Archaeology Wordsmith

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Results for flan:

flan: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A metal disk before it is stamped to become a coin.
Flandrian: CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: Of or pertaining to the period since the retreat of the ice sheet and the rise of sea-level at the end of the last glaciation in northwestern Europe. The Flandrian can be dated by radiocarbon and ranges from 10,000 bp (the end of the Devensian) up to the present day. These deposits represent the latest Quaternary interglacial stage, equivalent to the Holocene epoch. The Flandrian includes sediments similar to those of previous interglacials, deposits on archaeological sites which contain Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman, Dark Age, medieval, and more recent artifacts.
flange: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: The transverse flattening of an edge -- making a projecting flat rim, collar, or rib on an artifact. It was used to strengthen an object, to guide it, to keep it in place, or allow its attachment to another object. The external ledge of a pottery bowl is often termed this.
flanged ax: SYNONYM: flanged axehead
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: An early to middle Bronze Age style of flat copper or bronze axe that has the side edges of both faces bent out to form flanges that secure the haft in place and reduce the lateral movement of the haft when the axe is being used.
Beersheba: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site in southern Israel which was a frontier post in ancient Palestine. The earliest occupations were in 12th and 11th centuries BC, but the first town belonged to the period of the United Monarchy (10th century). The 8th century BC town wall with a great gateway flanked by double guard chambers and external towers has been excavated. There was also a 15-meter ring road inside the wall which divided the inner and outer towns. Beersheba may have been the administrative center of the region and there are indications of storerooms which may have contained the royal stores for the collection of taxes in kind (grain, wine, oil, etc.). The town was destroyed in the mid-7th century BC. Beersheba is first mentioned as the site where Abraham, founder of the Jewish people, made a covenant with the Philistine king Abimelech of Gerar (Genesis 21). Isaac and Jacob, the other patriarchs, also lived there (Genesis 26, 28, 46).
Botta, Paul-Emile (1802-70): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: French consul in Mosul, Iraq, and archaeologist whose discovery of the palace of the Assyrian king Sargon II at Dur Sharrukin in 1843 started the large-scale field archaeology of ancient Mesopotamia. He was seeking the vanished cities of Assyria, known at that time only from the accounts of ancient writers and from biblical references. Botta revealed the remains of the great palace of Sargon II (721-505 BC), with its famed winged figures, relief sculptures, and cuneiform inscriptions -- but he mistakenly thought he had found ancient Nineveh. The remains tended to disintegrate quickly after being unearthed and one shipment of antiquities was sunk in transit, but another reached Paris and the Louvre. He published Monuments of Nineveh..." in 1949-50 with beautiful illustrations by E.N. Flandin. Later Botta was devoted to deciphering cuneiform."
carp's tongue sword: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A type of bronze sword used in the Late Bronze Age in western Europe -- mainly in northwest France and southern England -- in the early 1st millennium BC. It had a broad slashing blade and a long projecting point for thrusting and a flange hilt.
cauldron: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A large metal vessel for cooking, usually with a round base, heavy flange rim, and handles for suspending it over a fire. Examples date from the European Late Bronze Age, with especially important ones from Urartu. In the Iron Age, they were sometimes made of silver. These cauldrons were usually made of sheet bronze riveted together and having 2-4 handles. Cauldrons were a sign of great wealth or power.
Colossi of Memnon: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Two colossal seated statues of Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BC), carved from quartzite sandstone, which are located at the eastern end of the site of his much-plundered mortuary temple in western Thebes; each of the figures is flanked by a representation of Tiy. The two remaining statues are 70-feet (21-meters) high, each hewn from a single block of stone. The more northerly of these was partly destroyed by an earthquake in 27 BC, resulting in a curious phenomenon. Every morning, when the rays of the rising sun touched the statue, musical sounds like the twang of a harp string were heard. This was supposed to be the voice of Memnon responding to the greeting of his mother, Eos. After the restoration of the statue by the Roman emperor Septimius Severus (170 AD) the sounds ceased. The sounds had come from air passing through the pores of the stone, caused by the change of temperature at sunrise, and the masonry patching caused the singing" to cease. These statues once flanked the gateway in front of the temple pylon but now sit alone in the middle of cultivated fields."
cursus: CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A Neolithic ritual monument consisting of a long narrow enclosure or avenue delineated by banks and external ditches. William Stukeley coined the term for the Stonehenge example which is more than 3 km long. These monuments clearly represent a very considerable investment of labor for Neolithic communities, but their function remains unknown. This type of monument is found only in Britain, and belongs to the later part of the Neolithic. The Dorset Cursus (the longest known example) in Cranborne Chase is six miles long, 100 yards wide, flanked by banks and external ditch, and is the largest prehistoric monument in Britain.
Danebury: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An Iron Age hillfort in Hampshire, England, dating to the 6th century BC. The defenses were built with a timber-laced rampart, remodeled twice, and the main gateway is just as old. Within the ramparts, there was a permanent settlement. By the 4th century, rows of 4- and 6-post structures, flanked the roads, but were later replaced by circular houses. The site was abandoned c 100 BC.
Danzantes: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Stone slab, bas-relief carvings of Monte Alban, Mexico, dating to c 100 BC-100 AD, that flank the earliest flat-topped. They depict nude male figures, some with mutilated or elaborately emphasized sexual organs, in unnatural dancing or possible swimming poses. Certain elements of the iconography, such as thick lips and downturned mouths, indicate an Olmec origin. Associated hieroglyphs and calendar dates support this theory.
Deh Luran: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The site in Iran where Frank Hole and Ken Flannery studied the origins of food production. They excavated at Tepe Ali Kosh, Tepe Sabz, and Choga Sefid to create a cultural sequence from around 8000 bc through the Uruk period to historical times.
Devensian: SYNONYM: Weichselian, Devensian glaciation, Weichsel glaciation
CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: The final continental glacial advance, dating to c 115,000-10,000 BP, especially referring to a group of British deposits, stratified above Ipswichian Interglacial deposits. Much of northern England, Scotland, and Wales is covered by a blanket of Devensian tills, sands, and gravels and these sediments were deposited by the ice-sheet. South of the ice-sheet margin is a series of related pro-glacial and periglacial deposits. Most of the Devensian stage can be dated using radiocarbon, and by this means it has been correlated with the Weichselian in northwest Europe and the Wisconsin in North America. All these formations represent one cold stage and directly preceded our present period of predominantly warm climate (the Flandrian or Holocene). Not all of the Devensian deposits are strictly glacial; some contain abundant fossils which indicate warmer interstadial periods. Three interstadials have been defined in Britain: the Chelford Interstadial (c 61,000 bp); the Upton Warren Interstadial complex (45-25,000 bp), and the Windermere Interstadial (13-11,000 bp). Levallosian, Mousterian, and Upper Palaeolithic artifacts are found in Devensian deposits and bones of Homo Sapiens have been found in Devensian cave sediments.
discoidal: SYNONYM: disc
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A stone artifact circular in shape and concave on both sides, usually of quartz, granite, flint, hematite, slate, or basalt. It ranges 1-9 inches in diameter and 1-20 pounds in weight. Some have a hole through the center and others have flanges around the edges. They seemed to have a ceremonial or ritual purpose or for mixing herbs or medicines.
Erbenheim sword: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Heavy bronze flange-hilted sword with a leaf-shaped blade for slashing rather than thrusting. Originating in the early urnfield traditions of central Europe, examples were exported to surrounding areas, some arriving in Britain, for example, in the Penard Phase of the later Bronze Age, the 12th century BC.
Fertile Crescent: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The region in the Middle East where the civilizations of the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin began. The term was invented by the American Orientalist James Henry Breasted in 1916. It applied to the crescent-shaped area of cultivable land between the highland zones and the West Asian desert, stretching from Egypt through the Levant to southern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia, and eastwards to the flanks of the Zagros Mountains. Conditions in this area were favorable for the early development of farming, and all the earliest farming communities were thought to lie within it. The Fertile Crescent in its wider extension corresponds exactly to the region described in the Hebrew traditions of Genesis; it also contains the ancient countries -- Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt, Phoenicia -- from which the Greek and Roman civilizations evolved. The belief that the earliest culture known to mankind originated in the Fertile Crescent has been confirmed by radiocarbon dating since 1948. It is now known that incipient agriculture and village agglomerations there must be dated back to about 8000 BC, if not earlier, and that irrigation was used almost immediately.
flat axhead: SYNONYM: flat axehead
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: An axehead of early Bronze Age date, made of copper or bronze, which is flat on both sides and generally lacks side flanges or other hafting aids.
Flemish black ware: CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: A type of later medieval pottery known from paintings of the Renaissance period. Some of the wares were well-decorated but most Flemish wares were coarse black wares with pinched bases. They emerged a Roman tradition of potterymaking in Flanders.
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."
hammerhead mortarium: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A mortarium with a rim and flange that form a single unit, shaped like the head of a hammer, its centre meeting the body of the vessel at right angles.
Hemigkofen sword: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A style of bronze sword with a leaf-shaped blade and flanged hilt developed in central Europe during the Hallstatt A period and traded to other parts of northern Europe. They appear in Britain, especially in the Thames Valley, during the Penard Phase.
hillslope: CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: The flanks of valleys and the margins of eroding uplands, the major zones where rock and soil are loosened by weathering processes and then transported down gradient, often to a river channel. They are produced by erosion and deposition and are unstable.
horsehoof core: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A steep-edged, often large, domed core with flat based striking platforms, heavily step-flanked around their margins. Both very large and smaller varieties are found commonly on Pleistocene sites in most areas of Australia and on some mid-Holocene sites and they are considered characteristic of the Australian Core Tool and Scraper tradition. They were chopping tools mainly used in wood-working. The step-flaking could have resulted from repeated striking to remove flakes.
horsehoof cores: CATEGORY: lithics
DEFINITION: A steep-edged, often large, domed core with flat based striking platforms, heavily step-flanked around their margins. Both very large and smaller varieties are found commonly on Pleistocene sites in most areas of Australia and on some mid-Holocene sites and they are considered characteristic of the Australian Core Tool and Scraper tradition. They were chopping tools mainly used in wood-working. The step-flaking could have resulted from repeated striking to remove flakes.
imbrex: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A Latin term used to describe a semi-cylindrical tile used to cover the flanges of two adjoining tegulae. A roof-ridge tile, semi-circular in cross-section.
King's Lynn: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A town and seaport in Norfolk, England, which grew in importance from the 12th century. It was mostly involved with North Sea trade and specialized in exporting the wool and agricultural produce of the fens to Flanders and the Baltic countries. There are remains of the old wall, including the 15th-century South Gate, the Customs House (1683), and several merchants' homes. St. George's Guildhall (1406) is one of the largest and oldest examples of a merchant guildhall in England.
Koszider: SYNONYM: Kosziderpadlás
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Three large hoards found at Dunapentele-Kosziderpadlá, on the Danube south of Budapest, Hungary. The contents were characteristic of an early phase of the Tumulus culture of the (Early) Bronze Age and serve to document the expansion of that culture (Rumania, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Germany) c 1400 BC. Similar hoards with ivy-leaf pendants, spiral anklets with rolled ends, shaft-hole battle-axes decorated with spiral and geometric patterns, belt plates, flanged axes, palstaves, solid-hilted daggers, socketed axes, and tanged sickles have been found in east-central Europe from the Baltic to the Sea of Azov, and mark the Koszider horizon throughout the region.
Middleburg: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A town on the island of Walcharan in the southwestern Netherlands, probably founded as a refuge for the Flemish population in the times of Viking raids. Many of this type of refuge were probably planned by Baldwin of Flanders in the 890s. Middleburg consisted of a simple circular fortress with a massive rampart and ditch. The symmetry of these early fortresses is fossilized in the street plan of modern Middleburg. Excavations show the town was founded about 1000, from which time it has developed as a regional center.
Mithraeum: SYNONYM: pl. Mithraea; Mithraic sanctuaries
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A small Roman temple used for worship in eastern cult of Mithras (Persian mystery god), often in the form of a basilica. They were very popular with the Roman army and many fort sites have Mithraea nearby. The usual layout is that of central nave flanked by two side-aisles. At the far end of the nave, a type of reredos often depicts Mithras in his act of slaying the bull, and the building itself apparently represents the cave of the original story. Symbolism shows the coming of new life from the blood spilt, and the conquering of evil (of which the scorpion is sometimes the agent). The side-aisles are typically raised to form reclining couches for the taking of the sacred banquet. Some examples show more elaborate architecture, such as the addition of apse and colonnades, as at Walbrook in London.
moated site: CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A class of sites in places like Thailand, Cambodia, England, Ireland, and Flanders. In the first two, they are known from protohistoric and early historic sites and are settlements encircled by one or more irregular moats. In England, Ireland, and Flanders, they were built during the late medieval period. There was a tradition of building defensive moats around castles and manorial establishments and it was taken up by wealthy farmers later. In marshy areas, a moat provided an extra means of drainage when the climate was deteriorating and acted as a source of both dry-season water and edible aquatic flora and fauna.
Monte Albán: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A major ceremonial center of the Zapotec people in Oaxaca, Mexico, built around 900 BC on top of an artificially flattened mountain. Monte Albán (I = 900-300 BC) was probably created to serve as the capital of the entire valley, which had previously been divided among several states. It was an immense complex of monumental construction, with a huge plaza (300 x 200 m) dominated by three central mounds. The plaza was flanked on the east and west by temples, pyramids, and platform mounds; on the northern and southern extremities are more complexes of monumental building, including a ball court. There are also underground passageways. By the end of Period I, the city had between 10,000- 20,000 inhabitants living in houses on hill slope terraces around a nucleus of ceremonial and governmental buildings. Hieroglyphic writing was in use, with bar-and-dot numerals, and dates were expressed in terms of the calendar round. More than 300 carved slabs ('danzantes') depict naked and contorted figures who may be captives, and inscriptions definitely recording conquests occur soon afterwards. In Late I/Early II, the city was surrounded by a defense wall. Period I includes the appearance of Grey Ware and Olmec-influenced monumental art. Period II is characterized by contact with Maya lowland centers and later, by the increasing influence of Teotihuacán. Period IIIA (the 3rd-5th centuries AD) is marked by increased contact with Teotihuacán, reflected in pottery (thin orange ware, cylindrical tripod vases), tomb frescoes, Talud-Tablero architecture, and stela inscriptions. Monte Albán reached the height of its power in Period IIIB, 500-900 AD, during which elaborate funerary urns in Grey Ware make their appearance and when the site reached its peak population of 50-60,000 people. Most of the surviving buildings belong to this time. During Monte Albán IV, 900-1521 AD, building ceased. After 900, the centers of power moved elsewhere and Monte Albán was considerably depopulated. It was essentially abandoned. In Period V, Monte Albán was of only secondary importance as a city and a political force. Mixtec art styles make their appearance in the valley and Monte Albán was used as a cemetery, with earlier Zapotec tombs reused for the Mixtec dead. One of the richest discoveries in ancient Mexico was Tomb 7, with over 500 precious offerings in Mixtec style gold and silver ornaments, fine stonework, and a series of bones carved with hieroglyphic and calendrical inscriptions.
Mount Mazama ash: SYNONYM: Mazama Ash
CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: Volcanic ash (or tephra) originating from the eruption of Mount Mazama (Crater Lake, Oregon) nearly 7000 years ago (6600 years ago). Undisturbed beds of Mazama ash provide important contextual dates for archaeological sites throughout the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada. The eruption also produced Crater Lake in Oregon. Great thicknesses of pumice were deposited on the flanks of Mount Mazama, while finer material was blown over great distances by the winds. The widespread distribution of the Mazama Ash has made it useful in archaeological studies as a horizon, or time, marker. Studies of sediments formed in relation to the ash deposits suggest that the ash formed at a time when generally drier climates prevailed in the regions in which the ash occurs. The mineralogical composition of the ash is distinctive and allows it to be distinguished from other volcanic ash deposits.
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.
Persepolis: SYNONYM: modern Takht-i Jamshid; Parsa
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The capital of the Achaemenid empire, in the Zagros Mountains of Iran, founded by Darius shortly after 518 BC; it was destroyed by Alexander the Great in 330 BC. The ceremonial palace was built by teams of workers and craftspeople from all parts of the empire. It replaced the earlier capital, Pasargadae, and was in many ways modeled on it, although incorporating many architectural and artistic innovations. It consists of a stone terrace platform on which were erected a series of monumental palaces and audience halls, as well as other buildings, constructed over a period of some 60 years. It is the showpiece of Achaemenid art, consisting of a series of great palaces and columned reception halls (apadana). Monumental stairways are flanked by lines or reliefs showing Median and Persian nobles, tribute bearers from all quarters of the empire, servants preparing banquets, as well as the enthroned rulers themselves. The records and stylistic details attest the employment of Medes, Syrians, Urartians, and Ionian Greeks among others. The two largest buildings, the Apadana of Darius and the Throne Hall of Xerxes, occupied the center of the terrace and divided it into two functional halves. The northern area was military and mainly the work of Artaxerxes I, while the southern area contained the Palaces of Darius and Xerxes, the harem and treasury areas. Just north of Persepolis is Naqsh-i Rustam, where four monumental tombs were carved in the cliff face; these are the tombs of Darius I and three of his successors (probably those of Xerxes I, Artaxerxes I, and Darius II). They are also decorated with relief carvings and bear trilingual inscriptions in Elamite, Babylonian (Akkadian), and Old Persian. There are also late 2nd millennium BC Middle Elamite and early 1st millennium AD Sassanian inscriptions.
Peschiera: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Bronze Age lake village at the southern end of Lake Garda in northern Italy, with close connections to the Terramara culture. Late Bronze Age metalwork of c 1250-1100 BC, pottery, artifacts, and timber piles have been recovered. In particular, a knife or dagger with a forked end to its flanged hilt is called after the site, as is sometimes the violin-bow fibula -- to which the site has lent its name.
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.
Pre-Boreal: SYNONYM: Pre-Boreal Climatic Interval
CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: A division of Holocene chronology which began about 10,000 years ago and ended about 9,500 years ago. The Pre-Boreal Climatic Interval preceded the Boreal Climatic Interval and was a time of increasing climatic moderation. Birch-pine forests and tundra were dominant. It is a subdivision of the Flandrian Interglacial and represents the start of the Flandrian.
pylon: SYNONYM: bekhenet
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A monumental gateway to Egyptian temples or palaces built in stone and usually decorated with relief figures and hieroglyphs. It was the usual entrance from the Middle Kingdom to the Roman period (c 2055 BC-395 AD). The Egyptians made frequent use of them, usually in the form of foreshortened pyramids to mark the entrances of tombs. A pylon consisted of a pair of massifs (massive towers) flanked by a smaller gateway. All the wall faces were inclined; the corners completed with a torus molding and the top with torus and cavetto cornice. The interior of a pylon contained staircases and chambers. Pairs of colossal statues and obelisks were often erected in front of the pylon. Pylons are the largest and least essential parts of a temple; some temples have series of them (e.g. 10 at Karnak). Rituals relating to the sun god were evidently carried out on top of the gateway.
reeding: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: The regular horizontal grooving on the flange of some types of mortaria and on the rim of some types of bowl.
Spissky Stvrtov: SYNONYM: Spissky Stvrtok
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Early Bronze Age hillfort of the Otomani culture in eastern Slovakia and dated to the mid-2nd millennium BC. A partly encircling stone wall defends the site on the east side, where the main entrance is flanked by towerlike bastions. In the fort interior, 26 houses are arranged around a 'village square' and these houses, with stone foundations, sometimes had below-ground chests containing gold and bronze objects. Houses outside this acropolis" were of simpler construction. This was a fortified site of economic administrative and strategic importance. That there was differentiation into an acropolis and a settlement area with the houses of the acropolis built using a different technique and the amount of gold and bronze objects hidden in chests under the floors of the houses in the settlement area suggests that there were economic and social distinctions among the inhabitants. Bronze workshops are known as well as a ritual area where a rhomboidal stone upright lies near two inurned cremations."
stirrup spout: SYNONYM: stirrup-spout vessel
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Semicircular tub set vertically, like a croquet hoop, on top of a closed vessel -- common in many Peruvian cultures (Moche, Chimu, Chavín, Cupisnique, Nazca) and other parts of the New World. The lower ends open into the body of the pot, and from the apex of the curve rises a single vertical spout. From the side, it looked like a stirrup. It had precursors in the Initial Period. In Chavín pottery; for example, the earliest stirrup spouts were relatively small, very thick and heavy, and the spout had a thick flange. As time went on, the stirrups became lighter and the spouts longer; the flange was reduced and finally disappeared. The necks of the flasks underwent similar changes. The Cupisnique stirrup-spouted vessels, some of which were modeled in the form of human beings, animals, or fruits, were the beginning of a north-coast tradition of naturalistic modeling.
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.
stop-ridge: SYNONYM: stop ridge
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Transverse ridges added to the faces of a flat ax mounted in a right-angled cleft haft to transfer some of the impact from the base of the cleft to the tips. Axes with stop-ridges form an intermediate step in development between the flanged ax and the palstave. The term also refers to a ridge on a celt or pipe which prevents one part from slipping too far over another.
Strettweg: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Hallstatt burial in eastern Austria of the 7th century BC, famous for a miniature bronze wagon which is possibly a cult object. The wagon frame has a group of mounted warriors flanking a much larger naked woman, interpreted as a goddess, holding a bowl above her head.
Sub-Atlantic: SYNONYM: Sub-Atlantic Climatic period, Sub-Atlantic Climatic Interval
CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: Last of the five postglacial climate and vegetation periods of northern Europe, beginning c 1500 BC (according to pollen analysis, though radiocarbon dating says c 225 BC). It is a division of Holocene chronology (10,000 years ago-present). The Sub-Atlantic Interval followed the Sub-Boreal Climatic Interval and continues today. It is a subdivision of the Flandrian, thought to be wet and cold, a trend started in the preceding Sub-Boreal period. There was a dominance of beech forests and the fauna were essentially modern. During the Iron Age, pollen analysis shows evidence of intensified forest clearance for mixed farming. Sea levels have been generally regressive during this time interval, though North America is an exception.
Sub-Boreal: SYNONYM: Sub-Boreal Climatic period, subboreal
CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: One of the five postglacial climate and vegetation periods of northern Europe, occurring c 3000-1500 BC or, according to some, 0 AD, based on pollen analysis. The Sub-Boreal, dated by radiocarbon methods, began c 5,100 years ago and ended about 2,200 years ago. It is a division of Holocene chronology (10,000 years ago-present). The Sub-Boreal Climatic Interval followed the Atlantic and preceded the Sub-Atlantic Climatic Interval. It was characterized by a cooler and moister climate than that of the preceding Atlantic period. It is a subdivision of the Flandrian, starting with the Elm Decline. Frequencies of tree pollen fall and herbaceous pollen rises, representing man's invasion of the forest in the Neolithic and Bronze Age. It is correlated with pollen zone VIII, and the climate was warm and dry. The Sub-Boreal forests were dominated by oak and ash and show the first evidence of extensive burning and clearance by humans. Domesticated animals and natural fauna were abundant.
sword: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A weapon evolved from daggers in the bronze age, becoming longer and made with different kinds of grips. It was used for slashing and thrusting and has a broader blade than a rapier, plus a flanged hilt. Single-edged swords are rare and they are more often called sabers or falchions. Sword classifications are based on the form of the hilt and the shoulder. It was probably developed in Hungary and then spread to the Aegean, where it is found in shaft graves at Mycenae c 1650 BC, and the rest of Europe and western Asia. From then until the development of firearms it remained one of the main weapons of war.
tegula: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A Latin term used to describe a flat rectangular roof tile with flanges running down its longer sides.
tegula mammata: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A Latin term used to describe a rectangular tile with conical projections or flanges at each corner on one side. They were fixed to the surface of walls with clamps in order to form cavities through which hot gases from the hypocaust circulated.
tripartite: CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: The architectural plan used in Ubaid houses and early Mesopotamian temples, with a long central room flanked by rows of smaller rooms.
Tzakol: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: One of the chronological phases or cultures of the Lowland Maya civilization which is Early Classic and began shortly before 250 AD. It is characterized by Lowland Maya artifacts, including elaborately decorated polychrome pottery, especially a basal flanged bowl. Almost all early Tzakol monuments draw heavily upon a heritage from the older Izapan civilization of the Late Formative, with its highly baroque, narrative stylistic content. Because of the Maya penchant for covering older structures with later ones, Tzakol remains will have to be laboriously dug out from under towering Late Classic.
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.
Unetice: SYNONYM: Unetice period; Aunjetitz; Unetician culture
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Early Bronze Age culture centered on Bohemia, Bavaria, Germany, Poland, and Moravia, named after a type site cemetery north of Prague, Czechoslovakia. Characteristic metal objects include ingot torcs, lock rings, various pins, flanged axes, riveted daggers, and the halberd. Regional groups include: Nitra, Adlerberg, Straubing , Marschwitz, and Unterwölbling (Austria). In late Unetice times, there is evidence of commercial contact with the Wessex culture of Britain and, via the amber route, perhaps with southeast Europe and the Mycenaeans. The Veterov culture of Moravia and the Mad'arovce culture of Slovakia, which had links with the Mycenaean world, are sometimes considered to be subgroups within the final Unetice tradition. Innovations of the culture include two-piece mold and use of tin to make bronze. The earliest Bronze Age center, Unetician A, consisted of a complex of flat inhumation graves with modest grave goods in copper and bronze. Unetice is an umbrella term for the local groups and is dated to c 1800-1500 BC.
Wasit: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Military and commercial city of medieval Iraq, especially important during the Umayyad caliphate (661-750 AD). It was established as a military encampment in 702 on the Tigris River, between Basra and Kufah. A palace and the chief mosque were built and irrigation and cultivation were encouraged. Because of its location on the Tigris, Wasit became a shipbuilding and commercial center. Even after the caliphal capital was moved from Damascus to Baghdad, the city remained important. The only standing building is a shrine with a monumental portal flanked by minarets, datable to the 13th century. Excavations revealed a congregational mosque with four periods of construction, the earliest with a large courtyard surrounded on three sides by a single arcade and a sanctuary 19 bays wide and 5 bays deep. Adjoining the mosque was the Dar al Imara, or governor's palace.
winged axhead: SYNONYM: 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.

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