Etruscan

Pseudo-Archaeology

The use of selective archaeological evidence, real or imagined, to promulgate nonscientific, fictional accounts of the past.

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Pseudo-Archaeology

Reaping Hook

Iron tool in the form of a long slightly curved knife, usually with a single blade on the inner face of the curve, used for harvesting cereals, grass, or reeds.

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Reaping Hook

Ang-Ang-Hsi

A group of Neolithic sites in Manchuria which demonstrate strong connections with the Novopetrovka and Gromatukha cultures of the Middle Amur in eastern Siberia, especially in stone tool technology. Animal, fish and mollusk remains occur on the sites.

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Ang-Ang-Hsi

Instrument Map

An archaeological map made by use of surveyor's instruments, allowing for accurate control over distance, direction, and elevation.

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Instrument Map

Izapa

Large, important ceremonial site and type site of a culture in Chiapas, Mexico, built about 3500 years ago (Middle-Late Preclassic). Izapa is famous for its art style, which is distributed in Chiapas and parts of Guatemala. The relief art, carved on altar stones and stelae, was influenced by the ...

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Izapa

Atlatl

A New World version of a spear-throwing device, used by the Aztecs and other peoples of the Americas. It consisted of a wooden shaft used to propel a spear or dart and it functioned like an extension of the arm, providing more thrusting leverage. Atlatl weights are objects of stone fastened to th...

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Atlatl

Whorl

Something that whirls, coils, or spirals. It is also the circular object with a central perforation used to weight the end of a spindle and act as a fly wheel, giving momentum to its rotation while spinning thread. This drum-shaped section on the lower part of a spindle in spinning or weaving mac...

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Whorl

Studded

Pottery decorated by the addition of pellets of clay to its surface.

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Studded

Helgö

A small island in Lake Malaren in Sweden which was a migration period trading and industrial post in the 1st millennium AD. There are several important artisans' (brooch, bead) houses spanning of the 5th-6th centuries up to the 9th century. Exotic finds include a 7th-century Buddha from Kashmir, ...

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Helgö

Nakamine

Palaeolithic site in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, with stone tools between layers dated to 300,000-150,000 bp, possibly an Early Palaeolithic occupation of the islands.

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Nakamine

Volterra

Ancient Etruscan city (Velathri) and one of the 12 cities of the Etruscan confederation. It supported Rome during the Second Punic War in 205 BC, acquired Roman citizenship after the civil wars between Gaius Marius and Sulla (81-80 BC), and took the name Volaterrae. Occupation began as early as t...

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Volterra

Dart, Raymond Arthur

A South African professor of anatomy who discovered the first Australopithecine fossil, in 1924.

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Dart, Raymond Arthur

Renaissance

The period in European civilization immediately following the Middle Ages, conventionally held to have been characterized by a surge of interest in classical learning and values. It was the rebirth of European intellectual curiosity about the natural world and the role of humans in it, originatin...

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Renaissance

Novye Ruseshty

Neolithic and Eneolithic site in Moldova, starting with the Linear Pottery culture and then the Cucuteni-Tripolye culture.

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Novye Ruseshty

Tiryns

A fortified citadel of the Mycenaeans in the Argolid, Greece, an important Bronze Age center. The palace of its rulers, a megaron opening onto a porticoed court, was decorated with frescoes after the style of the Minoans. They include one of the best surviving representations of the bull-leaping ...

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Tiryns

Apadana

Great reception hall found in Persian royal palaces.

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Apadana

Kudaro

Two cave sites in the Greater Caucasus Mountains of Georgia with Acheulian layers associated with Middle Pleistocene vertebrates and bifaces, choppers, and sidescrapers. Some Middle Palaeolithic artifacts are associated with Late Pleistocene vertebrates and points and sidescrapers. There are also...

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Kudaro

Lava

Molten rock (magma) poured out onto the Earth's surface at temperatures from about 700 to 1,200 C (1,300 to 2,200 F) from an active volcano. Lava is well adapted to ornamental carving.

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Lava

Tambo Colorado

Well-preserved Inca walled town in the Pisco Valley, southern Peru, probably an administrative center or military barracks. It is on an important road connecting the coast with Vilcas Guaman. Constructed in terraces of adobe on stone foundations, traces of red and yellow paint are still visible o...

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Tambo Colorado

Opus Vermiculatum

Mosaic technique used in Hellenistic and Roman times, in which part or all of a figural mosaic is made up of small, closely set tesserae (cubes of stone, ceramic, glass, or other hard material) that permit fine gradations of color and an exact following of figure contours and outlines. The word v...

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Opus Vermiculatum

House Of The Dead

A type of wooden building above a tomb or connected to a grave, widespread in Denmark and Germany, but also found in other areas of northern Europe during the Neolithic period.

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House Of The Dead

Taforalt

Large cave in eastern Morocco with a blade industry of c 22,000 bp (Mousterian) through Aterian to a long succession of Iberomaurusian phases. A large Iberomaurusian cemetery and shell midden have been excavated. The cemetery had 185 people and is of the Mechta-Afalou type (c 11,900 bp).

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Taforalt

Hydration Rim

A surface layer on obsidian artifacts which can be measured as a dating technique.

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Hydration Rim

Kakanj

The type site for a Middle Neolithic regional group in north-central Bosnia, located near Visoko and dated c 4700-4300 BC. The culture is typified by fine monochrome wares and decorative elements with affinities in the coastal Danilo culture. There are working pits, flint production areas, and a ...

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Kakanj

Isle Royale

An island in Lake Superior where there are 10 sunken ships starting from the mid-1800s. The cold fresh water has preserved the wrecks well.

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