Bellows Beach

A coastal occupation site on Oahu, Hawaii, which has produced some of the earliest occupation dates (600-1000 AD) of the island group. The assemblage is of Early Eastern Polynesian type: shell fishhooks, stone adzes, and bones of dog, pig, and rat.

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Bellows Beach

Asine

A pre-Classical Greek settlement and port on the east side of the Akrítas in the Argolid Gulf. It was originally settled by the Argives after the First Messenian War (c 735-715 BC). Evidence of Early, Middle, and Late Helladic settlement and of Hellenistic city walls remains. It was reoccupied du...

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Asine

Annealing

The treating of a metal or alloy with heat and then cold - or the repeated process of heating and hammering to produce the desired shape. After casting metal, it may be necessary to further process it by cold-working, hammering, and drawing the metal - either to produce hard cutting edges or to p...

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Annealing

Explanation

The end product of scientific research. In archaeology, explanation describes what happened in the past, and when, where, how, and why it happened.

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Explanation

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,...

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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...

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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...

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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 ...

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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.

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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...

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Kulli

Emblematic Style

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

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Emblematic Style

Arystichos

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

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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...

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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

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Transfer-Print

Yuanmou

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

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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.

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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...

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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...

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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.

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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 ...

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Hanging Bowl

Haplotype

A specific combination of alleles within a gene cluster.

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Haplotype

Skateholm

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

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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 ...

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Guweicun

Soapstone

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

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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

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Libby Half-Life