Pot

Pre-Classic Period

A period in Mesoamerican archaeology during which agriculture formed the basis of settled village life, c 2000 BC-250 AD. The earliest writing - glyphs - in Mesoamerica began in this period. The Olmec was the first culture to appear in the Preclassic. A similar level was attained in Peru at about...

archaeologsEnglishPeriods

Pre-Classic Period

Tillya-Depe

Iron Age site in southern Bactria, Afghanistan, dating to the first half of the 1st millennium BC. There was a central fortified architectural platform and a group of Kushan royal tombs dug after abandonment. The graves were very rich with gold vessels and jewelry and were dated to the late 1st m...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Tillya-Depe

Levigate

In pottery making, a method of purifying clay by sedimentation. The clay is thoroughly mixed with water and then left to stand. The coarser particles will sink to the bottom while the water and any organic impurities will rise to the top and can be poured off. In the middle there will be a layer ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Levigate

Saite

The 26th dynasty of Egypt (664-525 BC) is known as the Saite period as its pharaohs took Sais in the Delta as their capital. It was characterized by a notable revival in Egyptian art and Egyptian nationalism. The Saites were overthrown by the Persian invasion under Cambyses.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Saite

Las Haldas

Initial Period ceremonial site on the north-central coast of Peru. The earliest ceramics have yielded radiocarbon dates of about 1800 BC. There is a stepped pyramid, three plazas, smaller mounds, and sunken courts along a linear axis.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Las Haldas

Baile Herculane

A large cave site in Rumania where flint implements from the Paleolithic Period (about 2,500,000 years ago) and Neolithic objects were found. There is important Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic and Copper Age stratigraphy comprising three main occupation horizons: Upper Palaeolithic levels cor...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Baile Herculane

Mortuary Cult

A group providing regular funerary offerings for the eternal well-being of the deceased and in hopes of partaking in the salvation offered by the deity. The mortuary cults of many peoples indicate that the dead were imagined as actually residing in their tombs and able to receive the offerings of...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Mortuary Cult

Pecos Conference

A convention of southwestern archaeologists established in 1927 by A.V. Kidder in an attempt to organize prehistoric material of the American Southwest. The conference, to determine a uniform cultural chronology and a relatively consistent terminology, is still held today.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Pecos Conference

Munsell Soil Color Charts

A color identification system for sediment, soil, chert, pottery, and rock; an aid used in the physical examination and recording of objects where color is felt to be an essential or at least a significant aspect of the analysis. Devised by Albert H. Munsell, the three factors of hue, value, and ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Munsell Soil Color Charts

Bar Hammer Technique

A stone-flaking technique using a bone, antler, wood, or other relatively soft material as a hammer to remove small, flat flakes from a core during flint knapping. These flakes have a characteristically long, thin form with a diffuse bulb of percussion.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Bar Hammer Technique

Pseudo-Isodomic

A Greek masonry style with squared blocks placed in alternating wide and narrow layers.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Pseudo-Isodomic

Bucket

A cylindrical open container with a handle, used to carry liquids

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Bucket

Drachma

A Greek silver coin equivalent to six obols. In Athens, drachma were often decorated with Athena's head and her owl.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Drachma

Ucayali Sequence

In eastern Peru, a number of sites near Pucallpa, where the many pottery styles have been placed into a 4,000-year sequence.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Ucayali Sequence

Accession Number

The number assigned to an archaeological collection that identifies its origin; part of the catalog number.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Accession Number

Ayacucho Complex

A valley in southern Peru, north of the city of Ayacucho, with a series of caves - notably Pikimachay (Flea) Cave and Jayamachay (Pepper) Cave - which were the site of a complex of unifacial chipped tools (basalt and chert core tools, choppers, unifacial projectile points) and bone artifacts (hor...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Ayacucho Complex

Welding

The joining together of pieces of metal, esp. iron and steel, by heating and hammering or pressure. It was done to combine the different qualities of malleability or hardness of these metals. This method was used in Europe at end of Iron Age to produce effective sword blades. Later, welding was d...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Welding

Egolzwil

A series of Neolithic sites around former Lake Wauwil in Switzerland from the earliest phase of the Neolithic in that area. Most of them belong to the Cortaillod culture and have well-preserved organic material. The site of Egolzwil 4 had ten rectangular wooden houses placed close together. Food ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Egolzwil

Akh

In Egyptian religion, the spirit of a deceased person and one of the five principal elements considered part of a complete personality - the other four being the ka, ba, name, and shadow. Akh is a state in the afterlife, both immortal and unchangeable, and the result of the successful reunion of ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Akh

Feather Termination

A gradual thinning of a lithic flake at the distal end to an extremely sharp point or edge.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Feather Termination

Network Analysis

The study of any network or system of links, sites, points, and nodes, especially a communication system such as roads. The way in which the network is organized is studied rather than the actual lengths of the links, to determine the degree to which an efficient system has been evolved. Roman ro...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Network Analysis

Páramos

A biome of wet grasslands or forests at high elevations with alpine-type vegetation characterized by tussock grasses and cushion plants.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Páramos

Caelatura

From the Latin word meaning "to emboss, engrave" a general term for working in metal by raised work or intaglio such as engraving carving chasing riveting soldering or smelting. Similar work on wood ivory marble glass or precious stones was called sculptura.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Caelatura

Ogham

A Celtic script used for writing in northwest Europe, probably created in the 2nd-3rd centuries AD, and used for writing Irish and Pictish languages. The alphabet has 20 letters represented by tally marks on either side of or crossing a horizontal baseline. The script is better suited for carving...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Ogham

Aqar Quf

The settlement site of the Kassite city of Dur-Kurigalzu in northern Babylonia (Iraq) dating c 1400-1150 BC. There was a ziggurat and temple complex.

archaeologsEnglishOthers