Rajghat

Duruthy

A rock shelter in southwest France, occupied from the early Magdalenian to the Azilian, including the Chalcolithic. Some Magdalenian layers have been dated to the 14th millennium bp. It is characterized by portable art.

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Duruthy

Anubis

The Egyptian god of the dead, in the form of a wild-dog or jackal-headed man. Anubis guarded the tombs and the underworld and presided over mummification and embalming. In the Early Dynastic period and the Old Kingdom, he enjoyed a dominant position but was later overshadowed by Osiris.

archaeologsEnglishGod Names

Anubis

Dralang

A Megalithic site in southwestern Tibet with a large, tablelike stone structure and other large standing stones within the monument. There were pits for human sacrifices, also.

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Dralang

Abbey

A place where monks or nuns live, work, and worship. An abbey usually consisted of group of buildings housing a monastery or a convent and an abbey church or a cathedral. Monasticism originated in the Middle East during the second half of the 4th century and spread to Byzantium, France, Greece, a...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Abbey

Quetzal

Any of several birds belonging to the genus Pharomachrus of the trogon family, a bird of Central America. Its distinctive and brightly colored plumage was highly valued in ancient Mesoamerica. The Aztec emperor Moctezuma's headdress, given as a gift to the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortéz, was ...

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Quetzal

Sarsen

A type of sandstone of the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire, England. The sarsens are the remnants of a cap of Tertiary period sandstone which once covered the area. They were used by the builders of Stonehenge, Avebury, and several megalithic chamber tombs. Stonehenge is almost 30 km from the quar...

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Sarsen

Delftware

The term for tin-glazed earthenware made in Britain from the 16th century, named after the Dutch town of Delft. The main centers for delftware were London, Bristol, Liverpool, and Glasgow, but the factories went out of business with the introduction of creamware.

archaeologsEnglishAncient Pottery

Delftware

Grooved Decoration

Pottery decoration in which broad lines are drawn on the firm but unbaked pot surface. No clay is removed, as it is in excised decoration, nor is the surface itself broken, as with incised decoration.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Grooved Decoration

Aplastics

Intentional or accidental inclusions in pottery clays before firing.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Aplastics

Ballana And Qustul

Two Nubian necropolis sites on opposing sides of the Nile, 15 km south of Abu Simbel and now submerged under Lake Nassar. Ballana was the type site of a period which lasted from the decline of the Meroitic empire to the arrival of Christianity (c 350-700 AD). Some pictographic writing dating c 34...

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Ballana And Qustul

Torc

Also torq or torque. A neckring, of gold or bronze, and penannular in shape (an almost-complete ring). Examples are made of spirally twisted metal and appeared in the Early Bronze Age of central Europe and continued to the Roman occupation, being particularly popular among the Celts. Very common ...

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Torc

Li Chi

Chinese archaeologist responsible for establishing the historical authenticity of the semilegendary Shang dynasty of China (c 1766-1122 BC). He supervised numerous excavations at Anyang (An-yang), working to identify the features distinguishing the Shang civilization from previous Neolithic cultu...

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Li Chi

Date Range

A date indicating years during which it is equally probable that an event took place.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Date Range

Sample Size

The total number of sample units drawn from a sampling frame or population.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Sample Size

Geophysical Prospecting

The location and recording of buried sites by detecting variations in the magnetic properties or resistance to an electrical current of the soil. Many archaeological surveying techniques designed to identify features without excavation use instruments that measure physical properties of surface m...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Geophysical Prospecting

Public Archaeology

A branch of archaeology dealing with the impact of construction and development on archaeological sites and laws enacted to lessen the threat. In the US, it has helped create the industries of salvage archaeology or cultural resource management (in the UK, rescue archaeology).

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Public Archaeology

Hamada, Kosaku

A Japanese art historian and archaeologist who was important in the development of archaeology in Japan. He realized the importance of the links between the Japanese archipelago and the main continent (Korea and China). He established the first formal course in archaeology in Japan.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Hamada, Kosaku

Fine Orange Pottery

A high-quality orange ware, often decorated with incised, molded, or black-painted patterns; a late Classic (and post-Classic) pottery type of the lowland Maya area of Mesoamerica. Found at sites under the influence of Teotihuacán, it comes from the Tabasco-Campeche region (Usumacinta drainage).

archaeologsEnglishAncient Pottery

Fine Orange Pottery

Design

Any shapes, motifs, or symbols added as decoration on a ceramic object.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Design

Apollo 11 Cave

A cave in southern Namibia near the confluence of the Orange and Great Fish Rivers which has a long sequence of industries dating from the Middle Stone Age. There is a series of detached rock slabs with rock paintings dating between 28,450-26,350 years old, among the oldest dated paintings in the...

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Apollo 11 Cave

Nominal Scale

A scale that uses only categories, with no inherent order.

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Nominal Scale

Merenptah

The 13th son of his long-lived father, Ramesses II, Merneptah was nearing 60 years of age at his accession in about 1213. Because of the extraordinary length of the reign of Ramesses II (1279-1213 BC), at least twelve of his sons died before him, including Khaemwaset, who was for several years th...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Merenptah

Kitchen Midden

A mound or deposit that is formed from the accumulation of domestic refuse, including cooking and eating equipment, food, and garbage. Some of these mounds are of sea shells left by some food-gathering peoples. The term was first used in Danish to describe the middens of the Ertebolle culture and...

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Kitchen Midden

San Vicnezo Al Volturno

An important Benedictine monastery in central Italy, founded in the early 8th century and sacked by the Arabs in 881 and eventually abandoned. The site appears to overlie a late Roman complex. A crypt of c 830 is an example of an important painting technique of the time.

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San Vicnezo Al Volturno

Corinthian Order

An architectural style characterized by columns with a diameter-to-height ratio of one-to-ten, and an enlarged capital (uppermost part) decorated with sculptured foliage, often acanthus leaves. It originated in Greece, was extensively used by the Romans, and is related to the Ionic order. The inn...

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