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Bas-Relief

A low relief technique of sculpture or carved work in which the figures project less than half of their true proportions from the surface on which they are carved. The term also describes sculptures or carvings in low relief. Mezzo-relievo means projecting exactly half; alto-relievo more than half.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Bas-Relief

Ridge And Furrow

A pattern of parallel ridges resulting from the plowing of strip fields in medieval and later open field systems. The fossilized remains of ancient plowmarks are a common sight in England, having the appearance of long, rounded parallel ridges with alternating ditches. There is no absolute dating...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Ridge And Furrow

Larsa

The most important city of southern Mesopotamia during the early Old Babylonian period, one of the city-states of Sumer. It was located on the Euphrates River between Ur and Babylon, southeast of Uruk, southern Iraq. Archaeological remains are found in a group of tells, though most of its history...

archaeologsEnglishAncient Cities

Larsa

Larnax

A Minoan-Mycenaean clay or terra-cotta coffin. This kind of coffin, resembling a rectangular wooden chest, enjoyed a brief popularity in the eastern Greek region c 530-460 BC. The sarcophagus was often crudely painted on the sides with funerary or religious scenes. 'Clazomenian' examples were pai...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Larnax

Lerma Point

A projectile point made before 7000 BC in Tamaulipas and Puebla, Mexico. It is laurel leaf-shaped and similar to those found in the Great Basin of the U.S.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Lerma Point

Diatom

A microscopic, unicellular algae which grow in marine or fresh water and secrete silica skeletons (microfossils) that distinct by species. Their chances of survival are enhanced due to the silica and their deposition in anaerobic conditions. Diatoms can be sampled through deep sea or lake cores. ...

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Diatom

Funerary Offering

Any items provided initially by mourners and later, magically, through inscriptions and pictures in the tomb. Funerary offerings are essential for the well-being of the 'ka' in Egyptian tradition. Funerary offerings present rich documentary evidence of a culture.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Funerary Offering

Bolt

An iron arrow or missile, especially stout and short with a blunt or thickened head, discharged from a crossbow or other engine.

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Bolt

Natal Early Iron Age

A South African province of Natal which has traces of the furthest southeastern extension of the Early Iron Age complex of sub-Saharan Africa, which has been linked with the dispersal of peoples speaking Bantu languages. Evidence for Early Iron Age settlement is found in the fertile areas of the ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Natal Early Iron Age

Shotgun Survey

The use of intuition about prehistoric settlement and landscape to focus a survey on a likely archaeological site.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Shotgun Survey

Heroon

A space, building, etc. dedicated to the cult of a hero, often built around his tomb or a cenotaph. War memorial; hero-cult or heroic shrine.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Heroon

Wisconsin Glaciation

The age is a major North American geochronological subdivision of the Pleistocene epoch c 75 000-10 000 bp. It was the final glaciation of North American the fourth and last glacial stage of the Pleistocene. It followed the Sangamon interglacial and is the North American equivalent of the Würm gl...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Wisconsin Glaciation

Dendroclimatology

The study of tree rings and climate; the use of tree rings to study and reconstruct the past and present climate.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Dendroclimatology

Harshaf

An ancient Egyptian and Greek ram-headed god whose cult center was at Herakleopolis Magna. A shrine was built in the 1st Dynasty (3100-2890 BC) according to the Palermo Stone. Harshaf was a fertility god.

archaeologsEnglishMythology, God Names

Harshaf

Anbangbang

A large rock shelter of sandstone in North Australia dating to the Pleistocene. Occupation increased from 6000 bp.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Anbangbang

Negative Feedback

In systems thinking, a process which acts to counter or dampen the potentially disruptive effects of external inputs acting as a stabilizing mechanism. In other words a response to a system that lessens the chance of change.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Negative Feedback

Modified Diffusionism

A form of diffusionist theory, espoused by V. Gordon Childe and others, that allowed for some local cultural evolution.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Modified Diffusionism

Aerobic

An environmental state requiring or using free oxygen in the air for metabolic purposes and which, therefore, causes decay in organic structures. Many materials, including plants, leather, flesh, food remains, and clothing will disintegrate in aerobic conditions.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Aerobic

Shortugai

A site with definite links to the Harappan civilization near the Amu River, northeast of Konduz, Afghanistan. The lower two levels had Mature Harappan material (2nd half of 3rd millennium BC) and an irrigation system; it was probably a trading colony. There was also occupation by the Beshkent cul...

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Shortugai

Guilá Naquitz

A Preceramic site in the eastern Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, with indications of a gradual transition from the Early Hunting to the Incipient Cultivation period as early as 8900 BC. It is one of the most thoroughly researched preceramic sites of Mesoamerica.

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Guilá Naquitz

Gender Archaeology

The archaeological study of the relative positions in society of men and women through identifying and studying the differences in power and authority they held, as they are manifested in material remains. These differences can survive in the physical record although they are not always immediate...

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Gender Archaeology

Mummy Cave

A deeply stratified site in northwest Wyoming, containing 38 distinct cultural levels from which a series of radiocarbon dates was taken. There is evidence of intermittent occupation from at least 7300 BC-1580 AD. Subsistence activities were not based on the Big Game Hunting Tradition normally as...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Mummy Cave

Megafauna

The large, Ice Age big-game fauna in North America, now extinct. These Late Pleistocene food sources included mammoths, mastodon; giant bison, sloths, camels, and diprotodons. The term also covers extinct larger species of quite small animals, such as giant beavers. The late Pleistocene extinctio...

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Megafauna

Multicomponent

The presence of more than one cultural phase at a site.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Multicomponent

Gap

A source of bias in tree-ring dating representing the length of time between the formation of a dated ring and the date when the tree was cut. A gap and hiatus constitute a disjunction.

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