This Glossary is as accurate as possible in describing terms as applied to

Archaeology, Anthropology and general artifact collector terminology.

ABERRANT - Deviation from the class to which an artifact or phenomenon belongs.

ABORIGINAL - Pertaining to the original occupants of a given region. Indigenous

people, such as the Indians to North America.

ABRADER - See ABRADING STONE.

ABRADING STONE - A stone, typically sandstone or limestone that was used to

smooth or sharpen antler, bone, wood and other stone. Used in the knapping

process for dulling a platform in preparation for flake removal.

ABRASIVE STONE - A gritty stone that is used for grinding, honing, polishing.

Generally made of sandstone.

ABSOLUTE DATING - A dating method that determines an object's exact age, as

opposed to its relative age; includes such techniques as dendrochronology and

radiocarbon dating. Dating an artifact or feature by a measure of time, such as

years, so that you can say, for example, "This pot is 2,500 years old plus or

minus 250 years."

ABU SIMBEL - Two temples located close to the border between Sudan and Egypt.

They were constructed in the 13th century B.C.E. during the reign of Pharaoh

Ramesses II.

ACCLIMATORY ADJUSTMENTS - Reversible physiological adjustments to stressful

environments.

ACCRETION - Growth by virtue of an increase in inter-cellular materials.

ACCULTURATION - The process by which a culture absorbs the traits or customs of

another culture with which it is in direct contact.

ACEPHALOUS SOCIETY - A society without a political head such as a president,

chief, or king.

ACHEMENID EMPIRE - Persian empire named after its founder Achemens. The empire

lasted from about 550 to 330 BCE when it was conquered by Alexander the Great.

ACHIEVED STATUS - Social standing and prestige reflecting the ability of an

individual to acquire an established position in society as a result of

individual accomplishments.

ACROPOLIS - A highly fortified area that served as the defensive and ritual

center of Greek cities such as Athens.

ACT - The smallest unit of recurrent behavior involving an artifact.

ACTIVITY - A set of related 'acts.'

ACTIVITY AREA - that portion of an archaeological site which can be equated

with a single activity such as flint knapping, butchering, or cooking.

ACUTE - Having a sudden onset, sharp rise, and short course.

A.D. - Etymology: Medieval Latin, in the year of the Lord. Used to indicate

that a time division falls within the Christian era. Anno Domini. When used as

a prefix or suffix to a date, it indicates the number of years elapsed since the

supposed date of the birth of Christ.

ADAPTATION - The process of change to better conform with environmental

conditions or other external influences. The act or process of adapting.

ADAPTIVE RADIATION - The evolution of a single evolutionary stock into a

number of different species.

ADJUSTMENT - The ability of humans to survive in stressful environments by

nongenetic means.

ADOLESCENT GROWTH SPURT - A rapid increase in stature and other dimensions of

the body that occurs during puberty.

ADULT - The period in an individual's life cycle after the eruption of the last

permanent teeth.

ADENA - A cultural group that prevailed in late archaic-early woodland times.

Primarily known for Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois.

ADZE - An axe-like implement in which the blade is hafted such that the cutting

edge lies perpendicular to the handle after the fashion of a hoe. Used primarily

for woodworking.

AEOLIAN - Sand, clay, silt, or mixed deposits that have been carried by the

wind. Loess and sand dunes are typical aeolian deposits.

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY - Aerial photography. vertical and oblique photographic

imagery of the earth's surface taken from any point of advantage. The use of

specialized films can render visible features which could not otherwise be

detected. Topographic relief can be emphasized by photographing in the morning

or early evening when shadows are most pronounced.

AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE - an important survey technique in the discovery and

recording of archaeological sites (see also reconnaissance survey).

AFFILIATIVE BEHAVIOR - Close-proximity behavior that includes touching,

grooming, and hugging.

AFFINAL KIN - Persons related by marriage.

AGATE - A fine-grained variegated chalcedony having its colors arranged in

stripes, blended in clouds, or showing moss like forms.

AGATE BASIN - a physiographic feature in Wyoming, also known as Moss Agate

Arroyo which has given its name to the lanceolate points recovered there, to

the archaeological site from which they were recovered (occasionally including

the nearby Brewster Site), to the complex of associated artifacts and the

culture of the makers of the artifacts. They are neither notched or stemmed,

grinding may be present, commonly up to 1/3 of the original length. Widest

portion of the blade is towards the distal end. They are of the Plano culture

and is believed to be represent the material culture of the nomadic bison

hunting peoples.

AGAVE - Sometimes called a century plant. Several species of the plant were

used by Indians in the Southwest and Mexico. The plants vary greatly in size,

but are characterized by a cluster of leaves spreading out at ground level from

a short central stem. The narrow leaves are long and thick and terminate in a

spine. At maturity, each plant sends up one long flowering stalk and then dies.

Agaves grow at elevations of 3000 to 8000 feet. Species of agave are used in the

manufacture of pulque and tequila, alcoholic beverages popular in Mexico. Raw

agave is poisonous.

AGE GRADE - A group of people of the same sex and approximately the same age

who share a set of duties and privileges.

AGGRADATION - An accumulation of sediment resulting in the building up of a

land surface. An example would be part of a river bank upon which sediments are

regularly deposited during the spring flood.

AGING - 1. The uninterrupted process of normal development that leads to a

progressive decline in physiological function and ultimately to death. To become

old : show the effects or the characteristics of increasing age. 2. The process

of falsely applying patina, minerals or color to make an artifact appear older

than it really is.

AGONISTIC BEHAVIOR - Behavior that involves fighting, threats, and fleeing.

AGRARIAN STATE - The Fourth stage in the stage model , representing large

regional systems or empires based primarily on non-mechanized agriculture and

controlled by centralized and specialized bureaucracies.

AGRICULTURE - A subsistence mode which involves the use of machinery or

domesticated animals in the cultivation of plants. The science, art, or practice

of cultivating the soil, producing crops, and raising livestock and in varying

degrees the preparation and marketing of the resulting products.

A-HORIZON - The uppermost, often dark-colored natural level in a soil profile

characterized by roots, humus, and a lack of clay, iron, carbonates and soluble

salts which have leached to lower levels.

AIMA - Australasian Institute of Maritime Archaeology.

AIRLIFT - Instrument like a giant vacuum cleaner used by underwater

archaeologists to remove dirt and debris from underwater archaeological sites.

AKHENATEN - Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty and primary figure in the Armana

Period. Approximate dates of reign: 1352-1336 BCE.

AKHETATEN - New capital city founded by Akhnaten and now called Tell el-Amarna.

ALABASTER - a compact fine-textured usually white and translucent gypsum often

carved into artifacts. a hard compact calcite or aragonite that is translucent

and sometimes banded

ALABASTRON - A traditional Egyptian oil jar made of alabaster. The Greeks made

later versions of it out of clay.

ALAMANNI - German tribe in south Germany which lived the time between 260-750

A.D.

ALBERTA - A Plano projectile point style. Specimens are as much as 20 cm in

length, parallel-sided with blunt tips, and stemmed. Similar to Scottsbluff but

typically has longer, more rounded stem.

ALBINISM - A recessive abnormality that leads to little or no production of the

skin pigment melanin.

ALBIAN - European stage of the uppermost Lower Cretaceous, spanning the time

between 107 and 95 million years ago.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT - King of Macedonia and conqueror.

ALGAE - Photosynthetic, almost exclusively aquatic, nonvascular plants that

range in size from simple unicellular forms to giant kelps several feet long.

They have extremely varied life cycles and first appeared in the Precambrian.

ALGONKIAN (or Algonquian). a grouping of related languages whose speakers were

originally distributed from Newfoundland to California and from the northern

Prairie Provinces of Canada to the American southeast. The term derives from the

Algonkin (or Algonquin) people who resided in the Ottawa and St. Lawrence River

valleys. Algonkina languages and dialects in Manitoba include Cree, Ojibwa(y) or

Chippewa(y), and Saulteaux.

ALIDADE - An optical surveying instrument used in conjunction with a

plane-table and stadia-rod to produce detailed large-scale topographic maps.

ALIENATION - The fragmentation of individuals' relations to their work, the

things they produce, and the resources with which they produce them.

Estrangement from the values of one's society and family.

ALL-MALE PARTY - Among chimpanzees, a small group of adult or adolescent males.

ALLEN'S RULE - A rule which states that among endotherms, populations of the

same species living near the equator tend to have more protruding body parts and

longer limbs than do populations farther away from the equator.

ALLOGROOMING - Grooming another animal.

ALLOMETRIC GROWTH - The pattern of growth whereby different parts of the body

grow at different rates with respect to each other.

ALLOMORPHS - Forms contained in morphemes that differ in sound but not in

meaning.

ALLOPATRIC SPECIES - Species occupying mutually exclusive geographical areas.

ALLOPHONES - Sounds that belong to the same phoneme.

ALLOYING - A technique involving the mixing of two or more metals to create an

entirely new material, e.g. the fusion of copper and tin to make bronze.

ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS - Sediments laid down by streams in their channels or on

flood plains.

ALLUVIAL FAN - A fan- or wedge-shaped accumulation of silt, sand, gravel and

boulders deposited by rapidly-flowing streams when they reach flatter terrain.

ALLUVIUM - A generally fine-grained mixture of sand, silt and mud deposited by

flowing water.

ALTAMIRA - Cave near the north coast of Spain discovered in 1868. The first

site where Paleolithic Period cave paintings were found.

ALTERNATE FLAKING - The process of removing flakes from alternate faces along

the edge of a tool, thus producing a wavy or sinuous edge.

ALTIMETER - A barometric device for determining elevations above sea-level.

ALTITHERMAL - A postulated climatic period characterized by warmer and/or

drier conditions approximately 4,000-8,000 years ago.

ALTRUISTIC ACT - A behavior characterized by self-sacrifice that benefits

others.

AMARNA - General term used to refer to the reign of Akhnaten and surrounding

years. Also modern name of the Egyptian city founded by Akhenaten. (Tell

el-Amarna)

AMARNA LETTERS - A collection of clay tablets containing diplomatic

correspondence of the Amarna Period.

AMAZONS - Legendary tribe of warrior women.

AMBILINEAL DESCENT - A descent ideology based on ties traced through either

the paternal or the maternal line.

AMBILOCALITY - Residence of a married couple with or near the kin of either

husband or wife, as they choose.

AMMONITE - Any of a subclass (Ammonoidea) of extinct cephalopods with flat

spiral shells that were especially abundant in the Mesozoic age. A coiled,

chambered fossil shell of a cephalopod mollusk.

AMPHIBIANS - The earliest class of land vertebrates to evolve, yet have to

keep their skin moist and lay eggs in water; includes modern frogs and

salamanders.

AMPHORA - Large round ceramic container used for transportation and storage of

goods. Used from antiquity until the 16th century or so. Used for wine, oil,

olives, grain, etc, etc. Amphoras in a shipwreck can often tell the age and

nationality of the wreck.

AMUN - Egyptian god associated with the state and the kingship during Egypt's

New Kingdom.

ANALOGIES - Structures that are superficially similar and serve similar

functions, but have no common evolutionary relationship.

ANALOGY - A process of reasoning whereby two entities that share some

similarities are assumed to share many others.

ANALYSIS - The process of studying and classifying artifacts, usually

conducted in a laboratory after excavation has been completed.

ANASAZI - One of the three desert cultures that shaped life in the American

Southwest from 300 B.C. to A.D. 1300. Developed a new way of building pueblos

and the technique of farming on top of mesas. Used both hand-formed adobe bricks

and stones to build their homes.

ANATOLIA - The large peninsular region of Turkey, bordered by the Black Sea to

the north and the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and constituting the

westernmost point of Asia; also known as Asia Minor.

ANCESTOR - one from whom a person is descended and who is usually more remote in

the line of descent than a grandparent.

ANCILLARY SAMPLE - Any non-artifactual materials collected by archaeologists

to aid in dating, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, or other interpretations -

e.g. carbon samples, soil samples, palynological samples etc.

ANDERSON CORNER NOTCHED - . a projectile point style defined by MacNeish (l958)

on the basis of his investigations in southeastern Manitoba and attributed to

the Anderson, Nutimik and Larter foci. As originally defined, these points are

relatively long (30 to 68 mm) and narrow with straight bases and expanding

stems. This designation is less commonly used than previously.

ANDERSON FOCUS - the earlier (500 B.C. to A.D. 500) of the Middle or Initial

Woodland cultural-historical periods in MacNeish's (l958) southeastern Manitoba

chronology. It was later designated the Anderson Phase by Mayer-Oakes (l967).

Hlady (l970) finally advocated the grouping of the Anderson with the other

Middle Woodland focus (Nutimik) due to a general absence of distinguishing

artifactual traits, and further proposed that this new entity be designated the

Laurel Phase. The suggestion met with universal acceptance and the earlier term

is no longer used.

ANDESITE - A fine-grained gray to green igneous rock composed primarily of

minerals of the feldspar group -- in particular andesine, amphibole and

pyroxene.

ANGKOR WAT - A complex of religious buildings in Cambodia (in southeastern

Asia) that is considered one of the world¹s archaeological and architectural

treasures. The complex combines a temple dedicated to Vishnu (a Hindu god) and a

mausoleum (a large and stately tomb). Angkor Wat was built by Suryavarman II,

who ruled the Khmer Empire from A.D. 1113 to 1145.

ANGLO SAXONS - A name used to describe the European warriors who invaded

Britain around the 5th century A.D.; composed of two separate groups, the Angles

and the Saxons.

ANGOSTURA - A Plano projectile point style (previously termed "Long") named by

R.P. Wheeler (in Wormington l957) after the Angostura Basin in South Dakota.

Angostura points, sometimes termed "Lusk" points, are long and narrow,

lanceolate in outline form, rhomboidal in cross section, and have concave or

straight bases.

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY - The breeding, care, and use of herd animals, such as sheep,

goats, camels, cattle, and yaks.

ANIMATISM - Belief in an impersonal supernatural force.

ANIMIST - One who believes in animism, a belief that creatures, objects, and

natural phenomena are inhabited by spirits.

ANNEAL - to temper or harden by exposure to heat. Some lithic materials may

produce more regular planes of fracture subsequent to controlled annealing and

some metals may be rendered less brittle

ANNEALING - In copper and bronze metallurgy, this refers to the process of

heating and then cooling the material to remove stress from hammering.

ANTHROPOCENTRICITY - The belief that humans are the most important elements in

the universe.

ANTHROPOID (1) - A Greek word meaning; man-shaped. This term is used for

coffins made in the shape of a human.

ANTHROPOID (2) - A member of the suborder Anthropoidea; includes the New World

monkeys, Old World monkeys, apes, and humans.

ANTHROPOIDEA - Suborder of the order Primates that includes the New World

monkeys, Old World monkeys, apes, and humans.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS - The scientific study of human communication

within its sociocultural context and the origin and evolution of language.

ANTHROPOLOGY - The scientific and humanistic study of man's present and past

biological, linguistic, social, and cultural variations. Major sub-fields

include archaeology, physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, and

linguistic anthropology.

ANTHROPOMETRY - The study of measurements of the human body.

ANTHROPOMORPHIC - "Man-like." Used to describe artifacts or art work decorated

with human features or with a man-like appearance.

ANTINOUS - Favorite companion of Emperor Hadrian.

ANTONINE WALL - Built during the early 140s AD. Northernmost Roman wall in

Great Britain marked the edge of the territory of Hadrian's successor, Antonius

Pius.

ANVIL - A block of stone or metal upon which other materials are shaped or

worked through striking.

APE - A common term that includes the lesser apes (the gibbons and siamang)

and the great apes (the orangutan, common chimpanzee, bonobo, and gorilla).

APHASIA - A language disorder resulting from brain damage.

APHRODITE - Greek goddess of love and fertility. Known as Venus to the

Romans.

APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY - The activity of professional anthropologists in

programs that have as primary goals changes in human behavior believed to

ameliorate contemporary social, economic, and technological problems.

ARABLE LAND - Land fit for cultivation.

ARBITRARY LEVELS - An archaeological excavation technique in which the

thickness of the layers removed is chosen for convenience. This method is

generally used when a site does not possess natural stratigraphy and cannot,

therefore, be excavated stratum by stratum.

ARCHAEO-ASTRONOMY - The systematic study of astronomical knowledge and lore of

prehistoric peoples.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT - The physical setting, location, and cultural

association of artifacts and features within an archaeological site.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD - The sum of all evidence concerning past events and

peoples.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECOVERY - Removal of artifacts from archaeological context

with full recording of their four dimensions of variability.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SEQUENCE - Artifacts, behaviors, or phases (periods) ordered in

time.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE - A place where human activity occurred and material

remains were deposited.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY - On-ground inspection of a study area for artifacts and

sites.

ARCHAEOLOGY - ARCHEOLOGY - the scientific study of past human cultures by

analyzing the material remains (sites and artifacts) that people left behind.

ARCHAEOLOGY - CULT - The study of the material indications of patterned

actions undertaken in response to religious beliefs.

ARCHAEOLOGIST - Anyone with an interest in the aims and methods of

archaeology. A professional archaeologist usually holds a degree in anthropology

with a specialization in archaeology.

ARCHAEOZOOLOGY - Sometimes referred to as zooarchaeology, this involves the

identification and analysis of faunal species from archaeological sites, as an

aid to the reconstruction of human diets and to an understanding of the

contemporary environment at the time of deposition.

ARCHAIC - Ancient; pertaining to a much earlier time period. Early Holocene. Of

or relating to the period from about 8000 B.C. to 1000 B.C. and the North

American cultures of that time

ARCHETYPE - The divine plan or blueprint for a species or higher taxonomic

category.

ARCHIVES - l. a collection of primary historical documents such as journals,

diaries, maps and personal and business correspondence. 2. the institutional

repository within which such collections are housed.

ARCTIC SMALL TOOL TRADITION - A grouping of archaeological complexes

distributed across the North American Arctic from Alaska to Greenland which date

between roughly 3000 B.C. to A.D. l000. The tradition is so named due to the

extremely small, finely worked tools which these people manufactured.

ARES - Greek god of war. Known to the Romans as Mars.

ARGILLITE - A fine-grained, metamorphosed mud and claystone. The

deep-red-colored argillite artifacts found at the Hardy Site may have come from

the Mazatzal Mountains in central Arizona.

ARRANGED MARRIAGE - Any marriage in which the selection of a spouse is outside

the control of the bride and groom. art the process and products of applying

skills to any activity that transforms matter, sound, or motion into forms

considered aesthetically pleasing to people in a society.

ARROW - A long slender missile propelled by a bow. Feathers may be attached to

stabilize the arrow in flight, and a stone, bone or metal tip may be fitted to

improve its capacity for penetration.

ARROW WEED - A rank-smelling shrub that forms dense thickets in stream beds

and moist saline soil. The plant occurs at elevations of 3000 feet or lower,

from Texas to Southem California and from Utah to northern Mexico. In addition

to its use as a wall-covering material, arrow weed stems were used for arrow

shafts by Indians in the Southwest.

ARROWHEAD - The pointed tip of an arrow. If the means of propulsion cannot

with certainty be identified as a bow, the term projectile point is more

properly used. Arrowheads are sometimes mistakenly referred to as "birdpoints"

by native American artifact collectors. Larger points used for spears and

knives are often mistakenly referred to as arrowheads. Typically 1.5" or

shorter in length, .5" or less in width for flint arrowheads.

ART OBJECT - Any artifact carrying, or consisting of, decorative or artistic

elements.

ARTIFACT (1) - Any object manufactured, used or modified by humans.

ARTIFACT (2) - Any physical remains of human activity.

ARTIFACT TYPE - A category of artifacts whose attributes are similar: spoons,

tables, and coffins, for example, are artifact types.

ASCLEPIUS - Greek god of medicine and healing.

ASCRIBED STATUS - Social standing or prestige which is the result of

inheritance or hereditary factors.

ASIA MINOR - The peninsula of western Asia bordered by the Black Sea to the

north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Aegean Sea to the west; the

Turkish region of Anatolia.

ASPECT - In the Midwestern Taxonomic Method devised by McKern (l939), an aspect

referred to a number of foci which could be grouped on the basis of at least one

shared trait, such as a pottery style. The term is less frequently used than

previously.

ASPEN PARKLAND - A vegetational zone which lies between the grasslands and the

northern coniferous or Boreal Forest. It comprises a mosaic of grassland

interspersed with groves of white birch, white spruce, balsam poplar and most

commonly, trembling aspen.

ASTROLABE - Instrument used for celestial navigation.

ASSEMBLAGE - A group of artifacts related to each other based upon recovery

from a common archaeological context. Assemblage examples are artifacts from a

site or feature.

ASSIMILATION - The gradual process by which a minority group takes on the

characteristics, including customs and attitudes, of the prevailing culture in

which it lives.

ASSOCIATION - Occurrence of two or more artifacts together.

ASSYRIA - An ancient empire in Mesopotamia.

ASTARTE - Goddess of love and fertility worshipped in various parts of the

mideast. Her origin was Phoenician.

ASYMMETRICAL - Not symmetrical. A lack of proportion. When referring to

artifacts, it describes a inconsistant outline or appearance. For instance: one

barb longer than the other, one edge does not match the other, etc.

ATHAPAP CULTURE - An archaeological culture defined by Hlady (l967) on the

basis of investigations at a number of sites on Lake Athapapuskow near Flin

Flon. The complex included Athapap Lanceolate, Evans Lanceolate and Baker's

Narrows Corner-notched projectile points, biface blades, scrapers, drills and

gravers. Hlady estimated the age of the culture at 2500 to 5000 years.

ATHAPASKAN or Athabascan - A grouping (or family) of Native American languages

within the NaDene Phylum. Athapaskan speakers were originally distributed from

the arctic to the American southwest and as far west coastal California. The

principal Athapaskans in Maitoba at contact were the Chipewyan who occupied the

extreme north of the province.

ATHENA - Greek goddess of wisdom and warfare, patron of Athens. The Romans

called her Minerva.

ATLANTIC - a warm dry climatic episode in central North America also known as

the xerothermic, the hypsithermal, the Climatic Optimum, the Long Drought and

most commonly (but incorrectly) the Altithermal. This episode dated at 6540 to

3ll0 B.C. (Wendland l978), witnessed the spread of grasslands at the expense of

forest in southern Manitoba, and probably an influx of grassland adapted fauna

(such as bison) and the late Plano hunters who preyed upon them.

ATLANTIS - Legendary civilization described by ancient writers like Plato.

ATLATL - An Aztec term for spear-thrower; a device for throwing a spear or

dart that consists of a rod or board with a projection (as a hook or thong) at

the rear end to hold the weapon in place until released. The device is a lever

that acts as an extension to your arm, allowing you to propel a dart up to 60%

further than would otherwise be possible.

ATLATL WEIGHT - A device thought to make an atlalt more efficient and balanced.

Can be drilled, notched or grooved. Some people hypothesize that many

bannerstones and boatstones could have served this purpose.

ATRIUM - Room in a Roman house used for business or entertaining. The atrium

was usually the focal point of the house and the largest room.

ATTIC - From the area around Athens. (Attica)

ATTRIBUTE - A property or quality of any archaeological object such as the

length of a projectile point, the hardness of a potsherd or the color of a

bottle fragment. Theoretically an artifact possesses an infinite number of

attributes, but an archaeologist will limit himself to those he believes to be

diagnostic -- those which will provide him with the information he is seeking.

AURICLE - An angular or ear-shaped lobe, process, or appendage. Projecting

basal corners found on many points such as Dalton, Cumberland, Beaver Lake,

etc.

AURICULATE - A projectile or knife form that has auricles. Typically auriculate

points have concave bases.

AUSTRALOPITHS - Extinct early humans who evolved 4 to 5 million years ago in

Africa.

AUTOCRACY - A form of government in which a single person possesses unlimited

political power; despotism.

AUTONOMY - The right of a nation to govern itself; independence.

AUV - Autonomous Underwater Vehicles are underwater robots that are not remote

controlled and operate with artificial intelligence. Just like ROVs they are

used instead of divers for difficult operations, e.g. on great depth.

AVEBURY -Built around 2,500 B.C. Massive Late Neolithic stone circle in

Wiltshire, UK.

AVOCATIONALS -These are recreational scuba divers and amateur underwater

archaeology groups who give invaluable help to underwater archaeologists.

Examples are volunteer unpaid divers during investigations and diving clubs

cooperating with archaeologists and maritime museums. The term may also be

applied to volunteers in other archaeological disciplines.

AVONLEA - A term applied to a projectile point style and the phase with which

it is associated in early Late Prehistoric plains prehistory. As defined by

Kehoe (l973), the Avonlea point is small and well-made with V- or U-shaped

side-notches above a generally concave base and small ears. In some cases,

Avonlea points may be easily confused with some of the other small side-notched

points of this period. Other Avonlea Phase artifacts include lithic scrapers,

bifaces, choppers and ceramic vessels. Avonlea is represented at a number of

sites in southwestern Manitoba where these people pursued a way of life focusing

on the communal hunting of bison. The occupation of the province by Avonlea

people is estimated to have occurred between approximately A.D. 400 and 700. See

Reeves (l983) for the most recent statement on Avonlea.

AUTHENTIC - Not false or imitation. Genuine.

AWL - A pointed tool used for marking surfaces or piercing holes (as in leather

or wood).

AXE - A cutting tool that consists of a heavy edged head fixed to a handle with

the edge parallel to the handle and that is used especially for felling trees

and chopping and splitting wood. Native American indians often made them of

hardstone by using peck and grind technique. Hardstone axes are often grooved

for hafting purposes.

AZTEC - The civilization that ruled the region now called Mexico between A.D.

1000 and 1500. The capital of the Aztec Empire was called Tenochtitlan.

Nahuatl-speaking people that founded the Mexican empire conquered by Cortes in

1519.

B-HORIZON - The second zone of a soil, containing materials washed down from

the A-horizon.

BABICHE - Lacings, thread, thongs or netting made of sinew, gut or hide.

BABYLONIA - A region of Southern Mesopotamia named after the city of Babylon.

Ancient country in valley of the lower Euphrates & the Tigris capital Babylon

BABYLONIANS - A group known as the Amorites moved into Mesopotamia around 1900

B.C. The Amorite king, Hamurabbi, conquered all of southern Mesopotamia, and the

civilization became known as Babylonian. Babylon was its richest and most

powerful city.

BACCHUS - Roman god of wine. Dionysos to the Greeks.

BACKED - Intentionally dulled along one edge. A knife may be backed in order to

allow it to be held opposite the cutting edge.

BACK DIRT - the excavated matrix or fill of a site, Presumed to be of little or

no further archaeological significance.

BACKFILL - Refill an excavational unit at the end of the investigations; the

dirt used to accomplish this. The latter is also known as backdirt.

BALANCED RECIPROCITY - Gift giving that clearly carries the obligation of an

eventual and roughly equal return.

BALEEN - Whalebone. A horny substance found in two rows of plates from 2 to 12

feet long attached along the upper jaws of baleen whales used to strain food. it

is widely used by Eskimos for making tools and ornaments.

BALE SEAL - A small, labelled metal plate that was attached by wire to a bale.

Because it had to be cut to reopen the bale, thefts during shipment were

reduced.

BALTIC SEA - The world's largest brackish sea, located in northern Europe. The

low salinity affects not only shipwrecks and other underwater artifacts, but

also animal life, where the fish are of different species. The oceans have a

salinity exceeding 3%, but the Baltic Sea has a salinity of 0.8% in the south,

0.3% in the north and 0.6% in average. Through currents there is a constant

exchange of salt water from the Atlantic with brackish water from the Baltic.

The heavier salt water stays in the deep, usually below 40 m depth (in the

south) and 80 m depth (in the north). The lighter brackish water is always

nearer surface. Between these layers there is also a constant exchange with the

water movements – salt spreading up, and brackish water and oxygen diffusing

down. For reasons unknown, perhaps climatic change, the Baltic Sea salinity is

reducing.

BAND - In Service's (l97l) scheme, the least complex of the four levels of

socio-economic integration. These kin-related societies are small, consisting of

30 to l 00 people who tend to camp and travel together. There are no full-time

"chiefs" and no real conception of ownership of either objects or territory.

Division of labor is almost entirely determined by sex, and as most bands

subsist by hunting and gathering, women gather plants and perhaps snare small

animals near camp, while the men range further from home in search of game. The

kinds of activities pursued, and sometimes the location of the camp may shift in

accordance with the seasons as different foods become available in different

locations and as game animals adjust their feeding patterns. In the majority of

cases, members of band societies acquire spouses from outside of their own band

(local exogamy). Married couples take up residence with the husband's band

(virilocality) and their children are raised there (patrilocality) as a

consequence.

BANNERSTONE - A (usually) polished stone implement which may take a variety of

forms. One of the most common is winged with a central hole. These may have

served some ceremonial function or may simply be elaborate atlatl weights. Some

forms include winged, lunate, expanded center, saddle back, geniculate.

BARB - A sharp projection extending backward (as from the point of an arrow or

fishhook) and preventing easy extraction; also : a sharp projection with its

point similarly oblique to something else.

BARBARIAN - Of or relating to a land, culture, or people alien and usually

believed to be inferior to another land, culture, or people. A non-Greek. To

the Greeks any foreigner who did not speak Greek was a barbarian.

BARQUE (or "Bark") - A ship or a portable shrine shaped like a ship (usually

mythical, e.g. the Barque of Amun- Re).

BASALT - A fine-grained igneous black, brown, gray or green rock consisting of

feldspar, olivine, hornblende and augite. Often used for the manufacture of

tools and ornaments.

BASAL EDGE - The proximal edge or very bottom of a projectile point or tool.

Basal edges are sometimes intentionally dulled (ground) to keep from cutting the

bindings. Basal edges can be straight, convex, or concave.

BASAL THINNING - The removal of flakes from the proximal end of a projectile

point or blade in a lengthwise fashion , reducing mass to better facilitate

hafting.

BASE - The proximal end or bottom of an artifact. Different basal configurations

include; notched, stemmed, bulbous, auriculate, bifurcated, lobed, and

fractured.

BASE LINE - An arbitrary line established by stakes and string, or by surveying

instrument, from which measurements are taken to produce a site-map, or to

provide an initial axis for an excavation grid.

BASIN AND RANGE PROVINCE - A geographic area extending from southern Oregon

and Idaho to northern Mexico, and including most of western Arizona, the Great

Basin of Utah and Nevada, and parts of eastern California. It is an area

characterized by north-south trending mountain ranges interspersed by flat

basins. The area was formed initially through block faulting during Tertiary

times (15-20 million years ago), when, in a series of earthquakes, one section

of land was lifted while the adjacent portion was lowered.

BASKET - A receptacle made of interwoven material. A container manufactured by

the weaving, coiling or twining of vegetal materials such as cane or straw.

BAS-RELIEF - Sculpture where figures project slightly from the background.

BASTION - a projecting structure built onto a palisade for purpose of defense;

any fortified place.

BATTLE OF MANZIKERT - A decisive battle in 1071 in which the Seljuk Turks,

under Sultan Alp Arslan, routed the forces of Byzantine emperor Romanus IV,

resulting in the fall of Asia Minor to the Seljuks.

BAULK - Unexcavated strip left standing between excavation units such that

soil profiles remain in place for study and reference.

B.C. - Abbreviation for Before Christ. When used as a suffix to a date, it

indicates the number of years prior to the supposed date of the birth of Christ

that an event occurred.

B.C.E. - An abbreviation used to denote dates that occurred "Before the Common

Era" as a more neutral alternative to the "B.C." ("Before Christ") of the

Christian calendar.

BEAD - Small disc-shaped, spherical or tubular artifact of bone, shell or

glass which has been perforated such that it may be suspended or strung on a

necklace.

BEAKER PEOPLE - From the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze age (4000-2000 BC),

named after their pottery. Styles of pottery known as funnel-beaker,

protruding-foot beaker, and bell beaker.

BEAMER - Tool fashioned of wood or the longbone of a large animal. It consists

of a sharpened edge which runs nearly along the full length of the tool. The

ends serve as handles by means of which it is drawn towards the user. It is used

in the treatment of hides.

BEARDMAN JUG - Common ceramic in the 17th and 18th centuries. May have

contained wine or beer.

BEAR GRASS - Also called sacahuista. Resembling clumps of large, coarse grass,

this plant is found on mountain slopes around the Tucson Basin at elevations of

3000 to 6000 feet.

BEDROCK - The solid layer of rock underlying consolidated material; soil,

gravel and other loose formations nearer the earth's surface.

BEHAVIORAL ADJUSTMENT - Cultural responses, primarily through technology, that

make survival in stressful environments possible.

BEHAVIORAL SINK - A psychological state characterized by gross distortions of

behavior.

BENTONITES - A clay formed by the decomposition of volcanic ash, having the

ability to absorb large quantities of water and to expand to several times its

normal volume.

BERGMANN'S RULE - A rule which states that within the same species of

endotherms, populations with less bulk are found near the equator while those

with greater bulk are found farther from the equator.

BERINGIA - Landmass which existed in the Bering Strait between Alaska and

Siberia during the last (Wisconsinan) Ice Age. At the height of the Wisconsin,

sufficient water was "locked up" in the glaciers to cause a marked reduction in

ocean levels. Thus, land was exposed in many coastal regions, and a "land

bridge," over l500 km wide was formed between Asia and North America. For a

century, Beringia has been widely accepted as the most probable route of entry

for early man into the New World. The land bridge likely flooded a number of

times in accordance with climatic changes and fluctuations in sea level, but was

finally submerged l0,000 years ago

BESANT - a valley in southern Saskatchewan which has given its name to a

projectile point style and the Late Prehistoric Period phase, horizon or culture

within which it occurs. The side-notched points generally have convex edges,

sharp shoulders and straight bases. The latter are often thinned and ground and

maximum width tends to occur at the shoulder or base. Length ranges from

approximately l5 to 80 mm. The remainder of the artifact complex consists of

drills, perforators, gravers, scrapers, spokeshaves, mauls and abraders. Besant

peoples pursued a way of life focusing the communal hunting of bison by means of

(bison) jumps and (bison) pounds throughout most of the northern plains. Their

diet was supplemented by fishing, fowling and the collection of shellfish. Many

other aspects of the Besant Phase are controversial. Chief among these are

whether or not Besant peoples made pottery and the nature of the relationship

between Besant and the burial mounds of the Sonota Complex along the Missouri

River in northern South Dakota. Although Besant is here classed as Late

Prehistoric, the bow (one of the defining traits of this period) was not in use

in the earlier portions of this phase.

BEVEL - A steep incline on the edge of an artifact generally caused by

resharpening.

BEVELED - Steep inclines at the edges of an artifact generally caused by

resharpening. Examples (2 bevel); lost lake, thebes, rice lobed, dalton. (4

bevel); harahey, nolan.

BEVELED SURFACE - One that meets two others at angles other than right angles.

BI (Chinese) - Pierced jade disc

BIFACE - A stone tool which has had flakes removed from both faces. No

particular function is implied by this term as projectile points, knives and

drills may all be bifacially worked.

BIFURCATION - 1. A basis of kin classification that distinguishes the mother's

side of the family from the father's side. 2. Base that has been divided into

two distinct sections. Example: McCorkle.

BILATERAL DESCENT - A descent ideology in which individuals define themselves

as being at the center of a group of kin composed more or less equally of kin

from both paternal and maternal lines.

BILLET - A bone, wood, or antler tool used primarily for percussion flaking.

BIOLOGICAL IMPERATIVES - The basic human drives for food, rest, sexual

satisfaction, and social contact.

BIOLOGY - The science concerned with the structure, function, distribution,

adaptation and evolution of all living organisms including both plants and

animals.

BIPEDAL - Signifies movement on two feet.

BIPOLAR - A technique used in stone tool manufacture in which the core is

rested on an anvil while being struck with the hammer. The waves of force are

therefore not only directed downward from the hammer, but also reflected back

upward from the anvil. Hence the flake may appear to have been struck at both

ends.

BIRDPOINT - Collector slang for arrow point. A fallacy caused from the belief

that small arrow points were used only for the taking of small game due to their

small size.

BIRDSTONE - A polished stone object which resembles a bird in profile. Thought

by some to function as an atlatl handle or weight.

BISON BISON - American Buffalo. shaggy-maned usually gregarious recent or

extinct bovine mammals (genus Bison) having a large head with short horns and

heavy forequarters surmounted by a large fleshy hump

BISON JUMP - A site at which bison have been killed by being stampeded over a

cliff. This ancient communal hunting technique was occasionally used in

conjunction with a (bison) pound.

BISON ANTIQUUS - Predecessor of the modern day American bison. Evolved into the

American bison approx. 8,000 years ago.

BISON LATIFRONS - The largest of all North American Bison.

BISON OCCIDENTALIS - A large, now extinct variety of bison that roamed the

North American grasslands during the Holocene.

BISON POUND - A physiographic feature or a specially constructed enclosure

into which bison were driven to be slaughtered.

BIT - The cutting edge of an adze, axe, chisel, celt, etc.

BITTERROOT - An archaeological phase or culture represented at a number of

sites in the Columbia Plateau region in eastern Oregon and in southern and

eastern Idaho which Swanson (l962) equates with the northern Shoshone.

Projectile points of this complex are side-notched and essentially

indistinguishable from those from plains environments to the east (termed Logan

Creek or Simonsen), and from those of the Mummy Cave Complex of the eastern

slopes of the Rocky Mountains from Alberta to Wyoming. Associated artifacts

include conical and wedge-shaped cores, choppers, oval, trinagular and

side-notched end scrapers, stemmed and corner-notched bifaces, perforators,

manos, whetstones, bone awls and beads of stone and seeds. Fauna include deer,

antelope, bison and sheep. Radiocarbon dates range from 5200 to 3650 B.C.

BLACKDUCK - The name of a lake in Minnesota which has lent its name to a

distinctive Late Woodland ware as well as to the focus, phase, tradition,

culture or horizon within which it occurs. The pots are round-based with

constricted necks and flattened and thickened lips. Decoration occurs on the

neck and rim, on the lip, and occasionally on the inner rim. The most common

decorative elements are horizontal and oblique cord-wrapped stick impressions

and exterior punctates. Method of manufacture was either by the paddle-and-anvil

technique, or involved formation inside of a fabric container. As a consequence

the undecorated portions of the vessels are either cord-impressed or

fabric-impressed. Associated artifacts and features may include small triangular

and side-notched projectile points, a variety of stone and bone hide-scraping

tools, ovate knives, stone drills, smoking pipes, bone awls, needles, harpoons

and spatulas, bear and beaver tooth ornaments and tools, small copper tools and

ornaments and mound burials. Blackduck peoples were widely distributed from the

shores of Lake Superior to the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border, and from central

Manitoba in the north to central Minnesota in the south. The locations of these

sites and the nature of the material remains within them indicate that these

people exploited a variety of forest resources, possibly including wild rice as

well as the resources of the grasslands -- most notably bison. See Anfinson

(l979) for a recent, general discussion.

BLACK SEA - Inland sea connected to the Mediterranean through the Strait of

Bosphorus.

BLADE - l. the cutting edge of a tool. 2. a cutting tool. 3. that portion of a

projectile point or knife which extends beyond the haft element. 4. a long,

parallel-sided (prismatic, lamellar) flake core. These may be used as is, or

used as the basis for the production of other tools. This highly sophisticated

technique makes the most economical use of lithic resources.

BLANK - An incompletely manufactured stone tool which has the general outline

of the intended final form. The rough fashioning of blanks at a quarry would

obviate the necessity of transporting greater amounts of unmodified stone to

camp or fashioning all stone tools at the source of the stone. Preform.

BLOWOUT -1. (popout, firepop) A depression on an artifact caused from a defect

in material, or a popping out due to being exposed to excessive heat. 2.

Geological term used to refer to the large bowl-shaped depressions created by

wind erosion in arid and semi-arid environments. As the top soil and

occasionally some of the underlying strata are removed in this process,

artifacts may be exposed.

BLUNT - A hafted point with no projecting tip suitable for penetration. Distal

end knapped straight or rounded off. Often these were made from salvaging a

previously broken projectile point or knife. Many people erroneously believe

these were used to stun or disable their game. However, most show signs of being

a hafted scraper or knife.

BOAT GRAVE - A boat grave is a kind of ship burial, where a small boat is

used. Examples of boat graves are Neolithic log boat graves, like the St Albans

log boat grave. Other examples are planked boats used in Viking Age burials,

perhaps they were simply poor man's/woman's versions of the larger ship burials.

BODKIN - l. an awl used for making holes in fabric. 2. a blunted, large-eyed

needle.

BODY SHERD - Technically, a fragment of the body of a larger artifact. Most

commonly, it refers to a fragment of a ceramic vessel which did not constitute

part of the lip, rim, neck, shoulder or base.

BOG BODY - Ancient human bodies preserved in bogs (waterlogged land filled with

a substance called peat). Bog bodies have been found all over Europe, in bogs in

Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, England, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

BONE - The hard tissue, composed of both organic and inorganic materials, which

makes up the skeletons of adult vertebrates. Because of their density, bones may

survive in the archaeological record long after the decomposition of the soft

tissue.

BONE BED - A concentrated layer of articulated and disarticulated animal bones

usually taken as an indication of a butchering and/or kill site. Typically found

in association are weapons and butchering implements.

BONE GREASE - The sweet marrow which is extracted by the smashing and boiling

of bones. The grease floats and may be skimmed from the surface for immediate

consumption, for storage or for use in pemmican.

BOOK OF THE DEAD - The term Egyptologists use for the texts and illustrations

that were buried with mummies to help them pass through the dangers of the

underworld into the afterlife.

BOOK OF KELLS - An illustrated manuscript of the four Christian Gospels (the

New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) created by monks in

Scotland in about A.D. 800. The book is a masterpiece of Western art and

includes amazing calligraphy (an artistic style of handwriting), colorful

drawings of animals and people, and abstract designs. Some of the details are so

fine that people can't see them with the naked eye.

BORDER CAVE, SOUTH AFRICA - One of the earliest modern human sites on the

planet, this rockshelter in the Lembombo Mountains was found by Louis Leakey(?)

to contain Homo sapiens skeletons dated around 70,000 years old.

BOREAL (1) - Pertaining to the north, its climate, flora, fauna, environment,

resources and peoples; commonly used in reference to the northern forests.

BOREAL (2) - A central North American climatic episode dating 7350 to 6540 B.C.

This interval marks part of the warming trend between the Late Glacial climatic

pattern and the warm dry Altithermal or Atlantic Climatic Episode which was to

follow. During this time, the ice sheets retreated and vegetation zones moved

towards their modern locations (Wendland l978).

BOREAL ARCHAIC - An archaeological tradition associated with the mixed

coniferous-deciduous forests of the American Northeast. As defined by Byers

(l959), it was characterized by stemmed and side-notched projectile points,

thumbnail and keeled scrapers, expanding and side-notched-based drills or

perforators, shouldered knives and a proliferation of ground and polished

implements: spears, adzes, gouges, plummets, rods, tubes, bannerstones,

semilunar knives and birdstones. It was believed that Boreal Archaic peoples

employed a diversified economy involving fishing, hunting, shellfish collection

and plant harvesting. This construct is no longer commonly used.

BOREAL FOREST - The technically correct term for the primarily coniferous

forest which extends in a continuous arc from Alaska to Labrador and subsumes

the Aspen Parkland -- the transition between the coniferous forest and the

grasslands to the south. The white and black spruces are the most common

elements throughout, with tamarack, balsam fir, jackpine, alpine fir and

lodgepole pine achieving more restricted distributions. Trembling aspen and

balsam poplar are the most important deciduous species (Rowe l972). The Boreal

Forest is roughly equivalent to the taiga of ecologists.

BOSS - A small mound-shaped node or protuberance. When used as a decorative

element on pottery, they may be produced either by the impressing of a deep

punctate on the opposite surface, or by the application and smoothing of small

amounts of clay.

BOTANIST - A person who pursues the scientific study of the structure, growth,

and identification of plants.

BOTANY - The science concerned with the study, classification, structure,

ecology and economic importance of plants.

BOW - A weapon consisting of a staff of elastic material such as wood, which

is bent by a shorter piece of twine attached to each end. The tension thus

imparted to the string is utilized to propel an arrow. 1. composite bow- a bow

the shaft of which is made of at least two different elements such as horn or

sinew in addition to wood. 2.compound bow- a bow fashioned by fastening

several pieces of wood together for increased power. 3. sinew-backed bow- a bow

with sinew wrappings for added strength.

BOW DRILL - a form of fire drill in which the stick is rotated with increased

speed by virtue of the back-and-forth movement of a bow the string of which is

looped around it.

B.P. - Years before present; as a convention, 1950 is the year from which B.P.

dates are calculated.

BRACHYCEPHELIC - Round-headed; having a cephalic index of 80 or more.

BRAKISH WATER - Mixture of seawater and freshwater. The low salt-rate usually

excludes those organisms that eat wood on shipwrecks.

BRECCIA - A composite rock composed of angular fragments of more ancient rocks

bound together by a natural cement.

BRONZE - Mixture of copper, tin, and other metals.

BRONZE AGE - The second age in Thomsen's three-age system, referring to the

period when bronze tools were manufactured.

BRUSHED - A method of modifying the surface of ceramic vessels by smoothing

the still wet clay with a grass brush. This produces a heavily scored or

striated appearance.

BUFFALO CHIP - A piece of dried bison dung used as fuel by Native Americans.

BULB OF PERCUSSION - A bulb or boss-like feature on the ventral face of a flake

immediately below the striking platform.

BULBAR SCAR - A minute surface irregularity which is occasionally present on

the bulb of percussion of a man-made flake.

BULBOUS - Term used to describe an artifact that has a rounded base.

BULL BOAT - A simple tub- or bowl-shaped boat made by stretching a bison hide

over a willow frame bound with thongs. Used by various North American Native

peoples.

BURIAL - l. the covering-over of an object with earth. 2. the ceremonial

entombment of a dead body beneath the ground or in a chamber. 3. the feature

thus created consisting of the individual(s) and the context. bundle burial. the

(re-)burial of bundled-up disarticulated, defleshed remains. extended burial.

placement of the individual with arms at the sides and legs extended. flexed

burial. placement of the individuals with arms and legs bent up against the

body. intrusive burial. the excavation of a grave into a burial pit or mound

constructed at an earlier period. Two individuals may thus appear to be in

association although they are not contemporaneous. multiple burial. collective

internment; the placement of two or more bodies within the same grave. platform

burial. see scaffold burial. primary burial. placement of the dead in a grave

with the flesh at least partially intact such that after further decomposition,

the bones remain articulated. scaffold burial. placement of the dead on a

scaffold above the ground where it may be defleshed by scavengers. The remains

may be interred at a later date. seated burial. entombment of the deceased in a

sitting position. secondary burial. the final interment of an individual

subsequent to an earlier burial in which the flesh decomposed. Secondary burials

are therefore not articulated (or frequently improperly articulated) and some

bones may have been lost. supine burial. placement of the dead on the back with

face and palms upward.

BURIAL MOUND - Raised mass of earth or debris within or below which deceased

individuals are placed.

BURIN - A generally small flake tool which bears a short, chisel-like cutting

edge. They are believed to have been used for engraving or scoring bone, antler

or ivory prior to splitting.

C-14 - Abbreviation for "carbon l4"; a radioactive form (or isotope) of carbon

used in radiocarbon dating. The numerical suffix indicates that the atom

contains l4 particles within its nucleus as opposed to the l2 within the more

common, stable (non-radioactive) isotope.

CACAO - Seeds from which chocolate is extracted.

CACHE - 1. An excavated pit, or mound of stones used to store and/or hide food

or tools. 2. A group of artifacts found in a single location that are of the

same origin.

CADASTRE (CADASTER): - A public record of the extent, value, and ownership of

land within a district for purposes of taxation.

CADDO - A member of a group of American Indian peoples of Louisiana, Arkansas,

southeast Oklahoma, and eastern Texas.

CADDO CULTURE AREA - The geographical region that encompasses eastern Oklahoma,

southwestern Arkansas, western Louisiana, and eastern Texas which was the

homeland of the Native American Caddo people.

CADUCEUS - A staff with two serpents coiled around it and a pair of wings at

the top. Carried by the Greek god Hermes, known as Mercury to the romans.

CAIRN - A mound of stones serving as a monument or marker.

CALCAREOUS CONCRETIONS - A rounded mass of mineral matter occurring in sand

stone, clay, etc., often in concentric layers around a nucleus.

CALCINED BONE - Burned bone reduced to white or blue mineral constituents.

CALENDRICAL SYSTEM - System of measuring time that is based on natural

recurring units of time, such as revolutions of the earth around the sun. Time

is determined by the number of such units that have preceded or elapsed with

reference to a specific point in time.

CALICHE - Deposits of calcium carbonate that occur as the substrata throughout

much of the US desert southwest. Caliche occurs as irregular, impervious layers

a fraction of an inch to several feet in thickness, or as the matrix in a sand

and gravel conglomerate.

CALL SYSTEM - A repertoire of sounds, each of which is produced in response to

a particular situation.

CALLITRICHIDAE - family of New World monkeys consisting of the marmosets and

tamarins.

CALUMET - A peace pipe, usually elaborately decorated and often composed of

both wood and stone elements.

CAMBRIAN - The earliest period of the Paleozoic era, spanning the time between

544 and 505 million years ago. It is named after Cambria, the Roman name for

Wales, where rocks of this age were first studied.

CAMPANIAN - European stage of the Upper Cretaceous, spanning the time between 84

and 72 million years ago.

CAMPBELL STRANDLINE - one of the major and certainly the most prominent of the

now-extinct beaches created by glacial Lake Agassiz comprising shorelines and

wave-cut escarpments. It was created between 7500 and 8000 B.C. when the lake

occupied the Manitoba Lowlands.

CANAAN - A historical and Bibilical term used to describe the strip of land

which includes most of present day Gaza Strip and Israel and the Western part of

Jordan. The term was found on Egyptian writings from the 15th century BC.

CANNIBALISM - The consumption of human flesh by other humans for reasons of

dire need or for ritual purposes. In the archaeological record, the forceful

enlargening of the foramen magnum at the base of the skull (presumably for

removal of the brains) and the smashing of long bones (for the extraction of

bone grease) are often viewed as evidence of cannibalism. In at least some

cases, however, it is possible that while the individual was thus prepared for

consumption, they were only symbolically devoured.

CANOE - A light long, narrow open boat lacking sails and rudder. It is

pointed at both ends and propelled by paddles.French, from New Latin canoa, from

Spanish, from Arawakan, of Cariban origin; akin to Carib kana:wa canoe

CANOPIC JARS - Ancient Egyptian containers used to hold the internal organs

that were removed from a dead person before mummification.

CARBOHYDRATES - Organic compounds composed of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen;

includes the sugars and starches.

CARBON - a nonmetallic chiefly tetravalent element found native (as in the

diamond and graphite) or as a constituent of coal, petroleum, and asphalt, of

limestone and other carbonates , and of organic compounds or obtained

artificially in varying degrees of purity especially as carbon black, lampblack,

activated carbon,

CARBON SAMPLE - A quantity of organic material, usually charcoal, collected

for radiocarbon dating.

CARBONIFEROUS - A period of time in the Paleozoic era that includes the

Pennsylvanian and Mississippian periods and extended from 360 to 286 million

years ago.

CARDINAL DIRECTIONS - North, south, east and west.

CARIBOU LAKE COMPLEX - a Palaeo-Indian artifact complex of the forested region

of eastern Manitoba consisting of lanceolate projectile points, trihedral adzes,

and large, asymmetrical bifaces. With an estimated time-depth of 6000 to 4000

B.C., this complex is believed to represent the earliest inhabitants of this

part of the province who came to rely on the resources of the forests as a

result of Altithermal xerothermy (Steinbring and Buchner l980).

CARIES - Tooth decay. The condition of the teeth of a skeleton is often an

important clue to the diet and health of the individual.

CARNIVORE - any of an order (Carnivora) of typically flesh-eating mammals that

includes dogs, foxes, bears, raccoons, and cats.

CARPAL - A bone of the human wrist, or one of the corresponding bones of the

forelegs of other animals.

CARRYING CAPACITY - The point at or below which a population tends to

stabilize.

CARTONNAGE - Papyrus or linen soaked in plaster, shaped around a body. Used

for Egyptian mummy masks and coffins.

CARTOUCHE - Elongated version of the hieroglyphic sigh W "shen" which means

'to encircle'. Two of the Pharaoh's five names were written inside the

cartouche. The sign represents a loop of rope that is never ending, such as the

arch of the sky and the world, to indicate that Pharaoh lead everything that the

sun encircled.

CAST - A representation of an an item created when a substance fills in a

mold. To give a shape to (a substance) by pouring in liquid or plastic form

into a mold and letting harden without pressure

CASTELLATION - A projecting or raised section on the rim of a pot.

CATALOGUE - the systematic list recording artifacts and other finds, recovered

by archaeological research, including their description and Provenience.

CATALOGUE NUMBER - a number assigned all items recovered by archaeological

research to cross-index them to the catalogue.

CATALOGUE __ The systematic list recording artifacts and other finds, recovered

by archaeological research, including their description and Provenience.

CATALOGUE NUMBER __ A number assigned all items recovered by archaeological

research to cross-index them to the catalogue.

CATARRHINE NOSE __ A nose in which the nostrils open downward and are separated

by a narrow nasal septum; found in Old World monkeys, apes, and humans.

CATARRHINI __ Infraorder of the order Primates that includes Old World monkeys

and the hominoids plus various extinct taxa.

CATASTROPHE THEORY - a branch of mathematical topology developed by Rene Thom

which is concerned with the way in which nonlinear interactions within systems

can produce sudden and dramatic effects; ills argued that there are only a

limited number of ways in which such changes can take place, and these are

defined as elementary catastrophes.

CATASTROPHIC AGE PROFILE - A mortality pattern based on bone or tooth wear

analysis, and corresponding to a "natural" age distribution in which the older

the age group, the fewer the individuals it has. This pattern is often found in

contexts such as flash floods, epidemics, or volcanic eruptions.

CATASTROPHISM - The eighteenth-century theory that earthquakes, volcanic

eruptions, and other natural disasters were responsible for the distribution of

animal fossils and artifacts.

CATION-RATIO DATING - This method aspires to the direct dating of rock

carvings and engravings, and is also potentially applicable to Paleolithic

artifacts with a strong patina caused by exposure to desert dust. It depends on

the principle that cations of certain elements are more soluble than others;

they leach out of rock varnish more rapidly than the less soluble elements, and

their concentration decreases with time.

CATLINITE - A soft, red, easily worked stone of the Upper Missouri region

which was commonly ground and polished into tobacco pipes. Also known as

"pipestone".

CATTLE COMPLEX - An East African socioeconomic system in which cattle

represent social status as well as wealth.

CAULDRON - A large kettle.

C.E. - An abbreviation used to denote dates that occur within the "Common

Era," as a more neutral alternative to the "A.D." of the Christian calendar.

CEBID - A member of the family Cebidae; the New World monkeys excluding the

marmosets and tamarins.

CEBIDAE - Family of New World monkeys that includes the squirrel, spider,

howler, and capuchin monkeys, among others.

CELL - The smallest unit that is considered to be alive. All living organisms

either are one cell or are composed of several cells.

CELT - An ungrooved axe. Generally manufactured of flaked stone (chert or

fine-grained igneous rock), ground stone (usually tough metamorphic rocks, such

as serpentine), or even large shells. Usually have a single bit.

CELTS - A category of people who flourished from about 750 to 12 B.C. During

this time, the Celts were the most powerful group in central and northern

Europe. Although the Celts were composed of many different tribes, they shared

similar languages, technology, customs, artistic styles, and beliefs. By A.D.

60, their power had been destroyed by the Romans. After that, only the Celtic

tribes in the more remote areas of Europe, such as the British Isles, survived.

CEMETARY - A location where individuals are buried.

CENOMANIAN - European stage of the lowermost Upper Cretaceous, spanning the time

between 95 and 91 million years ago.

CENOTAPH - From the Greek word meaning; "empty tomb". A tomb built for

ceremonial purposes that was never intended to be used for the interment of the

deceased.

CENOTE - A natural waterhole. Cenote is a corruption by the Spanish of the Maya

word dzonot, a large circular sink-hole created by the collapse of limestone

caves. The water in cenotes is filtered through limestone and constituted one of

the primary sources of drinking water for the Maya. Patterns of settlement among

the early Maya often followed the location of cenotes.

CENOZOIC - An era of geologic time from the beginning of the Tertiary period (65

million years ago) to the present. Its name is from Greek and means "new life."

CENSUS - A comprehensive survey of a population designed to reveal its basic

demographic characteristics.

CENTRAL HALL - A frame house consisting of two rooms and an enclosed central

hall.

CENTRALIZATION - Concentration of political and economic decisions in the hands

of a few individuals or institutions.

CENTRAL PLACE THEORY - developed by the geographer Christaller to explain the

spacing and function of the settlement landscape. Under idealized conditions, he

argued, central places of the same size and nature would be equidistant from

each other, surrounded by secondary centers with their own smaller satellites.

In spite of its limitations, central place theory has found useful applications

in archaeology as a preliminary heuristic device.

CEPHALIC INDEX - a measure of the roundness of the skull calculated by dividing

the maximum width of the brain case (usually just above the ears) by the maximum

length (between the eyes to the back of the skull) and multiplying the resulting

fraction by l00. See also dolichocephalic, mesocephalic and brachycephalic.

CERAMIC - Of or relating to the manufacture of any product (as earthenware,

porcelain, or brick) made essentially from a nonmetallic mineral (as clay) by

firing at a high temperature. Native American ceramics were often tempered

with materials to help hold it together during firing process; shell, mica,

quartzite, bone, grit, vegetation.

CERBERUS - Three headed dog that guarded the entrance to Hades.

CERCOPITHECIDAE - Family that includes all the Old World monkeys, such as

guenons, mangabeys, macaques, and baboons.

CERCOPITHECINAE - Subfamily that contains the Old World monkeys that are

omnivorous and possess cheek pouches.

CERCOPITHECINAE - Superfamily that consists of the Old World monkeys.

CEREMONY - A gathering of people for a program, usually serious in nature, for a

specific purpose. A formal act or series of acts prescribed by ritual, protocol,

or convention.

CEREMONIAL FUND - The portion of the peasant budget allocated to religious and

social activities.

CHAC MOOL - Maya stone reclining figure with a place for offerings on it's

stomach.

CHACO CANYON - Site in New Mexico representative of the Anasazi culture that

thrived there between A.D. 500 and 1300.

CHAIN - A surveying chain, or long steel tape-measure, calibrated in meters or

feet, used for site mapping and grid layout.

CHALCEDONY - Latin chalcedonius, from Greek ChalkEdOn Chalcedon: a translucent

quartz that is commonly pale blue or gray with nearly wax like luster. A

microcrystalline form of quartz with crystals arranged in parallel strands.

Chalcedony was commonly used for tool-making and could be either chipped or

ground.

CHANNEL FLAKE - Often lengthy, a flake removed from the face of an artifact

originating from the proximal end of an artifact. Flute.

CHARACTERIZATION - the application of techniques of examination by which

characteristic properties of the constituent material of traded goods can be

identified, and thus their source of origin; e.g. petrographic thin-section

analysis.

CHARCOAL - Carbon formed by heating organic matter in the absence of air; one

of the preferred substances for radiocarbon dating.

CHARON - In Greek myth, the boatman who rowed the souls of the dead across the

River Styx into the underworld.

CHEEK POUCH - A pocket in the cheek that opens into the mouth; some Old World

monkeys store food in the cheek pouch.

CHEMISTRY - The science concerned with the structure, properties, reactions

and commercial application of substances.

CHERNOZEM - A rich, black organic soil well-suited to the growing of grasses,

which is found in cool or temperate semiarid environments.

CHERT - 1.a rock resembling flint and consisting essentially of a large amount

of fibrous chalcedony with smaller amounts of cryptocrystalline quartz and

amorphous silica. 2. A very fine grained rock formed in ancient ocean sediments.

It often has a semi-glassy finish and is usually white, pinkish, brown, gray, or

blue-gray in color. It can be shaped into arrowheads by chipping.

CHIEFDOM -. in Service's (l97l) scheme, the third of the four levels of

socio-economic integration which stands between the simpler, more kinship-based

bands and tribes, and the more governmentally-structured state level societies

which some equate with "civilization". As a consequence, chiefdoms share

characteristics of both; an individual's family ties remain important, but

individuals are ranked within the "family group" and families themselves are

ranked relative to one another so that the society can no longer be considered

egalitarian. At the top of the hierarchy is the chief, often believed to be a

direct descendent of the mythical ancestor of the entire society. Everyone's

status is measured in terms of how closely they stand in a kin relation to the

chief. He gains his authority from his position as the focal point for the

redistribution of goods from a generally horticultural subsistence base although

he is not empowered to use coercive force to impose his will. This relatively

high degree of organization and productivity allows a high population density

and the establishment of major centres. Chiefdoms witness the beginnings of

full-time craft specialization, permanent religious practitioners and the

establishment of political office. Native North America witnessed several

chiefdoms prior to the disruption associated with European contact in Central

America. in the American southeast, along parts of the Northwest Coast, and

arguably, in the American northeast, particularly Ohio and Illinois.

CHILAM BALAM - A series of books written by various Maya tribes in Spanish

after the Spanish Conquest. The content probably came directly from Maya

codices.

CHINAMPAS - The areas of fertile reclaimed land, constructed by the Aztecs, and

made of mud dredged from canals.

CHINKING - A mortar, usually composed chiefly of clay, used to plaster over

gaps in walls or to bind bricks or stones.

CHIPPING STATION - A restricted area of "floor" within an archaeological site

which yields stone flakes to the virtual exclusion of other kinds of artifacts.

Such features are frequently interpreted as places used for the chipping of

stone.

CHITHO - A disc-shaped biface. Crude bifacially flaked boulder spall or slab

scraper-cutting tools commonly associated with northern Athabaskan assemblages.

Similar to a cortical spall tool.

CHOL - Maya language and ethnic group.

CHOLLA - Several species of spiny cactus having cylindrical stems and branches.

The plants are found in many parts of semiarid and arid North America.

CHOPPER - An axe-like tool, generally fashioned from a cobble or large pebble,

and usually worked only on one face.

C-HORIZON - The bottom-most zone of a soil, consisting of unaltered natural

sediments.

CHRONOLOGY - Arrangement of events in the order in which they occurred.

CHRONOLOGY BUILDING - Devising a dated history for a region by combining

numerous lines of evidence.

CHRONOMETRIC DATING - Placing an event or process with a range of dates on a

calendrical time scale, usually by means of radiocarbon or potassium/argon

techniques

CHRONOMETRY - The art of measuring time accurately.

CICERO - Roman orator, died 43 BCE.

CISTS - Boxed burials (eg: some of the Neolithic graves at El Garcel, Almeria,

Spain) are referred to as cists burials. The term simply comes from the German

word 'Kiste' meaning a box or crate.

CITY-STATE - City and surrounding countryside under it's influence. Main

political entity of classical Greece.

CIVILIZATION - 1. a : a relatively high level of cultural and technological

development; specifically : the stage of cultural development at which writing

and the keeping of written records is attained b : the culture characteristic of

a particular time or place.

CLADE - A group of species with a common evolutionary ancestry.

CLADISTICS - A theory of classification that differentiates between shared

ancestral and shared derived features.

CLADOGRAM - A graphic representation of the species, or other taxa, being

studied, based upon cladistic analysis.

CLAN - A unilineal descent group usually comprising more than ten generations

consisting of members who claim a common ancestry even though they cannot trace

step-by-step their exact connection to a common ancestor.

CLASS (1) - A major division of a phylum, consisting of closely related

orders.

CLASS (2) - A ranked group within a stratified society characterized by

achieved status and considerable social mobility.

CLASSIFICATION - systematic arrangement in groups or categories according to

established criteria; specifically : taxonomy.

CLAY - Extremely fine (less than 0.0l mm in diameter) particles produced by

the weathering of certain rocks. Its primary constituent is hydrated aluminum

silicate, but numerous impurities, such as quartz, mica, calcium carbonate,

alkalies, iron compounds, humus, and sand may also be present. Clay is plastic

when moist, but hardens when dried and is used in the manufacture of ceramics.

CLEARWATER LAKE - a lake approximately l7 km north of The Pas, Manitoba which

has given its name to a distinctive Late Woodland pottery type as well as to the

complex and phase within which it occurs. The pots are round-based with

constricted necks and generally outflaring rims. Exterior surfaces are

fabric-impressed and exterior decoration is usually restricted to a single row

of punctates which produce interior bosses. Lips are generally flattened and

decorated in a great variety of ways. Associated tools include side-notched and

triangular projectile points, scrapers, bifaces, gravers, celts, net sinkers,

slate grinding stones, split bone awls, long bone flakers, bone spatulas, bird

bone tubes, bone beads, shaft straighteners and red ochre (Meyer l978). Believed

by many to be the handiwork of the prehistoric and protohistoric Cree, the

Clearwater Lake Complex is widely distributed throughout the Boreal Forest of

central Saskatchewan, Manitoba and northwestern Ontario

CLEAVER - A large core tool with a straight, sharp edge at one end.

CLEOPATRA - Ruler of Egypt from 51 to 30 B.C. Of Macedonian (Greek) descent,

Cleopatra reigned for 21 years, until the fall of Egypt to Rome in 30 B.C. She

was the lover of the famous Roman general Mark Anthony.

CLIFF DWELLINGS - Shelters or villages built along the edges of cliffs.

CLIMAP - a project aimed at producing paleoclimatic maps showing sea-surface

temperatures in different parts of the globe, at various periods.

CLIPPED WING - Barbs that have been intentionally fractured or knapped off.

Example: Clay

CLOSED CORPORATE COMMUNITY - A community that strongly emphasizes community

identity and discourages outsiders from settling there by restricting land use

to village members and prohibiting the sale or lease of property to outsiders.

CLOSED FINDS - Groups of artifacts which are in original depositional context

with each other. The artifacts recovered from a ceremonial offering, for

instance.

CLOVIS - A town in New Mexico which has lent its name to a distinctive type of

Paleo-Indian or Early Prehistoric Period projectile point as well as to the

complex (also known as the Llano Complex) and culture within which it occurs.

The highly distinctive projectile points are concave-based and highly variable

in size, ranging from approximately 3 to l2 cm in length. One or both faces may

be fluted with the channel flake extending one-half or less of the length of the

point. Most Clovis sites are either surface finds of isolated projectile points

or kill sites and hence the full nature of he complex is not known. Associated

artifacts include a variety of scraping tools, blades, hammerstones, chopping

tools and foreshafts and defleshers of bone (Frison l978). Clovis points are

distributed from the arctic to Mexico, and from California as far east as Nova

Scotia. Radiocarbon dated sites range in age from 8500 to approximately l0,000

B.C. Where perishable materials are preserved and an association can be

demonstrated, faunal remains are nearly invariably those of the mammoth. Clovis

points are rare in Manitoba due to the fact that most of the province was

glaciated or beneath the waters of glacial Lake Agassiz during the Clovis

period. The small area in southwestern Manitoba which would have been available

for occupation at that time probably did not support the kind of vegetation upon

which mammoths depended for food (Pettipas l975).

CLUSTER - A group of stylistically and chronologically similar artifacts for

which adequate excavation data does not exist to allow for the classification as

a phase.

CLUSTER ANALYSIS - a multivariate statistical technique which assesses the

similarities between units or assemblages, based on the occurrence or

non-occurrence of specific artifact types or other components within them.

COBBLE - A medium-sized stone (larger than a pebble but smaller than a

fieldstone) which has been rounded and occasionally polished by erosion.

COCCOLITHS - Microscopic structures of varying shape and size that are made of

calcite, are secreted by calcareous nannoplankton, and are found in marine

deposits from the Triassic period to the Recent. Coccoliths range in size from

one to thirty-five micrometers in size.

COCHRANE RE_ADVANCE - A surging of the Wisconsinan ice sheet which occurred

roughly 8000 years ago and which is associated with a rise in the level of

glacial Lake Agassiz.

CODE SHEETS - Anthropologists' checklists of observed behaviors and inferred

motivations for or attitudes toward them.

CODY - A town in Wyoming which has lent its name to a distinctive style of

Palaeo-Indian knife as well as a complex consisting of at least two forms of

Plano projectile points (Eden and Scottsbluff) and possibly a third (Alberta).

The knives are either single-shouldered or parallel-sided with a transverse

blade. Associated artifacts include a variety of side- and end-scrapers, drills,

knives, spokeshaves, gravers, perforators and denticulates. Cody Complex sites

are more or less restricted to grassland environments and where preservation is

good, they contain the remains of now-extinct forms of bison. In Manitoba, Cody

artifacts occur above the Manitoba escarpment in the extreme southwestern corner

of the province. Elsewhere, they have been radiocarbon dated between 5900 B.C.

and 7900 B.C. (if Alberta is included) or 7l00 B.C. if it is not.

COFFIN TEXTS - Texts written inside coffins of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom that

are intended to direct the souls of the dead past the dangers and perils

encountered on the journey through the afterlife. More than 1,000 spells are

known.

COGNATE WORD - Words in different languages which are similar in terms of

meaning and structure by virtue of descent from a common ancestral language.

COGNITIVE ANTHROPOLOGY - The study of how peoples of different cultures acquire

information about the world (cultural transmission), how they process that

information and reach decisions, and how they act on that information in ways

that other members of their cultures consider appropriate.

COGNITIVE ARCHAEOLOGY - The study of past ways of thought and symbolic

structures from material remains.

COGNITIVE IMPERATIVE - The human need to impose order on the world by mental

processes.

COGNITIVE PROCESSES - Ways of perceiving and ordering the world.

COIL FRACTURE - A potsherd, the shape of which reveals that it was a section

of one of the coils used to manufacture the vessel. see coiling.

COILING - A method of ceramic vessel manufacture which involves the stacking of

rings of clay. The coils are later smoothed-over by hand or paddled to complete

the finish and to bind the coils to one another.

CO-INFLUENCE SPHERE - An area within which human groups interact due to trade,

conflict, migration, the nature of local resources and the manner in which

various groups exploited them. As the basis for a research design, the

Co-Influence Sphere Model emphasizes interaction as opposed to unilineal

chronology, and relies upon cultural comparisons beyond the immediate research

area as a basis upon which to draw conclusions.

COLD HAMMERING - Fashioning metal without the use of heat sufficient to melt

it. In prehistoric Manitoba this was restricted to copper and recent evidence

indicates that temperatures of up to l000C were often applied to render the

substance less brittle.

COLLAGEN - A protein which occurs in bone and may be used for radiocarbon

dating.

COLLATERAL FLAKING - When flakes on a chipped stone artifact extend to the

middle from both edges meeting in the center. The flakes are at right angles to

the longitudinal axis, and regular and uniform in size.

COLLECTING - .1 a : to bring together into one body or place b : to gather or

exact from a number of persons or sources.

COLLECTION - An accumulation of objects gathered for study, comparison, or

exhibition.

COLLUVIAL DEPOSITS - Deposits formed on slopes near sources of sediment such

as mountains.

COLLUVIUM - A mixture of rock fragments and debris occurring at the foot of a

slope.

COLOBINAE - Subfamily of Old World monkeys that includes the langurs and

colobus monkeys; species that are specialized leaf eaters, possessing a complex

stomach and lacking cheek pouches.

COLOSSUS OF RHODES - A massive bronze statue of the sun god Helios located on

the Greek island of Rhodes. It was built around 290 B.C. and was destroyed by an

earthquake around 226 B.C. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the

Colossus was 110 feet high and was once thought to have straddled the entrance

to the city harbor (a fact which scholars now know would have been impossible).

COMBED - As applicable to ceramics; treated or modified by the application of a

toothed instrument of wood, bone, metal, etc. A comb may be used to smooth

and/or decorate pottery or to arrange and disentangle hair

COMMUNAL CULT - A society with groups of ordinary people who conduct religious

ceremonies for the well-being of the total community.

COMMUNICATION - The transmission and reception of some stimulus or message. In

relation to animal life, communication occurs when one animal transmits

information to another animal.

COMMUNITY - The behavioral component comprised of groups of households whose

members frequently interact.

COMMUNITY IDENTITY - An effort by speakers to identify themselves with a

specific locality and to distinguish themselves from outsiders.

COMPONENT - the archaeological evidence pertaining to a single group of people

(more specifically a single focus) at an archaeological site. A site containing

only one occupation is a single component site, while one which was reoccupied

is termed a multicomponent site.

COMPOUND MOUND - mounds that are made up of conical mounds connected by linear

mounds

COMPUTER TOMOGRAPHY - A technique that uses X ray or ultrasound to provide

images of layers of solid objects, such as pottery or the human body. The images

are processed by a computer to create two- and three-dimensional pictures of the

object.

CONCAVE - Curves inward. Incurvate, as the interior surface of a sphere.

CONCENTRATION - A notable accumulation of archaeological materials in a small

area, such as a "concentration of flakes" etc.

CONCEPTUAL - The major assumptions or underlying premises of a field of

research.

CONCHOIDAL - "Conch-like"; shaped like the exterior surface of a clam shell.

The term is used to describe the fracturing properties of certain kinds of

stone. In fine-grained materials such as flint, a fractured surface will exhibit

roughly circular ridges radiating outwards from the point of impact.

CONCRETION - A natural clay nodule formed out of solution in soil interstices.

Often confused for man-made objects because of their peculiar shapes.

CONOIDAL - "Cone-like". The term is most commonly used to describe the shape of

ceramic vessels with pointed bases and straight profiles to the shoulder.

CONG (Chinese) - Jade tube.

CONGLOMERATE - A rock composed of rounded pebbles and sand which are cemented

together into a solid rock. To roll together.

CONIACIAN - European stage of the Upper Cretaceous, spanning the time between 90

and 88 million years ago.

CONICAL MOUND - A cone or oval shaped mound that usually contains human burials.

CONJUNCTIVE APPROACH - a methodological alternative to traditional normative

archaeology, argued by Walter Taylor (1948), in which the full range of a

culture system was to be taken into consideration in explanatory models.

CONQUISTADOR - A name given to the 16th-century Spanish explorers who came to

the New World.

CONSERVATION - The scientific process of cleaning--and often repairing and/or

restoring--an artifact in order to preserve it for further study and/or display.

CONSERVATION ARCHAEOLOGY - A sub-field of archaeology which focuses on the

preservation of archaeological resources. This position encourages the

stabilization and preservation of archaeological sites as opposed to their

immediate excavation.

CONTEXT - Relationship of artifacts and other cultural remains to each other

and the situation in which they are found.

CONTRACT ARCHAEOLOGY - archaeological research conducted under the aegis of

federal or state legislation, often in advance of highway construction or urban

development, where the archaeologist is contracted to undertake the necessary

research.

CONTRACTING - Diminishing. A gradual decrease in width or size in a given area

(such as contracting base). example of contracting stem; gary, adena, dickson.

CONTROL - in the scientific method, a situation in which a comparison can be

made between a specific situation and a second situation that differs, ideally,

in only one aspect from the first.

CONVEX - Bulging outwards; excurvate as in the case of the exterior surface of a

sphere.

COPAL - An incense of Mesoamerica.

COPPER SHEATHING - Used underwater (below the waterline) on wooden ships to

repel marine organisms.

COPPER ORNAMENT - A piece of pounded natural copper that was formed into things

such as; gorget, breast ornament, broach, mask.

COPROLITE - Fossilized, desiccated< or otherwise preserved dung or human

faeces. Study of coprolites can yield information on the diet, environment and

habits of early peoples.

COPTIC - The Afro-Asiatic language of the Copts, which survives only as a

liturgical language of the Coptic Church; of or relating to the Copts, the

Coptic Church, or the Coptic language.

CORBALLED ARCH - A false arch constructed by putting ceiling tiles closer

together on each successive layer until a capstone could be laid.

CORE - 1. the stone from which flakes have been removed; the nucleus. A

"prepared" core is one which has been specially modified in such a way as to

control the shape of subsequent flakes. The core itself may be modified into a

tool (core tool). core, conical. a cone-shaped core with the flat surface

serving as the striking platform. core, polyhedral. a generally sphere-shaped

core with many faces. core, wedge-shaped. a core in which flakes are removed

from two faces, thus rendering it a wedge-shaped appearance. 2. a generally

thin, cylindrical sample of soil or tree growth-rings.

CORNER NOTCH - The process of knapping slots into the corner of a preform for

hafting. Examples; kirk, marcos, jacks reef.

CORTEX - The naturally weathered outer surface of a pebble.

CORTICAL SPALL - A flake struck from the surface of a pebble or nodule which

retains the natural cortex on one face. A "Cortical Spall Tool" is generally a

relatively large ovate cortical spall exhibiting retouch or use-wear on one or

more edges.

COULEES - Steep sided valleys found along the Upper Mississippi Waterway.

COUP, COUPE - Among many plains Indian groups, some act of valour such as

touching an enemy in battle, by which prestige was conferred upon an individual.

counting coup. the announcing of one's coups publicly.

CREATION SCIENCE - The idea that scientific evidence can be and has been

gathered for creation as depicted in the Bible. Mainstream scientists and the

Supreme Court discount any scientific value of creation-science statements.

CREMATION - Destruction of the bodily remains of the deceased by burning. This

mode of postmortem treatment may be favored for many reasons; to prevent the

return of the dead, to protect the deceased from scavengers, or to prevent the

transformation of the dead into a harmful entity. Treatment of the ashes is

highly variable from one group to another. Cremation seems to have been

particularly popular with Paleo-Indians and this is one of the reasons that

skeletal remains dating to this period are so rare.

CRESCENT - A lunate flint item found out west.

CRETACEOUS PERIOD - A period 144 to 65 million years ago, characterized by the

growth of the first flowering plants and the height of the era of the dinosaurs.

It ended with the complete extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

CRITICAL THEORY - a theoretical approach developed by the so-called "Frankfurt

School" of German social thinkers, which stresses that all knowledge is

historical, and in a sense biased communication; thus, all claims to "objective"

knowledge are illusory.

CROP MARK - Differential vegetational growth as a result of buried features.

Some species of plants are particularly sensitive to various subsurface

conditions. For example cereals will not achieve normal height and will ripen

sooner over wall foundations, while over ditches, or trenches they will grow

taller and remain green longer. Study of these differences, particularly with

the aid of aerial photography, can reveal such features in remarkable detail.

CROSS DATING - A relative dating technique which attributes similar ages to

two strata, components or sites on the basis of the recovery of similar

artifacts from each; the use of an artifact whose age is known elsewhere, to

date a new site.

CRYPTOCRYSTALLINE - Having a crystalline structure so fine that no distinct

particles are recognizable under the microscope.

CUCURBIT - The plant family which includes pumpkins, squash, gourds and

cucumbers and which occurs in tropical and subtropical regions. Some members of

this family were domesticated by Native North Americans.

CUESTAS - A long, low ridge with a relatively steep face, escarpment on one side

and a long, gentle slope on the other.

CULTIGEN - An initially wild plant which has undergone sufficient genetic

changes due to nurturing (or conscious selection), so as to be entirely

dependent upon man for its survival; a domesticated plant.

CULTIVAR - A wild plant that is nurtured by humans. Cultivars may thus be found

thriving outside of their normal habitats due to irrigation, fertilization or

weeding.

CULTIVATION - Preparation and use of land for the production of food.

CULT-STATUE - A statue of a divinity found in a shrine dedicated to that

divinity.

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY - That branch of anthropology that concerns itself with

humanity's non-biological adaptations. Occasionally it is used synonymously (but

incorrectly) with social anthropology.

CULTURAL DATING - The process of comparing objects archaeologists find with

information they already have; comparing cultural attributes.

CULTURAL DETERMINISM - The idea that except for reflexes all behavior is the

result of learning.

CULTURAL DIFFUSION - The spreading of a cultural trait (e.g., material object,

idea, or behavior pattern) from one society to another.

CULTURAL DRIFT - Cultural change that is due to the improper passing on of

information from the people in one region to those of another. Results in the

eventual creation of a new culture.

CULTURAL ECOLOGY - The study of the ways a society adapts to its environment.

CULTURAL EVOLUTION - The study of how and why human adaptive systems have

changed over time.

CULTURAL FORMATION PROCESS - Human activities responsible for forming and

modifying the archaeological record.

CULTURAL GROUP - A complex of regularly occurring associated artifacts,

features, burial types, and house forms comprising a distinct identity.

CULTURAL DYNAMICS - The study of population movements and stability or

cultural change and continuity. Cultural dynamics thus includes such phenomena

as migration, diffusion, re-adaptation, population increases and expansions,

etc. and attempts to identify the reasons for their occurrence.

CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - A branch of archaeology that is concerned with

developing policies and action in regard to the preservation and use of cultural

resources. Often called simply CRM.

CULTURAL MATERIALISM - The theory, espoused by Marvin Harris, that ideas,

values, and religious beliefs are the means or products of adaptation to

environmental conditions ("material constraints").

CULTURAL PROCESSES - The underlying factors which bring about change in a

culture. Processual archaeology attempt to identify such causes, and tests

hypotheses thus generated against other archaeological data.

CULTURAL RELATIVISM - The ability to view the beliefs and customs of other

peoples within the context of their culture rather than one's own.

CULTURAL RESOURCES - Sites, structures, landscapes, and objects of some

importance to a culture or community for scientific, traditional, religious, or

other reasons.

CULTURE - Common beliefs and practices of a group of people. The integrated

pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon man's

capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. A

set of learned beliefs, values and behaviors--the way of life--shared by the

members of a society.

CULTURE AREA - A geographic region within which the occupants are more similar

to one another (particularly in terms of material culture) than to those beyond

its limits. These rather frequently correspond to natural, environmental areas,

thus reflecting a shared mode of adaptation to a similar environment. In

practice, a culture area is defined on the basis of its center. The peripheries

often share more traits with neighboring culture areas.

CULTURE HERO - In mythology, an animal, person or god(ess) who may be seen as

the protector of a people, and/or as being the originator of their culture and

circumstance. In Native North American folklore, he/she is frequently also a

trickster.

CULTURE HISTORY - The placement of the material remains of the culture(s) of a

region into proper chronological order and the subsequent study of their

development.

CULTUS TEMPLE - Temple dedicated to the worship of one or more deities.

CUNEIFORM - The wedge-shaped characters of many ancient Near Eastern

languages.

CUPID - Roman god of love. Knows as Eros by the Greeks.

CUSTOM - Established practice; habit; tradition.

CYCLADIC - Dealing with the islands called the Cyclades, found between Greece

and Turkey.

DARK AGES - A period of chaos, destruction, and rebuilding that lasted from

the fall of Rome in 476 C.E. to the emergence of stable Germanic kingdoms in the

ninth century. Specifically, the Dark Ages are often said to have ended in 800

C.E., when Charlemagne was crowned the first Holy Roman Emperor.

DARIUS - Persian king Darius III was defeated by Alexander the Great. Darius

was killed by his own men.

DART - 1. Arrow-like projectile propelled by atlatl. 2. A slender missile

shot from a blowgun.

DART POINT - A flaked projectile used to tip an atlatl dart.

DATA - Information; the known facts; a series of measurements or observations.

DATING - The process of determining the antiquity of an object or event.

absolute dating. the determination of the age of an object relative to the

present (eg. l000 years ago or 43 B.C.). relative dating. the determination of

the age of an object relative to others of unknown age (eg. B is older than A

but younger than C). Relative dating can thus be used to establish a chronology

or sequence whereas absolute dating is required to anchor the events firmly in

time.

DATUM POINT - usually an arbitrarily-defined spot on or near an archaeological

site which is used as a point of reference for the mapping of the site and for

the plotting of the distribution of the artifacts which are recovered from it.

DAUB - Untempered clay used to fill in the holes and gaps between the wood or

thatching of a wall. It was used by both Indians and European settlers in North

America to construct houses.

DEAD SEA SCROLLS - A collection of more than 800 manuscripts written on

parchment, papyrus, and copper over 2,000 years ago. The Dead Sea Scrolls were

found in 1947 in what is now Israel. The Scrolls contain many different kinds of

texts, including the oldest known portions of the Old Testament of the Bible.

DEBITAGE - By-products or waste materials left over from the manufacture of

stone tools. Lithic debitage includes flake debris, cores and broken artifacts.

DECANS - The (Greek) name given to the period of time (10 days) during which

the Egyptians observed that certain constellations were visible on the horizon.

There were 36 decans in the Egyptian year of 360 days, and tables were drawn up

recording them so that the Egyptians were able to tell the time at night: a

given constellation would be at a particular point in the sky depending on what

hour it was.

DECIPHER - Cracking the code; figuring out something's meaning, especially an

ancient language (for example, Egyptian hieroglyphics).

DECORTIFICATION FLAKE - A flake which serves to remind the outer surface

(cortex) of a rock.

DEDUCTION - A process of reasoning by which more specific consequences are

inferred by rigorous argument from more general propositions.

DEDUCTIVE NOMOLOGICAL EXPLANATION - a formal method of explanation based on the

testing of hypotheses derived from general laws.

DEEP SEA CORES - Cores drilled from the sea bed that provide the most coherent

record of climate changes on a worldwide scale. The cores contain shells of

microscopic marine organisms (foraminifera) laid down on the ocean floor through

the continuous process of sedimentation. Variations in the ratio of two oxygen

isotopes in the calcium carbonate of these shells give a sensitive indicator of

sea temperature at the time the organisms were alive.

DE-FACTO-REFUSE - Artifacts - often still useable - left behind when an

activity area, dwelling, or settlement is abandoned.

DEFLATION - The removal of surfacial deposits of soil, sand or fine gravel by

wind action. Blowouts are formed as a result of deflation.

DEFLESHER - A chisel-shaped, often toothed implement of bone, stone or metal

used to remove the fat and flesh from the inner surface of a freshly skinned

hide.

DEGRADATION - The wearing away or weathering of a surface by erosion.

DEITY - The rank or essential nature of god.

DELPHI - Greek sanctuary of the god Apollo.

DELTA - A triangular-shaped body of land formed of alluvium at the mouth of a

river.

DEME - The local breeding population; the smallest reproductive population.

DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION - A rapid increase in a society's population with the

onset of industrialization, followed by a leveling off of the growth rate due to

reduced fertility.

DEMOGRAPHY - The study of population statistics (population size, number of

births and deaths, causes of death, diseases, age distribution, etc.),

particularly as a means of making statements of living conditions.

DEMOTIC - Script used on Egyptian business documents (and whatever) from about

70 BCE. onwards. By the Greco-Roman period it had become the ordinary writing

of everyday life. Word derives from Greek demoticos meaning popular.

DENDROCHRONOLOGY - The scientific study of the annular growth of trees. Trees

produce rings of various thickness annually in response to rainfall. Tree-rings

therefore, can be used to reconstruct fluctuations in rainfall in the past,

reflecting past climatic conditions.

DENTALIA - Any of a genus (Dentalium) of widely distributed tooth shells; small,

slender horn-like Pacific Ocean shell used and traded as beads and wealth-items.

DENTATE - A form of pottery decoration produced by impressing a toothed object

of (usually) bone, wood or stone into the wet clay thus creating rows of small,

square depressions.

DEPENDANT VARIABLE - A variable that is affected by the independent variable.

DEPOSITION (cultural) - The laying down of deposits by human activities that

move artifacts from systemic context to archaeological contest.

DEPOSITION (environmental) - The laying down of sediments by environmental

agents such as wind and water.

DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT - The surroundings of artifacts in archaeological

context.

DEPOSITIONAL HISTORY - The order in which strata were laid down.

DEPOSITIONAL STRATUM - A separable layer of material at a site.

DESERT ARCHAIC TRADITION - A seminomadic, hunting and gathering way of life

that people in the Southwest adopted around 7000 B.C. The tradition is also

known in Arizona as the Cochise, Amargosan, or Desert culture. The Desert

Archaic lifeway was widespread, extending into the Great Basin of Utah and

Nevada and the Mohave Desert of California. Although the Archaic lifeway

gradually disappeared in southern Arizona as the Hohokam culture developed, the

tradition was practiced into historic times by people such as the Great Basin

Paiute.

DESHRET - The red crown. This was the crown that represented Lower Egypt

(northern).

DESTRUCTIVE ARCHAEOLOGY - Most methods used in archaeological research are

destructive. We destroy what we are studying. Thus it’s important to –

A: Excavate just as much as necessary. A stable site may be better to leave

untouched to coming generations. They will be happy, and perhaps also possess

much finer investigation methods.

B: Document the investigation as thorough as possible. Future analysis may need

just those tiny details that may seem insignificant today.

This is described in Archaeology from the Earth by Sir Mortimer Wheeler (Penguin

1954).

DETRITUS - Debitage. Waste by-products from tool manufacture. Most frequently

applied to chips and fragments resulting from stone flaking.

DEVELOPMENTAL CYCLE - The stages passed through by individuals, behavioral

components, artifacts, and artifact types.

DEVIL'S CLAW - Also called the unicorn plant. A coarse, low-growing annual

with large, shallowly lobed leaves. All parts of the plant are covered with

coarse, sticky hairs. The seedpods turn black at maturity and each is

characterized by a long, slightly curved extension of its tip. The plants grows

at elevations of 1000 to 5000 feet and ranges from western Texas to southern

Nevada.

DEVONIAN - A period of the Paleozoic era, spanning the time between 410 and 360

million years ago. It is named after Devonshire, England, where rocks of this

age were first studied.

DIACHRONIC - Referring to phenomena as they change over time; i.e. employing a

chronological perspective (cf. synchronic).

DIADEM - Band worn on the head signifying royal power.

DIGENESIS - All chemical, physical, and biological modifications undergone by a

sediment after its initial deposition.

DIAGNOSTIC - Significant; distinctive or characteristic; of or pertaining to any

artifact, feature or attribute which can provide useful information.

DIAGNOSTIC ARTIFACT - An item that is indicative of a particular time period

and/or cultural group.

DIATOM ANALYSIS - A method of environmental reconstruction based on plant

microfossils. Diatoms are unicellular algae, whose silica cell walls survive

after the algae die, and they accumulate in large numbers at the bottom of

rivers and lakes. Their assemblages directly reflect the floristic composition

of the water's extinct communities, as well as the water's salinity, alkalinity,

and nutrient status.

DIE - Engraved stamp used to impress a design in softer material.

DIFFERENTIAL FLUXGATE MAGNETOMETER - A type of magnetometer used in subsurface

detection with the advantage of producing a continuous reading.

DIFFUSION - The spread of cultural traits from one culture to another. direct

diffusion. the spread of cultural traits by means of multiple hand-to-hand

transmissions of adjacent groups rather than a migration of the original trait

bearers. stimulus diffusion. the spread of the general idea of a culture trait

which may subsequently manifest itself in the creation of the physical object or

development of the custom by the recipient group.

DIFFUSIONIST APPROACH - The theory popularized by V.G. Childe that all the

attributes of civilization from architecture to metalworking had diffused from

the Near East to Europe.

DIGS - Archaeological sites with on-going excavations.

DING (Chinese) - Tripod food vessel

DINOCYST - A resting stage or reproductive stage in the life cycle of a

dinoflagellate.

DIONYSOS - Greek god of wine. Known as Bacchus by the Romans.

DIP NET - A fish net attached to a (usually) circular frame and often equipped

with a handle.

DISTAL - That portion of a tool or bone farthest from the body of the user or

"owner".

DISTAL END - The end situated away from the point of attachment. The tip, or

what would be point of entry of a projectile point.

DISTURBANCE - Movement and damage of artifacts in archaeological context as

the by-product of other activities.

DIVING BELL - Diving bells are described in Italy already in the 1530s. In the

17th century divers worked in very large bells. In the top was an air pocket,

and below was free workspace towards the wreck. A step toward the earliest

beginnings of marine archaeology.

DJED COLUMN - Pillar symbol meaning "stability." Thought to represent the

backbone of Osiris.

DNA - The abbreviation for a chemical called deoxyribonucleic acid, which is in

every cell of your body. DNA acts like your blueprint since it holds the

instructions for all your body's activities.

DOMESTICATED PLANT - A plant whose genetic characteristics are altered from

their natural state by human propagation efforts.

DORSAL - The convex or excurvate face of an artifact. The face of an artifact

which was furthest from the centre of the core from which it was manufactured.

DORSET - A Middle Prehistoric Period archaeological culture or tradition, the

remains of which have been found in the eastern Canadian arctic and on the

Atlantic coast as far south as Nova Scotia. In many ways, the Dorset seems to

represent an elaboration of earlier Pre-Dorset adaptations to the arctic

environment. Particularly distinctive Dorset artifacts include antler, bone or

ivory harpoon heads, three-dimensional ivory and bone carvings of humans and

animals, and the increase in the use of grinding as opposed to chipping as a

means of manufacturing projectile points and knives. These people pursued a

seasonal round which involved the taking of sea mammals in the spring, fishing

and caribou hunting inland during the latter part of the summer and fall, and a

winter occupation on the sea ice subsisting largely on seals. Dorset culture

appears to have disappeared rather suddenly and mysteriously about l000 years

ago with the expansion of the Thule people from Alaska.

DOUGLAS FIR - A tall evergreen found at elevations of 6500 to 10,000 feet.

Used by the Hohokam for timber, this tree can be found in the higher mountain

ranges in Arizona and Nevada and at lower elevations in more northern regions.

DOWSING - The supposed location of subsurface features by employing a twig,

copper rod, pendulum, or other instrument; discontinuous movements in these

instruments are believed by some to record the existence of buried features.

DRACHMA - Coin that was the currency of Athens.

DRAGGED STAMP - A kind of pottery decoration found on some Laurel vessels

produced by dragging a toothed (dentating) instrument across the wet clay, often

in a zigzag fashion. The dragged stamp method is also known as push-pull.

DRAWKNIFE - A woodworking tool consisting of a blade with

perpendicularly-oriented handles at either end. This implement is also sometimes

known as a spokeshave.

DRIFT - Material carried by glaciers.

DRIFT COPPER - pieces of native copper which have been transported from their

natural place of origin by glaciers. Drift copper may be found on the ground

surface and undoubtedly was used by prehistoric peoples for the manufacturing of

ornaments and tools.

DRIFTLESS AREA - Parts of NE Iowa, SE Minnesota, and SW Wisconsin that weren't

affected by the most recent ice age

DRILL - To bore or drive a hole in. In artifact terms it refers to a bit

attached to a shaft and used to perforate dense materials.

DRINKING TUBE - A length of hollow bird-bone used in aboriginal ceremonial

situations for drinking liquids.

DRIVE LANES - Aboriginal fences of rock piles or brush used to direct

game-animals towards a trap.

DRY FARMING - Method where rainfall runoff is diverted or trapped to provide

water for crops. Dry-farming systems include terraces, check dams, and small

ditches.

DRUMLIN - A streamlined hill or mound formed by a moving glacier, with the

"tail" in the direction of ice-flow.

DUAT - The Egyptian land of the dead. It Lies under the earth and is entered

through the western horizon.

DUCK BAY - A bay on the west shore of Lake Winnipegosis, Manitoba, which has

lent its name to a distinctive ceramic ware. Vessels are globular in shape with

sharply angled necks and shoulders. Surfaces are fabric-impressed or roughened

and decoration consists of rows of punctates (Duck Bay Punctate type) or varying

combinations of interior notches, punctates and cord-wrapped stick impressions

on and near the lip (Duck Bay Decorated Lip type). This Late Woodland ware

appears most frequently in the Manitoba Lowlands (Snortlund-Coles l979).

DUNCAN - A stemmed projectile point style of the Middle Prehistoric Period.

Duncan points are included within the McKean Complex (Wheeler l954).

DYNASTY - A family that retains political power over several generations.

EARED - Used in the description of projectile points the ear-shaped or

"tab-like" projections at the basal corners produced by the combination of a

concave base and deep, wide side-notches.

EARLY MAN - In the New World this term refers to the oldest known human

occupants - i.e. prior to ca. 8,000 B.P.

EARLY PREHISTORIC PERIOD - The most ancient of the periods of human occupation

in North America and closely equivalent in meaning to Paleo-Indian. In Europe,

the Mideast and elsewhere, the time preceding the beginnings of agriculture.

EARLY SIDE-NOTCHED POINT TRADITION - A grouping of early Middle Prehistoric

Period complexes characterized by side-notched projectile point styles

(generally the first side-notched styles in the region) which have been given a

number of different names: Mummy Cave, Bitterroot, Salmon