Shoeing Nail

Metallurgical Analysis

The study of metals. Metal artifacts and the tools or waste products of their manufacture are examined to reconstruct manufacturing processes, the source of raw materials, and the usage. This may be done by the various techniques of chemical analysis, or may involve metallographic examination und...

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Metallurgical Analysis

Ujjain

One of seven sacred Hindu cities, the capital (as Ujjayini) of the Aryan Avanti kingdom (6th-4th century BC), near Indore on the main route from the Ganges plain to the Bombay coast. In the 2nd century BC, Ujjain was the seat of the emperor Ashoka, the last of the Mauryan rulers and an early infl...

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Ujjain

Round Tower

A form of architecture in which a hollow circular column of 50-150 feet high is capped by a short pointed roof of stone. There are many in Ireland (upwards of 100), also in Scotland, the Isle of Man, in Denmark, and as part of Windsor Castle in England. Round towers were a feature of Irish monast...

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Round Tower

Seal Stamp

A piece of inscribed stone used to impress a symbol on wet pieces of clay or bitumen, used by administrators to keep track of goods.

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Seal Stamp

Sintering

A process in which the edges of the clay particles soften and adhere to one another. This process begins at about 350 degrees C and is completed by 700 degrees C.

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Sintering

Pont Du Gard

A stretch of Roman aqueduct, 40 km long, in the form of a three-storied arched bridge over River Gard near Nîmes, France. It was probably built by Agrippa c19 BC to take water some 49 meters above the river to Nîmes. This notable Roman architectural work has three tiers of arches rising to a heig...

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Pont Du Gard

Bucchero

A fine gray pottery, with a black or gray shiny surface, which was produced principally in Greek-speaking or Etruscan areas between the 8th and 5th centuries BC. Shapes and decoration styles varied greatly - incised, stamped and applied were employed. This earthenware pottery was common in pre-Ro...

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Bucchero

Salvage

An emergency survey and excavation at a site that is threatened by immediate destruction due to human development or natural phenomena.

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Salvage

Accuracy

The degree to which measured values come close to actual values; opposite of bias.

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Accuracy

Microfloral Remains

Those plant remains from archaeological sites that are visible only with the aid of magnification, primarily pollen and phytoliths. The term is also applied to any small or strictly localized flora, as of a microenvironment.

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Microfloral Remains

Beetle

Any member of the insect order Coleoptera, with at least 250,000 species (the largest order in the animal kingdom), characterized by their special forewings, which are modified into hardened wing covers (elytra) that cover a second pair of functional wings. The order includes some of the largest ...

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Beetle

Cardial Ware

An impressed ware of the Early Neolithic in the western Mediterranean (Sardinia, Corsica, Liguria, Provence, and Spain). Soft clay was impressed with the serrated edge of the cardium (cockle) shell, from which it received its name.

archaeologsEnglishAncient Pottery

Cardial Ware

Suppiluliuma I

Great Hittite king (reigned c 1380-1346 BC), who dominated the history of the ancient Middle East for the greater part of four decades and raised the Hittite kingdom to Imperial power. Suppiluliumas began his reign by rebuilding the old capital, Hattusas (Bogazköy, Turkey), and consolidating the ...

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Suppiluliuma I

Kamegaoka

A waterlogged Jomon site in Aomori prefecture in northern Honshu, Japan, best known for its Final Jomon deposits with elaborate pottery and lacquered wooden dishes. The Kamegaoka complex, named after the site, is characterized by the distinctive pottery style, production of hollow figurines, ston...

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Kamegaoka

Spinning

The extrusion of liquid fiber-forming material, followed by hardening to form filaments; a technical process by which fibers are twisted together to make continuous threads. The wool was fixed as a mass on the distaff. A thread was drawn out by one hand and fixed on the spindle. Attached to this ...

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Spinning

Stylistic Seriation

The organization of artifacts or other data by sequence according to changes over time in their stylistic attributes, a relative age determination technique.

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Stylistic Seriation

Aszód

A Late Neolithic site (4th millennium BC) in the Zagyva Valley, 30 km east of Budapest, Hungary. There are remains of a settlement with 40 rectangular houses containing rich assemblages and a cemetery with rows of graves. There are varying degrees of wealth in the grave goods. Aszód is a rare exa...

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Aszód

Samguk Sagi

Historical record of the Three Kingdoms, the earliest surviving history for Korea. It was compiled by Kim Pu-sik in 1146 AD during the Koryo dynasty.

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Samguk Sagi

Lincoln

An important Roman colony in eastern England on the main Roman route north. The site is on the intersection of two principal Roman roads, the Fosse Way and Ermine Street, and shows earlier traces of Iron Age occupation. Roman use was possibly from as early as c 43 AD, and by c 60 a turf and timbe...

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Lincoln

De Geer, Baron Gerhard

Swedish geologist, originator of the varve-counting method used in geochronology, first published in a paper entitled, "A Geochronology of the last 12 000 years". De Geer observed that lake beds consist of couplets of laminated sediments (varves) light-colored silt layers alternating with strata ...

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De Geer, Baron Gerhard

Medieval Archaeology

A branch of historical archaeology studying the period in Europe between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance - c 500-1500 AD.

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Medieval Archaeology

Municipium

A Roman term of political classification, for a community incorporated into the Roman state after the dissolution of the Latin League. Initially, inhabitants of these municipalities were considered Roman citizens without voting rights. As the Italian provinces were incorporated into the Roman sta...

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Municipium

Borneo

The largest island of Southeast Asia, first mentioned in Ptolemy's "Guide to Geography" of c 150 AD. Joined to mainland Southeast Asia during the low sea-level Pleistocene period archaeological sequences have been found in the Niah Caves of Sarawak and the Madai-Tingkayu region of Sabah. The Niah...

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Borneo

Wadi

Arabic term for a channel of a watercourse that is dry except during periods of rainfall; intermittent watercourse.

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Wadi

Ceremonial Center

In the prehistoric New World, a complex of buildings that served as the focus of religious and governmental activities, differing from a village or town. These buildings were used at prescribed times by the peoples lived in a dispersed areas. Permanent residence was restricted to very few people ...

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