Hound Tor

See manor, deserted graphic succession. This sequence is nowadays

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Hound Tor

Hougang

[Hou-kang]. Type site of the Henan Longshan or Hougang II Neolithic culture, at Anyang in Henan province, China. Hougang and for applying decoration to the mould prior to casting (e.g. replication of pattern units carved on master stamps). was the first site to show Yangshao, Henan Longshan and S...

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Hougang

Houma

[Hou-ma]. A city in southwestern Shanxi province, China, where extensive remains of an Eastern Zhou city have been under excavation since 1956. Houma is believed to be the site of Xintian, capital of the Jin state from 584 bc until 453 bc, when Jin was partitioned by Han, Zhao, and Wei. Several t...

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Houma

Hoshino

Palaeolithic site in Tochigi City in central Honshu, Japan. During excavations in the 1960s thousands of tools, mostly of chert, were recovered from 13 layers. Choppers, scrapers, and flakes in the lowest seven layers should be older than 55,000 years, and those in the next two layers over 30,000...

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Horsehoof Cores

Domed cores on blocks with flat based striking platforms, heavily step-flaked around their marigins. Both very large and smaller varieties are found commonly on Pleistocene sites in most areas of Australia and on some mid-HoLOCENE sites. It used to be believed that the step-flaked edges resulted ...

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Horsehoof Cores

Horrea

[Plural form of Latin horreunv. ‘storehouse, granary’]. The large-scale granaries of the Roman Empire, of which classical illustration may be found at Roman Ostia. Often constructed of brick-faced concrete, and arranged around a central colonnaded court, the industrial nature of their architectur...

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Horrea

Horn Cores

Bony projections from the skull which support horns. The horn itself forms a tight sheath around the core, which is removed for horn working. Large accumulations of horn cores on some archaeological sites appear related to this industry.

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Horn Cores

Horizon

In soil science a horizon is a layer formed in a soil profile by soil-forming processes. When used in an archaeological context, the term implies a spatial but contemporaneous relationship between cultural complexes. It is used particularly widely in North American prehistoric archaeology. Typica...

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Horgen

Settlement site on Lake Neuchatel, Switzerland, which has given its name to a Middle Neolithic culture, which succeeded Cortaillod in north Switzerland. The characteristic pottery is coarse without decoration or with applied cordons; most vessels are bucket-shaped. Horgen pottery resembles that o...

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Hopewell

A widespread Middle Woodland culture whose major focus was in southern Ohio, USA, but with sites as far away as Kansas and the Florida Gulf Coast. Sometimes seen as an extension of Adena, it is characterized by large earthworks, ceremonial burial practices and long-distance trade. Both inhumation...

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Hong Kong

Hong Kong was firmly incorporated in the Chinese cultural sphere in the late Chou and Han Dynasties (late 1st millennium bc), and prior to this had a prehistory closely connected with that of neighbouring mainland south China. Earliest sites in Hong Kong date from about 3500 bc and belong to Meac...

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Homo Sapiens Sapiens

Technical name of modem man. See human evolution.

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Homo Sapiens Sapiens

Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis

Technical name of Neanderthal Man. See human evolution, Neanderthal.

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Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis

Homo Habilis

Early hominid form of the period 2 to 1.5 million years ago, found mainly in East Africa. Some authorities believe Homo habilis to be closely related to the Australo-pithecines, while others believe it to be different from the Australopithecines and directly ancestral to man. See also Australopit...

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Homo Erectus

Early form of man found between cl.6 and 0.5 million years ago. Many remains have been found in Java: see Mojo- bungmacan, Sangiran, Trinil. Other examples come from Zhoukoudian and Yuanmou in China and Tham Khuyen in Vietnam, and there are now fairly numerous examples also from Africa. See also ...

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Hominid

See human evolution.

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Hominid

Holstein

Group of Quaternary interglacial deposits in northwest Europe. They are stratified above Elster glacial deposits and are overlain by Saale glacial deposits (see Table 5, page 418). Their exact age is unknown, but they are older than the extreme range of radiocarbon dating (70,000 bp) and can be s...

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Holocene

The latest epoch of the Quaternary period, starting at 10,000 bp and extending to the present day. This epoch is, in reality, merely the most recent interglacial stage of the Quaternary, and the concept of a Holocene epoch is not a very useful one. In Britain, the term Flandrian is used to descri...

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Hohokam

An early group of settled agriculturalists in North America. Their core area was in the drainage basin of the Salt and Gila Rivers in the southern Arizona desert. Traditionally 300 bc marks the earliest Hohokam manifestation, though their origin (and their disappearance) is still unclear. A major...

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Hohmichele

A large barrow close to the Heuneburg hillfort in southern Germany. The barrow still stands to a height of 13 metres and covered 13 burials (eight inhumations and five cremations) of the later Hallstatt Iron Age (6th century bc). Two burials (one containing a man and a woman, the other a woman on...

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Hohmichele

Hoedic

A small island off the coast of Morbihan in southern Brittany where a large mass burial of 13 individuals, with antlers placed over it, was discovered. The artefacts were of Tardenoisian type and the whole site was a Mesolithic midden or shell mound.

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Hoedic

Hod Hill

The site near Blandford Forum, Dorset, southern England, of an Iron Age hillfort with evidence for numbers of circular huts, the whole being defended by huge ramparts. It was attacked by Roman artillery under Vespasian in 44 ad. The Romans made use of the northwest comer only, and constructed a f...

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Hochob

See Chenes.

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Hochob

Hoard

Term for a collection of objects buried usually at one time. Hoards can contain artefacts of any material and any number of different materials, but hoards of metal objects are particularly common. Depending on the circumstances of deposition, the make-up of hoards will vary. For instance, a merc...

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Hoabinhian

A major stone tool industry of the mainland of Southeast Asia, with extensions into Sumatra and perhaps the northern Philippines. Dated sites range from about 12,000 be onwards, and overlap with Neolithic assemblages with pottery and ground stone tools for several millennia after 6000 be. Best de...

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Hjortspring

Find-spot on the island of Ais, southern Denmark, of an Iron Age long boat preserved in a peat bog. The boat, cl7.5 metres long, was built of planks, not nailed together but tied and caulked with resin; both stem and stem terminated in carved ram’s heads. Inside was a mass of weaponry — wooden sp...

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Hivaoa

See Puamau Valley.

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Hivaoa

Hissarlik

See Troy.

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Hissar

Tell site near Damghan in northern Iran, occupied from the 5th to the early 2nd millennium bc. The earliest levels are characterized by fine painted pottery, decorated with designs of animals and birds, and by the presence of copper artefacts. In the 3rd millennium bc the painted pottery was repl...

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Hissar

Hispano-Moresque Pottery

Highly decorated ceramics that were produced in the late medieval period by the Moorish potters of Spain. They tend to be plates and jugs with bold semi-abstract designs painted on a creamy background and with a gold lustre finish. These wares were much in demand throughout Europe and, judging fr...

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Hippodrome

[Greek: ‘horse race-course’]. Much the same as a stadium, but intended rather for horse- than foot-racing. The hippodrome rather than the stadium is the initial model for the Roman circus, which likewise concentrated on chariot-races.

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Hillfort

Term for a hilltop settlement defended by stone walls or earth ramparts. Settlements of this type occur in many parts of the world at different times, but the term is most commonly applied to sites of the later Bronze Age and Iron Age in Europe.

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High Lodge

A site close to Mildenhall in Suffolk where distinctive Palaeolithic tools were found in the 19th century, including classic Quina type scrapers similar to those found in the Charentian culture of France. The main occupation is from lake clays over- lying a glacial boulder clay, but it is now kno...

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Hieroglyph

Egyptian hieroglyphic writing was developed about 3100 bc and continued in use with remarkably little change until the 4th century ad. Its meaning seems to have been forgotten soon afterwards and the hieroglyphs were not deciphered until early in the 19th century following the discovery of the bi...

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Hieroglyph

Herzfeld

(1879-1948). German archaeologist who excavated on many sites in the Middle East before World War II, including Persepolis, Samarra and Tall-i Bakun.

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