Guide – Archaeological Terms

Glossary of Archaeological Terms

Acheulian

Later stages of Lower Palaeolithic culture defined by their particularly fine hand axes.

Aeolian

Deposited by action of wind.

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,

Archaeomagnetic dating

Dating method for fireplaces or burned earth. area using the earth’s magnetic field, Heat aligns the iron inthe soul or brick to magnetic north at time of heating (but only if it is very hot).The pole has moves over time so comparing the alignment of the iron to current magnetic north North Pole allows us to work out a date.

Artifact

A manufactured object.

Assemblage

A collection of artifacts from a signle time or deposit.

Attic

From the area around Athens (Attica).

Avebury

Built around 2,500 B.C. Massive Late Neolithic stone circle in Wiltshire. Definitely worth a visit. For lots of information we recommend you read “Hengeworld” by Mike Pitts.

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.

Blade

A flake of flint or other material used for cutting.

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.

Bulb of percussion

When striking a lump of flint to break a flake from the core, a bulb is often produced by the compression forces involved. The existence of a percussion bulb is one of the first things to look for when determining whether a found stone has been worked by people.

Carbon Dation (also Radiocarbon Dating)

When an organism dies, the amount of Carbon14 within it begins to decay at a half life rate of 5730 years; Comparing the amount of C14 in a dead organism to current levels in the atmosphere, gives an estimate of when that organism died.

Chronometric Dating

Dating which provides an estimate of actual age.

Chert

Rock similar to flint. It can be knapped but is mostly of lower quality. Chert is usually found in shades of white, pink, brown and grey. Lots of Chert found in the Lower Thames valley

Cists

Boxed burials (eg: some of the Neolithic graves at El Garcel, Almeria, Spain) are refered to as Cists burials. The term simply comes from the German word ‘Kiste’ meaning a box or crate.

Component

A collection of artifacts from a site manufactured during a single phase of occupation.

Dendrochronology

Dating method using tree rings. Annual weather conditions lead to different amounts of tree growth every year and this is reflected in the depth of the tree rings.

Egypt

Archaeology doesn’t get any better.

Feature

Something such as a fireplace, wall, well, or similar that can’t just be dug out of the earth like a coin or pot.

Grims Ditch or Grims Dyke

Grim is another name for the devil and deep ditches in the british landscape are often attriubuted to him.

Glastonbury Lake Village

Beautifully preserved Iron Age occupation in the Somerset Levels, UK. Museum exhibition in Glastonbury town centre also worth a look.

Hominids

The group of humans and our close ancestors and related species. These include Neanderthals, Australopithicenes, and others. (Basically if the Latin name starts with an “H” its a hominid).

The Ice Man

Found high in the Tyrolean Alps in 1991, a Bronze Age hunter who died around 3350-3300 BC, and was preserved with his belongings by the ice. Latest info suggests he might have died as a result of an arrow wound rather than from exposure. He is sometimes referred to by his nickname “Otzi”.

Insula

Roman equivalent of a City Block (PL. Insulae)

Jomon People

Named after a site in Japan (dated around 13000-2500 Before Present), the Jomon culture is currently credited with the invention of pottery, some 12,000 years ago.

Knapping

The process of shaping stone (commonly flint, chert or obsidian) to produce tools. Modern knappers have also been known to use the thick bases of Coca-Cola bottles!

Mean

Arithmetical average. The sum of a series divided by the number of items in that series.

Median

The middle number in a series of numbers arranged in order of magnitude.

Midden

A rubbish heap or pit which is high in organic remains (like ‘kitchen middens’ or ‘shell middens’).

Microlith

A very small flake of stone (often flint) which was deliberately removed from a ‘core’ and then used as a tool. Since microliths are often just a centimetre or two long, they were probably hafted onto a wooden handle. The Mesolithic period in Britain (12,000 to 4,000 years ago) is particularly associated with microliths.

Newgrange

Irish passage tomb of great beauty, built about 3200 BC and re-discovered in 1699

Palaeolithic

Otherwise known as the ‘Old Stone Age’. This is the time period from about three and a half million years ago until the end of the last ice-age (approximately 12,000 years ago).

Pressure-flaking

The removal of small flakes by applying controlled pressure with a pointed tool, such as a deer antler tine.

Radiocarbon Dating

A method to ascertain the actual age of an organic object (bone, charcoal, seeds, etc) based on the relative ratios of carbon 14 to non-radioactive isotopes of carbon at the time of the analysis.

Relative Dating

Dating an artifact, site or layer as older or younger than something else, rather than absolute dating (eg “this pot was made in 4004BCE”)

Retoucher

A small tool (such as that found on the body of Otzi the iceman) made especially for pressure flaking flint and chert tools. In the iceman’s case, his retoucher was at first mistaken for the stub of a pencil.

Rock Shelter

A small cave or overhang of rock which afforded some degree of protection from the elements either as a permanent camp or temporary location of activity.

Seriation

The ordering of artifact types or styles in time based on popularity (the frequency that they occur over a given period of time or in a particular assemblage of artifacts) or mere presence.

Shell Midden

An archaeological accumulation of shells such as those found on the Hebridean islands.

Silchester

Romano-British town in Northern Hampshire south of modern Reading. Site of long-term dig by Reading University Archaeology Department.

Site

A place where archaeologists hang out.

Slip

Liquid clay which is painted onto pottery before it is fired to add decoration and to make porous pottery more water resistant.

Tang

A projection from a tool form used for hafting (attaching to a handle).

Thomsen, Christian Jurgen

Pioneering Nineteenth Century Danish archaeologist. Thomson organized his exhibitions at the National Museum in Copenhagen on the basis of three ages: the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. His scheme is still used today.

Taphonomy

The processes of movement which affect bones after deposition such as scavenging by animals.

Typology

A way of organising artifacts based on the shared characteristics like shape size and material.

Wattle and Daub

Walls built by building a framework of interlaced twigs or thin split branches (the wattle) which was then daubed with clay or excrement and horsehair to form a surprisingly effective wall. The wattle rarely survives in the ground but the imprint of the latticework of sticks can be seen in the clay daub.