Triaxial Body

A modern prepared clay body consisting of a clay, an aggregate or filler, and a flux

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Triaxial Body

Lunate

A crescent or half moon-shaped flint with the inner edge untrimmed and the thick, rounded edge having small chips removed; used as arrowhead.

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Lunate

Tin Glaze

The process of adding tin oxide to other ingredients during the glazing of pottery to produce an opaque, white-enameled effect. It was used from c 1000 BC by the Assyrians; in the 8th-9th centuries AD, Persian and Islamic potters rediscovered the technique and it was transmitted to Spain, Italy, ...

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Tin Glaze

Broadbeach

A burial site along the coast south of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Excavations uncovered 200 burials over a span of 1300 years, with wide variations in burial practices, possibly related to age, sex and status. Red ochre was present in nearly all graves, while grave goods included bone, shel...

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Broadbeach

Akashi

A site near Kobe City, Japan, where fossil Homo bones were found in 1931. The bones have been dated to the Holocene.

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Akashi

Historiography

The writing of history, with particular reference to the examination and evaluation of primary source material. Historiography is also the study of the development of historical method. The study is based on the critical examination of sources, the selection of facts from the authentic materials,...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Historiography

Xia

The first of the Chinese dynasties of the Sandai period in China, according to tradition dated c 2205-1766 BC. It is said to have been overthrown by the Shang (Yin). Some archaeologists regard Erlitou as a Xia site and archaeological surveys have been undertaken at related sites in western Henan ...

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Xia

Plunging Termination

A distinct curvature of the distal end of a lithic flake towards the center of the core.

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Plunging Termination

Boulder Clay

A clayey deposit of the Ice Age which contains boulders. Also, the clay of the Glacial or Drift period.

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Boulder Clay

Chultun

A bottle-shaped underground cistern found at some sites in the Maya lowlands. They were probably used for water or food storage.

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Chultun

Glaciation

The process by which land is covered by continental and alpine glacier ice sheets or the period of time during which such covering occurred; several glaciations are required to make up an Ice Age (as the Pleistocene). The land is subject to erosion and deposition by this process, which occurred r...

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Glaciation

Place, Victor

French Consul in Mosul and excavator of Khorsabad (the first archaeological excavations in Mesopotamia), succeeding Paul-Emile Botta. His finds were lost in shipment down the Tigris.

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Place, Victor

Praetorium

A Roman commander's house in a fort or fortress, rectangular in shape with a central court surrounded by a verandah onto which all rooms opened. Outside the house, but attached to it, was the private bathhouse. The term eventually meant any large house or palace.

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Praetorium

Nitriansky Hrádok

A multiple-phase defended settlement site of the Boleráz culture, a transition from the Eneolithic to Early Bronze Age, located on the banks of the River Nitra, western Slovakia. It dates to the late 3rd-early 2nd millennia BC. There was a double ditch and timber-framed rampart; the tell-like acc...

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Nitriansky Hrádok

Alchi

A town in Ladakh, Tibet, where a number of nomads' tombs were discovered and excavated between 1900-1910 by A.H. Francke. Each tomb contained from 3-20 long-headed skulls many small handmade pottery vessels filled with bones and grave goods including bronze beads pendants bracelets and bronze ves...

archaeologsEnglishAncient Pottery, Ancient Cities, Place Names

Alchi

Satingpra

Area on the east coast of Thailand with sites from the later 1st and early 2nd millennia AD, including Kok Moh, possibly associated with Langkasuka.

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Satingpra

Cinerarium

A place for depositing the ashes of the dead after cremation. Also, a niche in a tomb for holding an urn of ashes or a sarcophagus.

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Cinerarium

Ad Sanctos

Describes the custom or arranging to be buried in or beside a church. Around 313 AD when Constantine's edict granted tolerance to Christians, miniature temples were erected over tombs of martyrs. This was the start of funerary basilicas adjacent to towns from the 4th century onward. It was believ...

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Ad Sanctos

Trait List

A list of characteristics describing an archaeological culture.

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Trait List

Déchelette, Joseph

French archaeologist and author of monographs on Mont Beuvray (Bibracte) and decorated pottery vases of Roman Gaul and a four-volume manual of prehistoric archaeology (Manuel d'Archéologie Préhistorique, Celtique, et Gallo-romaine; 1908-1915) which greatly influenced protohistoric studies in Fran...

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Déchelette, Joseph

Cuirass

A piece of armor to protect the torso, both front and back, and often molded to the contours of the body. Originally made of thick leather, it was variously made of laminated linen, sheet bronze, or iron, or scales of horn, hide, or metal. In Homeric and Hellenistic times, it was made of bronze. ...

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Cuirass

Paestum

A Greek coastal colony founded in Lucania, southwest Italy, c 600 BC. It is known for three almost complete Doric temples of the 6th and 5th centuries BC, a forum (3rd century BC), amphitheater, shrine, temple of Peace, and a number of smaller temples. The temples were dedicated to Argive Hera, P...

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Paestum

Flûte De Pan

A type of suspension lug found on pottery of the Chassey, Cortaillod, and Lagozza cultures. Several vertical clay tubes, of width suitable to take a suspension cord, are set side-by-side on the wall of the vessel. The lug resembles a pan pipe or a section of corrugated cardboard.

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Flûte De Pan

Olmalenge

Kenyan Pastoral Neolithic pottery tradition. There is a northern faces in the Turkana region and a southern facies in Nakuru Basin.

archaeologsEnglishRegions, Ancient Pottery

Olmalenge

Aerial Photographic Map

A map of a site, feature, or region made through aerial photography. Professional photographic and cartographic techniques make possible the preparation of contour maps and three-dimensional models of surfaces.

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Aerial Photographic Map