Ngamuriak

Temple

A building with a religious function, of various shapes and sizes. For the ancient Egyptians, it was the 'house' of a deity or deities and the most important component was the innermost cult-chamber or shrine, where the image of the deity was kept. Temples were not originally intended for worship...

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Temple

Yamato

The name of a former province in Nara Prefecture, Japan, an emergent state of the Kofun period (2nd-5th centuries AD). When the Tang administrative system of China was adopted in the late 7th century AD, Yamato was made into the Ritsuryo state. The old Yamato Province is rich in archaeological re...

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Yamato

Pagus

A term for the smallest unit of land in the territorial system of Italy: a country area, not a village or town, and distinguished from oppidum and vicus. The inhabitants of this 'locality' were called pagani.

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Pagus

Fission Track Dating

A chronometric dating technique based on the natural, spontaneous nuclear fission of Uranium 238 and its byproduct, linear atomic displacements/tracks. The basis for this technique is that a uranium isotope, U 238, as well as decaying to a stable lead isotope, also undergoes spontaneous fission. ...

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Fission Track Dating

Mayor Island

Important source of obsidian in New Zealand, in the Bay of Plenty, North Island. It was traded throughout New Zealand.

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Mayor Island

Pair-Non-Par

An engraved cave near Bordeaux, western France, with one Mousterian and several Upper Palaeolithic levels. The engravings are possibly Aurignacian; also found were a flute and human remains.

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Pair-Non-Par

Nippur

A city and important cultural center at the heart of Sumer of southern Mesopotamia (now Iraq), first occupied in 'Ubaid times and inhabited into the 1st millennium AD. Nippur played a special role in the life of Sumer as a religious city, center of the worship of Enlil. Lying between the Tigris a...

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names

Nippur

Ay

King of Egypt (reigned 1323-19 BC) who rose from the ranks of the civil service and the military to take the throne after the death of Tutankhamen (1333-1323 BC) and was the last king of the 18th Dynasty. Ay became King Tutankhamen's closest adviser and helped him reconcile with the priesthood of...

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Ay

Oldishi

Kenyan Pastoral Neolithic pottery tradition. There are southern, eastern, and northern facies; Narosura Ware belongs to the southern facies.

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Oldishi

Tool Kit

A term for all the tools used by a given culture for its technology (spatially patterned), or for a set of tools used together for a specific task (functionally patterned).

archaeologsEnglishTools

Tool Kit

Pedestal Beaker

Type of drinking cup with a distinct base section or foot forming an integral part of the lower body; some are Gallo-Belgic, others are locally made in Britain.

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Pedestal Beaker

Natural Layer

On archaeological sites, a layer formed by geological processes.

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Natural Layer

Tivoli

Roman city in central Italy, captured by Rome in the 4th century BC and later a fashionable resort with fine villas. It received Roman citizenship in 90 BC. It is important for its architecture. There are remains of wealthy Roman residences, including Hadrian's (118-128 AD) - the largest and most...

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Tivoli

Acculturation

The adoption of a trait or traits by one society from another and the results of such changes. This is a consequence of contact between cultures, usually with one being dominant, and is a process by which a group takes on the lifeways, institutions, and technology of another group. There are two ...

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Acculturation

Protruding Foot Beaker

The typical vessel of the Late Neolithic in the Netherlands with radiocarbon dates from c 3200-2400 BC. The basic form has a splayed neck, S-shaped profile, and flat everted base. It has cord ornament, dentate spatula impressions, or herringbone incisions. The vessel also defines the culture, whi...

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Protruding Foot Beaker

Krak Des Chevaliers

The greatest fortress built by European crusaders in Syria and Palestine, one of the most notable surviving examples of medieval military architecture. Built at Qal'at al-Hisn, Syria, near the northern border of present-day Lebanon, Krak occupied the site of an earlier Muslim stronghold. It was b...

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Krak Des Chevaliers

Graig Llwyd

A Neolithic ax factory and stone quarry in north Wales with fine-grained igneous rock. The axes date from c 4000-2500 BC and widely traded; they have been found as far away as southern England, Yorkshire, and east Lothian.

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Graig Llwyd

Harrow

A frame set with teeth used to drag over ploughed fields to break down the earth clods etc.

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Harrow

Perspective Drawing

A three-dimensional rendering, usually of a feature or a site, used to record and reconstruct the results of archaeological research. . Geometric perspective is a drawing method by which it is possible to depict a three-dimensional form as a two-dimensional image that closely resembles the scene ...

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Perspective Drawing

Collective Tomb

A chamber tomb of Neolithic times, either rock-cut or megalithic, built to contain many burials, often successive depositions spread over a long time. By 4000 BC the first big collective tombs were built from boulders in Spain.

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Collective Tomb

Spatial Autocorrelation

The tendency for items found close to one another in space to be highly similar with respect to characteristics that are not independent of location.

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Spatial Autocorrelation

Amun

The supreme god of the Egyptian pantheon, who was established by the 11th Dynasty at Thebes. The name means "hidden" or "secret". Amun was frequently identified with Ra the sun-god of Heliopolis and called Amun-Ra. His temple at Karnak is the best surviving example of a religious complex of the N...

archaeologsEnglishGod Names

Amun

Miriwun

A rock shelter in the Ord River valley, Kimberley, Western Australia, now inundated by the Argyle Dam and submerged by Lake Argyle. Occupation deposits date from 16,000 BC. Artifacts from t he early phase include adze flakes, small denticulated flakes, thick notched flakes, pebble tools, irregula...

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Miriwun

Regnal Year

A year reckoned from the date or anniversary of a monarch's accession to the throne, e.g. in his eighth regnal year. At times documents were dated by a king's regnal year. Before the time of Alexander the Great the first regnal year was the new year following the king's accession.

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Regnal Year

Amino Acid Dating

A method of absolute (chronometric) dating which is hoped to fill the gap between radiocarbon dates and potassium-argon dates. It is used for human and animal bone and other organic material. Specific changes in its amino acid structure (racemization or epimerization) which occur at a slow, relat...

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