Spectrographic Analysis

Method for quantitative analysis of small samples of various compounds which has high accuracy. It involves passing the light refracted from a sample through a prism or diffraction grating that spreads out the wavelengths of trace elements into a spectrum. This enables the identification of diffe...

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Spectrographic Analysis

York

Legionary fortress in Roman Britain, one of England's best-preserved sites. Of particular interest are the deposits in the Coppergate area which illustrate the period when the city was an important center of the Vikings. In Roman times, it became a bishopric and renowned as a center for learning ...

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York

Casas Grandes

A culture, river, and site in Chihuahua, northern Mexico. The town's name, Spanish for great houses refers to the extensive, multistoried ruins of a pre-Columbian town, which was probably founded in 1050 and burned around 1340, after which the abandoned valley lands were occupied by the Suma, who...

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Casas Grandes

Alto Salaverry

A Late Preceramic site on the north coast of Peru with the first sunken circular structure, which eventually was used in other ceremonial sites of the Initial Period.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Alto Salaverry

Flaker

Any pressure-flaking tool, often made from bone or antler, used to detach flakes in stone material in knapping; an implement for flaking flint.

archaeologsEnglishArtifacts

Flaker

Hierarchical

Classified according to various criteria into successive levels or layers; referring to societies with a graded order of inequality in ranks.

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Hierarchical

Jermanovice Point

Laurel-leaf points, flaked completely on one side but bifacially only on the lower part of the blade and on the bulb of percussion. Characteristic of the Upper Palaeolithic Jermanovice Culture in Poland.

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Jermanovice Point

Parenchymous Organ

Root, tuber, rhizome, or corm of a plant.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Parenchymous Organ

Otley-Type Ware

Type of late Saxon wheel-thrown pottery of the period c. AD 850-1150 found in Yorkshire and the north midlands of England.

archaeologsEnglishAncient Pottery

Otley-Type Ware

Quadrant Method

A procedure for excavating a circular feature such as a mound, barrow, pit, etc. by laying out trenches. Material is extracted from four quarters of the feature, starting with the two opposite each other and ending with the other two. The quadrants are slightly offset, so that the outer face of t...

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Quadrant Method

Maskhutah, Tell El-

Ancient Egyptian city located near Ismailia in al-Isma'iliyah muhafazah (governorate). Mentioned in the Bible (Exodus 1:11) as one of the treasure cities built for the pharaoh by the Hebrews, it was known to have been enlarged by the Ramesside pharaohs, especially by Ramses II (reigned 1279-13 BC...

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Maskhutah, Tell El-

Antimony

A brittle metallic substance that has been used in the preparation of yellow pigments for enamel and porcelain painting. It forms a fourth constituent in alloys, along with nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, bismuth, and some others in forming triads and pentads.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Antimony

Alabastron

A Greek container made of alabaster but sometimes clay, used for unguents.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Alabastron

Glost

Glaze firing; the firing process in which a glazed ware is fired, usually having already been fired once (the bisque firing) before application of the glaze

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Glost

Náhuatl

A Uto-Aztecan language; the language spoken by the Aztecs and many other Mexican tribes. Related languages are disturbed sporadically from the northwestern United States to Panama. Still widely spoken in the Basin of Mexico, it is the source of a number of words current in the English language, s...

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Náhuatl

Unidirectional Core

A core that has had flakes removed from only one direction.

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Unidirectional Core

Shengwen

Pottery of early postglacial Cina, predating the Neolithic Cishan and Hemudu wares. It is coarse with a textured surface decoration.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Shengwen

Sample Element

A member of a sample, which can be a space, a time period, or a countable entity.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Sample Element

Embossing

The raising of portions of a ceramic piece to form decorative or functional patterns.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Embossing

Intercultural Style

A style of decoration of stone vessels, normally made of chlorite, found in Iran, Mesopotamia, and the Persian Gulf in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. Vessels and other objects made of chlorite, steatite, serpentine, and other soft stones, shared a rich iconography. A production center ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Intercultural Style

Battleship Curve

A lens-shaped seriation graph formed by plotted points representing artifact type frequencies. The rise in popularity of an artifact, its period of maximum popularity, and the artifact's eventual decline would be plotted, as well as its origin and disappearance.

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Battleship Curve

Puducun

A village in Chang'an Xian, China, near the modern city of Xi'an. Western Zhou bronzes include a vessel dated by its inscription to the reign of the fifth Zhou king Mu Wang (10th century BC).

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Puducun

Trelleborg

Site in southern Zealand, Denmark, of a well-preserved Viking fortress of c 1000 AD. It is an insular type Viking military camp with a central circular fortification, substantial earth-and-timber bank, and four timber gates. The internal enclosure is divided into four quadrants each containing fo...

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Trelleborg

Electrum

A natural or artificial alloy of gold and silver (at least 20%) from which artifacts were once made and used to make the first known coins in the Western world. Most natural electrum contains copper, iron, palladium, bismuth, and perhaps other metals. The process of extracting the silver from the...

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Electrum

Loophole

An opening through an exterior or free-standing wall, smaller than 20 cm in length or diameter - possibly used for sighting or viewing or for shooting arrows.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Loophole