Nan Madol

Vanuatu

A chain of 13 principal and many smaller islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, 500 miles (800 km) west of Fiji and 1,100 miles (1,800 km) east of Australia. Many of the northern islands have been inhabited by Melanesian peoples for at least 3,000 years; the earliest radiocarbon date for sett...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Vanuatu

Kiln

A chamber built for the firing (baking) of pottery, used from prehistoric times. These, usually dome-shaped, structures are designed to produce the high temperatures needed for the industry. In a pottery kiln, the pots were often stacked upside-down on a shelf. An opening for draft was left at th...

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Kiln

Millstone

Large circular slab of coarse rock up to 1m in diameter and typically 0.2-0.3m thick used for grinding grain in a mill. One face is roughened by means of a pattern of lines cut into the surface while the other face may be slightly domed. Millstones were used in pairs (an upper and lower stone), a...

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Millstone

Cuzco

The political and religious capital of Inca Empire, located in the southern highlands of Peru. Although previously occupied, the site was first settled by Inca in Late Intermediate period, c 1200 AD. After 1438, Pachacuti planned and rebuilt a city metropolis. It was a ceremonial center rather th...

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Cuzco

Dadunzi

A Neolithic site in Pei Xian, Jiangsu province, China, with three main levels named after the nearby sites of Qinlian'gang, Liulin, and Huating. The lowest (Qinglian'gang) level at Danunzi yielded a radiocarbon date of c 4500 BC. In the middle (Liulin) level, extraordinary painted pottery was fou...

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Dadunzi

Deep Sea Core

A technique used in the analysis of data from oceanic sediments in which the material retrieved by the core yields information on temperature changes in the ocean through time. These changes, suggestive of climatic variation, help to chart the progress of glaciation and, since they can be dated, ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Deep Sea Core

Sounion

Promontory in Attica, Greece, on which was the temple of Poseidon, dated to the mid-5th century BC. This classical sanctuary site probably goes back to the 7th-8th century BC, and it was traditionally popular as a refuge with runaway slaves. It was fortified in 413 BC by a substantial wall enclos...

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names, Ancient Cities

Sounion

Burial Pit

A pit aboriginally excavated for the interment of human remains.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Burial Pit

Era

A major division of geological time, usually distinguished by significant change in the animal and plant kingdoms and tens or hundreds of millions of years long; it is used to denote archaeological periods, such as the prehistoric era

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Era

Angkor Borei

The site of the capital of the kingdom of Funan towards the end of the 6th century. The rich archaeological site is located south of Phnom Penh, near the Vietnam border, in Cambodia. It appears as Na-fu-na in Chinese writings and is identified with Naravaranagara. There are many stone statuary.

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Angkor Borei

Mindelheim

A Hallstatt C cemetery west of Munich in West Germany, dated to the 7th century BC. The grave goods include distinctive melon-shaped urns and wide open bowls, heavily decorated with incised geometric designs, as well as the long sword type to which the site has given its name. Mindelheim swords a...

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Mindelheim

Fajada Butte

A geological feature in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, with two vertical slabs of rock through which the light of the summer and winter solstices creates carved spiral designs. This 'sun dagger' has been interpreted by some as a solar observatory.

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Fajada Butte

Caccabus

A type of Greek or Roman pot or vessel for cooking any kind of food. It was made of bronze, silver, or earthenware, and had a variety of forms. The most common shape was like an egg with an opening at the top that was closed with a lid and the vessel rested on a trivet (tripus).

archaeologsEnglishAncient Pottery

Caccabus

Misclassification

Incorrect assignment of an observation at the nominal or ordinal scale; attributing to the wrong class or category.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Misclassification

Absolute Pollen Frequency

A pollen density measure in which pollen counts per unit volume of sediment are corrected by estimated deposition rate (depth per year) to estimated influx (counts per cm per year), the same unit used for pollen rain in modern samples. Each taxon varies independently of the others making interpre...

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Absolute Pollen Frequency

Flaking Tool

A tool, such as an antler billet, or antler drift, which was used in removing flakes during the manufacture of a flaked stone projectile, tool, blade or artifact.

archaeologsEnglishTools

Flaking Tool

Hvar

An island with a large number of Late Neolithic and Copper Age sites, off the Dalmatian coast and part of present-day Croatia. The caves have yielded striking Late Neolithic pottery - dark burnished ware with red crusted decoration. Hvar has been continuously inhabited since early Neolithic times...

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Hvar

Rough-Cast Ware

Pottery decoration consisting of small particles of dried clay or gritty material dusted over the surface of a vessel, generally under a slip coating.

archaeologsEnglishAncient Pottery

Rough-Cast Ware

Candle

A cylinder or block of wax or tallow with a central wick which is lit to produce light as it burns

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Candle

Crotal

An enclosed, round bell with a slit, sounded by a loose internal pellet.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Crotal

Suttee

The rite in India whereby a widow taking her own life in order to accompany her deceased husband into the afterlife. The practice is often suggested when a male and female skeleton are found in the same grave, especially if the female is a significantly younger individual and is placed in a subsi...

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Suttee

Sparta

A small town in the central Peloponnese, Greece, which in the Classical period created the Peloponnesian League and organized the military forces that broke the Athenian empire and subjugated Athens in 404 BC. It was reputedly founded in the 9th century BC, later the capital of the Laconia distri...

archaeologsEnglishAncient Cities, Place Names

Sparta

Sittard

Settlement site of the Neolithic Linear Pottery culture in Limburg, the Netherlands. The settlement was surrounded by a palisade and contained a number of timber longhouses. Some of the larger houses were clearly divided into three parts for various purposes.

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Sittard

Moershoofd Interstadial

An Interstadial of the Weichselian cold stage. It is dated to c 50,000-43,000 bp.

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Moershoofd Interstadial

Absolon, Karel

A Czech archaeologists who excavated at Dolni Vestonice, Ondratice, Pekarna, Byci Skala, and other Palaeolithic sites.

archaeologsEnglishOthers