Wargata Mina

Limestone cave in Tasmania, Australia, with hand stencils done in human blood and dated to c 10,730-9240 bp.

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Wargata Mina

Pre-Eskimo Archaeology

The study of the time before man emerged or entered the New World via the Bering Strait, c 20,000-40,000 years ago.

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Pre-Eskimo Archaeology

Magdalenska Gora

Early Iron Age (Hallstatt period) complex of tumuli of the early La Tene period, located near Smarje/Sticna, in Slovenia. The cemetery comprises large barrows into which as many as 40 burials are inserted. The rich grave goods include weapons, armor, helmets, horse trappings, jewelry, and bronze ...

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Magdalenska Gora

Etiolles

A Magdalenian site just south of Paris, France, with successive occupations dating to 12,000 bp. There is an abundance of flint and flint knapping areas, hearths and débitage.

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Etiolles

Environmental Archaeology

A subfield of archaeology which is the study of the environment in archaeological contexts. It includes not only the study of past flora (pollen analysis, palaeobotany, palaeoethnobotany, archaeobotany), and fauna (archaeozoology), but also that of insects (insect analysis), fish (fish bone analy...

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Environmental Archaeology

Water Newton

The site of a walled Roman-British town situated where the Roman road from the English Channel ports to London crossed the River Medway at the head of its estuary. It was a large and important Roman pottery town, center of production for the Nene Valley color-coated ware. Water Newton grew out of...

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Water Newton

La Galgada

Late Preceramic and early Initial Period site in the northern highlands of Peru, similar to Kotosh with a series of temple structures. Temple structures were filled, sometimes used as tombs, and covered prior to the construction of subsequent temples. The latest ceremonial structures are in U-sha...

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La Galgada

Tectonic Movement

A displacement in the plates that make up the earth's crust, often responsible for the occurrence of raised beaches and for seismic and volcanic activity. Plate tectonics is a theory dealing with the dynamics of the Earth's outer shell, the lithosphere. The theory states that the lithosphere cons...

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Tectonic Movement

Additive Technology

The manufacturing processes in which material is added to an original mass to form an artifact. Ceramic production and basketmaking are additive technologies.

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Additive Technology

Lekane

In Greek antiquity, large open basin, usually with two horizontal handles and used in the common household. It was probably multipurpose in function. Some had a cover or lid.

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Lekane

Makaha Valley

An important valley on western Oahu, Hawaii, which has been the scene of intensive settlement archaeology to document cultural developments from 1100-1800 AD. There are agricultural terraces, habitation sites, and heiau. The valley contains well-preserved dry-land cultivation systems in its lower...

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Makaha Valley

Housesteads

The best-preserved fort along Hadrian's Wall in Britain; one of the best examples of a permanent military camp there, with its defenses, street plan, administrative buildings, and barrack blocks. There was also a small civil settlement for traders, etc., at its gates. It is roughly midway along t...

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Housesteads

Tianko Panjang

Cave site in central Sumatra with an obsidian microlith industry of c 9000 BC (e.g. unretouched flakes).

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Tianko Panjang

Facing

An ornamental coating

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Facing

Segmentation Rule

A section of a snapped blade. A proximal segment is where it preserves the striking platform; a distal segment includes the distal end; and a medial segment lacks both ends.

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Segmentation Rule

Dalles

A series of sites along the Columbia River on the Oregon/Washington border, going back to 10,000 BC. The salmon of the river are thought to have made the area important.

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Dalles

Cache Blade

Quantities of points or blades found together in an underground depository or in a mound

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Cache Blade

Sampling

The process of selecting part of a site for excavation or an area for fieldwork, preferably according to a strategy which allows statistical estimates and generalizations of the relation of the sample to the unexplored parts of the whole site or area. In a way, all archaeological fieldwork and ex...

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Sampling

Betel Nut

The nut or fruit of the Areca Palm, which is chewed in tropical Asia, Melanesia, and New Guinea as a stimulant. It was misnamed by Europeans because it is chewed with the betal leaf; hence, betel palm is the Areca Palm from which the nut is obtained. Archaeological occurrences include Spirit Cave...

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Betel Nut

Great Interglacial

A major division of the Pleistocene epoch, the warm interval between the Mindel and the Riss glaciations c 400,000-200,000 years ago.

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Great Interglacial

Thermal Spall

The small shallow rounded pits removed from pottery due to high heat and escaping moisture - often on rims of cooking pots.

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Thermal Spall

Dendrogram

A diagram in the form of a schematized tree with many branching lines at one end and uniting into a single trunk at the other - used to record the analysis of tree-ring widths for a sample(s). It is then compared to a master chronology in dendrochronology studies.

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Dendrogram

Choropleth

SA statistical map that uses distinctive colors or shading to represent data, such as numbers or ratios of artifacts. It shows spatial qualities and variations in the data as well as the overall spatial pattern.

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Choropleth

Mont Lassois

Iron Age hillfort in Cote-d'Or, France, on a route from the River Seine to the Mediterranean. Occupation is dated to the 6th century BC (Hallstatt D), the residence of a Celtic chieftain. The hillfort of Vix seems to have been the center of political authority and extensive trade relations. The r...

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Mont Lassois

Flexible Rule

A tool used to draw curved lines or to outline the shape of an object so that its form can be drawn.

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Flexible Rule