Archaeology Terms
For help understanding a term used by archaeologists, click on a letter then click on a term.
- Abrader
- Absolute Dating
- Acquisitioning Artifacts
- Adze
- Adze - Trihedral
- Agate Basin – Isolated Find
- Annular Ware Waste Bowl – Lessard
- Annular Ware Whiteware Pitcher - Lessard
- Anomalous Globular Vessel – Chevrons or Zig-Zags
- Anomalous Globular Vessel – Sunburst
- Anomalous Sherds – Sand Lake Archaeological District
- Anthropologist
- Anthropology
- Antler – Scored
- Antler and Antler Points
- Antler Points
- Aquatic
- Arbitrary Level
- Archaeologist
- Archaeology
- Arrow Making – Video
- Arrow Shaft Abrader - Bar Abrader
- Artifact
- Artifact – What happens to an artifact once an archaeologist finds it?
- Artifact Clusters
- Atlatl - Video
- Awl
- Awl, Copper
- Axe
- Axe – Full Grooved
- Axes and Celts
- Bail Out
- Bannerstone
- Bar Abrader – Arrow Shaft Abrader
- Basalt
- Beads
- Beam - Wooden
- Beamers – Deer Bone
- Bears and Wolves
- Beaver
- Biface
- Biface Refit
- Bioturbation
- Bird – Carved Shale-Like Stone
- Birdstones/Bannerstones
- Bison
- Bison Horn Core
- Bison Scapula Hoe
- Bison Scapula Hoes
- Bison Scapula Hoes - Video
- Blank
- Bone – Worked Animal – A Bead in the Making?
- Bone Grease
- Bone Needles
- Bone Ornament – Second Fort Crawford
- Bone Tool Caches
- Bone Whistle
- Bones – What’s In This Jar??
- Bottle - John Wyeth & Brother
- Boxes and Boxes!
- Brooch
- Buckle
- Buckles
- Button – Great Coat
- Button - Scripted or Foliated “I” Button - Second Fort Crawford
- Calf Weaner
- Catfish Cleithrums
- Catlinite Bear
- Catlinite Counter
- Catlinite Pipe – Midway Village
- Catlinite Pipe Bowl – Sand Lake Archaeological District
- Catlinite Tablet
- Catlinite/Pipestone
- Celt
- Celts and Axes
- Ceramic Analysis
- Ceramic Spoons
- Chamber Pot – Ironstone Molded
- Chert (flint)
- Chert Projectile Point
- Chunkey/Discoidal
- Chunks/Shatter
- Clay Pipe – Woodland
- Clay Pipe – Woodland – Sand Lake Archaeological District
- Clay Pipe, Fluted - Lessard
- Clay Pipes – Historic Logging Camp
- Comparative Fish Bones
- Context
- Contract Archaeology
- Copper Artifacts – Sand Lake Archaeological District
- Copper Awl
- Copper Serpent
- Cord Impressed
- Cordage
- Cordage Analysis from Pottery
- Corduroy Road
- Core
- Corn Kernels
- Corncob
- Cortex
- Cow Skull
- Crowfoot Hooks for the Harvest of Freshwater Mussels
- Cultural Resource Management (CRM)
- Culture
- Curation
- Datum
- Daub
- Debitage
- Deer Hunting – Tainter Cave
- Dendrochronology - Video
- Diagnostic Artifact
- Dime – Second Fort Crawford
- Discoidal
- Discoidal/Chunkey
- Disturbance
- Dog
- Dog Skull in Oneota Feature - OT
- Domestic Dogs in Precontact North America Societies
- Drill
- Drills, Stone - Video
- Drum Fish
- Earspool
- Earth Ovens and Hearths
- Ecofacts
- Elk Antler Hoe
- Elk Antlers
- Elk Pelvis with Embedded Projectile Point
- Elk Scapula Hoe
- End Scraper - Video
- End Scrapers
- Etched Stone Square
- Ethnoarchaeology
- Excavation - Video
- Excavation Timeline
- Experimental Archaeology
- Fauna
- Feature
- Feature Stains
- Features - What Are Archaeological Features? Some Upper Mississippi Valley Examples - Video
- Figurine – Clay
- Finding and Reporting Sites - Video
- Fire Cracked Rock (FCR)
- Fishing Techniques
- Flakes
- Flint
- Flintknapping
- Flora
- Floral Analysis
- Floral Analysis: Plant Remains and Past Peoples - Video
- Flotation
- Flotation - Step by step
- Flotation - The basics
- Flute
- Flute/Whistle
- Food Utensil
- Game Pieces – Second Fort Crawford
- Garbage Pit
- Graver
- Great Coat Button
- Ground Stone Tools
- Habitation Site
- Hammerstone
- Hand-Painted Porcelain Teacups - Lessard
- Hand-Painted Whiteware – Lessard
- Hand-Painted Whiteware Saucers with Sprig Design - Lessard
- Harpoon and Netsinkers
- Hearths and Earth Ovens
- Heat Treated
- Heavy Fraction
- Hierarchical Society
- Hinges
- Historian
- Historic
- Historic Artifacts – Logging Camp
- Historic Solstice-Marking Petroglyph in Perrot State Park
- Hoes – Bison Scapula - Video
- Holocene
- Horn Core – Bison
- House Basin, Winter – Cade
- Hunter-Gatherers
- Hypothesis
- In Situ
- Inference
- Ironstone – Molded Saucer - Lessard
- Ironstone Molded Chamber Pot
- Is it an Artifact? Bone Tools - Video
- Is it an artifact? Chipped Stone: Characteristics of an Artifact - Video
- Is it an artifact? Chipped Stone: Cultural versus Natural - Video
- Is it an artifact? How to Recognize Pottery – Video
- Is it an artifact? Pottery Decoration – Video
- Is it an artifact? Groundstone Tools versus Natural Stones – Video
- Jesuit Ring
- Jewelry Box
- Kaolin Clay Pipe
- Kessell Points
- Kessell Side Notched-like Point
- Kill Site
- Knife – Sand Lake Archaeological District
- Knives
- Kramer Point
- Lab Activities: Archaeology in Winter - Video
- Lab Activity - Winter
- Lanceolate Blade
- Lead and Pewter Military Buttons
- Levels
- Lifeway
- Light Fraction
- Limestone
- Line Level
- Line Level Uses
- Lithic Artifacts – La Crosse County, WI
- Lithic Scatter – Points and Scrapers
- Lithics
- Logging Camps – Personal Items
- Lotting
- Maize
- Mammoths and Mastodons – Video
- Mano
- Mano and Metate
- Mano and Metate - Video
- Mapping
- Marine
- Marshalltown Trowel
- Mastodon Ulna
- Mastodons and Mammoths
- Matrix
- Medicine Bottle - “WONDER WORKER”
- Medicine Bottle – Lessard
- Metate
- Metate and Mano
- Metate and Mano – Video
- Midden
- Mini Pot
- Mississippian Sherds – Sand Lake Archaeological District
- Mn/Model
- Moccasin
- Modified Flake
- Mottling
- Munsell - Video
- Mussels
- Mussels in the Upper Midwest - Video
- NAGRPA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act)
- Net Sinker – Sand Lake Archaeological District
- Netsinkers and Harpoon
- Nettle (wood)
- Observation
- Obsidian
- Oneota Ceramics
- Oneota Garbage Pit
- Oneota Globular Vessel
- Oneota Pot – Sand Lake Archaeological District - Video
- Oneota Pot Sherds, Burned - Pammel Creek
- Oneota Pottery - Anomalous Globular Vessel – Sanford Archaeological District
- Oneota Pottery - Koshkonong Bold - Sand Lake Archaeological District
- Oneota Pottery - Midway Incised – Sand Lake Archaeological District
- Oneota Pottery – Non-local Motif
- Oneota Pottery - Perrot Punctate Variant – Sanford Archaeological District
- Oneota Pottery – Rim and Shoulder, Handle
- Oneota Rim Sherd – Pammel Creek
- Oneota Storage Pits
- Oneota Vessel – La Crosse County
- Oneota Vessel – Meier Farm
- Oneota Vessel 108 – Sanford Archaeological District
- Oneota Vessel 13
- Oneota Vessel 23 – Sanford Archaeological District
- Oneota Vessel 29
- Oneota Vessel 30
- Oneota Vessel 44 – Sanford Archaeological District
- Oneota Vessel 46 – Onalaska
- Oneota Vessel 55
- Oneota Vessel 57 – Sanford Archaeological District
- Oneota Vessel 69 – Sanford Archaeological District
- Oneota Vessel 80 – Sanford Archaeological District
- Oneota Vessel 83
- Orthoquartzite
- Palisade
- Paperwork
- Paste
- Pearlware Transfer Print Platter
- Pearlware, Hand-Painted
- Pedestrian Survey
- Percussion Caps
- Percussion Flaking
- Petroglyph
- Pewter and Lead Military Buttons
- Pictograph
- Pictographs and Petroglyphs
- Pipe – Basalt
- Pipe – Copper Tubing
- Pipe - Eagle – Second Fort Crawford
- Pipe - Stub-Stemmed - Second Fort Crawford
- Pipe – Woodland Clay
- Pipestone / Catlinite
- Pipestone Bear
- Pipestone Counter
- Pipestone Pipe – Midway Village
- Pipestone Pipe Bowl – Sanford Archaeological District
- Pipestone Pipe Stem
- Pipestone Tablet
- Pit
- Pit Feature
- Platform Mound
- Pleistocene
- Postmold
- Pot Sherd
- Pottery
- Pottery Cluster
- Pottery Reconstruction
- Pottery Reconstruction – Video
- Prehistoric Archaeology
- Preservation - What Preserves Underground? - Video
- Pressed Glass Bowl
- Pressure Flaking
- Profile Map
- Profiles - Vertical View: Archaeology in Profile - Video
- Projectile Point
- Projectile Point – Durst/Preston
- Projectile Point – Quartz
- Projectile Points
- Projectile Points – Largest, Smallest
- Projectile Points – Medary Site
- Provenience
- Punctation
- Pythagorean Theorem
- Quarry Site
- Quartzite (Silicified Sandstone)
- Radiocarbon Dating
- RATTLESNAKE!
- RATTLESNAKE! Part II
- Redware Preserve Jar
- Reference Collection
- Reference Collections – Video
- Reference Library – Video
- Relative Dating
- Ridged Agricultural Fields – Sand Lake
- Ridged Fields
- Rock Art
- Rock Art – Portable – Pipestone Tablet
- Rock Art – Portable – Sandstone Carving
- Rock Art Preservation
- Rockshelter
- Rodent Run
- Sandstone
- Sandstone Pendant
- Scapula
- Scraper
- Scrapers – Sand Lake Archaeological District
- Screening - Video
- Screening – Water
- Sedge
- Seeds – Blackberry
- Serrated Point
- Settlement Pattern
- Shatter/Chunks
- Shell – Drilled
- Shell – Worked
- Shell Scoop
- Shovel Testing
- Shovel Testing - Video
- Sinew
- Site
- Site Datum
- Site Safety
- Size Grading - Video
- Skim Shoveling - Video
- Sod Removal
- Soil Probe - Video
- Spoon-Like Clay Vessel
- Stain
- Stemmed Point
- Stockade
- Stoneware Jug/Storage Vessel
- Storage Pits
- Stove Parts
- Stratigraphy
- Style
- Surface Collection - Video
- Surface Survey
- Survey - Video
- TD Pipe – Lessard
- Temper
- Thatch
- Tinkling Cone
- Tool Kit
- Toothbrush, Bone – Second Fort Crawford
- Torch – Birch Bark
- Trade Earring
- Transfer Print Whiteware - “Damascus” Pattern
- Transfer Print Whiteware – “Greyhound”
- Trim Walls
- Tumblers
- Turkey
- Unit (Excavation Unit)
- Whistle/Flute
- Whiteware – Juvenile Cup
- Wolves and Bears
- Woodland Ceramics
- Woodland Points
- Woodland Pottery – Lane Farm
- Woodland Pottery – Madison Punctated
- Woodland Pottery – Overhead
- Woodland Pottery – Overhead – Incised-Over-Cordmarked
- Woodland Pottery – Overhead – Linn Ware
- Woodland Pottery – Sand Lake Archaeological District – Angelo
- Woodland Pottery – Sand Lake Archaeological District – Prairie Ware
- Woodland Pottery – Sand Lake Archaeological District 1
- Woodland Pottery – Sand Lake Archaeological District 2
- Woodland Pottery (Havana Ware) – Overhead
- Woodland Pottery Concentration
- Worked Shell
- Workshop – Bone and Antler Tools
- Woven Bag
- Yellowware Chamber Pot
- Yellowware Rockingham Baker
Contact us
- 1725 State Street
La Crosse, Wisconsin 54601 USA - Call 608.785.8463
- Email us