An Upper Palaeolithic site near Kursk in Russia with a single occupation between 11,950-22,700 BP. There were pits and hearths and artifacts of shouldered points and animal and Venus figurines. Woolly mammoth dominates the large faunal assemblage.
Pertaining to a flaked stone tool with only one face or side retouched to make a sharp edge.
City on the western coast of Turkey with Hellenistic cemeteries containing hundreds of terra-cotta figurines.
A fine-textured, highly plastic sedimentary clay, usually composed of the mineral kaolinite, typically containing considerable organic matter and firing white or cream
Material added to clay to provide strength and improve the firing process.
A pottery-forming technique that involves use of a rotating mold that leaves its impression on either the interior or exterior surface of the vessel, which is otherwise shaped by wheel-throwing. When the clay body is placed within a concave mold, the process may be called jollying.
An accumulation of dead organic matter, mostly from plants, which becomes preserved mainly by the exclusion of oxygen. It is dark brown or black and partially decomposed, being preserved under anaerobic conditions in an environment of excessive moisture. Peat forms mostly in bogs and fens; the im...
The observable properties of sediments: composition, size, shape, orientation, and grain packing. These properties combine to provide data on processes and environment, giving much information about the past.
The name given to the oval or oblong figures in Egyptian hieroglyphics which enclosed characters representing royal or divine names or titles. The term is also used for the amulet of similar design worn in ancient Egypt as a protection against the loss of one's name (i.e., one's identity). In arc...
One of the earliest 1st Dynasty rulers of a unified Egypt, whose name means "The Fighter". Funerary remains at Abydos Saqqara and Naqada attest the reign and Flinders Petrie's excavation at Umm el-Qa'ab (Early Dynastic cemetery at Abydos) in 1899-1900 revealed objects bearing the name Aha in Tomb...
The goddess of the ancient Near East that was the chief deity of many important sites and the fertility goddess of the Phoenicians and the Canaanites. She is sometimes equated with Egyptian Isis, Babylonian Ishtar, Carthaginian Tanit, and Greek Aphrodite, Cybele, and Hera. She originated in Syria...
A tell site on a tributary of the River Khabur in northeast Syria with levels from the 5th millennium BC (Halaf period) to the mid-2nd millennium BC. It gradually grew in size and importance and during the reign of the Assyrian king, Shamsi Adad I (early 2nd millennium BC) and was an administrati...
The protection of artifacts and archaeological sites through activities that minimize deterioration and damage and that prevent loss of context and content.
A hilly region of Attica, Greece, which was important for silver mines from the Bronze Age in the 1st millennium BC. The region developed into a principal mining area, especially from about 483 BC until the end of the 5th century BC. The mines may have been worked as early as 1000 BC, but in 483 ...
A now-abandoned section of the trading center of Jenne in Mali, established by about the 3rd century BC. By late in the 1st millennium AD, Jenne-jeno had grown into a major urban center and it was important in trade for another 1000 years. Metal was one of the main commodities involved. The city ...
A term used to refer to the Acheulian industry people, who are believed to have developed into the Neanderthals.
Birth name (nomen) held by two 6th Dynasty rulers: Pepy I Meryra (c 2321-2287 BC), the third king of the 6th Dynasty, and Pepy II Neferkare (c 2278-2184 BC), the fifth king. Pepi II was a son of Pepi I and was born late in his father's reign.
The sharp ridge or edge formed by the junction of two smooth surfaces, especially on the midrib of a dagger or sword, or in moldings.
Indicating an early developmental stage of the main root word, e.g. prototype, proto-Villanovan, protohistoric, etc. It means "beginning" or "giving rise to.
Decorated with leaves or a leaf-like pattern
British archaeologist who worked at Mycenae, where he found the cult center, ant at Ayios Stefanos. He wrote "The Mycenaeans" (rev. ed. 1983).
A cave site in Baden, southern Germany, with Upper Palaeolithic occupation and rich Magdalenian occupation with jet artifacts, harpoon heads, burins, awls, backed bladelets, and decorated batons-de-commandement.
Site in the foothills of the Anti-Taurus Mountains, southern Turkey, of Samal, one of the Late Hittite city-states that perpetuated a Semitized southern Anatolian culture for centuries after the downfall of the Hittite empire (c 1190 BC). It was annexed by the Assyrians in the 7th century BC and ...
The modern capital of China. More than 2,000 years ago, a site just outside present-day Peking was already an important military and trading center for the northeastern frontier of China. The Shang civilization reached this area in the early part of their dynasty and a grave of c 14th century BC ...
A soft leather slipper or shoe, having the sole turned up and sewn to the upper in a gathered seam, originally worn by North American Indians
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