A Neolithic culture and site of the 5th millennium BC in Huaian Xian, northern Jiangsu province, China. It succeeded Hemudu and merged with Dawenkou. It had unpainted openwork ceramics with pedestals.
The stress of a crushing force applied to a material
A replica of a balsa raft constructed by Thor Heyerdahl in 1947 to test the hypothesis that South American Indians could have drifted into Polynesia. This was the type of raft used in the 16th century AD along the coasts of Ecuador and northern Peru. He sailed the raft from South America to the T...
A small cylindrical glass bottle, typically for medical samples or medicines
Area where archaeological remains can be found on the surface of the ground.
A device using a light-sensitive material on a silicon microchip to electronically detect light to produce an electronic image.
An important early Indonesian port in west Java that was along the spice trade route in the first centuries AD. The burial site yielded crucibles, bronze items, and Indo-Roman rouletted ware.
Socially recognized relationships based on real or imagined descent and marriage patterns. Kinship ties impose mutual obligations on all members of a kin group.
A site on the island of Kea in the Aegean, occupied in the Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC). There was a fortified town with links to Minoan Crete. There are very large female terra-cotta figures in the temple.
Palaeolithic site in Kraków, Poland including Middle Palaeolithic assemblages of the Last Interglacial and subsequent cooler periods. The Upper Palaeolithic assemblages of the Aurignacian date to the Interstadial preceding the Last Glacial Maximum.
A 'Ubaid site in Iraq with important architecture of the 'Ubaid and Uruk periods.
The practice or act of burying the dead.
A structure on which woven cloth is manufactured, comprising a frame set horizontally across vertical supports. The warp threads were tied across the frame from front to back so that they could be wound out as weaving proceeded. The warp was usually arranged so that alternate threads could be rai...
A wheel with a groove in it for a rope or cord, used to raise heavy objects.
A belief that science consists of theories about the empirical world, that its goal is to develop better theories (achieved by finding mistakes in existing theories), and that theories should be vulnerable to error and open to testing.
The piercing element of a composite projectile point or harpoon head. (See also projectile point.)
The most likely statistical age of an object dated by radiocarbon. This date comes from the laboratory and is expressed in radiocarbon years before present (calculated as the age before 1950 AD) with a plus or minus factor; e.g., 3618 ? 120.
The number assigned to an archaeological collection that identifies an aspect of context within a collection; part of the catalog number.
A nail similar to a finishing nail but heavier and used for trim where strength and concealment are required
Cushite king who conquered Egypt and founded its 25th (Ethiopian) Dynasty. He ruled Egypt from about 719/718-703 BC. He had old texts recopied and also revived the practice of pyramid burials. He was interred in a pyramid at Mount Barkal, between the Third and Fourth cataracts of the Nile.
A bison kill site in southern Alberta, Canada, with evidence of use from 3700 BC.
A group of tells on the Diyala River in east-central Iraq with the best evidence for the threefold subdivision of the Mesopotamian Early Dynastic period (3rd millennium BC). The stratified ceramic sequence from Jemdet Nasr to the late Early Dynastic times, combined with the findings from Tell Asm...
Island 100 miles (160 km) off the southeast coast of the China mainland. Taiwan had a native aboriginal population of Malayo-Polynesian ancestry and it occupies an important position in the prehistory of Southeast Asia. Evidence for pre-Neolithic settlement is from c 3500 BC, followed by a Neolit...
Middle Palaeolithic cave in Tadjikistan in the west Himalayas, with several Mousterian levels, and the skeleton of a Neanderthal child. The site is dated c 44,000 BP.
A square pillar with one of its faces carved in the form of a colossal statue of the god Osiris or a dead king. The pillar, most likely in an open court or portico, was not a weight-bearing element. Most are mummiform.
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