Catalog

An inventory of archaeological data in which an artifact is labeled with a reference number and described in detail. The catalog number is the unique number assigned to each individual item - or group of items - in an archaeological collection.

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Catalog

Zagros

Mountain range of southwest Iran from the Sirvan River (Diyala) to Shiraz, where a number of archaeological sites are located: Jarmo, Ali Kosh, Tepe Ganj Dareh, Tepe Guran, Tepe Sarab, and Zawi Chemi Shangi-Dar.

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Zagros

Polyhedron

A six-sided pebble or piece of stone which has been totally or partly reshaped by chipping of the surface in a number of directions; it resembles a ball. It was first created in pre-Acheulian and Acheulian and Middle Paleolithic times and used as percussion tools, throwing weapons, and nuclei for...

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Polyhedron

Odderade Interstadial

An Interstadial of the Weichselian cold stage, dated by radiocarbon to c 58,000 bp, but it may be earlier. The beginning of the Weichsel has been placed at about 70,000 years ago.

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Odderade Interstadial

Calendar Round

A ritually and historically important calendar used throughout Mesoamerica in which the solar calendar of 365 days ran in parallel with a sacred 260-day ritual calendar of named days. The calendar round is a 52-year cycle, since both calendars begin on the same day only once every 52 years. Coeff...

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Calendar Round

Burzahom

A Neolithic site in the Vale of Kashmir with phases of occupation dating from c 3050 BC to the 3rd-4th centuries AD. Deep pit dwellings are associated with ground stone axes, bone tools, and coarse gray burnished pottery. These characteristics plus the absence of blades, use of pierced rectangula...

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Burzahom

Seacow Valley

River valley in Cape Province, South Africa, with more than 14,000 Stone Age sites. The ceramic sequence dates to the millennium prior to European settlers. There is information about the Stone Age Smithfield hunter-gatherers from this area.

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Seacow Valley

Majiayao

Type site and culture of the late 4th to early 3rd millennium in eastern Kansu, eastern Tsinghai, and northern Szechwan, China. Majiayao is regarded as the earliest stage of the western or Gansu branch of the Yanshao Neolithic. Majiayao pottery designs, perhaps the finest known from the Chinese N...

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Majiayao

Cabalwanian Industry

A stone industry of flakes in Luzon, Philippines, thought to be early Holocene.

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Cabalwanian Industry

Lateral Excavation

The excavation or opening up of large areas so that subsurface features and architecture are broadly exposed.

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Lateral Excavation

Cast

A molded object

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Cast

Baden

A third millennium Copper Age culture over much of central Europe (the Carpathian basin: northern Yugoslavia, all of Hungary, most of Czechoslovakia, southern Poland, and parts of Austria and Germany). Ancient Baden was occupied by Celts and then by Germanic peoples and was conquered by Rome in t...

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Baden

Manmade Layer

A deposit that has been deliberately positioned and constructed by human action and thus may defy the laws of natural or geological stratigraphy.

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Manmade Layer

Schist

A coarse-grained metamorphic rock which consists of layers of different minerals and can be split into thin irregular plates

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Schist

Salinas La Blanca

Early Formative village site on the left bank of the Narajo River near Ocos, Guatemala. The principal features of the site are two low house-mounds constructed of clay and household debris and dating to 1000-850 BC. A typical household cluster consisted of the house and outdoor hearth, a number o...

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Salinas La Blanca

Shaduf

An irrigation tool invented in ancient times, consisting of a long wooden pole with a receptacle at one end and a counterbalancing weight at the other, for transferring water out of a river or canal. This hand-operated device is still used in India, Egypt, and some other countries to irrigate lan...

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Shaduf

Tulang Mawas

Literally, "monkey bone" a long-shafted socketed iron ax of Iron Age peninsular Malaysia c 300 BC.

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Tulang Mawas

Spatulate

A flared celt, usually 8-10 inches long with a smooth, slender handle, used mainly like a chisel or knife

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Spatulate

Reclamation Process

The transition of cultural materials from the archaeological record back into the systemic context; archaeological excavation itself is reclamation

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Reclamation Process

Leister

A two-pronged forklike fish spear made of two bone or antler heads with barbs pointing inwards and backwards. They are recorded from Mesolithic and lakeside Neolithic settlements, as well as present-day use by the Eskimo, mainly for salmon.

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Leister

Ukhaidir

The ruins of a castle or early Islamic fortified palace in Iraq, assigned to the 8th century on the basis of style and construction. It was probably built by the Abbasid prince Isa b. Musa in 778.

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Ukhaidir

Fujiwara

The site of the first urban capital of the Chinese Chang'an model in Nara Prefecture, Japan, built in 694 AD. It was abandoned after only 20 years for Heijo.

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Fujiwara

Hardaway Point

Bifacially worked chipped stone projectile point with a triangular outline, a slightly hollow base, and a side notch towards the base on either side. Named after the construction company that used the site on which many examples were found by Joffre Coe in the 1950s, Hardaway points are thought t...

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Hardaway Point

Ideational Strategy

A research perspective that defines ideas, symbols, and mental structures as driving forces in shaping human behavior.

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Ideational Strategy

Leilan, Tell

Site on the Wadi Jarrah, northwest Syria, identified as Shubat Enlil, the capital of Shamshi-Adad I of 1813-1781 BC. Occupation began in the early 4th and extended to the 2nd millennium BC. The sequences include 'Ubaid, Uruk, Ninevite 5, and an occupation with Khabur ware. In the 3rd millennium B...

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Leilan, Tell