Ghost Wall

The outline of a wall that has been removed so that the building materials may be used elsewhere.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Ghost Wall

Amorgos

An island in the eastern Cyclades, Greece, which was prosperous in the Early Bronze Age and had three cities, Arcesine, Minoa, and Aegiale. There is an important cemetery on the island with single burials in cist graves, accompanied by copper weapons and pottery. Fine carved stone figurines of Ea...

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names

Amorgos

Bout Coupé

In British archaeology, a well-made cordiform or sub-triangular refined biface from northwest Europe. It may be a diagnostic Mousterian tool.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Bout Coupé

Prehistoric

The time period before the appearance of written records

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Prehistoric

Floral Ecofact

An ecofact derived from plants. They are subdivided into microspecimens (pollen, opal phytoliths) and macrospecimens (seeds, plant fragments, impressions).

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Floral Ecofact

Eynan

An early Natufian village beside Lake Huleh in northern Palestine. Excavations revealed three occupations starting with the 10th millennium bc. There were 50 semi-subterranean stone-lined circular huts, some with hearths and storage bins. Large storage pits and burials were outside the structures...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Eynan

Olszanica

Linear Pottery culture settlement in southern Poland near Kraków dating to the late 5th millennium BC. There were 13 longhouses, one of high status, and obsidian and Bürk pottery from Hungary.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Olszanica

Biface Thinning Flake

A flake that has been removed from a biface through percussion as part of the reduction process. These flakes typically were removed from an unfinished biface (or blank) in order to make it thinner.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Biface Thinning Flake

Totonac

A member of a Middle American Indian people of east-central Mexico. The Totonacs occupied the central part of Veracruz in Postclassic Period and possibly in Classic Period. Artifacts from ballgame, scrolls, and figurines are common. The Totonac lived in two environments - high mesa, cool and rain...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Totonac

Gaul

A Roman province formed by modern-day France and parts of Belgium, western Germany, northern Italy, and Switzerland. Cities were Nimes, Autun, Arles, Orange, Trier, and Frejus. Caesar's conquests (58-51 BC) and Augustus's organization (30 BC-14 AD) resulted in four Gallic provinces: southern or '...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Gaul

Pharaoh

The title of the rulers of ancient Egypt, who combined the roles of king and god. It is used today as a synonym for the king of ancient Egypt. Much expense of labor, money, and treasure was involved in their funeral rites, exemplified by the pyramids and the tombs such as that of Tutankhamen. Eac...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Pharaoh

Diachronic

Referring to two or more reference points in time, especially as they pertain to phenomena as they occur or change over a period of time; a chronological perspective. The term refers to actions or things, as in the study of artifacts in a region as they change across sequential periods.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Diachronic

Froth Flotation

Flotation in which the separation is enhanced by using a liquid to which a frothing agent, such as a detergent, has been added and bubbling air through it, forming a froth in which certain lightweight materials collect. Soil samples agitated in froth flotation, such as seeds and charcoal fragment...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Froth Flotation

Mezin

Upper Palaeolithic site in the Desna valley in the Ukraine with a radiocarbon date of 15,100 bp. Art material with squared key pattern carving was made, including an ivory wrist band. There are at least two mammoth bone houses with associated pits and hearths.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Mezin

Information Language

A language artificially created in databases to ensure unambiguous communication of information.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Information Language

Karmir-Blur

Urartian city near modern Erevan, Armenia, with a citadel and walled residential area, mainly occupied in the 7th century BC. There were pre-Urartian graves and Hellenistic occupation. It may have replaced Erebuni as the Urartian seat in the 8th century.

archaeologsEnglishAncient Cities, Place Names

Karmir-Blur

Oblique Striae

Slanting linear marks, ridges, or grooves, especially one of a number of similar features

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Oblique Striae

Tintan

Holocene site in northern Mauritania, Africa, with 50 skeletons of the Mechta-Afalou type.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Tintan

Agrelo Culture

The Agrelo culture was centered in northwestern Argentina and dates from AD 1 to 1000. The type site is just south of Mendoza and it features distinctive deep, wide-mouthed pottery with parallel stepped incised lines, punctations, and fingernail impressions, typical of southern Andean tradition. ...

archaeologsEnglishCultures

Agrelo Culture

Parados

An entrance or exit used by actors to reach or leave an orchestra in a theater; the area between the seats and the skene.

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural, Theaters

Parados

Handan

The capital of the Eastern Chou (Zhou) state of Chao from 386-228 BC. The area was already settled in Shang times (c 1766-1122 BC) and first mentioned in about 500 BC, but became a center of trade and famed for luxury and elegance as the capital. In 228 it was attacked and taken by the armies of ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Handan

Solar Boat

In Egyptian mythology, a high-prowed boat in which the sun god was believed to navigate the heavens. Some Pyramid Texts refer to the deceased pharaoh going to join the gods in such a boat. There were two different types: day/mandet, night/mesektet.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Solar Boat

Point Bar

A channel bar of mud to coarse conglomerate forming on the convex side of a channel bend due to reduced flow velocity. This landform is the most common type of lateral accretion; a depositional alluvial landform on and behind the convex bank of meandering streams. It is formed and modified as the...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Point Bar

Austro-Asiatic

A family of about 150 languages which includes Vietnamese, Munda (eastern India), Mon (southwest Burma), Khmer (Kampuchea), and several minor language groups including Nicobarese, and Aslian of peninsular Malaysia. Vietnamese, Khmer, and Mon are culturally the most important of these and have the...

archaeologsEnglishAncient Languages

Austro-Asiatic

Mary Rose

A Tudor warship, the flagship of Henry VIII's fleet, which sank in the Portsmouth Harbor, off the south coast of England, on its maiden voyage in 1545. The exploration, excavation, and recovery of the ship is the largest underwater archaeology project ever undertaken. By the time the ship was rai...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Mary Rose