Closed Find

Vertical Axis

An imaginary line that is perpendicular to the base line and runs through the center of the artifact as it is oriented for drawing; it is the axis upon which the artifact is rotated, one-quarter for a profile, one-quarter for a back view, so that each feature and flake scar maintains its distance...

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Vertical Axis

Asana

A seasonal Preceramic site in the Andes of southern Peru dating to 7800 BC - with possibly the earliest domestic structures in the Andean region. A ceremonial complex dating to 2660 BC with altars, clay-lined fire basins, and surface hearths has also been found.

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Asana

Dolmen Deity

A symbol of mysterious personage or divinity who peers from megalithic and rock-cut tombs of western Europe. She is sometimes represented by nothing but a pair of eyes or eyebrows, the oculus motif. Breasts and necklaces are female attributes often given. The most detailed representation is on th...

archaeologsEnglishArtifacts, Goddess Names

Dolmen Deity

Harappan Civilization

One of the great civilizations of antiquity, located in Pakistan and northwest India in the 3rd millennium BC. Nearly 300 settlements of the civilization are known: two large cities (Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa), and a number of smaller towns and villages (Chanhu-Daro, Judeirjo-Daro, Kalibangan, and...

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Harappan Civilization

Dorset

A prehistoric Eskimo culture that settled in the eastern Canadian Arctic and Greenland around 1000 BC and lasted until 1000 AD when it was replaced by the Thule culture. The earliest manifestation, known as pre-Dorset (in some areas as Sarqaq) is represented at sites on Baffin Island and dates fr...

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Dorset

Triple Alliance

A military alliance formed in 1428 AD, in the Late Post-Classic Period, between Tenochtitlán, Texcoco, and Tacuba and which became the dominant force in the Lake Texcoco region of the Basin of Mexico. They joined together to overthrow the Tepenacs in the city-state of Azcapotzalco. The Aztecs eve...

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Triple Alliance

Shahr-I Sokhta

Tell site in the Seistan district of eastern Iran, close to the Afghan and Pakistan borders, which was the site of a vast urban center of the late 4th-early 2nd millennium BC. As well as abundant structural remains, enormous numbers of finds have been excavated - thousands of potsherds and stone ...

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Shahr-I Sokhta

Windmill Cave

Cave site near Kent's Cavern in Brixham, Devon, England, with stone tools associated with extinct animal remains. The site demonstrated the true antiquity of humans in Britain and was occupied until Roman times.

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Windmill Cave

Castanet

An Upper Palaeolithic rock shelter at Castelmerle, southwest France. There were two Aurignacian levels with art objects of carved or painted stone. The art from Castanet and neighboring Blanchard rock shelter is amongst the earliest known, dating c 33,000 BC.

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Castanet

Pithos

A large Greek earthenware storage jar with a narrow neck, used for oil, wine, or grain. They were used on occasion for jar-burial in the Aegean area.

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Pithos

Yaxchilán

Major Classic Maya site on the Usumacinta River, Chiapas, Mexico. It has architectural features like Palenque, hieroglyphic inscriptions on stone lintels and stelae, and monuments depict war. Though there are a number of structures, including palaces with ornamented stucco roof-combs and mansard ...

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Yaxchilán

Tello, Julio César

Peruvian archaeologist who discovered and studied some of the most important sites in Peru; considered with Max Uhle and Alfred Kroeber to be a founder of Peruvian archaeology. His main contributions were the excavation of the Paracas cemeteries and the study of the Chavín, but he also worked at ...

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Tello, Julio César

Ai Khanum

A Hellenistic city, occupied between 400-100 BC, at the confluence of the Oxus and Koktcha in Afghanistan. The city comprises a citadel, acropolis, and lower town with an administrative center. The administrative center was an imposing complex of a courtyard with a peristyle. Nearby is a funerary...

archaeologsEnglishAncient Cities, Place Names

Ai Khanum

Primeval Mound

In Egyptian antiquity, the hill that emerged from the primeval waters of Nun, which was the principal symbol of the act of creation. The Memphite god Tatjenen was a personification of the hill itself. It is the site of creation claimed by all temples and recorded especially in the temple of Edfu,...

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Primeval Mound

Excavation

The systematic and scientific recovery of cultural, material remains of people as a means of obtaining data about past human activity. Excavation is digging or related types of salvage work, scientifically controlled so as to yield the maximum amount of data. It is the main tool of the archaeolog...

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Excavation

Entrance Grave

A type of megalithic chamber tomb characterized by a chamber without separate passage, under a round barrow. It shares features of both passage grave and gallery grave. The round mound is in the passage grave tradition, but there is no clear distinction between the entrance passage and the funera...

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Entrance Grave

Cist Tomb

A prehistoric coffin containing either a body or ashes, usually made of stone or a hollowed-out tree, of Europe and Asia. The grave might be lined with stones and covered with slabs or enclosed on four sides by stone slabs standing upright and closed with a lid (dolmen). Cists were for one or sev...

archaeologsEnglishTombs

Cist Tomb

Canaanite Amphora

Common transport vessel of the Late Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean. Canaanite amphoras average 30 inches in height and have a short, relatively narrow flaring mouth, a wide shoulder with two handles on it, and a tapering profile running down to a narrow pointed base. They were made in va...

archaeologsEnglishAncient Pottery, Tools

Canaanite Amphora

Cordon

In ceramics, a strip of clay added around the outside surface of a pot before firing for decoration or handling. The cordon(s) may be decorated in some way, for example with fingertip or stick impressions. On wheel-turned pots, cordons may be created by pushing the clay out in a narrow ring from ...

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Cordon

Isotopic Replacement

A chemical process which creates inaccuracies in radiocarbon/radiometric dating. An isotope within a sample is exchanged with an isotope of the same element that is a different age. This can occur in fossil shells whose C14 isotope in the calcium carbonate may be replaced during recrystallization...

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Isotopic Replacement

Vadastra

Middle and Late Neolithic culture of southwest Rumania and northern Bulgaria in the late 5th millennium BC. The tell's stratigraphy includes an Aurignacian level, separated by a long hiatus from two Vadastra culture levels and a Salcuta culture level (early 4th millennium BC). There are large gra...

archaeologsEnglishCultures, Place Names

Vadastra

Latchlifter

An early kind of key, found in Roman and early medieval contexts, it is simply a bent piece of iron rod with an expanded end that could be pushed through a hole in a wooden door to raise a catch-bar on the inside.

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Latchlifter

Protohistoric Archaeology

The study of the period just before the beginning of recorded history. Protohistory is the earliest historic periods - those with minimal documentary evidence.

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Protohistoric Archaeology

Southampton

City and English Channel port in Hampshire, England, where in 43 AD there was a Roman settlement, Clausentum. Inscribed stones, coins, pottery, and other artifacts have been found. Southampton (Hamtun, Suhampton) superseded the Saxon Hamtun and was a royal borough before 1086.

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Southampton

Transitional

A term used to describe an artifact that was utilized and manufactured across two or more cultural periods.

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