A ruling line descended from the Yüeh-chih, a people that ruled over most of the northern Indian subcontinent, Afghanistan, and parts of Central Asia during the first three centuries of the Christian era. It began as a nomadic tribe in the 2nd century BC. Under Kaniska I (fl 1st century AD) and h...
A general relationship between the size of a settlement and its rank within a set of settlements. If sites are ranked in order of size on a logarithmic scale, the population of the Nth rank city will be 1/Nth the size of the largest; thus the 3rd site will be 1/3 the size of the largest. The rule...
A predicted archaeological site locality; a center of cultural activity. The term is also applied to a distinct portion of an archaeological site, typically separated from other parts of the site by space devoid of cultural materials. Many open-air sites consist of various loci spread over a rela...
A regional variant of the earlier Bronze Age 'North Caucasian' culture group, located in the Kuban Valley of southwestern Russia dated to the mid-2nd millennium BC. It was also the name of an industrial complex of the late Bronze Age to early Iron Age, dated to the early 1st millennium BC in the ...
Nubian stone industry belonging to the period of high water levels in the Nile Valley prior to 9000 BC. There are various local stone tool assemblages and Qadan people evidently fished, hunted and consumed large quantities of wild grains.
A Maya settlement located in San Salvator which was buried by the eruption of the Laguna Caldera in 684 AD. There is a farmhouse of the 5th century AD preserved under the ash, which bodies huddled in one room and the contents still in excellent condition.
An elaborate gold ornament which is an example of 9th century Anglo-Saxon craftsmanship and found at Somerset, England in 1893 (now in Ashmolean Museum, Oxford). It consists of an enameled plaque with an oval portrait in different-colored Cloisonné, enhanced with filigree wire and backed by a fla...
A cave site southeast of Rome where the skull and jawbone of a Neanderthal man were found, dating to 57,000-51,000 BP.
A settlement site in northeast Thailand with burial deposits from 3600 BC-1600 AD and which was occupied from c 4500 BC. Rice was grown and bronze cast according to the earliest records. Iron and rice paddy field cultivation began in the 2nd millennium. The basal burials are associated with incis...
The properties of an artifact that definitively reflect the mental, cognitive component of culture.
A small tool consisting of a thin, tapering, sharp-pointed blade of bone, flint, or metal used for piercing holes, making decorations, or in assisting basketweaving.
A site on the Italian Riviera near the French border with caves and rock shelters of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic flint industries, mainly Aurignacian and Gravettian assemblages (also termed Grimaldian industries). The caves also have elaborate Homo sapiens sapiens burials with grave goods inclu...
The process of examining how well various hypotheses explain the actual data, eliminating those that are invalid, and identifying those that best fit the observed phenomena. A successful hypothesis is found to be the best approximation of truth given the current state of knowledge. In archaeology...
A site in the eastern Nile delta of Egypt, probably the ancient city of Avaris, a Palestinian Middle Bronze Age occupation.
The Egyptian hieroglyphic sign for "life" consisting of T-shape surmounted by a loop. It represents a sandal strap or the handle of a mirror. The ankh is commonly shown being carried by deities and pharaohs and was widely used as an amulet. Temple reliefs frequently included scenes in which a kin...
Relating to a view of human culture stressing shared, homogenous culture; important to defining cultural units in time and space. It argues that an individual society has a uniform and standard way of doing things and that these norms are represented by particular homogeneous patterns in the arch...
A name derived from the French for "wing" describing the areas of a church basilica or temple between the arcade or arches or columns and the outer wall on both sides of the nave. It is also used to describe the wing of a building and the side passages of a Roman house.
The study of animal remains in an archaeological site, as by identifying bones or shells, examining butcher marks, and so on. The analysis is used to determine past hunting and dietary practices.
The original name and modern nickname for the giant Flavian Amphitheater in Rome, whose construction began during the reign of the emperor Vespasian (69-79 AD), between 70-72. The name apparently derived from an adjacent colossal statue. It was officially dedicated in 80 AD by Titus in a ceremony...
A joint that holds two parts together so that one can swing relative to the other; a natural joint that performs a similar function, for example that of a bivalve shell.
Megalithic site in eastern Senegal of the 6th-8th centuries AD. There are 30 monuments and nine circles of upright stones enclosing multiple burials. The pottery suggests a highly stratified society.
A reed of the sedge family growing in Mediterranean lands, particularly Egypt along the banks of the Nile. It is the flexible writing material produced from the plant. By splitting and opening out its stems, laying them together in two layers at right angles to each other, then beating them toget...
Port on the west coast of Thailand with Middle Eastern glass and Chinese glazed stonewares from the late 8th and 9th centuries AD. It was probably linked by an overland route to Laem Pho.
A horizontal crosspiece at the bottom of a wall opening.
Large site on the southern coast of Peru occupied in the early Nasca phases of the Early Intermediate period and reoccupied during Inca times.
EnglishTools, Artifacts