Others

Alfred The Great

Our impression of King Alfred is largely gained from two sources: the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and the biography written by his friend and teacher Asser. Bom in Wantage in 849, Alfred succeeded to the throne of Wessex in 871 and had several encounters with invading Danish forces before whom he was ...

Alfred Jewel

An outstanding example of 9th-century Anglo-Saxon craftsmanship found at Newton Park, Somerset, in 1893 and now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. The jewel is a unique piece, about 8 cm long, consisting of an oval portrait (believed to be a personification of sight) executed in different coloured ...

Alcala

Cemetery of the early metal ages in southern Portugal containing cORBEL-vaulted tombs of the megalithic tradition. This site, like Los Millares, was formerly thought to be a colony of Aegean settlers; few now accept this view.

Alcala

Albarello

A late medieval Spanish drug-jar with particularly fine tin glaze over typically blue designs that imitate the forms of Arabic script. Early albarelli were made in several parts of Spain and have occasionally been found in Britain and the Netherlands.

Albany industry

Stone industry of southernmost South Africa, dated between the 11th and 6th millennia bc, best known from stratified assemblages at Boomplaas and Robberg. It directly precedes the appearance of the local backed-microlith Wilton industry. Albany assemblages contain few formal tools other than unst...

Albany industry

Alapraia

Site of a group of rock-cut tombs of the Copper Age near Lisbon in Portugal. Simple chambers were entered through smaller vestibules. Finds include ritual objects such as clay sandals, clay lunulae and so-called ‘pine-cones’ (named from their shape; their function is unknown). Beaker pottery also...

Alamgirpur

Situated northeast of Delhi in the Ganges Valley, Alamgirpur is the easternmost known site of the Harappan civilization. The small late Harappan settlement was succeeded after a gap of unknown duration by an occupation with Painted Grey ware, when iron was in use, and by later phases of occupation.

Alalakh

Ancient name of the north Syrian city located at Tell Atchana.

Alalakh

Alaka

Number of shell middens located in the mangrove swamps of the northwest coast of Guyana have been grouped together into the Alaka Phase. An Archaic lifestyle based heavily on shellfish-gathering is indicated throughout. Some crude percussion-made stone tools, manos and metates are present, with c...

Alaka

Alacaluf

See Fuegian tradition.

Alacaluf

Alabastron

Greek name for a small jar for perfume or oil, originally of alabaster. The shape is often globular, sometimes tall and narrowing, with narrow mouth, and often without handles. See also aryballos.

Alabaster

See gypsum.

Aksum

SccAxum.

Aksum

Akrotiri

See Thera.

Akkad

[Agade]. Archaeologically unlocated site, near Babylon (or, possibly, Babylon itself), capital city of the Akkadian empire founded by Sargon either in 2370 bc (on the middle chronology, see Mesopotamia, Table 3, page 321) or a century earlier (on the high chronology).

Akira

See Pastoral Neolithic of East Africa.

Akira

Akhenaten

An Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, who reigned from cl379 to 1362 bc and is remembered principally for his proscription of the priesthood of Amun and the adoption of the worship of the sun-disc Aten as the state religion. To facilitate the change, Aten-worship having apparently become of ma...

A-kalam-dug

The name of a king inscribed on a seal in one of the graves (Grave 1050) of the Royal Cemetery at Ur, thought to represent a local ruler in a period preceding the First Dynasty of Ur.

A-kalam-dug

Ajuerado

SccTehuacan Valley.

Ajuerado

Ajjul

See Gaza.

Ajjul

Ajanta

Buddhist shrine in central India. number of cave temples were constructed here from the 1st century BC to the 5th century ad and afe famous for their wall paintings, which show scenes from the Jatakas (stories about the lives of the Buddha in earlier incarnations).

Aitutaki

See Cook Islands.

Aitutaki

Ainu

The native people of Hokkaido, southern Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands, Japan, who numbered about 17,000 in the 1940s. Before their way of life changed radically in the 19th century, they lived mostly by hunting, fishing and collecting, but they also grew some plants, such as buckwheat. It was o...

Ain Mallaha

[Eynan]. large village of the early Natufian period by Lake Huleh in Upper Jordan. Each of the three phases contained about 50 substantial circular houses and open areas with storage pits. The size of the settlement (c2000 square metres) and the well-built houses suggest that this settlement was ...

Aija

See Recuay.

Aija

Ahu

A rectangular stone platform, with stepped sides in larger examples, which served as a focus for rituals in the courts of prehistoric Eastern Polynesian temples (maraé). Construction of such platforms was most developed in the Society Islands, and in Easter Island, where ahu served as statue foun...

Ahrensburg

[Ahrensburgian]. A village close to Hamburg in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany; beside the village are two important late Palaeolithic sites, Meiendorf and Stell-moor, less than a kilometre apart. The main layer at Stellmoor is dated to c8500 bc, and some workers have attributed this to a distinct Ah...

Aguada

A culture dominant in the Valliser-rana region of northwest Argentina in the period ad 700-1000, and notable for the fine quality of its arts. Incised and polychrome decorated ceramics and ceremonial artefacts of bronze and copper are characteristic and reflect a probable influence from Tiahuan-a...

Agrigento

[Greek Akragas]. Modem Agrigento, on the coast of southern Sicily, partially overlies the Greek colony of Akragas, an aggressively expansive and prosperous trading centre during the 6th and 5th centuries bc. There is some evidence for earlier settlement, possibly Neolithic. The classical settlers...

Agrelo

Located in an area 20 km south of the city of Mendoza, Argentina, Agrelo and several related sites are thought to represent the agriculture-pottery threshold in this marginal semi-arid area. No evidence of irrigation is discernible, even though it would have been necessary to any cultivation stra...

Agrelo

Agop Atas

See Madai Caves.

Agop Atas

Aghia Triadha

See Ayia Triadha.

Aghia Triadha

Agger

A Latin military term meaning a rampart, earthwork or embankment. The term is applied in a broad way and is used, for instance, for the artificial earthworks erected to support battering engines and for the slightly raised causeway that formed the basis of most Roman roads.

ageing of skeletal material

Age at death may be estimated from ancient skeletons in a number of ways: (a) Epiphyseal fusion. Long bones grow in zones just behind their joint surfaces. Thus a growing bone consists of three elements: the central part, or diaphysis, and the ends, the ephiyses. When the bone reaches adult size,...