Four Sons of Horus

The Egyptian gods who protected the internal organs of the deceased. From the 19th Dynasty, canopic jars' lids were shaped as the heads of these gods. Wax figures of these deities were often contained within the mummy wrappings, sometimes the appropriate figure was placed with the wrapped, prepar...

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Four Sons of Horus

Vigesimal Mathematics

The base-20 system used in Mesoamerican writing systems and by the Maya for the Long Count calendar.

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Vigesimal Mathematics

Metsamor

Sites in Armenia near Yerevan with Kura-Araxes and Late Bronze to Early Iron Age occupations. The latter indicates the existence of pre-Urartian states in Transcaucasia. Objects inscribed in Mesopotamian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphics have been found in the graves dating to the 15th-14th ce...

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Metsamor

Gemstone

A precious or semi precious stone used within jewelry.

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Gemstone

Great Serpent Mound

Large ritual earth mound in Ohio with the form of a curved serpent holding either an egg or a frog. The mound is associated with a nearby burial mound of the Adena culture.

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Great Serpent Mound

Broken Hill

A cave and mine site in central Zambia in which a complete skull was found which is attributed to Rhodesian Man (Homo sapiens rhodesiensis) and has characteristics similar to Neanderthals. The skull was found on a ledge in 1922, and has no definite evidence for a date, but the artifacts in the Bo...

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Broken Hill

Yüeh-Chih

Nomadic group from Chinese Turkistan which moved west across Iran and south into the Indus region in the late 2nd century BC. They ruled in Bactria and India from about 128 BC-450 BC. About 128 BC the Yüeh-chih were recorded living north of the Oxus River (Amu Darya), ruling Bactria as a dependen...

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Yüeh-Chih

Recuay

Pre-Columbian culture and site near present-day Recuay in the Callejón de Huaylas Valley of the northern highlands of Peru. The Recuay culture dates to the Early Intermediate Period c 200 BC-600 AD and was contemporaneous with the Moche culture on the north coast. Recuay is known for its distinct...

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Recuay

Thapsos

Site of a Middle Bronze Age cemetery near Syracuse, Sicily, of nearly 400 rock-cut tombs with dromos entrances. Most have a vertical shaft and were used for collective inhumations. It is the type site of the Thapsos culture, characterized by pottery, bronze swords and daggers, and Mycenaean impor...

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Thapsos

Feathering

An effect obtained by trailing a feather through wet slip decoration in pottery-making

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Feathering

Rano Raraku

An extinct volcanic crater on Easter Island which served as a quarry for the stone statues (moai) which were erected in rows on the many ahu on the island. The rock is a soft tuff and the main usage of the two quarries, one inside and one outside the crater, dates to between c 1000-1500 AD. The s...

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Rano Raraku

Brahmagiri

A settlement site and cemetery dating from at least the 2nd millennium BC in southern India. Wheeler found a Chalcolithic level (c 2800-1250 BC) with abundant microliths, polished stone axes, and crude burnished gray pottery, an Iron Age level (1st millennium BC) with black-and-red ware, 300 tomb...

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Brahmagiri

Oseberg Ship

Important Viking ship burial, discovered in 1903 in south Norway in a peat mound. It was found with most of its timbers intact and its main burial chamber still filled with most of its contents. Among the objects in the chamber were the skeletons of a man (c 850-900 AD), dogs and horses, a chest ...

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Oseberg Ship

Devon Downs

A limestone shelter in cliffs beside the lower Murray River in South Australia with a deposit rich in faunal material as well as stone and bone tools and dating to c 4000 BC. It was the first systematic archaeological excavation in Australia (1929). Interpretation of the stratigraphy and stone to...

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Devon Downs

Time-Space Grid

A method synthesizing temporal and spatial distributions of data and used in the culture historical approach based on period sequences within culture areas.

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Time-Space Grid

Culture Sequence

The order in which cultures or assemblages from different cultures follow one another. In successive levels of a stratified site, the oldest is usually at the lowest level.

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Culture Sequence

Focus

A group of components that share high frequencies of similar cultural traits. The components will probably not be identical but should have a sufficient number of significant traits in common to indicate a relationship.

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Focus

Potash-Lime Glass

Glass made using potash derived from burning wood.

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Potash-Lime Glass

Apothecary Jar

A jar used to store medicines, drugs or the constituent parts of medicines and drugs.

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Apothecary Jar

Achaemenids

The Persian dynasty, descendants of Achaemenes (c. 700 BC), which ruled from Cyrus the Great to Darius III (c 550-331 BC). Cyrus II (559-530 BC) overthrew the Medes empire to found a Persian empire, conquering Lydia, Babylonia, the Iranian plateau, and Palestine. His son, Cambyses II, added Egypt...

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Achaemenids

Glaze

A type of slip applied to pottery which produces an impermeable and glassy surface when fired at high temperatures. It is usually produced by coating pottery with powdered glass and reheating them to a temperature where the glass begins to fuse. Glaze is a vitreous substance and, like glass, glaz...

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Glaze

Hammurabi

The sixth king of the first Amorite dynasty of Babylon and one of the best known of the Mesopotamian kings. In c 1783 BC he began the series of campaigns which extended his empire from Mari and Nineveh to the Persian Gulf. He is best remembered for his Code of Laws which had an emphasis on retali...

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Hammurabi

Cask

A strong wooden barrel

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Cask

Neanderthal Man

An early form of Homo sapiens that inhabited much of Europe and the Mediterranean area during the late Pleistocene Epoch, about 100,000 to 35,000 years ago. Neanderthal remains have also been found in the Middle East, North Africa, and western Central Asia. This type of fossil human that is a sub...

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Neanderthal Man

Edge

The outside limit of a stone tool; the outside limit of an object, area, or surface

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Edge