Mixtec

A linguistic and cultural group of the Oaxaca state of southern Mexico, especially the Mixteca Alta region. The Mixtecs and Zapotecs struggled for power in Oaxaca and Early Mixtec dynasties date to the 7th century AD. The people were mainly skilled craftsmen - known for their metalwork, painting,...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Mixtec

Pediment

A low-pitched gable forming the top section of the facade of a classical Greek and Roman temple; a triangular recess usually found at both ends of classical temples and treasuries and often filled with sculpture. In the classical temple, the outline of the triangle is formed by horizontal and 'ra...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Pediment

Paracas

Large ceremonial area and major Early Horizon culture on the south coast of Peru, showing direct influence from Chavín - especially in the pottery (called Ocucaje in the Ica Valley). The pottery is a highly individual polychrome ware with designs executed in resinous paint applied after the pot w...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Paracas

Celtic Art

An art style of the European Iron Age, c 500 BC, developed presumably by Celtic peoples. It originated on the middle Rhine River, extending to the upper Danube and the Marne. Its finest specimens are from the British Isles in the first century BC and AD. It appears most commonly in bronzework or ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Celtic Art

Sagvar

Upper Palaeolithic site in Hungary with radiocarbon dates of 18,900-17,760 bp. The artifacts, including endscrapers, are of the Gravettian.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Sagvar

Kulli

An important Chalcolithic culture and pottery style of south Baluchistan. The pottery is mainly buff and wheelmade, painted in black with friezes of elongated humped bulls, cats, or goats and spiky trees between zones of geometric ornament. Clay figurines of women and bulls are found in this cult...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Kulli

Emblematic Style

Stylistic variation that has a distinct symbolic referent, such as a logo.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Emblematic Style

Arystichos

A Greek or Roman vessel for drawing water, especially from amphorae.

archaeologsEnglishAncient Pottery, Others

Arystichos

Soroki

A complex of short-lived settlement sites of the Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic, located in the middle Dniester valley in Moldova. The Mesolithic sites, with radiocarbon dates of c 5600-5400 BC, have provided data on the late Mesolithic / early Neolithic Bug-Dniester culture. The earliest oc...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Soroki

Transfer-Print

A mass-production method of applying an image to a curved or uneven surface, most commonly used for printing on porcelain and other hard surfaced pottery

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Transfer-Print

Yuanmou

Early Palaeolithic site in Yunnan province, China, dated to 700,000 bp; Homo erectus dental remains were found.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Yuanmou

Filimoshki

A Pleistocene site on the Zeya River in eastern Siberia with flaked quartzite cobbles recovered from alluvium and classified as Lower Palaeolithic tools.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Filimoshki

Boian

A Neolithic culture (c 7000-3500 BC, some say Middle Neolithic c 4200-3700 BC) in lower Danube valley of southern Romania and characterized by terrace-floodplain settlements, consisting at first of mud huts and later of fortified promontory settlements of small tells. The Boian phase was marked b...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Boian

Sothic Cycle

In ancient Egypt, the civil year was a quarter of a day too short in relation to the rising of Sothis (Sirius), the Dog star, so that the new year advanced by one day every four years; New Year's Day and the rising of Sothis coincided again only after approximately 1,460 years. Period elapsing be...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Sothic Cycle

Petén

A geographical and cultural part of the Maya lowlands in Mesoamerica, including much of the southern Yucatán. The center of the Mayan Old Empire, Tikal, Uaxactún, and Altar de Sacrificios are in Petén.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Petén

Hanging Bowl

Any thin bronze, shallow bowl found in Anglo-Saxon graves up until the 7th century, an important part of a Celtic metal-working tradition which has its origins in the Roman and pre-Roman Iron Age. They have three equally spaced suspension rings, fixed to the bowl by escutcheons usually decorated ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Hanging Bowl

Haplotype

A specific combination of alleles within a gene cluster.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Haplotype

Skateholm

Mesolithic fishing sites in southern Sweden (Scania) with domestic areas and 80+ graves. The site is dated to 6000-5500 BP.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Skateholm

Guweicun

A late Eastern Zhou cemetery site in Hui-hsien, China. Three large shaft tombs has north and south entrance ramps and are similar in construction to far earlier Shang tombs. The largest of the three was marked at ground level by a low mound edged with large stones, a new feature modeled on works ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Guweicun

Soapstone

Dark gray or green soft soapy compact variety of talc that is easy to carve.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Soapstone

Libby Half-Life

The time required for half of the carbon-14 available in an organic sample to decay; the standard is 5568 years

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Libby Half-Life

Ur Iii Period

The third dynasty of Ur according to the Sumerian king lists, a time when Ur controlled much of Mesopotamia and the Zagros highlands. It began with Ur-nammu (2112-2095 BC) and the period is noted for the numerous economic texts from its administrative centers. Ur III collapsed under attack by the...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Ur Iii Period

Physical Sequence

The order of the layers as they appear in a mass of stratification, not to be confused with stratigraphic sequence, which is extrapolated from the physical sequence.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Physical Sequence

Uqair, Tell

Tell site south of Baghdad, Iraq, with a temple of the Uruk phase with unexpectedly fine wall paintings depicting mythical scenes. The fine polychrome wall paintings had human and animal figures. A small subsidiary chapel, later in date than the temple, contained a collection of pottery and four ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Uqair, Tell

Tiahuanaco

Large urban and ceremonial site which dominated the Titicaca Basin and the high Andes of Bolivia from c 100-1250 AD, a major Middle Horizon site and probably the capital of an empire. The central area has principal religious structures on a large rectangular plaza, a large U-shaped mound around a...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Tiahuanaco