Impluvium

In Roman architecture, a cistern or tank for collecting rainwater, situated in the atrium under an opening in the roof (compluvium).

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Impluvium

Basal Thinning

The intentional removal of small longitudinal flakes from the base of a chipped stone projectile point or knife to facilitate hafting or produced to remove small, longitudinal flakes from the basal edge of a projectile point in order that the tool or point could be more easily hafted or held.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Basal Thinning

Anyathian

A Pleistocene industry of stone tools in terrace deposits of the upper Irrawaddy River in Burma. The culture was characterized by primitive pebble tools (choppers, chopping tools) and a poor flakes made of silicifed tuff and fossil wood. The earliest assemblages may be of Middle Pleistocene date ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Anyathian

Chopper

Any large, simple stone or pebble tool with a single, transverse cutting edge. It was used for hacking, breaking, or chopping and was especially characteristic of Middle Pleistocene, pre-Acheulian industries of the Old World, such as Choukoutien, in the Clactonian in England, and at the earliest ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Chopper

Level Record

Written record completed for each level in each excavation unit, providing detailed information on how a given level was excavated and what was found in it.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Level Record

Levigated

Purified by sedimentation. When clay is mixed with water and allowed to stand, the coarser grains will settle to the bottom, and water and any vegetable impurities can be strained off the top. The layer between gives a particularly fine clay for delicate or high quality pottery. Levigation is the...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Levigated

Lime Springs

Site in northeast New South Wales, Australia with evidence of diprotodon, protemnodon, and other megafauna in association with artifacts. Kartan material is dated to 19,300 bp.

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names

Lime Springs

Spiral

A widely popular artistic motif, consisting of a curve of constantly increasing diameter; any motif which is coiled or curling. A double spiral is one in which two spirals are conjoined at the center. A running spiral is a series of regularly interconnected spirals.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Spiral

Zaminets

Settlement site of the Krivodol during the Eneolithic, c 2800 BC.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Zaminets

Pharaonic Period

The entire history of Egypt from the establishment of the monarchy in 2925 BC to the invasion of Alexander in 332 BC.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Pharaonic Period

Tintagel

Site on the northwest coast of Cornwall, England, with the ruins of a Norman castle stretching across the isthmus. It was built on the site of a Celtic monastery that appears to have existed from c 350-850 AD. Legend has it that King Arthur was born there. The earls of Cornwall occupied the castl...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Tintagel

Peak Sanctuary

Minoan cult location in the mountains of Crete. These sanctuaries had deposits of votive offerings but no monumental architecture.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Peak Sanctuary

Albarium

A white lime coating or type of stucco used in Roman times, used to cover brick walls after cement was applied. The mixture contained chalk, plaster, and white marble.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Albarium

Proto-Elamite

The earliest texts written in an undeciphered script by the civilization of Elam in the late 4th to early 3rd millennia BC. Like the early Sumerian writing, Proto-Elamite is pictographic and it may well be derived from the slightly earlier Sumerian script. Many of the Proto-Elamite clay tablets b...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Proto-Elamite

Glacial Eustacy

The theory that the adjustments in sea levels and the earth's crust result from expansion and contraction of Pleistocene ice sheets. It has been suggested based on observed patterns of Cretaceous rocks and physical calculations that, as the Earth's continents move about, the oceans bulge out at s...

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Glacial Eustacy

Stentinello

Neolithic ditched village site Syracuse in Sicily, the type site of the Sicilian version of impressed ware, which survives later than elsewhere. Round-based dishes and necked jars have elaborate impressed and, distinctively, intricate stamped designs and multiple excised chevrons filled with whit...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Stentinello

Baoji

An area situated on the north bank of the Wei River, a strategic and transportation center since early times, controlling the northern end of a pass across the Tsinling Mountains. There are Neolithic remains which may be antecedents of the Banpo culture. Western Zhou bronzes have been found in th...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Baoji

Cassibile

A Late Bronze Age settlement and cemetery containing 2,000 rock-cut chamber tombs near Syracuse in southeast Sicily. It is the type site of a Late Bronze Age phase - Pantalica II - of the early 1st millennium BC. The Pantalica culture was characterized by large urban settlements. Artifacts includ...

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Cassibile

Arlit

A Tenerian site to the west of the Air Mountains of Niger, dated to c 5500 BP.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Arlit

Psalia

Ancient accessories of horse bits or cheek pieces, comprising a pair of vertical rods which were attached perpendicularly to the ends of bits and served for attaching the reins and as a stop piece. Psalia of bone, wood, bronze, and iron were used everywhere there was horse riding. Their shapes ar...

archaeologsEnglishTools

Psalia

Historic Period

Any period of the past that can be studied from its written documents.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Historic Period

Koster

A site of long occupation in west-central Illinois, known as one of the first multidisciplinary endeavors of new archaeology; the findings serve as a benchmark for defining the Archaic period in the Midwest. The site is unusual for its long stratigraphic sequence of Archaic and Woodland settlemen...

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Koster

Chincha

A powerful ancient state on the southern coast of Peru which is known primarily from the study of historical sources, which flourished during the Late Intermediate Period, c 1000-1478. Chincha reached the height of its power in the early 15th century when it also controlled part of the Pisco vall...

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Chincha

Symbol

Expression which is arbitrarily associated with what it conveys; an arbitrary or conventional sign used in writing to represent operations, quantities, elements, relations, or qualities.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Symbol

Shatter

All angular waste resulting from stone toolmaking activities that are not otherwise diagnostic.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Shatter