Archaeology Wordsmith

Results for nome:

absolute dating: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: chronometric dating; absolute dates; absolute chronology; absolute age determination (antonym: relative dating)
CATEGORY: chronology; technique
DEFINITION: The determination of age with reference to a specific time scale, such as a fixed calendrical system or in years before present (B.P., BP), based on measurable physical and chemical qualities or historical associations such as coins and written records. The date on a coin is an absolute date, as are AD 1492 or 501 BC.
chronometric date: CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: A date indicating that a measured value of time (years, centuries) has elapsed since a past event occurred.
chronometric dating: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: absolute dating; chronometry
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Any technique of dating that relies on chronological measurement such as calendars, radiocarbon dates, etc. and which give the result in calendar years before the present, or B.P. Most of these techniques produce results with a standard deviation, but they have a relationship to the calendar which relative dating techniques do not. Among the most useful chronometric dating techniques are radiocarbon dating, potassium argon dating, and thermoluminescence dating. Dendrochronology, the relationship of dated ancient trees with live trees has no standard deviation and is the most accurate of all, though not universally applicable. Chronometric dating has developed in the last 30 years and has revolutionized archaeology.
genome: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The collection of genes in the nucleic-acid core of a virus or the complete set of genetic material -- the chromosomes and the genes they contain -- that makes up any organism and determines hereditary features.
isometric drawing: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: isometric and axonometric projection
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Projections in which the plan and the elevations are combined to give a 'three-dimensional' view, on which correct measurements can be taken either in any direction (isometric) or along two or three axes (axonometric). This three-dimensional rendering, usually of a feature or a site, is used to record and reconstruct the results of archaeological research. In contrast to perspective drawings, isometric drawings maintain a constant scale in all three dimensions.
nome: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: An administrative unit or province of ancient Egypt, each consisting of a town or group of villages with its own guardian deity, district governor (nomarch), and symbol or standard. There were 42-44 such provinces in Egypt, varying over the course of the centuries, which ancient Egyptians called sepat. The system of division into provinces existed at least from the Old Kingdom (c 2575-2130 BC) and continued until the Muslim conquest (640 AD). In the Graeco-Roman period, whose temples are the source of the surviving lists of nomes, there were 22 nomes in Upper Egypt and 20 in Lower Egypt. In Ptolemaic times, a 'heptanomis' of seven nomes was formed in Middle Egypt. The Nile valley south of Ombos was sometimes regarded as one with the province of Nubia. The Nomarchs were appointed as delegates by the Pharaoh and tended to be autonomous chieftains in troubled periods.
praenomen: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: throne name
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: An Egyptian king's first cartouche name, which he adopted on his accession. It is a statement about the god Re, later with additional epithets, e.g. Menkheprure (Tuthmosis IV) Re is enduring of manifestations". It is also the term for the given name or forename of a Roman personal name; the family name was the nomen."
radiocarbon dating: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: radioactive carbon dating, radiocarbon age determination, carbon-14 dating; radiochronometry; RC
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: An absolute radiometric dating technique for determining the age of carbon-bearing minerals, including wood and plant remains, charcoal, bone, peat, and calcium carbonate shell back to about 50,000 bp. The technique is based on measuring the loss of radiocarbon (carbon-14) that begins disintegration at death at a known rate. It is one of the best-known chronometric dating techniques and the most important in archaeology presently. It can be used for the dating organic material up to 75,000 years old. It is based on the theory of Willard F. Libby (1947); his radioactive-carbon dating provided an extremely valuable tool for archaeologists, anthropologists, and earth scientists. When organic matter dies it ceases to exchange its carbon, as carbon dioxide, with the atmosphere, so its C14 dwindles by decay and is not replenished. Determination of the radioactivity of carbon from a sample will reveal the proportion of C14 to C12, and this will in turn, through the known rate of decay of C14, give the age of, or more accurately the time elapsed since the death of, the sample. Two things in the method have to be allowed for: first, the 'date' given is never exact. The +/- figure, which should always be quoted, is a statistical one, meaning that there is a 2 to 1 chance that the correct date lies within that bracket. Secondly, the rate of decay of C14 is based in all published examples on a half-life of 5730 +/- 40 years (after 5730 years, one half of the C14 will have disintegrated, after another 5730 years one half of the remainder, and so on). Correction tables are used to correct 'raw' radiocarbon dates (quoted as years ad or BC) into true dates (AD or BC). The method yields reliable dates back to about 50,000 bp and under some conditions to about 75,000 bp. One of the basic assumptions of the technique is that the amount of radiocarbon in the atmosphere has remained constant through time. It has now been established, with the dendrochronological sequence for the bristlecone pine, that the C14 concentration has fluctuated. The reasons for the fluctuation are not yet fully understood. The calibration of radiocarbon dates is therefore necessary in order to achieve an approximate date in calendar years. Dates quoted in radiocarbon years, before calibration, are written BC or bp (before present), as opposed to calibrated dates, written BC or BP. The original half-life for radiocarbon of 5,568 ? 30 years has been revised to 5,730 ? 40 years, though dates are normally published according to the old half-life in order to avoid confusion (the date can be adjusted for the new half-life by multiplying the old date by 1.029). All radiocarbon dates are quoted with a standard deviation. Ideally, a series of dates should be obtained for any deposit as a series may cluster around a central point. New refinements continue to improve the technique's accuracy as well as extend the range of dates which can be achieved. A previous limit of 50,000 years on the age of material which could be dated, set by the limits on the ability of the proportional counter used to record beta particle emissions, has been extended to 70,000 years by the use of isotopic enrichment, the artificial enrichment of the C14 to C12 ratio.
Akhmim: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ancient Ipu, Khent-Mim
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site on the east bank of the Nile opposite modern Sohag, that was the capital of the ninth nome of Upper Egypt during the Pharaonic period, c. 3100-332 BC. The earliest surviving remains are Old and Middle Kingdom rock-cut tombs. The city originally included a number of temples dedicated to Min, but few stone buildings have survived because of the plundering. Colossal statues of Rameses II and Meritamun have been excavated.
amino acid dating: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: amino-acid dating; aminostratigraphy; amino-acid racemization, amino acid racemization
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A method of absolute (chronometric) dating which is hoped to fill the gap between radiocarbon dates and potassium-argon dates. It is used for human and animal bone and other organic material. Specific changes in its amino acid structure (racemization or epimerization) which occur at a slow, relatively uniform rate, are measured after the organism's death. The basis for the technique is the fact that almost all amino acids change from optically active to optically passive compounds (racemize) over a period of time. Aspartic acid is the compound most often used because it has a half-life of 15,000-20,000 years and allows dates from 5,000-100,000 years to be calculated. However, racemization is very much affected by environmental factors such as temperature change. If there has been significant change in the temperature during the time in which the object is buried, the result is flawed. Other problems of contamination have occurred, so the technique is not fully established. It is fairly reliable for deep-sea sediments as the temperature is generally more stable.
animatism: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The attribution of humanlike consciousness, personality, and powers to inanimate objects (e.g., heavenly bodies, volcanoes, rocks, and stones), natural phenomena (e.g., eclipses, earthquakes, thunderstorms, tornadoes), plants and animals, and the universe itself.
antelope: CATEGORY: fauna
DEFINITION: The name for numerous species of deerlike ruminant horned bovid. The main characteristics are cylindrical annulated horns and a lachrymal sinus. There are true" antelopes "bush" antelopes "capriform" (goatlike) antelopes and "bovine" (oxlike) antelopes. The name is most popularly associated with the "true" antelopes. The term first came in through Greek and Latin to describe a creature haunting the banks of the Euphrates. The attributes of the antelope caused it to become a heraldic animal and it served as the symbol of the 16th Upper Egyptian nome (province). Three species of antelope are known from ancient Egypt (Alcephalus buselaphus Oryx gazella and Addax nasomaculato)."
anthropomorph: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: anthropomorphic figure; anthropomorphism (n.); anthropomorphous (adj.)
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A representation of the human form in art, such as those found on ancient pottery. A figure, object, or rock art with or using a human shape. The term also refers to the attribution of human features and behaviors to animals, inanimate objects, or natural phenomena.
archaeomagnetic dating: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: archaeomagnetic intensity dating, archaeomagnetism, palaeointensity dating, archaeomagnetic age determination
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A chronometric method used to date objects containing magnetic materials -- especially for buried undisturbed features such as pottery kilns, earthen fireplaces, and brick walls -- which can be compared to known schedules of past magnetic alignments within a region and fluctuations in the earth's magnetic field. Clay and rocks contain magnetic minerals and when heated above a certain temperature, the magnetism is destroyed. Upon cooling, the magnetism returns, taking on the direction and strength of the magnetic field in which the object is lying. Therefore, pottery which is baked in effect fossilizes" the Earth's magnetic field as it was the moment of their last cooling (their archaeomagnetism or remanent magnetism). In areas where variations in the Earth's magnetic field are known it is possible to date a pottery sample on a curve. This method yields an absolute date within about 50 years."
Armant: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ancient Iunu-Montu, Hermonthis
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site in Upper Egypt on the west bank of the Nile, southwest of Luxor, that was the original capitol of the Theban nome until the 11th Dynasty. Excavations have revealed extensive cemeteries and areas of Predynastic settlement. Thutmose's annals on the walls of the temple of Karnak describing 20 years of military activity in Asia are supplemented by stelae from Armant.
astronomy: CATEGORY: related field
DEFINITION: Most ancient civilizations studied the skies for astronomical knowledge. Ancient astronomy has been studied by archaeologists in prehistoric Europe through monuments and in Central America through inscriptions and documents. Studies of prehistoric astronomy in Europe have concentrated on the megalithic monuments and stone circles, which have been proven to incorporate alignments of the sun, moon, and brighter stars -- especially significant points in their cycles. Solar alignments occur at New Grange and Stonehenge, lunar orientations at the Recumbent Stone Circles of Aberdeenshire and the Carnac stones in Brittany. Many theories are discussed as to the accuracy of measurements and the degree of astronomical understanding achieved by these early societies. The ability to predict astronomical events would have enhanced political power, which is something suggested in Mesoamerica. The ability to predict events by the governing elite class increased their credibility as able rulers. The Mesoamerican people put great emphasis on the calendar and astronomy and were able to make extremely accurate measurements of the solar year, the appearance of eclipses, and the phases of the Moon. Buildings seen as observatories occur at Chichen Itza and at Palenque, and the Dresden codex is a detailed collection of calculations tracing the eclipses of the Moon and Sun and the cycles of Venus and possibly Mars and Jupiter. The Maya were even aware of the impreciseness of the 365-day year in their Calendar Round and added a correction factor to account for the quarter-day per year discrepancy. The cycle of the Moon, in comparison, was calculated with amazing accuracy (29.5302 days compared to the actual figure of 29.5306). The cycle of Venus (calculated at 583.92) was also pinpointed as accurately as measurements taken by modern astronomical methods. The ancient astronomers' awareness of long-term astronomical phenomena was astonishing.
Asyut: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ancient Djawty, Lycopolis, Syut, Asiut, Assiout
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Capital of the Asyut muhafazah (governorate) and the largest settlement of Upper Egypt, midway between Cairo and Aswan on the west bank of the Nile. It was a center of worship for Wepwawet, the jackal-headed god. In the Middle Kingdom, it was the capital of the 17th nome (province) of Upper Egypt. It was commercially important as a terminus of caravan routes across the deserts. In Hellenistic times it was known as Lycopolis (Wolf City") referring to the worship of the jackal-headed god."
barley: CATEGORY: flora
DEFINITION: A hardy group of staple cereals (genus Hordeum), cultivated in all parts of the world and since at least 7000 BC in the Near East, at least as early as wheat. The two-row barley, Hordeum distichum, was derived from the wild H. spontaneum, distributed from the Aegean to the Hindu Kush. It is recorded from Jarmo, and spread as far as Neolithic Switzerland before being replaced by the second group. Six-row barleys, H. hexastichum, arose from H. distichum in cultivation. Its distribution extended from China to Egypt and Switzerland, and it is still occasionally grown. Modern barleys are all H. tetrastichum, a development from hexastichum recorded as early as the Neolithic in Britain and Denmark. All the domestic barleys are closely related and their nomenclature is jumbled. Barley is used as food (in the US and Great Britain) and in the preparation of malt liquors and spirits.
Bat: CATEGORY: deity
DEFINITION: A goddess of the seventh Upper Egyptian nome, usually represented by a cow's head with curling horns. The earliest depiction may have been the pair of heads at the top of the Narmer palette (c 3100 BC).
Beni Hassan: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Bani Hasan, Beni Hasan
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A Middle Kingdom archaeological site, on the eastern bank of the Nile, Egypt, about 150 miles south of Cairo. The site is known for its rock-cut tombs of the 11th- and 12th-dynasty (2125-1795 BC) officials of the 16th Upper Egyptian (Oryx) nome, or province. Some of the 39 tombs are painted with scenes of daily life and important biographical texts. The governors of the nome, whose capital was Menat Khufu, ancestral home of the 4th-dynasty pharaohs, administered the eastern desert. The tomb of one, Khnumhotep II, contains a scene showing Semitic Bedouin merchants in richly colored garments entering Egypt. A rock-cut shrine of Pakhet, known as Speos Artemidos, built by Queen Hatshepsut and Thutmose III of the 18th dynasty, lies one mile north, in an ancient quarry, with a smaller shrine of Alexander II nearby. There are some small tombs dating back to the 6th Dynasty (2345-2181 BC).
Caracol: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: El Caracol
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A ruined dome-shaped structure resembling a modern observatory located at Chichén Itzá where Mayan astronomers tracked the celestial bodies for timekeeping and calendrical purposes.
Celtic fields: CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A term used for small plots with low earthen banks formed around them, which were field systems of pre-Roman times in Britain and northwest Europe. These date to the Early Bronze Age (1800 BC), so it is a misnomer to attach 'Celtic' to them. Traces of these systems may still be visible where later agriculture has not removed them. The oldest examples in Britain are blocks of arable land (sometimes associated with farmsteads, hollow ways, stockades, and enclosures) divided into a patchwork of more or less square units. They are defined by lynchets at the upper and lower edges, and by slightly raised ridges at the sides. Similar fields are known from Scandinavia and the Netherlands.
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.
chthonic: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Of the underworld; term used to describe phenomena relating to the underworld and the earth, including deities such as Geb, Aker, and Osiris.
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."
comet: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A celestial body moving around the Sun in an elliptical orbit and often seen as a starlike nucleus with a train of light or 'tail' following it. Comets were often mentioned in ancient records, as in the Bayeux Tapestry. Their occurrences can be calculated by astronomers, as can eclipses, and ancient reports can thus be exactly dated, a useful check on the recorded chronology.
Copán: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A ruined ancient Mayan city, in extreme western Honduras near the Guatemalan border, one of the largest and most impressive sites of that civilization. Copán was an important Maya city during the Classic Period (c 300-900 AD), peaking in the 8th century with as many as 20,000 people. The site has stone temples, two large pyramids, several stairways and plazas, and a ball court for tlachtli. Most of these structures center on a raised platform called the Acropolis and are constructed in a locally available greenish volcanic tuff. Copán is particularly known for the ornate stone carving on the buildings and the portrait sculptures on its many stelae. The Hieroglyphic Stairway, which leads to one of the temples, is beautifully carved with 2500 hieroglyphics total on the risers of each of its 63 steps. During the Classic Period, there is evidence that astronomers in Copán calculated the most accurate solar calendar produced by the Maya up to that time. The site's ruins were discovered by Spanish explorers in the early 16th century and rediscovered by American traveler John Lloyd Stephens in 1839, who purchased" the site for $50. Since then much of the beautiful carving has deteriorated but the highly detailed pen-and-ink drawings of his colleague Frederick Catherwood still survive and are a great source of iconographic detail. Restoration work revealed much of Copán's political and dynastic history through the decipherment of hieroglyphic inscriptions on its monuments. A dynasty of at least 16 kings ruled Copán from about 426-822 AD; the Maya had completely abandoned the site by about 1200. Finds date from the Late Prehistoric period (c 300 BC-AD 250."
cross-dating: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: cross dating
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A correlation dating technique that can yield a relative or absolute age or chronology. The basis of cross-dating is the occurrence of finds in association. The assumption is that a particular type of artifact, for example a type of sword, when found in an undated context will bear a similar date to one found in a dated context, thus enabling the whole of the undated context to be given a chronological value. The method is based on the assumption that typologies evolved at the same rate and in the same way over a wide area or alternatively on assumptions of diffusion. Many of the chronologies constructed before the advent of chronometric dating techniques were based on cross-dating. New techniques such as radiocarbon dating showed some of the links established by cross-dating to be invalid, so the method has become somewhat discredited. However, its use is still helpful where recognizable products of dateable manufacture are found in undated contexts with no possibility of using a chronometric dating technique. So in the absence of geochronology, two cultural groups can only be proved contemporary by the discovery of links between them. If in culture A an object produced by culture B is found, A must be contemporary with, or later than, B. The term cross-dating ought strictly to be used only when an object of culture A is also found in proved association with culture B, when overlap of at least part of the time span of each is proved. Items having an established date, such as dated coins or buildings, or ceramics of known manufacture are most often used. By itself, a cross-dated chronology does not give absolute dates, but it may be calibrated by reference to other dating methods. A type of cross-dating has always been used in geology and stratigraphical sequences are often correlated by the assemblages of fossils they contain; this is known as biostratigraphy. The archaeological versions of cross-dating may have been developed directly out of the geological method and may have been based on a false analogy between biological fossils and archaeological artifacts.
dating: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: chronology
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The process by which an archaeologist determines dates for objects, deposits, buildings, etc., in an attempt to situate a given phenomenon in time. Relative dating, in which the order of certain events is determined, must be distinguished from absolute dating, in which figures in solar years (often with some necessary margin of error) can be applied to a particular event. Unless tied to historical records, dating by archaeological methods can only be relative -- such as stratigraphy, typology, cross-dating, and sequence dating. Absolute dating, with some reservation, is provided by dendrochronology, varve dating, thermoluminescence, potassium-argon dating, and, most important presently, radiocarbon dating. Some relative dating can be calibrated by these or by historical methods to give a close approximation to absolute dates -- archaeomagnetism, obsidian hydration dating, and pollen analysis. Still others remain strictly relative -- collagen content, fluorine and nitrogen test, and radiometric assay. Other methods include: coin dating, seriation, and amino-acid racemization. The methods have varying applications, accuracy, range, and cost. Many new techniques are being developed and tested.
Dendera: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Iunet, Tantere, Tentyris
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site in Upper Egypt with a well-preserved temple of Hathor from the Middle Kingdom and frequently added to by later rulers through to the Roman emperor Trajan. It was the site of the ancient capital of the sixth Upper Egyptian nome, located near modern Qena, close to the mouth of the Wadi Hammamat route to the Red Sea, making it an important center in Dynastic times. The Dendera necropolis of mastaba tombs ranges in date from the Early Dynastic (Old Kingdom) period to the First Intermediate Period.
dendrochronology: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: tree-ring dating
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: An absolute chronometric dating technique for measuring time intervals and dating events and environmental changes by reading and dating the pattern (number and condition) of annual rings formed in the trunks of trees. The results are compared to an established tree-ring sequence for a particular region with consideration to annual fluctuations in rainfall which result in variations in the size of the rings laid down by trees on the outside of their trunks. These variations, given favorable conditions, form a consistent pattern; and sections or cores taken from beams in ruins have been matched to provide a long chronology over large areas. The method is based on the principle that trees add a growth ring for each year of their lives, and that variations in climatic conditions will affect the width of these rings on suitable trees. In a very dry year growth will be restricted, and the ring narrow, while a wet and humid year will produce luxuriant growth and a thick ring. By comparing a complete series of rings from a tree of known date (for example, one still alive) with a series from an earlier, dead tree overlapping in age, ring patterns from the central layers of the recent tree and the outer of the old may show a correlation which allows the dating, in calendar years, of the older tree. The central rings of this older tree may then be compared with the outer rings or a yet older tree, and so on until the dates reach back into prehistory. Problems that arise are when climatic variation and suitable trees (sensitive trees react to climatic changes, complacent trees do not) are not be present to produce any significant and recognizable pattern of variation in the rings. Another problem is that there may be gaps in the sequences of available timber, so that the chronology 'floats', or is not tied in to a calendrical date or living trees: it can only be used for relative dating. Also, the tree-ring key can only go back a certain distance into the past, since the availability of sufficient amounts of timber to construct a sequence obviously decreases. Only in a few areas of the world are there species of trees so long-lived that long chronologies can be built up. This method is especially important in the southwestern United States, Alaska, and Scandinavia, dating back to several thousand years BC in some areas. Dendrochronology is of immense importance for archaeology, especially for its contribution to the refining of radiocarbon dating. Since timber can be dated by radiocarbon, dates may be obtained from dendrochronologically dated trees. It has been shown that the radiocarbon dates diverge increasingly from calendrical dates provided by tree-rings the further back into prehistory they go, the radiocarbon dates being younger than the tree-ring dates. This has allowed the questioning of one of the underlying assumptions of radiocarbon dating, the constancy of the concentration of C14 in the atmosphere. Fluctuations in this concentration have now been shown back as far as dendrochronological sequences go (to c 7000 BC), and thus dating technique is serving the further research on another. In 1929, A.E. Douglass first showed how this method could be used to date archaeological material. The long-living Bristlecone Pine (Pinus aristata) of California has yielded a sequence extending back to c 9000 bp. In Ireland, oak preserved in bogs has produced a floating chronology from c 2850-5950 bp.
diachronic: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: diachronous; antonym: synchronous
CATEGORY: term; chronology
DEFINITION: Referring to two or more reference points in time, especially as they pertain to phenomena as they occur or change over a period of time; a chronological perspective. The term refers to actions or things, as in the study of artifacts in a region as they change across sequential periods.
Douglass, Andrew Ellicott (1867-1962): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: An American astronomer who developed the dendrochronology dating method. He outlined the method as early as 1901, but it was not until 1929 that he was able to publish an unbroken sequence of tree-rings for the Southwest US, extending back from the present day to the early years of the present era. This provided a dating method for the southwestern Pueblo villages.
El Niño: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A periodic climatic phenomenon in which unusually warm ocean conditions occur along the tropical west coast of South America. The tropical water flow south, causing heavy rains and ecological destruction from Ecuador to Chile. The phenomenon can also affect equatorial Pacific and occasionally in Asia and North America.
emic: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A term referring to anthropological concepts and distinctions that are considered meaningful, accurate, or appropriate to the participants in a given culture. It involves an analysis of linguistic or behavioral phenomena in terms of the internal structure of a particular culture.
error factor: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The measurement error inherent in every chronometric dating technique, indicating the range of accuracy of the estimated date; usually expressed as plus or minus a certain number of years.
eustasy: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: adj. eustatic
CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: Changes in sea level on a global basis, usually as the result of a major event such as the end of a glaciation. In such a case a eustatic rise due to the melting of the glaciers can be expected in a post-glacial period. These sea-level movements can be independent of any change in the height of the land, but isostasy can happen contemporaneously as a result of the same phenomenon. This worldwide alteration in sea level is independent of any isostatic movement of the land. At the end of a glaciation melting of the water previously held in the ice sheets raises sea levels (eustatic rise), and a high level can often be correlated with an interglacial period or with the postglacial phase. Such fluctuations have occurred throughout the Quaternary, due to changes in the extent of ice sheets and thus in the volume of water locked up as ice. The larger the ice sheets, the less water available to the sea, and so sea level is lower during glacials than during interglacials. Evidence exists for a whole series of eustatic sea level fluctuations, but the most widespread is the 'high stand' in c 120,000 bp, just before the start of the last cold stage, when sea levels were between 2-10 meters higher than at the present day. During the maximum extent of the ice-sheets of the last cold stage, eustatic sea level was much lower than that of today. Large areas of continental shelf were exposed, some being occupied by the ice sheets themselves. Recovery of sea level at the end of the last cold stage is relatively well known from deposits in the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and Scotland, but is complicated by isostatic changes. The North Sea and English Channel flooded, separating Britain from the Continent, by about 7000 bp. Ireland became a separate island at about the same time. Scandinavia had a complicated series of different seas and lakes, until a sea similar to today's Baltic became established around 7000 bp. The main factors that influence sea level are global ice volumes, plate tectonics, changes in ocean volumes and dimensions, and the movement of mantle material.
false entrance: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: false door
CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: An elaborate architectural element of Egyptian tombs and mortuary temples which was a dummy entrance where the true entrance would normal be. The false entrance was for show and it served as the focal point of a tomb and had a door carved or painted, presumably through which the ka could enter and leave at will when partaking of funerary offerings. These first appeared in tombs of the Old Kingdom (2686-2181 BC). The term also refers to a phenomenon found in megalithic tombs in the British Isles, where an apparent entrance to a chamber, often leading from a forecourt, is in fact a dummy and the real chambers open not from the end but the side of the mound.
fieldwalking: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Systematic exploration of an area by a team of investigators, walking, collecting, and recording surface artifacts or noting earthworks and other phenomena.
fission track dating: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: fission-track dating; fission track age determination
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A chronometric dating technique based on the natural, spontaneous nuclear fission of Uranium 238 and its byproduct, linear atomic displacements/tracks. The basis for this technique is that a uranium isotope, U 238, as well as decaying to a stable lead isotope, also undergoes spontaneous fission. One in every two million atoms decays in this way. Fission is accompanied by an energy release which sends the resulting two nuclei into the surrounding material, the tracks causing damage to the crystal lattice. These tracks can be counted under a microscope after the polished surface of the sample has been etched with acid. The concentration of uranium can be determined by the induced fission of U 235 by neutron irradiation of the sample. Since the ratio of U 235 to U 238 is known, and is constant, a comparison of the number of tracks from natural fission and the number from induced fission will give the age of the sample. Though the method has been limited in its archaeological use so far, it has already proved a useful check method for potassium-argon dating for volcanic deposits at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, and obsidian, tephra beds, mineral inclusions in pottery, and some man-made glasses have also been dated. A further use of the method is based on the fact that fission tracks disappear if the substance is heated about 500? or so: thus a date achieved for clay (like a hearth), pottery, or obsidian that had been burnt gives the date of burning or firing, since previous fission tracks would have disappeared.
floating chronology: CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: A chronometrically dated chronology which is not yet tied in to calendar years. A floating chronology is a decipherable record of time that was terminated long ago. The most common floating chronologies occur in dendrochronology where climate affects the growth of rings and sequences are local. Local sequences cannot always be tied to the master sequences established in certain areas from the present day back into prehistory, and therefore the local sequences will 'float' until some link with a known historical date is found. Similarly, in magnetic dating many of the sequences will float until some independently dated sites can be entered on the curve. The term is also used in reference to varve chronologies.
geography: CATEGORY: geography; related field
DEFINITION: One of the oldest sciences; the descriptive study of the earth's surface and of its exploitation by lifeforms. From Greek geo, earth" and graphein "to write" geography describes and analyzes the spatial variations in physical biological and human phenomena that occur on the surface of the globe and their interrelationships and patterns."
glass layer counting: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A dating technique for glass based on the idea that the layers present in the surface crust of ancient glass were added annually and that counting them would yield a chronometric date. Research showed different numbers of layers on different parts of the same piece, and for some pieces of known date, not enough layers to suggest annual growth. Therefore, an understanding of the processes which lead to the formation of the layers is necessary before the technique can be used with any confidence.
gray-scale map or grayscale map: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: grey-scale map, greyscale map
CATEGORY: geography
DEFINITION: A map composed of (discrete) shades of gray. Any monochromatic map which displays levels of brightness varying from black to white. The number of grey scales in between depends on the nature of the phenomenon and the number of bits per pixel.
Heliopolis: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Tell Hisn, ancient Iunu, On, Baalbek
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An important ancient Egyptian city which was the major cult center of the sun god Re (Ra), just east of Cairo. The oldest obelisk in existence -- that of King Senwosret (Sesostris) I remains on the site. The two obelisks of Thutmose III, called Cleopatra's Needle, are now in London and New York. It was the capital of the 15th nome of Lower Egypt, but was important as a religious rather than a political center. Its great temple of Re, built c 2600 BC during the early Old Kingdom, was second in size only to that of Amon at Thebes. In the New Kingdom, the temple of Re-Horakhte became the repository of royal records.
Herakleopolis Magna: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Ihnasya el-Medina; ancient Henen-nesw; Ninsu, Nen-nesut
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An ancient Egyptian site that was the capital of the 20th nome of Upper Egypt and the cult center for the god Harsaphes. Its peak came when it was the capital of the 9th and 10th Dynasties of the First Intermediate Period (2181-2055 BC). The city was lost by the clan when Mentuhotpe II of the 11th Dynasty attacked in 2040 BC. There is an Old Kingdom shrine, temple of Harsaphes, and necropolis of Herakleopolis at Gebel Sedment.
Hermopolis Magna: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: el-Ashmunein; ancient Khmun
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An ancient pharaonic capital in northern Egypt, of the 15th Upper Egyptian nome. It was the cult center of Thoth, of which there are remains of his great temple, and had its necropolis at Tuna el-Gebel. The earliest dates of the stone structures are from the Middle Kingdom. There is also the remains of a Roman basilica.
Hissar, Tepe: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A tell site near Damghan in northern Iran, occupied from the 5th to the early 2nd millennium BC. Before 2500 BC, earlier than elsewhere in Iran, the painted pottery tradition was replaced by one of gray monochrome ware. This is usually held to mark the first movement of Indo-European speaking peoples from central Asia into Iran. The settlement was destroyed somewhere between c 1900-1600 BC. Evidence from the later 4th-early 3rd millennia BC suggests Proto-Elamite phenomenon manifested in pottery, seals, and tablet blanks. There are more than 1600 prehistoric burials and a Sassanian palace on the site, which has an interesting pottery sequence and metal objects.
homology: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A type of reasoning by analogy, where two phenomena separated in time are similar because of an historic or genetic connection. In biology, similarity of the structure, physiology, or development of different species of organisms based upon their descent from a common evolutionary ancestor. Homology is contrasted with analogy, which is a functional similarity of structure based not upon common evolutionary origins but upon mere similarity of use.
horizon: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: horizon style
CATEGORY: term; artifact
DEFINITION: Any artifact, art style, or other cultural trait that has extensive geographical distribution but a limited time span. The term, in anthropology, refers to the spread of certain levels of cultural development and, in geology, the layers of natural features in a region; in soil science a horizon is a layer formed in a soil profile by soil-forming processes. The main meaning, however, refers to a phase, characterized by a particular artifact or artistic style that is introduced to a wide area and which may cross cultural boundaries. Provided that these 'horizon markers' were diffused rapidly and remained in use for only a short time, the local regional cultures in which they occur will be roughly contemporary. The term is less commonly used now that chronometric dating techniques allow accurate local chronologies to be built. Examples of art styles which fulfill these conditions is called a 'horizon style' -- such as Tiahuanaco or Chavín.
huaca: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: guaca; wak'a
CATEGORY: feature
DEFINITION: A Quechua word meaning 'holiness', 'sacredness', or 'sanctity' and referring to ancient mounds, ruins, tombs, or their contents, in Latin America. Diverse in nature, they range from portable amulets to large natural phenomena such as caves or stones piled in a field (apachitas) to stepped pyramids and were thought by the Inca, Quechua, or Aymara to have magical or religious powers. Huaca means spirits that either inhabit or actually are physical phenomena such as waterfalls, mountains, or man-made shrines. The term is also used to refer to sacred ritual or the state of being after death.
hue: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: The first quality of a color corresponding to its perception as visible light as red, blue, green, etc.; in Munsell nomenclature, hue refers to different pages or sheets corresponding to radii of the color cylinder model
hypothesis testing: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The process of examining how well various hypotheses explain the actual data, eliminating those that are invalid, and identifying those that best fit the observed phenomena. A successful hypothesis is found to be the best approximation of truth given the current state of knowledge. In archaeology, the primary standard for accepting a hypothesis is compatibility with available data and other criteria include predictability, parsimony, completeness, and symmetry.
independent invention: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: parallelism
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A theory that a few of the total mass of cultural traits possessed and shared by the peoples of the world have been invented more than once. The theory maintains the likelihood of new ideas, such as the invention of copper and iron working, or the erection of particular types of monumental building, were invented in more than one place at the same or different times, opposing the theory of diffusion. New chronometric dating techniques have shown the probability of independent invention for at least some of these ideas.
indirect measurement: CATEGORY: measure
DEFINITION: Measurement that does not involve direct comparison of a phenomenon with a standard scale but it mediated by other measures thought to be correlated with the measure.
isostasy: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: isostatic uplift
CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: An alteration in the height of the land relative to the sea; the distribution of mass within the Earth's crust is balanced by large-scale topography. These variations are not necessarily associated with changes in sea-level (eustasy), but a major event such as glaciation can affect both land and sea. The weight of ice sheets can cause a lowering in the height of the land, but a thaw at the end of a glaciation frees the land of this pressure and it rises. Continental crust behaves like a body 'floating' on the denser underlying layers. Loading of one area may cause down-warping of the crust, which is compensated by uplift elsewhere. Removal of the load causes the crust to readjust to its former state. It is a theory that the condition of approximate equilibrium in the outer part of the earth is approximately counterbalanced by a deficiency of density in the material beneath those masses, while deficiency of density in ocean waters is counterbalanced by an excess in density of the material under the oceans. This phenomenon has occurred during the Quaternary, due to the development of large ice-sheets. The enormous weight of ice has caused downwarping of the continental crust beneath. At the ice-sheet margins, there was a compensatory uplift. On melting of the ice-sheets, the crust readjusted by uplift in the areas directly underneath and downwarping at the edges. This process is continuing today, for example in northern Europe.
isotope: CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: Atoms of the same element that have different atomic masses due to having different numbers of neutrons in the nuclei, but which still have similar chemical properties. Many of these forms of elements with a specific number of electrons (such as carbon 14 or potassium 40) are unstable and decay into different elements, releasing their surplus electrons. Radiocarbon, potassium-argon, fission track, and thermoluminescence dating all rely on this phenomenon in different ways.
isotopic analysis: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Any dating technique relying on the phenomenon of isotopal decay -- analyzing the ratios of the principal isotopes. The analysis of isotopes -- any of two or more species of atoms of a chemical element with the same atomic number and nearly identical chemical behavior but with differing atomic mass or mass number and different physical properties
Kom Ombo: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ancient Ombos, Kawm Umbu
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The site of a unique double temple of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, which is dedicated to Sebek (Suchos), the crocodile god, and to Horus, the falcon-headed god. Ombos was important for its strategic location, commanding both the Nile River and the routes from Nubia northward to the Nile River valley. The site dates from at least the 18th Dynasty (1550-1295 BC) and the ancient town was especially prosperous under the Hellenistic Ptolemaic dynasty (304-30 BC), when it was the capital of the separate nome (province) of Ombos. There are also a number of Upper Palaeolithic sites which chronologically overlapping industries -- the Sebekian, Silsillian, and Sebillian -- from c 15,000-9500 BC. This riverine plain had extensive exploitation of wild grasses during the period of 12,000-10,000 BC.
law of original horizontality: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: principle of original horizontality
CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: The principle that all sedimentary layers formed in bodies of water were originally deposited horizontally as a result of gravity and other physical phenomena.
Levalloiso-Mousterian: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A term used for the Mousterian cultures found at Mount Carmel, Jebel Qafzeh, Shanidar Cave, and other east Mediterranean sites. It was once thought that Levallois flakes signified a Levalloisian culture, while side scrapers indicated a Mousterian culture, and when the two were found together the phenomenon was called Levalloiso-Mousterian. The idea of such a hybrid culture is now generally rejected.
Lower Egypt: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The northern part of Egypt, land around the Nile delta and Memphis, from modern Cairo to the Mediterranean coast. This geographic and cultural division of Egypt was bounded generally by the 30th parallel north in the south and by the Mediterranean Sea in the north. The boundary between Lower and Upper Egypt was somewhere between Lisht and Meidum on the west bank of the Nile. On the east bank, the second nome of Upper Egypt existed further to the north. Characterized by broad expanses of fertile soil, Lower Egypt contrasts sharply with Upper Egypt, where the centers of habitation along the Nile valley are close to the desert. Lower Egypt in late predynastic times constituted a political entity separate from Upper Egypt. Menes (fl. 3100 BC) joined the two regions, using the royal title, King of Upper and Lower Egypt.""
magnetic: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Of or pertaining to magnetism, the ability to be magnetized or affected by a magnet, or relating to the earth's magnetic field. Magnetism is a class of physical phenomena associated with the motion of charge, the attraction for iron observed in lodestone and a magnet. It is associated with moving electricity, exhibited by electric currents, and characterized by fields of force. It can be an electric current in a conductor or charged particles moving through space, or it can be the motion of an electron in atomic orbit.
magnetic dating: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: paleomagnetic dating
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Any theoretically chronometric dating technique which uses the thermo-remanent magnetism of certain types of archaeological material. These methods use the known changes have taken place in the direction and intensity of the earth's magnetic field. Magnetic minerals present in clay and rocks each have its own magnetic orientation. When heated to the so-called blocking temperature, the original magnetic orientation of the particles is destroyed, and they will take on the orientation of the earth's magnetic field in a fixed alignment -- which does not alter after cooling. These methods are most suitable for kilns and hearths. Once the direction of the archaeological sample has been determined, it may be possible to date it by fitting it to the secular variation curve established for the local area. There is no universal curve, since not only the earth's main field varies, but there are also local disturbances. Since the dating of the curve has to be constructed through independent dating techniques, and these are not available for every area, there are not established curves for every region. As a dating technique, it is strictly limited to those areas where dated curves have been established. A more recent dating technique using thermo-remanent magnetism is palaeointensity dating (archaeomagnetic intensity dating). The principle is that the thermo-remanent magnetism in burnt clay is proportional to the intensity of the magnetic field acting on the clay as it cools down. The measurement of its intensity, and a comparison with the intensity revealed by reheating in today's magnetic field, gives a ratio for the past and present fields which can be used to establish a curve of variation in the earth's magnetic field intensity. The method promises to be useful since direction in situ is not required and it can therefore be used for pottery and other artifacts as well as hearths and kilns.
Maskhutah, Tell el-: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Tall al-Maskhutah; ancient Per-Atum, Per Tum; biblical Pithum
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Ancient Egyptian city located near Ismailia in al-Isma'iliyah muhafazah (governorate). Mentioned in the Bible (Exodus 1:11) as one of the treasure cities built for the pharaoh by the Hebrews, it was known to have been enlarged by the Ramesside pharaohs, especially by Ramses II (reigned 1279-13 BC), in whose reign the Exodus of the Hebrews may have taken place. The site has yielded sphinxes and statues of Ramses II and the best preserved of the trilingual stelae that commemorated Darius I the Great's completion of the Nile-Red Sea Canal. It was the capital of the eighth nome of Lower Egypt during the Late Period (747-332 BC). It was a site of pharaonic storehouses built by the Hebrews under Egyptian bondage.
Maya: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Classic Maya
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Very important culture of Mesoamerica, one of the major Classic civilizations, which occupied the peninsula of Yucatan and Belize, the lowland jungle south of it, and the highlands of Guatemala and western Honduras. The civilization developed from other pre-Classic cultures by about 200 BC and continued until being conquered by the Spaniards in 1541 AD. By c 200 BC, at sites like Tikal and Uaxactún, the first pyramids were being built. Population increase and the introduction of new ceramic and architectural forms are accompanied by an artistic transition from Olmec through Izapan to Mayan. The classic Maya civilization dates to c 292 AD, the earliest Long count date found on stele 29 at Tikal. The Early Classic period (200-600) was the golden age of the lowland culture and the great centers acted as foci for administration, religion, and the arts. Architecture, sculpture, and painting were highly developed; records were kept in hieroglyphic writing, and elaborate ceremonies were carried out in the temples on top of their pyramids. A class of astronomer-priests observed the sun, moon, and planets, and had evolved a calendrical system more accurate than the Julian calendar used in Christian Europe. In mathematics the priests used a vigesimal system with the concept of zero and with a positional notation. The Classic Maya culture is characterized by an immense investment of labor in construction of ceremonial architecture, the erection of stelae, and a growing differentiation between the elite and the peasant population. The Maya practiced swidden agriculture as well as intensive agriculture, terracing and raised fields, and arboriculture. Polychrome pottery is a hallmark of the Maya Lowland Classic culture. The Late Classic period (c 600-900 AD) shows development in sculpture and architecture -- and regional styles can be recognized. Northern Yucatan began to come into its own at sites like Chichén Itzá and Uxmal, where fine buildings in the Punc style were erected during the 7th-9th centuries. The later part of this period witnessed the end of civilization in the lowlands; the great centers were abandoned during the 9th and early 10th centuries. The Post-Classic period, c 900 to the Spanish conquest, had strong Mexican influence, particularly at Chichén Itzá where buildings were constructed in the Toltec style of central Mexico, and the art shows representations of Toltec warriors overpowering Maya chiefs. During the collapse in the southern Lowlands, centers in the northern Lowlands began to grow, c 800-1000 AD. The South's decline may have played a role in the North's prosperity. Sometime around 1200, the Itzá were driven from their capital, and Mayapán became the leading city of Yucatan. In about 1440-1450, Mayapán was overthrown and there followed a time of disunity and warfare which lasted until the Spaniards conquered Yucatan in 1541. The Maya kingdoms of highland Guatemala were subdued in 1525, but in the lowlands the descendants of the exiled Itzá held out until 1697. The collapse of Maya culture (in c 900) is a puzzling phenomenon, but its relative suddenness still remains without satisfactory explanation. There are no Long Count dates after 900, after which time lowland populations dwindled by as much as 90 percent. The term Maya also refers to a culture area and is typically divided into the lowland and highland Maya. Descendants of the Maya still occupy the region.
Middle Egypt: CATEGORY: site; geography
DEFINITION: Geographical term loosely applied to the area south of Luxor, especially to sites around Beni Hasan and Tell el Amarna, generally from Lisht to Panopolis. In Ptolemaic times, a heptanomis of seven nomes was formed in Middle Egypt.
Milankovitch forcing: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: orbital forcing
CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: The phenomenon considered to be the prime reason for glacial fluctuations and climatic change, he effect on climate of slow changes in the tilt of the Earth's axis and shape of the orbit, changing the total amount of sunlight reaching the Earth by up to 25% at mid-latitudes.
Montu: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Mont, Monthu, Mentu
CATEGORY: deity
DEFINITION: Falcon-headed god of war, usually represented with a headdress consisting of a sun-disc and two plumes. He was the god of the 4th Upper Egyptian nome, whose original capital of Hermonthis (modern Armant) was replaced by Thebes during the 11th Dynasty (2081-1939 BC). The cult is attested in Theban region and major temples from Middle Kingdom to the Roman period. From the 30th dynasty (380-343 BC), the bull had an elaborate cult and important temple complexes at Karnak in Thebes and at Hermonthis, Al-Tud, and Al-Madamud.
natural transformations: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Changes in the archaeological record resulting from natural phenomena that occur after the artifacts are deposited in the ground.
neoteny: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The retention of juvenile or fetal features into adult life. Neoteny entails the maturation of a larva's reproductive capabilities without the accompanying development of its external morphological features. This phenomenon occurs in some aquatic salamanders and is due to delayed somatic development. It is thought to be an important mechanism in evolution, having facilitated certain crucial changes such as the emergence of the first chordates. Modern man has a number of features which seem to be neotenous, at least in relation to the apes and to the kind of common apelike ancestor we are thought to have. Neoteny is one possible mechanism to explain the emergence of modern morphology, perhaps from a Neanderthal-like ancestor.
nomarch: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Governor of the ancient Egyptian administrative division called the nome. The district governor was appointed as a delegate by the Pharaoh and tended to be an autonomous chieftain in troubled periods. Nomarchs often built lavish tombs for themselves.
obsidian hydration: CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: The absorption of water on exposed surfaces of obsidian. In each specific environment, the surface of an obsidian artifact absorbs water at a steady rate, forming the hydration layer. The thicker the layer, the older the artifact. If the local hydration rate is known and constant, this phenomenon can be used as an absolute age determination technique through measurement of the thickness of the hydration layer.
operational definition: CATEGORY: measure
DEFINITION: Indirect measurement of a phenomenon that cannot be observed directly.
Osorkon: CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: Libyan name held by five rulers of the 21st-23rd Dynasties as their birth name or nomen. The fifth king of the 21st dynasty, Osorkon I (ruled c 979-973 BC), was of Libyan descent and probably was an ancestor of the 22nd dynasty, which followed a generation later. From his time to the 26th dynasty, leading Libyans in Egypt kept their Libyan names and ethnic identity.
oxidizing atmosphere: CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: A term used in relation to pottery technology, describing certain firing conditions involving a gaseous atmosphere in which an oxidation reaction (the oxidation of solids) occurs. If a kiln is being fired with good, dry fuel and with plenty of draft, the carbon in the fuel is converted into carbon dioxide, and there is oxygen in the atmosphere. This is the oxidizing atmosphere which causes pottery to be fired to a red or orange color whether it has a slip or not. The opposite phenomenon, a reducing atmosphere, produces black pottery. Much pottery, however, varies in color over its surface caused by changing conditions during the firing process.
Pepi: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Pepy
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Birth name (nomen) held by two 6th Dynasty rulers: Pepy I Meryra (c 2321-2287 BC), the third king of the 6th Dynasty, and Pepy II Neferkare (c 2278-2184 BC), the fifth king. Pepi II was a son of Pepi I and was born late in his father's reign.
positivism: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A philosophical position holding that all natural and social phenomena can be understood by determining their origins and causes. Developed by Auguste Comte in the 18th century, it emphasizes the testability of statements and the separation of data from the theories that explain them. It is the primary theoretical basis of new archaeology.
progress: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A philosophical position holding that change in natural or social phenomena implies increase in complexity or sophistication and gradual betterment.
relative dating: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: relative dates; relative dating techniques
CATEGORY: technique; chronology
DEFINITION: Dating methods where phases or objects can be put into a sequence relative to each other, but which are not tied to calendrically measured time. It is the sequencing of events or materials relative to another but without linkage to ages in years bp (before present) or calendar years. A relative date is a date which can be said to be earlier than, later than, or contemporary with an event but which (unlike an absolute date) cannot be measured in calendar years. When archaeologists say that event A occurred before or after event B, they have a relative date for A. Before the advent of chronometric dating techniques, all dating was relative except where links with historical events could be proved. Some of these techniques, mainly stratigraphy and seriation, are still useful where chronometric dates cannot be obtained. Theoretically, floating chronologies which cannot be tied to an absolute date (e.g. certain dendrochronological sequences) are relative chronologies even though the techniques are essentially chronometric.
salvage: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: An emergency survey and excavation at a site that is threatened by immediate destruction due to human development or natural phenomena.
science: CATEGORY: related field
DEFINITION: The search for universals in nature by means of established scientific methods of inquiry. Scientific method is an operational series of systematic procedures by which investigators examine natural phenomena and reach reasoned conclusions. Science is a way of acquiring knowledge and understanding about the parts of the natural world that can be observed; any disciplined and highly ordered search for knowledge carried out systematically. A continually self-correcting method of testing and refining the conclusions resulting from observation constitutes the scientific method.
secondary altriciality: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A unique human phenomenon of brain growth, during which the brain doubles its size in the first year of life. It may have been a feature of our ancestor Homo erectus.
secondary context: CATEGORY: technique; term
DEFINITION: A context of an archaeological find that has been disturbed by subsequent human activity or natural phenomena. The provenience, association, and matrix of such archaeological data have been wholly or partially altered by transformational processes after original deposition.
Sheshonq: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Shoshenq, Sheshonk, Shishak
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: Libyan name held by five kings of the 22nd and 23rd Dynasties (945-715 BC, 818-715 BC, respectively) as their birth name or nomen. Sheshonq I (fl. 10th century BC), was the first king (reigned 945-924 BC) of the 22nd dynasty of Egypt.
Shinto: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The native religion of Japan which is not recorded in literature until the 6th century. The core of belief seems to be that spirits reside in numerous natural phenomena, such as sun, water, fire and mountains, and that it is important to attain ritual purity from pollution. Shinto shrines often have a mirror as the embodiment of the deity.
simulation: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The use of a model to simulate an observed phenomenon. In modern times, simulation is done by the formulation and computer implementation of dynamic models, i.e. models concerned with change through time. Simulation is a useful heuristic device, and can be of considerable help in the development of explanation. Models can be used in archaeology to simulate, for example, the distribution of a group of artifacts or settlements.
sociocultural system: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: The merging of the concepts of society and culture into a holistic systems view of human populations and their social phenomena. A sociocultural system is a complex cultural structure consisting of a definable population within a more or less determinable locus, or territory, characterized by shared, interrelated ways of life including beliefs, norms, values, and technologies, transmitted to different degrees within the population, through various subgroups, from generation to generation.
Song: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Sung
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: Chinese dynasty that ruled the country 960-1279 AD (only in the south after 1127) during one of its most brilliant cultural epochs. During the Sung dynasty, commerce developed; trade guilds were organized; paper currency came into increasing use; and several cities with populations of more than one million flourished along the principal waterways and the southeast coast. Widespread printing of the Confucian Classics and the use of movable type, beginning in the 11th century, brought literature and learning to the people. The Sung dynasty is particularly noted, however, for the great artistic achievements that it encouraged and subsidized. The capital was at Kaifeng near the Yellow River; during the Southern Song (1127-1279) it was at Hangzhou. The study of antiquities flourished, with large collections of artifacts collected, catalogs published, and epigraphic works compiled. The present-day nomenclature of bronze Ritual Vessels is owed largely to the work of Song epigraphers.
specific gravity determination: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: relative density
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of pure water taken as a standard when both densities are obtained by weighing in air and in prescribed temperature conditions. The measurement of the specific gravity of a metal artifact can be a useful non-destructive method of determining its composition, if it is a two-component alloy and preferably if one of the alloy components is known. The specimen must be weighed in the air and then suspended in a suitable liquid with a known specific gravity; the result is determined by an equation. Since the presence of a third metal in small amounts upsets the accuracy of the technique, the amount of fore-knowledge required is greater than in most of the other methods of determining the chemical composition of objects. Devices used to measure specific gravity are the Jolly balance, the Westphal balance, the pycnometer, and the hydrometer.
standard deviation: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The natural statistical distribution of a series of measurements around an arithmetic mean value; a measure of the scatter (variability, dispersion, spread) about the mean in a distribution. In archaeology, it is used in association with chronometric dating techniques like radiocarbon dating, where each measurement is a calculation of date for the sample, and the final date given, e.g. 2,400 ? 200, is a statistical description of a 'real' date. The standard deviation (?) as quoted means that there is a 66% chance of the real date lying within that range (for the above example, between 2,600-2,200). For greater probability, the date must be taken to two standard deviations (there is a 95% certainty that the date lies between 2,800-2,000) or three standard deviations (99% certainty). A single date with a relatively large error is generally of less use than a series of dates from the same context, which may show a clustering around a central date.
surface enrichment: CATEGORY: geology
DEFINITION: In metal alloy coinage, an occurrence where the more 'noble' metal has a higher observed concentration at the surface of the coin than at the center. A silver-copper alloy has a higher concentration of silver and a gold-silver alloy has a higher concentration of gold. This phenomenon is important since the composition of coins is used to locate their source and gain other data.
symbolic anthropology: CATEGORY: related field
DEFINITION: A research perspective which gives prime attention to the role of symbols in society. Culture is a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms which are used to communicate and develop knowledge and attitudes. The function of culture then is to impose meaning on the world and make it understandable. The role of symbolic anthropologists is to try to interpret the guiding symbols of each culture. In this view, culture becomes a public phenomenon transcending the cognitive realization of any single individual. This field is based mainly on the work of Clifford Geertz.
synchronic: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: synchronous
CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: Pertaining to phenomena at one point in time, occurring simultaneously or at the same time; referring to a single period of time. This approach is not primarily concerned with change and often refers to the correlation of events or surfaces of stratigraphic units.
Tanis: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ancient Djanet; biblical Zoan; modern San al-Hajar al-Qibliyah
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Most important archaeological site in the northeastern Nile Delta of Egypt and capital of 14th nome of Lower Egypt in the Late Period (747-332 BC) and, at one time, of the entire country. There are massive mud-brick temple enclosure walls built by Ramesside and the 21st-Dynasty pharaohs. The site is best known for the rich royal tombs of the 21st and 22nd Dynasties of c 1070-715 BC, built near the great temple of Amon. Silver coffins, gold masks, and jewelry in gold and silver have been found and the tombs and some sarcophagi were reused from earlier periods. The Tanite Dynasty is the 21st dynasty of Egypt (1075-945 BC). The pharaohs of the 22nd Dynasty continued to reside at Tanis until the collapse of their shrinking domain in 712 BC.
Thebes: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ancient Waset, Wase, Wo'se, Nowe, Nuwe
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Principal city of Upper Egypt, on the east bank of the Nile, which was the capital of the fourth nome of Upper Egypt and, during much of the Middle and New Kingdoms, of the whole country. Its importance lay in its being the seat of Amon (Amun) and the surviving remains include the impressive temples at Karnak and Luxor as well as the tombs and temples of the cemeteries on the west bank, including the Valley of the Kings, Deir El-Bahri, and the Valley of the Queens. Those mortuary temples and tombs were for kings and high officials from the Middle Kingdom to the end of the Pharaonic period (c 2055-332 BC). In contrast with the practice of earlier times, the pharaohs of this time were buried in carefully concealed rock-cut tombs. The only one surviving looters fairly intact was that of Tutankamun, a comparatively minor ruler of the 18th Dynasty. The height of Theban prosperity was reached in the 14th century BC in the reign of Amenhotep III, much of whose vast wealth from foreign tribute was poured into the temples of Amon. Thebes is also the name of a site in Greece, principal city of Boeotia in the classical and pre-classical periods, with a legendary history that predates the Trojan expedition. The ruined 15th-century-BC Minoan-style palace at Cadmea had frescoes of Theban women in Minoan dress; some Cretan vases also suggest contacts between Thebes and Knossos in the period 1450-1400 BC. Clay tablets confirmed Mycenaean-Minoan links and the discovery of Mesopotamian cylinder seals reinforced the theory that Cadmus introduced writing to Greece. Thebes rivaled Argolís as a center of Mycenaean power until its palace and walls were destroyed shortly before the Trojan War (c 1200 BC). According to tradition, the city was destroyed by the sons of the Seven about whom Aeschylus wrote.
theory: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Any scientific explanation that has been widely tested and accepted; also, plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena.
thermoluminescence: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: thermoluminescence dating, thermoluminescent dating; TL
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Chronometric method of dating ceramic materials by measuring the stored energy created when they were first fired. It is based on the principle that ceramic material, like other crystalline non-conducting solids, contains small amounts of radioactive impurities such as potassium, uranium, and thorium, which emit alpha and beta particles and gamma rays causing ionizing radiation. This produces electrons and other charge-carriers (holes) which become caught in traps in the crystal lattice. Heating of the pottery causes the electrons and holes to be released from the traps, and they recombine in the form of thermoluminescence. The amount of thermoluminescence from a heated sample is used to determine the number of trapped electrons resulting from the absorption of alpha radiation. The quantity of light emitted will depend on three factors -- the number of flaws in the crystal, the strength of the radioactivity to which it has been exposed, and the duration of exposure. An age determination technique in which the amount of light energy released in a pottery sample during heating gives a measure of the time elapsed since the material was last heated to a critical temperature. The older a piece of pottery, the more light produced. Accuracy for the technique is generally claimed at ?10%. It overlaps with radiocarbon in the time period for which it is useful, spanning 50,000-300,000 years ago, but also has the potential for dating earlier periods. It has much in common with electron spin resonance (ESR).
triangulation: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A surveying method used to measuring a large area of land by establishing a baseline from which a network of triangles is laid out. Triangulation is based on the laws of plane trigonometry, that if one side and two angles of a triangle are known, the other two sides and angle can be readily calculated. One side of the selected triangle is measured; this is the baseline. The two adjacent angles are measured by means of a surveying instrument (transit, theodolite), and the entire triangle is established. By constructing a series of such triangles, each adjacent to at least one other, values can be obtained for distances and angles not otherwise measurable. Triangulation can be used to plan features or significant finds whose exact position it is important to record.
Vanuatu: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: New Hebrides
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A chain of 13 principal and many smaller islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, 500 miles (800 km) west of Fiji and 1,100 miles (1,800 km) east of Australia. Many of the northern islands have been inhabited by Melanesian peoples for at least 3,000 years; the earliest radiocarbon date for settlement on the southern islands is 420 BC on Tanna. It has an Austronesian-speaking population. Important archaeological phenomena include the Mangaasi pottery tradition and the burial site of Roy Mata.
varve dating: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A technique for producing chronometric dates based on the annual formation of layers of sediment on lake and river beds in glacial regions. Seasonal fluctuations in particle size and speed of sedimentation take place. During the winter, ice melting is very slow, melt-water streams do not contain much water, and they flow slowly, carrying little material. During the summer, melting accelerates, melt-water streams flow faster and carry more material. The supply of sediment to the ice-marginal lake varies with the season. A varve chronology, similar to a tree-ring chronology may be set up. But as with tree rings (see dendrochronology) the varves will vary from year to year, depending on the rapidity of the thaw, quantity of summer rain, winter snow, etc., the variations showing some correlation with the sunspot cycle. Such varve chronologies have been built up for Scandinavia and are used to date the retreat of the Weichselian ice-sheet. Varve dating has a greater significance than just for local dating, since frequently there is enough organic material to allow radiocarbon dates to be calculated. There is therefore the possibility of using the calendrical varve chronology to calibrate radiocarbon dates. Its use for archaeological dating is rather limited in that sites have to be related to the geological changes (the ice-sheet moraines or changing Baltic sea-levels) before their dates can be determined. Swedish pioneer Baron Gerard de Geer discovered in the late 19th century that these could be counted and correlated or linked over long distances, which gave him a timescale of 12,000 years and fixed the end of the Ice Age at about 10,000 years ago.
Worsaae, Jens Jacob Asmussen (1821-1886): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: Danish archaeologist who laid the foundations for the study of prehistory. He was the successor to Christian J. Thomsen at the National Museum at Copenhagen and he applied the Three Age System to stone monuments. He wrote Danmarks Oldtid oplyst ved Oldsager og Gravhøie" ("The Primeval Antiquities of Denmark" 1843) which introduced such other concepts as nomenclature typology and diffusion and discusses the value and principles of prehistoric research. He focused on the study of excavated artifacts particularly in their geographic and stratigraphic contexts. His standards and professionalism put him ahead of his time."

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