Cimmerians

A nomadic people of the south Russian steppes, known to us through the writings of Herodotus and the Assyrian records. In the 8th century bc, under pressure from the Scythians, they moved into Anatolia, while a related group called Thracians moved north-west into Europe. They may have played a pa...

archaeologsEnglishNations

Ciempozuelos

A Copper Age cemetery near Madrid in central Spain, which has given its name to a late variety of Spanish beaker. Most of the burials were flexed inhumations in cists. The Ciempozuelos beakers and other pots are of high quality with a red or brown burnished slip and incised decoration; they belon...

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Church

A building used for collective Christian worship, the performance of ceremonies, pilgrimages and the veneration of relics. The earliest churches were hidden in caves and catacombs but with the official acceptance of Christianity in the 4th century larger buildings, typically the basilican halls, ...

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Chullpa

A burial tower commonly found in the southern Peruvian Andes, especially in the Lake Titicaca basin. Of either circular or rectangular plan, chullpa are built from adobe or from a variety of natural or dressed stone. Often associated with the Inca, they were already being built and used in the La...

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Chu

[Ch’u]. A state that ruled a large area of central China during the Zhou period. According to tradition a Chu ruler was given a title by the second Western Zhou king, implying that a Chu kingdom existed as early as cl000 bc. Little is known of this kingdom until the Eastern Zhou period, however, ...

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Chu

Chronology

Related sequence of dates. Chronologies may be built up on archaeological grounds (e.g. cross dating, stratigraphy or typology) or from independent dating techniques (e.g. radiocarbon, ar-

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Christy

(1810-65). English banker who in the last three years of his life supported financially and assisted in person the French archaeologist Edouard Lartet in excavations in many of the great caves of southwest France, including Laugerie Haute, La Madeleine and Le Moustier. Christy left money for the ...

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Christy

Chotnica

[Hotnica]. A long-lived tell settlement site of the later Neolithic period, located in the Yantra Valley in north Bulgaria and dated to the late 5th to early 4th millennium be. The cultures found represent regional variants on Rumanian groups of the lower Danube valley and occur in three main occ...

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Choris

The earliest manifestation of the Norton tradition of Western Arctic prehistory. The most characteristic artefact is coarse stamped pottery, the technology for which was probably imported from Asia. Tool assemblages are usually diverse and clearly different from earlier levels, for example at Poi...

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Chopper/Chopping Tool

These names are given to simple forms of stone tool made on a nodule or cobble with a roughly flaked sharp edge. By convention, tools with the cutting edge flaked from one direction are called choppers and those flaked from two directions are called chopping tools. Their use is generally unknown,...

archaeologsEnglishTools

Chopper/Chopping Tool

Chondwe

An Iron Age site on the Zambian Copperbelt. It has given its name to the local manifestation of the Early Iron Age complex apparently established in the 4th or 5th century ad. Its closest affinities at this time were with the Lusaka area (compare Kapwir-imbwe) and, probably, with areas further to...

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Cholula

One of the independent Post-Classic centres of Mexico to survive after the fall of Teotihuacan, and the major locus for the production of the elaborate polychrome wares of the Mixteca-Puebla art style (see Mixtec). Located in the state of Puebla in Mexico, it is dominated by the largest pyramid i...

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Choga Zanbil

City near Susa in southwest Iran which was founded as a second capital of Elam in the 13th century bc by Untash-Gal, from whom it took its ancient name, Dur-Untash. The city was lavishly laid out but never completed; it declined in importance after the death of Untash-Gal. Excavations have expose...

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Choga Mish

Site in southwest Iran occupied in the 6th millennium be. The earliest layers have painted pottery related to that from Muhammed Jaffar, followed by pottery of Tepe Sabz and Susiana A (see Susa) types.

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names

Choga Mami

A settlement site of the Samarra culture near Mandali in southeast Iraq. The site which has radiocarbon dates of the late 6th millennium be, has several occupation phases spanning the transition from the Samarran to the Ubaid culture. The subsistence economy of Choga Mami was based on mixed farmi...

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Chodo

See Pusan.

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Chodo

Chloromelanite

A form of jadeite.

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Chloromelanite

Chivateros

A stratified site in the coastal Chillon Valley of central Peru, which has produced a lithic flake industry dating to as early as the Late Pleistocene. Radiocarbon dates of c8500 be, taken from wood fragments, have helped to define Chivateros I as the period c9500 to 8000 be. By crosscomparison o...

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Chiusi

[Roman Clusium]. Town in central Italy. Situated on a hill commanding the southern end of the Vai di Chiana, Clusium enjoyed in antiquity good agricultural fertility, deposits of iron and copper ore, natural hot springs, and a key position on trade routes. Settlement appears to be unbroken and su...

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names

Chiusi