Descriptionary

abrading stone any stone used to smooth or sharpen wood, bone, or other stone.

absolute dating any method that uses specific phys­ical or chemical measurements, such as carbon-14 dating, or historical associations, such as historical documents or dates on coins, to determine age within a limited time frame.

alidade a sighted rule used for drawing lines of sight and measuring angles, a surveyor's tool.

amino acid dating a dating method that deter­mines age by measuring changes in amino acid struc­ture, which occur at a known rate in bone and other organic material, and can be used with artifacts up to 100,000 years old.

amphora a large, round ceramic container, used for centuries to store oil, wine, grain, etc., and often found in ancient shipwrecks.

anthropoid any ape such as the gorilla, chimpan­zee, gibbon, or orangutan characterized by its resem­blance to humans; resembling a human or ape.

archaeologist an anthropologist who specializes in archaeology.

archaic Homo sapiens the first modern human subspecies, living 250,000 years ago, and character­ized by broad, somewhat Neanderthal-like faces.

Archaic period in North American prehistory, the years between 10,000 b.c. and 3000 b.c.

archeomagnetic dating a method of dating burned rock or clay, as from a hearth or kiln, by using Earth's magnetic field. Superheating aligns iron particles within the rock or clay to the magnetic North Pole, which changes location over time.

Ardipithecus ramidus African, prehuman ancestors who may have walked upright at least part of the time. Their oldest remains date from 4.4 million years ago.

articulated referring to bones that are still joined rather than separated or scattered.

artifact any object made or employed by humans, especially one of interest to archeologists.

assemblage any grouping of artifacts, particularly from the same site.

atlatl a bone or wood implement with a hand grip and a hook in which the end of a spear was inserted, used to hurl a spear with greater velocity.

Australopithecus anamensis African, prehuman ancestors whose shin bone remains are thicker than the shin bones of a chimpanzee, evidence of upright walking. They lived from 3.9 to 4.2 million years ago.

Australopithecus afarensis prehuman ancestors living in East Africa from 3 to 4 million years ago; the most famous fossils are those of "Lucy," who stood only 3 1/2 feet tall.

Australopithecus africanus African, prehuman ancestors living from 2 to 3 million years ago, and characterized by slightly larger braincases than A. afarensis.

Australopithecus boisei prehuman ancestors liv­ing in another part of Africa at the same time as A. robustus, with slightly larger builds, from 1.5 to 2.6 million years ago.

Australopithecus robustus prehuman ancestors, characterized by their huge teeth and heavy jaws requiring supporting skull crests, living in Africa from 1.5 to 2.6 million years ago.

barrow a human-made mound, especially one found over a grave; a tumulus.

bipedal walking on or having the ability to walk on two feet.

bison jump any site on top of or at the foot of a cliff, especially in the Americans Plains, where there is evidence that humans tricked bison into leaping to their deaths for easy slaughter.

bowsing thumping the ground with a mallet or other heavy tool to listen for differences in ground resonance, used to locate buried chambers.

B.P. abbreviation for before present, before the present day.

Bronze Age the period beginning from around 5000 to roughly 500 b.c., depending on region, when met­als (bronze and copper) were first used to construct tools and weapons.

burial mound a mound of soil under which people were buried.

butchering station a location within a site that con­tains evidence, such as a large number of bones, of the regular butchering of animals.

cairn a human-constructed pile of rocks, sometimes found over a burial site.

carbon-14 dating a dating method that measures the amount of radioactive decay in an artifact's carbon-14 content and can be used to date organic objects as old as 75,000 years.

catalog a recording of artifacts and where they were found at a site; also spelled catalogue.

Caucasoid a widespread human race, making up approximately 55% of the world's population, and characterized by light skin; they evolved in the north and especially in Europe.

cave art cave paintings left by Cro-Magnon people in France and elsewhere, from around 30,000 years ago and later.

ceramic referring to pottery.

chert a rock similar to flint but found in variable colors and chipped off to form projectile points.