Cave Of Hearths

A cave in northern Transvaal which yielded the right side of a Homo sapiens child's jaw, of Rhodesioid type, dating from about 50,000 years ago. It is located close to the Makapansgat site, the oldest cave site known in Africa. Both offer extremely early evidence of the use of fire by man in Afri...

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Cave Of Hearths

Nile

The longest river in Africa and the world, stretching for 6741 km, rising in highlands south of the equator and flowing northward through northeastern Africa to drain into the Mediterranean Sea. Its waters and fertile flood-plain allowed Egyptian civilization to develop in the deserts of northeas...

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Nile

Hamburgian

A Late Upper Palaeolithic culture of north Germany and the Low Countries, contemporary with the Magdalenian of France, c 13,000-11,750 BP. It was the culture of the first people to colonize north Germany and the Low Countries after the final retreat of the Pleistocene ice sheets had made the area...

archaeologsEnglishCultures

Hamburgian

Keros-Syros

Cultural phase of two islands in the Cyclades, corresponding to Early Cycladic II, c 2700-2300 BC, in traditional chronology. An open-air sanctuary filled with marble figurines on the island of Kéros (Káros) is assignable to the Early Bronze Age.

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Keros-Syros

Provenience Lot

A defined spatial area, in either two dimensions (for surface data) or three dimensions (for excavated data), used as a minimal unit for provenience determination and recording.

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Provenience Lot

Stillbay

Site on Cape Province, South Africa, with an assemblage of Late Paleolithic stone tools and dating c 30,000-50,000 years ago. The stone flake culture reached from Ethiopia to South Africa along the eastern coast and produced a variety of stone tools that are similar to the Mousterian industry of ...

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Stillbay

El Tajín

The major ceremonial site of the classic Veracruz civilization on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. The first construction goes back to 100 BC and building was continuous until c AD 1200 when the site was burned and abandoned. The principal structure is The Pyramid of Niches with 365 square niches built ...

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El Tajín

Sohar

The principal town of the Batina coast of Oman in the Sassanian and early Islamic periods, owing its wealth to maritime trade. In the 3rd century it became the center of the Sassanian enclave known as Mazun but did not become prominent until the 10th century, when Omani merchants went to China, t...

archaeologsEnglishAncient Cities, Place Names

Sohar

Nene Valley Ware

A type of Roman pottery made by an organized industry on the banks of the River Nene west of Peterborough, by the Roman town of Water Newton (ancient Durobrivae), England, from the 2nd-4th centuries AD. (It was formerly known as Castor Ware.) The commonest shapes are drinking vessels and tumblers...

archaeologsEnglishAncient Pottery

Nene Valley Ware

Narva

A Neolithic culture and its type site in the eastern Baltic coast region (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania; parts of Poland, Belarus) and dated to the 4th-3rd millennium BC. Similar in type to the ancestral Kunda culture, the Narva economy was based on hunting and fishing, with more tools of bone and a...

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Narva

Ground Survey

A surface survey technique using direct observation to gather archaeological data that is present on the ground surface. The term includes mapping and surface collection of artifacts.

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Ground Survey

Ogdoad

A group of 8 deities or eons (four male-female pairs) associated with Hermopolis, who symbolize the state of the world before creation. The group's composition varies, but its classic form is: Nun and Naunet, primeval waters; Huh and Hauhet, endless space; Kuk and Kauket, darkness; Amun and Amaun...

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Ogdoad

Mica-Dusted Pottery

Pottery coated with a slip containing mica particles to give a golden or bronze-like sheen. Also called mica-gilt pottery.

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Mica-Dusted Pottery

San

The hunter-gatherer people of southern Africa who once lived throughout the region and spoke a number of languages before becoming absorbed into agricultural societies. They were a nomadic egalitarian society with small bands of about 20 people. Men hunted with bow-and-arrow and women gathered pl...

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San

Superimposition

The application of glass on top of other glass surfaces, including methods such as threading, banding, quilting, and casing.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Superimposition

Bayeux Tapestry

A medieval embroidery depicting the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, which is considered a remarkable work of art and important as a source for 11th-century history. It consists of a roll of unbleached linen worked in colored worsted with illustrations and is about 70 m long and 50 cm deep. Th...

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Bayeux Tapestry

Classification

The ordering of archaeological data that share certain attributes or characteristics into groups and classes; the divisions arrived at by such a process. Classification is the first step in the analysis of archaeological data - when particles or objects are sorted or categorized by established cr...

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Classification

Amenemhet

The name of four of the 12th Dynasty pharaohs, under whom the Middle Kingdom of Egypt reached its peak of development, c 1938-1756 BC. The name meant "Amun is at the head". They include Amenemhet I (1938-1908 BC) (Sesostris I or Senwosret 1918-1875 BC) Amenemhet II (1876-1842 BC) (Sesostris II 18...

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Amenemhet

Don Noi

A Neolithic site in Thailand where stone-working was done near chalcedony quarries, dating to the 3rd millennium BC. Tools made included flaked adzes utilized flakes.

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Don Noi

Slashed Cup

Type of miniature cup or accessory vessel found in early Bronze Age (Wessex II) graves in southern England. Generally less than 15cm across, slashed cups are characterized by having a narrow base, narrow mouth, and an expanded body with vertical slots cut in the side

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Slashed Cup

Redistribution

A mode of primitive exchange in which the operation was directed and controlled by some central organizing authority; a complex process that was a critical part of the evolution of civilization. Goods are received or appropriated by the central authority and subsequently some of them are sent by ...

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Redistribution

Jaguar Cave

Cave in Tennessee with aboriginal footprints and charcoal dating to 4700 BP. It is also the name of a cave site in Idaho, dating to the 9th and 10th millennia BC, with early evidence of the dog.

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Jaguar Cave

False Entrance

An elaborate architectural element of Egyptian tombs and mortuary temples which was a dummy entrance where the true entrance would normal be. The false entrance was for show and it served as the focal point of a tomb and had a door carved or painted, presumably through which the ka could enter an...

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False Entrance

Civitas

A term used in the later Roman Republic and under the Roman Empire for a favored provincial community. Some were exempted from tribute payment and Roman judicial jurisdiction. Others received grants of self-government and were not subject to military occupation. The term also referred to citizens...

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Civitas

Box Tile

A baked clay tile shaped like a rectangular box, open at both ends; often used for flues and occasionally for voussoirs.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Box Tile