archaeastronomy

Archaeoastronomy is an endeavor to find out something about ancient astronomy and related matters through the use of archeological data and the study of ancient texts.

1979, John Howland Rowe, “Review: Archaeoastronomy in Meso America and Peru”, in Latin American Research Review, volume 14, number 2, page 227:

The current fashion is to call the subject archaeoastronomy, as if it were more the business of astronomers or historians of astronomy than of archaeologists.

1989, John Michell, A Little History of Astro-Archaeology, page 6:

(astronomy, archaeology) The historical, especially archeological, study of astronomy; the study of the astronomical systems and methods of ancient cultures often embracing the astrology and cosmology of the past.


feature

→ German: Feature

→ Ukrainian: фі́ча (fíča)

From Middle English feture, from Anglo-Norman feture, from Old French faiture, from Latin factūra, from Latin factus, from Latin faciō (“do, make”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, set”). Doublet of facture.

feature

long, prominent article or item in the media

A feature of many Central Texas prehistoric archeological sites is a low spreading pile of stones called a rock midden. Other features at these sites may include small hearths.

(archaeology) Something discerned from physical evidence that helps define, identify, characterize, and interpret an archeological site.


Indo-European

/ˌɪndəʊˌjʊəɹəˈpiːən/

Coined by English polymath Thomas Young in 1813, from Indo- + European, relating to the geographical extremes in India and Europe (which was valid before the discovery of Tocharian languages in the early 20th century).

coin

Two theories of the origins of the Indo-Europeans currently compete. M. Gimbutas believes that early Indo-Europeans entered southeastern Europe from the Pontic Steppes starting ca. 4500 B.C. and spread from there. C. Renfrew equates early Indo-Europeans with early farmers who entered southeastern Europe from Asia Minor ca. 7000 BC and spread through the continent.

1992, R.R. Sokal, N.L. Oden, B.A. Thomson, “Origins of the Indo-Europeans: genetic evidence”, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, volume 89, →DOI, →PMID:

Thus, although at least one term for ‘alder’ can be reconstructed to PIE, the wide distribution of this tree prevents it from being diagnostic of the earlier location of the Indo-Europeans.

1997, J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams, “ALDER”, in Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, London, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, →ISBN, page 12:

(anthropology, archaeology, linguistics) A member of the original ethnolinguistic group hypothesized to have spoken Proto-Indo-European and thus to have been the ancestor for most of India and Western Eurasia.

հնդեվրոպացի

member of Proto-Indo-European ethnolinguistic group


point

en-noun

point (countable and uncountable, plural points)

→ Cantonese: point

→ Indonesian: poin

→ Japanese: ポイント (pointo)

→ Korean: 포인트 (pointeu)

From Middle English poynt, from Old French point m (“dot; minute amount”), from Latin pūnctum (“a hole punched in; a point, puncture”), substantive use of pūnctus m, perfect passive participle of pungō (“I prick, punch”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ- (“prick, punch”)); alternatively, from Old French pointe f (“sharp tip”), from Latin pūncta f (past participle). Displaced native Middle English ord (“point”), from Old English ord (“point”). Doublet of pointe, punctum, punt, and punto.

kärki

position at the front or vanguard of an advancing force

decimal point

not used when reading decimal fractions aloud

Solutrean points resemble the canines of the sabre-toothed cats.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History:

An object which has a sharp or tapering tip.

(archaeology) A spearhead or similar object hafted to a handle.


pit

From Middle English pit, pet, püt, from Old English pytt, from Proto-West Germanic *puti, from Latin puteus (“trench, pit, well”), although there are phonetic difficulties.

he who digs a pit for others falls in himself

The exact sites of Feng and Hao have yet to be verified, but seven pits containing chariots, horses and other Zhou burial objects were discovered at Fengxi, and a concentration of Western Zhou relics and tombs was found in the area of Doumen in Changan County on the east bank of the Feng River.

1991 [1987], Zou Zongxu, translated by Susan Whitfield, The Land Within the Passes: A History of Xian, Viking, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 68:

(archaeology) A hole or trench in the ground, excavated according to grid coordinates, so that the provenance of any feature observed and any specimen or artifact revealed may be established by precise measurement.


ochre

From Old French ocre and its source Latin ōchra, from Ancient Greek ὤχρα (ṓkhra, “pale yellow”), from ὠχρός (ōkhrós, “pale, ocher”) (modern Greek ωχρός (ochrós)).

der

(archaeology) Referring to cultures that covered their dead with ochre.


hole

→ Japanese: ホール (hōru)

→ Korean: 홀 (hol)

Sranan Tongo: olo

Inherited from Middle English hole, hol, from Old English hol (“orifice, hollow place, cavity”), from Proto-West Germanic *hol, from Proto-Germanic *hulą (“hollow space, cavity”), noun derivative of Proto-Germanic *hulaz (“hollow”), which is of uncertain ultimate origin. Related to hollow.

отвор

orifice (see anus etc. for specific body cavities)

know one's ass from a hole in the ground

know one's head from a hole in the ground

know the difference between one's ass and a hole in the ground

(archaeology, slang) An excavation pit or trench.


graffiti

en-noun

graffiti (usually uncountable, plural graffiti)

(archaeology, countable) Informal inscriptions, figure drawings, etc., as opposed to official inscriptions.


graffiti

Internationalism; compare English graffiti, French graffiti, German Graffiti, ultimately from Italian graffiti.

(archaeology) graffiti (informal inscriptions, figure drawings, etc., as opposed to official inscriptions)


graffiti

graffiti (indefinite nominative singular)
graffitis (genitive indefinite singular)
graffitin (definite nominative singular)
graffitins (definite genitive singular)


provenance

provenance (countable and uncountable, plural provenances)

Borrowed from French provenance (“origin”), from Middle French provenant, present participle of provenir (“come forth, arise”), from Latin provenio (“to come forth”).

This spear is of Viking provenance.

Further support for the Shansi provenance came in 1965, when a bronze quadruped with identical ornamentation and of approximately the same size as the Freer example was unearthed in tomb 126, at Fen-shui-ling, Ch'ang-chih, Shansi Province.

1982, Thomas Lawton, “Bronze Vessels, Fittings, and Weapons”, in Chinese Art of the Warring States Period, Smithsonian Institution, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 79, column 1:

(archaeology) The place and time of origin of some artifact or other object. See Usage notes below.

alkuperä

in archaeology: the place and time of origin of some artifact


man

Tok Pisin: man

→ Cantonese: man

→ Chinook Jargon: man

→ Korean: 맨 (maen)

→ Mandarin: man (mān)

→ Spanish: man

→ Thai: แมน (mɛɛn)

→ Volapük: man

From Middle English man, from Old English mann m (“human being, person, man”), from Proto-West Germanic *mann, from Proto-Germanic *mann- m, from Proto-Indo-European *mon- (“human being, man”). Doublet of Manu.

mang

dialectal rendering, suggesting a Spanish accent

mane

dialectal rendering, suggesting an AAVE accent

mon

used in the vocative, in places such as Jamaica and Shropshire in England

a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle

a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle

behind every great man there stands a woman

behind every successful man there stands a woman

every man is the architect of his own fortune

give a man a fish and you feed him for a day

teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime

it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God

the best laid plans of mice and men go oft astray

the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry

The evidence suggests that close relatives of early man, in lineages that later became extinct, also were able to use tools.

1990, The Almanac of Science and Technology, →ISBN, page 68:

(anthropology, archaeology, paleontology) A member of the genus Homo, especially of the species Homo sapiens.


archaic

From archaism (“ancient or obsolete phrase or expression”) or from French archaïque, ultimately from Ancient Greek ἀρχαϊκός (arkhaïkós, “old-fashioned”), from ἀρχαῖος (arkhaîos, “from the beginning, antiquated, ancient, old”), from ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “beginning, origin”), from ἄρχω (árkhō, “I am first”), from ἄρχω (árkhō, “I begin”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ergʰ- (“to begin, rule, command”).

der

… Archaic Stage … the stage of migratory hunting and gathering cultures continuing into environmental conditions approximately those of the present.

1958, Wiley, Gordon R., and Philip Phillips, Method and Theory in American Archaeology, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, page #107

(archaeology, US, usually capitalized) The prehistoric period intermediate between the earliest period (‘Paleo-Indian’, ‘Paleo-American’, ‘American‐paleolithic’, etc.) of human presence in the Western Hemisphere, and the most recent prehistoric period (‘Woodland’, etc.).


archaic

en-adj

archaic (comparative more archaic, superlative most archaic)

more archaic (comparative)
most archaic (superlative)

(archaeology) Belonging to the archaic period.


cut

en-noun

cut (countable and uncountable, plural cuts)

From Middle English cutten, kitten, kytten, ketten (“to cut”) (compare Scots kut, kit (“to cut”)), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse *kytja, *kutta, from Proto-Germanic *kutjaną, *kuttaną (“to cut”), of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *kwetwą (“meat, flesh”) (compare Old Norse kvett (“meat”)). Akin to Middle Swedish kotta (“to cut or carve with a knife”) (compare dialectal Swedish kåta, kuta (“to cut or chip with a knife”), Swedish kuta, kytti (“a knife”)), Norwegian Bokmål kutte (“to cut”), Norwegian Nynorsk kutte (“to cut”), Icelandic kuta (“to cut with a knife”), Old Norse kuti (“small knife”), Norwegian kyttel, kytel, kjutul (“pointed slip of wood used to strip bark”). Displaced native Middle English snithen (from Old English snīþan; compare German schneiden), which still survives in some dialects as snithe or snead. See snide. Adjective sense of "drunk" (now rare and now usually used in the originally jocular derivative form of half-cut) dates from the 17th century, from cut in the leg, to have cut your leg, euphemism for being very drunk.

leikkaus

notch, passage, or channel made by cutting or digging

(archaeology) A truncation, a context that represents a moment in time when other archaeological deposits were removed for the creation of some feature such as a ditch or pit.


tell

From Arabic تَلّ (tall, “hill, elevation”) or Hebrew תֵּל (tél, “hill”), from Proto-Semitic *tall- (“hill”).

Succoth is now associated with a large tell situated in the Jordan Valley, Deir Allah.

2001, David L. Lieber, Jules Harlow, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, page 205:

(archaeology) A hill or mound, originally and especially in the Middle East, over or consisting of the ruins of ancient settlements.


era

(archaeology) age (period of human prehistory)


blade

From Middle English blade, blad, from Old English blæd (“leaf”), from Proto-West Germanic *blad, from Proto-Germanic *bladą, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥h₃-o-to-m, from *bʰleh₃- (“to thrive, bloom”).
See also West Frisian bled, Dutch blad, German Blatt, Danish blad, Irish bláth (“flower”), Welsh blodyn (“flower”), Tocharian A pält, Tocharian B pilta (“leaf”), Albanian fletë (“leaf”). Similar usage in German Sägeblatt (“saw blade”, literally “saw leaf”). Doublet of blat. More at blow.

teh

typically sharp-edged working end of a knife or other cutting tool

(archaeology) A piece of prepared, sharp-edged stone, often flint, at least twice as long as it is wide; a long flake of ground-edge stone or knapped vitreous stone.


profile

en-noun

profile (countable and uncountable, plural profiles)

From French profil, from Italian profilo (“a border”), later also proffilo (“a side-face, profile”), from Latin pro (“before”) + filo (“a line, stroke, thread”), from filum (“a thread”); see file. Doublet of purfle.

(archaeology) A smoothed (e.g., troweled or brushed) vertical surface of an excavation showing evidence of at least one feature or diagnostic specimen; the graphic recording of such as by sketching, photographing, etc.

profiili

archaeology: smoothed vertical surface of an excavation


salt

en-verb

salt (third-person singular simple present salts, present participle salting, simple past and past participle salted)

salts (present singular third-person)
salting (participle present)
salted (participle past)
salted (past)

PIE word
 *séh₂ls
From Middle English salt, from Old English sealt, from Proto-West Germanic *salt, from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂ls (“salt”). Doublet of sal, ultimately from Latin sāl (“salt”), which it superseded as the general term for "salt".

To insert or inject something into an object to give it properties it would not naturally have.

(archaeology) To add bogus evidence to an archaeological site.


墓

→ Khmer: ម៉ុង (mong)

→ Indonesian: bong

→ Javanese: ꦧꦺꦴꦁ (bong)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *maːɡs): phonetic 莫 (OC *maːɡ) + semantic 土.


context

en-noun

context (countable and uncountable, plural contexts)

(archaeology) The surroundings and environment in which an artifact is found and which may provide important clues about the artifact's function and/or cultural meaning.


yu

yu (countable and uncountable, plural yu)

A group of slenderer yu also survive from the Shang into the early Chou period, though they are rarer than the other design […] A yu with square body in the Hakuzuru Museum is the finest of these.

1962, William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, page 34:

(archaeology, countable) An ancient Chinese wine-bucket, often having a decorative cover.


matrix

From Middle English matris, matrice, matrix, from Old French matrice (“pregnant animal”), or from Latin mātrīx (“dam, womb”), both ultimately from māter (“mother”). Doublet of mother from Indo-European ancestor.
Slang usage coined with the 1999 sci-fi action film The Matrix.

基質 /基质

analytical chemistry: sampling environment

(archaeology, paleontology) The sediment surrounding and including the artifacts, features, and other materials at a site.

matriu

archaeology: sediment surrounding and including materials


Egyptologist

/ˌid͡ʒɪpˈtɑləd͡ʒɪst/

An Egyptologist's mind immediately turns to the ancient Egyptian counterpart to such an imagined protosactuary: a reed hut that all late Egyptian temples, in their archaizing longing to return to the origins, sought to emulate in stone through the typically Egyptian temple features of inward-sloping walls, torus and corvetto cornice.

2018, Jan Assmann, The Invention of Religion:

A person; one who is skilled in or professes or practices Egyptology.

misirşünas

A person; one who is skilled professes or practices Egyptology


archaeologist

Working around an ancient monument has meant having an archaeologist on site whenever there were excavations.

2024 January 24, Peter Plisner, “Rising to the University challenge”, in RAIL, number 1001, page 61:

Someone who studies or practises archaeology.

arkeolog

someone who studies or practises archaeology


archaeology

archaeology (countable and uncountable, plural archaeologies)

From Ancient Greek ἀρχαιολογία (arkhaiología, “antiquarian lore, ancient legends, history”), from ἀρχαῖος (arkhaîos, “primal, old, ancient”) + λόγος (lógos, “speech, oration, study”). By surface analysis, archaeo- + -logy.

uder

She studied archaeology at Edinburgh University.

The study of the past by excavation and analysis of its material remains.

The academic subject; in the USA: one of the four sub-disciplines of anthropology.


slip

From English slip, from Middle English slyp, slep, slyppe, from Old English slyp, slyppe, slipa (“a viscous, slimy substance”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Germanic *sleupaną (“to slip, sneak”), possibly connected with Proto-Indo-European *slewb-, *slewbʰ- (“slip, slide”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel- (“to sneak, crawl”); or alternatively from Proto-Germanic *slippijaną (“to glide”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleyb- (“slimy; to glide”).

der

(archaeology, ceramics) slip: a thin, slippery mix of clay and water.


culture

en-noun

culture (countable and uncountable, plural cultures)

From Middle French culture (“cultivation; culture”), from Latin cultūra (“cultivation; culture”), from cultus, perfect passive participle of colō (“till, cultivate, to grow, worship”) (related to colōnus and colōnia), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to move; to turn (around)”).

der

archaeological culture
archaeological culture#English

(archaeology) Short for archaeological culture (“recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place that may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society”).


trench

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French trenche. Doublet of tranche and traunch.

(archaeology) A pit, usually rectangular with smooth walls and floor, excavated during an archaeological investigation.


trench

en-verb

trench (third-person singular simple present trenches, present participle trenching, simple past and past participle trenched)

trenches (present singular third-person)
trenching (participle present)
trenched (participle past)
trenched (past)

(archaeology) To excavate an elongated and often narrow pit.


lunate

From Latin lūnātus (“crescent-shaped”), from lūna (“moon”).

(archaeology) A small stone artifact, probably an arrowhead, with a blunt straight edge and a sharpened, crescent-shaped back, especially characteristic of the Mesolithic Period


YBP

Baked clay ornaments and other objects dating from 28,000 YBP have been discovered in Eastern Europe, […]

2022, Cherl-Ho Lee, Korean Food and Foodways: The Root of Health Functional Food, Springer Nature, →ISBN, page 23:

(archaeology, geology, paleontology) Initialism of years before present.


anastylosis

From Ancient Greek αναστήλωσις (anastḗlōsis).

(archaeology) The reassembly of ruined monuments or other artifacts from remaining fragments in an archeologically responsible way (with use of modern materials when needed).


potsherd

From Middle English pot-sherd, pot-schord, pot scherd, pot scarth, from Middle English pot, pote, potte (“a container, pot, vessel; especially an earthenware vessel”) (from late Old English pot, pott (“a pot”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *budn- (“a type of vessel”)) + Middle English sherd (“piece of fired clay or broken earthenware; potsherd”) (from Old English sceard (“a shard, sherd”), from Proto-Germanic *skardą (“a nick, notch”)); equivalent to pot + sherd (“shard”).

inh

But this madde Amalecke, / Lyke to a Mamelek, / He regardeth lordes / No more than potshordes; […]

a. 1530 (date written), John Skelton, “Here after Foloweth a Lytell Boke, whiche hath to Name Why Come Ye Nat to Courte? […]”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume II, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page 41, lines 475–476:

[W]ho can deny but that the rod of Gods mouth is indeed Virga virtutis, a rod of strength, an iron rod, able to deale with all humane reaſonings, as a hammer with a potſherd, which though to the hand of a man it may feele as hard as a rocke, yet is too brittle to endure the blow of an iron rod?

1632, Edward Reynoldes [i.e., Edward Reynolds], “Verse 2”, in An Explication of the Hvndreth and Tenth Psalme: […], London: Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Robert Bostocke, […], →OCLC, page 149:

Job took a potſherd to ſcrape himself, becauſe his hands were as full of boils as his body: This is the caſe of thy corrupt ſoul: not to be recovered but by Jeſus Chriſ, whoſe ſtrength was dried up like a potſherd, Pſal[ms] xxii. 15.

1720, [Thomas Boston], “State II, Namely, The State of Nature, or of Entire Deprivation”, in Human Nature in Its Four-fold State: […], Edinburgh: Printed by Mr. James McEuen and Company, […]; Michael Boston, editor, Human Nature in Its Fourfold State, […], new edition, Falkirk, Stirlingshire: Printed and sold by Patrick Mair, 1784, →OCLC, head I (The Sinfulness of Man’s Natural State), page 85:

[I]n the case of pottery, it [epigraphy] is usually taken to include graffiti scratched with a sharp point, and even painted inscriptions which are made before firing as part of the design of a vase, but not written documents (ostraka), in which pot-sherds are merely used as a material to write on instead of papyrus.

1916, E. S. Roberts, E[rnest] A[rthur] Gardner, “Criticism and Interpretation [VIII. 2. Epigraphy.]”, in Leonard Whibley, editor, A Companion to Greek Studies: Edited for the Syndics of the University Press, 3rd revised and enlarged edition, Cambridge: At the University Press, →OCLC, section 737 (Definition and Scope), page 687:

Speiser, who made excavations on Vao Island found prehistoric potsherds at a depth of 10 inches, and on the surface of the ground also.

1950, Alphonse Riesenfeld, “Megalithic Monuments and Megalithic Culture”, in The Megalithic Culture of Melanesia, Leiden: E. J. Brill, →OCLC, page 115:

I have been asked about the single most important artifact that I have seen. It is a single broken piece of pottery no bigger than a couple of inches, but its interpretation makes it one of the most significant artifacts in Jewish history. It is an inscribed potshard (a fragment of pottery) from Masada (in Israel) marked with the name "ben Yair." […] While it remains a single potshard marked in ink, it is a powerful symbol of what motivates archaeologists in the field: a simple object that signifies an entire historical event.

2012, Richard A. Freund, Digging through History: Archaeology and Religion from Atlantis to the Holocaust, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, page 18:

(often archaeology) A piece of ceramic from pottery, often found on an archaeological site.


clavis

From Latin clāvis (“a key”). Doublet of clave and clef.

Iron clavis, the solid web-shaped at the edges to fit the wards in the lock, and having a pointed broach and a kite-formed looped haft.

1873, “Proceedings of the Association”, in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, volume 29, April 9th, page 202:


Abilene

Named for the town of Abilene, Texas, near where the artifacts were discovered.

(archaeology) Belonging to a prehistoric culture of central Texas, characterized by oval grinding stones.


BRB

(archaeology) Initialism of bevelled-rim bowl or bevel-rimmed bowl: a small, undecorated, mass-produced clay bowl, most commonly from the 4th millennium B.C.


férreo

es-adj

férreo (feminine férrea, masculine plural férreos, feminine plural férreas)

férrea (feminine)
férreos (masculine plural)
férreas (feminine plural)

Borrowed from Latin ferreus (“made of iron; hard; rigid”).


section

From Middle English seccioun, from Old French section, from Latin sectiō (“cutting, cutting off, excision, amputation of diseased parts of the body, etc.”), from sectus, past participle of secāre (“to cut”). More at saw.

разрэ́з

surgery: incision or the act of making an incision

archeological sequence
archeological sequence

(archaeology) Archeological section; vertical plane and cross-section of the ground to view its profile and stratigraphy; part of an archeological sequence.


industry

en-noun

industry (countable and uncountable, plural industries)

From Middle English industry, industrie, from Old French industrie, from Latin industria (“diligence, activity, industry”), from industrius (“diligent, active, zealous”), from Old Latin indostruus (“diligent, active”); origin unknown. Perhaps from indu (“in”) + ūst-, ūstr-, stem of ūrō (“burn, burn up, consume”, verb), related to Old High German ūstrī (“industry”), Old English andūstrian (“to hate, detest”, literally “to be consumed with zeal”).

cog

(archaeology) A typological classification of stone tools, associated with a technocomplex.


ziggurat

Learned borrowing from Akkadian 𒅆𒂍𒉪 (ziqqurratum).

lbor

It would be uplifting to think that the ziggurat was the first expression of Near Eastern civilization, for then one could speak about humanity's fascination with the heavens, of the human quest for communion with the infinite.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 159:

(archaeology) A temple tower of the ancient Mesopotamian valley, having the form of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories


chopper

(archaeology) A crude tool with an irregular cutting edge formed by removing flakes from one side of a stone.

kirves

archaeology: crude tool with an irregular cutting edge


hombre

Chavacano: hombre

→ English: hombre

→ French: hombre
→ English: ombre

→ Papiamentu: hòmber

Inherited from Old Spanish omne, from Latin hominem, homō, from Old Latin hemō, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ (“earthling”). The Old Spanish form omne was first dissimilated to omre and then a gliding sound -b- arose before the -r-. Compare the same development in hambre and nombre.

manos besa el hombre, que querría ver cortadas

(anthropology, archaeology, paleontology) man, (individual of the species Homo sapiens, the genus Homo, or the subtribe Hominina)


fill

en-noun

fill (countable and uncountable, plural fills)

From Middle English fille, vülle, fülle, from Old English fyllu, from Proto-West Germanic *fullī, from Proto-Germanic *fullį̄ (“fullness”). Cognate with German Fülle.

(archaeology) Soil and/or human-created debris discovered within a cavity or cut in the layers and exposed by excavation; fill soil.


lithic

(archaeology, often capitalised) pertaining to Native American culture before circa 8,500 BCE


ovate

Slightly derived handaxes from the Mildenhall glaciofluvial sands, generally in fresh condition and dominated by ovates and cordates.

2012, Paul Pettitt, Mark White, The British Palaeolithic, page 122:


situs

site:
(archaeology) archaeological site.


balk

From Middle English balke, from Old English balca, either from or influenced by Old Norse bálkr (“partition, ridge of land”), from Proto-Germanic *balkô. Cognate with Dutch balk (“balk”), German Balken (“balk”), Italian balcone (“balcony”).

der

(archaeology) The wall of earth at the edge of an excavation.


sima

Learned borrowing from Old Javanese sīma, from Sanskrit सीमा (sīmā, “limit, bounds, frontier”).

der

(archaeology) territory that is made or has a holy place and is exempt from taxes


dun

From Irish dún or Scottish Gaelic dùn, from Proto-Celtic *dūnom (“fortress”). Cognate with Welsh dinas (“city”). Doublet of town.

Smaller than the broch was the dun, another type of stone-built 'roundhouse'.

2013, T.J. Clarkson, The Makers of Scotland: Picts, Romans, Gaels and Vikings, Edinburgh: Birlinn, →ISBN:

(archaeology) A structure in the Orkney or Shetland islands or in Scotland consisting of a roundhouse surrounded by a circular wall; a broch.


flake

From Middle English flake (“a flake of snow”), from Old English flacca and/or Old Norse flak (“loose or torn piece”) (compare Old Norse flakna (“to flake or chip”)), from Proto-Germanic *flaką (“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat, broad, plain”). Cognate with Norwegian flak (“slice, sliver”, literally “piece torn off”), Swedish flak (“a thin slice”), Danish flage (“flake”), German Flocke (“flake”), Dutch vlak (“smooth surface, plain”) and vlok (“flake”), as well as with Latin plaga (“flat surface, district, region”) and Welsh llech (“slate, tablet”). Doublet of plage.

cog

(archaeology) A prehistoric tool chipped out of stone.


scraper

ҡырғыс

an instrument by which anything is scraped

Instead, they made finely crafted bone points to haft onto their spears, reserving the use of flint mostly for blades and scrapers.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 218:

An instrument with which anything is scraped.

(archaeology) A prehistoric unifacial tool thought to have been used for hideworking and woodworking.


Neolithic

The New Stone Age, from circa 8500 to 4500 BCE.


Neolithic

Tokens are first identified at around the same time as the local peoples changed from a life based on hunting and gathering to one based on agriculture. The tokens, as Schmandt-Besserat says, "were part and parcel of the Neolithic phenomenon; that is, the so-called agricultural revolution." (Before Writing 41).

2001, Duncan J. Melville, “Tokens: the origin of mathematics”, in Mesopotamian Mathematics, archived from the original on 2007-02-06:

... I was fascinated by a pair of stories about a Neolithic girl who wrote the first letter, and invented the first alphabet.

2013 September 14, Jane Shilling, “The Golden Thread: the Story of Writing, by Ewan Clayton, review [print edition: Illuminating language]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review), page R28:


Neolithic

For the Neolithics, the stone was flint, and it's still impressive to see what they were able to achieve with it.

2011, Seán Lang, European History For Dummies, page 27:

A person who lived during the New Stone Age.


marble

en-noun

marble (countable and uncountable, plural marbles)

From Middle English marble, marbre, from Anglo-Norman and Old French marbre, from Latin marmor, from Ancient Greek μάρμαρος (mármaros), perhaps related to μαρμάρεος (marmáreos, “gleaming”). Much of the early classical marble came from the 'Marmaris' sea above the Aegean. The forms from French replaced Old English marma, which had previously been borrowed from Latin.

The Elgin Marbles were originally part of the temple of the Parthenon.

[I]t was a portrait of the Library, though not strictly correct as to its contents, since all the best of the marbles displayed in various parts of the house were brought into the painting by the artist, who made it up into a picturesque composition according to his own taste.

1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published 1986, page 164:

(in the plural, archaeology) Statues made from marble.


kiln

From English kiln, from Middle English kilne, from Old English cylene or cyline (“large oven”), from Latin culīna (“kitchen, kitchen stove”).

(archaeology) kiln, an oven or furnace or a heated chamber, for the purpose of hardening, burning, calcining or drying anything; for example, firing ceramics, curing or preserving tobacco, or drying grain.


Chaldean

From Ancient Greek Χαλδαῖος (Khaldaîos).

Chaldean Catholic Church
Chaldean Catholic Church

A member of the Chaldean Catholic Church.


Chaldean

The West Semitic language of the ancient Chaldeans.

Biblical Aramaic
Biblical Aramaic#English

(historical) Synonym of Biblical Aramaic (now considered a misnomer).

Chaldean Neo-Aramaic
Chaldean Neo-Aramaic#English


Iron Age

/ˈʌɪən eɪdʒ/

From iron + age, in the mythological sense a calque of Latin saecula ferrea, aetas ferrea; in the archaeological sense a calque of Danish jernalder.

(archaeology) A level of culture in which humans used iron and the technology of ironworking. (Estimated to have begun in Europe about 1100 BC)


horizon

Inherited from Middle English orisonte, orisoun, from Middle French horizon, horizonte, from Old French orisonte, orison, via Latin horizōn, from Ancient Greek ὁρίζων (horízōn), from ὅρος (hóros, “boundary”).

(archaeology, chiefly US) A cultural sub-period or level within a more encompassing time period.


hinge

en-verb

hinge (third-person singular simple present hinges, present participle hinging or hingeing, simple past and past participle hinged)

hinges (present singular third-person)
hinging (participle present)
hingeing (participle present)
hinged (participle past)
hinged (past)

From Middle English henge, from Old English *henġ (“hinge”), compare Old English henġe- in henġeclif (“overhanging cliff”), Old English henġen (“hanging; that upon which a thing is hung”), from Proto-West Germanic *hangiju. Akin to Scots heenge (“hinge”), Saterland Frisian Hänge (“hinge”), Dutch heng (“door handle”), Low German henge (“a hook, hinge, handle”), Middle Dutch henghe, hanghe (“a hook, hinge, handle”), Scots hingel (“any attachment by which something is hung or fastened”), Dutch hengel (“hook”), geheng (“hinge”), hengsel (“handle”), Danish hængsel (“hinge”), dialectal German Hängel (“hook, joint”), German Henkel (“handle, hook”), Old English hōn (“to hang”), hangian (“to cause to hang, hang up”). More at hang.

cog

The flake hinged at an inclusion in the core.

(transitive, archaeology) The breaking off of the distal end of a knapped stone flake whose presumed course across the face of the stone core was truncated prematurely, leaving not a feathered distal end but instead the scar of a nearly perpendicular break.


artifact

Alteration of artefact, from Italian artefatto, from Latin arte (“by skill”) (ablative of ars (“art”)) + factum (“thing made”) (from facio (“to make, do”)).

The dig produced many Roman artifacts.

Holy shit! It is fascinating when a country’s culture seeps even into their math lessons, although it’s not really surprising. As a British child, our math questions were “if Johnny has two artifacts and Dinesh has two artifacts, then how many artifacts is Johnny about to have?” The answer, of course, “all the artifacts, Dinesh’s family can come visit them in a British museum whenever they’re in town.”

2017, Tim Carvell [et al.], “North Korea”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 21, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros. Television, via HBO:

(archaeology) An object, such as a tool, ornament, or weapon of archaeological or historical interest, especially such an object found at an archaeological excavation.


megalith

PIE word
 *méǵh₂s
From mega- (prefix meaning ‘very large, great’) + -lith (suffix meaning ‘stone’), a back-formation from megalithic probably modelled after monolith. from Ancient Greek λίθος (líthos, “stone”)

confix

A large stone slab making up a prehistoric monument, or part of such a monument.

megaliet

A prehistoric monument made up of one or more large stones.


lanceolate

en-adj

lanceolate (comparative more lanceolate, superlative most lanceolate)

more lanceolate (comparative)
most lanceolate (superlative)

The stone tools in these levels include Still Bay points, beautifully shaped thin lanceolate spear points, flaked on both sides.

2011, Chris Stringer, The Origin of Our Species, Penguin, published 2012, page 127:

(archaeology) Of a class of knapped stone points, made without a stem, shoulders, notches, or other features that aid in attachment to a shaft.


dromos

Borrowed from Ancient Greek δρόμος (drómos).

bor+

(archaeology) dromos (walkway to a tomb)


orthostat

en-noun

orthostat (plural orthostats or orthostates)

orthostats (plural)
orthostates (plural)

Ancient Greek ὀρθοστάτης (orthostátēs, “upright shaft”); analysable as ortho- + -stat.

der

Near-synonyms: menhir, standing stone

(archaeology) An upright stone or slab, especially one which is part of a larger structure.


recumbent

From Latin present participle recumbēns, from recumbō (“I recline”).

recumbent stone circle
recumbent stone circle

(archaeology) A large rectangular monolith lying on its side, typically flanked by two large upright stones, the flankers; found in recumbent stone circles of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and the counties of Cork and Kerry in south-west of Ireland.


kourotrophos

Presumably from Kourotrophos, assigned by Elizabeth B. French, c. 1970

(archaeology) Any of a class of Mycenaean terracotta figurines depicting women carrying children.


knap

en-verb

knap (third-person singular simple present knaps, present participle knapping, simple past and past participle knapped)

knaps (present singular third-person)
knapping (participle present)
knapped (participle past)
knapped (past)
knap (infinitive)

The verb is derived from Late Middle English knappen (“to strike (something)”); further etymology uncertain, probably related to Middle Dutch knappen, cnappen (“to break (something) with a sharp sound, snap; to crack or crackle”) (modern Dutch knappen), probably ultimately onomatopoeic.
The noun is derived from Late Middle English knap, knappe (“sharp blow, strike”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from the verb (see above), or related to an ancestor of Danish knep and Swedish knäpp (“a flick, rap, snap”), probably ultimately onomatopoeic.

napauttaa

(transitive) to say (something) crisply or sharply; (intransitive) to speak crisply or sharply

An average workman will knap 3,000 flints in a day of 12 hours, but a good one will make 4,000 at a pinch.

1879, Sydney B. J. Skertchly, “Manufacture of Gun-flints”, in On the Manufacture of Gun-flints, the Methods of Excavating for Flint, the Age of Palæolithic Man, and the Connexion between Neolithic Art and the Gun-flint Trade (Memoirs of the Geological Survey, England and Wales), London: […] Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, and sold by Longman & Co., […], →OCLC, page 33:

After every five or six shots, check the flint and tighten the jaws, if the flint has shifted. After twenty shots, flip the flint and dry fire the gun. This should knap the edge [of the flint].

1996 November, Lionel Atwill, “The Flash of Flint on Steel”, in Duncan Barnes, editor, Field & Stream, east edition, volume CI, number 7, New York, N.Y.: Times Mirror Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 48, column 2:

Not all chert and non-chert materials are amenable to knapping. […] Because a knapper removes flakes by loading force into a small area of the target core, materials that contain many inclusions or are coarse-grained are difficult to knap – the inclusions deflect energy producing irregular results.

1998 January, Anthony Tolonen, Laura Clifford, “Appendix F: Phase I Cultural Resource Report: Proposed Charlotte-Douglas International Airport Expansion, Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina [Method]”, in Environmental Impact Statement: Charlotte/Douglas International Airport: Appendices F–J (Project E&A-004), volume I (Technical Report), page 39:

[O]ne knapper, who was very skilled and, therefore, presumed to be an adult, made highly standardized prismatic blades. These blades were widely distributed for use throughout the site – in fact, only 10 of the 50 blades and bladelets this individual crafted were found where they were knapped.

2021, April Nowell, “Stone Tools, Skill Acquisition and Learning a Craft”, in Growing Up in the Ice Age: Fossil and Archaeological Evidence of the Lived Lives of Plio-Pleistocene Children, Oxford, Oxfordshire; Havertown, Pa.: Oxbow Books, →ISBN, page 84:

To break (something) into small pieces with a cracking sound; to fragment, to smash; also, to break (something) apart sharply; to snap.

(specifically, especially archaeology) To break away flakes from (a brittle material which fractures conchoidally (“with planar concentric curves”), usually a mineral such as chert, flint, or obsidian), often to form a tool with a sharp edge or point.

lohkoa

to break away flakes from (a brittle material), often to form a tool with a sharp edge or point


tomb

→ Irish: tuama

→ Maori: toma

From Middle English tombe, toumbe, borrowed from Old French tombe, from Latin tumba from Ancient Greek τύμβος (túmbos, “a sepulchral mound, tomb, grave”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- (“to swell”).
The verb is from Middle English tomben.

der

A small building (or "vault") for the remains of the dead, with walls, a roof, and (if it is to be used for more than one corpse) a door. It may be partly or wholly in the ground (except for its entrance) in a cemetery, or it may be inside a church proper or in its crypt. Single tombs may be permanently sealed; those for families (or other groups) have doors for access whenever needed.

varr

small building or vault for the remains of the dead


cordate

Leaf shape
Two Dogmas of Empiricism
Willard Van Orman Quine

From the substantivation of the above adjective, alternatively straight from Latin cor(d) (“heart”) + -ate (noun-forming suffix).

af

The upper loam (E) has been reported to have yielded several white-patinated implements, including a large number of pointed handaxes, cordates, ovates and cleavers.

1977, D. K. Bhattacharya, Dibyendu Kanti Bhattacharya, Palaeolithic Europe, page 46:

Of the 58 ovates, cordates and cleavers examined, 21 have a tranchet sharpened edge, and 14 are twisted.

1985, John Wymer, The Palaeolithic Sites of East Anglia, page 107:

Slightly derived handaxes from the Mildenhall glaciofluvial sands, generally in fresh condition and dominated by ovates and cordates.


settlement

en-noun

settlement (countable and uncountable, plural settlements)

(archaeology) A site where people used to live together in ancient times; an ancient simple kind of village.


Bronze Age

(archaeology) A period in a civilization's development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze.


entrench

en-verb

entrench (third-person singular simple present entrenches, present participle entrenching, simple past and past participle entrenched)

entrenches (present singular third-person)
entrenching (participle present)
entrenched (participle past)
entrenched (past)

/ɪnˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/

/ɛnˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/

/ɛnˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/

From en- + trench. First attested in the 1550s.

(literally) To cut in; to furrow; to make trenches in or upon.

(construction, archaeology) To dig or excavate a trench; to trench.


ware

en-noun

ware (usually uncountable, plural wares)

From Middle English ware, from Old English waru, from Proto-West Germanic *waru, from Proto-Germanic *warō (“attention”) as in beware, in the sense of “an object of care, a valuable”, from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to watch, keep guard”), whence also ward. Cognate with Dutch waar (“goods offered for sale or use”) and Swedish vara, with the same meaning.

cog

(countable, archaeology) A style or genre of artifact.


Silurian

en-adj

Silurian (comparative more Silurian, superlative most Silurian)

more Silurian (comparative)
most Silurian (superlative)

(archaeology) Of or related to the Silures, a pre-Roman British tribe.


tied

tied (comparative more tied, superlative most tied)

more tied (comparative)
most tied (superlative)

Southern US, African-American Vernacular

(archaeology) Having walls that are connected in a few places by a single stone overlapping from one wall to another.


Stone Age

(archaeology, paleontology) A broad prehistoric period during which humans widely used stone for toolmaking.


éclat

→ English: éclat

→ German: Eklat

Deverbal from éclater (“to burst”), from Middle French esclater (“to break, break violently”), from Old French esclater (“to separate from, sunder out”) (deverbal also in Old French esclat), from Frankish *slaitan (“to split, break”), from Proto-Germanic *slaitijaną, causative of Proto-Germanic *slītaną (“to cut up, split”). Akin to Old High German sleizan (“to tear”), Old English slītan (“to split”). More at slice, slit, slate, slat.

der

Il a été blessé par un éclat d’obus.


brittle

en-adj

brittle (comparative brittler or more brittle, superlative brittlest or most brittle)

brittler (comparative)
more brittle (comparative)
brittlest (superlative)
most brittle (superlative)

From Middle English britel, brutel, brotel (“brittle”), from Old English *brytel, *bryttol (“brittle, fragile”, literally “prone to or tending to break”); equivalent to brit + -le.

(archaeology) Said of rocks and minerals with a conchoidal fracture; capable of being knapped or flaked.


Egyptology

en-noun

Egyptology (countable and uncountable, plural Egyptologies)

/ˌid͡ʒɪpˈtɑləd͡ʒi/

/ˌiːd͡ʒɪpˈtɒləd͡ʒi/

(countable) A work concerning ancient Egypt.


papyrology

papyrology (usually uncountable, plural papyrologies)

The study of papyrus, particularly the branch of archeology concerning ancient texts written on papyrus.

علم البرديات

the study of ancient texts written on papyrus


piramida

piramidka (diminutive)
piramida (nominative singular)
piramidy (nominative plural)
piramidy (genitive singular)
piramid (genitive plural)
piramidzie (dative singular)
piramidom (dative plural)
piramidę (accusative singular)
piramidy (accusative plural)
piramidą (instrumental singular)
piramidami (instrumental plural)
piramidzie (locative singular)
piramidach (locative plural)
piramido (singular vocative)
piramidy (plural vocative)

Borrowed from French pyramide, from Old French piramide, from Latin pȳramis, from Ancient Greek πυραμίς (puramís).


Mesolithic

Of or referring to the Middle Stone Age (also the Mesolithic period or the Mesolithic age), a prehistoric period that lasted between 10000 and 3000 BC.


Paleolithic

We find material evidences of magical practices in the European caves of the Palæolithic age[.]

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 18:

Of or referring to the Old Stone Age (the Paleolithic period or Paleolithic age).


tabula

Unadapted borrowing from Latin tabula. Doublet of tavola.


hoard

From Middle English hord, from Old English hord (“an accumulation of valuable objects cached for preservation or future use; treasure; hoard”), from Proto-West Germanic *hoʀd, from Proto-Germanic *huzdą (“treasure; hoard”), of unknown origin, but possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *kewdʰ- (“to conceal, hide”), thus meaning “something hidden”. Cognate with German Hort (“hoard; refuge”), Icelandic hodd (“treasure”), Latin cū̆stōs (“guard; keeper”). For the meaning development compare Russian сокро́вище (sokróvišče, “treasure”) related to Russian скрыва́ть (skryvátʹ, “to hide, to conceal”).

m+

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

(archaeology) A cache of valuable objects or artefacts; a trove.


bulla

Borrowed from Latin bulla (“bubble”). Doublet of bull.

(archaeology) A clay envelope or hollow ball, typically with seal impressions or writing on its outside indicating its contents.


wheelhouse

From wheel + house. Sense 3 (“(baseball) a pitch location which is favourable to the hitter”) references the fact that a vessel is controlled from its wheelhouse (sense 1.2), and sense 4 (“a person’s area of authority or expertise”) is a figurative use of sense 3.

Most Celtic houses in Britain were simply constructed. They were generally round as in the remains of the house at Little Woodbury in Wiltshire, the wheelhouse at Jarlshof in Shetland, or the house on an unenclosed platform at Greenknowe in Berwickshire. [...] The roof of the Greenknowe house was conical. It had rafters fanning outwards from a high top, like the spokes of an umbrella. You can see why it is called a wheelhouse. The rafters were held at their lower ends on a horizontal ring of timber that rested on vertical posts with Y-shaped tops.

1982, Peter Somerset Fry, Fiona Somerset Fry, “Celts, Caledonians and Romans (first century BC–fifth century AD)”, in The History of Scotland, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge & Kegan Paul, →ISBN; republished Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005, →ISBN, page 16:

Ancestors of the historical Picts can be credited with the structural form of the wheelhouse with its western and northern affinities, and with the souterrain, and distribution and function of which is becoming clearer, but which may now be thought to have persisted in evolved form until the middle part of the first millennium AD [...].

1986, J[ohn] R. Hunter, “Phase 1”, in I. B. M. Ralston, A. N. Shepherd, editors, Rescue Excavations on the Brough of Birsay 1974–82 (Monograph Series; no. 4), Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, →ISBN, section 2:1 (The Native Background), page 25:

(archaeology) A prehistoric structure from the Iron Age found in Scotland, characteristically including an outer wall within which a circle of stone piers (resembling the spokes of a wheel) form the basis for lintel arches supporting corbelled roofing with a hearth at the hub.


cortex

en-noun

cortex (countable and uncountable, plural cortexes or cortices)

(archaeology) The outer surface of a piece of flint.


linn

linna (genitive)
linna (partitive)
linn (nominative singular)
linnad (nominative plural)
linn (accusative nominative singular)
linnad (accusative nominative plural)
linna (accusative genitive singular)
linnad (accusative genitive plural)
linna (genitive singular)
linnade (genitive plural)
linna (partitive singular)
linnu (partitive plural)
linnasid (partitive plural)
linna (illative singular)
linnasse (illative singular)
linnadesse (illative plural)
linnusse (illative plural)
linnas (inessive singular)
linnades (inessive plural)
linnus (inessive plural)
linnast (elative singular)
linnadest (elative plural)
linnust (elative plural)
linnale (allative singular)
linnadele (allative plural)
linnule (allative plural)
linnal (adessive singular)
linnadel (adessive plural)
linnul (adessive plural)
linnalt (ablative singular)
linnadelt (ablative plural)
linnult (ablative plural)
linnaks (singular translative)
linnadeks (plural translative)
linnuks (plural translative)
linnani (singular terminative)
linnadeni (plural terminative)
linnana (essive singular)
linnadena (essive plural)
linnata (abessive singular)
linnadeta (abessive plural)
linnaga (comitative singular)
linnadega (comitative plural)

Inherited from Proto-Finnic *litna. Compare Finnish linna.


domus

Borrowed from Latin domus. Doublet of dome and duomo.

The domus was a unique and unprecedented concentration of tilled fields, seed and graain stores, people, and domestic animals, all coevolving with consequences no one could possibly have foreseen.

2017, James C Scott, chapter 2, in Against the Grain, New Haven and London: Yale University, →ISBN, page 73:

(anthropology, archaeology) A farmstead with its people, plants and animals, considered as a unit.


airlift

(archaeology) A pipe that is used to suck up objects from the sea bed.


biofact

Ancient Greek βίος (bíos, “life”) + Latin arte factum (“something made with skill”).

uder

(archaeology) a biological artefact, not altered by human hands; e.g. a seed, or an uncarved wooden roof beam.


dendroarchaeology

(archaeology) the science that uses dendrochronology to date wooden material from archaeological sites


dendrochronology

(biology, archaeology) The science that uses the spacing between the annual growth rings of trees to date their exact year of formation.


encampment

en-noun

encampment (countable and uncountable, plural encampments)

PIE word
 *h₁én
From encamp (“to establish a camp or temporary shelter”) + -ment (suffix forming nouns denoting actions or their results).

affix

(by extension, archaeology) An enclosed or fortified prehistoric site, especially a European Iron Age hill-fort.


masa

Ultimately from Sanskrit माष (māṣa, “a weight of gold”).

(archaeology) unit of measurement of weight for gold and silver


archeology

en-noun

archeology (usually uncountable, plural archeologies)

From Middle French archéologie, from Ancient Greek ἀρχαιολογία (arkhaiología, “antiquarian lore, ancient legends, history”), from ἀρχαῖος (arkhaîos, “primal, old, ancient”) + λόγος (lógos, “speech, oration, study”). By surface analysis, archeo- + -logy, but not coined in that way.

der

By the end of the century, the APS’s membership included the leaders of the American anthropological establishment, whose primary investigative interests were the ethnography, linguistics, archeology, and physical anthropology of the American Indian, within a theoretical structure that was essentially historical.

1997, Jacob W. Gruber, “American Philosophical Society”, in History of Physical Anthropology, page 64:

(American spelling) Alternative spelling of archaeology


stele

From Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē, “upright rock; pillar; column”), plural form στῆλαι (stêlai). Doublet of stela.

uder

A superior class of members...had their names inscribed upon a marble stélé or column.

1820, T. S. Hughes, Trav. Sicily, I x 303:

It appears, that when any one of the family died, a stelè to his memory was added to the tomb.

1825, T. D. Fosbroke, Encycl. Antiq., I v 70:

In Egypt [obelisks] belonged to the class of steles (commemorative pillars).

1847, C. O. Müller, translated by J. Leitch, Anc. Art, §224 193:

The Australian stele, or grave-pillar.

1884, A. Lang, Custom & Myth, section 285:

(archaeology) An upright (or formerly upright) slab containing engraved or painted decorations or inscriptions; a stela.

Two large hieroglyphed steles incised upon the face of a projecting mass of boldly rounded cliff.

1877, A. B. Edwards, Thousand Miles up Nile, VI 143:

(archaeology, uncommon) Any carved or engraved surface.

لَوْحَة تِذْكَارِيَّة

(archaeology) tall, slender stone monument

Stele. The ornaments on the ridge of a Greek temple, answering to the antefixæ on the summit of the flank entablatures, are thus designated.

c. 1840, Hosking, "Architecture" in Encyclopædia Britannica, III 470

(architecture, archaeology, obsolete) An acroterion, the decoration on the ridge of an ancient Greek building such as a temple.


stele

stelen (definite singular)
steler (indefinite plural)
stelene (definite plural)

From Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē, “pillar”).

(archaeology) A tall, slender stone monument, often with writing carved into its surface


stele

stelen (definite singular)
stelar (indefinite plural)
stelane (definite plural)

(archaeology) tall, slender stone monument, often with writing carved into its surface


pothole

From dialectal pot (“pit, hollow, cavity”) + hole. The "cave" senses, attested since at least 1809 (as pot-hole), may be from Middle English pot, potte (“a deep hole for a mine, or from peat-digging”), of uncertain origin; perhaps related to English pit, pote, or pot. Compare Scots pott, patt (“a pit dug in the ground; coalpit”).

(archaeology) A pit resulting from unauthorized excavation by treasure-hunters or vandals.

kuoppa

hole in a burial mound resulting from unauthorized excavators


archaeological

en-adj

archaeological (comparative more archaeological, superlative most archaeological)

more archaeological (comparative)
most archaeological (superlative)

A living floor is, in archaeological terms, the floor of a cave upon which people lived and which retains evidence of their activities.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 202:

Relating to the science or research of archaeology.

arkeologjik

relating to the science or research of archaeology


pot boiler

The figurative sense comes from the notion that the writer's or artist's output is enough to provide sustenance; compare breadwinner, put food on the table, and keep the lights on.

(archaeology) A stone used to transfer heat from a fire into a vessel of water, so as to heat the contents.


conjoin

/kənˈd͡ʒɔɪn/

From Old French conjoindre, from Latin coniungo, from con- (“together”) + iungo (“join”). Equivalent to con- + join.

Attention must also be given to understanding why certain sites yield a low number of conjoins.

1984, Ellen M. Kroll, Glynn Ll. Isaac, “Configurations of artifacts and bones at early Pleistocene sites in East Africa”, in Harold Hietala, editor, Intrasite Spatial Analysis in Archaeology, →ISBN, page 23:

(archaeology) A reassembled bone, stone or ceramic artifact.


midden

From Middle English midding, myddyng, from Old Danish mykdyngja, (a compound of Old Norse myk, myki (“muck, manure”) and dyngja (“dung, dungpile”)), whence also Danish møgdynge and mødding, Norwegian mødding, dialectal Swedish mödding.

(archaeology) An accumulation, deposit, or soil derived from occupation debris, rubbish, or other by-products of human activity, such as bone, shell, ash, or decayed organic materials; or a pile or mound of such materials, often prehistoric.

køkkenmødding

archeology: prehistoric pile of bones and shells


cromlech

cromlech (absolutive indefinite)
cromlecha (absolutive indefinite singular)
cromlechak (absolutive indefinite plural)
cromlechek (ergative indefinite)
cromlechak (ergative indefinite singular)
cromlechek (ergative indefinite plural)
cromlechi (dative indefinite)
cromlechari (dative indefinite singular)
cromlechei (dative indefinite plural)
cromlechen (genitive indefinite)
cromlecharen (genitive indefinite singular)
cromlechen (genitive indefinite plural)
cromlechekin (comitative indefinite)
cromlecharekin (comitative indefinite singular)
cromlechekin (comitative indefinite plural)
cromlechengatik (causative indefinite)
cromlecharengatik (causative indefinite singular)
cromlechengatik (causative indefinite plural)
cromlechentzat (benefactive indefinite)
cromlecharentzat (benefactive indefinite singular)
cromlechentzat (benefactive indefinite plural)
cromlechez (indefinite instrumental)
cromlechaz (indefinite instrumental singular)
cromlechez (indefinite instrumental plural)
cromlechetan (indefinite inessive)
cromlechean (indefinite inessive singular)
cromlechetan (indefinite inessive plural)
cromlechetako (indefinite locative)
cromlecheko (indefinite locative singular)
cromlechetako (indefinite locative plural)
cromlechetara (allative indefinite)
cromlechera (allative indefinite singular)
cromlechetara (allative indefinite plural)
cromlechetaraino (indefinite terminative)
cromlecheraino (indefinite singular terminative)
cromlechetaraino (indefinite plural terminative)
cromlechetarantz (directive indefinite)
cromlecherantz (directive indefinite singular)
cromlechetarantz (directive indefinite plural)
cromlechetarako (destinative indefinite)
cromlecherako (destinative indefinite singular)
cromlechetarako (destinative indefinite plural)
cromlechetatik (ablative indefinite)
cromlechetik (ablative indefinite singular)
cromlechetatik (ablative indefinite plural)
cromlechik (indefinite partitive)
cromlechtzat (indefinite prolative)


kist

Possibly borrowed from Old Norse kista (“chest”); but see also English cist (“crypt”).

The global library of ice has become a cracked kist, a broken storehouse leaking its contents.

2020, David Farrier, “The Library of Babel”, in Footprints, 4th Estate, →ISBN:

(archaeology) Alternative form of cist (“crypt”)


θησαυρός

head

θησαυρός • (thisavrós) m (plural θησαυροί)

thisavrós (romanization)
θησαυροί (plural)
θησαυρός (nominative singular)
θησαυροί (nominative plural)
θησαυρού (genitive singular)
θησαυρών (genitive plural)
θησαυρό (accusative singular)
θησαυρούς (accusative plural)
θησαυρέ (singular vocative)
θησαυροί (plural vocative)

From Ancient Greek θησαυρός (thēsaurós).


menhir

PIE word
 *méǵh₂s
Either borrowed from French menhir, or from its etymon Breton maen-hir (literally “long stone”), from maen (“stone”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“big, great”)) + hir (“long”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- (“long; lasting”)). Cognate with Cornish mênhere, Welsh maen hir.

der

Near-synonym: orthostat

[N]o time has passed since we lived in caves, grappled with fish at the reedy shore, buried our dead with a song, with red-ochre and pulled up our dolmens, temples and menhirs and standing stones to the glory of some indeterminate god or gods, […]

1963, Thomas Pynchon, “Confessions of Fausto Maijstral”, in V.: […], Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, pages 310–311:

On the coast tree ferns and pandanus palms. Inland termite menhirs seventeen feet high.

1980, Anthony Burgess, chapter 39, in Earthly Powers, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, London: Penguin Books, published 1981, →ISBN, page 280:

(archaeology) A single tall standing stone as a monument, especially one dating to prehistoric times.


menhir

nl-noun

menhir m (plural menhirs, diminutive menhirtje n)

menhirs (plural)
menhirtje (diminutive neuter)

Borrowed from Breton menhir, from Breton maen-hir.


menhir

Borrowed from Breton maen-hir, from maen (“stone”) + hir (“tall”) (compare Welsh maen hir, Cornish mênhere).


menhir

menhir (nominative singular)
menhiry (nominative plural)
menhiru (genitive singular)
menhirów (genitive plural)
menhirowi (dative singular)
menhirom (dative plural)
menhir (accusative singular)
menhiry (accusative plural)
menhirem (instrumental singular)
menhirami (instrumental plural)
menhirze (locative singular)
menhirach (locative plural)
menhirze (singular vocative)
menhiry (plural vocative)

(archaeology) menhir (single tall standing stone as a monument, especially one dating to prehistoric times)


menhir

Borrowed from French menhir, from Breton maen-hir.


λίθος

líthos (romanization)
λίθοι (plural)
λίθος (nominative singular)
λίθοι (nominative plural)
λίθου (genitive singular)
λίθων (genitive plural)
λίθο (accusative singular)
λίθους (accusative plural)
λίθε (singular vocative)
λίθοι (plural vocative)

Learnedly, from Ancient Greek λίθος (líthos), masculine (also feminine).

líthoi kaì plínthoi kaì xúla kaì kéramos atáktōs errhimména

λίθοι, πλίνθοι και κέραμοι ατάκτως ερριμέναancient: λίθοι καὶ πλίνθοι καὶ ξύλα καὶ κέραμος ἀτάκτως ἐρριμμένα

(archaeology) Εποχή του Λίθου (“Stone Age”)

masculine form:
Εποχή του Λίθου (“Stone Age”)

Εποχή του Λίθου
Εποχή του Λίθου#Greek


typology

en-noun

typology (countable and uncountable, plural typologies)

(archaeology) The result of the classification of things according to their characteristics.


necropolis

necropolis (plural necropolises or necropoleis or necropoles or necropoli)

necropolises (plural)
necropoleis (plural)
necropoles (plural)
necropoli (plural)

Brookwood Cemetery
Deir el-Bahari
London Necropolis Railway
Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut
Theban Necropolis

Borrowed from Koine Greek νεκρόπολις (nekrópolis, “city of the dead, cemetery”) (used to describe part of the city of Alexandria, Egypt), from Ancient Greek νεκρός (nekrós, “dead”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- (“to disappear; to perish”)) + πόλις (pólis, “city”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tpelH- (“city; fortification”)). The English word is analysable as necro- + -polis, and is cognate with French nécropole, German Nekropolis, Late Latin necropolis.
The plural form necropoleis is derived from Ancient Greek νεκροπόλεις (nekropóleis).

der

These labours upon Phœnician necropoli are of great importance. [...] M. [Louis Félicien] de Saulcy, one of the first travellers who has thrown light upon these necropoli, devoted himself to a very interesting examination of the tombs of the kings, of the prophets and judges, and upon the immense necropolis that surrounds Jerusalem, like a funeral enceinte.

1853, Abbé de St. Michon [i.e., Jean-Hippolyte Michon], chapter XIV, in [anonymous], transl., Narrative of a Religious Journey in the East in 1850 and 1851, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 338:

The ancient Greeks generally buried their dead in their nekropoleis or their gardens; often on the road leading to their towns, or before the gates. This pious feeling of affection and reverence for the dead, is a touching feature in the character of the modern Greeks.

1854, A[dolphus] L[ouis] Kœppen, “The Harbors and Naval Establishments of the Ancient Athenians—The Modern Peiræus”, in Sketches of a Traveller from Greece, Constantinople, Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine, Chambersburg, Pa.: […] M. Kieffer & Co., →OCLC, page 19:

What shall I say of these immense Necropoleis, or Cities of the Dead, where the same care and labour were employed to embellish death, as other nations have bestowed on the adornment of life? Such an architecture could have sprung up only among a people filled with the idea of immortality, and in whose eyes earthly existence was but a fleeting passage to a future life.

1859, James Burton Robinson, “Lecture IV. Lecture on the Geography, Institutions, Trade, Arts, and Sciences of Ancient Egypt”, in Public Lectures Delivered before the Catholic University of Ireland, on Some Subjects of Ancient & Modern History, in the Years 1856, 1857, & 1858, London: Catholic Bookselling & Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, page 149:

The monuments of Egypt are religious, as the temples; sepulchral, as the necropoles; or triumphal, as the obelisks. [...] The most splendid necropoles of Egypt are those of Memphis and Thebes, and to the necropolis of the former the pyramids of El-Geezeh, near Cairo, are especially related.

1860, Anne C[harlotte] Lynch Botta, “Egyptian Literature”, in Hand-book of Universal Literature, from the Best and Latest Authorities: […], New York, N.Y.: Derby & Jackson, […], →OCLC, page 60:

Are we not overawed by those immense temples [in Egypt], those prodigious palaces, those grottos hewn in the living rock, those endless necropolises, and those indestructible colossi?

1865 February 1, “Pointed Architecture. […]”, in The Art-Student; a Magazine of the Fine Arts: […], volume II, number 13, London: Hall, Smart, and Allen, […], →OCLC, page 262, column 2:

What would be the result if one attempted to determine the physical character of that people from a study of the remains in their necropoli?

1899 May, William Z[ebina] Ripley, “The Origin of European Culture”, in Appleton’s Popular Science Monthly, volume LV, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, →OCLC, pages 24–25:

"How did you happen to discover it?" he inquired as they emerged from the end of the avenue under a massive gateway carved by the cemetery's developers to resemble some regal necropolis of the Pharaohs.

1988 November, Barbara Hambly, chapter 3, in Those Who Hunt the Night, New York, N.Y.: Open Road Media, published 2011, →ISBN:

The great cemeteries or necropolises (literally, "cities of the dead") adjacent to the major Etruscan cities such as Cerveteri and Tarquinia are the most visible relics of this civilization.

1993, Graeme Barker, Annie Grant, Tom Rasmussen, “Approaches to the Etruscan Landscape: The Development of the Tuscania Survey”, in Peter Bogucki, editor, Case Studies in European Prehistory, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, page 229:

Separate fractions of dentine and enamel of 12 individuals from the necropolis of Sion (Valais, Switzerland) have been analyzed for Pb and Sr isotope compositions.

2003 March, M. Chiaradia, A. Gallay, W. Todt, “Different Contamination Styles of Prehistoric Human Teeth at a Swiss Necropolis (Sion, Valais) Inferred from Lead and Strontium Isotopes”, in Applied Geochemistry, volume 18, number 3, Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, abstract, page 353:

If the layer of the offerings is contemporary with the burials, then these are the earliest of the nekropolis, dating to the early third quarter of the seventh century.

2011, Alexandra[-Fani] Alexandridou, “Attic Early Black-figured Shapes”, in John M. Fossey, Angelo Geissen, editors, The Early Black-figured Pottery of Attika in Context (c. 630–570 BCE) (Monumenta Graeca et Romana; 17), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 38, column 1:

(archaeology) An ancient site used for burying the dead, particularly if consisting of elaborate grave monuments.


verraco

From a derivative of Latin verrēs (“boar”). Compare Romance cognates with varying suffixes: Portuguese barrão, Asturian bracu, French verrat, etc.

[…], siendo Balarus uno de los nombres que aparece en la inscripción funeraria de un verraco abulense

2003, Jesús Rafael Álvarez-Sanchís, Los vettones, Real Academia de la Historia, page 309:

[…] , Balarus being one of the names that appears in the funerary inscription of a verraco from Ávila.

(archaeology) a stone sculpture of a pig or other quadruped created by the pre-Roman inhabitants of Iberia, especially the Vettones


parietal

From Latin parietālis, from pariēs (“wall”).

(archaeology) A flat Roman wall tile with roughened surface, used as a base for plasterwork.


pyxis

nl-noun

pyxis f (plural pyxiden or pyxissen, diminutive pyxisje n)

pyxiden (plural)
pyxissen (plural)
pyxisje (diminutive neuter)

Borrowed from Latin pyxis, from Ancient Greek πυξίς (puxís). Doublet of box, buks (“shotgun”), and bus (“container”).

doublet

(archaeology) a type of small box from Ancient Greece holding small, valuable items (such as jewellery, cosmetics or medicine)


radiocarbon dating

en-noun

radiocarbon dating (usually uncountable, plural radiocarbon datings)

(physics, archaeology, paleontology) A method of estimating the age of an artifact or biological vestige based on the relative amounts of the different isotopes of carbon present in a sample.


canopic jar

From Latin Canōpicus, from Canopus + -icus.

Had Radulph Tubbs such luck with tombs it is probable that he […] would have uncovered only the four canopic jars containing, respectively, the large intestines, small intestines, heart, and liver.

1993, Rikki Ducornet, The Jade Cabinet, Dalkey Archive Press, page 120:

(archaeology) An Egyptian pottery container in which the entrails of a mummy have been placed.


stela

stela (plural stelas or stelae or steles)

stelas (plural)
stelae (plural)
steles (plural)

From Latin stēla, from Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē). Doublet of stele.

In the courts of the houses lie many round stelæ, or pillars, once placed on the graves of the Athenians.

1776, R. Chandler, Trav. Greece, VIII 35:

He erected a stela, with an inscription in the sacred character, to commemorate his successes.

1837, J. G. Wilkinson, Manners & Customs of the Anc. Egyptians, I ii 101:

The upright blocks or stelas are among the most curious parts of the present ruin.

1876, S. Manning, Land of Pharaohs, section 203:

Thothmes I. set up two stelæ near the Euphrates.

1893, E. A. T. W. Budge, Mummy, section 30:

A shore excursion had been arranged for the passengers who were interested in visiting the stelae of San Ignacio.

(archaeology) an obelisk or upright stone pillar, usually as a primitive commemoration or gravestone


stela

stela (nominative singular)
stele (nominative plural)
steli (genitive singular)
stel (genitive plural)
steli (dative singular)
stelom (dative plural)
stelę (accusative singular)
stele (accusative plural)
stelą (instrumental singular)
stelami (instrumental plural)
steli (locative singular)
stelach (locative plural)
stelo (singular vocative)
stele (plural vocative)

(archaeology, sculpture) stele, stela (tall, slender stone monument)


monumental

en-adj

monumental (comparative more monumental, superlative most monumental)

more monumental (comparative)
most monumental (superlative)

Borrowed from Late Latin monumentālis, from Latin monumentum; equivalent to monument + -al.

Monumental construction.


mastaba

mastaba (nominative singular)
mastaby (nominative plural)
mastaby (genitive singular)
mastab (genitive plural)
mastabie (dative singular)
mastabom (dative plural)
mastabę (accusative singular)
mastaby (accusative plural)
mastabą (instrumental singular)
mastabami (instrumental plural)
mastabie (locative singular)
mastabach (locative plural)
mastabo (singular vocative)
mastaby (plural vocative)

Borrowed from Arabic مِصْطَبَة (miṣṭaba).

bor+

(archaeology) mastaba (rectangular structure with a flat top and slightly sloping sides, built during Ancient Egyptian times above tombs that were situated on flat land)


syrinx

/sɪˈɹɪnd͡ʒiːz/

Learned borrowing from Latin sȳrinx (“reed; reed pipe, panpipes”), from Ancient Greek σῦριγξ (sûrinx, “panpipes; pipe-shaped object”), from Pre-Greek. Doublet of syringe.
The plural form syringes is a learned borrowing from Latin sȳringes.

der

And novv vvhen the people of all ſorts came flocking to the Court, in a tumultuous manner, Agathocles [grandson of Agathocles of Syracuse], taking the King vvith him, vvent and hid himſelf, in a place called Syringes, vvhich vvas a gallery or vvalk, vvhich had every vvay three vvalls and gates to paſſe, before one could come unto it.

1658, James Ussher, “The Sixth Age of the World. [The Macedonian Empire.]”, in The Annals of the World. […], London: […] E[van] Tyler, for J[ohn] Crook, […], and for G[abriel] Bedell, […], →OCLC, page 374:

The Former of theſe Tvvo Hermes [i.e., the god Thoth], vvas the Inventor of Arts and Sciences, the Latter [Siphoas], the Reſtorer and Advancer of them: the Firſt vvrote in Hieroglyphicks upon Pillars, ἐν τῆ Συριγγικῆ γῆ [in the land of Syringes] (as the learned Valeſius conjectures it ſhould be read, instead of Σηριαδικῆ.) VVhich Syringes vvhat they vvere, Am[mianus] Marcellinus vvill inſtruct us; […]

1678, R[alph] Cudworth, chapter IV, in The True Intellectual System of the Universe: The First Part; wherein All the Reason and Philosophy of Atheism is Confuted; and Its Impossibility Demonstrated, London: […] Richard Royston, […], →OCLC, page 322:

There are alſo (in Egypt) Syrinxes, certain ſubterraneous and vvinding receſſes, vvhich (as it is ſaid) men skilled in antient rites, foreknovving the coming of the deluge, and fearing that the memory of their ceremonies ſhould be blotted out, hevved and faſhioned out of quarries in ſeveral places, vvith immenſe labour, and carved on the vvalls vvhich they had ſo hevvn, many kinds of fovvls, and vvild beaſts, and figures of animals innumerable, vvhich they called hieroglyphick (ſo ſome read the text) or ſacred characters.

1733, [Patrick Delany], “Dissertation XIV. Of Other Testimonies Relating to the Deluge.”, in Revelation Examined with Candour. Or, A Fair Enquiry into the Sense and use of the Several Revelations Expressly Declared, or Sufficiently Implied, to be Given to Mankind from the Creation, as They are Found in the Bible. […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] C[harles] Rivington, […], →OCLC, pages 247–248:

Further the Ramesseion (the Osmandyeion of the Descript.) with the alley of sphinxes, the Menephtheion (palace at Kurnah) and other monuments as late as Ptolemy the First's time. Grottoes and syrinxes all around.

1850, C. O. Müller [i.e., Karl Otfried Müller], F[riedrich] G[ottlieb] Welcker, “History of Art in Antiquity. Appendix. The Nations Not of Greek Race.”, in John Leitch, transl., Ancient Art and Its Remains; or A Manual of the Archæology of Art. […], new edition, London: A[rchibald] Fullarton and Co., […], →OCLC, note 3, page 216:

(archaeology, Egyptology) Chiefly in the plural: a narrow channel cut in rock, especially in Ancient Egyptian burial chambers.

Ancient Egyptian
Ancient Egyptian#Adjective


Cro-Magnon

en-noun

Cro-Magnon (plural Cro-Magnons or Cro-Magnon)

Cro-Magnons (plural)
Cro-Magnon (plural)

From French Cro-Magnon, from Occitan Cròs-Manhon.
Named after Abri de Cro-Magnon, a rock shelter in the commune of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, Dordogne, France, where the first skeletons were found in 1868.

The Cro-Magnons may have been one important step beyond the Neanderthals in social organization.[…]That the Cro-Magnons and the Neanderthals encountered each other is probable. There seems to be no more than a five-thousand-year interval between the general occupation of home sites by the Neanderthals and their replacement by Cro-Magnon tools and fossils.

1994, Seymour W. Itzkoff, The Decline of Intelligence in America: A Strategy for National Renewal, Greenwood Publishing Group (Praeger Publishers), page 14:

The Cro Magnon came to live in Europe around forty thousand years ago and most educated people have heard of them. The Cro Magnon are the ones who created the remarkable cave paintings found in southern France and Spain at Lascaux and Altamira.

2006, Lyndall Baker Landauer, The Learning Pool: Basic Science Everyone Needs to Know, Xlibris, page 85:

In addition, the latest evidence suggests that the "agricultural revolution" occurred sometime during the second half of the Cro-Magnon era. Anatomically, the Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon brains were approximately the same overall size.

2009, Anthony Scioli, Henry B. Biller, Hope in the Age of Anxiety, Oxford University Press, page 44:

(archaeology) The earliest known form of modern human (Homo sapiens) in Europe, dating from the late Paleolithic.

кроманьо́нец

earliest known form of modern human, in Europe


tegula

Borrowed from Latin tegula (“a tile”), from tegō (“to cover”). Doublet of tile.

(archaeology) A flat Roman roof tile with raised edges, joined together by an imbrex.


backfill

en-verb

backfill (third-person singular simple present backfills, present participle backfilling, simple past and past participle backfilled)

backfills (present singular third-person)
backfilling (participle present)
backfilled (participle past)
backfilled (past)

We backfilled the cistern with pea gravel to discourage its use as a refuse container.

(archaeology) To refill an excavation unit to restore the former ground surface and/or to preserve the unit and make it recognizable as having been excavated.


lynchet

Apparently lynch (“variant of linch”) + -et, the first element derived from Old English hlinc (“a hill”).

A stretch of a hundred odd acres, in one patch, on the highest ground of the farm, rising above stony lanchets or lynchets - the outcrop of siliceous veins in the chalk formation.

1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter 43, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Penguin Classics, published 2003, →ISBN:

(archaeology) A bank of earth that slowly builds up on the lower slope of a ploughed field; a feature of ancient field systems.


helium dating

(archaeology) a method of determining the age of rock that depends on the production of helium during the decay of various radioactive isotopes of uranium and thorium.


gord

From Proto-Slavic *gordъ. Doublet of yard and garth.

(archaeology) A medieval Slavonic fortified settlement, typically a group of wooden houses surrounded by a wall of earth and wood, with a palisade running along the top of the bulwark.


trench cut

(archaeology) A triangle-shaped cut in a tell, used to see how many levels there are or to find information about each separate settlement.


Abbevillian

Name derived from Abbeville, France (location of the archaeological sites).

(archaeology, dated) Of or relating to any of various early Paleolithic sites, particularly in Europe, that are characterized by the presence of bifacial stone axes.


Abbevillian

(archaeology, dated) The earliest epoch of the early Paleolithic stage or tradition characterized by the presence of bifacial stone axes, especially in Europe.


bifacial core

(archaeology) The roughly biconical remains of a piece of worked flint(1) from which all possible blades have been struck.


fluorine absorption dating

en-noun

fluorine absorption dating (uncountable)

(archaeology) a technique used to date bones by measuring the amount of fluorine absorbed from the surrounding soil


fluorine dating

(archaeology) A technique used to date bones by measuring the amount of fluorine absorbed from the surrounding soil.


kurgan

(archaeology) kurgan (prehistoric burial mound in Central Asia)


archaeozoology

(archaeology) The study of relationships between humans and animals over time.

arqueozoologia

the study of relationships between humans and animals over time


catch and release

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-catch and release.wav

(archaeology) The practice of replacing artifacts in their original location after examining and cataloguing them.


krater

nl-noun

krater m (plural kraters, diminutive kratertje n)

kraters (plural)
kratertje (diminutive neuter)

Afrikaans: krater

→ West Frisian: krater

Borrowed from Latin crātēr, from Ancient Greek κρᾱτήρ (krātḗr).

(archaeology) krater (Ancient Greek vessel)


assemblage

en-noun

assemblage (countable and uncountable, plural assemblages)

Borrowed from French assemblage. By surface analysis, assemble + -age.

(archaeology) A group of different artifacts found in association with one another.


assemblage

(archaeology) assemblage (group of different artifacts found in association with one another)


lachrymatory

/ˈlækɹɪmətəɹi/

From Latin type *lacrimatorius, from lacrimare.

1658: For beside these Lachrymatories, notable Lamps with Vessels of Oyles and Aromaticall Liquors attended noble Ossuaries. — Sir Thomas Browne, Urne-Burial (Penguin 2005, p. 21)

(archaeology) A vase supposedly intended to hold tears; formerly used by archaeologists to designate certain urns found in Roman burials.


stratigraphy

stratigraphy (countable and uncountable, plural stratigraphies)

(archaeology) The layering of deposits, with newer remains overlaying older ones, forming a chronology of the site.


cathair

head

cathair f (genitive singular cathrach or caithreach, nominative plural cathracha or caithreacha)

cathrach (genitive singular)
caithreach (genitive singular)
cathracha (nominative plural)
caithreacha (nominative plural)
nominative (indefinite)
cathair (indefinite singular)
cathracha (indefinite plural)
vocative (indefinite)
a chathair (indefinite singular)
a chathracha (indefinite plural)
genitive (indefinite)
cathrach (indefinite singular)
dative (indefinite)
cathraigh (archaic dialectal indefinite singular)
nominative (definite)
an chathair (definite singular)
na cathracha (definite plural)
genitive (definite)
na cathrach (definite singular)
na gcathracha (definite plural)
dative (definite)
leis an gcathair (definite singular)
leis an gcathraigh (archaic definite dialectal singular)
don chathair (definite singular)
don chathraigh (archaic definite dialectal singular)
leis na cathracha (definite plural)

From Old Irish cathair, from Proto-Celtic *katrixs (“fortification”).

(archaeology) circular stone fort, a ringfort


corredo

it-noun

corredo m (plural corredi, diminutive corredìno)

From Late Latin conredum, from cum (“with”) + redum (“preparation, arrangement”), which is of Germanic origin; see also Dutch reden, Gothic *𐍂𐌴𐌳𐌰𐌽 (*rēdan), 𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (raidjan). Alternatively back-formation of corredare, compare arredare (“to equip”).

af

(archaeology) grave goods (artefacts buried with a dead person in a grave or tomb)


anta

From Old Galician-Portuguese anta, borrowed from Latin antās pl.

(archaeology) dolmen (prehistoric megalithic tomb)


kistvaen

From Welsh cistfaen, from cist (“chest”) + maen (“stone”).

It was man of the New Stone Age who first peopled this upland, leaving remains of his hut-dwellings, his pounds, dolmens, and menhirs, his kistvaens and his cooking-holes.

(archaeology) A stone coffin in the form of a pit covered with earth and surrounded by stones.


oculo

Borrowed from Latin oculus (“eye”). Doublet of occhio, which was inherited.

(archaeology, architecture) a circular opening or window


pitting

en-noun

pitting (countable and uncountable, plural pittings)

Test pittings were carried out prior to the main excavation.


petroglyph

/ˈpɛ.tɹəˌɡlɪf/

/ˈpɛ.tɹəʊˌɡlɪf/

/ˈpɛ.tɹəˌɡlɪf/

From French pétroglyphe, from Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra, “rock”) + γλυφή (gluphḗ, “carved work”). By surface analysis, petro- + glyph.

The petroglyphs of Central Asia form a long sequence from the Neolithic onwards.

1998, Henri-Paul Francfort, “17: Central Asian petroglyphs: between Indo-Iranian and shamanistic interpretations”, in Paul S. C. Taçon, editor, The Archaeology of Rock-Art, page 302:

Ninety-six petroglyph sites were reported in the original study (DiazGranados 1993). The majority of the petroglyphs are worn.

2000, Carol Diaz-Granados, James R. Duncan, The Petroglyphs and Pictographs of Missouri, page 102:

The islands of Tonga are not known for petroglyphs; however, one of the frontal stones of a langi called Mala'e Lahi on 'Uiha Island has one petroglyph of a human foot.

2001, Georgia Lee, “18: Oceania”, in David S. Whitley, editor, Handbook of Rock Art Research, page 578:

(archaeology) A rock carving, especially one made in prehistoric times.

maenengravadur

a rock carving, especially one made in prehistoric times


leveling

leveling (countable and uncountable, plural levelings)

(surveying, archaeology) The process of measuring levels to establish heights and altitudes.


microblade

The upper Palaeolithic period saw the first production of microblade tools.

(archaeology, sometimes attributive) A small blade, typically produced in prehistoric times from silica-rich minerals.


bladelet

(archaeology) A small stone blade with one sharp and one blunt edge


Iberomaurusian

(archaeology) Of or pertaining to a population of early humans that occupied the Mediterranean littoral from Morocco to Tunisia 22,000 to 9,000 years ago

ibéromaurusien

of or pertaining to a population of early humans that occupied the Mediterranean littoral from Morocco to Tunisia 22,000 to 9,000 years ago


Capsian

From French capsien, from Latin Capsianus, from Capsa (“Gafsa”) + -ianus (“-ian”).

(archaeology) of or pertaining to a Paleolithic culture of North Africa (named after primary findings there, in the now southern Tunisian oasis Gafsa) and southern Europe


endscraper

(archaeology) A small, rounded flint tool used to scrape hides; sometimes fitted to a bone handle.


aceramic

At Çatal Hüyük we can actually study the transition from an aceramic Neolithic with baskets and wooden vessels to a ceramic Neolithic with the first pottery.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, quoting James Mellaart, Çatal Hüyük, 1967, p. 22, quoted in The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 138:

(archaeology, of a culture, period, or site) Having no pottery or other ceramicware items.


bifacial

(archaeology, of a flint tool) Having two sharp cutting edges.


Acheulean

From French acheuléen, from Saint-Acheul, a suburb of Amiens where the first tools from this period were found.

Assuming that language ability extends back to the hominids, we see a slow process of cultural development over millions of years, and then in the Acheulean period of Homo erectus, about three hundred thousand years ago, we find the first engraved tool.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 95:

When early modern humans – the ones who would eventually become us – started to move out of Africa something over a hundred thousand years ago, Acheulean tools were the technology of choice.

2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA, published 2003, page 402:

(archaeology) Of or pertaining to a lower Paleolithic period characterized by the presence of flaked bifacial hand axes.


Acheulean

(archaeology) A lower Paleolithic period characterized by the presence of flaked bifacial hand axes.


retouch

en-verb

retouch (third-person singular simple present retouches, present participle retouching, simple past and past participle retouched)

retouches (present singular third-person)
retouching (participle present)
retouched (participle past)
retouched (past)

(archaeology) To modify a flint tool by making secondary flaking along the cutting edge.


cursus

en-noun

cursus (plural cursuses or (both rare) cursus or cursūs or (nonstandard) cursi)

cursuses (plural)
cursus (plural rare)
cursūs (plural rare)
cursi (nonstandard plural rare)

Learned borrowing from Latin cursus. Doublet of course and cour.

(archaeology) A long ditch or trench of unknown function, constructed in Neolithic Britain and Ireland.


文化

/wən³⁵ xu̯ä⁵¹/

/vəŋ²⁴ xua⁵¹/

/mɐn²¹ faː³³/

/uŋ⁵³⁻²¹ ⁽ʰ⁻⁾ŋuɑ²¹³/

/buŋ⁵⁵⁻¹¹ hue²¹³/

/wən³⁵ xu̯ä⁵¹/

/vəŋ²⁴ xua⁵¹/

/mɐn²¹ faː³³/

/uŋ⁵³⁻²¹ ⁽ʰ⁻⁾ŋuɑ²¹³/

/buŋ⁵⁵⁻¹¹ hue²¹³/

The modern Chinese term is an Orthographic borrowing from Japanese 文化(ぶんか) (bunka, “culture”), which is a direct translation of the German word Kultur.
In its classical form, the term can be interpreted as 文教 (wénjiào, “humanistic education”) + 化育 (huàyù, “transformational development”). Often cited are the following examples:
先秦, 《周易·賁卦彖傳》:
觀於天文、以察時變、觀乎人文、以化成天下
We observe the patterns of the skies in order to inspect seasonal changes. We observe the patterns of human behavior in order to transform and actualize all under Heaven.
南朝劉宋, 范曄, 《後漢書·荀淑傳》:
宣文教以章其化、立武備以秉其威。
Spread humanistic education in order to manifest its transformative potential. Establish military capabilities in order to have a grasp on (its) power.
Humanistic education, based on the tradition of rites and propriety 禮教 /礼教 (lǐjiào) have the transformative potential to actualize all under Heaven 人文化成. This is often juxtaposed or contrasted with the use of punishment 刑 (xíng) or military might 武 (wǔ) to establish power and control over a populace, as can be seen in the quote below:
南北朝, 齊王融, 〈從武帝琅邪城講武應詔詩〉, quoted in 《藝文類聚》卷五十九 ，武部，戰伐:
早逢文化洽，復屬武功宣
Having reached an ideal state of (governance by the means of) transformative education at an early stage, we can now focus on the establishment of military power (in the region).
文化 over here is synonymous with 文治 (wénzhì, “governance by means of culture, education, rites and music”). This is not the same as culture in the modern sense of the term.
It is within this classical context that the Japanese first coined the term 文化(ぶんか) (bunka) to name an era during the Edo period.
When used to translate Kultur during the Meiji restoration, 文化(ぶんか) (bunka) is possibly a contraction of 文明開化(ぶんめいかいか) (bunmeikaika, “to open up and transform through civilization”), which takes the meaning of a civilizing agent i.e. Culture.

quote-book

《周易·賁卦彖傳》

觀於天文、以察時變、觀乎人文、以化成天下

《後漢書·荀淑傳》

宣文教以章其化、立武備以秉其威。

〈從武帝琅邪城講武應詔詩〉

早逢文化洽，復屬武功宣

《藝文類聚》卷五十九 ，武部，戰伐

ja-r

龍山文化

龙山文化

archaeological culture
archaeological culture

(archaeology, countable) archaeological culture (recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place that may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society)


dipinto

Borrowed from Italian dipinto (literally “painting”).

(archaeology, epigraphy) a sketched or painted (as opposed to engraved) inscription.


roundhouse

Coordinate term: wheelhouse

A central stone slab cist containing the burial was surrounded by a circles of stones placed on edge, probably to represent the round house in which the deceased had lived.

2019, Alan Staniforth, Cleveland Way, page 66:

(archaeology) A prehistoric dwelling typical of northwest Europe in the Iron Age and Bronze Age.


antico

it-adj

antico (feminine antica, masculine plural antichi, feminine plural antiche)

antica (feminine)
antichi (masculine plural)
antiche (feminine plural)

Borrowed from Latin antīcus (“anterior”).

bor+

(archaeology) anterior, front (of a structural element, the face of a sarcophagus, etc.)


archeologia

archeol. (abbreviation)
archeologia (nominative singular)
archeologii (genitive singular)
archeologii (dative singular)
archeologię (accusative singular)
archeologią (instrumental singular)
archeologii (locative singular)
archeologio (singular vocative)

Internationalism; compare English archaeology, French archéologie, German Archäologie, ultimately from Ancient Greek ἀρχαιολογία (arkhaiología). By surface analysis, archeo- + -logia.

der

(archaeology) archaeology (scientific study of past remains)


linnus

head

linnus (genitive linnuse, partitive linnust)

linnuse (genitive)
linnust (partitive)
linnus (nominative singular)
linnused (nominative plural)
linnus (accusative nominative singular)
linnused (accusative nominative plural)
linnuse (accusative genitive singular)
linnused (accusative genitive plural)
linnuse (genitive singular)
linnuste (genitive plural)
linnust (partitive singular)
linnuseid (partitive plural)
linnusesse (illative singular)
linnustesse (illative plural)
linnuseisse (illative plural)
linnuses (inessive singular)
linnustes (inessive plural)
linnuseis (inessive plural)
linnusest (elative singular)
linnustest (elative plural)
linnuseist (elative plural)
linnusele (allative singular)
linnustele (allative plural)
linnuseile (allative plural)
linnusel (adessive singular)
linnustel (adessive plural)
linnuseil (adessive plural)
linnuselt (ablative singular)
linnustelt (ablative plural)
linnuseilt (ablative plural)
linnuseks (singular translative)
linnusteks (plural translative)
linnuseiks (plural translative)
linnuseni (singular terminative)
linnusteni (plural terminative)
linnusena (essive singular)
linnustena (essive plural)
linnuseta (abessive singular)
linnusteta (abessive plural)
linnusega (comitative singular)
linnustega (comitative plural)

(archaeology) ruins of a fortified settlement


zooarchaeology

The study of animal remains at archaeological sites.


overburden

(archaeology) A sterile stratum that lies above the stratum being investigated


遺物

遺物 (canonical)
ibutsu (romanization)
wibutu (romanization)
ゐぶつ (hiragana historical)

(archaeology) relic (artifact left behind by a culture)


考古学

ja-noun

考(こう)古(こ)学(がく) • (kōkogaku) ^(←かうこがく (kaukogaku)?)

考古学 (canonical)
kōkogaku (romanization)
kaukogaku (romanization)
かうこがく (hiragana historical)


preform

(archaeology) The rough, incomplete and unused basic form of a stone tool.


situla

(archaeology) A deep ceramic vase with a wide opening.

ruukku

archaeology: deep ceramic vase with a wide opening


situla

Borrowed from Latin situla (“vessel for water”), of uncertain origin. Doublet of secchia.


クロマニョン人

クロマニョン人 (canonical)
kuromanyonjin (romanization)


shovelbum

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-shovelbum.wav

(US, archaeology, humorous) A professional excavator on cultural resource management projects, who has done extensive field work.


shovelbum

en-verb

shovelbum (third-person singular simple present shovelbums, present participle shovelbumming, simple past and past participle shovelbummed)

shovelbums (present singular third-person)
shovelbumming (participle present)
shovelbummed (participle past)
shovelbummed (past)

(US, archaeology, humorous) To excavate, to do archaeology digs.


krypta

krypta (nominative singular)
krypty (nominative plural)
krypty (genitive singular)
krypt (genitive plural)
kryptě (dative singular)
kryptám (dative plural)
kryptu (accusative singular)
krypty (accusative plural)
krypto (singular vocative)
krypty (plural vocative)
kryptě (locative singular)
kryptách (locative plural)
kryptou (instrumental singular)
kryptami (instrumental plural)


krypta

krypta (nominative singular)
krypty (nominative plural)
krypty (genitive singular)
krypt (genitive plural)
krypcie (dative singular)
kryptom (dative plural)
kryptę (accusative singular)
krypty (accusative plural)
kryptą (instrumental singular)
kryptami (instrumental plural)
krypcie (locative singular)
kryptach (locative plural)
krypto (singular vocative)
krypty (plural vocative)

Learned borrowing from Latin crypta, from Ancient Greek κρυπτή (kruptḗ), female form of the adjective κρυπτός (kruptós). Doublet of kruchta (“church porch”).


krypta

sk-noun

krypta f (relational adjective kryptový)

kryptový (adjective relational)
nominative
krypta (singular)
krypty (plural)
genitive
krypty (singular)
krýpt (plural)
dative
krypte (singular)
kryptám (plural)
accusative
kryptu (singular)
locative
kryptách (plural)
instrumental
kryptou (singular)
kryptami (plural)


debitage

en-noun

debitage (countable and uncountable, plural debitages)

(archaeology) The sharp-edged waste material that remains after creation of a stone tool


faience

faience (countable and uncountable, plural faiences)

From French faïence, named after the city of Faenza, Italy, where it was made in the 16th century.

(archaeology) Beads or small ornaments made from frit, from the eastern Mediterranean of the Bronze and Iron Ages.


لرغونپوهنه

head

لرغونپوهنه • (lërǧunpohëna) f

ps-noun

لرغونپوهنه • (lërǧunpohëna) f

lërǧunpohëna (romanization)
لرغونپوهنه (direct singular)
lërǧunpohëna (direct singular)
لرغونپوهنې (direct plural)
lërǧunpohëne (direct plural)
لرغونپوهنې (oblique singular)
lërǧunpohëne (oblique singular)
لرغونپوهنو (oblique plural)
lërǧunpohëno (oblique plural)
لرغونپوهنې (singular vocative)
lërǧunpohëne (singular vocative)
لرغونپوهنو (plural vocative)
lërǧunpohëno (plural vocative)

Ps-لرغونپوهنه.oga

لرغون + ـپوهنه

suffix

لرغون + ـپوهنه


flanker

Audio (US)

From flank + -er. The verb is from the noun (sense 3).

(archaeology) One of a pair of large upright monoliths erected on either end of the recumbent, in recumbent stone circles of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and the counties of Cork and Kerry in south-west of Ireland.


fornfrøði

fo-noun

fornfrøði f (genitive singular fornfrøði, uncountable)

fornfrøði (genitive singular)
fornfrøði (indefinite nominative singular)
fornfrøðin (definite nominative singular)
fornfrøði (accusative indefinite singular)
fornfrøðina (accusative definite singular)
fornfrøði (dative indefinite singular)
fornfrøðini (dative definite singular)
fornfrøði (genitive indefinite singular)
fornfrøðinnar (definite genitive singular)

[ˈfɔtnˌfɹøːjɪ]


tribrach

English tri- + Ancient Greek βρᾰχῑ́ων (brăkhī́ōn, “arm”)

trefot

surveying: circular platform on three legs used to connect a theodolite to a tripod

In a recent examination of the registers of the Ryde Philosophical Society, Mr. Martin has found, as I have been informed through Mr. Westropp’s kindness, the entry, that the flint tribrach was presented to the collection by the late Dr. Martin in 1853, with other objects from Ventnor, and as having been obtained on the shore at that place.

1873, Albert Way, “Notes on an Unique Implement of Flint, Found, as Stated, in the Isle of Wight”, in The Archæological Journal, XXX, page 31:

A singular instrument chipped out of flint, like three celts conjoined…, so as to form a sort of tribrach.

1897, Sir John Evans, chapter IV, in The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain, revised second edition, page 78:

A figure or object having three arms or branches.

(archaeology) A tribrachial prehistoric flint implement.


scutiform

There are similarities between the form of the central boss on scutiforms and the central setting on filigree pendants, and between the use of punched dot decoration on scutiforms and beaded wire on filigree pendants. Scutiforms, however ...

1997, Helen Geake, The Use of Grave-goods in Conversion-period England, c.600-c.850, British Archaeological Reports Limited:

... suggest that the purported depictions of bees' combs were extremely similar to what he described as four scutiforms from the cave of Altamira in Spain.

2015, Siyakha Mguni, Termites of the Gods: San Cosmology In Southern African Rock Art, NYU Press, →ISBN, page 64:

(archaeology) A symbol that is shaped like a shield.


sherd

the thigh […] which all in sherds it drove

[1611?], Homer, “(please specify |book=I to XXIV)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volume (please specify the book number), London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC:

(dated or archaeology) Alternative form of shard


testimoni

Borrowed from Latin testimōnium. First attested in the 13th century.


fire dog

(archaeology) Bronze Age artifact used in worshipping either bulls or the moon, or as a holder for wooden logs to be used in a fire altar.


septal

(archaeology, of a stone or slab) Separating compartments in a burial chamber.