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A - B - C -
D
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Absolute Dating: Determining age on a
specific time scale, such as a years B.C. or A.D. Radiocarbon
dating provides an absolute date.
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Acquisitioning Artifacts: Assigning a
unique number to each provenience and to each artifact within that
provenience, so that the artifacts can be identified and tabulated.
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Anthropology: The
study of humans through their past remains, culture, biology, and
language.
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Arbitrary Level: A pre-determined depth for
digging that is established at the beginning of an excavation. For
example, an arbitrary level may be set at 5 cm per level.
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Archaeology: A method for studying past
human cultures and analyzing material evidence (artifacts and
sites). NOT the study of fossils, dinosaurs, or paleontology!
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Archaeologist: Scientist who studies
past people through the remains of their activities.
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Artifacts: The materials deliberately
produced or used by past peoples.
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Atlatl: An Aztec term for spear
thrower; a wooden shaft or board used to propel a long, composite
spear/dart equipped with a relatively large flaked stone point.
Atlatls increased the range and force of the spear, and in North
America comprised the primary hunting weapon from about 6,500 B.C. to
A.D. 500.
Click here to
view a video clip describing how to throw an atlatl. You will
need a player to view the MOV files. Click
here if you want to download a free version of RealPlayer
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Basalt: A fine-grained, heavy igneous
rock. Usually a greenish black color, but sometimes dull brown or
black. Basalt is often used to make axes and other
groundstone tools.
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Biface: A stone tool that has been
flaked on both sides (faces).
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Bioturbation: Disturbances of sediments
related to the archaeological records by animals such as moles and
gophers. See also rodent run.
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Blank: A roughly shaped flake or piece
of raw material. Oftentimes, hunters would carry prepared blanks
with them and make them into projectile points as needed.
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Chert (flint): A microcrystalline
metamorphic stone commonly used to make stone tools. Sometimes used as
a synonym for flint.
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Context: The relationship artifacts
have to each other and the situation in which they are found.
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Contract Archaeology: Archaeological
research conducted in order to fulfill legal requirements or private
demand, usually in advance of development.
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Cord Impressed: A technique used in
making pottery, when cordage is pressed into the clay surface as
decoration or to strengthen the vessel.
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Cordage: Several strands of fiber
twisted together; string or rope.
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Core: The parent stone material from
which flakes are struck.
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Cortex: The weathered exterior of a
stone; sometimes also called the rind.
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Cultural Resource Management (CRM): The
conservation and selective investigation of prehistoric and historic
remains; includes laws and practices designed to protect past and
present cultural resources.
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Culture: All of the beliefs and
customs that we learn as members of society and that bind members of any
given society together. Archaeology attempts to
study culture by examining the artifacts and sites of people of the
past.
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Datum: A specific spot assigned as the
basis for measurement when doing an archaeological excavation.
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Daub: Unfired
clay, usually not mixed with temper, that was often used for the construction of wattle-and-daub
structures.
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Debitage: Waste flakes resulting from
flaked stone tool production.
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Diagnostic Artifact: An item that is
indicative of a particular time and/or cultural group; a computer would
be a diagnostic artifact of the modern age.
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Disturbance: Something which may cause
artifacts to appear at the "wrong" levels when excavating a
site, such as evidence of moles or gophers or an underground sewer
pipe. See also bioturbation and rodent run.
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Drill: A stone tool specifically shaped
to function as a "drill"; a stone tool used to bore a hole
into something.
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