Term used to describe marks or lines forming a design, motif, image, or pattern of some kind that can been cut into stone, metal, bone, wood, ceramic, or other fairly soft material.
A bog in Schleswig, southern Jutland, which yielded a rich votive deposit of the Roman Iron Age. The main finds were more than 100 iron swords (some with damascened blades, others stamped with the maker's name), and a wooden boat some 21 m long. The boat was clinker-built, had no mast or sail and...
City in east-central Uzbekistan that is one of the oldest cities of Central Asia. In the 4th century BC, then known as Maracanda, it was the capital of Sogdiana and was captured (329 BC) by Alexander the Great. It benefited from its location in a fertile oasis at the point where the Silk Route fr...
An Indo-European people who moved into northwest Iran from Turkestan about 1000 BC and finally settled in the province of Pars/Parsa (modern Fars). They twice built great empires through the Middle East, under the Achaemenid family (559-330 BC) and under the Sassanians (224-651 AD). Their neighbo...
The first stage in archaeological research design, involving definition of the research problem and goals, background investigations, and feasibility studies. It is the process of making decisions about a research project prior to formal research design.
The famous temple of Athena in the Acropolis at Athens, considered the finest example of the Doric order of architecture. It was built by Ictinus and Callicrates, 447-432 BC, as the centerpiece of Pericles' grand scheme for the Acropolis, under the supervision of the sculptor Phidias, who contrib...
A Phoenician colony on the promontory of Cape Pula, Sardinia, southwest of Cagliari, probably of the 8th century BC. Tradition ascribes its founding to Iberians from Tartessus. From the end of the 6th century BC, Sardinia came under Carthaginian control, and from 238 BC under Roman, becoming a pr...
A circle of earth or stones along the circumference of a previously existing hut. A circular depression, wall, or ring of boulders, marking the footing of a vanished hut.
An ethnic group in the northern Manchurian basin of the Han Chinese times. The Paekche and Koguryo political elite claimed ancestral affiliation to the Puyo. It is also the name of a modern city which was the last Paekche capital.
An American archaeologist who worked at Troy, Korakou, Prosymna, and Pylos in Greece.
An agricultural technique whereby forest vegetation is cut down annually and burned in place to prepare fields for crops - slash-and-burn agriculture. Its derivation is from a term referring to the cultivation of maize fields, usually for only a few years, by swidden agriculture. Depictions on Ma...
Movement of human populations from one area to another, usually resulting in cultural contact.
A layer of human occupation; this generic and imprecise term is applied to an assumed level of occupation within an archaeological site. It includes any surface that indicates use as a house or camp area, as evidenced by signs of cooking, sleeping, or working at household tasks. The area can be w...
A name applied to the speakers of a set of related languages who inhabited portions of southwestern Asia since the time of the first cities. Semitic languages are characterized by the importance of the consonants, usually three forming the root of each word. The vowels are omitted altogether in a...
A blade shape having two worked faces
A rectangular column attached to a wall, partly embedded in it, with one-fourth or one-fifth of its thickness projecting. In classical architecture, a pilaster normally observes the form of one of the architectural orders, such as Ionic or Corinthian, and supports roof beams. The anta of ancient ...
A geophysical surveying method used to locate archaeological features and differences in sediment or soil textures. A pulsed induction meter or soil conductivity meter generate electromagnetic waves at the surface of the earth, penetrating it and inducing currents in conducting ore bodies, thereb...
The use of a model to simulate an observed phenomenon. In modern times, simulation is done by the formulation and computer implementation of dynamic models, i.e. models concerned with change through time. Simulation is a useful heuristic device, and can be of considerable help in the development ...
A Chinese military outpost in eastern Turkestan (modern Sinkiang), founded in the mid-3rd century. Documents of the 3rd and 4th centuries and silk fabrics have been found there, including Chinese textiles of Han date and a piece of silk tapestry dating c 200/100 BC-100-200 AD.
The practice of removing and preserving human heads. Headhunting arises in some cultures from a belief in the existence of a material soul. Headhunting may go back to Paleolithic times, as in deposits of the Late Paleolithic Azilian culture found at Ofnet in Bavaria. In Europe, the practice survi...
Neolithic quarry in Côtes-du-Nord, France, mined from c 4000-2000 BC for making polished stone axes of dolerite. Artifacts include hammerstones, grinders, and much toolmaking debris as well as hearths.
One of many limestone caves in northwest Thailand, occupied from before 9000 BC till c 5500 BC, intermittently. It has yielded early evidence of cultivated plants (vegetables, beans, water chestnuts) c 9000 BC, of Neolithic polished stone tools (ground stone adzes and knives) c 7000 BC, and of po...
The scientific classification of an organism.
A hard sedimentary rock rich in iron, especially a siderite in a coal region. This ore of iron, commonly a carbonate, has clayey impurities. Ironstone china is a hard heavy durable white pottery developed in England early in the 19th century.
Ceramic jar of medium size having a flat knob connected to the shoulder by two handles, in place of the central mouth. A separate spout was added elsewhere on the shoulder. It was much used by the Mycenaeans and in Minoan Crete for storing or transporting perfume, oil, etc.
EnglishOthers