Piedmont Tradition

Paekche

Early state on the Korean peninsula, c 300-662 AD, that succeeded Mahan and competed with Koguryo and Silla. Its first capital was near Mongch'on Fortress near Seoul, then Ungjin (Kongju) and Sabi (Puyo). There are stone-stepped and earthen mounded tombs. A gridded city was built in the 7th century.

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Paekche

Olympia

Principal sanctuary of Zeus in Greece and the site of the original Olympic Games, a Panhellenic sanctuary in the western Peloponnese of Greece. It originated in the Greek Bronze Age and has a 7th century BC Temple of Hera and 5th century BC Temple of Zeus. Traces of the circular building of Phili...

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Olympia

Stray Find

An object of some kind - pottery, metalwork, a coin, etc. - which has not been found in an archaeological context. Stray finds are useful if the total distribution of a particular type of object is required, but the absence of associated material or structures makes their interpretation difficult.

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Stray Find

Steepness Of Retouch

The angle between the flat plane of a flake and a retouched surface. Very steep retouch is close to 90 degrees.

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Steepness Of Retouch

Edfu

An Upper Egyptian site dominated by a large, well-preserved temple dedicated to the hawk-god Horus. It was constructed under Ptolemaic kings between 237-57 BC and is the most complete surviving example of an ancient Egyptian temple. To its west are the tombs of the Old and Middle Kingdom and the ...

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Edfu

Pasemah Plateau

A plateau in southern Sumatra with a series of impressive prehistoric megalithic monuments - massive slab graves and a rich collection of life-sized anthropomorphic carvings. The large stones are roughly carved into the shape of animals, such as the buffalo and elephant, and human figures - some ...

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Pasemah Plateau

Proscenium

A single-story structure located in front of the skene and protruding into the orchestra of a Classical theater. It was often faced with half-columns and was probably used as a raised stage. It was the frame or arch separating the stage from the auditorium, through which the action of a play was ...

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Proscenium

Hachure

In mapmaking and drawing, short lines laid down in a pattern to indicate direction of slope on the survey of an earthwork. The hachure points downhill and its length is related to the steepness of the slope.

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Hachure

Micropolish

Any edge or surface abrasion and gloss that increases from tool use. It is sometimes evident only when stone tools are studied under high-powered microscopy.

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Micropolish

Sais

Site in the Western Nile delta, capital of Egypt during the 26th Dynasty (664-525 BC). It was probably an impressive city; sculptural masterpieces from Sais have come from digging for sebbakh, which destroyed the tell. The remains are mostly covered by the modern village, and date principally to ...

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Sais

Fara

The site of the ancient Sumerian city of Shuruppak, in southern Mesopotamia, occupied during the first half of the 3rd millennium BC. It has yielded tablets and seal impressions of Early Dynastic period II-III.

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Fara

Mamon

A phase of the Pre-Classic in the Lowland Maya area dated c 550-300 BC, first defined at Uaxactún and Tikal. Some artifacts of stone and obsidian are included in the complex, but it is principally characterized by monochrome pottery with a 'waxy' feel to it. The flat-bottomed bowl was a common sh...

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Mamon

Nasera

Boulder hill in northern Tanzania with a deep deposit of Middle and Later Stone Age material.

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Nasera

Medicine Wheel

A kind of site in the northwest North American Plains which was comprised of stone alignments set in radiating spokes, often with central and peripheral cairns. Medicine wheels served a number of purposes and some are as old as 5500 BP. In southern Montana is a medicine wheel which is a prehistor...

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Medicine Wheel

Malkata

A settlement and palace site at the southern end of western Thebes, opposite modern Luxor, dating to the early 14th century BC. Essentially the remains of a community that grew up around the Theban residence of Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BC) and Queen Tiy. The ruins indicate it must have been one o...

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Malkata

Souterrain

A long stone-built gallery with a slab roof, below ground level. It was usually, perhaps in its earliest stages always, associated with a settlement of the Broch culture. Such galleries are widespread in Ireland, Scotland, and the highland zone of Britain, and seem, to show an immigration up the ...

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Souterrain

Endblade

A small blade tool, often bipointed and used to tip bone and antler arrowheads. Triangular endblades were probably used to tip harpoon heads.

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Endblade

Avebury, Lord

British archaeologist whose book "Prehistoric Times" (7 editions between 1865-1913) achieved bestseller status. An early convert to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution Lord Avebury popularized prehistory both as a term and a subject. He introduced the words "Palaeolithic" (old) and "Neolithic" (...

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Avebury, Lord

Hominidae

The family to which humans (Homo) and Australopithecines belong; the family which includes both extinct and modern forms of man. Humanlike ancestors are split into four main groups: Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and Homo sapiens. In most modern classifications, the Great Apes are ...

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Hominidae

Methodology

Working concepts or approach, whether consciously adopted or otherwise acquired. A methodology can be a body of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline. An archaeologist analyzes of the principles or procedures of inquiry in a particular endeavor.

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Methodology

Philippi

Old Thasian settlement in Kavála, Greece, which Philip II of Macedon fortified in 356 BC to control neighboring gold mines. In 42 BC Philippi was the site of the decisive Roman battle in which Mark Antony and Octavian (later the emperor Augustus) defeated Brutus and Cassius, the leading assassins...

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Philippi

Siapapu

A small hole in the floor of the kiva, which served as the symbolic place of origin of the tribe for Puebloan/Anasazi peoples.

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Siapapu

Tone

A mixture of light (white) and shade (black) with a color

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Tone

Munhata

A site occupied in the PPNB phase, located on a high terrace of the River Jordan in Israel, with a radiocarbon date of c 7200 BC. Several different building phases are documented and the architecture is characterized by plastered areas and raised stone platforms; earlier rectangular buildings wer...

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Munhata

Septal Slab

An upright stone slab set across the floor of a megalithic chambered tomb to divide it into separate compartments (e.g. in a court cairn). They vary in height from low kerbs to the full height of the chamber; in the latter case they are sometimes provided with port-holes.

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