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tied

CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: Pertaining to walls that abut except in a few places where a single stone overlaps from one wall to another.

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albarello

SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: plural albarelli
CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: A late medieval (15th-18th centuries) Near East, Spanish, and Italian apothecary pottery jar. It was made in the form known as majolica or with a fine tin glaze over typically blue designs imitating the forms of Arabic script. Its basic shape was cylindrical but incurved and wide-mouthed for holding, using, and shelving. They average 7 inches high (18 cm) and are free of handles, lips, and spouts. A piece of paper or parchment was tied around the rim as a cover for the jar. Drug jars from Persia, Syria, and Egypt were introduced into Italy by the 15th century and luster-decorated pots influenced by the Moors in Spain entered through Sicily. Spanish and Islamic influence is apparent in the colors used in the decoration of early 15th-century Italian albarellos, which are often blue on white. A conventional oakleaf and floral design, combining handsomely with heraldic shields or with scrollwork and an inscribed label, frequently occurs. Geometric patterns are also common. By the end of the 18th century, albarellos had yielded to other containers. Albarelli have occasionally been found in Britain and the Netherlands.

arrowhead

SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: projectile point, arrow-head
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A small object of bone, metal, or stone that has been formed as the pointed end of an arrow for penetration and is often found at sites of prehistoric peoples. The earliest known are Solutrean points of the Upper Palaeolithic. Arrowheads are often the only evidence of archery since the arrow shaft and bow rarely survive. The term projectile point is generally preferable because it avoids an inference regarding the method of hafting and propulsion. Most often, arrowheads were placed in a slot in the shaft, tied, then fixed with resin.

Callanish

CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: An important group of Bronze Age megalithic monuments on the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Equal in importance to Stonehenge, the Callanish megaliths are aligned to make a rough Celtic cross 405 feet (123 m) north to south and 140 feet (43 m) east to west and may be tied to astronomy. In the middle is a small passage grave under a round cairn. Several smaller stone circles in the area align with Callanish.

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.

datum point

SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: datum
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The point on an archaeological site from which all measurements of level and contour are taken. It is the reference point used for vertical and horizontal measurement. It can be chosen at random, at a place from which all or most of the site can be seen, and should be tied in to the national standard, usually sea level, by reference to the nearest survey point. Depths of features, of objects found in features, or simply contours, are leveled in with reference to the datum point, and are usually recorded as being a certain height 'below local datum'. Should variations in contour or the extent of the site prove too great for a single datum point, another can be used as long as it is leveled in with reference to the first. A site grid and excavation units are laid out or measured with reference to this point.

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.

Dynastic Period

SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Dynastic Egypt
CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: A period of ancient Egypt's history tied to a framework of 30 dynasties (ruling houses) of kings, or pharaohs, who rule from the time of the country's unification into a single kingdom in c 3100 BC until its conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. The two Predynastic kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt were united by the legendary king Menes, possibly to be identified with the historical King Narmer. The Dynastic Period was followed by a Greek Period when the country was ruled by the Ptolemys, descendants of Alexander the Great's general. The Ptolemaic Period and Egypt's independence were brought to an end in 30 BC when Queen Cleopatra VII died and the country was absorbed into the Roman Empire. The political history, largely derived from written sources, has a detailed and, for the most part, precise chronology. From the 21st Dynasty onwards, Egypt's cohesion broke, and from the 11th-7th centuries BC, Libyan, Asian and Nubian contenders vied with Egyptians for control of the state. The divine ruler, the pharaoh, was ultimately responsible for the complex bureaucracy and was also the figurehead of the official religion, the personification of the sun god Ra, counterpart of Osiris, the god of the land of the dead. Because of their belief in the afterlife, the royal tombs of the pharaohs in particular reflect the great wealth and concentration of resources at the pharaoh's disposal. Much of our information about ancient Egyptian history comes from the records that were carefully maintained by the Egyptians themselves, notably by the priests who were regarded as the guardians of the state's accumulated wisdom.

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.

gorge

CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A bipointed object of bone (or other material) which was tied to a fishing line and caught in the fish's mouth

horizontal loom

CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A structure on which woven cloth is manufactured, comprising a frame set horizontally across vertical supports. The warp threads were tied across the frame from front to back so that they could be wound out as weaving proceeded. The warp was usually arranged so that alternate threads could be raised and lowered, thus allowing the weaver to pass a shuttle containing the weft thread from side to side across the warp. The horizontal loom was developed later than the UPRIGHT LOOM and provided the basis for the development of mechanical looms during later medieval and post-medieval times.

Mersin

CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The tell site of Yümük-Tepe on the southern coast of Turkey (Anatolia) with 33 major levels, the bulk of which are Neolithic and Chalcolithic. The lowest levels were of an Early Neolithic characterized by monochrome impressed wares and radiocarbon dated to 6000 BC. A long series of Chalcolithic levels were tied into the Mesopotamian sequence (Hassuna, Halaf, Ubaid, etc.) by imported sherds. Occupation resumed in the Middle Bronze Age until the Iron Age. The Iron Age levels have ceramic evidence of contacts with the Aegean world. There are also Byzantine and medieval (c 1500 AD) occupations.

microclimate

CATEGORY: term; geography
DEFINITION: The specific and uniform local climate of a small site or habitat brought about by hills, slopes, woodland, lakes, or other features of the landscape. These features modify the general climate of the region. The term also is applied to any climatic condition in a relatively small area, within a few meters or less above and below the Earth's surface and within canopies of vegetation. The microclimates of a region are strongly tied to the average moisture, temperature, and winds of the climate and to latitude, elevation, and season. Weather and climate are sometimes, in turn, influenced by microclimatic conditions, especially by variations in surface characteristics. Wet ground, for example, promotes evaporation and increases humidity. The drying of bare soil, on the other hand, creates a surface crust that inhibits ground moisture from diffusing upward, which promotes the persistence of dry atmosphere. Microclimates control evaporation from surfaces and influence precipitation and so are important to the hydrologic cycle (the circulation of the Earth's waters). The effect of soil types on microclimates is considerable. Also strongly influencing the microclimate is the ability of the soil to absorb and retain moisture, which depends on the composition of the soil and its use.

paroikoi

CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The dependent peasants or tenants of a Byzantine monastic economy. An estate, pronoia, was granted by the emperor and tied to military obligation. The recipient of a pronoia was entitled to all the revenues of his estate and to the taxes payable by his tenants -- the paroikoi -- on condition of equipping himself as a mounted cavalryman with a varying number of troops. He was in absolute possession of his property until it reverted to the crown upon his death.

provenience

SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: provenance
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The source, origin, or location of an artifact or feature and the recording of same. It is the position of an archaeological find in time and space, recorded three-dimensionally. The horizontal reference system is usually some form of grid tied to a reference datum; the vertical dimension is reference to a vertical datum. I.e., the three-dimensional position of an archaeological find in time and space and recorded from a known datum point at an archaeological site.

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.

site datum

SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: datum point
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The master control point on an archaeological site, into which all measurements are tied.

tephrochronology

SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: tephrachronology
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A method for the relative dating of horizons in volcanic regions by identification of different layers of ash (tephra). Tephra layers (beds) are ideal stratigraphic markers because they are deposited instantaneously. Also, the chemical content of tephra (volcanic ash) is unique for each eruption. If artifacts lie below tephra known to have come from a certain eruption, the artifacts predate the eruption. Tephra layers may be dated by potassium-argon dating and fission track dating and they can sometimes be tied in to absolute chronology where radiocarbon dates can be obtained from material contemporary with the deposit. To establish a chronology it is necessary to identify and correlate as many tephra units as possible over the widest possible area. In the Mediterranean, deep-sea coring produced evidence for the ash fall from the eruption of Thera, and its stratigraphic position provided important information in the construction of a relative chronology. The identification of multiple tephra beds may give bracketing ages for intervening strata. Tephrochronology has also been used to date glacial advances, sea level changes, and alluvial fans.

thatch

CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: Traditional style of roofing used in many parts of the world at different times whereby bundles of organic material such as reed, straw, heather, turf, or ling are tied together over a wooden frame with the long axis of the plant fiber parallel to the slope of the roof to provide good weather-proofing.

upright loom

CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A structure on which woven cloth is manufactured comprising two more or less vertical supports (often set in the ground) with a horizontal beam across the top. The warp threads are tied to the cross-beam so that they hang down, thus allowing the weaver to move a horizontal shed rod between alternating sets of the warp in order that a shed is opened up for the weft to be threaded through. The warp threads were tensioned by loomweights. The upright loom was commonly used in antiquity, traces of them being known in Europe from the middle Bronze Age onwards.