Kill Site

Any archaeological site that was primarily used for killing and butchering animals. It is recognized by its distinctive location, tools assemblages, or animal bone evidence. These sites are also recognized through taphonomy.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Kill Site

Flake Knife

A cutting implement for making flakes

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Flake Knife

Bit, Horse

A metal mouthpiece attached to a bridle, used to control a horse. The domesticated horse was probably first controlled with a simple halter. Bits, the mouthpiece of a horse's bridle, consisting of a bit-mouth and adjacent parts to which the reins are attached. Bits with cheek-pieces of antler did...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Bit, Horse

Unit Of Stratification

A term which can be applied to any layers, interfaces, or structures found in the recording of the stratification of an excavation.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Unit Of Stratification

Beringia

The part of the continental shelf that connects Northeast Asia with present-day Alaska. These were the polar continental shelves that escaped glaciation during the ice ages but which were exposed during periods of low sea level, which facilitated migration of people to North America from Asia, an...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Beringia

Ugaritic

An extinct Semitic language spoken and written from at least the middle of 2nd millennium BC at Ugarit and the surrounding area. It belonged to a western group of Semitic languages (i.e. Arabic, Hebrew) and was conveyed alphabetically - the earliest alphabet for which we have a complete record. T...

archaeologsEnglishAncient Languages

Ugaritic

Melkarth

One of the gods of the Phoenicians, whose name means 'ruler of the city'. He was the chief deity of Tyre and two of its colonies, Carthage and Gadir (Cádiz, Spain). Greek historian Herodotus equated Melkarth's temple to Heracles, which was the scene of annual winter and spring festivals and is be...

archaeologsEnglishMythology, God Names

Melkarth

Camelid

A member of the family that includes camels, llamas, and their relatives, all of which have feet with two toes and thick leathery soles

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Camelid

Hammerhead Mortarium

A mortarium with a rim and flange that form a single unit, shaped like the head of a hammer, its centre meeting the body of the vessel at right angles.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Hammerhead Mortarium

Melka Kontoure

A site in Ethiopia some 50 km south of Addis Ababa, with many archaeological levels dating from over 1.5 million years old at the base to late Pleistocene times. Its long stone artifact sequence included Oldowan, Acheulian, Middle Stone Age, and Microlithic Later Stone Age. A few hominid fragment...

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names

Melka Kontoure

Oxyrhynchus

Ancient Greco-Roman town west of the Nile on the left bank of the Bahr Yusuf in Middle Egypt, best known for its papyri texts. Oxyrhynchus was a regional capital which was reasonably prosperous in the Roman period, and developed into a church and monastic center during the Coptic period. A large ...

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names, Ancient Cities

Oxyrhynchus

Sinew Frayer

A tool similar in shape to a scraper but with serrated edges, which may have been the forerunner of the saw. Primitive tribes today use similar stones to stroke sinews into fibers for sewing.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Sinew Frayer

Mossgiel

The find site of a skeleton with robust cranial morphology on the western plains of New South Wales, Australia. Radiocarbon dating of bone gave an estimate of about 4000 BC.

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names