Archaeology Wordsmith

Results for latte:

latte: CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: Double rows of large stone pillars with capstones that formed the foundation of structures, especially in the Mariana Islands, Micronesia, about 1000 years ago. The latte stones of this area are now thought to have been piles for raised houses, perhaps for chiefs and wealthy men, since the latte sites are relatively few for the reported population. Burials were sometimes placed between the pillars.
plate: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: platter
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A shallow vessel whose height is not greater than one-seventh of its diameter.
platter: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Large shallow dish or plate.
Alaska Refugium: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A large area of interior Alaska that was not glaciated during the latter part of the Pleistocene. It was connected to Beringia and eastern Siberia, allowing access for peoples between Asia and North America.
archaeological geology: CATEGORY: branch
DEFINITION: The use of geological techniques and methods to archaeological work. It is different from geoarchaeology in that the latter is a subfield of archaeology focusing on the physical context of deposits.
Assur: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Ashur
CATEGORY: deity; site
DEFINITION: A solar deity which was the chief god of the city of Assur and the kingdom of Assyria. With the latter's conquests, Assur assumed leadership of the Assyrian pantheon and supremacy over the other gods of Mesopotamia. The deity was conceived in anthropomorphic terms. The image of the deity was fed and clothed and was responsible for fertility and security, and represented as a winged sun-disc. It is also the name of the ancient religious capital of the Assyrian empire in northern Mesopotamia, on the bank of the River Tigris at modern Qalaat-Shergat, which was a great trading center and the burial place of the kings even after the government moved to Nineveh. First recorded in the 3rd millennium BC as a frontier post of the empire of Akkad, it then became an independent city-state and finally the capital of Assyria. After Assyria's collapse in 614 BC it failed to survive but was briefly revived under the Parthians. Areas of the palaces, temples, walls, and town have been cleared, and a sondage pit was cut beneath the Temple of Ishtar (pre-Sargonid) to reveal the 3rd and early 2nd millennium levels (the first use of this technique in Mesopotamian excavation). Sumerian statues were found -- among the earliest evidence of Sumerian contact outside the southern plain. For over 2000 years successive kings built and rebuilt the fortifications, temple, and palace complexes: inscriptions associated with these monuments have helped in the construction of the chronology of the site. Three large ziggurats dominated the city with the largest being 60 m square (completed by Shamsi Adad I c 1800 bc). It was originally dedicated to Enlil, but later to Assur; the dedication of the other temples also changed through time. Representations on cylinder seals suggest that many buildings might have had parapets and towers. Assurnasirpal II (883-859 BC) moved the capital to Calah and by 614 BC the city of Assur had fallen to the Median (Medes) army.
bar chart: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A statistical method of representing numerical data in a diagram by rectangles of equal width but of varying height or length, drawn side-by-side along an axis. An assemblage of different types of flint tool can be represented with bars on the horizontal scale, and the actual numbers or percentage of the total of each type recorded on a vertical scale. The bar chart gives an immediate visual representation of the components of the assemblage. A bar chart differs from a histogram, the latter representing different measurements of the same attribute and therefore the horizontal scale is not arbitrary but ordered.
barrow: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: burial mound; tumulus; burial cairn
CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A round or elongated mound of earth or stones used in early times to cover one or more burials; a grave mound. The mound is often surrounded by a ditch, and the burials may be contained within a cist, mortuary enclosure, mortuary house, or chamber tomb. There are two types, the long (elongated) and the round barrow (also known as tumuli). The former were built in the Late Stone Age, the latter in the Bronze Age, though burial under a round mound was occasionally practiced during the Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Viking periods.. The long barrow was a tribal or family burial vault built of stone slabs, some weighing many tons, and covered with earth or stones. The large, round barrows were often communal. They are often found in prehistoric sites in Britain -- earthen (or unchambered) long barrows from the Early and Middle Neolithic (Windmill Hill Culture). Other long barrows were constructed over megalithic tombs of gallery grave types. Most of the British round barrows incorporate circles of stakes. Bowl barrows --- simple round mounds, often surrounded by a ditch --- were the most common form, used throughout the Bronze Age and sporadically also in the Iron Age. The Wessex Culture of the southern English Early Bronze Age was characterized by special types of barrows: bell, disk, saucer, and pond barrows. Bell barrows have relatively small mounds and a berm or gap between the mound and the ditch; disk barrows are very small mounds in the center of a circular open space, surrounded by a ditch; saucer barrows are low disk-like mounds occupying the entire space up to the ditch; while the oddly named pond barrows are not mounds at all, but circular dish-shaped enclosures surrounded by an external bank. The related term 'cairn' is used to describe a mound constructed exclusively of stone. Barrow burials occur also in Roman and post-Roman times: one of the most famous of all barrows in Britain is that covering the Anglo-Saxon boat burial at Sutton Hoo.
Basket Maker: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Basketmakers
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Two early chronological periods of the early Puebloans or Anasazi -- 100-500 AD, followed by the Modified Basket Maker period, 500-700; They lived people in the Four Corners area (northwestern New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, southeastern Utah, and northeastern Arizona) of the U.S. The origin of the Basket Maker Indians is not known, but it is evident that when they first settled in the area they were already excellent basket weavers and that they were supplementing hunting and wild-seed gathering with the cultivation of maize and pumpkins. They lived either in caves or out in the open in shelters constructed of a masonry of poles and adobe mud. Both caves and houses contained special pits, often roofed over, that were used for food storage. The Basket Makers were among the first village agricultural societies in the Southwest. Three Basketmaker stages were recognized at the 1927 Pecos Conference of Southwesternists: Basketmaker I (hypothetical), Basketmaker II (1--450 AD) which was a large base camp and widely scattered seasonal camps where the preferred container was the basket, and Basketmaker III (450--700/750) in which there were small villages of pit houses in well-watered valley bottoms. Specialized structures such as wattle-and-daub storage bins and large rooms for communal activity (possibly early kivas) also began to occur more frequently in the latter stage.
Cernavoda: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A cemetery site of the Late Neolithic near the Black Sea coast of Rumania dating to the mid-4th millennium BC. Over 300 inhumations are known, occurring in groups, some with rich grave goods of the Hamangia culture. There is also a Late Copper Age site dating to the 3rd millennium BC that ranges over the Black Sea coast of Rumania and Bulgaria. The latter had short-lived occupation sites and is associated with the Ezero group.
charger: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A large flat dish or platter
Chiozza: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A Neolithic settlement site in Emilia in northern Italy, of the later 5th or early 4th millennium BC. Structural remains are oval and circular pits. The pottery was square-mouthed and the term Chiozza is sometimes used for this type of pottery or its latter phase.
chronology: CATEGORY: chronology; technique
DEFINITION: Any method used to order time and to place events in the sequence in which they occurred. A sequential ordering that places cultural entities in temporal, and often spatial, distribution. It involves the collection of dates or successive datings establishing the position in time of a series of phenomena such as the phases of a civilization or the events of the history of a state. A chronology is relative/floating when only the order of a succession of facts is known, but not their dates, and absolute when the opposite is true. For periods or areas for which no textual evidence is available, relative chronologies have to be established and these are mostly based on pottery sequences and typology. Relative chronology is also based on the application of the principles of stratigraphy and cross-dating. The discovery of inscribed monuments and calendars associated with dated astronomical observations contributed to the development of an Egyptian chronology and it has served as a framework -- through cross-dating -- for all other Near Eastern chronologies. Inscribed Egyptian objects found in Near Eastern contexts have allowed the latter to be dated. Absolute chronology is based on scientific methods such as radiocarbon dating, thermoluminescence dating, and archaeomagnetism. Dates are often calibrated with dendrochronological dates. For dates after 1500 BC, an absolute chronology is not likely to change by more than ten years.
clay tablet: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: The main writing material used by the scribes of early civilizations. Signs were impressed or inscribed on the soft clay, which was then dried in the sun. The ancient Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Hittites wrote on tablets made from water-cleaned clay. A common form was a thin quadrilateral tile about five inches long which, while still wet, was inscribed by a stylus with cuneiform characters. By writing on the surface in small characters, a scribe could copy a substantial text on a single tablet. For longer texts, several tablets were used and then linked by numbers or catchwords. Book production on clay tablets probably continued for 2,000 years in Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. Either dried in the sun or baked in a kiln, clay tablets were almost indestructible. The latter process was used for texts of special value, legal codes, royal annals, and epics to ensure greater preservation. Buried for thousands of years in the mounds of forgotten cities, they have been removed intact or almost so in modern archaeological excavations. The number of clay tablets recovered is nearly half a million, but there are constantly new finds. The largest surviving category consists of private commercial documents and government archives. When the Aramaic language and alphabet arose in the 6th century BC, the clay tablet book declined because clay was less suited than papyrus to the Aramaic characters.
Corinth: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An ancient city of Greece, located where the Peloponnese meets the isthmus that connects it to the Greek mainland. The city has an exceptionally high acropolis on Acronocorinth Hill and profited from having ports on both the Corinthian and Saronic Gulfs. The site was occupied from before 3000 BC, but its history is obscure until the early 8th century BC, when the city-state of Corinth began to develop as a commercial center. There is evidence of a Neolithic and an Early Bronze Age settlement at Corinth, both of considerable size. There is little evidence of Mycenaean settlement, however, and the next major settlement belonged to the Dark Age, c late 10th century BC. Corinth was a very important city throughout the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods. Corinth's political influence was increased through territorial expansion in the vicinity, and by the late 8th century it had secured control of the isthmus. The Corinthians established colonies at Corcyra and Syracuse, later making them dominant in trade with the western Mediterranean. From c 720-570 BC, Corinthian painted vases in the black-figure technique (which the Corinthians invented) were exported all over the Greek world. Workshops dating to this period have been excavated in the potters' quarter at Corinth, producing both pottery and terracottas. Corinthian pottery provides the most useful dating method available to archaeologists studying this period. Northwest of the agora stand seven Doric columns, which are the remains of the Temple of Apollo (c 550 BC). Callimachus is said to have invented the Corinthian column capital here c 450-425 BC. Corinth was involved in most of Greece's political struggles and in 146 BC was destroyed by the Roman general Lucius Mummius. In 44 BC, Julius Caesar reestablished Corinth as a Roman colony. Many of the visible remains date from the classical Greek and especially the early Roman periods, including a Roman agora (marketplace), the Odeon, the Pirene fountain, the Glauke fountain, temples, villas, baths, pottery factory, gymnasium, basilica, theater, and an amphitheater. Parts of the classical fortifications on the acropolis survive. In the later medieval period it then passed from Frankish to Venetian and eventually to Turkish hands. Substantial buildings from all these periods have been found in excavations since 1896. Modern Corinth was founded in 1858, 3 miles north of the ancient town, after an earthquake leveled the latter.
Eastern Zhou [Chou] period: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: The latter part of the Zhou dynasty, from 770 BC to the extinction of the Zhou royal house in 256 BC. The term also refers to the period up to the founding of the Qin dynasty in 221 BC.
envelope: CATEGORY: artifact; language
DEFINITION: A hollow clay ball of spherical, ovoid, or oblong shape holding tokens and usually bearing seal impressions. Clay envelopes, dating from 3500 BC, have markings corresponding to the clay shapes inside. Moreover, these markings are more or less similar to the shapes drawn on clay tablets that date back to about 3100 BC. These markings are thought to constitute a logographic form of writing consisting of some 1,200 different characters representing numerals, names, and such material objects as cloth and cow. Tokens placed in an envelope might have constituted a sort of bill of lading" or a record of indebtedness. To serve as a reminder of the contents of the envelope so that every reader would not need to break open the envelope to read the contents corresponding shapes were impressed upon the envelope. But if the content was marked on the envelope there was no need to put the tokens in an envelope at all; the envelope could be flattened into a convenient surface and the shapes impressed on it. Now that there was no need for the tokens at all their message was simply inscribed into the clay. These shapes drawn in the wet clay with a reed stylus or pointed stick constituted the first writing."
ethnographic parallel: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ethnological parallel; ethnographic analogy
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A contemporary culture or behavior that, by the use of analogy and homology, is considered to be similar to another in history and therefore shed light on the latter. It is the use of both material and nonmaterial aspects of a living culture to form models to test interpretations of archaeological remains.
Etruscan: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: The people who occupied north central Italy (ancient Etruria, modern Tuscany) in the 1st millennium BC. They can first be recognized in the 8th century BC, distinguished from their predecessors the Villanovans by the wealth and oriental appearance of their tombs. They developed a high level of civilization very quickly, with extensive trade contacts with Greece and Carthage, and across the Alpine passes to central Europe. Their cities were large and rich: Populonia, Vetulonia, Tarquinia, and Caere (Cerveteri) near the coast, and Veii, Clusium (Chiusi) and Perusia (Perugia) inland. Etruscan influence spread widely, through Rome itself down to Campania in the south, and north to the Po valley and the civilization reached its height in the 6th century BC. Conflict with the Celts in the north and Rome in the south led to conquest by the latter, beginning with Veii in 396 BC and completed early in the 2nd century BC. The Etruscans' own writings, in an alphabet borrowed from the Greeks, can be transliterated, but little of their non-Indo-European language can be translated. Etruscan tombs show their genius; the finest are mounds covering a burial vault, as in the cemeteries of Tarquinia and Cerveteri. The vaults may be elaborately frescoed with scenes from life, mythology, or the rites associated with death. Also remarkable is a tomb at Cerveteri, the walls of which are covered with stucco reliefs of everyday objects. There is a high preponderance of imports, especially metalwork and Athenian pottery. Typical products of the Etruscans are decorated bronze mirrors, bucchero pottery, and sophisticated filigree jewelry. The influence of the Etruscans on Roman civilization was enormous. Rome is indebted to the Etruscans not only for its early kings, such as the notorious Tarquin, but virtually for the total infrastructure of its civilization. Roman culture is essentially the continuation of Etruscan under another name and language. Among areas of continuity are religion (e.g. Etruscan haruspex and Roman augury), political and social organization, strategic arts, architecture, art, drama, theater and civil engineering (notably hydraulics, such as aqueducts and drainage systems). The origin of the Etruscans has been a subject of debate since antiquity. Herodotus, for example, argued that the Etruscans descended from a people who invaded Etruria from Anatolia before 800 BC and established themselves over the native Iron Age inhabitants of the region, whereas Dionysius of Halicarnassus believed that the Etruscans were of local Italian origin.
Evans, Sir Arthur (1851-1941): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: A British scholar and archaeologist who contributed much to the study of Greek archaeology with his excavations at the Minoan palace of Knossos. His first interest was in coins and hieroglyphic seals, and it was the latter which drew his attention to Crete. He began excavations at Knossos in 1899 at his own expense, and in the next 35 years laid bare not only this Bronze Age palace of the Minoans, but in effect their whole civilization. Careful cross-dating with Egypt allowed him to put dates to his sequence, making it a vitally important link in the dating of prehistoric Europe before the discovery of radiocarbon. Though he was unable to decipher the Minoans' three written scripts, his detailed study of them gave the necessary basis for later work, culminating in the reading of Linear B by Michael Ventris in 1952. He was largely responsible for demonstrating the existence of a pre-Mycenaean Aegean civilization, for naming it Minoan (after the legendary King Minos of Crete), and for revealing most of its characteristics. He was the son of Sir John Evans.
fishbone analysis: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The study of the remains of fish on archaeological sites, in the form of bones, otoliths, and scales. The latter only survive occasionally in anaerobic conditions, while otoliths have not, to date, been frequently recorded. Fish have markedly different skeletons from mammals. Many fishbones are so small that they appear only in sieving and the bones commonly preserved are the jaws and some other head bones, and the vertebrae. They usually accumulate in refuse deposits and may be interpreted in terms of diet and fishing on the site or in the area that supplied it. Identification of species through comparison with modern fishbones is becoming easier as larger collections of comparative material are built up. When a species has been identified it can lead to evidence for the hydrological conditions around the site; also, the occurrence of the remains of marine species on an inland site has implications for the movement of groups or a trade in fish. A combination of species identification and aging of fish through study of the otoliths can lead to assumptions about the seasonal occupation of certain settlement sites and the subsistence economy of the associated groups.
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.
general systems theory: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: cybernetics
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A theory that human society can be studied as a system broken down into many interacting subsystems, or parts. It is the premise that any organization may be looked at to discover how its parts are related and how changes in either parts or their relationships produce changes in the overall system. In archaeological terms, the system might be the whole of a society's culture, or some part of it such as the economy or even a single settlement. Systems can be regarded as either open or closed; the latter have no input of energy or matter from the outside, tend to reach a state of stable equilibrium in which small changes can be offset, and eventually stagnate and disintegrate, while open systems have an input of energy from the outside, reach a state of unstable equilibrium in which any small change can produce significant transformations in the system as a whole, and are characterized by growth and change. The process by which a system tends to maintain equilibrium in the face of changed surroundings is termed homeostasis, while morphogenesis is the process by which the structure is changed or elaborated.
gley horizon: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: gleying
CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: A soil horizon characterized by blue, gray, or olive coloring due to excessive moisture in anaerobic conditions; a waterlogging of soil. Gleying may result from a raised water table or from impeded drainage within the soil profile; the latter condition occurs in some podzols. Gley horizons and gley soils are conducive to preservation of organic remains.
grey ware: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: greyware
CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: The typical household and ceremonial ceramic ware of Monte Albán and the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, made from a fine gray paste in the middle Pre-Classic period. Grey ware occurs throughout Monte Albán's occupation, with some variations in shape and ornamentation. In the latter periods in the Oaxaca sequence, after the collapse of Monte Albán, Mixtec grey ware was distributed through the Valley. The Zapotecs' merge with the Mixtecs is suggested by the correlation between the distribution of the Mixtec ceramics in Zapotec households, c 1250-1521 AD.
gui: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: kuei
CATEGORY: artifact; deity
DEFINITION: In Chinese religion, a troublesome spirit that roams the world, causing misfortune, illness, and death. These were believed to be the spirits of individuals who were not buried properly or whose families neglected to make proper memorial offerings. The term also refers to a Chinese Neolithic tripod pottery pitcher, first made with solid legs and then acquiring bulbous hollow-shaped legs and to an early Chinese bronze ritual bowl with handles. The latter often bore writing as well as complex designs. The bronze gui was known in the Shang period but was especially common in Western Zhou. These items were used in protective rituals as talismans devised to ward gui away from the family abode.
iron: CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: A ductile, malleable, magnetic metallic element, used to make artifacts of both practical and decorative function. Its oxide form, hematite, is found naturally and the technique of ironworking was mastered around 1500 BC by the Hittites. Iron began to spread and replace bronze for man's basic tools and weapons -- the start of the Iron Age. Early in the 1st millennium BC, iron industries were established in Greece and Italy, and by 500 BC, iron had replaced bronze for the manufacture of tools and weapons throughout Europe. The pre-Columbian New World, however, did not develop iron technology. Iron smelting is more complicated than for copper or tin, since the first smelt gives only slaggy lumps, the bloom. Hammering at red heat is then required to expel stone fragments and combine carbon with the iron to make in effect a steel; the resulting metal is far superior to copper or tin. The two basic methods of working it are by forging -- hammering into shape at red heat -- and casting. The Chinese used the latter method as early as the 5th century BC, but it was not employed in Europe until the Middle Ages. The first evidence of iron smelting in Egypt dates to the 6th century BC. Large-scale steel manufacture depends on the production of cast iron, which in Europe dates only from the 14th century AD. The West did not enter the 'Age of Steel' until the 19th century with the invention of the Bessemer and Siemens processes, which are industrial processes for obtaining liquid metal of any desired carbon content by the decarburization of cast iron. Steel was made in China within a few centuries of the first known use of smelted iron. In principle, modern techniques descended from China's casting techniques.
Kolomoki: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Large multi-mound site in southern Georgia, US, that includes burial mounds and a platform mound from the latter half of the 1st century AD. It seems to have thrived in the period between the decline of the Woodland Tradition and the emergence of the Mississippian. Elaborately worked funerary vessels and grave goods such as copper ornaments and shell beads attest to ceremonial burial practice. There are indications of a chiefdom organization.
kom: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A term generally referring to the mounds made up of the ruins of ancient settlements. Its meaning is similar to the Arabic word 'tell', although the latter is more commonly applied to the higher settlement mounds of the Levant and Mesopotamia.
landnam: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A Danish word meaning 'land taking', used to describe a common form of early agriculture in which an area of woodland was cleared and cultivated (which has been identified in the pollen record). The land was later abandoned and was taken over by weeds, finally reverting to woodland. Its regeneration began with the birch, a rapid colonizer of areas cleared by fire. Landnam has been recognized in pollen analysis by changes in the pollen spectra: the drop in tree pollen, the appearance of grass and plantain pollens, a subsequent increase in the latter, and an eventual reappearance of the tree pollen. Landnam range in date from Neolithic to Bronze Age.
Lauricocha: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Area of several preceramic cave sites in the highlands of central Peru. The earliest level, dating c 8000-6000 BC, yielded the skeletons of people who hunted deer and guanaco with spears tipped with leaf-shaped points. The sites represent seasonal hunting camps. A second phase, dated c 6000-4000 BC, had better-made points of willow leaf shape. The second culture at Lauricocha was replaced by a third one with smaller leaf- and diamond-shaped points which lasted until 1500 or later; the latter part of this period overlaps with the earliest farming villages on the Peruvian coast, where points of Lauricocha type have been found. Fourth and fifth stages represent pottery-using cultures. Other caves in the area have engravings, some of which include motifs used by about 1000 BC on pottery at Kotosh. Occupations extend into the Initial Period.
leaf-shaped: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: foliated; foliate
CATEGORY: lithics
DEFINITION: Of a tool, pointed at the ends and with convex sides, as on a willow leaf. The term is applied to an arrowhead, the blade of a slashing sword, or the flattened bow of a fibula and other tools which have been retouched on both faces to produce a flattish effect. Many Upper Paleolithic tools are named after leaves (Solutrean laurel leaf). Some Middle Paleolithic industries are characterized by the presence of bifaces, others by the presence of leaf-shaped objects. Mousterian industries producing leaf-shaped items in central and eastern Europe.
Loyang: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Lo-yang; Luoyang; formerly Honan-Fu; Honan
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Ancient city in northwestern Honan province, China, near the south bank of the Yellow River. It was important in history as the capital of nine ruling dynasties and as a Buddhist center. Lo-yang is divided into an east town and a west town. Lo-i (modern Lo-yang) was founded at the beginning of the Chou dynasty (late 12th century BC), near the present west town, as the residence of the imperial kings. It became the Chou capital in 771 BC, following the loss of Tsung Chou in Shensi, and was later moved to a site northeast of the present east town; it was named Lo-yang because it was north (yang) of the Lo River, and its ruins are now distinguished as the ancient city of Lo-yang. Traces of its rammed earth walls and one of its cemeteries of pit graves have been found. Bronzes and pottery recovered from some 270 tombs excavated at Luoyang Zhongzhoulu supply a valuable artifact sequence, spanning the entire Eastern Chou period. Particularly rich finds from Jincun, just northeast of the modern city, belong to the latter part of Eastern Chou; lesser tombs from the end of Eastern Chou and the Han period have been excavated at Shaogou. During the Qin and Western Han dynasties the capital returned to Shaanxi, but Luoyang was again the capital during the Eastern Han dynasty and, for the last time, from 494-535 AD, when the Northern Wei emperors ruled there. It finally fell to the Ch'in in 256.
lug: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Ear-shaped protuberances, sometimes flattened, added to the wall of a pot to assist in holding it. It may or may not be perforated. The hole was designed to take a cord or thong only and it was not a true handle.
Majiabang: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Ma-chia-pang
CATEGORY: site; culture
DEFINITION: A Neolithic site and culture of Jiaxing, China, near Shanghai. The people are descendants of the 5th millennium BC Ho-mu-tu in the region south of the Yangtze near Shanghai. The early phase yielded a radiocarbon date of c 4000 BC. It had close ties with the Ch'ing-lien-kang culture in southern Kiangsu, northern Chekiang, and Shanghai. The successor to the Majiabang culture is the 3rd millennium BC Liangzhu culture. The earliest examples of jade from the lower Yangtze River region appear in the latter phases of Ma-chia-pang culture (c 5100-3900 BC).
Marianas Islands: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An island group in western Micronesia with a sequence starting with settlement around 1500 BC, by island people in Southeast Asia. They made a distinctive red-slipped ware (Marianas Redware Phase), sometimes incised with lime-filled decoration, closely related to Philippine wares. By 800 AD, a plain, unslipped ware was in use, and stone architecture had developed. Parallel rows of upright pillars topped with hemispheric capstones (halege) were erected. The pillars were supports for structures called latte (after which term the culture is named), which may have served as houses or canoe sheds. Each village had from one to several latte structures. Stone and shell tools were used and the betel nut was chewed, as shown by extended burials most often located between the rows of latte.
Mauer jaw: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Heidelberg jaw
CATEGORY: fauna
DEFINITION: A large broken lower jaw of Homo erectus or pre-Neanderthaler type found in the Mauer sands near Heidelberg, Germany. It is dated to either the Mindel Glaciation or the Günz-Mindel Interglacial -- probably the latter. No tools were recovered from the stratum, but there was associated fauna (elephant, rhinoceros, bear, horse, saber-toothed cat). Although it dates from perhaps 400,000 years ago, it is not very different from the Neanderthals of c 50,000 years ago.
Metsamor: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Sites in Armenia near Yerevan with Kura-Araxes and Late Bronze to Early Iron Age occupations. The latter indicates the existence of pre-Urartian states in Transcaucasia. Objects inscribed in Mesopotamian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphics have been found in the graves dating to the 15th-14th centuries BC. these imply long-distance contacts with southern civilizations.
Mikulcice: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site situated on the Morava River in the Czech Republic, a settlement of Great Moravia and the earliest Slavic state polity. It is a complex site with stratified deposits going back to the late 6th century, when it was one of the earliest Slavic fortified centers. The stronghold consisted of a central nucleus within a plank-built palisade, with an additional suburb of workshops and houses. Mikulcice was an important metal production center, famous for elaborate bronze and gilded spurs. In Midulcice's second phase during the early 9th century, the defenses were refurbished in stone and timber, and a stone church was built. In the latter part of the 9th century, a stone-built palace and a number of other churches were built. These churches display an enormous variety of designs, and include several rotunda buildings. Greater Moravia fell in 907 AD.
Mildenhall: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Mildenhall Treasure
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A town in Suffolk, England, famous for the treasure of silver comprising the household silver of a wealthy Roman family near the remains of a 4th-century Roman building. The silver was richly decorated with figured reliefs and the 34 pieces include a large dish depicting the head of Oceanus, ringed by friezes of sea and other deities reveling; two smaller platters with Bacchic scenes; a niello dish with geometric design; a covered bowl with centaurs; goblets; ladles and eight spoons, five with Christian inscriptions. Possibly the owners buried their family plate in the troubled days of the Anglo-Saxon invasions. The collection is now in the British Museum in London.
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.
motte: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: motte and bailey, motte-and-bailey castle
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: An elevated mound of earth, part of the motte-and-bailey castle, which was crowned with a timber palisade and surrounded by a defensive ditch that also separated the motte from a palisaded outer compound, called the bailey. Access to the motte was by means of an elevated bridge across the ditch from the bailey. This structure appeared in the 10th and 11th centuries between the Rhine and Loire rivers and eventually spread to most of western Europe. The motte was usually made of earth, but sometimes of stone. Attached to it may be one or more baileys, which are enclosures surrounded by ramparts or stone walls. Motte should not be confused with moat; the latter was a ditch. The motte was formed from the soil originally dug from the ditch. It was the mound on which the wooden castle of the motte and bailey was built in early Norman times. Motte-and-bailey was the type of wooden castle first erected by Norman conquerors and it was an expedient, quickly erected, medieval fortification. Several classic examples of motte and bailey castles are illustrated in the Bayeaux tapestry, with wooden towers and palisades on top of the motte.
Mousterian: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Mousterian industry
CATEGORY: culture; chronology; artifact
DEFINITION: A Middle Paleolithic culture that is defined by the development of a wide variety of specialized tools made with prepared-core knapping techniques, such as spear points. It is named for the first such artifacts recovered from the lower rock shelter at Le Moustier, Dordogne, France. Stone tools, scrapers, and points found in the cave came to be recognized as the flint industry present throughout Europe during first half of last glaciation (Würm) and associated with Neanderthal. The earliest Mousterian goes back to the Riss glaciation, but most of it comes into the late middle Würm glaciation, giving a total lifespan from 180,000 BC until c 30,000 BP. Flintwork of Mousterian type (with racloirs, triangular points made on flakes, and -- in some variants -- well-made handaxes) has been found over most of the unglaciated parts of Eurasia, as well as in the Near East and North Africa (in the latter two areas, it constitutes the Middle Palaeolithic). Three major regional variants have been identified -- West, East, and Levalloiso-Mousterian, each with sub-groups. In certain industries, called Levalloiso-Mousterian, the tools were made on flakes produced by the Levallois technique. It was a progressive stage in the manufacture of stone tools. Mousterian peoples mainly lived in cave mouths and rock shelters.
naos: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: temple sanctuary; naoi = plural
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A shrine, usually monolithic, in which the image of an Egyptian deity was kept, especially in temple sanctuaries. A small wooden naos was normally placed inside a monolithic one in hard stone; the latter are typical of the Late Period, and sometimes elaborately decorated. The largest naoi are those where a temple's main cult statue was kept, in the sanctuary. A naos generally took the form of a rectangular chest or box hewn from a single block of wood or stone, and could also be used as a container for a funerary statue or mummified animal. Egyptian 'naophorous statues/ portrayed the subject holding a shrine, sometimes containing a divine image. The term is also used for the interior apartment of a Greek temple (a Greek temple placed within a temenos) or the cella of the Roman temple. In Classical architecture, it is the body of a temple (as distinct from the portico) in which the image of the deity is housed. In early Greek and Roman architecture it was a simple room, usually rectangular, with the entrance at one end and with the side walls often being extended to form a porch. In larger temples, where the cella is open to the sky, a small temple was sometimes placed within. In the Byzantine architectural tradition the naos was preserved as the area of a centrally planned church, including the core and the sanctuary, where the liturgy is performed.
Ordos: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Northern Zone
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The desert region in the northward loop of the Yellow River (Huang Ho) in northern China, the location of the Palaeolithic Ordos culture. From 8th century BC, the region was inhabited by seminomadic tribes, among them the Hsiung-Nu, threatening the Chou Dynasty and the Han Dynasty. Broad bronze daggers, curved knives, pole finials, harness ornaments, and animal-style bronze belt plaques are characteristic of the 1st millennium BC ('the Ordos bronzes'). The pictorial or narrative compositions common among these plaques, many including human figures, are typical also of Sarmatian metalwork. The distinctive metal culture of the Ordos reaches back as far as the latter part of the 2nd millennium BC, a date fixed by the discovery at Anyang of knives with animal-head pommels closely related to Ordos types. Owing to its position on the northern frontier of China, the Ordos was probably the main channel by which Chinese influences were transmitted to the steppes; it was also the route by which foreign elements reached China, especially during Eastern Chou and Han dynasties. An Upper Palaeolithic site (Sjara Osso Gol) yielded a microlithic industry. In the 1970s and '80s, Chinese scientists unearthed more than 20 human fossils from 30,000-60,000 years old at Hsiao-ch'iao-pan in the Sjara-Osso River valley. The terms Ordos man and Ordosian culture are applied to their findings. The area is now referred to as the Northern Zone.
Périgordian: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Perigordian
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A French classification for the Upper Palaeolithic tradition of western Europe, from its identification with the Perigord region of southern France. The flint industry sequence begins with the Chatelperronian (or Early Périgordian) from which, according to some, developed the first of the 'Upper Périgordian' industries (Gravettian, or Périgordian IV). The later stages are represented by industries with Font Robert points and Noailles burins, and finally by the Proto-Magdalenian. The Périgordian tradition comes to an end in western Europe with the intrusion of a new Solutrean style of flintwork. No known site has a complete and unbroken 'Périgordian' sequence, and in many caves the Lower and Upper 'Périgordian' levels are separated by strata of the intrusive Aurignacian industry, which must represent a break of several thousand years. The French scheme requires the Périgordian and Aurignacian people to have lived side by side with each other for millennia without any apparent contact between them. In the 1930s, Denis Peyrony advocated the view that the Aurignacian or early Upper Palaeolithic in France consisted of a true Aurignacian and a separate line of cultures, the Perigordian, beginning before the Aurignacian but co-existing alongside it down the time of the Solutrean. It is not known what kind of man was responsible for the Perigordian, but it is usually assumed that it was Cro-Magnon man, at least in the latter part. A Neanderthal-like skull has been found with the early Perigordian, or Chatelperronian. Art is found in a few later Perigordian contexts. The Perigordian scheme is not now widely accepted as it is based on artifact typology rather than stratigraphic evidence.
Pastoral Neolithic: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Pastoral Neolithic of East Africa
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A complex of cultures that appeared in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania about 3500 BC; a general term for the pre-Iron Age food-producing societies of East Africa.. It remains unknown whether they also cultivated plants. The earliest sites are on the plains of northern Kenya and date to the mid-3rd millennium BC. About 1300 years ago, they were absorbed or replaced by iron-using pastoralists and mixed farmers. Disposal of the dead was by burial beneath a stone cairn or between rocks. Stone platters, bowls, and pestles occur on most sites. Settlements show a great range of size, as does the relative importance of herding cattle and small stock in comparison with hunting. Pastoral Neolithic settlement is attested as far to the south as the Serengeti Plain of northern Tanzania. The subdivision of the Pastoral Neolithic in the East African highlands is not clearly defined. Pastoral Neolithic traditions recognized, though not well defined chronologically, are: Elmenteitan, Kansyore, Narosura, Nderit, Njoro River Cave, Oldishi, Olmalenge, and Oltome.
phaskon: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Greek vessel of a flattened ovoid form, with a long spout, and a handle at the top, like the askos.
pilgrim bottle: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: costrels
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Ceramic barrel-shaped or cylindrical container, usually with a flattened shape and two suspension lugs, carried by pilgrims to contain their supply of water or wine
Pleistocene Series: CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: A division of the Quaternary System defined by its deposits. It is a worldwide division of rocks deposited during the Pleistocene Epoch (1,600,000-10,000 years ago). It overlies rocks from the Pliocene Epoch (5.3-1.6 million years ago) and is itself overlain by rocks of the Holocene Series; together these two latter divisions make up the Quaternary System. These deposits contain evidence of humans and their development throughout glacial and interglacial conditions. . By international agreement, the global stratotype section/point for the base of the Pleistocene Series is in the Vrica section in Calabria, Italy. The Pleistocene's boundary with the Pliocene occurs just above the position of the magnetic reversal that marks the Olduvai Normal Polarity Subzone, thus allowing the worldwide correlation of Pleistocene rocks with reference to the magneto-stratigraphic timescale.
podsol: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: podzol, podsol soil, podzol soil
CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: A soil type characteristic of coniferous woodland, heath, tundra or moorland -- leached, acid soils formed under conditions of very cold climate's forest vegetation cover. The fauna produce phenols which are washed into the horizons and disperse the clay/humus complexes. Minerals, humus, and nutrients are washed down the profile and become deposited as illuvial horizons of humus and iron oxides. The latter is often called the 'iron pan'. A bleached, sandy eluvial horizon is left at the top of the profile. Podsols develop naturally in areas of high annual rainfall, but most of the large areas of podsols in the uplands and lowland heaths of the British Isles were probably at least initiated by man's clearance of woodland during the present Interglacial.
Polonnaruwa: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Polonnaruva
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A town in north-central Sri Lanka (Ceylon), that was an ancient Ceylonese capital. Polonnaruwa became the residence of Ceylon's kings in 368 AD and succeeded Anuradhapura as the capital in the 8th century when the latter was captured by Tamils. The most impressive surviving monuments belong to the later 12th and 13th centuries, and include a series of colossal sculptured figures and a number of temples and monasteries in the Great Quadrangle.
Pueblo Bonito: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Major Anasazi town (pueblo) located in Chaco Canyon National Monument, northwest New Mexico. Enclosed by high walls, it is a self-contained complex of some 800 contiguous rooms rising 4-5 stories (300 on the ground floor), with 32 kivas (two great kivas) and two large open plazas. Construction started in 919 (Pueblo II) and was completed in the latter half of the 11th century. The overall D-shaped plan, however, appears to have come about through accretion rather than deliberate planning. The sealing of some outside windows and entrance ways took place in Pueblo III, a period generally noted for the rise of defensive sites. Pueblo Bonito was abandoned by c 1200.
Ranjpur: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Prehistoric site in northwest India with evidence of the Mature and Late Harappan, divided into five periods from c 3000 BC. The Mature Harappan had baked bricks, drains, graffiti on pottery, stone weights, terra-cotta cakes, beads, and pottery. New elements appear in the material culture -- animal motifs on painted pottery and Lustrous Red Ware. The latter became common and black-and-red ware appeared in the Late Harappan at Lothal, Rodji, and Ranjpur.
rattle: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Any shaken instrument. Some are vessels containing pellets ( maracas ) or have external pellets ( cabaza ), some slide to and fro ( sistrum ), others clatter together ( jingles ) or whirl round cogs ( ratchet ), some swing in the breeze. T
rim edge treatment: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Angular flattening, horizontal flattening, horizontal and vertical flattening, pushed, squeezed, pinched
rivet: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A small metal rod used to attach a metal blade to its haft (as the handles of bronze daggers) or to fasten two sheets of metal together. Each end of the rivet is burred over (spread and flattened) by hammering after it has been passed through the two elements to be joined. Riveting is also a method of making joints in metalwork. The rivets are short metal rods which pass through holes in the parts to be joined and are hammered down on either side to hold the joint firmly together. In antiquity, riveting was used to make such artifacts as helmets or situlae.
Roc de Sers: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A Palaeolithic rock shelter in the Charente, France, with Solutrean and Magdalenian levels, including burials in the latter. A line of limestone blocks carved with bas-relief bison, horse, ibex, and other figures are among the rare examples of Solutrean art.
Sakçe Gözü or Sakjegeuzu: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Sakçagöze, Sakje-Gözü
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A tell site in southeast Turkey, occupied in the Early Neolithic (comparable to Mersin) and a palace site of the Syro-Hittites of the early 1st millennium BC. The latter has produced quantities of important reliefs and inscriptions. The Neolithic period had a sequence of wares relating the Amuq and Halaf pottery styles. The fortification walls, nearly 12 feet thick, were strengthened by projecting external buttresses and by turrets at the corners. The palace was approached through a portico with a beautiful series of sculptures showing strong Assyrian influence. The whole mound was composed of stratified debris of the 5th and early 4th millennia BC.
Savernake ware: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Output from a substantial Roman pottery industry focused in northwest Wiltshire, especially the area now known as Savernake Forest. A number of kilns have been excavated and together suggest a nucleated industry comprising many separate workshops. The pottery itself is typically light grey in color, flint-tempered, with clay pellets and grog visible in the fabric. Typical products include jars, bowls, flagons, butt beakers, and platters. Output starts at about the time of the Roman conquest or a little before and continues through into the later 2nd century AD.
sceatta: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: sceat
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Small silver coin minted when the Anglo-Saxons reintroduced currency into England in the 7th century. The earliest identifiable ones are of Eorpwald of East Anglia (625-627) and Penda of Mercia (625-654). Our penny may owe its name to the latter. With this change of name it remained the standard coin from the reforms of Offa of Mercia (757-796) until the 12th century. Sceattas are distinctive because they were made from pellets which were hammered between two dies, not minted from a flattened piece of metal (as after c 790 in England). The kings of Kent imitated these sliver coins in about 690, and issued them with a variety of designs which are collectively known as the primary series of sceattas. The primary series is virtually confined to Kent and ended about 720. The secondary series include a wider variety of designs which occur over a larger area.
septal slab: CATEGORY: structure; artifact
DEFINITION: An upright stone slab set across the floor of a megalithic chambered tomb to divide it into separate compartments (e.g. in a court cairn). They vary in height from low kerbs to the full height of the chamber; in the latter case they are sometimes provided with port-holes.
Skorba: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Site on the island of Malta near Nadur Tower with a temple complex under which earlier deposits have been found. Underneath a small trefoil-shaped temple, dated c 3000-2600 BC, was a Neolithic settlement of mud-brick houses on stone foundations and an oval hut of the Ghar Dalam (impressed ware) phase (c 5000 BC). A three-apse temple of the preceding Ggantija phase (c 3600-3000 BC) was also found as well as an oval-room building of the Red Skorba phase (c 4300-4000 BC). The latter is thought to have been a shrine, precursor to later temples. The name Skorba has been give to two successive pottery styles, Grey Skorba and Red Skorba, which seem to have developed out of the impressed pottery of the Ghar Dalam phase. The pottery seems related to that of contemporary eastern Sicily.
stamp seal: CATEGORY: artifact; language
DEFINITION: A small, hard block that has a flat surface engraved with a design that can be transferred to soft clay or wax as a mark of ownership or authenticity. Stamp seals appear in Mesopotamia from the Halafian period in the fifth millennium BC, when they were used to impress ownership marks on lumps of clay which were then attached to goods. In the Bronze Age, it was differently shaped for different cultures: square in the Indus, round in the Persian Gulf (Barbar), and compartmented in central Asia (Bactrian). Stamp seals preceded cylinders and developed over a period of about 1,500 years until largely replaced by the cylinder in the 3rd millennium BC. Seals came into use before the invention of writing for the securing of property and the method was either to shape clay over the stopper or lid or to make a fastening with cord and place clay around the knot and then impress it with the seal. The sealing of written documents, mainly clay tablets and papyrus scrolls, became regularly established in the latter part of the 3rd millennium BC.
Sterkfontein: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Site near Krugersdorp in Transvaal, South Africa, which is one of the most important hominid sites in southern Africa and dating from c 2.5 million years ago. From the fossiliferous cave fillings have come the largest collection of Australopithecine fossils in south Africa, especially Australopithecus africanus and also Plesianthropus transvaalensis, Australopithecus robustus, Homo erectus, and Homo habilis. The latter is thought to have made Earlier Stone Age artifacts (Developed Oldowan B or early Acheulian). Sterkfontein is one of three neighboring sites (with Swartkrans and Kromdraai) at which the remains of fossil hominids have been found.
striking platform: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: platform
CATEGORY: lithics
DEFINITION: The area on a store core which is struck to remove a flake or blade in toolmaking. Part of the original platform is removed with the detached flake. The platform itself is prepared by the removal of one or more flakes, and in the latter case is described as a faceted striking platform.
stylus: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: stilus; plural styli, styluses
CATEGORY: artifact; language
DEFINITION: Pointed writing instrument made from a variety of materials: reed stem, bone, ivory, or metal (iron, bronze, silver). The sharpened implement is shaped like a pen with a wedge-shaped tip and one end flattened like a spatula; the latter served either to spread the wax on a writing tablet or to erase by smoothing. The stylus was used in ancient times as a tool for writing on parchment or papyrus. The early Greeks incised letters on wax-covered boxwood tablets using a stylus. A stylus was also used for impressing cuneiform writing into wet clay tablets, which were then baked.
Suberde: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Small aceramic Neolithic settlement in the Konya plain of southern Turkey, dated to the later 7th millennium BC. Two occupation levels were recognized, the earlier with traces of hut floors, the latter with building of mudbrick and plastered floors. Thousands of animal bones have been found -- sheep, goat, cattle, pig and some harvesting of wild cereals may have occurred.
Tokharian: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Tocharian, Tocharish
CATEGORY: language
DEFINITION: Indo-European language that was spoken in northern Chinese Turkistan during the latter half of the 1st millennium AD. Documents from about 500-700 show two dialects: Tocharian A, from the area of Turfan in the east; and Tocharian B, chiefly from the region of Kucha in the west but also from the Turfan area.
Trewhiddle: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Site in Cornwall, England, with a hoard of metal objects deposited in the latter part of the 9th century AD. Included were some bronze plaques decorated with Niello-inlaid animal ornament, Anglo-Saxon coins, and a silver chalice ornamented with beaded wire.
Warring States period: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Contending States
CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: A division of the Zhou/Chou Dynasty, 475-221 BC, the latter part of the Eastern Zhou period, made up of six or seven small feuding Chinese kingdoms. The Warring States period saw the rise of many of the great philosophers of Chinese civilization, including the Confucian thinkers Mencius and Hsün-tzu, and the establishment of many of the governmental structures and cultural patterns that were to characterize China for the next 2,000 years. The Warring States period is distinguished from the preceding age, the Spring and Autumn (Ch'un Ch'iu) period (770-476 BC), when the country was divided into many even smaller states. In 223 BC, Ch'in defeated Ch'u and two years later established the first unified Chinese empire.
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.
Wisconsin glaciation: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Wisconsinan Age, Wisconsinan Stage
CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: The age" is a major North American geochronological subdivision of the Pleistocene epoch c 75 000-10 000 bp. It was the final glaciation of North American the fourth and last glacial stage of the Pleistocene. It followed the Sangamon interglacial and is the North American equivalent of the Würm glaciation in the Old World; it is broadly correlated with the Weichselian of northwest Europe and the Devensian of Britain. At certain times during this glaciation enough water was locked up in the form of ice sheets to cause a drop in sea level and the creation of a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska. It was probably during one such period that man colonized America from Asia. As a "stage" it is a chronostratigraphic subdivision of the Pleistocene with deposits in the upper U.S. Midwest and adjacent areas of Canada. Most of the Wisconsin deposits can be dated by radiocarbon. The sequence has been divided into early Wisconsin (c 75 000-53 000 bp) Middle Wisconsin (53 000-23 000 bp) and Late Wisconsin (23 000-10 000 bp). The substages have been defined as: Altonian (c 75 000-25 000 bp) Farmdalian (c 25 000-22 500 bp) Woodfordian (c 22 500-12 500 bp) Twocreekan (c 12 500-11 800 bp) and Greatlakean (c 11 800-10 000 or 7000 bp). The latter replaced the Valderan substage."
wrist clasp: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A type of metal object in pagan Saxon graves in the Anglian areas of England and on the European continent. They are flattened rectangular or triangular pieces of bronze, often gilded or inlaid with silver and decorated with animal ornament. They were used to fasten the cuffs of tunics.

Another Dictionary Search