Yuguito

A carved stone, presumably a replication of a wooden yoke section, used in the ceremonial ball games

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Yuguito

Spoon

An implement consisting of a small, shallow oval or round bowl on a long handle, used for eating, stirring, and serving food.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Spoon

Layer

A unit of stratigraphy, greater than 1 centimeter thick, often part of a bed. Layers are identified by archaeologists and the boundaries between them are often well-marked, where deposition of one layer is separated from the next by a clear interval or change in texture, color, or mineralogy. Som...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Layer

La Venta

The most important Olmec ceremonial center, located in Tabasco, Mexico, and built around 1000 BC. The site occupies a small island, entirely surrounded by swamps, and lacking both farmland and building stone. The principal monument is a huge lobed pyramid of clay, the tallest of the Olmec sites, ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

La Venta

Recording Unit

A specific location or feature that is defined as an entity for the purpose of recording archaeological data.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Recording Unit

Moche

The major culture of the northern coast of Peru during the Early Intermediate Period. It originated in the Moche and Chicama Valleys and later spread by conquest as far south as the Santa and Nepeña Rivers. The culture developed around the start of the Christian era and lasted until c 700 AD. Dom...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Moche

Sea Level

The level of the surface of the sea; position of the air-sea interface, to which all terrestrial elevations and submarine depths are referred. Changes in the volume of water held in the sea and relative movements of the land surface, resulting from various types of deformation of the earth's crus...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Sea Level

Hammer-Dressed

Having the surface (of a stone) roughly shaped or faced with a hammer

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Hammer-Dressed

Afunfun

Early copper-working sites of Niger from the 2nd millennium BC.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Afunfun

Khartoum Neolithic

Industry of Sudan dating to c 5200 BP and characterized by domesticated animals, pottery, and a special adze.

archaeologsEnglishPeriods

Khartoum Neolithic

Linchpin

A metal spike, sometimes enlarged or elaborated at one end, that is passed through a hole in the end of a fixed axle on a cart or chariot in order to stop the wheel falling off.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Linchpin

Total Excavation

Complete excavation of an archaeological site, confined mainly to smaller sites, such as burial mounds or campsites.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Total Excavation

Velatice Group

Late Bronze Age regional group of the Urnfield tradition in Moravia, c 12th century BC; there are settlements and burial grounds.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Velatice Group

Edge-Modified Flake

A flake with evidence of modification along one or more edges, whether by natural forces, human use, or bag wear.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Edge-Modified Flake

Travois

Native American vehicle consisting of two joined poles (transversely connected wooden shafts) pulled by a horse or dog (dragged at an angle to the ground. Found in North America, it is believed to be the first vehicle used by humans.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Travois

Clay Pipe

A clay tube with a small bowl at the end used for smoking tobacco.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Clay Pipe

Regional Map

Any map designed to depict the distribution of archaeological sites within regions.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Regional Map

Torksey-Type Ware

Type of late Saxon pottery found in central England and dating to the period AD 850 to 1150. Manufactured using a fast wheel at workshops in the area around Torksey, Lincolnshire.

archaeologsEnglishAncient Pottery

Torksey-Type Ware

Pipestone

Any soft stone used in the manufacture of aboriginal smoking pipes

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Pipestone

Palmyra

Syrian city on caravan route from the eastern Mediterranean to the Euphrates; an ancient oasis town. Occupation was probably continuous since the 3rd millennium BC, but the town achieved prominence in the 1st century BC by exploitation of the caravan trade. Under Roman influence of Septimus Sever...

archaeologsEnglishAncient Cities

Palmyra

Khorsabad

The site of the ancient city of Dur-Sharrukin, near Mosul, Iraq. It was a short-lived capital of Assyria. Founded by Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II in 717 BC, it included a magnificent palace within a city, but it did not survive its founder's death in 705 BC. It was built by Sargon to replace Nimru...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Khorsabad

Catacomb Grave Culture

The second in the Kurgan culture series, after Yamnaya and before Srubnaya, in southern Russia and Ukraine between the Dniepr and Volga rivers. It is dated between c 2000-1500 bc (Bronze Age). The graves are not true catacombs but rather burials in which the skeleton and grave goods are put in a ...

archaeologsEnglishCultures

Catacomb Grave Culture

Abu Ballas

A site in the Western Desert of Egypt, occupied 8500-5000 years ago.

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names

Abu Ballas

Padah Lin

A cave site in east Burma with early hunter-gatherer remains dating to c 11,000 BC, among the earliest-known Hoabinhian assemblages.

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names

Padah Lin

Nemi, Lake

Site in the Alban Hills, near Rome, Italy, where the remains of two ships were found which belonged to the emperor Caligula. These two Roman galleys rested on the lake bottom on the west side and were raided continually, with the ships finally raised in the 1920s. They were pleasure ships of the ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Nemi, Lake