Pintle

A pin or bolt, especially one on which some other object turns.

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Pintle

Pick

Long narrow core tool, sometimes slightly curved in profile, truncated at one end and pointed at the other. Typical of the Sangoan in Africa.

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Pick

Parmana

An area of the Middle Orinoco drainage, Venezuela, which shifted from root crops to seed crop cultivation (mainly maize) between 800-400 BC. The cultivation of maize gave rise to an increase in population and provided the basis for the emergence of chiefdom-led societies.

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Parmana

Fontéchevade

A French cave site in the Charente region, dated to the Riss glaciation. It has fragments of a human skull in association with chopping tools of Tayacian or Clactonian character dating from the Riss or Riss-Würm Interglacial period. The Fontéchevade skull has been classified as pre- or early Nean...

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Fontéchevade

Prime Mover

A concept in the study of the origins of civilization, meaning a single, primary cause generating urban societies. This includes crucial factors that stimulate cultural change; the causal variable in a simple, direct, and inevitable relationship, resulting in a particular effect. Many theorists c...

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Prime Mover

Ethnographic Present

That point in time when a traditional culture came into contact with individuals from literate cultures, and was documented by them.

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Ethnographic Present

Katoto

An Iron Age cemetery on the Lualaba River, southeastern Zaire, probably dating to around the 13th century AD, and is contemporary with the Iron Age Kisalian tradition. The collective graves were accompanied by rich and varied grave goods including pottery, copper, and iron artifacts, notably an i...

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Katoto

Albani Stone

A pepper-colored stone used in ancient Roman buildings before the introduction of marble. The stone may have come from two volcanic craters which formed the modern Lake Albano, southeast of Rome.

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Albani Stone

Flake Scraper

A scraping implement for making flakes

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Flake Scraper

Llano

The earliest Palaeoindian Big Game Hunting culture, from the plains of New Mexico, 10,000-9000 BC. Best-known is the type site of Blackwater Draw; other sites were located in what was once boggy lakeshore. Its chief diagnostic trait is the presence of Clovis materials, especially the fluted point...

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Llano

Piraeus

The main port of Athens, fortified in 5th century BC and linked to Athens by Long Walls for a 10 mile corridor to the sea. At Piraeus, three harbors were used - Peraiki, Munychia, and the Great Harbor of Kantharos (Cantharus). Athenian statesman Themistocles persuaded his colleagues about 493 BC ...

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Piraeus

Dzibilchaltún

A large Maya ceremonial site in northwest Yucatan Peninsula, one of the largest Mayan cities ever built, covering 50 square miles and having a maximum population of over 50,000 around 1000 AD. Its occupation was continuous from 500 BC to the late Classic and Early Post-Classic, from 600-1000 AD, ...

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Dzibilchaltún

Garstang, Professor John

British archaeologist prominent in Near Eastern archaeology, including his major excavations at Mersin (Turkey), Sakje Geuzi (Syria), Jericho (Palestine), Meroe (Sudan), Beni Hassan, Esna, and Abydos (Egypt). He made major contributions to the development of Near Eastern prehistory.

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Garstang, Professor John

Prone

A term used to describe the position of a burial where the body is lying flat on the stomach or with the face down.

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Prone

Erectine

A term used for a now-extinct member of the genus Homo, including Homo erectus, who lived in Africa, Asia, and Europe during the Lower and Middle Pleistocene. Erectines walked upright, may have used fire, and are often associated with the Acheulean industries, especially with hand axes.

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Erectine

Topography

Art or practice of graphic depiction on maps or charts of the natural and man-made features of a place or region, especially to show their relative positions and elevations in relief and contour. Another definition is the configuration of a surface including its relief and the position of its nat...

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Topography

Excision

Removal by cutting; the act or procedure of removing by or as if by cutting out

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Excision

Retouched Flake

A flake that has had small flakes removed to blunt, sharpen, refine the outline or prepare the edge of the tool.

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Retouched Flake

Triumphal Arch

In Roman architecture, a form of monument used to commemorate victories, the achievements of emperors, or the restoration of peace. The archway is usually freestanding and decorative, the earliest occurring in the 2nd century BC, and found in all provinces. Consisting of one to three arches, some...

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Triumphal Arch

Amarna Period

A phase in the late 18th Dynasty, including the reigns of Akhenaten, Smenkhkare, Tutankhamun, and Ay (1379-1352 BC), when important religious and artistic changes took place. The name is derived from the site of Akhenaten's capital at Tell el-Amarna.

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Amarna Period

Xinyang

City in southern Honan province, China, traditionally on a cultural divide between the plains and the hilly districts. The area has been settled since early times. Neolithic remains have been discovered in several sites, and important finds from the southern culture of Ch'u (722-220 BC) have also...

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Xinyang

Mobiliary Art

A general term used to describe the small and portable objects produced by artists during the Upper Palaeolithic period. These included carved or engraved stone, bone, ivory, or antler, and small crudely fired clay models. Artifacts include figurines, artists' trial pieces, decorated weapons, too...

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Mobiliary Art

Bubastis

An Egyptian site in the southeastern Nile delta with monuments of the 22nd Dynasty.

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Bubastis

Legion

A military unit forming the backbone of the Roman army, nominally composed of 6,000 soldiers, and divided up into 10 cohorts, with each cohort containing 6 centuria. The centurion thus nominally commanded about 100 men, and there were 60 centurions in a legion. Each was based at a legionary fortr...

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Legion

Dressel Form

A system for classifying the shape of ceramic amphorae developed by H. Dressel (1845-1920) which was published in 1899. The system is still in use, although continually being expanded as new varieties are found.

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Dressel Form