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Archaeology Glossary
Absolute
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." (Compare with cross
dating.)
Antiquities
Market
The buying and selling of archaeological and ancient items.
Anthropology
The scientific study of human cultures and physical traits; includes
ethnology, linguistics, archaeology, biological anthropology and
other sub-disciplines.
Archaeology
The scientific study of past cultures through their material remains.
Archaeology seeks to describe and explain the nature and evolution
of cultural systems.
Artifact
Any product of human cultural activity; more specifically, any tools,
artwork, or objects found in an archaeological context.
Assemblage
A group of artifacts found together that represent human activity
in a particular place and time.
Atlatl
An Aztec term for spear-thrower; a wooden device with a handle at
one end and a hook or spar at the other end that fits into a concavity
at one end of the spear shaft. In North America, atlatls were replaced
circa 1500 B.P. by the bow and arrow.
Bedrock
(mortar) Milling Station
An outcrop of rock containing one or more milling areas, mortar
cups, or grinding features.
Biface
Any stone artifact worked on both obverse and reverse faces.
Bioturbation
The disturbance of the soil by burrowing animals or other organisms.
B.P.
Before Present, by convention, before A.D. 1950.
Burial
Human remains disposed of by interment. Burials may be simple (containing
the remains of one person) or complex (two or more individuals),
primary (including the remains as originally interred) or secondary
(where a re-internment follows a temporary burial).
Cairn
A pile of rocks, milling stones, or other materials. Sometimes a
cairn or a cairnfield was built to cover a burial or to protect
valuables. Historically, in the western U.S. cairns were sometimes
placed to indicate the corners of a mining claim.
California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
The 1970 act which requires that state agencies regulate activities
with major consideration for environmental protection.
Clovis
Point
A North American concave-base leaf-shaped projectile point or knife,
4-12 cm long, with characteristic bifacial flutes extending about
half the length of the artifact; most are about 12,000 to 11,000
years old. Named for the original finding site at Clovis, New Mexico.
Context
The conditions and physical relationships among artifacts, features,
soils, and other material remains where human activity occurred.
Cremation
Disposal of the
dead by burning; a feature consisting of ash and small pieces of
burned human bones and teeth.
Cross
Dating
Determining the age of an artifact or feature by comparison to others
already dated, instead of using a precise date. (Compare with absolute
dating.)
Cultural
Resources
Prehistoric and historic properties, sites, artifacts and art.
Curator
A person who cares for a collection of artifacts or art works in
a museum, repository, or library
Curate
To take care of artifacts, or art works and to preserve them.
Data
Recovery
The systematic removal of the scientific, prehistoric, historic,
and archaeological data that provides an historic property with
its research value.
Datum
Point
A reference point on an archaeological site from which measurements
are taken and to which all finds are related by way of horizontal
and vertical mapping.
Debitage
Stone debris produced during flaked-stone tool manufacture.
Ecofact
Naturally occurring item whose location or context indicates that
it has been used by humans, such as seeds bones, pollen, etc.
Effect
Any change or damage to a historic property including any activity
which could alter the setting or environment surrounding a historic
property, if that setting might be a factor contributing to the
importance of the site.
Faunal
Remains
Animal remains.
Feature
A large, complex artifact or part of a site such as a hearth, cairn,
housepit, rock alignment, or activity area.
Field
School
A class applying knowledge obtained in the class room to activities
in the "field". Archaeology class to learn the methods of excavation
and/or survey.
Fire
Affected Rock
A rock that shows signs that it has repeatedly been exposed to fire.
Flakes
Small pieces and chips of rock and stone that have come off a larger
rock, as a result creating stone tools.
Folsom
Point
A North Ameican concave-base, leaf-shaped projectile pint, 2-7 centimeters
long with broad flutes extending nearly the full length on both
sides. Most Folsom points appear to be 10,000 to 11,000 years old.
Gauls
The Celtic people native to present day France.
Grinding
Slick
A area of a rock that has been worn smooth by grinding with a handstone.
Groundstone
A lithic tool made by grinding rocks or stones together. These include
tools such as hand stones, milling stone and pestles. (See metate
or millingstone)
Hammerstones
Usually hard, tough, fist-sized rock used as a hammer to work chert
and other stone materials, or to break bones, shells, or other materials.
They tend to be shaped through use and show battered edges.
Handstone
(mano)
A round-shaped or oval-shaped stone used for grinding seeds, pigments,
bones, on a grinding slab or milling stone.
Hematite
(ochre)
An earthy iron oxide usually red to brown in color; used by Native
Americans as a pigment.
Hearth
Location that shows evidence of fire used by people such a fire
ring or fire affected rock and soil.
Historic
The historic period refers to human activities associated with the
advent of written records.
History
The study of the past, using written or oral records.
Holocene
(Recent)
The post-Pleistocene geologic epoch characterized by fluctuating
but generally moderate climates and modern fauna assemblages; from
about 11,000 B.P. to the present.
Hopper
Mortar
A mortar consisting of a stone base upon which rested a sturdy conical
basket without a bottom. The basket part was often glued to the
base with asphaltum or pressed against it during milling. A pestle
would be used inside the basket for the grinding.
Hypotheses
An concept or assumption based on observation and inference. A proposed
answer to a question that can be tested.
In
Situ (Latin)
In place, applied to archaeological remains found in their original,
undisturbed location or position.
Inference
A reasoned conclusion from evidence or observation.
Knapping
Manufacturing stone tools by controlled flaking.
Levels
Excavation in an archaeological site is conducted by arbitrary levels
or by stratigraphic levels. Arbitrary levels are typically ten centimeters
thick. Stratigraphic levels follow the thickness of the identifiable
layers of soil and cultural materials.
Linguistics
The study of the origin and structure of language.
Lithics
Artifacts or ecofacts made of stone or rock. Sometimes the term
lithics refers to the raw materials used to make stone tools.
Looting
The destruction of archaeological resources to obtain artifacts
for personal use or for sale.
Material
Culture
All "things" made or used by humans.
Metate
In the Southwestern U.S., a common term for an unshaped or shape
stone slab or basin, upon which seeds, plants, pigments, or other
materials are ground with the use of a handstone. (Also called groundstone
or millingstone)
Midden
A deposit marking a former habitation site and containing such materials
as discarded artifacts, bone and shell, food refuse, charcoal, ash,
rock, human remains, structural remains.
Millingstone
An unshaped or shaped stone slab or basin upon which seeds, plants,
pigments, or other materials are ground with the use of a handstone.
(Also call a groundstone or matate.)
Mortar
A stone bowl or bowl-shaped depression in which seeds, berries,
nuts, meats, and other items are ground or pulverized with an up
and down motion rather than a back and forth motion used with a
handstone and millingstone.
Observation
Viewing and noting facts about items being studied.
Percussion
Flaking
Precision stone tool manufacturing with blows struck by a stone,
antler, or bone hammer.
Pestle
An elongated often cylindrical stone or wooden artifact used to
pulverize food or mineral products in a stone bowl or mortar.
Petroglyph
A design or motif pecked or scratched into a rock surface; usually
unpainted rock art.
Pictograph
A design or motif painted on a rock surface; painted rock art.
Points
(projectile)
Tools used for arrow or spear. They are not referred to as "arrowheads"
unless it is known that the point was hafted to a shaft and used
with bow and arrow.
Post-Depositional
What happened to an artifact or feature after it was discarded or
stopped being used by humans.
Pot Hunting
Looting an archaeological site. Specifically digging in an archaeological
site to obtain pots to sell on the antiquities market. Most often
this digging is done at human burial sites.
Pressure
Flaking
The manufacturing of stone tools by the removal of stone material
with pressure applied with a bone or metal knapping tool. Usually,
the final stage in shaping a projectile point.
Provenience
The recorded location of where an artifact or feature was found.
Relative
Dating
Organizing a sequence of items from youngest to oldest, which lets
you say, for example, "This pot is older than that one."
Remote
Rensing
A variety of technologies used to "see" through soil without excavation.
Remote sensing tools include ground penetrating radar, magnetic
residence, and electro resistance surveying.
Retouch
Resharpening a stone tool by removing small flakes from the working
edge.
Screen
An archaeology tool used to recover small artifacts and ecofacts.
Excavated soil is put on a metal mesh (screen) so finer soil falls
through and the courser material can be examined for artifacts.
A "dry screen" is shaken to get soil through. A "wet screen" uses
stream of water.
Shard
Broken piece of glass.
Sherd
Broken piece of earthen ware/pottery.
Site
The location of past cultural activity; a defined space with mainly
continuous archaeological evidence.
Sterile
Devoid of any archaeological evidence; non-cultural; no evidence
of past human use.
Stratigraphy
The study of cultural and natural strata or layers in the archaeological
deposit or geological deposits. It indicates relative age.
Survey
(archaeological)
The process of finding and recording the location of archaeological
sites. Sometimes, the ways that people in the past used the land
is evidenced by archaeological features such as agricultural terraces
and roads. An archaeological survey does not involve formal excavation
(digging).
Traditional
Cultural Properties
A geographic area or historic resource that embodies important cultural
values. It is a place associated with cultural practices or beliefs
that are rooted in the history of a living community. This place
is important in maintaining the cultural identity of the community.
Examples include cemeteries, sacred places, gathering sites, and
places of tradition.
Trinomial
Identification given to a recorded archaeological site. It identifies
the state, county and a number is given in the order the site is
recorded, i.e. CA (California)-SBR (San Bernardino County) and the
309th site recorded = the trinomial CA-SBR-309.
Unit
A square or rectangle of a archaeological grid system used to measure
the horizontal location of archaeological resource being studied.
UTM
Universal Transverse Mercator, a set of metric coordinates, easting
and northing, that indicate a unique location on a grid and appear
on the United States Geological Survey maps (topo sheets).
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