Reticulated Work

In masonry, it is a type of facing used on ancient Roman concrete or mortared rubblework walls. It appeared during the late Roman Republic and succeeded the earliest type of facing, an irregular patchwork called opus incertum. Reticulated work looks like a diagonal checkerboard with its square st...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Reticulated Work

Tazza

A cup-like vessel, usually in a light-colored fabric, with a stem and foot, decorated with bands of frilling. The frequent occurrence of signs of burning on the inner surface of such vessels indicates their possible use as lamps. May have been used in religious rituals.

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Tazza

Chephren

The fourth king of the 4th Dynasty (c 2575-2465 BC) of Egypt, Cheops' (Khufu) son. Chephren erected the second pyramid of the Giza group as well as the Great Sphinx. He reigned c 2540 BC. The middle pyramid was and measures 707 3/4 feet (216 m) on each side and was originally 471 feet (143 m) hig...

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Chephren

Coclé

A region in Panama where the type site of Sitio Conte has yielded deep rectangular tombs with grave goods of a rich ceramic and metallurgical tradition of c 500-1000 AD. The Coclé region was strongly influenced by the Quimbaya style. It is particularly known for its striking gold pieces set with ...

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Coclé

Samrong Sen

Late prehistoric settlement site in central Cambodia, c 1000 BC, with polished stone adzes and bronze implements.

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Samrong Sen

Brownware

A brown-glazed earthenware; also, pottery that fires to a brown or reddish color.

archaeologsEnglishAncient Pottery

Brownware

Arawak

A number of linguistically associated native groups - the Antillean Arawak or Taino - who inhabited the villages of the Greater Antilles and parts of mainland South America. They were slash-and-burn agriculturists who cultivated cassava and maize. The people were arranged in social ranks and were...

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Arawak

Ground Reconnaissance

A collective name for a variety of methods for identifying archaeological sites, including consultation of documentary sources, place-name evidence, local folklore and legend, but primarily the visual inspection from groundwork of a potential site.

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Ground Reconnaissance

Cultural Selection

The process that leads to the acceptance of some cultural traits and innovations that make a culture more adaptive to its environment; somewhat akin to natural selection in biological evolution. The process leads to differential retention of cultural traits that increase a society's potential for...

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Cultural Selection

Qairawan

Important caravan city in north-central Tunisia on the east-west route between Egypt and the Maghreb. Founded in 670 on the site of the Byzantine fortress of Kamouinia, it has four major 9th-century structures: the Great Mosque, the Mosque of Three Doors, and two massive cisterns. The Great Mosqu...

archaeologsEnglishAncient Cities, Place Names

Qairawan

Font De Gaume

A painted cave close to Les Eyzies in the Dordogne region, southwest France. Excavations have revealed archaeological levels deep in the interior spanning several earlier Upper Palaeolithic phases, but the polychrome paintings of bison and other animals date from the late Magdalenian at the end o...

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Font De Gaume

Pella

The ancient capital of King Archelaus of Macedonia at the end of the 5th century BC (until 168 BC) and birthplace of Alexander the Great. It is in northern Greece, northwest of Thessaloníki. The city flourished under Philip II, but, after the defeat of the last Macedonian king by the Romans (168 ...

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Pella

Fertile Crescent

The region in the Middle East where the civilizations of the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin began. The term was invented by the American Orientalist James Henry Breasted in 1916. It applied to the crescent-shaped area of cultivable land between the highland zones and the West Asian deser...

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Fertile Crescent

Magellan Periods

A chronological sequence covering 8000 BC-1000 AD constructed on the basis of assemblages from Fell's Cave and the Palli Aike Cave in Patagonia, South America. The sequence is divided into five phases, describing a series of hunting and marine adaptations. The earliest assemblage (Magellan I) con...

archaeologsEnglishPeriods

Magellan Periods

Syria-Palestine

Geographical area of western Asia comprising the southern and northern sections of the Levant, bordered by the Sinai peninsula to the southwest, the Mediterranean to the west, Anatolia to the north, and the Arabian desert and Mesopotamia to the south and east. This eastern Mediterranean seaboard ...

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Syria-Palestine

Type I Error

The error of inadvertently rejecting a true hypothesis.

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Type I Error

Günz Glaciation

The first major Alpine glacial advance and first major Pleistocene glaciation (ice age), which started c 590,000 years ago and lasted until the end of the Mindel glaciation. The Günz preceded the Günz-Mindel Interglacial and followed the Donau-Günz Interglacial, both periods of relatively moderat...

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Günz Glaciation

Peplos

A type of Greek woman's garment, made of wool, long and sleeveless, being fastened on each shoulder with a pin, and having a deep fold hanging free from neck to waist. In the Panathenaic festival every four years a new peplos embroidered by Athenian women was carried in procession to the Acropoli...

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Peplos

Chromatography

A technique of separating colored substances and analyzing their chemical structure by chromotographic adsorption. Differences in the rate of movement along a liquid or solid column are noted and used for the identification of organic substances. Archaeologically this can be useful for identifyin...

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Chromatography

Rounded

A term used to describe a basal edge which has rounded stem outline. Also a term to describe a point which is not sharp or barb types.

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Rounded

Pincers

A tool for gripping with, often used to pinch objects together.

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Pincers

Lemba-Lakkous

Chalcolithic settlement of the mid-4th to mid-3rd millennia BC in western Cyprus. Circular huts of stone and pisé were accompanied by pit grave burials.

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names

Lemba-Lakkous

Total Station

An electronic theodolite combined into an electronic distance meter and an electronic data collector.

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Total Station

Edaphic

Of or pertaining to the soil; resulting from or influenced by the soil rather than the climate. Edaphic factors are those ecological factors associated with the properties of soil and underlying rock which, along with climate, determine the characteristics of the surrounding plant and animal life.

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Edaphic

Moose Mountain

A medicine wheel in southern Saskatchewan, Canada. There is a central cairn surrounded by an ellipse of stones; radiating from the center are five stone lines, each ending in a small stone cairn. There are radiocarbon dates of c 2600 BP and 1700 BP.

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Moose Mountain