cienega, El Molle) may be precursors to Agrelo.
Amudian: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Amud
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A culture and industry close to the Sea of Galilee near Tiberias, Israel. There are several important caves, including Emireh, the type site of the Emiran, and Zuttiyeh, the type site of the Amudian. These demonstrate the early occurrence of Upper Palaeolithic blades and burins even earlier than the Mousterian and its flake tools. The Amud cave is Mousterian or Emiran and in 1961 the skeletal remains were found of two adults and two children estimated to have lived about 50,000-60,000 years ago (remains held in the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum, Jerusalem). They consist of a skeleton of an adult male about 25 years old, a fragment of an adult jaw, and skull fragments of infants. The skeleton has an exceptionally large brain (1800 cc). The remains suggest that they are part of a group known as Near Eastern Neanderthal man. This group represents a mixture of West Asian features similar to those of fossils found in 1957 in Iraq that were estimated to date from about 46,000 years ago and those of the Upper Paleolithic people who lived in southwestern France and the Middle East from about 10,000 to 35,000 years ago. These findings provide more evidence that Neanderthal man was a highly varied species who lived in much of the Northern Hemisphere, except the New World. Amudian material has been recognized at the cave of et-Tabun (Mount Carmel) and at sites like Jabrud, Adlun, and the Abri Zumoffen in the Levant. It has been suggested that the Amudian may have been ancestral to subsequent Upper Palaeolithic industries of the Middle East, hence the name 'pre-Aurignacian' which has sometimes been given to industries of Amudian type.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: A chronological account of events in Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, a compilation of seven surviving annals that is the primary source of the early history of England. Believed to have been started around 870, during the reign of King Alfred (871-899), it was mostly finished by 891 though further accounts were added until 1154. The annals were probably written in the monasteries of Abingdon, Canterbury, Peterborough, Winchester, and Worcester. They include vivid accounts of the Viking raids, Alfred's reign, and the period of anarchy under Stephen. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle also included the Venerable Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum" genealogies regnal and episcopal lists some northern annals and some sets of earlier West Saxon annals. The compiler also had access to a set of late 9th-century Frankish annals. The completeness and quality of the entries vary for different periods; the Chronicle has sparse coverage of the mid-10th century and the reign of Canute for example but is an excellent authority for the reign of Aethelred the Unready and from the reign of Edward the Confessor until the annal ends in 1154. The Chronicle survived in seven manuscripts (one of these being destroyed in the 18th century) and a fragment which are generally known by letters of the alphabet. The oldest the A version is written in one hand up till 891 and then continued in various hands. The B version and the C version are copies made at Abingdon from a lost archetype. B ends at 977 whereas C which is an 11th-century copy ends mutilated in 1066. The D version and the E version share many features. D which was written up until 1079 probably remained in the north whereas the archetype of E was taken south and continued at St. Augustine's Canterbury and was used by the scribe of manuscript F. The extant manuscript E is a copy made at Peterborough written in one stretch until 1121. It is the version that was continued longest. The F version is an abridgment in both Old English and Latin made in the late 11th or early 12th century based on the archetype of E but with some entries from A and it extends to 1058. The fragment H deals with 1113-14 and is independent of E."
anthropomorph: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: anthropomorphic figure; anthropomorphism (n.); anthropomorphous (adj.)
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A representation of the human form in art, such as those found on ancient pottery. A figure, object, or rock art with or using a human shape. The term also refers to the attribution of human features and behaviors to animals, inanimate objects, or natural phenomena.
anthropomorphic: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: anthropomorphous
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Manlike; used to describe artifacts or art work decorated with human features or with a man-like appearance
archaeoastronomy: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: astroarchaeology
CATEGORY: branch
DEFINITION: The study of the relationship between prehistoric knowledge of astronomical events through calendars, observatory sites, and astronomical images in art and past cultural behavior. The field includes the study of mathematical correlations between archaeological features and the movements of celestial bodies. Some sites (Stonehenge, New Grange) show a definite interest in simple solar observations. Ancient astronomical knowledge can be inferred through the study of the alignments and other aspects of these archaeological sites.
archaeological data: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: archeological data
CATEGORY: term; technique
DEFINITION: Material collected and recorded as significant evidence by an archaeologist. Archaeological data falls into four classes: artifacts, ecofacts, features, and structures.
archaeological site: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: site; archeological site
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Any concentration of artifacts, ecofacts, features, and structures manufactured or modified by humans.
archaeology: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: archeology (from archaia"
CATEGORY: and "logos"
DEFINITION: science knowledge or theory)" branch The scientific study and reconstruction of the human past through the systematic recovery of the physical remains of man's life and cultures. Artifacts, structures, settlements, materials, and features of prehistoric or ancient peoples are surveyed and / or excavated to uncover history in times before written records. Archaeology also supplements the study of recorded history. From the end of the 18th century onwards, archaeology has come to mean the branch of learning which studies the material remains of man's past. Its scope is, therefore, enormous, ranging from the first stone tools made and fashioned by man over 3 million years ago in Africa, to the garbage thrown into our trash cans and taken to city dumps and incinerators yesterday. The objectives of archaeology are to construct cultural history by ordering and describing the events of the past, study cultural process to explain the meaning of those events and what underlies and conditions human behavior, and reconstruct past lifeways. Among the specialties in the field are: archaeobiology, archaeobotany, archaeozoology, and social archaeology. Modern archaeology, often considered a subdiscipline of anthropology, has become increasingly scientific and relies on a wide variety of experts such as biologists, geologists, physicists, sociologists, anthropologists, and historians. The methods appropriate to different periods vary, leading to specialized branches of the subject, e.g. classical, medieval, industrial, etc., archaeology.
archaeomagnetic dating: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: archaeomagnetic intensity dating, archaeomagnetism, palaeointensity dating, archaeomagnetic age determination
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A chronometric method used to date objects containing magnetic materials -- especially for buried undisturbed features such as pottery kilns, earthen fireplaces, and brick walls -- which can be compared to known schedules of past magnetic alignments within a region and fluctuations in the earth's magnetic field. Clay and rocks contain magnetic minerals and when heated above a certain temperature, the magnetism is destroyed. Upon cooling, the magnetism returns, taking on the direction and strength of the magnetic field in which the object is lying. Therefore, pottery which is baked in effect fossilizes" the Earth's magnetic field as it was the moment of their last cooling (their archaeomagnetism or remanent magnetism). In areas where variations in the Earth's magnetic field are known it is possible to date a pottery sample on a curve. This method yields an absolute date within about 50 years."
Argos: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Argos (meaning agricultural plain)"
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: City in the northeastern Peloponnese of Greece, just north of the head of the Gulf of Argolis. The name was applied to several districts of ancient Greece but it is most often used to describe the easternmost part of the Peloponnesian peninsula and the city of Argos was its capital. Homer described it as the fertile plain inhabited by Agamemnon, Diomedes, and other heroes in the Iliad". The site was probably occupied since the Neolithic / Early Bronze Age and was very prominent in Mycenaean times (c 1300-1200 BC). Argos was probably the base of Dorian operations in the Peloponnese c 1100-1000 BC and from then on the dominant city-state of Argolis until it allied itself with Sparta after the Peloponnesian War in 420 BC. In 392 it broke with Sparta to unite with Corinth in the Corinthian War. Argos later joined the Achaean League (229) and Argos became its center after the Roman conquest and destruction of Corinth (146). The city flourished in Byzantine times and did not decline until around 1204 AD. One tyrant Pheidon is thought to have introduced primitive coinage and a weights and measures system. Archaeological excavations began in 1854 on the Argive Heraeum and Argos was famed for its connection with the goddess Hera. There was a natural sanctuary there long before the Dorians came c 1100-1000 BC. The shrine is reported to be of extreme antiquity. The statue of Hera for a new 5th-century temple was done by the celebrated sculptor Polycleitus whose work was said to rival that of Pheidias the sculptor of the Parthenon. There is material evidence of Neolithic Early and Middle Bronze Age a Mycenaean cemetery with chamber tombs Geometric and Archaic features and ruins of the classical and Roman city. The Larisa hill was evidently the Mycenaean acropolis and citadel holding a classical temple. There was also a Roman theater and small odeum. The site is mostly covered by the modern city."
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."
assemblage: CATEGORY: artifact; term
DEFINITION: A group of objects of different or similar types found in close association with each other and thus considered to be the product of one people from one period of time. Where the assemblage is frequently repeated and covers a reasonably full range of human activity, it is described as a culture; where it is repeated but limited in content, e.g. flint tools only (a set of objects in one medium), it is called an industry. When a group of industries are found together in a single archaeological context, it is called an assemblage. Such a group characterizes a certain culture, era, site, or phase and it is the sum of all subassemblages. Assemblage examples are artifacts from a site or feature.
Bacho Kiro: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A cave in central Bulgaria with Mousterian levels and Upper Palaeolithic levels -- some with Aurignacian features. The earliest Upper Palaeolithic levels seem to be c 43,000 BC.
beetle: CATEGORY: fauna
DEFINITION: Any member of the insect order Coleoptera, with at least 250,000 species (the largest order in the animal kingdom), characterized by their special forewings, which are modified into hardened wing covers (elytra) that cover a second pair of functional wings. The order includes some of the largest and smallest insects and is the most widely distributed insect order. Beetles can be found in all environments except Antarctica and the peaks of the highest mountains. Most feed either upon other animals or upon plants, but some eat decaying matter. Many beetles are very dependent on particular features of their environment; some, for example, live only in the bark of a particular tree. It is this particularity" that makes beetles useful for reconstructing ancient environments. Parts of the tough beetle exo-skeleton may be well-preserved in acidic or waterlogged conditions (as in peats silts and lake clays). The temperature preferences of beetles may be determined from the fossils making it possible to reconstruct climatic changes. Beetles can also be used to investigate changes in vegetation living conditions and food-storage problems."
Big Horn Medicine Wheel: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A medicine wheel in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming that consists of a D-shaped stone cairn from which 28 individual stone spokes radiate. The outer circumference has six smaller cairns. The feature may be astronomically aligned.
bipedalism: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: (adj. bipedal)
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Having two feet or, specifically, designating a lifeform that uses its two hind feet for walking or running. The term also describes the method of movement marked by habitual walking on two legs. Bipedalism is a fundamental feature used to define hominids.
bison jump: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A steep cliff or other natural feature used to kill stampeding buffalo.
Black-and-red ware: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: black and red ware
CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: Any Indian pottery with black rims and interior and red on the outside, due to firing in the inverted position, which was made beginning in the Iron Age. Characteristic forms include shallow dishes and deeper bowls. It first appeared on late sites of the Indus civilization and was a standard feature of the Banas culture. This ware has been found throughout much of the Indian peninsula with dates of the later 2nd and early 1st millennium BC. In the first millennium it became widespread in association with iron and megalithic monuments. In the Ganges Valley it post-dates ochre-colored pottery and generally precedes painted gray ware.
bowsing: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: bosing
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A technique used to locate features beneath the surface, such a buried chambers or ditches, by thumping the ground and sensing the differences between compacted and undisturbed earth. A resulting resonant sound may indicate a buried chamber or pit. It is an unsophisticated but effective method of searching for earthworks at archaeological sites, especially in chalk subsoil. Wooden mallets or lead-filled tools are examples of implements used. The verb 'bose' or 'bowse' means to test the ground for the presence of buried structures by noting the sound of percussion from a weighted striker.
Brak, Tell: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Brak, Tall Birak at-Tahtani
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A tell on the upper Khabur River in Syria which had an Akkadian fortress and garrison and was occupied from at least the Halaf and Ubaid period until the mid-2nd millennium BC. On the Syrian-Iraqi border, it was a powerful fortress on the imperial line of communication and its most important remains are the four 'Eye Temples' of the Jemdet Nasr period, c 3000 BC. They are so-called for the large number of small, flat alabaster figurines of which the eyes are the only recognizable features. Eye temples were decorated with clay cones, copper panels, and gold work, in a style very similar to that found in the contemporary temples of Sumer. Halaf, Ubaid, and Uruk sherds have been found. When the site became a frontier post of the kingdom of Akkad, a palace was built by Naram-Sin c 2280 BC, and it became a depot for the storage of tribute and loot. The city was plundered after the fall of the Akkadian empire, but the palace was rebuilt in the Ur III period by Ur Nammu. A Roman fort was built there later.
bulbar scar: CATEGORY: lithics
DEFINITION: The irregularly shaped scar on the bulb of percussion of a struck flint flake. It marks the place where a small piece of flint is dislodged during fracture. The bulbar surface is the surface upon which the bulb of percussion occurs. This fracture pattern is evident by a bruised striking platform at the point of impact with shock waves radiating from it and, on the resultant flake, a bulb of percussion and bulbar scar. When these features are present, it is possible to distinguish human workmanship from natural breakage caused by heat or frost.
Burrup Peninsula: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A rich archaeological area on the northwest coast of Western Australia with 10,000+ engravings on rocks, including geometric figures of humans and animals. Artifacts and features are quarries, shell middens, standing stones, and dry-stone walls and terraces. The site dates range from 6700-200 bp.
capital: CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: In architecture, the feature that most readily distinguishes the Classical order": the top member of a column pier anta pilaster or other columnar form which supports a horizontal member (entablature) or arch above. A capital is usually made of wood or stone and its decoration was according to the Corinthian Doric or Ionic order."
Capsian and Capsian Neolithic: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Capsian industry
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A Mesolithic/Stone Age (8000 BC-2700 BC) cultural complex prominent in inland northern Africa near the present border between Tunisia and Algeria. Its shell midden sites are in the area of the great salt lakes of what is now southern Tunisia, the type site being Jabal al-Maqta'. The tool kit of the Capsian is a classic example of the industries of the late Würm Glacial Period and it is apparently related to the Gravettian stage of Europe's Perigordian industry (which dates from about 17,000 years ago). However, it occurs in Neothermal (postglacial) times and, like its predecessor, the Ibero-Maurusian industry (Oranian industry), the Capsian was a microlithic tool complex. It differed from the Ibero-Maurusian, however, in having a far more varied tool kit with large backed blades, scrapers, backed bladelets, microburins, and burins in its earlier phase and a gradual development of geometric microliths later. These became its leading feature by the 6th millennium BC. Shortly after 5000 BC, pottery and domesticated animals were introduced. Some North African rock paintings are attributed to people of the Capsian industry. The Capsian Neolithic, with pointed-base pottery and a stone industry, lasted from c 6200-5300 BP, in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria and the northern Sahara. The name derives from Capsa, the Latin form of Gafsa, a town in south central Tunisia where such artifacts were first discovered. Hunting and snail-collecting seem to have formed the basis of the economy. Human remains from Capsian sites are mostly of Mechta-Afalou type.
carination: CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: A sharp break or angle in the curve of the profile of a container or vessel, which resulted in a projecting angle or arris. On ancient jars or pots, it appeared as a sharply angled shoulder dividing the neck from the body of the vessel. It has been considered to be a purely stylistic feature derived from metal prototypes, but it may also be that carination may have had a practical function -- for example, for retaining dregs from a liquid while pouring.
Cayönü Tepesi: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site on a tributary of the Tigris River in eastern Turkey with occupation dating from c 7500-6500 BC. There are impressive architectural remains with stone foundations and evidence of a farming and hunting community. The latest phase included domesticated sheep and goats. Einkorn wheat was cultivated as well as emmer wheat, peas, and lentils. Another important feature of this site was the very early appearance of simple copper objects, derived from closeby Ergani Maden. Also, clay bricks, baked figurines, and pottery have been found.
ceremonial center: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: In the prehistoric New World, a complex of buildings that served as the focus of religious and governmental activities, differing from a village or town. These buildings were used at prescribed times by the peoples lived in a dispersed areas. Permanent residence was restricted to very few people on these sites, usually the elite and their retainers. Sites such as Teotihuacan, Tikal, and Monte Alban, have been interpreted as ceremonial centers. However, subsequent fieldwork beyond the major architectural features has shown that many sites were directly associated with large populations and thus challenges the original premise of their being ceremonial centers. Other more valid examples may be La Venta and San Lorenzo.
Ch'ü-chia-ling culture: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Neolithic culture of central China in the middle and lower Yangtze River valley in the 4th and 3rd millennia. It followed the Yang-Shao culture and preceded the Lung-Shan culture and shared a significant number of traits with the Ta-hsi culture. There was cultivation of rice, flat polished axes, ring-footed vessels, goblets with sharply angled profiles, ceramic whorls, and black pottery with designs painted in red after firing. Characteristic Ch'ü-chia-ling ceramic objects include eggshell-thin goblets and bowls painted with black or orange designs; double-waisted bowls; tall, ring-footed goblets and serving stands; and many styles of tripods. The whorls suggest a thriving textile industry. The chronological distribution of ceramic features suggests a transmission from Ta-hsi to Ch'ü-chia-ling, but the precise relationship between the two cultures is not known.
Chephren (fl late 26th c BC): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Khafre, Khephren, Khafra, Souphis
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: The fourth king of the 4th Dynasty (c 2575-2465 BC) of Egypt, Cheops' (Khufu) son. Chephren erected the second pyramid of the Giza group as well as the Great Sphinx. He reigned c 2540 BC. The middle pyramid was and measures 707 3/4 feet (216 m) on each side and was originally 471 feet (143 m) high. Many consider the Great Sphinx to bear Chephren/Khafre's features.
Chiripa: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An early village site on the southern end of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, dating to the Early and Middle Horizon. Late Chiripa pottery of the Early Horizon Period (1800-200 BC) is decorated with cream on red color zones, separated by incised lines. Early pottery is a cream-on-white ware, decorated with geometric designs. The common form is a flat-bottomed, vertical-sided open bowl. The artistic style is linked to Pucara and Tiahuanaco. There is a series of rectangular rooms, some with underfloor stone-lined graves, arranged around a rectangular plaza. An unusual feature is the storage space between the double walls of some structures.
Cishan: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Tz'u-shan
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An early Neolithic millet-cultivating site in China. Features include pithouses, storage pits, and burials with artifacts including querns, ground-stone sickles, tripod vessels, and bone and stone fishing and hunting implements. Animal domestication is also attested to the site, dating to the early 6th millennium BC.
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.
composite soil: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: welded soil, superimposed soil, polypedomorphic soil
CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: A soil profile that forces its features upon more than one parent material.
compressed stratigraphy: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Deposition of artifacts and features that has not occurred in discernable layers or is lacking in significant depth overall.
conjoining: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: refitting; rejoining
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The refitting or rejoining of artifact or ecofact fragments, especially those of struck stone flakes to recreate the original core. Such studies allow definition of cumulative features, such as the lithic artifact and debitage scatters. The technique allow may allow reconstruction of ancient manufacture and use behavior.
context: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: archaeological context
CATEGORY: term; technique
DEFINITION: The time and space setting of an artifact, feature, or culture. The context of a find is its position on a site, its relationship through association with other artifacts, and its chronological position as revealed through stratigraphy. Certain features or artifacts may be normally associated with particular contexts, for example a pottery type may be found in the context of certain burials. If such an artifact is found out of context, it may suggest the previous presence of a burial, the robbery of a burial, or a place of manufacture of the pots that accompanied burials. An artifact's context usually consists of its immediate matrix (the material surrounding it e.g. gravel, clay, or sand), its provenience (horizontal and vertical position within the matrix), and its association with other artifacts (occurrence together with other archeological remains, usually in the same matrix). The assessment of context includes study of what has happened to the find since it was buried in the ground.
context, systematic: CATEGORY: term; technique
DEFINITION: Artifacts and features as they functioned in the behavioral system that produced or used them.
contextual seriation: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: sequence dating
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A seriation technique, also called sequence dating, pioneered by Sir Flinders Petrie in the 19th century, in which artifacts are arranged according to the frequencies of their co-occurrence in specific contexts -- usually burials. This relative dating method, based on shared typological features, enabled Sir Flinders Petrie to establish the temporal order of a large number of Egyptian graves.
Copts: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: The Christian population of Egypt whose church rituals and traditions date from before the Arab conquest of the 7th century. Their art is largely borrowed from Syria, Sassanian Persia, and the Egyptian past, sometimes using Christianized symbols from ancient Egyptian religion. Although the Coptic Church survives, Copts made little contribution to art after the 9th century when Islamic art merged with it. Many Copts preserve in their facial and body features the characteristics of the people of Pharaonic Egypt. The Copts are most numerous in the middle Nile Valley muhafazat of Asyut, al-Minya, and Qina. About one-fourth of the total Coptic population lives in Cairo.
core sampling: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: coring
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A subsurface detection technique using a hollow metal tube driven into the ground to lift a column of earth for stratigraphic study. This technique is used in underground or undersea exploration. A core sample is a roughly cylindrical piece of subsurface material removed by a special drill and brought to the surface for examination. Such a sample reveals the properties of underground rock, such as its porosity and permeability and allows investigation of the features of a given strata.
court cairn: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Clyde-Carlingford tomb
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A type of Neolithic (c 3500 BC) chamber tomb common in southwest Scotland and northern Ireland. Its features include an elongated rectangular or trapeze-shaped cairn with an unroofed semicircular forecourt at one end. The courtyard gives access to the burial chamber proper, which is normally a gallery with two or more chambers separated by jambs, or by a combination of jambs and sills. This basic form sometimes called a 'horned cairn' has many variants. In the 'lobster-claw' or 'full court', cairns the wings of the facade curve around until they almost meet at the front of the tomb to enclose a circular or oval forecourt. Sometimes a cairn contains more than one tomb or there are subsidiary chambers. Court cairns continued to be used until the end of the Neolithic period around 2200 BC. The later court cairns share many features with the Severn-Cotswold tombs of southwest Britain and with the transepted gallery graves near the river Loire.
crop mark: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: cropmark
CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: Variations in the color or growth of surface vegetation that indicate the outline of buried archaeological features, such as walls, pits, or buildings; visible by aerial observation or photography. These indications are revealed by the abnormal growth of overlying crops. Buried archaeological features such as walls stunt crop growth; ditches increase crop growth. Buried pits and ditches may retain moisture better than the surrounding subsoil and during a dry spell plant growth is often enhanced over such features.
cultural group: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A complex of regularly occurring associated artifacts, features, burial types, and house forms comprising a distinct identity.
culture core: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Technological, organizational, and ideological features most directly related to meeting the most important material needs of a society.
Cumbrian club: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A term given to a distinctive type of large polished stone axe of middle Neolithic date made in the Lake District of northwest England. Also known as a ?Cumbrian-type' stone axe. The main features of a Cumbrian club are its large size (150-380mm long), broad-butted form, long, narrow proportions, its maximum width more or less in the middle of its length, and a distinct ?waisting' of constriction towards the butt end. All known examples are made of Langdale tuff (Group VI), examples being traded out from the Lake District to most other parts of the British Isles. The large size of these implements suggests they are ceremonial, prestige, or display objects.
datum point: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: datum
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The point on an archaeological site from which all measurements of level and contour are taken. It is the reference point used for vertical and horizontal measurement. It can be chosen at random, at a place from which all or most of the site can be seen, and should be tied in to the national standard, usually sea level, by reference to the nearest survey point. Depths of features, of objects found in features, or simply contours, are leveled in with reference to the datum point, and are usually recorded as being a certain height 'below local datum'. Should variations in contour or the extent of the site prove too great for a single datum point, another can be used as long as it is leveled in with reference to the first. A site grid and excavation units are laid out or measured with reference to this point.
Deichmann, Friedrich Wilhelm (1909-?): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: German archaeologist who made contributions concerning Early Christian architecture in the Mediterranean. His detailed studies of features and styles were published in Frühchristliche Bauten and Mosaiken von Ravenna" (1958) and "Ravenna Hauptstadt des spätantiken Abendlandes" 2 vol. in 5 (1969-1989)."
Dereivka: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Dereivca
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A Late Neolithic settlement site located on the river Omifinev in the Ukraine and dated to the 3rd millennium BC. A site of the Sredni Stog culture includes a cemetery of the Mariupol type, with 100+ extended inhumations arranged in groups. Adjacent to the cemetery is the settlement with Dnieper-Donets pottery, traces of dwellings, hearths, and other features.
differential fluxgate gradiometer: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: fluxgate gradiometer, differential fluxgate magnetometer, magnetometer
CATEGORY: tool
DEFINITION: A magnetic surveying instrument used in subsurface detection that records changes in the intensity of a magnetic field. Readings can be obtained continually rather than as individual spot measurements of a proton magnetometer. However, it is an expensive alternative to the proton gradiometer. Its electronics involve two detectors with mu-metal strips of a staff which is carried vertically; an initial pure sine-wave voltage is applied, and the difference in intensities observed between the two detectors corresponds to disturbance in the magnetic field cause by baked clay or buried features. These differences are displayed on the instrument's meter.
differential heat analysis: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: differential thermal analysis
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A remote sensing technique in which the variability in heat absorption and dissemination is used to plot hidden archaeological features. In analytical chemistry, this technique is used for identifying and quantitatively analyzing the chemical composition of substances by observing the thermal behavior of a sample as it is heated.
direct age determination: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The determination of the age of archaeological data by analysis of an artifact, ecofact, or feature.
directional filter: CATEGORY: geography
DEFINITION: A type of image filter used in digital image processing to identify linear features that possess a particular orientation. It allows a data surface" of any chosen vertical scale to be "illuminated" from various directions and elevations to make subtle anomalies visible mimicking the effects of low sunlight on earthworks with the flexibility of computer manipulation."
ditch: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A common feature of archaeological sites in association with defensive structures, as a means of drainage, or as a construction trench. A ditch was usually dug outside the walls of forts, fortresses and so on, as part of the defenses, and was often filled with water. Ditches which are allowed to erode, without much interference, go through three phases of infilling. Primary fill accumulates as the sides of the ditch collapse. Vegetation then begins at the bottom of the ditch and the secondary fill starts to build up. This material has a much finer texture than primary fill. The rate of secondary fill deposition is related to soil erosion in the surrounding area. If the land by the ditch is plowed, thick colluvial deposits, called tertiary fill, may bury the secondary fill.
dolmen: CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: In antiquity (especially in France), a word for a megalithic tomb consisting of orthostats and capstone or for megalithic chamber tombs in general. This was usually a stone structure consisting of upright columns supporting a slab roof and known from Neolithic times. In English archaeological literature 'dolmen' should be used only for tombs whose original plan cannot be determined or for tombs of simple unspecialized types which do not fit into the passage grave or gallery grave categories; it is also used for relatively small, closed megalithic chambers, such as the dysser of Scandinavia. The name was probably derived from Cornish 'tolmen' (stone table). The word has a second meaning for the enclosure for burial in a jar of the Yayoi period in Japan consisting of a single large stone slab supported on a ring of stones. A third meaning is for a megalithic stone burial feature in western China and coast Yellow Sea area, dating to the 1st millennium BC, of which there are three forms -- raised table, low table, and unsupported capstone.
dowsing: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A technique for discovering buried features or materials by the use of a Y-shaped hazel wand or bimetal strip -- a practice similar to water divining. Supposedly the location of subsurface features may take place by employing a twig, copper rod, pendulum and observing the discontinuous movements of these instruments"."
electromagnetic surveying: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: electromagnetic prospecting
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A geophysical surveying method used to locate archaeological features and differences in sediment or soil textures. A pulsed induction meter or soil conductivity meter generate electromagnetic waves at the surface of the earth, penetrating it and inducing currents in conducting ore bodies, thereby generating new waves that are detected by instruments at the surface or by a receiving coil lowered into a borehole. This technique only works at a very shallow level, and no electromagnetic instrument is as accurate as the resistivity meter or a proton magnetometer.
Eleusis: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Important Greek town just west of Athens, famous for the Eleusinian mysteries celebrated in honor of Demeter and Persephone. Occupation is attested from the early Bronze Age and the sanctuary was in use from at least Mycenaean times. The site's most famous monument, the telesterion (hall with rock-cut seats), was built in late 6th century BC. It was a temple of unusual design, dedicated to Demeter, with rare features such as a lantern over the anaktoron (holy of holies) and built-in seating to the main hall. The Romans built the Propylaea. Alaric and his hordes (Goths) devastated the area and the edicts of the emperor Theodosius led to its abandonment.
elevation drawing: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A two-dimensional rendering of a feature, viewed from the side, showing details of surface composition.
emulation: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A process of imitation which is a frequent feature accompanying competition. Customs, buildings, and artifacts in one society may be adopted by neighboring ones through imitation, which is often competitive in nature.
entrance grave: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: undifferentiated passage grave
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A type of megalithic chamber tomb characterized by a chamber without separate passage, under a round barrow. It shares features of both passage grave and gallery grave. The round mound is in the passage grave tradition, but there is no clear distinction between the entrance passage and the funerary chamber, hence the alternative term, undifferentiated passage grave. The chamber form is similar to that of the galley grave. Entrance graves are found in southern Spain, Brittany, southwest Ireland, and the Channel Isles.
environmental indicator(s): CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A method in which species of plants and animals are used to indicate a feature of the environment. If the modern environmental requirements are known, the presence of preserved remains of the same species in ancient deposits and soils may suggest that similar conditions prevailed in the past. Many such indicator fossils are used to reconstruct temperature. However, the absence of an environmental indicator does not imply lack of the conditions which it is supposed to indicate. The method is only reliable when whole communities, comprising many different species, all indicate the existence of a particular environment.
excavation: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The systematic and scientific recovery of cultural, material remains of people as a means of obtaining data about past human activity. Excavation is digging or related types of salvage work, scientifically controlled so as to yield the maximum amount of data. It is the main tool of the archaeologist. The excavation of a site, however, involves the destruction of the primary evidence, which can never be recovered. Excavation should therefore never be undertaken lightly or without an understanding of the obligations of the excavator to the evidence he destroys. The first decision is whether to excavate a site at all, a question of particular interest when sites are being rapidly destroyed by farming methods and road and town building. The nature and scale of the undertaking is the next decision. If time and/or money is short, sampling of the site may be all that is possible. If a large-scale excavation is to be undertaken, the approach will be either area (open) excavation, grid method, quadrant method, rabotage, sondage, etc. Removal of the topsoil will either be carried out by hand or machine. After an initial plan has been made of all visible features before excavation, digging proceeds according to the dictates of the site: sections may be taken across areas of feature intersection, or across individual features. A permanent record of the whole process should be kept: plans, drawings, notes, photographs. Excavation is only the first part of the process. For years, excavation was regarded as merely a method of collecting artifacts. Pitt Rivers in Britain and Petrie in the Near East first placed emphasis on evidence rather than artifacts, not what is found but where it was found relative to the layers of deposit (stratigraphy) and to other objects (association) -- the context. The excavator can only justify his destruction if it is done with meticulous care so that every artifact, be it an ax or a posthole, is discovered and if possible preserved; if it is recorded accurately enough for all information to remain available after the site has disappeared; and if this record is quickly made available by publication. In short, excavation is the digging of archaeological sites, removal of the matrix, and observance of the provenience and context of the finds therein, and the recording of them in a three-dimensional way.
Fajada Butte: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A geological feature in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, with two vertical slabs of rock through which the light of the summer and winter solstices creates carved spiral designs. This 'sun dagger' has been interpreted by some as a solar observatory.
false color infra-red photography: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: false-color satellite imagery
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A technique of aerial photography used in archaeology, especially in the Americas. Infra-red film reacts to the varying water absorption qualities of different features, thus allowing changes in vegetation, the occurrence of buried features filled with disturbed soil, the presence of otherwise invisible roadways to be detected. The false color refers to the accentuation of specific features in red, pink, yellow, blue, etc., which emphasize the contrasts but which are not the true colors of the features. Also, this technique often achieves greater resolution than conventional photography because the wavelengths are unaffected by atmospheric haze.
field archaeology: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: archaeological field survey; humps and bumps archaeology
CATEGORY: technique; branch
DEFINITION: The study of archaeological remains through observation and interpretation of what is in the field" without recourse to excavation. Some features are readily seen and identifiable and others must be sought out or are found only by chance disturbance. The technique is associated with O.G.S. Crawford who demonstrated its methods and value. The three stages are observation (link with air photography) interpretation and accurate recording."
flint scatter: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A general term applied to collections of worked flint, stone, debitage, and associated raw material gathered up from the surface of ploughed fields or disturbed ground. Such collections range in size from a few dozen through to many thousands of pieces, and may have been collected from areas of any size from a few metres across to several hectares. As such they do not represent distinct kinds of archaeological site but rather the archaeological manifestation of many different kinds of activity; their unity is a product of the way material has been recovered rather than the processes by which it was created in the first place. Much work has been devoted to characterizing flint scatters in terms of what they represent. It is now clear that some are caused by the erosion of underlying features and deposits which relate to a vast range of activities including settlements, stoneworking sites, and middens. In other cases the scatters reflect episodes of activity in the past that involved little more than the deposition of material on the contemporary ground surface which has subsequently become incorporated into the topsoil through natural and anthropogenic formation processes.
floodplain: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: flood-plain
CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: A landform created by deposits in a river valley that floods. As the flood waters recede, the suspended sediment is deposited as alluvium and causes slow vertical accretion. Floodplains are often made up of secondary features such as individual flood basins, abandoned channels, secondary flood channels, tributary stream courses, and natural levees. They are prime agricultural land and archaeological deposits may be well-preserved in the subenvironments.
foot survey: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ground survey
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Archaeological reconnaissance on foot; the direct observation of a surface by walking over it. It is often carried out with a set interval between members of the survey team and surface features and artifacts are plotted on a site map. Excavation is determined from this primary information.
forging: CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: In metalworking, the heating of a metal to soften it and then working it by hammering. It is a process used for the working of iron and steel after smelting. Though copper and other metals can be worked cold" with occasional annealing this is not a suitable procedure for iron and steel. Forging involves the heating of the bloom to red heat and hammering. This would be carried out on a flat anvil with a hammer to remove impurities and the remains of slag. The resulting bars of iron could then be thinned down and hammered into shape again continuously heating the iron and hammering while red-hot. During the forging process iron can be bent flanges or other features introduced or sheet metal produced."
formal analogy: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Any analogy justified by similarities in the formal attributes of archaeological and ethnographic objects and features
fossil ice wedges: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: foliated ground ice, wedge ice
CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: Soil features caused when the ground freezes and contracts, opening up fissures in the permafrost that fill with wedges of ice. The fossil wedges are proof of past cooling of climate and of the depth of permafrost. Foliated ground ice, or wedge ice, is the term for large masses of ice growing in thermal contraction cracks in permafrost.
frieze: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A decorative band or feature, as a long band of relief sculpture decorating the upper stonework of a temple. It is the zone above the epistyle, decorated with triglyphs and metopes in the Doric order or sculpture or dentils in Ionic order architecture. This type of band of decoration on a wall or vessel may be painted or in bas-relief.
frost marks: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: Variations in the amount of frost retained on the ground that indicate the presence of buried archaeological features, detected primarily by aerial photography. The differential retention of frost in hollows and over different types of material can reveal the features of an archaeological site.
Gargas: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A cave in southern France (Hautes-Pyrénées) containing important examples of Late Paleolithic mural art, paintings, and engravings dating from the Aurignacian Period, the oldest phase of European Stone Age art. The site was first known for its Ice Age fauna. There are approximately 150 engravings of animals and 250 red or black hand prints. A curious feature of these silhouettes is that many are representations of mutilated hands with one or more finger joints missing, most frequently the last two joints of the last four fingers. The significance of the hand prints and the missing fingers is unknown. The cave was occupied from at least the Middle Palaeolithic and the animal engravings are attributed to the Gravettian.
genome: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The collection of genes in the nucleic-acid core of a virus or the complete set of genetic material -- the chromosomes and the genes they contain -- that makes up any organism and determines hereditary features.
geomorphic: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Having the form or attributes of surface features of the earth or other celestial bodies.
geophysical prospecting: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: geophysical survey
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The location and recording of buried sites by detecting variations in the magnetic properties or resistance to an electrical current of the soil. Many archaeological surveying techniques designed to identify features without excavation use instruments that measure physical properties of surface materials.
Gournia: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A Late Bronze Age Minoan town on eastern Crete which dates from the Neopalatial period c 1600-1450 BC. A small palace was built on the site in Middle Minoan III, c 1600 BC, showing features copied from the palaces of Knossos and Mallia. Through the Late Minoan period, from c 1550, the town grew up around it, with modest houses and narrow curving streets and the palace was turned into small domestic dwellings.
gradiometer: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: proton gradiometer, fluxgate gradiometer, differential fluxgate gradiometer
CATEGORY: tool
DEFINITION: A geophysical device used to conduct surveys by measuring the gradient in a magnetic or gravitational field. This instrument is used to identify shallowly buried features and structures.
Great Rift Valley: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Rift Valley
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The main branch of the East African Rift system, an ancient geological feature where the action of earthquakes and volcanoes created ideal conditions for burying and preserving bones. Many early hominid fossil sites have been discovered in the Great Rift Valley. In the north, the rift is occupied by the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, and the Gulf of Aqaba. It continues southward along the Red Sea and into the Ethiopian Denakil Plain to Lakes Rudolf (Turkana), Naivasha, and Magadi in Kenya. It continues through Tanzania southward through the Shire River valley and Mozambique Plain to the coast of the Indian Ocean near Beira, Mozambique.
grid amplitude: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A method of defining the location of features and artifacts on a site by plotting from a reference point oriented to magnetic north or some other known point. Meridian lines run north-south and baselines run east-west on a grid square.
grid layout: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: grid system, grid method, box system, grid planning
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The practice of dividing an archaeological site into squares for ease of recording features and objects during excavation. The term also refers to the two-dimensional intersecting network defining the squares in which archaeologists dig; usually set out with strings, stakes, and a transit. Often a square trench will be cut within each grid square, separated by a balk from each neighboring trench. Each square is suitable for excavation by two or three people. Advantages of the method are in the creation of a number of readily available sections on the site, the ease of spoil removal (along the balk), and the control which can be exercised over excavators. On open sites with little stratigraphy above the rock surface, the method is often unnecessary. The balks in the grid method may also obscure many of the important stratigraphical relationships, or make impossible the recognition of structures. This technique allows the fast recording of very large areas, but is not as accurate as triangulation for the pinpointing of small objects and features. The use of grid planning and triangulation together often satisfies most of the combined needs of speed and accuracy.
ground truth: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The determination of the causes of patterns revealed by remote sensing, such as by examining, on the ground, features identified by aerial photography.
ground-penetrating radar: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: GPR, georadar
CATEGORY: tool
DEFINITION: A remote sensing device used in subsurface detection that transmits a radar pulse into the soil and records differential reflection of the pulses from buried strata and features. When a discontinuity is encountered, an echo returns to the radar receiving unit, where it is recorded.
gutta: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: pl. guttae
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A series of peglike features, shaped like a frustrum of a cone, on the underside of mutules and triglyphs on classical buildings of the Doric order.
Guweicun: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Ku-wei-ts'un
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A late Eastern Zhou cemetery site in Hui-hsien, China. Three large shaft tombs has north and south entrance ramps and are similar in construction to far earlier Shang tombs. The largest of the three was marked at ground level by a low mound edged with large stones, a new feature modeled on works of the northern nomads. A number of cast-iron tools -- plowshares, picks, hoes, shovels, axes, and chisels -- were found in the tomb.
Hal Saflieni: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A large rock-cut hypogeum on Malta, which was constructed by the same population that built the Maltese temples, and is a complex of many small rock-cut chambers, on three different levels, linked by a series of halls, passages, and stairways. Many of the chambers are elaborately decorated, often with carved features imitating wooden structures such as beams and lintels; other chambers have painted decoration, usually on the ceilings. Most of the chambers had been used for burial and it has been calculated that some 7000 individuals were buried in the whole hypogeum, over a period of some centuries. The hypogeum may also have been used as a temple as some places without burials were set aside for ritual. Artifacts include highly decorated pottery and a series of female figurines. The earliest chambers date to the 5th millennium BC.
handle: CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: An appendage attached to the exterior (sometimes interior) wall of a vessel's body, neck, or rim, that facilitates the manipulation or suspension of the vessel or is a decorative feature.
Harris matrix: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A system devised by E. Harris for representing a site's stratigraphy in schematic form, emphasizing the chronological relationships between the various deposits. It is a method of summarizing the vertical and horizontal interrelationships of all the layers and features on a site in a diagrammatic form.
Harris matrix: CATEGORY: measure
DEFINITION: The abstract representation of unequivocal stratigraphic relationships between layers, interfaces, and features in a lattice similar to a flow diagram.
henge: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: henge monument
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A circular, prehistoric religious enclosure constructed of wood or stones and enclosed by ditches, banks, and walls -- and found only in the British Isles. Henge monuments are characteristic of the megalithic period in southern and eastern England in particular. To the west and north, henges often enclose a stone circle. There are 13 such examples, including Avebury and Stonehenge. The circular area is delimited by a ditch with the bank normally outside it. Class I henges have a single entrance marked by a gap in the earthworks, while those of Class II have two such entrances placed opposite each other. Avebury had four entrances. Many henges have extra features such as burials, pits, circles of upright stones (Avebury, Stonehenge) or of timber posts (Durrington Walls, Woodhenge). Henges are often associated with Late Neolithic pottery of grooved ware, Peterborough and Beaker types, dating from the centuries after 2500 BC. Occasional examples were still in use in the Bronze Age, e.g. Stonehenge. Henges are believed to have been focal points for 'ritual' activity, but there is much controversy over their design. They range in size from c 30 meters to more than 400 meters in diameter (Avebury, Durrington Walls).
hero cult: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: heroization
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: In ancient times, the worship of a god of partly human and partly divine origin, such as the worship of the hero Hercules. Hero-cult worship was the forerunner of the worship of living rulers, a feature of Hellenistic and Roman times. The hero cult invested a dead man with divine qualities of intelligence and strength which made him worthy of being honored by a cult. The founders of the city-states (such as Theseus at Athens) were often heroized. One basis for belief in heroes and the hero cult was the idea that the mighty dead continued to live and to be active as spiritual powers from the sites of their graves. Another source of the cult of heroes was the conception that gods were often lowered to the status of heroes. One of the best known heroes is Heracles, who became famous through his mighty deeds.
hinge fracture: CATEGORY: lithics
DEFINITION: A feature of a struck flint flake which occurs either through an error in striking technique or because of the conchoidal nature of a particular piece of flint. Instead of coming to a sharp, thin end, the struck flake ends in a rounded, smooth, turned-out edge.
Homo habilis: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Handy man, the oldest species of the genus Homo. It was small-built but had a larger brain than the Australopithecines and was a toolmaker. Its fossils have been found in East and South African dating to 2.2-1.6 million years ago at the famous sites of Koobi Fora and Olduvai Gorge. Dr. Louis Leakey, who found fossils at Olduvai Gorge, said that the habilis skeletons showed certain features (e.g. greater brain size, opposable thumb, shape of skull) which distinguished them from those of other Australopithecus forms, and which placed them closer to the line of descent leading to Homo erectus and the advanced forms of man. Homo habilis is regarded as a possible ancestor of Homo erectus or Homo sapiens; others believe it should be included in the species Australopithecus africanus or Homo erectus, or be regarded as transitional from one to the other.
horizon: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: horizon style
CATEGORY: term; artifact
DEFINITION: Any artifact, art style, or other cultural trait that has extensive geographical distribution but a limited time span. The term, in anthropology, refers to the spread of certain levels of cultural development and, in geology, the layers of natural features in a region; in soil science a horizon is a layer formed in a soil profile by soil-forming processes. The main meaning, however, refers to a phase, characterized by a particular artifact or artistic style that is introduced to a wide area and which may cross cultural boundaries. Provided that these 'horizon markers' were diffused rapidly and remained in use for only a short time, the local regional cultures in which they occur will be roughly contemporary. The term is less commonly used now that chronometric dating techniques allow accurate local chronologies to be built. Examples of art styles which fulfill these conditions is called a 'horizon style' -- such as Tiahuanaco or Chavín.
horizontal control: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Any technique used to locate and record artifacts, ecofacts, and features in horizontal space.
household cluster: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: household unit
CATEGORY: term; feature
DEFINITION: A term used to describe a set of features associated with one house structure. Components would include a house, a few storage pits, graves, a rubbish area, perhaps an oven or hearth, and activity areas. It is an arbitrary archaeological unit defining artifact patterns reflecting the activities that take place around a house and assumed to belong to one household.
Ice Age/ice age: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: glaciation; glacial age
CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: A period of intense cold and the expansion of glaciers, resulting in a lower sea level. Such periods of large-scale glaciation may last several million years and drastically reshape surface features of entire continents. In the past, there were many ice ages; the earliest known took place during Precambrian time dating back more than 570 million years. The most recent periods of widespread glaciation occurred during the Pleistocene Epoch (1,600,000 to 10,000 years ago). A lesser, recent glacial stage called the Little Ice Age began in the 16th century and advanced and receded intermittently over three centuries. Its maximum development was reached about 1750, at which time glaciers were more widespread on Earth than at any time since the principal Quaternary Ice Ages. The idea of an ice age in the geological sequence is usually credited to Jean Louis Agassiz, a Swiss naturalist, who suggested it c 1837. Agassiz conceived a worldwide cold period when areas as far apart as North America and Germany had been glaciated.
ice wedge: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ice-wedge; foliated ground ice
CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: Large masses of ice growing in thermal contraction cracks in permafrost. In periglacial conditions, alternating freeze and thaw can lead to the formation of vertical, narrow, and deep wedges of ice in gravels. After melting, these tend to fill with sediment, forming a cast of the ice wedge seen as dark bands, easily confused with manmade features, in aerial photographs. Casts of fossil ice wedges are one of the few true indicators of former permafrost conditions. Fossil ice-wedges of this kind are seen in many sections of sand and gravel deposits in Europe. They have been used to reconstruct the extent of the periglacial zone which developed around the Devensian and Weichselian ice-sheets.
incised decoration: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: incision
CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: A type of pottery decoration in which the soft surface of the clay is cut with a sharp instrument. The term also refers to decoration scratched into the surface of other artifacts and structural features. Incised decoration has narrow lines; excised has wide lines.
induced polarization technique: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A technique similar to resistivity surveying used for the location of archaeological features. It involves the measurement of transient induced polarization voltage which results from the passing of direct current through the ground via electrodes. The method requires the presence of an electrolytic solution and thus it is the greater or lesser water content of the features, in contrast to the surrounding soil, that allows their detection. A ditch would have a high induced polarization response, while a wall would have a low one.
infrared photography: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A technique of aerial photography for detection and recording on film of infrared radiation reflected from the sun. Direct infrared-recording aerial photography shows up ground features of differential infrared reflection but similar light reflection and cuts through haze and mist.
interface: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The point of contact between two layers or features in an excavation, stratigraphically important. An example is the point between the fill of a buried ditch and the soil through which it was dug.
Inti: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Punchau; Apu-Punchau
CATEGORY: deity
DEFINITION: In Inca religion, the sun god, believed to be the ancestor of the Incas. Inti was the head of the cult and his worship was imposed throughout the empire. He was represented in human form with his face being a gold disk from which rays and flames extended. The temple of the Sun was called Inti-huasi (house of the sun) with 7 principal divisions: inti or sanctuary (center of temple), mama-quilla (moon), cayllur (stars), illapa (thunder), ckuichi (rainbow), huilacuma (chief priest), and the dwelling of the priests. Inti's sister and consort was the moon, Mama-Kilya (or Mama-Quilla), who was portrayed as a silver disk with human features.
involution: CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: A structure that develops within the active layer of the Periglacial (permafrost) zone. Cryoturbation (seasonal freezing) causes movement within the layer and sorting of its component materials. Involutions help to define the area of ancient periglacial zones but their action can cause disturbance or mixing of archaeological deposits. Involutions may also be confused with archaeological features.
isolated data: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A single object that is found without association to any other artifact or feature; typically lost during travel or moved by a relic hunter. Any unassociated archaeological remains.
isometric drawing: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: isometric and axonometric projection
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Projections in which the plan and the elevations are combined to give a 'three-dimensional' view, on which correct measurements can be taken either in any direction (isometric) or along two or three axes (axonometric). This three-dimensional rendering, usually of a feature or a site, is used to record and reconstruct the results of archaeological research. In contrast to perspective drawings, isometric drawings maintain a constant scale in all three dimensions.
Iwo Eleru: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A rock shelter in the forest zone of southwestern Nigeria which has yielded the longest dated sequence of microlithic artifacts found in West Africa. Occupation was established by 12,000 years ago and the chipped stone industry continued for as long as 8000 years with only minor changes. From the lowest horizon a human burial, described as showing Negroid physical features, was recovered and it is the oldest Nigerian skeleton yet uncovered. In about the mid-4th millennium ground stone artifacts and pottery came into use. There is some evidence for the beginning of agriculture around that time.
Izapa: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Large, important ceremonial site and type site of a culture in Chiapas, Mexico, built about 3500 years ago (Middle-Late Preclassic). Izapa is famous for its art style, which is distributed in Chiapas and parts of Guatemala. The relief art, carved on altar stones and stelae, was influenced by the Olmec and Maya traditions. The style falls mainly within the Late Pre-Classic period (300 BC-300 AD), intermediate in time between Olmec and Maya. Dates were written in the long count system; a pure Izapan stele from El Baul, Guatemala, carries a figure equivalent to 36 AD. Most of its 80 temple-pyramids, courts, and plazas were built in the Late Preclassic. The center's economic base may have been cacao, which is featured in Izapan iconography.
Keilor: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site near Melbourne, Australia, with a cranium with modern features found in alluvial sediments and dated to c 13,000 bp. It resembles the Green Gully skull found 3 km away. Other finds include stone flakes and hearths possibly 30,000 years old, and the bones of extinct megafauna. The earliest levels have a minimum estimated date of 36,000 BP.
Khafre (fl. late 26th century BC): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Chephren, Rakhaef; Khafra, Souphis
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: Son of Khufu (2589-2566 BC), the fourth ruler of the 4th Dynasty (2575-2465 BC, of the Old Kingdom) and builder/owner of the second of three pyramids at Giza. The complex includes the Valley Temple and the Great Sphinx, whose features are presumably Khafre's. He succeeded to the throne after the death of his half-brother Djedefre (Redjedef, 2566-2558 BC), who had constructed his pyramid at Abu Roash.
Klasies River Mouth: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A complex of caves and overhangs on the south coast of South Africa (Cape Province). It provides one of the most complete sequences available for the area, including sea-level changes of the Late Pleistocene -- at least the last 60,000 years. A long development of the 'Middle Stone Age' shares some features with the Pietersburg industries and is interrupted by a phase attributed to Howiesons Poort. This is followed by Later Stone Age deposits containing three painted stone slabs and burials with shell beads dating to 5000 years ago. The site has some of the oldest-known remains of anatomically modern Homo sapiens, dating to 100,000 years ago. There are indications of cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene and exploitation of the marine resources around 120,000 years ago.
Kotosh: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Major pre-Columbian ceremonial site in the north-central highlands of Peru, near Huánuco, coming into use during the Late Preceramic Period and continuing until after the end of the Chavín culture during the Early Horizon, c 1 AD. It is known for its temple structures, the earliest of which have interior wall niches and mud-relief decorative friezes, and date to the end of the Late Preceramic Period (c 2000-1800 BC). In the earliest levels (Mito) are remains of a platform on which stood the Temple of the Crossed Hands. Stone tools, some similar to Laurichocha II and III, and other artifacts appropriate to an Archaic subsistence pattern also occur in this phase. The next (Wairajirca) period has a radiocarbon date of 2305 +/- 110 BC and saw the introduction of the first pottery, a gray ware with incised designs and post-fired painting in red, white, or yellow. In the following (Kotosh) stage, there is evidence of maize cultivation, and the pottery, with grooved designs, graphite painting, and stirrup spouts, has Chavín-like features. Radiocarbon dates suggest that this period is centered on c 1200 BC and was closely followed by a pure Chavín stage with the typical pottery and ornament. Next in sequence came levels (Sajarapatac and San Blas phases) with white-on-red pottery, and the uppermost strata (Hiqueras period) were characterized by red vessels, rare negative painting, and copper tools.
krotovina: CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: A soil feature made up of an animal burrow filled with soil or sediment. That soil or sediment is often different from the material around the burrow and is derived from overlying soil horizons or sediment strata.
Kuntur Wasi: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: La Copa
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site near Cajamarca in the northern highlands of Peru, of the Chavin culture of Early Horizon period c 800 BC. The central structure was a stone-faced, triple-terraced pyramid, surmounted by a temple or temples. Three-dimensional statues and other carved stone are executed in the Chavin style with the characteristic feline motif common. Other associated features, however, such as ceramics, appear to be a mixture of Chavin and later styles, suggesting that the site may extend beyond the Early Horizon.
Lalibela: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Roha
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A religious and pilgrimage center of north-central Ethiopia, capital of the Zague dynasty for about 300 years. It was renamed for its emperor, Lalibela (reigned c 1185-1225), who according to tradition built the 11 monolithic churches for which the location is famous. The churches were hewn out of solid rock entirely below ground level in a variety of styles. They retain representations of many features known also from the architecture of Axum (Aksum) in earlier times. The expert craftsmanship of the Lalibela churches has been linked with the earlier church of Debre Damo near Aksum. Emperor Lalibela had most of the churches constructed in his capital in the hope of replacing ancient Axum as a city of Ethiopian preeminence. Recent restoration indicates that some of them may have been used originally as fortifications and royal residences.
landform: CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: A natural feature of a land surface; a feature of the earth created by an erosional or depositional process or series of processes. Landforms together comprise a landscape.
landscape archaeology: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: total archaeology
CATEGORY: branch
DEFINITION: The study of individual features including settlements seen as single components within the broader perspective of the patterning of human activity over a wide area. It is the recovery of the story of an area of countryside using all possible techniques -- surface scatters, field and other boundaries, standing buildings, as well as excavation. This approach within archaeology emphasizes examination of the complete landscape, focusing on dispersed features and on areas between and surrounding traditional sites as well as on the sites themselves.
lateral excavation: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: extensive excavation
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The excavation or opening up of large areas so that subsurface features and architecture are broadly exposed.
law of cross-cutting relationships: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A principle of stratigraphy that says a feature that cuts across or into a bed or stratum must be younger than that bed or stratum.
Lepenski Vir: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A hunter-fisher village settlement on the banks of the Danube in Serbia. Trapezoidal houses (often with red plastered floors), stone hearths filled with fish bones and other refuse, and a remarkable group of stone sculptures --- by far the earliest monumental sculpture in Europe -- were part of an advanced Mesolithic economy. Many carved stone human heads were found, often with 'fishy' features. Radiocarbon places it in the 7th millennium BC. The site was later occupied by a Starcevo village. The most significant aspect of Lepenski Vir is the degree of cultural elaboration achieved by sedentary fisher-hunters at a time when agriculture was gradually becoming established in other areas of southeast Europe.
level: CATEGORY: tool; term
DEFINITION: An instrument used in surveying which takes vertical measurements and which is much used in excavation for the recording of site contours and accurate depths of features, especially for making maps and identifying the location of artifacts. There are several types of leveling instrument, the Y or dumpy level, the tilting level, and the self-leveling level. Each consists of a telescope fitted with a spirit level and, generally, mounted on a tripod. It is used in conjunction with a graduated rod placed at the point to be measured and sighted through the telescope. The theodolite (q.v.), or transit, is used to measure horizontal and vertical angles; it may be used also for leveling. The differences between the types are in the ease of leveling: the first has a single spirit level for the whole instrument, the second a separate spirit level for spindle and telescope with a tilting mechanism and adjustable screw on the telescope, and the third an optical part operated by a pendulum so that the line of sight is always horizontal. Having established a datum point, the instrument is sighted on a leveling staff or rod which is marked in a graduated scale, metric, or imperial. The difference in level between the telescope and the base of the rod can be read off on this scale, and the result subtracted from the height of the level itself above ground; the final figure gives the real height, or depth, of the feature above or below the ground at instrument point. Subtracting the stadia rod reading from the height of the level above the ground surface gives the difference in height between ground surface at the instrument station and the ground surface at the datum point. A series of levels taken across a site will give contours, while excavated features and small finds can be leveled in with greater accuracy than with tapes from a hypothetical ground surface. The term is also used to refer to the actual height measurements taken with such an instrument. More generally, archaeologists often use the term 'level' interchangeably with layer. In excavations the remains are divided into levels that contain the buildings and objects belonging to a phase.
leveling: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: leveling
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: To establish the height above the site datum of a number of points (spot heights) which will either record the level of the surface of a feature or layer, or enable a contour survey to be constructed. It also means to find the heights of different points in (a piece of land) esp. with a surveyor's level.
ley line / ley-line: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ley
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A hypothetical straight line connecting prehistoric sites, frequently regarded as the line of an ancient track and credited by some with paranormal properties. The term also refers to the alignment of diverse features, usually taken from small-scale maps rather than from the ground, assumed to have some ancient esoteric significance.
Li Chi (1896-1979): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: [Li Ch'i]
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: Chinese archaeologist responsible for establishing the historical authenticity of the semilegendary Shang dynasty of China (c 1766-1122 BC). He supervised numerous excavations at Anyang (An-yang), working to identify the features distinguishing the Shang civilization from previous Neolithic cultures. More than 300 tombs, including four important royal burial sites, were uncovered and carefully studied. Some 1,100 skeletons and oracle bones, unquestionably linked with the Shang period, were recovered. Li Chi created a typology of bronzes based on their shapes, of ceramic sherds, and bone hairpins. Following the Japanese invasion of China and the expulsion of the Chinese Nationalists from the mainland, many of Li's Anyang remains and notes were lost. After escaping to Taiwan, he established the first archaeology and anthropology department at a Chinese university (National University in Taipei). He published a number of books, including The Beginnings of Chinese Civilization" (1957). "
lithofacies: CATEGORY: geology; lithics
DEFINITION: A part of sediment or rock that is different in composition or character, such as grain size. Characteristics of sediment are closely related to their depositional environment. Lithofacies is a lateral, mappable subdivision of a designated stratigraphic unit, distinguished from adjacent subdivisions on the basis of lithology -- or a facies (appearance and characteristics of a rock) characterized by particular lithologic features.
Lukenya Hill: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An inselberg (boulder-hill) in southern Kenya, southeast of Nairobi, with material from the Middle Stone Age to the Late Iron Age. Numerous rock shelters and other sites have preserved this long sequence of prehistoric occupation. A backed microlith industry was established by the 16th millennium BC and probably long before. A fragment of human skull associated with this industry displays modern Negroid features.
Lyell, Sir Charles (1797-1875): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: Scottish geologist largely responsible for the general acceptance of the view that all features of the Earth's surface are produced by physical, chemical, and biological processes over long periods of geological time (uniformitarianism). Lyell's achievements laid the foundations for evolutionary biology as well as for an understanding of the Earth's development. His work had a bearing on the development of archaeology at two points. His Principles of Geology" (1830-1833) established the view that the earth had been in existence for very much longer than the 6000 years allowed by the biblical chronology and laid open the way for the later acceptance of the antiquity of man. In 1859 publication of Darwin's "Origin of Species" gave new impetus to Lyell's work. Lyell's "The Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man" (1863) tentatively accepted evolution by natural selection."
macellum: CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: In Roman antiquity, a marketplace for perishable foods consisting of shops around a colonnaded court; the center building was either round or octagonal. Some more sophisticated examples have individual architectural features associated with them, such as (at Leptis Magna and Pompeii) a porticoed enclosed rectangular courtyard, with one or two colonnaded pavilions in the central area. At Pompeii, shops under the portico face inward into the market and also outward into the surrounding streets. At Rome, the Macellum Magnum erected by Nero was apparently a grand-scale example, doubling both the portico and the pavilion into two-storied structures.
magnetic surveying: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: electromagnetic surveying
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A technique for the location of archaeological features adapted from techniques used in geological surveying. It is based on the fact that features with thermo-remanent magnetism, like hearths or kilns, or features with a high humus content, like pits or ditches, and iron objects, distort the earth's magnetic field from the normal. Instruments such as the proton magnetometer or the differential fluxgate gradiometer are used to measure those disturbances, and by plotting the results, a map of the features can be built. The ways in which the different types of feature distort the magnetic field vary, though they can all be picked up on the same instrument. Hematite or magnetic, present in most clays, have a small magnetic effect when unburnt, since the grains point in random directions and cancel each other out. Once heated to about 700? C or more, the grains line up, increasing the magnetic effect and causing an anomaly in the magnetic field. This thermo-remanent magnetism is also the basis for magnetic dating. The presence of modern iron as in wire fences can cause problems with this technique of location; if the area to be surveyed is clearly crossed with power lines or fenced with iron posts, a resistivity survey may be more suitable. The method of surveying used requires a grid to be measured out on the site and readings to be taken at regular intervals. The nature of the site may prevent such a grid being laid out, for instance if it is heavily wooded, and magnetic survey may not be possible on these sites. It is one of the most commonly used geophysical surveying methods.
magnetic susceptibility: CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: A property of soil and sediment, measured as a ratio of intensity of magnetization of the material to the strength of an applied magnetic field. Topsoil often has a somewhat enhanced 'magnetic susceptibility' due to magnetic minerals in the material, especially compared with the subsoil. The filling of a ditch or a pit has greater susceptibility than the surrounding area because of higher humus content and perhaps the presence of burnt occupation material. On the basis that contrast between feature and surroundings locates the features, walls, and other stone settings can also be located since they have less susceptibility than the area around them, i.e. they exhibit a reverse anomaly.
magnetometer: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: proton magnetometer
CATEGORY: tool
DEFINITION: A geophysical instrument that measures the intensity and sometimes direction of the Earth's magnetic field. It is used in electromagnetic surveying to identify changes in the field within soil or sediment that might be caused by subsurface features, hearths, kilns, or metal artifacts. When a current is passed through a coil in a bottle of water or alcohol the protons of the hydrogen atoms align themselves to its magnetic field. When the current is cut off, the protons realign themselves according to the earth's field, its strength being indicated by the frequency of their gyration on realignment. This sets up a weak current which is transmitted back from the bottle to the instrument and there registered on dials. The resulting figures are plotted to reveal anomalies in field strength -- usually due to buried iron, kilns, hearths, or to pits or ditches. These features can thus be rapidly located without disturbance of the ground, and excavation can be directed to the most promising areas. Magnetrometry is the use of a magnetometer for mapping subsurface anomalies. There are a number of designs, but two are particularly widely used. The proton magnetometer makes an absolute measurement of field strength, but is intermittent in operation: each reading is initiated by the push of a button, and takes some seconds to appear on the display of the instrument. Fluxgate magnetometers work on a different principle, and give a continuous reading, which makes surveying less time-consuming. Most fluxgate machines do not however measure field strength directly, but rather are gradiometers, measuring the vertical gradient of the earth's' magnetic field, i.e. how fast the field strength changes with vertical distance from the earth's magnetic field Gradient measurements can also be used in archaeological surveys and have an advantage over absolute measurements. The earth's field strength varies continuously during the day at any one location. Absolute measurements taken at different times have to be calibrated for this effect if they are to be comparable. Gradient measurements are not affected by this diurnal drift in field strength, and so do not need to be calibrated. Proton gradiometers are also available. The fluxgate, differential fluxgate, and proton gradiometer take continuous measurements of relative vertical change in the intensity of field strength.
Majolica: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Maiolica; faience; delft
CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: Tin-glazed earthenware -- a distinctive kind of colorful, decorated earthenware that is tin enameled and glazed -- usually of Italian, Spanish, or Mexican origin. This earthenware was introduced by Moorish potters from the island of Majorca in the 15th century. Distinguishing features of Majolica ware are coarseness of ware, intricacy of pattern, occasionally prismatic glaze. Made of potter's clay mixed with marl and sand, and is soft or hard according to the nature of the composition and the degree of heat under which it is fired in the kiln. Soft wares are either unglazed or lustrous, or glazed, or enameled. The majolica painter's palette was usually restricted to five colors: cobalt blue, antimony yellow, iron red, copper green, and manganese purple; the purple and blue were used, at various periods, mainly for outline. A white tin enamel was used also for highlights or alone on the white tin glaze in what was called bianco sopra bianco, white on white." The Italian lustrous ware is properly Majolica and originated in s Faenza Deruta Urbino Orvieto Gubbio Florence and Savona."
mama-quilla / Mama-Quilla: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Mama-Kilya
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: One of the divisions of the temple of the Sun (Inti); dedicated to the moon. The moon was portrayed as a silver disk with human features.
mapping: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The scaled recording of the horizontal position of exposed features and, in some cases, artifacts and ecofacts, using standardized symbols. It is one of the two basic ground survey methods used in surface survey of archaeological sites, the other being surface collection.
Mawangdui: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Ma-wang-tui
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Site in Hunan province, China, near Chang-Sha (Changsha City), of three Early Han-dynasty tombs with features of both shaft and mounded tombs. Tomb No. 2 belonged to the first marquis of Dai (d. 186 BC), a high official of the Han administration. Nos. 3 and 1 are apparently the tombs of his son (d. 168 BC) and wife (d. shortly after 168 BC). In construction and contents the three tombs are far different from Han princely burials in the north and reflect the lingering traditions and material culture of the Chu kingdom, which had fallen to Qin less than a century earlier. Each tomb takes the form of a massive compartmented timber box at the bottom of a deep stepped shaft; the shaft was filled in with rammed earth and a mound was raised over it. The contents of Tomb No. 1 were very well preserved: the body of the wife of the marquis, wrapped in silk and laid inside four richly decorated nested coffins. The 180 dishes, toilet boxes, and other lacquer articles, silk clothing, offerings of food, musical instruments, small wooden figures of servants and musicians, and a complete inventory of the grave goods written on bamboo slips depict extreme wealth. Tomb 3 was furnished in the same fashion as Tomb 1, but contained more silk paintings, three rare musical instruments, and an extraordinary collection of manuscripts, some on silk and some on bamboo slips, including some of the earliest known maps from China, treatises on medicine and astronomy, comet charts, and important literary texts (the Daoist/Taoist classic Dao De jing" ("Tao te ching") the "Yi jing" ("Book of Changes")) The contents of Tomb 2 are comparable to those of Tomb 1 but poorly preserved."
Mayapán: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A Late Post-Classic Maya center in west-central Yucatán, Mexico. The walled town covered 4.2 square km and contained 3,600 houses, as well as temples which are a rather poor copy of those at Chichén Itzá. This dense concentration of housing represented something new in Mayan architecture, and walls are found at other sites of the period. The population ranged from 6,000-15,000. After the decline of Chichén Itzá in about 1200 AD, Mayapán became the dominant city in northern Yucatan and was able to extort tribute from several neighboring states. Among the major features are a central temple-pyramid complex dedicated to Kulculkan (the Mayan name for Quetzacoatl). The most characteristic artifact is the highly elaborate incensario (incense burner). The end of this relatively short-lived center was precipitated by internal dissension resulting in the summary execution of the ruling elite and it was finally sacked in a local uprising in c 1400; abandonment followed shortly thereafter in c1450.
Meroe: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site in Upper Nubia, a city-state in the Sudan which succeeded Napata (original capital of kingdom of Kush/Cush) as the capital of a vigorous state flourishing from 750 BC-350 AD. The 25th, or Ethiopian dynasty of ancient Egypt is believed to have retired to Kush after 656 BC and established itself at Meroe. After the sack of Napata in c 590 by the Egyptian pharaoh Psamtik II, Meroe became the capital of the kingdom. It is the type site of the Meroitic period (c 300 BC-350 AD) and located on the east bank of the Nile in the Butana region of Sudan. Dependent on Nile, kingdom lay in triangle of land at confluence of Nile and Atbara. It was the center of the Kushite kingdom in the fifth century BC. Meroe was able to exploit a region of considerable agricultural potential with fairly regular, if not abundant, rainfall. There was also a supply of timber adequate to fuel the smelting of the local iron deposits. By the beginning of the Christian era, if not before, the iron industry had been developed on a considerable scale. Meroitic architecture included temples in the Egyptian style and royal pyramid tombs (e.g. Musawwarat es-Sufra). Egyptian influence gradually diminished; Egyptian hieroglyphs were abandoned in about the 2nd century BC in favor of a local script. The Meroitic language thus recorded cannot at present be understood. The tenuous nature of the link with Egypt is to be appreciated by considering the trade route, which it appears did not follow the inhospitable Nile Valley, but ran along the Red Sea coast. From about the beginning of the Christian era, this route was increasingly endangered by local developments, notably the rise of the kingdom of Axum. By the 3rd century AD, Meroe was in decline; its final collapse came with the conquest by Axum early in the 4th century. The chief features are palaces and a great temple of Amon.
metallographic microscopy: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: metallographic examination
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The microscopic examination of metal artifacts with the aim of studying their manufacturing techniques rather than their composition. A sample is taken from the artifact, preferably a cross-sectional slice, and it is highly polished. The surface is then etched in order to dissolve some of the metal, leaving visible its internal structure for examination under a metallurgical microscope. This uses reflected light which emphasizes the uneven surfaces revealed by the etching process and caused by such features as the boundaries between grains of metal. The size and shape of the grains or dendrites in a metal (crystalline structure), as well as other details of microstructure, can yield information on casting methods or post-casting working. The technique can be used on both ferrous and non-ferrous metals.
microclimate: CATEGORY: term; geography
DEFINITION: The specific and uniform local climate of a small site or habitat brought about by hills, slopes, woodland, lakes, or other features of the landscape. These features modify the general climate of the region. The term also is applied to any climatic condition in a relatively small area, within a few meters or less above and below the Earth's surface and within canopies of vegetation. The microclimates of a region are strongly tied to the average moisture, temperature, and winds of the climate and to latitude, elevation, and season. Weather and climate are sometimes, in turn, influenced by microclimatic conditions, especially by variations in surface characteristics. Wet ground, for example, promotes evaporation and increases humidity. The drying of bare soil, on the other hand, creates a surface crust that inhibits ground moisture from diffusing upward, which promotes the persistence of dry atmosphere. Microclimates control evaporation from surfaces and influence precipitation and so are important to the hydrologic cycle (the circulation of the Earth's waters). The effect of soil types on microclimates is considerable. Also strongly influencing the microclimate is the ability of the soil to absorb and retain moisture, which depends on the composition of the soil and its use.
Middle Mississippi culture: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A part of the Woodland culture in the central Mississippi valley and its tributaries that came into existence around 700 AD and lasted until the historical 16th-17th centuries. The most notable features are elaborate pottery, large and often fortified villages, and ceremonial centers with temple platforms and courtyards. From its origin, these cultures spread outwards until they had overrun most of the eastern United States. In the north, the Mississippi culture encroached on and blended with the Woodland cultural tradition. Important sites are Etowah (Georgia), Moundville (Alabama), Spiro (Oklahoma), and Cahokia (Illinois).
Mimi style: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Mimi figures
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A style of art associated with the Pirri culture of Arnhem Land in which plain red stylized human figures showing vigorous movement are depicted. The thin, sticklike human figures are a feature of the Arnhem Land Rock Art of northern Australia. The painting are thought to be about 3000 years old, earlier than x-ray art.
model: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A devices used by archaeologists to aid the interpretation of data; models consist of hypothetical reconstructions of dynamic processes partly based on material remains and partly testing the validity of interpretations of material culture. They are idealized representations of the real world, used to demonstrate a simplified version of some of its characteristics. Models vary in complexity and can be physical representations or literary descriptions. It might be a physical model of a site or landscape to explain some feature of its function or organization; such models at full scale are well known in experimental archaeology. A simple model might be a map showing, for example, the distribution of sites in a region or a scatter diagram showing the relationship between two measured variables. Models need not be based on specific archaeological data, but can be derived from a number of sources: invented data can be generated by computer simulation; geometrical and mathematical models can also be used, such as central place theory or the rank-size rule in the study of regional settlement, or catastrophe theory in the study of cultural collapse. General systems theory can also be a source of systems models designed to show a simplified version of the working of a complex social or economic organization. The term model can also be used in a less specific sense for any general mode of thought in which archaeological research is conducted, for example descriptive, historical, or ecological. Models may also be diachronic or synchronic. The concept of formulating a model, testing it and refining it, is frequently applied in a non-mathematical way and this is the way in which it is most often used in archaeology. In this sense it is either synonymous with 'hypothesis' or refers to a number of interlocking hypotheses.
morphological type: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: morphology
CATEGORY: typology
DEFINITION: A descriptive and abstract grouping of individual artifacts whose focus is on overall similarity rather than specific form or function. The shape, size, and superficial characteristics of artifacts, features, structure, sites, etc., provided by measurements (including weight) that permit comparative statistical analysis of attributes and frequencies.
morphological type: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: morphological typology
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A descriptive and abstract grouping of individual artifacts whose focus is on overall similarity rather than specific form or function. The shape, size, and superficial characteristics of artifacts, features, structure, sites, etc., provided by measurements (including weight) that permit comparative statistical analysis of attributes and frequencies.
morphological typology: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: morphological type; morphology
CATEGORY: typology
DEFINITION: A descriptive and abstract grouping of individual artifacts whose focus is on overall similarity rather than specific form or function. The shape, size, and superficial characteristics of artifacts, features, structure, sites, etc., provided by measurements (including weight) that permit comparative statistical analysis of attributes and frequencies.
mosque: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Arabic: masjid
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: Any house or open area of prayer in Islam. The earliest mosques were simple enclosures, imitating the courtyard of the Prophet Muhammad's house at Medina of the 7th century AD. Most mosques have large areas, partly covered and partly open, where the community meets for prayer. Mosques usually, but not always, face Mecca, the direction of which (qibla) is indicated by a niche (mihrab) at the center of the end wall. To the right, there is a stepped pulpit (minbar). Outside the mosque, the most prominent feature is the minaret(s) (manar), usually towers, from which the muezzin gives the call to prayer. Schools and libraries are frequently attached to mosques. In some cases a maktab (elementary school) is attached to a mosque, mainly for the teaching of the Qur'an, and informal classes in law and doctrine are given for people of the surrounding neighborhood.
Mycenaeans: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Mycenaean
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Inhabitants of Mycenae, the civilization of late Bronze Age Greece, set in the Argolid. Their name for themselves was Achaeans, and their achievements were remembered in the legends of the classical Greeks. Their forebears probably arrived in Greece around 2000 BC, bringing Minyan ware and an Indo-European language with them. Mycenaean civilization arose in the 16th century BC by the sudden influx of many features of material culture from the Minoans. Later traditions speak of the arrival of new rulers from the east. By c 1450 BC, the Mycenaeans were powerful enough to take over both Knossos and the profitable trade across the east Mediterranean, especially in Cypriote copper. Trade was extended also to the central Mediterranean and continental Europe, where Baltic amber was one of the commodities sought. The peak of their power lasted only a century and a half until natural and unnatural disaster struck. The Trojan War at the end of the 13th century points to unrest east of the Aegean. There is evidence of increasing depopulation of southern Greece about the same time, paving the way for invasion by the Dorians. At home, the Mycenaeans dwelt in strongly walled citadels containing palaces of the megaron type, exemplified at Mycenae, Tiryns, Thebes, and Pylos. To these were added the more Minoan features -- frescoes, painted pottery, skillfully carved seals, artistic metalwork, clay tablets, etc. Their writing, Linear B, was an adaptation of the Minoan script, presumably first made by the mainlanders who had occupied Knossos, for the writing of their own, Greek, language. (Linear B was deciphered by Michael Ventris.) The Mycenaeans contributed greatly to the economy and technology of Late Bronze Age Europe, and to the population of the east Mediterranean coasts after the Egyptian defeat of the Peoples of the Sea, and they also left a legacy in their language and literature to their descendants in Greece. The civilization collapsed in c 1200 BC.
Namazga-depe: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Large Chalcolithic and Bronze Age settlement in southern Turkmenia (western Central Asia) on the north slope of Kopet Dagh. The Namazga phases I-III are assigned to the Chalcolithic period, while Namazga IV and V belong to the Bronze Age -- the Eneolithic (c 4800-3000 BC) and Bronze Age (c 3000-1500 BC); the sequence covers Anau IA Neolithic to the beginning of the Iron Age. The site was urban in character with a high population concentration and separate artisans' quarters, producing evidence of specialist production of bronze, gold, and silver goods, and wheelmade, kiln-fired pottery. The 'proto-civilization' of southern Turkmenia in the later 3rd millennium BC was characterized by two large towns -- Namazga-depe and Altin-Depe -- and a number of smaller settlements such as Ulug-depe. Other features include a wide-ranging trade network and an incipient writing system with repetitive symbols incised on flat clay figurines. This civilization never reached the levels achieved by the fully fledged civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley. There was a marked decline in the early 2nd millennium BC, possibly due to environmental changes, and a collapse in its final 'tower' phase in the late 3rd or early 2nd millennium BC. Altin-depe was abandoned while Namazga-depe survived only as a small village.
Napata: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: District of Upper Nubia on the Dongola reach of the Nile, southwest of the fourth cataract, which has given its name to the Napatan period. The district includes the sites of Kurru, Gebel Barkal, Nuri, and Sanam. Napata was settled in the mid-15th century BC as a southern outpost of the Egyptian empire, the seat of a kingdom (called Kush by the Egyptians) to which it gives its name. It flourished from the late 9th-early 3rd centuries BC. Napata's main feature, the hill of Barkol, was regarded from the Egyptian New Kingdom (1521-1075 BC) as a holy mountain, the seat of the god Amon; under it lie the ruins of several temples. A stela of Thutmose III (reigned 1479-1425), on which a fort is mentioned, has been found there, and Amenhotep II (reigned c 1426-1400 BC) sent an Asian prisoner to be hanged on its walls.
Naqada: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ancient Nubt, Ombos; Nagada
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site in Upper Egypt which produced the first evidence of the Neolithic in Egypt and provided the framework for the Predynastic sequence of the area. Its large Predynastic cemetery yielded some 2,000 burials of the Amratian and Gerzean periods. Naqada I was the Predynastic culture of ancient Egypt and Naqada II had new features accounted for by direct imports and by increasing cultural contact with the rest of the Near East, particularly Mesopotamia.
neoteny: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The retention of juvenile or fetal features into adult life. Neoteny entails the maturation of a larva's reproductive capabilities without the accompanying development of its external morphological features. This phenomenon occurs in some aquatic salamanders and is due to delayed somatic development. It is thought to be an important mechanism in evolution, having facilitated certain crucial changes such as the emergence of the first chordates. Modern man has a number of features which seem to be neotenous, at least in relation to the apes and to the kind of common apelike ancestor we are thought to have. Neoteny is one possible mechanism to explain the emergence of modern morphology, perhaps from a Neanderthal-like ancestor.
neutron scattering: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A remote sensing technique involving the placing of a probe into the soil in order to measure the relative rates of neutron flows through the soil. A beam of neutrons is aimed at the target material and the resultant scattering of the neutrons yields information about that material's atomic structure. Since stone produces a lower count rate than soil, buried features can often be detected.
Ngandong: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Terrace site in the Solo River valley in Java, Indonesia, which had remains of Pleistocene fauna and advanced Homo erectus (Solo Man) of c 200,000 years ago. Solo Man has features of earlier Java Man, and has also been regarded as a tropical Neanderthal. Faunal associations are Upper Pleistocene, and age estimates range from 60,000-300,000 years. There was a stone industry of choppers and retouched flakes, but it may not be associated with Solo Man.
Northwest Coast tradition: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A series of prehistoric groups of the northern California coast, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and southeastern Alaska, with origins in the Fraser River delta and clearly established by 1000 BC. Their subsistence was based on hunting and gathering of riverine and marine food sources (mollusks, salmon, halibut, sea mammals). Characteristics in the archaeological record include bone and slate hunting tools, stone effigy carving, and woodworking tools. Totem poles and elaborately carved long houses are still a cultural feature in the area.
numerical taxonomy: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: cluster analysis; taximetrics
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A set of mathematical procedures for grouping individual items into classes. The technique used is cluster analysis, which produces groupings of items based on their degree of similarity. There are different ways of measuring the similarity between items, and different techniques of producing clusters from such measurements. Agglomerative techniques start with the most similar items and repeatedly add new members to existing clusters as the standard of similarity is lowered; divisive methods, on the other hand, start with the entire collection to be classified and repeatedly subdivide into smaller groups on the basis of certain attributes. The results of the analyses can be shown in the form of a dendrogram, but the interpretation of the groupings produced will depend on a detailed assessment of the archaeological data itself. Numerical taxonomy is also the multivariate analysis of many measurable features (taxonomic characters) to produce a biological classification. Because of the complexity of the analysis, the use of a computer is virtually mandatory. No attempt is made, as in evolutionary taxonomy, to weight characters on the basis of their presumed roles in natural selection. For this reason, numerical taxonomy produces a classification that reflects phenetic distances i.e., degrees of similarity. Such classifications are rejected by many conventional taxonomists who feel that the relationships expressed in a classification should be strictly evolutionary. The numerical evaluation of the affinity or similarity between taxonomic units and the ordering of these units into taxa on the basis of their affinities is used often in archaeology.
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.
nymphaeum or nymphaion: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: nympheum
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: An ancient Greek and Roman sanctuary consecrated to water nymphs. It was an elaborately decorated public drinking fountain -- a semicircular monumental Classical fountain house. It often had niches filled with sculpture. The nymphs were associated with a range of natural features such as water, mountains, and trees. Nymphaea were often erected near the head of a spring. The nymphaeum served as a sanctuary, a reservoir, and an assembly chamber where weddings were held. The rotunda nymphaeum, common in the Roman period, was borrowed from such Hellenistic structures as the Great Nymphaeum of Ephesus. Nymphaea existed at Corinth, Antioch, and Constantinople; the remains of about 20 have been found in Rome; and others exist as ruins in Asia Minor, Syria, and North Africa. The word 'nymphaeum' was also used in ancient Rome to refer to a bordello and also to the fountain in the atrium of the Christian basilica.
oblique striae: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Slanting linear marks, ridges, or grooves, especially one of a number of similar features
Ocsöd-Kovashalom: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Late Neolithic site of the Tisza culture, on the Körös River in eastern Hungary. There are many settlement features, including ovens, storage pits, rubbish pits, and burials.
oculus: CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: The central opening at the top of a dome, such as in the Pantheon at Roman. The term is also used for a small window that is circular or oval in shape, such as an oeil-de-boeuf window. A third meaning is a decorative and religious motif symbolizing an eye, consisting of paired circles or spirals, as on the Spanish symbolkeramik. The design was widespread in western Europe in the 4th-3rd millennium BC. It occurs in the Spanish Copper Age, for instance at Los Millares, and is also found in Ireland and northern Europe in the late Neolithic. The capital of every Ionic column features a characteristic pair of volutes, or spiral scrolls, at the center of each of which is an eye, or disk, is also known as an oculus.
off-site data: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Unclustered physical remains produced by human activities; evidence from a range of information, including scatters of artifacts and features such as plowmarks and field boundaries. This data can provide important evidence about human exploitation of the environment.
offset planning: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A technique used in small-scale excavations to measure the plans of features. A point is measured with reference to a baseline, which is frequently the edge of an excavation trench. The measurement requires the formation of a right-angle at the point at which the tapes meet; this can be achieved by using a T-square, or by constructing a right-angled triangle with a tape using the Pythagoras theorem.
orientation rule: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A convention to ensure the consistent description of an object's features relative to one another.
Otomani: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: An Early Bronze Age culture of eastern Hungary, northwestern Romania, and eastern Slovakia, dating to the period 2000-1600 BC, and shows connections with Unetice. It is the equivalent of the Hungarian Füzesabony group in the central Hungarian sequence. A high proportion of Otomani settlements are artificially or naturally fortified (Barca, Spissky Stvrtok), often by the use of water, and tells are frequent. The type site, near Marghita, is a citadel overlooking the eastern edge of the Hungarian plain. Black burnished ware with bossed decoration on one-handled cups is the most frequent pottery type. The ceramics feature large, pointed bosses. Bronze artifacts are elaborately ornamented.
outline: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A key and obvious diagnostic feature is the outline or silhouette of the implement. The outline is the two dimensional image perceived when viewing the outer perimeter of an artifact with a blade face towards the viewer. Some projectile point types have distinctive outlines and can be accurately identified by this singular feature.
Palenque: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A Maya center in Chiapas, Mexico, which reached its height during the Late Classic, coming into power when Teotihuacán declined. There are inscribed monuments erected between 630-810 AD, after which the site was abandoned. The buildings have fine relief decoration modeled in stucco or carved on limestone panels and they are know for unusual features (pillar and lintel doorways, mansard roofing). A richly furnished tomb of the Classic period was found underneath the pyramid of the Temple of the Inscriptions, equally important to Tutankhamun's in Egypt (jade ornaments, a number of sacrificed retainers, and a massive, elaborately carved sarcophagus). A subterranean vaulted aqueduct joins the central palace complex, with its unique four-story tower, to the eastern terraces where the Temples of the Foliated Cross, the Cross, and the Sun are situated. Palenque was the westernmost of the great Classic Maya sites. Palenque was among the first major centers to suffer in the general Mayan collapse; it was abandoned in 810.
Paleo-Arctic tradition: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A tradition grouping industries of the Early Holocene in the western Arctic, including American Paleo-Arctic and Siberian Paleo-Arctic which are derived from Siberian Upper Paleolithic. Common features are blades and microblades, small wedge-shaped cores of campus" type various kinds of bifaces in varying degrees foliated end scrapers side scrapers and often burins of thick flakes."
paleopedology: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: palaeopedology
CATEGORY: related field
DEFINITION: The study of the creation, character, stratigraphy of buried fossil soils (palaeosols), which includes material in both geological and archaeological contexts and their geomorphic, temporal, and palaeoenvironmental significance. Soil scientists can assist archaeologists by explaining the natural and man-influenced processes on sites, such as the manner of filling of certain types of feature. Information may be deduced about climatic and environmental variation, which can lead to conclusions about the manipulation of the land by man.
palimpsest: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A collection of archaeological artifacts, ecofacts, and material that may not be related -- that are together through accident or natural forces rather than human activity. Also used to describe a site with a mass of intercut features of different periods.
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.
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.
perspective drawing: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A three-dimensional rendering, usually of a feature or a site, used to record and reconstruct the results of archaeological research. . Geometric perspective is a drawing method by which it is possible to depict a three-dimensional form as a two-dimensional image that closely resembles the scene as visualized by the human eye. Perspective drawings and photographs are easily interpreted because they closely resemble visual images.
Peterborough Ware: CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: A poorly made, elaborately decorated pottery of the British Late Neolithic, found in southern England. The ornament consists of pits, bone, and wooden stick impressions and 'maggot' patterns made by impressing a bit of whipped cord into the soft clay. The earliest (Ebbsfleet) substyle developed from Grimston-Lyles Hill ware c 3500 BC and consisted of round-based vessels with fairly restrained ornament. The later variants have more complicated decoration and show the influence of Beaker pottery: the second (Mortlake) substyle still occurs on round-based vessels, but in the final (Fengate) substyle the pots are flat-bottomed and have many features which lead on to the collared urns of the Bronze Age. These vessels were probably intended for everyday domestic use.
phase: CATEGORY: term; technique
DEFINITION: A term generally referring to an archaeological unit defined by artifacts and cultural traits that distinguish it from other units. It is an archaeological unit defined by characteristic groupings of culture traits that can be identified precisely in time and space. It lasts for a relatively short time and is found at one or more sites in a locality or region. Therefore, it is an interval of time in the archaeological record, especially a relatively limited time within a specific locality or region and often used to represent a distinct prehistoric people. The archaeologist abstracts the phase from a number of components which occupy a certain area in space and the same span in time and which share many or most of their distinctive features with each other. These components may represent units as small as tribal camps or as large as cities. It is similar to focus" in the Midwestern Taxonomic System and to "culture" in the Old World."
photogrammetry: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A technique for mapping of areas using photographs taken directly from above. Though used mainly in map-making, it can also be used for the planning of archaeological sites. For large-scale map-making the photographs are taken from the air, a sequence along each flight path with each exposure overlapping the next by 60%. Adjustment is made so that the photographs can be laid side by side in a mosaic, with common reference points lying over each other. They are then converted into maps by the use of multiple projectors. A similar technique can be used to plan smaller-scale features such as excavations. The camera can be mounted on a rigid frame, and moved along so that it takes overlapping vertical photographs. It can greatly speed up the mapping of complicated features. Many of today's maps are largely produced by this method.
pin: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: One of the simplest artifacts, consisting of a narrow metal or bone shaft with a point at one end and usually some sort of decorative head at the other. Its function was to secure garments (ancestral to the fibula) or, sometimes, the hair. Their decorative heads were highly variable and non-functional, therefore a culturally significant feature.
place-name: CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: A place-name is a word or words used to indicate, denote, or identify a geographic locality such as a town, river, or mountain. Toponymy divides place-names into two broad categories: habitation names and feature names. A habitation name denotes a locality that is peopled or inhabited, such as a homestead, village, or town. Feature names refer to natural or physical features of the landscape. The study of a place-names plays a vital role in medieval studies. The form of the name will often indicate a Celtic, Latin, or Germanic origin, and its prefix or suffix may suggest the type of settlement, for instance, hamlet, village, riverside place, woodland settlement, etc. Two basic assumptions are: every place-name has a meaning, including place-names derived from personal names; place-names describe the site and record some evidence of human occupation or ownership. Toponymy can uncover important historical information about a place, such as the period of time the original language of the inhabitants lasted, settlement history, and population dispersal.
planimetric map: CATEGORY: tool
DEFINITION: Map used to record details of an archaeological site(s) or features but which contains no topographic information.
planum: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: An excavation method in which horizontal slices are removed either from the whole site, or from specific features, in order to reveal a succession of plans.
Polada: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An Early Bronze Age lake dwelling site near the southern end of Lake Garda in Lombardy, Italy, the type site of the Polada culture, c 2200-1600 BC. The culture was characterized by a coarse undecorated ware forming deep carinated cups and various simple jars. The strap handles were often surmounted by knobs. Tlat and slightly flanged axes were made of bronze. Antler was much used, and objects and vessels of wood survive on waterlogged sites. A variety of settlement types occur, including hill sites and lake villages like Polada itself. The Polada people were accomplished metalworkers, producing a range of tools and weapons showing strong connections with Unetice and other Early Bronze Age groups north of the Alps. The Polada culture has features derived from Beaker assemblages, such as wristguards and v-perforated buttons, also.
Predionica: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Late Neolithic settlement of the early Vinca culture in southern Serbia. The first of three occupation horizons has a radiocarbon date of c 4330 BC. Monumental fired-clay figurine heads have been discovered which were made by abstract modeling with plastic features reinforced by incised lines.
Predmostí: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Palaeolithic site near Prerov in northeastern Moravia, Czechoslovakia. Over 20 skeletons of males, females and children were found in a large communal grave, associated with an Eastern Gravettian layer. The age of the grave is probably around 26,870 BC. Some of the males had marked Neanderthaloid features but the overall morphology was Cro-Magnon. Middle Palaeolithic artifacts, probably of the Early Glacial, and Upper Palaeolithic (Aurignacian, Eastern Gravettian) levels have been found. There are ivory and bone tools, pendants, and portable art.
primary silt: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: rapid silt
CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: The initial silt from the top and sides of a newly dug feature (ditch, gully, pit, etc.) that falls naturally to the bottom. It occurs as a result of the immediate weathering of the sides and top due to wind or the action of precipitation. Unless the feature was cleaned of this material in antiquity, it may be recognized in many archaeological features, and any material found in it may date from around the time of the original digging. However, a more ancient artifact which was lying on the ground surface close to the lip of the ditch may tumble into the fill when the edges of the trench crumble and collapse.
probe: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: soil probe
CATEGORY: tool
DEFINITION: A tool consisting of a metal rod or tube pushed into unexcavated deposits to locate as yet unexposed hard features such as walls, floors, or bed rock. It is also used for exploring subsurface stratigraphy and is less expensive than a core but works down only a few meters.
profile: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: section
CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A vertical wall, section, or face of an excavation pit that exposes the lateral relationships, archaeological features, structures, stratigraphy -- and their relationships. By extension, a profile is a record or graphic representation of these, including color, soil type, features, and content. Soil profiles consist of a number of layers, or horizons, which result from soil-forming processes.
profile drawing: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: profile view
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A two-dimensional graphic representation similar to a section drawing except that features are depicted in outline without showing their internal composition.
proglacial: CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: Landforms and deposits just beyond the margin of glacial ice; the deposition or environments at the edge of an ice sheet or glacier. This includes lakes, streams, loess, and periglacial features. Melt water released from the glacial mass carries loads of material eroded by the ice and this material is deposited in the proglacial area.
proton gradiometer: CATEGORY: tool
DEFINITION: An instrument used in magnetic surveying for detecting the presence of magnetic anomalies; it takes continuous measurements of relative vertical change in intensity of field strength. There are two detector bottles filled with water or alcohol placed at either end of a staff two meters long and held vertically during operation. Protons which form the nuclei of hydrogen atoms in the liquid gyrate or precess; the frequency of precession is identical in the two bottles if no anomaly is present. Any disturbance in the magnetic intensity caused, for example, by a buried feature, results in a different frequency in the two bottles.
provenience: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: provenance
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The source, origin, or location of an artifact or feature and the recording of same. It is the position of an archaeological find in time and space, recorded three-dimensionally. The horizontal reference system is usually some form of grid tied to a reference datum; the vertical dimension is reference to a vertical datum. I.e., the three-dimensional position of an archaeological find in time and space and recorded from a known datum point at an archaeological site.
proximal: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The part of a long bone (arm or leg) which is nearest the body; the opposite end is the distal. The term also means close to the center or to the point of attachment and can refer to geological features as well as anatomical features.
pulsed induction meter: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: pulse radar
CATEGORY: tool
DEFINITION: An instrument used in electromagnetic surveying, mainly for the detection of metals, though on a limited scale it can be used to locate archaeological features. The instrument has a transmitter coil, which sends pulses of magnetic field to the ground: the continuous rising and falling of the field produces eddy currents in metal objects, and magnetic fields in susceptible soil. These are detected by a receiver coil. Only shallow features can be satisfactorily located, and it can be used to find metals, graves, and pottery.
punctuated equilibria: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A principal feature of the evolutionary theory propounded by Niles Eldredge and Stephen J. Gould, in which species' change is represented as a form of Darwinian gradualism, punctuated" by periods of rapid evolutionary change. It is a revision of Darwinian theory proposing that the creation of new species through evolutionary change occurs not at slow constant rates over millions of years but rather in rapid bursts over periods as short as thousands of years which are then followed by long periods of stability during which organisms undergo little further change."
Qishan: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Ch'i-shan
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site in Shaanxi province, China, where the Zhou people established their dynasty and capital before they overthrew the Shang dynasty in 1027 BC. A large palace complex included inscribed oracle bones antedating the founding of the dynasty. The tiled roofs of the buildings are the earliest known (11th century BC) of this standard feature of later Chinese architecture. There are also hangtu foundation platforms for palace buildings. Many bronze ritual vessels have been found in the Qishan area, mostly Western Zhou in date.
quadrant method: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A procedure for excavating a circular feature such as a mound, barrow, pit, etc. by laying out trenches. Material is extracted from four quarters of the feature, starting with the two opposite each other and ending with the other two. The quadrants are slightly offset, so that the outer face of the east balk of one is continuous (in reverse) with the outer face of the east balk of its opposite, going through the center of the feature. After the recording of the sections, the balks may be removed and the rest of the center excavated. Before the complete removal of the feature, it allows a look at all four quarters, at two complete cross-sections, and at part of the center, allowing a better interpretation of the stratigraphy of the site.
quarry: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: An open excavation usually for obtaining building stone, slate, or limestone. In archaeological terms, it is a cumulative feature resulting from the mining of mineral resources or a place where stone was removed from a larger source, e.g. to subsequently manufacture tools.
Qujialing: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: [Ch'ü-chia-ling]
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Type site in Jingshan Xian, Hubei province, China, of a rice-growing Neolithic culture of the middle Yangtze region. Radiocarbon dates from various sites range from c 3100-2650 BC. Qujialing's closest affiliations seem to be with the east-coast Neolithic cultures of the lower Ynazi. During the 4th and 3rd millennia BC, the Ta-hsi and Ch'ü-chia-ling cultures shared a significant number of traits, including rice production, ring-footed vessels, goblets with sharply angled profiles, ceramic whorls, and black pottery with designs painted in red after firing. Characteristic Ch'ü-chia-ling ceramic objects not generally found in Ta-hsi sites include eggshell-thin goblets and bowls painted with black or orange designs; double-waisted bowls; tall, ring-footed goblets and serving stands; and many styles of tripods. There are indications of a thriving textile industry. The chronological distribution of ceramic features suggests a transmission from Ta-hsi to Ch'ü-chia-ling, but the precise relationship between the two cultures has been much debated.
Rössen culture: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Röessen culture
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: The successor of western branch of the Neolithic Linear Pottery Culture, with which is has many features in common. Its main distribution was in Rhineland and central and southern Germany, parallel to Lengyel culture in Czechoslovakia and mid-Danube. It is characterized by pottery with complex incised geometric motifs and by sites with trapezoidal longhouses. Radiocarbon dates indicate early 4th millennium BC. It is named after a cemetery site in Halle with 70 burials accompanied by bone and jet necklaces, shaft-hole-stone axes, and some long trapezoidal ones.
rabotage: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The process of carefully scraping a horizontal surface to reveal features in it distinguished by color differences. It is particularly useful in sandy soils and gravels, revealing surprising detail.
raised beach: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: fossil beach
CATEGORY: geography
DEFINITION: An ancient or previous shoreline from a period when the land level was lower than it is today in relation to the sea level. This geological feature is produced by changing sea-levels through time and though it may now be some distance from the sea, a raised beach shows where the original coastline was. Changes in relative heights of land and sea can often be correlated with fluctuations in the Pleistocene climate.
reconnaissance: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: reconnaissance survey
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A broad range of techniques involved in the location of archaeological sites, e.g. surface survey and the recording of surface artifacts and features, the sampling of natural and mineral resources, and sometimes testing of an area to assess the number and extent of archaeological resources.
recording unit: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A specific location or feature that is defined as an entity for the purpose of recording archaeological data.
Recuay: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Huaylas
CATEGORY: culture; site
DEFINITION: Pre-Columbian culture and site near present-day Recuay in the Callejón de Huaylas Valley of the northern highlands of Peru. The Recuay culture dates to the Early Intermediate Period c 200 BC-600 AD and was contemporaneous with the Moche culture on the north coast. Recuay is known for its distinctive pottery which features a type of decoration in three colors (black, red, white) and a style of modeling with small figures of men, jaguars, llamas, and other animals attached to the vessel. The vessels were found in underground galleries and box-shaped tombs. The style, also called Huaylas, shows contact with the Moche and Gallinazo styles. Recuay stone carving (called Aija) is related to that of the Pucará and Tiahuanaco cultures. It is characterized by the stiff blockish quality which is widespread throughout the Peruvian Highlands.
refitting: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: conjoining, rejoining
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The reassembling of stone debitage and cores to reconstruct ancient lithic technologies. It is any attempt to put stone tools and flakes back together again, which provides important information on the processes involved in the knapper's craft. The refitting or conjoining of artifact or ecofact fragments, especially those of struck stone flakes to recreate the original core, allows definition of cumulative features, such as the lithic artifact and debitage scatters. The technique allow may allow reconstruction of ancient manufacture and use behavior.
Remojadas: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A Classic Period center with distinctive pottery, dating to the Late Formative and lasting until the Early Postclassic, southeast of El Tajin near Veracruz, Mexico. Best known are the mold-made 'smiling face' figurines and small wheeled animals. The figurines were turned out in incredible quantity for use as burial goods. Ball-game players and warriors are frequent subjects of the figurines, but women and children are also common. Locally available natural outcrops of asphalt were used as paint to highlight some features of the figurines. Examples of wheeled animals have been found as far afield as Nayarit and El Salvador. Further down the Gulf coast plain, the Remojadas tradition of hollow pottery figurines continued to be active in the Late Classic, with a particularly large production of the mysterious smiling figures of dancing boys and girls, which were intended as funerary offerings.
remote sensing: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The nondestructive techniques used in geophysical prospecting and to generate archaeological data without excavation. It is a general term for reconnaissance and surface survey techniques that leave subsurface archaeological deposits undisturbed. Reconnaissance and site survey methods use such devices as aerial photography and pedestrian survey to detect subsurface features and sites. It includes the detection of hidden archaeological features such as walls, pits, or roads by means of sound or radar impulses passed through the ground.
rescue archaeology: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: salvage archaeology, cultural resource management; rescue projects
CATEGORY: branch
DEFINITION: The branch of archaeology devoted to studying artifacts and features on sites which are imminently threatened by development in the form of the construction of dams, buildings, highways, etc. Threats to archaeological remains occur in the form of road-building, road improvement, new building of houses, offices, and industrial complexes, the flooding of valleys for reservoirs, and improved farming techniques involving the use of deep plowing. The rescue, or salvage, archaeologist, is concerned with the retrieval of as much information as possible about the archaeological sites before they are damaged or destroyed. Frequently time is too short and funds are too limited for anything but a brief survey.
rescue project: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Any attempt by cultural resource management to study artifacts and features which are imminently threatened by development.
resistivity: CATEGORY: geology; technique
DEFINITION: The resistance of soil or buried features to the passage of an electrical current, measured during geophysical surveying. Different materials offer varying resistance to electrical currents, depending on the amount of water present. Resistivity is a method used to identify underlying deposits without excavation.
resistivity meter: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: resistivity detector
CATEGORY: tool
DEFINITION: A geophysical instrument used to measure the electrical resistivity of the earth to identify buried features and structures. Since the resistivity of the soil changes with humidity, humus content, etc., the machine can detect pits, ditches, roads, floors, etc. This is generally done through an array of four electrodes, pushed into the ground surface. Despite their name, resistivity meters do not actually measure resistivity, but ground resistance. Resistivity is this resistance, standardized for the distance between the electrodes in the ground. The instrument consists of a source of electricity (a handle-operated dynamo in the megger earth tester, batteries in the tellohm, a transistor oscillator in the Martin-Clark meter) and a meter to record the results. All systems employ four steel probes connected by cable to the meter, two to carry the activating current, two to pick up the current passing through the ground. Also, the resistance between two roving probes is now compared with that between two distant static ones. Different spacing between the probes is employed in different conditions; where the probes are spaced equally, as in the Wenner configuration, features up to a depth equal to the probe-separation can be detected. Anomalous readings may indicate the presence of archaeological material.
resistivity surveying: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: resistivity survey
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A geosurvey survey technique that measures the electrical resistance of the ground for the location of buried features and structures. Any electrical exploration method in which current is introduced in the ground by two contact electrodes and potential differences are measured between two or more other electrodes. It relies on the principle that different deposits offer different resistance to the passage of an electric current depending largely on the amount of water present. A damp pit or ditch fill will offer less resistance, stone wall foundations more, than the surrounding soil. It is one of the most commonly used and least expensive geophysical surveying methods. Readings are taken in a grid-pattern of points all over a suspected site. Variation of resistance through a site is caused mainly by differences in the amount of water contained in pore spaces of deposits and structures. The outline of features may be seen if the readings are plotted as a plan. Although the technique is generally known as 'resistivity surveying', most archaeological surveys use only the ground resistance (in ohms). It compares well with magnetic surveying, as the instruments are simple and cheap and also because modern features such as power cables, iron scrap, and standing buildings do not affect the readings.
retouch: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: secondary working; secondary flaking
CATEGORY: lithics
DEFINITION: The working of a primary flake, usually by the removal of small fragments, to form a tool; to thin, sharpen, straighten, or otherwise refine an existing stone tool for further use. It is the work done to a flint implement after its preliminary roughing-out in order to make it into a functional tool. In the case of a core-tool, such as a hand-ax, retouch may consist of roughly trimming the edge by striking with a hammerstone, but on smaller, finer flake or blade tools it is usually carried out by pressure-flaking. It is done two ways, either by blows that knock small flakes off an edge (percussion retouch) or by pressure to force the flakes off (pressure retouch). The different types of retouch are also described as: backing or blunting retouch, and invasive or normal retouch. Invasive retouch can be steep or shallow, depending mainly on the kind of edge being retouched; this retouch can also be scaly in character. Backing is most often applied to blades and may have been done to blunt the back or to bring its end to a stout point. Evidence suggests that it may have been done to regularize the blade edge to facilitate fixing by resin 'mastic' to a bone or wood shaft. Such a strip of mastic was found in Lascaux, France. Notching or toothing is another form of retouch, and the removal of spalls or slivers as in the burin technique could be regarded as a further form of retouch or modification. Retouch is one of the most obvious features distinguishing a manmade from a naturally struck flint.
reworking: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Flaking applied to a broken or dulled tool so as to reclaim it for additional use. Sometimes called Lateral Rejuvenation, reworking was the characteristic means by which an implement was resharpened. Alternate and bifacial beveling, serration, and other diagnostic features of blade renewal are very important to age determination as well as for the purpose of assembling attribute clusters for typological analysis. Typically reworked blades or points have a different outline than their former pristine outline. Reworking of lithic objects was employed by early people due to the general lack of high quality lithic materials.
robber trench: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ghost wall
CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A term used to describe a feature created by the robbing of its original filling material. In areas where stone or other building materials are scarce, or where a new structure is being built near one which is out of use, a monument's building materials may be plundered. The trench left is usually backfilled by the laborers who have 'robbed' out a wall either completely or of its facing stone. The trenches where the walls once stood and where the stone has been removed are called robber trenches or ghost walls. Archaeologists should be able to reconstruct a plan of the original structure from careful examination and recording of the robber trenches.
rocker jaw: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Distinctive anatomical feature of Polynesian peoples, where the lower edge of the mandible is convex.
roof comb: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: An architectural feature, often carved with glyphs or figures and placed on the top of Mesoamerican temples.
roof furniture: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Wooden, stone, or ceramic items used as decorative and functional features of a roof. They include finials on the gables, antefixes to act as stoppers for hollow tiles emerging at the eaves, chimney pots, louvers, and smoke turrets to ventilate fires inside the building and let fumes escape, and ridge tiles along the highest point.
round tower: CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A form of architecture in which a hollow circular column of 50-150 feet high is capped by a short pointed roof of stone. There are many in Ireland (upwards of 100), also in Scotland, the Isle of Man, in Denmark, and as part of Windsor Castle in England. Round towers were a feature of Irish monasteries from the Viking period and into the Romanesque. There is usually a single entrance door, about 8-15 feet above the ground, usually five stories high, and each floor was lit by a separate window and had a wooden floor. Because the doors were placed high off the ground, it seems that the main function of the towers was as a refuge from Viking and Irish raiders, but they may also have been used as companiles.
Saale: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Saale Glacial Stage, Saalian cold stage
CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: A division of Pleistocene deposits and time in northern Europe which followed the Holstein Interglacial Stage and preceded the Eemian Interglacial Stage. It was the penultimate cold stage in northern Europe, c 200,000-125,000 BP. The extensive and complex Saale deposits are correlated with the Wolstonian (or Gipping) Glacial Stage of Britain and the Riss Glacial Stage of the European Alpine region. The Saale is roughly contemporaneous with the Illinoian Glacial Stage of North America. The Saale has three complex phases: the Drente, Treene, and Warthe substages. The Drente and Warthe represent periods of glacial advance, or maxima, whereas the Treene represents an interstadial period of glacial retreat between the early Drente and the late Warthe. In the region of central Europe, the Saale is represented by three glacial maxima separated by two periods, or interstadials, of moderating climatic conditions. One of the main features is a complex series of end-moraines, demarcating the maximum extent of ice sheets. These ice sheets flowed out from centers in Scandinavia, across the Baltic Sea and into northern Europe and Russia. The end-moraines are split into two sets: one called the Drenthe moraines (or Dnieper), and the Warthe moraines (Moscow in the USSR). These formations are complex and each seems to represent several 'pulses' of the ice-sheet edge. The Saale Glacial Stage was named for the German river, a tributary of the Elbe.
Salinas La Blanca: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Early Formative village site on the left bank of the Narajo River near Ocos, Guatemala. The principal features of the site are two low house-mounds constructed of clay and household debris and dating to 1000-850 BC. A typical household cluster consisted of the house and outdoor hearth, a number of 'borrow pits' (dug to obtain clay) and a sherd-and-shell midden. Large numbers of primitive corn cobs indicate some farming.
salvage archaeology: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: rescue archaeology; cultural resource management
CATEGORY: branch
DEFINITION: The branch of archaeology devoted to studying artifacts and features on sites which are imminently threatened by development in the form of the construction of dams, buildings, highways, etc. Threats to archaeological remains occur in the form of road-building, road improvement, new building of houses, offices, and industrial complexes, the flooding of valleys for reservoirs, and improved farming techniques involving the use of deep plowing. The rescue, or salvage, archaeologist, is concerned with the retrieval of as much information as possible about the archaeological sites before they are damaged or destroyed. Salvage archaeology is the location, recording (usually through excavation), and collection of archaeological data from a site in advance of highway construction, drainage projects, or urban development. In the US, the first major program of salvage archaeology was undertaken in the 1930s, ahead of the construction and dam building done by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
San: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Bushmen
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: The hunter-gatherer people of southern Africa who once lived throughout the region and spoke a number of languages before becoming absorbed into agricultural societies. They were a nomadic egalitarian society with small bands of about 20 people. Men hunted with bow-and-arrow and women gathered plant foods. Their record provides insights into Later Stone Age remains and rock art. By late 20th century, many San had become laborers and trackers in settled areas. They are part of the Capoid local race, a subgroup, of the Negroid (African) geographic race (also comprised of the Khoikhoin (Hottentots)). The most striking feature of the San languages is their extensive use of click sounds.
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan / San Lorenzo: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The oldest-known Olmec center, located in Veracruz, Mexico, and revealing information on Olmec origins. It was a large nucleated village flourishing during the Early Formative. The first phase of occupation (Ojochi, c 1800-1650 BC) left no architectural traces, but during the next period (Bajío, 1650-1550 BC) a start was made on the artificial plateau with lateral ridges forming the base of most subsequent structures. The Chicharras phase (1550-1450 BC) foreshadows true Olmec in its pottery, figurines, and perhaps also in stone-carving. The San Lorenzo phase (1450-1100 BC) marks the Olmec climax at the site, whose layout then resembled that of La Venta. The principal features of the site are a large platform mound and a cluster of smaller mounds surrounding what may be the earliest ball court in Mesoamerica; more than 200 house mounds are clustered around these central features. A system of carved stone drains underlying the site is a unique structural feature. Around 900 BC, the stone monuments were mutilated and buried upon the center's collapse. La Venta then came to power. The monuments weighed as much as 44 tons and were carved from basalt from the Cerro Cintepec, a volcanic flow in the Tuxtla Mountains about 50 air miles to the northwest. It is believed that the stones were somehow dragged down to the nearest navigable stream and from there transported on rafts up the Coatzacoalcos River to the San Lorenzo area. The amount of labor involved must have been enormous, indicating a complex social system to ensure the task's completion. Most striking are the colossal heads human portraits on a stupendous scale, the largest of which is 9 feet high. After a short hiatus, the site was reoccupied by a group whose culture still shows late Olmec affinities (Palangana phase, 800-450 BC), but was again abandoned until 900 AD when it was settled by early post-Classic (Villa Alta) people who used plumbate and fine orange pottery. The collapse of San Lorenzo c 1150/1100 BC was abrupt and violent. The population was forced to do its agricultural work well outside the site, which may have contributed to the center's collapse.
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.
Sarab, Tepe: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Early farming site near Kermanshah in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran dating c 6000-5650 BC. The most unusual finds are two female figurines, in the sitting position with bulging thighs and breasts, but without facial features.
secondary altriciality: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A unique human phenomenon of brain growth, during which the brain doubles its size in the first year of life. It may have been a feature of our ancestor Homo erectus.
secondary use: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: An artifact or feature showing an alternate or later use that differs from its original function. For example, an abandoned well might be used as a refuse pit.
section: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: sectioning, section drawing
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: In excavation, the exposing of a deposit vertically to reveal the stratigraphy of a site or details of a particular feature. A balk is left across a feature or a complex of features, or a hole is cut out of a feature and trimmed to a flat face in which layers and changes in soil color may be examined. Sections automatically occur when the grid method of excavation is used, on all four sides of each trench. The term is also applied to the drawing of the vertical record of the stratification of a site or feature. A section drawing is a two-dimensional rendering, at a constant scale, depicting archaeological data and matrix as seen in the wall of an excavation. Advocates of open-area excavation prefer not to have standing sections on the site; instead of drawing sections after the whole area has been excavated, they record the profile of each deposit as it is excavated and construct what are known as 'cumulative' or 'running sections'.
sequence comparison: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A relative age determination technique based on similarities between newly classified artifacts or features and established chronological sequences of similar materials.
seriation: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A relative dating technique in which artifacts or features are organized into a sequence according to changes over time in their attributes or frequency of appearance. The technique shows how these items have changed over time and it is a way to establish chronology. Archaeological material, such as assemblages of pottery or the grave goods deposited with burials, are arranged into chronological order. The types that comprise the assemblages to be ordered in this way must be from the same archaeological tradition, and from a single region or locality. Once the variations in a particular object have been classified by typology, it can often be shown that they fall into a developmental series, sometimes in a single line, sometimes in branching lines more as in a family tree. The order produced is theoretically chronological, but will need archaeological assessment. Outside evidence, such as dating of two or more stages in the development, may be needed to determine which is the first and which the last member of the series. There are several types of seriation: frequency seriation, contextual seriation, evolutionary seriation, and similarity / stylistic seriation -- based on different changes. A seriation technique, called sequence dating, based on shared typological features, enabled Sir Flinders Petrie to establish the temporal order of a large number of Egyptian graves.
Sesklo: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Neolithic tell settlement site near Volos in Thessaly, Greece, first occupied in the 7th millennium BC (Aceramic Neolithic). It has given its name to a pottery ware known over much of continental Greece in the Middle Neolithic, 6th millennium BC. The pottery's most distinctive feature is a fine white slip painted in red with geometric designs, often in zigzag patterns. The pre-Sesklo which it succeeds was a local branch of the widespread Starcevo culture. The settlement has closely grouped mud-brick houses set on stone foundations, each with a domed oven. There was a large megaron complex on the acropolis and it was an important settlement through the Bronze Age.
settlement pattern: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: settlement pattern study
CATEGORY: technique; term
DEFINITION: The study of ancient human occupation and activity patterns within a specified area -- the distribution of features and sites, buildings, and other constructions in relation to the topography of a given area. Archaeological studies of settlement patterns deal with such matters as urbanization, the relationship between town, village, and countryside, and the operation of administrative centers. Findings reflect the relationship of the inhabitants with their environment, and the relationship of groups with each other within that environment. Factors influencing the pattern of settlement in any area may include the subsistence strategy, the political structure, the social structure, population density, and carrying capacity.
shadow marks: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: Surface shadows of an archaeological site that are caused by irregularities in elevation, indicating the presence of submerged features such as earthworks and ditches. These may be revealed through aerial photography. Shadow marks are best seen in the low sun of evenings and early mornings.
shadow sites: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: Surface shadows on an archaeological site that are caused by irregularities in elevation, indicating the presence of submerged features such as earthworks and ditches. Such sites are identified from the air, especially in aerial photography. Shadow sites are best seen in the low sun of evenings and early mornings. Oblique light can show reduced topography of sites invisible from the ground.
Sirikwa Holes: CATEGORY: feature; site
DEFINITION: Feature of Iron Age sites in the Western Highlands of Kenya which consists of circular depressions 5-10 meters in diameter, sometimes encircled by stone walling. They functioned as cattle barns during the first half of the 2nd millennium AD.
site: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Any location that demonstrates past human activity, as evidence by the presence of artifacts, features, ecofacts, or other material remains; a single place in which excavation or reconnaissance has revealed objects or data of archaeological interest. The definition implies that such a location was utilized by humans for a sufficient period of time to develop features or become a deposit ground for artifacts. Sites can range from small, temporary camps to large, complex cities, from a living site to a quarry site, and from one artifact to many levels of occupation. Major types of sites include domestic / habitation sites, kill-sites, and processing / butchering sites.
site map: CATEGORY: tool
DEFINITION: A map depicting the details of a site, usually made by recording all observable surface features.
site plan: CATEGORY: tool
DEFINITION: A specially prepared map for recording the horizontal provenience of artifacts, food remains, and features -- keyed to topographic maps. Such a map may be designed to depict a specific detail within a site, usually a single feature or group of features.
site structure: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The arrangement of the various components of an archaeological site, including artifacts, features, and structures. Site structure analysis identifies how a space was organized and used and how it related to aspects of the cultural system. Site structure analyses are used to make warranting arguments in the context of the archaeological record and are often done in ethnoarchaeological studies.
sketch map: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: sketch-map
CATEGORY: tool
DEFINITION: A roughly drawn map with few details. An impressionistic rendering of a region, site, or feature made without instruments, therefore showing no geographical direction or elevation and with distances estimated by pacing. The Incas used sketch maps and cut some in stone to show relief features. Many specimens of early Eskimo sketch maps on skin, wood, and bone have been found.
skeuomorph: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: adj. skeuomorphic
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: An object in which its shape or decoration copies the form it had been when made from another material or by another technique. For example, a pot would be decorated to make it look similar to a vessel of basketry, skin, or other material. In some cases, it is an artifact which represents in decorative form a feature which was originally functional. A decorative bow attached to a shoe is a skeuomorph of the laces once used to tie it; triangular shapes drawn below handles on pottery are skeuomorphs of the metal plates by which the handles on metal prototypes were attached; and the semicircular mark on the back of a teaspoon represents the broadening of the handle where it was soldered to the bowl when it used to be made in two pieces. Frequently a skeuomorph may yield important information about extinct types, especially when organic materials like basketry are recorded in this way.
small find: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A term used to define artifacts which can be picked up and transported, as opposed to features. In different areas, however, the term means different things. In the New World, all artifacts of this sort can be called small finds, while in Britain there can be a distinction between 'finds' and 'small finds'. On a site producing few artifacts, any find may be dealt with as a small find, while on a site producing large quantities of material, a small find will comprise something special, unusual, or unclassifiable.
Smithfield: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A Later Stone Age industry and hunting and gathering culture of southern Africa, originally thought contemporary with the Wilton, but technologically different from it, and now referring to a complex between 1300-1700 AD. The culture was on the same level as that of the Mesolithic people of Europe or the modern Kalahari bushmen. The unifying feature of this industry was the almost complete absence of backed microliths and tiny semicircular scrapers.
smudged: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Pottery which has been exposed to a smoke during firing to generate a black surface features.
soil conductivity meter: CATEGORY: tool
DEFINITION: A geophysical instrument used in electromagnetic surveying for the detection of metal, but also for the location of archaeological features such as shallow pits, which have a different conductivity from the surrounding soil. The instrument has a transmitter coil which is fed with a continuous sinusoidal current, and a receiver coil; they are mounted at right angles to each other at opposite ends of a horizontal bar about a meter long. The instrument is designed to pick up differences in conductivity between features and the surrounding soil, i.e. the reverse of a resistivity meter. Resistivity surveying is considered more sensitive and versatile.
soil mark: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: Any visible irregularity in the appearance of the soil surface, indicating traces of buried sites or features on the surface of plowed or otherwise disturbed ground. As revealed through aerial photography, a darker area may indicate human wastes, or a lighter area a former road or trail.
soil resistivity: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: electrical resistivity; soil resistivity surveying
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A remote sensing technique that monitors the degree of electrical resistance in soils -- which often depends on moisture content -- near the surface. Buried features are usually detected by a differential retention of groundwater.
spear: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A pole weapon with a sharp point, either thrown or thrust at an enemy or prey, one of the earliest weapons created by man and dating back to Palaeolithic times. They were originally a sharpened stick and some were made of stone, shaped and fixed to the shaft by thongs and possibly resins. In the Bronze Age, they were made of that metal and had a tang for riveting the head to the shaft. Later, the tang was replaced by a socket into which the shaft fitted. The Iron Age spears retained this feature and were sometimes decorated with La Tène designs.
sphinx: CATEGORY: structure; artifact
DEFINITION: A mythical beast portrayed with the crouched body of a lion and head or face of a man. It is especially known from Egyptian art as a symbol of royal power and only the pharaoh was depicted in this form. Originally considered by the Egyptians to represent the guardian of the Gates of Sunset, the statues were usually erected to guard tombs or temples from intruders. The largest and most famous of the sphinxes is that of Giza, carved from a knoll left by the quarrying of stone for the Great Pyramid. Its features are those of the pharaoh Chephren (Khafre) of the 4th dynasty, reigning c 26th century BC; it is 73 meters long and 20 meters high. Human-headed lions, usually female, were also portrayed by the Hittites and Greeks and the Romans adopted it and placed them in the pronaos of their temples. Representations of ram-headed lions are called crio-sphinxes and were associated with the god Amon (Amen); they are of the New Kingdom and found along the roads between the Temple of Luxor and Karnak.
stage: CATEGORY: term; chronology
DEFINITION: A level of cultural development characterized by a technology and its associated social and ideological features; a large-scale archaeological unit consisting of a well-defined level of development attained by a particular culture area. The adoption of agriculture, for instance, had profound cultural and social consequences, raising people to a higher stage. This technological subdivision of prehistoric time has little chronological meaning beyond the regional (as it may be continental or global), an example being the Stone Age, though stages are integral parts of the chronological sequencing of culture history.
statistics: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The science of making valid inferences about the characteristics of a group of persons or objects on the basis of numerical information obtained from a randomly selected sample of the group. Artifacts, ecofacts, features, sites, etc. can be reduced to a series of measurements, analytically determined values, or systematic observations which can be represented as numbers. The distributions of items with respect to these variables can then be studied. A wide variety of quantities summarizing the distributions may be calculated and compared, possibly determining the degree of similarity between distributions. The use of statistics procedures in archaeology most often involves assumption because archaeologists are dealing with remains which are only representative of the original population of artifacts, ecofacts, features, sites, etc.
step pyramid: CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A form of Egyptian royal tomb, transitional between the mastaba of the early Archaic Period and the true pyramid of the Old Kingdom. Djoser's at Saqqarah is the only completed step pyramid known. The pyramid itself evolved through numerous stages from a flat mastaba (an oblong tomb with a burial chamber dug beneath it, common at earlier nonroyal sites) into a six-stepped, almost square pyramid (a terraced structure rising in six unequal stages to a height of 60 m, its base measuring 120 m by 108 m). The substructure has an intricate system of underground corridors and rooms, its main feature being a central shaft 25 m deep and 8 m wide, at the bottom of which is the sepulchral chamber built of granite from Aswan. The Step Pyramid rises within a vast walled court 544 m long and 277 m wide, in which there are remnants of other stone edifices.
stone circle: CATEGORY: feature; structure
DEFINITION: A ring of standing stones, either circular or near-circular, found in the British Isles from the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. There are almost 1000 stone circles, some surrounded by a ditch, with the most famous examples being Stonehenge, Avebury, and Callanish. Two atypical examples are in Brittany. The standing stones which make up these circles are widely spaced; in many examples they are incorporated into a ring-bank of smaller piled stones which has one opening as the entrance. A local variant is the recumbent stone circle of Aberdeenshire in which the entrance is marked by a large horizontal stone flanked by tall portal stones. A recumbent stone is also a feature of circles in southwest Ireland, but here the two tallest stones are placed diametrically opposite the horizontal stone. Two of the Scottish recumbent stone circles have yielded Beaker pottery, while urn burials in various 'standard' circles were of Bronze Age type. Circles are often associated with cairns, menhirs, and alignments. Many have tried to interpret the complex geometric layouts and placement of the stones within an astronomical base. There has been much discussion about the validity of various theories and there is no agreement on the subject.
strata: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: sing. stratum; layers
CATEGORY: feature; term
DEFINITION: The definable layers of archaeological matrix or features revealed by excavation; units of sedimentation greater than one centimeter thick. A layer in which archaeological material -- as artifacts, skeletons, and dwelling remains -- is found during excavation. It is the more or less homogeneous or gradational material, visually separable from other levels by a discrete change in the character of the material being deposited or a sharp break in deposition (or both).
stratigraphic relationships: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Relationships of a superpositional nature, where one deposit lies above another, or they are made up of correlations, where strata or features have been cut into isolated parts by later digging.
stratigraphic sequence: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The order of the deposition of layers and the creation of feature interfaces on an archaeological site through the course of time.
stratigraphy: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The study and interpretation of the stratification of rocks, sediments, soils, or cultural debris, based on the principle that the lowest layer is the oldest and the uppermost in the youngest -- a major tool in establishing a relative dating sequence. The sequence of deposition can be assessed by a study of the relationships of different layers. Dateable artifacts found within layers, and layers or structures which are themselves dateable, can be used to date parts of stratigraphic sequences. An archaeologist has to master the skill to recognize it -- to distinguish one deposit from another by its color, texture, smell, or contents; to understand it -- to explain how each layer came to be added, whether by natural accumulation, deliberate fill, or collapse of higher-standing buildings; and to record it in measured drawings of the section. There can be problems where a feature filled with one type of material cuts into layers of the same material. Unless the later feature is recognized, objects of two different phases may appear to be stratified together. The underlying principles are: law of superposition, law of cross-cutting relationships, included fragments, and correlation by fossil inclusions. The stratigraphy principle was adopted from geology and is the basis of reconstructing the history of an archaeological site.
stratum: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: pl. strata; layer
CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: The definable layers of archaeological matrix or features revealed by excavation; units of sedimentation greater than one centimeter thick. A layer in which archaeological material -- as artifacts, skeletons, and dwelling remains -- is found during excavation. It is the more or less homogeneous or gradational material, visually separable from other levels by a discrete change in the character of the material being deposited or a sharp break in deposition (or both).
stria: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: striae (pl.)
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A linear mark, ridge, or groove, especially one of a number of similar parallel features
stucco: CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A fine lime plaster used for covering walls and creating interior architectural elements, which is a mixture of gypsum and glue or white marble and pulverized with plaster of lime and mixed with water. This weather-resistant plaster is used as a wall covering and for decorative features such as moldings, friezes, facades, and cornices. The Maya decorated temples and other monumental architecture with stucco masks and figures. Examples of stuccowork also occur in the Aztec architecture of Mexico and the Muslim architecture of North Africa and Spain. In ancient Greece stucco was applied to both interior and exterior temple walls as early as 1400 BC.
sub-bottom profiler: CATEGORY: tool
DEFINITION: An underwater survey tool that emits sound pulses which bounce back from features and objects buried beneath the sea floor.
Sungir: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Upper Palaeolithic site near Vladimir, European Russia, occupied c 25,000-20,000 BC. It is by far the most northeastern of the rich Upper Palaeolithic sites of Europe and there is a strong Mousterian element in the stone artifacts. The skeletons found buried on the site had archaic features such as large brow ridges. The single and double burial are of interest for the numerous beads and other grave goods left with them allowing the reconstruction of clothing details. Radiocarbon dates range from c 25,500-14,600 bp. The artifacts have been compared to the Strelets culture assemblages of Kostenki.
surface survey: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: site surface survey
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A method of data collection in which archaeological finds are gathered from the ground surface of sites and then evaluated. Surface survey helps to establish the types of activity on the site, locate major structures, and gather information on the most densely occupied areas of the site that could be most productive for total or sample excavation. There are two basic kinds of surface survey: unsystematic and systematic. The former involves fieldwalking, i.e. scanning the ground along one's path and recording the location of artifacts and surface features. Systematic survey less subjective and involves a grid system which is walked systematically, thus making the recording of finds more accurate. Surface survey usually includes the mapping of features. The study of the distribution of surviving features, and the recording and possible collecting of artifacts from the surface.
surveying: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: survey
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A means of examining the surface of an archaeological site for the purpose of recording before and during excavation and for creating a preliminary analysis. This method does not destroy remains but enables study through observation and analysis. Surveying often uses geophysical methods, including measurements of variations in earth's magnetism. Surveying makes it possible to conduct a rapid study of fairly extensive areas. Increasing use is now being made of electronic surveying equipment and photogrammetry for surveying sites. The term survey" also refers to the three-dimensional plotting of a site and its features and artifacts."
Swanscombe, Barnfield Pit: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: British Lower Palaeolithic site on a terrace of the lower Thames Valley, North Kent, England, with a skull of possibly an archaic Homo sapiens with strong Neanderthal features. The skull bones are considerably thicker than those of modern European or Neanderthal skulls; the skull pieces may be the oldest of Homo sapiens found in Europe. More recent opinion holds that the skull is non-sapiens and has closer affinities with those of Neanderthal type. There is a succession of artifact-bearing strata of the Mindel-Riss interglacial period (400,000-200,000 years ago), with the earliest tools of Clactonian type. Middle Acheulian handaxes and a pointed biface assemblage were found in the Middle Gravel level and in the Upper Loam level, Middle Acheulian tools of a more evolved form and a refined ovate assemblage. The deposits contain useful environmental evidence, including abundant mollusk and mammal remains and large assemblages of stone tools.
Tairona: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Late prehistoric culture of northeast Colombia in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The Taironas were organized into small political states (chiefdoms) and had one of the most advanced cultures of the Caribbean mainland. Their crafts were ceramic ware (black and red painted with zoomorphic design and appliqué); stone utensils (metates); bone and shell ornaments; and beads, buttons, and jewelry made of gold, copper, and gold-copper alloy (tumbaga). Most sites, like Pueblito and Buritaca-200, have hundreds of stone foundations for circular houses. There are also remains of tombs, stone-built retaining walls, bridges, stairways, roads, agricultural terraces, and irrigation canals. A central feature of most villages was a ceremonial building, usually on a platform-mound, and often of dressed masonry. The town site at Pueblito had all these features and, in addition, paved streets, the remains of large irrigation projects, and urn burials. Specialized funerary vessels are often modeled with life forms which are similar to Mesoamerican motifs. Populations in the thousands occupied Tairona towns and villages at the time of the Spanish conquest.
talud-tablero: CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: Important architectural features of Mesoamerican stepped pyramids in Mexico. Each terrace consists of a vertical panel with a recessed inset, and a sloping batter or apron (talud) surmounted by a horizontal, rectangular panel with insert (tablero). The technique was used primarily at Teotihuacán, where it is the dominant style for temple pyramids, and in a modified form elsewhere -- Kaminaljuyu (Palangana Complex) in Guatemalan Highlands, Tikal, and the temple buildings at Chichen Itza.
target population: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: sampling universe
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The entire group of items (sites, features, artifacts, etc.) that an archaeologist is interesting in analyzing.
Tartanga: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Site on the lower Murray River, South Australia, with small cores, scrapers, bone points, grinding stones, and tula adze flakes dated to c 4000 BC. Skeletons of two juveniles found have some cranial features similar to the robust Talgai skull.
Tautavel: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Caune de l'Arago
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Cave site in the east Pyrenees-Orientales of southern France with Middle Pleistocene/Lower Palaeolithic deposits of pre-Mousterian date with little stratification. The front half of a skull with heavy brow ridges and robust facial features has been found, as well as two lower jaws, one much bigger toothed than the other. They are associated with an archaic Taycian quartz industry. Their date may be c 320,000-200,000 years ago.
temenos: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: pl. temenoi
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: In Greek antiquity, the enclosure of a sanctuary, the holy ground belonging to the god and governed by special rules, or the sacred precinct at a cult center -- containing the altar, temple, and other features. There might be numerous buildings for the main cult and a series of thesauroi, stoas, and dedications from worshippers. In Egyptian architecture, loosely applied to the area within the enclosure wall of a temple.
terminus ante quem: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: TAQ; t.a.q.
CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: Latin phrase meaning 'the end before which' -- the date before which a stratum, feature, or artifact must have been deposited. The term is used either to define a relative chronological date for artifacts or provide fixed points in a site's stratigraphy. If a deposit can be securely dated by material found in it -- for example, coins dating to the 2nd century AD found above a layer would provide that deposit with a terminus ante quem of the 2nd century AD. In some circumstances, such a 'date' may be combined with a terminus post quem from an earlier phase to produce a date range for the intervening deposit. This type of dating is used to show that something cannot be later than, or earlier than, something else.
terminus post quem: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: TPQ, t.p.q.
CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: Latin phrase meaning 'the end after which' -- the date after which a stratum, feature, or artifact must have been deposited. The term is used either to define a relative chronological date for artifacts or provide fixed points in a site's stratigraphy. If a deposit contains dateable coins or pottery, then deposits stratigraphically later must be of a later date than that given by such material; the dated layer gives a terminus post quem for the undated deposit. In some circumstances, if combined with a terminus ante quem, the deposit may be dated securely between the two.
terrace: CATEGORY: geography
DEFINITION: A bench or step that extends along the side of a valley and represents a former level of the valley floor. Terraces are flat surfaces preserved in valleys that represent floodplains developed when the river flowed at a higher elevation than at present. Another type of terrace is cut into bedrock and may have a thin veneer of alluvium, or sedimentary deposits. In paired terraces, the terrace features on each side of a valley correspond. A marine terrace is a rock terrace formed where a sea cliff, with a wave-cut platform, is raised above sea level. Any terrace consists of two parts: 1) a tread, which is the flat surface of the former floodplain, and 2) a scarp, which is the steep slope that connects the tread to any surface standing lower in the valley. A simple definition is the previous location of the shore of a body of water or a valley floor on which a stream once flowed. Archaeological deposits associated with terraces are equal in age or younger than the terrace.
Thiessen polygons: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Thiessen polygon method
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Method of describing settlement patterns based on territorial divisions centered on a single site or feature (locational analysis); the polygons are created by drawing straight lines between pairs of neighboring sites, then at the mid-point along each of these lines, a second series of lines are drawn at right angles to the first. Linking the second series of lines creates the Thiessen polygons. Where the exact boundaries between ancient territories are undetermined, an attempt to reconstruct them can be made if the distribution of focal points (central place), one to each territory, is known. The assumption is that any point will be dependent on the nearest central place. Thiessen polygons are useful for defining theoretical territories related to each center -- an area of production, a source of an important material, or a market center. These theoretical territories can be tested by comparison with actual archaeological data such as artifact distributions.
thumbnail scraper: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A small convex scraper the size and shape of a thumbnail, found in both Pleistocene and Holocene contexts in Australia. Finely worked examples are part of the Australian Small Tool Tradition. Increasingly reported from Pleistocene sites and distinctive feature of southwestern Tasmanian Pleistocene and Victoria assemblages from about 24,000 years ago.
time slice: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: slice map
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The use of thousands of individual reflections separated into horizontal slices, each of which corresponds to a specific estimated depth in the ground, which can reveal the general shape and location of buried features at each depth.
tipline: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: tip line
CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: Term applied to a feature in places where rubbish has been dumped (pits, ditches, mounds) and the deposit assumes a sloping line as a result of the material slipping until it reaches a point (or angle) of rest. The stratigraphy of such a deposit will show a number of sloping levels, or tip lines, and by studying the direction and disposition of these it is often possible to see how the deposit is accumulated.
Toltec: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Important Mesoamerican people of composite origin -- a mixture of Chichimec tribes and more advanced groups from Puebla and the Gulf Coast -- which controlled central Mexico from 900-1100 AD. After absorbing civilized peoples in the Valley of Mexico, the Toltecs produced a warrior-dominated society, worshipped of tribal god Tezcatlipoca, and put emphasis on human sacrifice. In the 10th century, they established their capital at Tula, north of modern Mexico City. The Toltec state ended in the departure of the Quetzalcoatl faction in 987 AD. After conquering many Maya cities, this faction established itself at Chichen Itza and transported its architectural style but incorporated Maya features. This group of Toltecs was ousted about 300 years later. Evidence of Toltec influence (e.g. Mazapan ware, metallurgy, imported Plumbate ware, massive architectonic decoration) has been found at many sites, including Chichen Itza, Xochicalco, and Cholula. Numerous fragmented Toltec groups seem to have survived in central Mexico after the destruction of their capital and their prestige caused many Post-Classic groups to claim them as ancestors, most notably the Aztec.
topographic map: CATEGORY: tool
DEFINITION: Map that can be used to relate archaeological sites to basic features of the natural landscape. Topographic maps are cartographic representation of the Earth's surface at a level of detail or scale between that of a plan (small area) and a chorographic (large regional) map. Topographic maps show as accurately as possible the location and shape of both natural and man-made features They depict topographic (landform) data in combination with representations of archaeological sites.
topography: CATEGORY: geography; related field
DEFINITION: Art or practice of graphic depiction on maps or charts of the natural and man-made features of a place or region, especially to show their relative positions and elevations in relief and contour. Another definition is the configuration of a surface including its relief and the position of its natural and man-made features. Detailing of site topography is very important in archaeological site description. A transit, theodolite, and/or level may be used in making a topographic map.
transect: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: An arbitrary sample unit which is a linear corridor of uniform specified width; a linear. A straight line or narrow sections through an archaeological site or feature, along which a series of observations or measurements is made.
trend surface analysis: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A method used to make a generalized map from observed data and used to highlight the main features and important trends of a geographic distribution. Archaeological observations mapped are discontinuous and at isolated points and therefore must be used to give information over a wider area. This is done either by averaging the values at a number of points to produce a general value or by a form of linear regression analysis which finds the contours which best fit the observations plotted on the map. The map produced then shows a general trend of the distribution, along with localized fluctuations. The technique is most useful for displaying archaeological data in a simplified and generalized form, making it easier to examine and explain the broad regional trends and the local variations. It can be applied to several different artifact distributions at the regional level, and has also been used to describe the distribution of artifact types within a site.
triangulation: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A surveying method used to measuring a large area of land by establishing a baseline from which a network of triangles is laid out. Triangulation is based on the laws of plane trigonometry, that if one side and two angles of a triangle are known, the other two sides and angle can be readily calculated. One side of the selected triangle is measured; this is the baseline. The two adjacent angles are measured by means of a surveying instrument (transit, theodolite), and the entire triangle is established. By constructing a series of such triangles, each adjacent to at least one other, values can be obtained for distances and angles not otherwise measurable. Triangulation can be used to plan features or significant finds whose exact position it is important to record.
Tula: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Tollán
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The Toltec capital, located in the modern state of Hidalgo, Mexico, then identified as Tollán. Founded on an already existing settlement in c 960 AD, it grew to cover 11 sq. km. The site gained importance c 800 AD after Teotihuacán fell. There was a stepped pyramid on which there was a temple and buildings had colonnaded halls. At its height, there were some 1000 mounds and at least as many low rectangular house mounds, and five ball courts. The monumental civic architecture featured Talud-Tablero architecture. In sculpture, the most diagnostic figures are the Chac Mools, reclining human figures holding offering dishes, and the famous Atlantean statues that supported the roof of Pyramid B. The earliest pre-architectural phases at Tula are characterized by the presence of Coyotlatelco ware, but the dominant ceramic occurring after c1000 is Mazapan ware. Imported Plumbate Ware also occurs frequently. Although the Toltec are associated with the introduction of metallurgy into central Mexico, no metals have been found. Tula was violently destroyed, probably by a Chichimec group, in either 1156 or 1168 AD (depending on how one reads the Calendar date). Although its exact location is not certain, an archaeological site near the contemporary town of Tula in Hidalgo state has been the consistent choice of historians.
tunnel: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A method of penetrating excavation that, instead of cutting through strata vertically, follows buried strata or features along one horizontal dimension.
tunnel handle: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: subcutaneous handle
CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: In pottery, a handle flush with the surface of the pot. It is usually produced by piercing two adjacent holes in the wall of the vessel before firing and adding a pouch of clay inside to prevent the contents from escaping. The feature was widely used around the western Mediterranean c 3500-2000 BC.
type: CATEGORY: technique; term
DEFINITION: A classification of artifacts based on the shared attributes of groups of artifacts or features, such as pottery types, projectile point types, or house types. The class is defined by a consistent clustering of attributes. In pottery, it is part of a standardized taxonomic classification based on stylistic attributes: modes and varieties (minimal units); types, groups, complexes, and spheres (maximal units).
typological method: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: typology
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The classification of artifacts into types to compare artifacts or features across time and space, or to determine relative dates for sites.
Uaxactún: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Maya center in the Guatemalan Petén with most surviving structures of the Classic period (100-900 AD). Occupation of the Uaxactún site began in the Middle Formative period of Mayan culture (900-300 BC), and before the close of the Late Formative period (300 BC-100 AD) a number of ceremonial buildings had been erected, including a temple with giant stucco masks reminiscent of the more ancient Olmec civilization. The site has many usual Lowland Maya architectural features, but was a small center in contrast to Tikal, to whom it owed politico-religious allegiance. The central complex consists of a small plaza flanked by long, low palace- or apartment-style buildings and two temple-pyramids. The site is best known for its Late Chicanel stucco decoration in the Izapan style. Stele 9 has one of the earliest Long Count dates of the Classic Period (328 AD). The terminal Long Count date for the site is 889 AD. In the 9th century, Uaxactún declined like other southern lowland Mayan centers and was abandoned in the 10th century. For many years, the pottery sequence (Formative to Classic) at Uaxactún formed the basis for the whole of Lowland Maya chronology.
underwater reconnaissance: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Geophysical methods of underwater survey. Some of these methods are: 1) towing a proton magnetometer behind a survey vessel to detect iron and steel objects, 2) using side-scan sonar that transmits sound waves in a fan-shaped beam to produce a graphic image of surface features on the sea-bed, and 3) using a sub-bottom profiler that emits sound pulses which bounce back from features and objects buried beneath the sea floor.
unsystematic survey: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A simple walking survey across each part of the area, scanning the strip of ground along one's path, collecting or examining artifacts on the surface, and recording their location together with that of any surface features.
Urnfield period: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Urnfield period; Urnfield; Urn culture, Urnfield complex
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A widespread group of related Bronze Age cultures practicing burial by cremation in pottery urns, at first in central and eastern Europe and later spreading to northern and western Europe. Such funerary urns were buried in a cemetery of urns (urnfields) and the practice dates from c 1300 BC to c 750 BC. Other features of the Urnfield period include copper-mining, sheet bronze metalworking, and fortified settlements. At the start of the Iron Age, inhumation once again became the dominant form of burial in many areas. A small pot with holes in it is often found interred with the urn, which may have been the ritual fire igniter or an incense burner. The Urnfield cultures succeeded the Tumulus culture in central Europe and developed into the Hallstatt Iron Age culture.
Valley of the Kings: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Biban el-Muluk
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Rocky valley in the western desert opposite Thebes and just west of Luxor, on the Nile in Upper Egypt, which was chosen as the royal cemetery during the New Kingdom. From 1580 BC, the tombs of the pharaohs were cut in the limestone of its walls. It actually consists of two separate valleys: the eastern valley is main cemetery of 18th-20th Dynasties while the Western (Cemetery of Monkeys/Apes) has only four tombs: Amenhotep III, Ay, and two others uninscribed (KV24-25). There are 62 total. One of the main features of the royal tombs at the Valley of the Kings was their separation from the mortuary temples which were built some distance away, in a long line at the edge of the desert. The discovery of the unspoiled tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922 revealed for the first time just how lavishly these tombs were equipped.
Venus figurine: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Venus' figurine
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Small female statuettes of the Upper Palaeolithic, found from southwest France to European Russia -- statuettes, sculptured in the round, of naked and often obese women. The figures, sometimes with exaggerated abdomen, breasts, and buttocks, were made of clay, stone, antler, bone, limestone, steatite, or mammoth ivory, and have been found on Eastern Gravettian and Upper Périgordian sites from the Pyrenees to eastern Russia. The heads are featureless and the legs and arms are little emphasized. They mainly date from the period 30,000 to 15,000 years ago; a later series is different in character, more slender and hollow stomached, and are contemporary with the Magdalenian.
vertical axis: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: An imaginary line that is perpendicular to the base line and runs through the center of the artifact as it is oriented for drawing; it is the axis upon which the artifact is rotated, one-quarter for a profile, one-quarter for a back view, so that each feature and flake scar maintains its distance above the base line in the views of the front, profile, and back
vertical controls: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Any method used to locate and record artifacts, ecofacts, and features in a vertical space.
were-jaguar: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A creature with human infant and jaguar features which was important in Olmec art. It has a babylike expression, fangs, snarling mouth, and other feline facial features. The number and unity of the objects in this style first suggested to scholars that they were dealing with a new and previously unknown civilization. There is a whole spectrum of such were-jaguar forms in Olmec art, ranging from the almost purely feline to the human in which only a trace of jaguar can be seen. These Olmec monuments were generally carved in the round, technically very advanced even though the only methods available were pounding and pecking with stone tools. Considerable artistry can also be seen in the pottery figurines of San Lorenzo, which depict nude and sexless individuals with were-jaguar traits. The Olmec also worshipped a rain deity depicted as a were-jaguar.
wet-site excavation: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Technique of excavating waterlogged sites by pumping water through hoses to spray the dirt away and expose archaeological features and artifacts.
Wichqana: CATEGORY: site; culture
DEFINITION: Type site of a complex of the Ayacucho Valley, central highlands Peru, c 1200-800 BC (Early Horizon), a ceremonial center with Chavinoid features. The pottery, typically thin, brown, and pebble-polished with little or no decoration, has Paracas and Chavín affinities. The U-shaped ceremonial structure is built of stones of alternating size, similar to Cerro Secchin. Skulls of decapitated females have the fronto-occipital flattening typical of Chavín.
winged axhead: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: winged axehead
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A form of bronze axehead of middle or late Bronze Age date in which narrow, high flanges on both faces are hammered over to enclose the axe haft. Some types feature a side loop to further assist hafting.
wood circle: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: woodhenge
CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: Type of circle erected before megaliths were used. Like stone circles, the smaller ones enclosed burials; the larger, like Woodhenge, near Stonehenge, may have been religious circles or roofed, colonnaded shrines. A circular feature demarcated by large upright timbers, esp. for astronomical observations.
Yamato: CATEGORY: culture; site
DEFINITION: The name of a former province in Nara Prefecture, Japan, an emergent state of the Kofun period (2nd-5th centuries AD). When the Tang administrative system of China was adopted in the late 7th century AD, Yamato was made into the Ritsuryo state. The old Yamato Province is rich in archaeological remains of the Yayoi, Kofun, and early historical periods. The period is commonly called the Tumulus, or Tomb, period from the presence of large burial mounds (kofun), its most common archaeological feature. It is from the very construction of the tombs themselves, from an examination of the grave goods, as well as from increasingly reliable written sources both domestic and foreign that a picture of the Yamato kingdom has emerged.
Yaxchilán: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Major Classic Maya site on the Usumacinta River, Chiapas, Mexico. It has architectural features like Palenque, hieroglyphic inscriptions on stone lintels and stelae, and monuments depict war. Though there are a number of structures, including palaces with ornamented stucco roof-combs and mansard roofing, temple-pyramids, and two ball courts, the site is best known for its more than 125 carved lintels. It flourished c 600-900 AD. Though the site may have been controlled briefly by the Putun just before 750, it was finally abandoned during the general Lowland Maya collapse.

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