Khafre

Son of Khufu (2589-2566 BC), the fourth ruler of the 4th Dynasty (2575-2465 BC, of the Old Kingdom) and builder/owner of the second of three pyramids at Giza. The complex includes the Valley Temple and the Great Sphinx, whose features are presumably Khafre's. He succeeded to the throne after the ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Khafre

Comparative Collection

Collections of identified bones or other artifacts used for comparison with archaeologically recovered remains.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Comparative Collection

Bacho Kiro

A cave in central Bulgaria with Mousterian levels and Upper Palaeolithic levels - some with Aurignacian features. The earliest Upper Palaeolithic levels seem to be c 43,000 BC.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Bacho Kiro

Floral Analysis

The study of plant remains from an archaeological site, including identification, association with artifacts and food processing, etc.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Floral Analysis

Aurignacian

A series of Upper Palaeolithic cultures in Europe that existed from about 35,000 to 20,000 years (dates also given as 38,000-22,000 years) ago. They were characterized by their use of stone (flint) and bone tools, refinement of those tools, and the development of sculpture and cave painting. The ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Aurignacian

Little Salt Spring

A prehistoric site in Florida with hearths, a boomerang, projectile point, and shell of extinct giant land tortoise from the Palaeoindian period (12,000-8500 BP). There was an Archaic occupation (6800-5200 BP) with burials of 1000 individuals preserved in peat.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Little Salt Spring

Argillite

A compact sedimentary rock formed from siltstone, shale, or clay stone and intermediate in structure between shale and slate. It is cemented by silica but has no slaty cleavage.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Argillite

Wolstonian

In Britain, a penultimate cold stage spanning c 200,000-125,000 BP. At the type site in the Midlands, Wolstonian deposits overlie interglacial deposits of the Hoxnian. The Wolstonian deposits have Acheulian and Levalloisian artifacts.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Wolstonian

Megalithic Culture

In India, an Iron Age culture of the south from the 1st millennium BC or earlier which lasted into the early 1st millennium AD. The grave forms include urn burials and various cist, pit, and rock-cut graves. Stone alignments are also associated and graves generally contain burnished black-and-red...

archaeologsEnglishCultures

Megalithic Culture

Spoil Pile

The soil and other materials that accumulate as a result of excavations at an archaeological site, used to refill units when excavations are complete.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Spoil Pile

Cult Statue

The statue of a god or goddess. Such statues were housed with great dignity in temples.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Cult Statue

Milestone

Roman road markers - cylindrical blocks of stone usually about 6 ft (1.8 m) high - recording the distance from a central point within the province or a local center. These were placed along all principal roads, and instances are found from about 250 BC onwards. The stone was typically inscribed t...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Milestone

Eastern Gravettian

An Upper Palaeolithic industry across central and eastern Europe during the last glacial maximum, c 30,000-20,000 BP. Assemblages include shouldered points, backed blades, and some Venus figurines.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Eastern Gravettian

Puquio

Semi-subterranean aqueducts (35 or an original c 40) in the Nasca region of Peru. Each puquio works as a horizontal well, tapping ground water and directing it through a subterranean tunnel or open trench to a small reservoir. Evidence indicates that the construction was done c 6th century AD by ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Puquio

Dainzú

A site in central Oaxaca, Mexico, dating to c 300 BC with bas-relief carvings similar to the Danzantes at Monte Albán.

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names

Dainzú

Systematics

The definition of a system of classification for archaeological units for a particular purpose.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Systematics

Primary Context

An undisturbed association, matrix, and provenience; the condition when they have not been disturbed since the original deposition of archaeological data.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Primary Context

Andronovo Culture

A culture of southern Siberia, between the Don and Yenisei Rivers, dating to the 2nd millennium BC. The culture was relatively uniform in this large area and agriculture played a large role. Wheat and millet were cultivated and cattle, horses, and sheep bred. The metal-using culture (ores from th...

archaeologsEnglishCultures

Andronovo Culture

Stephens, John Lloyd

American explorer and amateur archaeologist who visited the abandoned Maya Lowlands centers with Frederick Catherwood. His documentation was published in books which became bestsellers and did much to arouse popular interest in what was then an almost unknown civilization. The drawings by Catherw...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Stephens, John Lloyd

Kick

The raised centre of a base which rises to a hollow peak.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Kick

St. Albans Point

Bifacially worked chipped stone projectile points with corner notches, manufactured by early Archaic Stage communities in eastern parts of North America around 7500 BC.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

St. Albans Point

Molinology

The description and study of watermills and windmills.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Molinology

Laterite

A soil layer that is rich in iron oxide and derived from a wide variety of rocks weathering under strongly oxidizing and leaching conditions. It forms in tropical and subtropical regions where the climate is humid.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Laterite

Settlement Site

A location that is or was habitation

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Settlement Site

Cheddar Point

Type of later Upper Palaeolithic flint tool found in the British Isles, named after examples found in the Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England. Made on a relatively narrow flint blade, both ends are worked to produce an elongated trapezoidal form with the long side of the blade left unworked and the ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Cheddar Point