Archaeologs - Archaeologs

Hivaoa

Hittites

A people who established a kingdom in central Turkey in the 2nd millennium BC and later extended it into northern Syria. Their first capital was at Kushara, not yet identified, but it was soon moved to Hattusas, modem Boghazkôy. The Hittites did not originate in Anatolia and are thought to have i...

EnglishNations

Hittites

archaeologsNations

Hissarlik

See Troy.

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...

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...

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.

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.

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...

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...

Hieroglyph

Hierakonpolis

An important Predynastic Egyptian settlement located 100 km north of Aswan. The town was of considerable extent: estimates of its population vary greatly, but the figure is almost certainly in excess of 5000. In proto-dynastic times Hierakonpolis was the capital of southern Egypt: important disco...

EnglishAncient Cities, Place Names

Heuneburg

Hillfort of the Hallstatt Iron Age, overlooking the River Danube in Württemberg, southern Germany. The site has five main building phases, the most remarkable of which was the second, when the traditional timber-framed construction was replaced by a Greek type of construction, with a bastioned wa...

EnglishArchitectural

Heuneburg

archaeologsArchitectural

Hesi

Tell site on the Palestinian coastal plain west of Hebron, occupied from the Early Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period. It was excavated in the 1890s first by Sir Flinders Petrie and subsequently by F.J. Bliss, and these early excavations mark the beginning of stratigraphical excavation in this ...

EnglishPlace Names

Hesi

archaeologsPlace Names

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.

Herzfeld

Herpaly

A regional variant of the trio of Late Neolithic cultures (Tisza, Herpdly, Czoszhalom) found in the Great Hungarian Plain <4000-3400 be. The Herpdly culture, distributed in the northern Alfold zone, is characterized by tell settlement and intramural burial. The tells tend to occur on narrow penin...

Herculaneum

[Modern Ercolano], A small but wealthy and sophisticated Roman seaside town 8 km from Naples which, like Pompeii, was damaged in the earthquake of 63 ad and destroyed in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79. For beginnings, we have the option perhaps either of an original Greek settlement, or of an Osc...

EnglishAncient Cities

Herat

For centuries the largest town in western Afghanistan, Herat stands on the Hari Rud. Already important in pre-Islamic times, it is sometimes identified as the capital of the Achaemenid satrapy of Aria and the Hellenistic city of Alexandria Ariana. Herat was captured by the Arabs in 645 and therea...

Hengelo Interstadial

An interstadial of the Weichselian cold stage. It is dated to around 39,000 bp.

Henge

Type of ritual monument found only in the British Isles in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. They consist of a circular or irregular area enclosed by a bank with a ditch usually but not univerally on the inside. They range in size from monuments c30 metres across like Woodhenge to the vast late...