Cartailhac

(1843-1921). Eminent French prehistorian of the 19th century. Although he made many contributions to French archaeology, he is best remembered today for his long refusal to accept the authenticity of cave art. When he was finally convinced, after a visit to the Spanish site of Altamira, he wrote ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Cartailhac

Carp's Tongue Sword

Type of bronze sword found mostly in north-west France and southern England in the Late Bronze Age (early 1st millennium BC). It had a flange hilt, a broad slashing blade and a long projecting point, which has given the type its name. See Atlantic Bronze Age, Huelva.

archaeologsEnglishWeapons

Carp's Tongue Sword

Carnyx

Celtic war-trumpet used in battle to produce noise and panic. It was constructed with a straight body of bronze, topped by a bronze animal head, usually that of a boar, with the tongue acting as a clapper. The carnyx was in use from the 2nd century bc to the first century ad and is known mostly f...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Carnyx

Carnac

A region of south Brittany, northern France, famous for its stone alignments. Each group consists of 10-13 parallel rows several kilometres long, some ending in semicircular or rectangular enclosures. The stones, nearly 3000 in number, were chosen carefully and planned so that they decreased stea...

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names

Carination

A sharp angle in the profile of a pottery or metal vessel.

archaeologsEnglishAncient Pottery, Others

Carib

A native group occupying the Lesser Antilles at the time of Columbus. Originating somewhere on mainland South America, they migrated along the islands, displacing the Arawak, probably by force. The Arawak language, however, remained; and the new group is distinguished from the old by the absence ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Cardo

[Latin: ‘hinge’]. Term for the main north-south axis of Roman towns and military forts and camps. Technical use of the term seems to originate with Roman agricultural surveying practice, where cardo denotes the principal north-south axis of the site, about which other measurements ‘hinge’. In a t...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Carchemish

Tell site on the Euphrates River on the Turkish-Syrian border. It was occupied from the 5th millennium be, but became an important city only after the Hittite conquest in the 14th century bc. Carchemish remained important after the fall of the Hittite empire, during the period of the Syro-Hittite...

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names

Carbonization

Terms often used by archaeologists to describe organic materials preserved in a carbon-rich form, as a result of partial burning. Charring is a more precise word for this process.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Capua

[present-day Santa Maria di Capua Vetere]. This important coastal town in Campania, southern Italy, already had an early Iron Age settlement in the 9th century bc. Some time towards the end of the 7th century bc it was occupied by the Etruscans, who transformed it into a very prosperous city, fam...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Capstone

A large slab of stone set horizontally to cover a megalithic tomb or cist grave.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Capstan Neolithic

The Capsian industries of the Maghreb were succeeded by a somewhat heterogeneous series of assemblages, including pottery and — in some cases — evidence for the practice of food-production, to which the name ‘Capsian Neolithic’ [Néolithique de tradition capsienne] has generally been given. Potter...

archaeologsEnglishPeriods

Capstan Neolithic

Capsian

Post-PLEiSTOCENE industry of North Africa which occurs in several facies. The Typical Capsian, dated to c6500 be, characteristically occurs on shell middens and has large burins, backed blades and other implements. It is restricted to a limited area south of Tebessa near the present border betwee...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Capitol

[CapitoliumJ. The Capitol in Rome acted as citadel and religious centre for the city from its beginnings. The Capitol comprised twin hillocks overlooking the Forum. On the northern of the two hills was a citadel, and on the southern the great temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. The temple, whose found...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Capitol

Capital

In architecture, the decorative topmember of a column, usually made of wood or stone. Portraying a moulded part (echinus) below, and a flat slab (abacus) above, it eases the visual transition from column shaft to the roofing beam (architrave) above. Decoration was normally according to one of the...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Capeletti

A cave in the Aures Mountains of eastern Algeria which has yielded the clearest picture yet available of early North African pastoralism by a ‘Capsian Neolithic’ population. The first appearance of small stock (sheep and/or goats) appears broadly to have coincided with the beginning of pottery ma...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Capeletti

Cape Krusenstern

A site with evidence of long occupation on the north Alaskan coast, at which chronological associations have been uniquely preserved. The major cultures of Arctic prehistory, spanning a period from c3000 bc to historic times, are represented here. (The Palisades complex at nearby Ingitkalik Mount...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Cape Gelidonya

Part of the rugged coast of southwestern Turkey, famous for the underwater excavation of a very early ship, wrecked off this coast in the late Bronze Age (13th century bc). The small merchant ship was carrying a cargo of copper and bronze ingots, still wrapped in basketry. The presence of tin oxi...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Cape Gelidonya