Glossary
- Page ID
- 303224
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| (Eg. "Genetic, Hereditary, DNA ...") | (Eg. "Relating to genes or heredity") |  |
The infamous double helix | https://bio.libretexts.org/ | CC-BY-SA; Delmar Larsen |
| Word(s) | Definition | Image | Caption | Link | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12C | carbon-12, notation for isotope of carbon, the most commonly used element for determining the age of organic materials in archaeology | ||||
| 14C | carbon-14, notation for isotope of carbon, the most commonly used element for determining the age of organic materials in archaeology | ||||
| 39Ar | notation used for argon-39, used in dating rocks, minerals, and fossils | ||||
| 39K | notation used for potassium-39, used in dating rocks, minerals, and fossils | ||||
| 40Ar | notation used for argon-40, used in dating rocks, minerals, and fossils | ||||
| 40K | notation used for potassium-40, used in dating rocks, minerals, and fossils | ||||
| Abrader | A tool used for grinding, smoothing, or polishing, which could be used to shape bone and shell implements. | ||||
| Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) | Instrumental method for calculating age that uses a mass spectrometer. | ||||
| Actualistic studies | Modern experiments used to understand phenomena in the past. | ||||
| Agency archaeologists | Government employees, generally with advanced academic degrees in anthropology or related fields, who specialize in historic preservation law. | ||||
| Alloy | A metallic compound, formed through the mixing of two or more metals. | ||||
| amphorae | Long, slender storage containers commonly used in ancient Greece and Rome. | ||||
| Animal husbandry | The domestication and breeding of select animal taxa. | ||||
| Anthropocene | An unofficial unit of geologic time used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history, when human activity, specifically nuclear weapon detonation, started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems. | ||||
| anthropology | The social science that examines human culture and humanity. In other words, the study of humankind. | ||||
| Antiquarian | A person who studies or collects antiques or antiquities. | ||||
| Antiquities Act | The oldest law passed to protect archaeological resources in the United States, designed to protect historic sites on federal lands from vandalism and theft | ||||
| Appendicular skeleton | In the Vertebrate skeleton, elements associated with the fore and hind limbs, the pectoral or shoulder girdle, and the pelvic or hip girdle. | ||||
| applied anthropology | The use of anthropology as an applied science, typically outside of an academic context, used to solve real-world issues. | ||||
| archaeological process | a generalized series of steps or tasks an archaeologist takes to successfully develop, conduct, and complete archaeological projects. | ||||
| Archaeological registrars | Government employees who oversee the management of data on archaeological sites, collecting data provided by professional and avocational (unpaid) archaeologists. | ||||
| archaeology | The subfield of anthropology that studies the human past through the analyses of material remains | ||||
| Archaeometallurgy | The study of metal in archaeological contexts | ||||
| Artifact | An object that was made and used by humans in the past. | ||||
| artifacts | |||||
| atmosphere | In ceramics, the condition of gasses during firing. Ceramics are 'oxidized' when there is excessive oxygen or 'reduced' when there is not enough to burn the fuel. | ||||
| Awl | A pointed tool used for punching holes, often as a part of leather work. | ||||
| Axial skeleton | In the Vertebrate skeleton, elements associated with the skull, spinal column, and rib cage. | ||||
| BCE / CE | (before common era/common era) - notation for reporting ages that moves away from the BC/AD date notation used by the Christian/Gregorian calendar. This is a more inclusive way of reporting dates that is recognized internationally. | ||||
| bioarchaeologist | A scientist who studies human biological remains (such as skeletal remains) from archaeological sites. | ||||
| Bioarchaeology | The study of human remains excavated from archaeological sites. | ||||
| Biocultural | Scientific exploration of the relationship between biology and culture. | ||||
| biological anthropology | The subfield of anthropology that focuses on the study of humans as biological organisms. | ||||
| Biological profile | Age, sex, ancestry, stature, trauma, and pathological assessment of skeletal remains. | ||||
| Biomass | In zooarchaeology, a type of secondary data that uses allometric scaling to estimate relative dietary significance based on comparison of faunal specimen weight. | ||||
| blanket sampling | A sampling strategy also known as "full coverage" or "total sampling," which takes samples from all units and individual features. | ||||
| brothel | A place where people may engage in sexual activity with sex workers. | ||||
| Bucket flotation | A method of flotation done by hand, in which soil is simply dissolved into a bucket so that any botanical remains will float to the surface. | ||||
| bulb of percussion | the bulb-shaped area on a stone flake or tool directly below the point of impact for knocking off flakes | ||||
| burial mound | A mound built over a grave or graves, usually earthen but may be made of stones. | ||||
| Cache | An intentionally buried collection of items. | ||||
| cal BP | (calibrated years before present) - correct notation for radiocarbon dates that are adjusted to account for reservoir effect, sample contamination, isotopic fractionation, and other natural effects that introduce error in the calculation of radiocarbon age | ||||
| Ceramic | In an archaeological context, any material made by humans out of clay and subsequently fired so that the clay chemically changes and hardens. | ||||
| Chemical flotation | The use of chemicals of differing densities to separate microbotanical remains from their matrix. | ||||
| Chert | A type of fine-grained sedimentary rock that flakes easily and is often used for stone tools. Also known as flint. | ||||
| climate proxy | preserved physical characteristics that stands in as indirect evidence for direct measurements of the meteorological past | ||||
| Clovis | When used in reference to lithics, a Clovis point is a fluted lanceolate spearpoint found throughout North America and dating from between roughly 12,000 and 11,000 BCE. | ||||
| Collections managers | Archaeologists tasked with properly caring for the collections that come to a collections facility (usually lodged within a museum, often at the county or state level). | ||||
| Commensal | In zooarchaeology, refers to all organisms living in or around humans and human habitations that are not typically considered dietary items or faunal resources; in general, the humans neither benefit nor are harmed by the presence of these animals. | ||||
| Commercial archaeologist | An archaeologist working in cultural resource management, either as an independent contractor or as an employee of a larger firm. Secretary of the Interior guidelines requires an advanced degree in anthropology or a related field. | ||||
| Commingling | The combination of the bones from two or more individuals | ||||
| Common Era | Shortened to CE, a term used by scientists to denote a secular alternative to AD | ||||
| community archaeology | The active participation of non-archaeologists in the archaeological research process, ideally including various components that the community is involved in | ||||
| Comparative collection | An assemblage of correctly identified, labeled, and complete specimens that can be used to assist in the identification of unknown, typically fragmented, specimens. | ||||
| consolidation | restoration of a building, such as an archaeological ruin | ||||
| Context | The specific location in which an artifact is found, and by association its relationship to other artifacts and ecofacts recovered from the same specific location. | ||||
| Context sheets | In excavation, a 'context' is a specific layer or feature that is excavated as a unit. The 'context sheet' records the information gathered from a specific context. | ||||
| Core | When used in reference to lithics, a core is the base material from which flakes are chipped in order to make stone tools. | ||||
| Cremation | The burning of a dead body as part of intentional funerary rites. | ||||
| creolization | Shannon Dawdy provides three definitions of creolization: "the birth of a colonial culture with the birth of a native generation-a transplantation of the old world in a new place," or acculturation into an established Creole community, or "the interbreeding of diverse peoples and figuratively the hybridization of cultures." (Dawdy, 2000, p. 109-110). | ||||
| critical | An approach to public archaeology which works to unsettle the interpretation of the past as told by socially dominant groups, typically with ulterior motives that socially subjugate other groups, by distorting the telling of the past | ||||
| CRM | |||||
| cultural anthropology | The subfield of anthropology that focuses on the scientific study of modern peoples and culture. It is the core subfield of anthropology. | ||||
| Cultural patrimony | Any cultural object or marker of shared heritage that belongs to the community as a whole. | ||||
| Cultural period | A period of time that is characterized by certain types and styles of artifacts; used to estimate a relative date. | ||||
| Cultural Resource Management | The process by which historically significant landscapes, structures, buildings, sites, and artifacts are identified, assessed, and cared for to ensure their perpetuation for scientific research and personal edification, reflection, and enjoyment. | ||||
| Cultural resources | Material manifestations of a people, past or present, that can be investigated and interpreted in the service of a society. | ||||
| Curation | the practice of cataloging, preserving, storing, and caring for archaeological collections and data. | ||||
| curation crisis | refers to the ever-growing shortage of storage space available to properly curate and care for archaeological collections. | ||||
| data collection | a part of the archaeological process when archaeologists gather data, either through remote sensing, survey, excavation, analysis, etc. | ||||
| Datum | A fixed point used to measure from when mapping. | ||||
| Debitage | The waste produced when making a chipped-stone tool. | ||||
| débitage | debris formed from the creation of lithic, or stone, technology | ||||
| Decay | The process through which the nucleus loses energy and emits particles in an attempt to become stable. | ||||
| Decay curve | A graph showing the speed of radioactive decay, calculated using statistics and principles of nuclear physics. | ||||
| Deep Time | A timeline of the natural events that have affected the Earth since the planet was formed, going back billions of years (synonymous with Geologic Time) | ||||
| Degenerative activity | Any activity (or lack of activity) that leaves marks or wear patterns on the bone. | ||||
| demijohn | round bottle with a narrow neck capable of holding three to ten gallons of liquid | ||||
| Dendrochronology | An archaeological dating technique that works by counting individual annual growth rings on a cross section of lumber or whole trees that were used by humans for building structures or producing wooden artifacts | ||||
| Descendant communities | Living people who are descended from the group(s) who occupied an archaeological site. | ||||
| Diagnostic artifact | A specific type of artifact that marks a specific period of time in the archaeological record. | ||||
| diaspora | Referring to the spread of a cultural group away from their traditional homeland. | ||||
| Diffusionism | An archaeological theory that sought to explain change in the archaeological record by ideas or technologies diffusing, or spreading, from a single point of origin | ||||
| Discriminate analysis | A statistical tool used to create or test groupings of objects. | ||||
| dispossession | the taking away of property or land away from a person or a group | ||||
| dissemination | informing other researchers and the public of the results of archaeological projects through reports, articles, presentations, and outreach. | ||||
| documentary records | Written records including government documents, census records, treaties, directories, forms, maps, letters, and books. | ||||
| Domesticates | Refers to plants and animals that have experienced a human-induced transformation in their reproductive and care needs. This transformation can be both physical and genetic. | ||||
| Domestication | The process through which plants and animals change biologically as a result of human interference, becoming dependent on humans at the same time that humans become dependent on them. | ||||
| Ecofact | A natural object that was used by humans in the past. For example, the bones left over from a chicken dinner. | ||||
| Ecofacts | Inclusive term used to represent faunal and floral material obtained from the biotic environment and used by prehistoric and historic peoples. | ||||
| educational | An approach to public archaeology which aims to facilitate people’s learning of the past via archaeological thinking and methods | ||||
| Element | In zooarchaeology and bioarchaeology, term used to refer to a single or individual bone, tooth, scale, scute, valve, or similar faunal remain. | ||||
| Empirical | Data that can be counted, measured, and quantified. | ||||
| Environmental archaeology | Subdiscipline of archaeology that focuses on the relationship between past societies and the environment in which they lived; typically includes zooarchaeology, paleoethnobotany, and geoarcheology. | ||||
| Epistemology | A branch of philosophy dedicated to the study of knowledge, colloquially phrased as “how you know what you know.” | ||||
| Error | A term for describing how “off” a scientific measurement is. | ||||
| Ethnoarchaeology | An approach through which archaeologists observe living peoples with similar material culture in order to test hypotheses about how objects were made or used in the past. | ||||
| ethnocide | the extermination of an ethnic group's cultural identity | ||||
| ethnogenesis | "The creation of a new ethnicity forged through the experiences of colonization and culture contact" (Voss, 2008)." | ||||
| Experimental archaeology | An approach through which archaeologists may attempt to replicate the manufacture or use of artifacts in order to test hypotheses about their role in the past. | ||||
| Faunal remains | Any and all animal (fauna) remains encountered at archaeological sites. | ||||
| Faunalturbation | A site formation process describing the movement of artifacts, ecofacts, or features as a result of animal activity. | ||||
| Feature | An indication of human activity in the past that cannot be removed from the site. This might be the remains of a building or a discolored stain in the soil that represents an old trash pit. | ||||
| features | |||||
| Field school | A class (usually taught over the summer) where students learn about archaeology through doing it. | ||||
| Fired | In reference to ceramics, this refers to heating the clay so that it chemically changes and hardens. | ||||
| firing environment | In ceramics, the atmosphere, temperature, and pressure during firing. | ||||
| Flake | When used in reference to lithics, a flake is the long linear sliver of stone removed from the core, which can be used as a tool itself or further shaped into a scraper, knife, projectile point, or other chipped-stone tool. | ||||
| Floral remains | Any and all plant (flora) remains encountered at archaeological sites. | ||||
| Floralturbation | A site formation process describing the movement of artifacts, ecofacts, or features as a result of plant activity. | ||||
| Flotation | The process of using water to separate soil into its components that are heavier and lighter than water. | ||||
| Flote-Tech | A flotation machine | ||||
| fluorine dating | a specific type of chemical dating commonly used to compare the age of the soil around artifacts located in close proximity using different amounts of fluorine absorbed by human and animal bones in the soil | ||||
| Fluted | When used in reference to lithics, a fluted point is one that has had a long flake removed from both sides at the base, which would have made it easier to haft to a spear or other projectile. | ||||
| Fossilization | The preservation of an organism against natural decay processes. | ||||
| fossilized | an organism that is preserved against natural decay processes, usually through petrification | ||||
| Geographic Information Science | abbreviated as GIScience, a research field that defines geographic concepts in the context of Geographic Information Systems | ||||
| Geographic Information Systems | abbreviated as GIS, a computer database that analyzes information and displays it geographically, typically in an interactive map format | ||||
| Geologic Time | A timeline of the natural events that have affected the Earth since the planet was formed, going back billions of years. | ||||
| glaze | In ceramics, a glassy coating used to waterproof a vessel and for decoration. | ||||
| gray literature | reports and other documents and forms of dissemination that are not widely known or distributed and difficult to acquire. | ||||
| Groundstone | Stone tools that are made from sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic rock and shaped by pecking or grinding | ||||
| Half-life | The length of time required for half of a given number of atoms of that isotope to decay. | ||||
| hard archaeological fiction | fiction that is based on archaeological data | ||||
| Hidden heterogeneity | Cannot directly observe the variation in a population's frailty. | ||||
| high-level questions | In archaeology, questions that are about greater meaning and generating social theories—not necessarily related to the objects in front of you but to humanity as a whole. | ||||
| historical archaeology | A subdiscipline of archaeology that includes the study of artifacts, oral histories, and documentary records, among other lines of evidence, to investigate questions about our more recent past. | ||||
| holistic | Connecting elements of different disciplines or parts of society together | ||||
| Holocene | The geological epoch following the Ice Age, from approximately 11,700 years ago through the present day. | ||||
| Hominin | All species, including side-branches and extinct species, on the human evolutionary line. | ||||
| Horizontal excavation | A style of excavation in which a large area is brought down to a single occupation area, allowing a bird's eye view of the site. | ||||
| hybridity | Situation where the boundaries of identity are mixed, or where influences from two or more cultural groups are present (see Liebmann, 2008, Silliman, 2013). | ||||
| In situ | Left in the place where it was found. | ||||
| Informant | In Anthropology, a person who provides specific information about a research topic. | ||||
| Instrumental methods | Methods of analysis that use a piece of scientific equipment (other than the human senses) to gather data. Mass spectrometers, microscopes, radiation detectors, cameras, scales, and computers are all scientific instruments. | ||||
| Interment style | The method used to bury a dead body | ||||
| Intersectional | Intersectionality is an analytical framework that considers how different forms of social stratification (e.g. ethnicity, gender, class, sexual orientation) are interwoven, and how systems of power impact those marginalized by their social status. | ||||
| Intrusive | An item found in archaeological context which was deposited before or after the human habitation or activity directly associated with a particular component, and as such does not reflect the activities that created the site. | ||||
| Invertebrates | Animals lacking an internal vertebral column or backbone; this term refers to all animals not found in the subphylum Vertebrata. | ||||
| Isotope | One of two or more forms of the same element that differ in the number of neutrons in the nucleus. | ||||
| Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) | A form of mass spectrometry used by archaeologists to analyze isotopic ratios of nitrogen, 13C, strontium (Sr), and carbonate (CO3). | ||||
| Isotopes | Atoms of the same element that contain different numbers of neutrons. | ||||
| Judgmental sample | A sampling strategy based entirely on the judgment of the researcher. | ||||
| Kiln | A kind of oven where the heat is produced in a firebox and flows either up or down into a chamber where the pottery sits. | ||||
| Law of superposition | The idea that if you choose one specific patch of soil, and you dig down through the different layers, the layers at the bottom of your hole were deposited first. | ||||
| lenticular | In botany, lens-shaped or covered in lens-shaped markings | ||||
| Levallois | A technique for making stone tools used by Neanderthals about 400,000 to 250,000 years ago | ||||
| LGBTQIA2S | Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, asexual, two spirit. | ||||
| LiDAR | short for light detection and ranging, a technology that sends a burst of light (typically a laser) towards an object to calculate the distance between the object and the ground | ||||
| linguistic anthropology | The subfield of anthropology that focuses on the interaction between language and culture. | ||||
| literature review | when an archaeologist conducts background research before starting a project. This can involve studying the local geology, plant and animal life, and environment; previously identified archaeologists sites and projects in the area; past property owners, man-made modifications to the landscape; and other research that has been conducted on the time periods, cultures, and research topics the archaeologist is interested in. | ||||
| lithic | |||||
| Lithics | Stone tools and the waste material from their creation. | ||||
| logic of elimination | the idea that settler colonial regimes aim to destroy Indigenous groups and societies | ||||
| Looting | Illegally removing objects from sites | ||||
| Low-level questions | In archaeology, questions that can be answered through simple observation, with solutions that are more or less objective. | ||||
| Luminescence | Spontaneous emission of light by a substance. | ||||
| Macrobotany | Plant remains you can see with your bare eyes or a low-powered microscope, including seeds and wood charcoal. | ||||
| macroscopic | can be seen with the naked eye (as opposed to microscopic) | ||||
| Mano | The handstone used to grind food against a metate (lapstone). | ||||
| Mass spectrometry | A technique used to analyze the mass of different molecules in a sample | ||||
| Material culture | In archaeology, a general term used to refer to all tangible items created, used, and left behind by past cultures; this includes not only artifacts but larger items such as structures and cities. | ||||
| Metate | The lapstone that the mano (handstone) grinds against. | ||||
| metissage | Mixed heritage (Nassaney, 2008). | ||||
| Microbotany | Plant remains that you can only see with a high-powered microscope, including starch, phytoliths, and pollen. | ||||
| Microfauna | Small animal remains that are difficult to discern with the naked eye; artificial magnification is typically needed for accurate identification. | ||||
| Microfaunal | Small animal remains that are difficult to discern with the naked eye; artificial magnification is typically needed for accurate identification. | ||||
| Microwear | The small signs of usewear that often occur along the edge of a tool. Since different uses lead to different wear patterns, a microwear analysis can help archaeologists better understand how a tool was used. | ||||
| Midden | An accumulation of garbage, usually discarded in a hole in the ground | ||||
| Middle-range questions | In archaeology, questions that lie somewhere in between low-level and high-level, asking what specific material evidence can tell us about human action in the past. | ||||
| mikveh | An immersive bath used for cleansing rituals in Judaism | ||||
| minimum number of elements | fewest possible number of bones (elements) from people or animals in a skeletal collection or archaeological assemblage | ||||
| Minimum number of individuals | Fewest possible number of people, or animals, in a skeletal collection or archaeological assemblage. | ||||
| Minimum Number of Individuals per taxon or MNI | The minimum number of individuals represented by the faunal remains identified to a recognized taxonomic group in a zooarchaeological assemblage. | ||||
| Modification, cultural and non-cultural | Any impact or activity that results in the physical alteration of a faunal (or floral) remain; cultural modifications are those caused directly or indirectly by human activity, such as butchery or tool manufacture; non-cultural modifications are those resulting from non-human or natural activity, such as carnivore or rodent gnawing, weathering, and similar taphonomic processes. | ||||
| NAGPRA | Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act | ||||
| Nalbinding | An ancient technique used for garments in many parts of Northern Europe, made of a structure of interlinked loops formed using a wooden or bone needle. | ||||
| National Historic Preservation Act | The landmark federal law protecting US cultural heritage, which governs how cultural resource management is practiced today. | ||||
| National Register of Historic Places | The US federal government's official list of sites, buildings, structures, landscapes, or objects that are considered worthy of preservation because of their historic value. | ||||
| Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act | A law passed to protect Indigenous ancestral remains and funerary objects, requiring identification of the lineal descendants of the peoples whom those materials represent, and their return to be reinterred or managed as those peoples deem best. | ||||
| Native metals | Metals that can be found in nature in a pure, metallic form (e.g. gold, copper, silver) | ||||
| Number of Identified Specimens per taxon or NISP | The number of identifiable faunal remains associated with a recognized taxonomic group in a zooarchaeological assemblage. | ||||
| Obsidian | Naturally occurring volcanic glass, which flakes well to a very sharp edge and is often used for stone tools. | ||||
| Odontology | The study of teeth. | ||||
| Oldowan | The earliest type of lithic artifacts, roughly-flaked butchering elements that were made by our earliest human ancestors at least 2.6 million years ago. | ||||
| oral histories | The collection and study of historical information using sound recordings of interviews with people having personal knowledge of past events. | ||||
| Oral traditions | Orally transmitted stories and other cultural information that are collected through ethnography. | ||||
| Osteobiography | A narrative of an individual’s life history as told by their skeleton. | ||||
| Osteological paradox | It is concerned with the heterogeneity in disease risk, selective mortality, and demographic nonstationarity on the health of past populations. | ||||
| Osteology | The study of bones. | ||||
| Paleoanthropology | A branch of paleontology and anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans. | ||||
| Paleodemography | The study of population structure (age, sex, survivorship, etc.) in past populations. | ||||
| Paleoethnobotany | The study of how people used plants in the past. | ||||
| Paleoindian | A term which is used to refer to the period of the Ice Age in North America following standard archaeological chronology. The Clovis point dates to the Paleoindian period. | ||||
| Paleopathologies | The study of pathologies (trauma, disease, and congenital defects) found in ancient human and animal populations. | ||||
| Paleopathology | The study of disease as viewed through the skeleton in past populations, or animals. | ||||
| Palynology | the study of pollen grains and other airborne spores | ||||
| paste | In ceramics, the material used to make an object, including the raw clay as well as inclusions like feldspar and other minerals. | ||||
| pedestrian surveys | a method of locating artifacts by walking a given area, typically with a group of people walking 2 to 10 meters apart arranged in a horizontal line | ||||
| Petrography | A technique in which thin sections of the ceramic are viewed under a microscope in order to identify the minerals within the clay matrix or additional inclusions. | ||||
| Phase I | The first step in CRM archaeology, consists of a survey to identify whether a property is an archaeological site. It is designed to determine if there are any cultural materials in the impacted area. | ||||
| Phase II | The second step in CRM archaeology, designed to evaluate whether or not a recorded site is eligible for inclusion on the National Register. | ||||
| Phase III | The third step in CRM archaeology, consisting of data recovery following an approved research design. This type of data recovery is conducted when an eligible site cannot be preserved. | ||||
| Phytoliths | Rigid structures made of silica, formed in plant tissues to provide support. | ||||
| Pleistocene | The geologic term for the epoch popularly known as the ice age. | ||||
| Plied | Plied yarn is yarn that is made of two or more single strands of yarn twisted together. | ||||
| Plummet | A weight, often in a teardrop shape, which may have been attached to fishing nets to help them sink. | ||||
| pluralist | An approach to public archaeology which tries to understand relationships between material culture and different members of the public | ||||
| Pollen | A fine powder that plants make when they reproduce. | ||||
| portage | land barrier that water craft must be carried over between two bodies of water | ||||
| post-contact | A historic period after European-Indigenous contact. | ||||
| Post-processualism | A response to Processualism, the body of theory in archaeology that emphasizes that how we interpret the archaeological record is subject due to variance of human cultures and the cultural and other implicit biases that archaeologists themselves bring into the field. | ||||
| Postprocessualism | A theoretical approach building on humanistic methods. | ||||
| Primary burial | A burial that is in its original location and position. | ||||
| Primary data | In zooarchaeology and paleoethnobotany, information obtained directly from the faunal or floral remains undergoing analysis; primary data are obtained during the initial stage of the analysis, and the results can be replicated during subsequent analysis. | ||||
| privy | a trash pit in an outhouse, or outdoor bathroom without plumbing, which often had household trash in addition to human waste. | ||||
| probabilistic sampling | A sampling strategy also known as 'judgmental sampling,' where samples are taken primarily from units and features that are thought to be of interest. | ||||
| Processualism | A theoretical approach building on scientific methods. | ||||
| Profile walls | The sides of the excavation unit. | ||||
| Provenance | Generally refers to place of origin but in archaeology is typically used to reference the location where an artifact was found (i.e., depositional context). | ||||
| Provenience | The place of origin or source of an artifact or material. | ||||
| Pseudoarchaeology | Claims that misrepresent the nature of the archaeological record and archaeological methods in order to support predetermined conclusions. | ||||
| Public outreach | In archaeology, a collection of methods archaeologists use to engage the public in archaeological research as well as general public awareness. | ||||
| public relations | An approach to public archaeology which works to form connections between archaeology and individuals and/or social groups in order to broaden public awareness and understanding of archaeology in society | ||||
| Qualitative data | Information or data that is not easily described with numbers. | ||||
| Quantitative data | Information with a value that can be measured or counted (quantified), and have a distinct numeric value; contrasts with qualitative data, which refer to information that observed, characterized, described, and recorded but not quantified. | ||||
| queer archaeology | A branch of post-processualist archaeology pointing out that peoples of the past often did not conform to Western notions of gender and sexuality | ||||
| radar | abbreviation for Radio Navigation And Ranging, a technology that sends a burst of radio waves, or pings, to an object to calculate the distance between the object and the ground | ||||
| Radioactive | Atoms of elements that emit energy and particles as they decay into other elements. | ||||
| radioactive decay | the process through which the nucleus of a radioactive isotope loses energy and emits particles in an attempt to become stable | ||||
| Radiometric dating | Dating methods based on the radioactive decay of isotopes, such as Carbon-14 or Potassium-40. By knowing the rate of decay for a radioactive element, researchers can determine the age of artifacts, structures, and stratigraphic layers. | ||||
| Random | A sampling strategy in which samples are selected through chance, or through arbitrary selection. | ||||
| random sample | A sampling strategy through which a certain number of specimens is randomly selected. | ||||
| readability | the amount of education, usually measured in years, that someone would need in order to understand what someone is saying in a written text | ||||
| Reference manual | A published book, journal, or similar document or record that contains detailed information—typically illustrations—that can be used for specimen identification. | ||||
| Relative dating | Assigning an object to a cultural period based on its color, size, or shape. | ||||
| Remote Sensing | also abbreviated as RS, a set of methods that allows for the collection of data without anyone being physically present at a location and without needing to directly observe the objects being studied | ||||
| Repatriate | To return human remains and/or cultural items to their descendant communities. | ||||
| Repatriation | In bioarchaeology, the process of returning human remains and burial associated artifacts to the descendent population. | ||||
| research design | A formal statement of the project goals and the methods that will be used to reach the project goal or goals. | ||||
| Salvage archaeology | An ad hoc process of extracting whatever one can from an archaeological site in imminent danger of destruction from natural catastrophes (e.g., forest fires, shoreline erosion) or construction occurring outside of the archaeological review process. | ||||
| Sankofa | An Andikra (West African) symbol that translates as “go back and get it." | ||||
| Scapula | The bone commonly known as the shoulder blade, found in most animals. | ||||
| Seasonality | Determination of what season (or seasons) of the year in which a site was occupied, based on the recovery of faunal and floral remains from species present or particularly abundant (e.g., migratory waterfowl) during a particular season, or by the presence of select seasonal indicators (e.g., growth lines in deciduous trees, or antlers in certain cervids). | ||||
| Secondary burial | A burial that has been moved from its original place of internment. | ||||
| Secondary data | Information derived from primary data using indices and quantitative techniques; in contrast to primary data, secondary data are typically analytical products rather than based on direct observations or measurements. | ||||
| Sedentism | The practice of permanently living in one place (usually in villages, towns, or cities) as opposed to following a more nomadic lifestyle. | ||||
| Sediment | Rock and mineral fragments | ||||
| Seriation | Relative dating method in which artifacts from multiple sites are placed in chronological order. | ||||
| settler colonialism | a type of colonialism based on replacing or displacing a usually Indigenous population with a new settler population | ||||
| Shatter | The blocky fragments of chipped stone material created from the hammer crushing the parent material during the flaking process. | ||||
| Shearing | The process of cutting the wool off of a sheep or similar animal. | ||||
| Sherds | Short for potsherds, referring to the broken pieces of pottery found at archaeological sites. | ||||
| shovel test pits | pits often laid out in a grid patter over the area where pedestrian surveys have been completed, used in Phase II archaeological exploration to test to see if a site is a good candidate for further excavation | ||||
| Site | A place where there is physical or material evidence of past human activity. | ||||
| Site formation processes | Natural and cultural factors through which an archaeological site is created following the deposition of cultural material. | ||||
| site-formation processes | |||||
| sites | |||||
| slip | In ceramics, a watery clay that can be used to finish or decorate a vessel. | ||||
| SMAP | A method of flotation that uses a simple machine. | ||||
| sonar | abbreviation for Sound Navigation And Ranging, a technology that sends a burst of sound waves, or pings, to an object to calculate the distance between the object and the ground | ||||
| Spindle whorls | Bead-like weights for the spindles that are used to spin yarn. They come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and materials. | ||||
| Sprang | A form of plaiting or braiding with a fixed warp, used to create elastic fabrics for hairnets and similar items. | ||||
| Stakeholder | A person with an interest or concern in something. | ||||
| stalagmite | a rock formation in a cave formed over time by accumulating calcium deposited that dripped from the cave ceiling | ||||
| Starch | A semicrystalline carbohydrate produced by plants. | ||||
| Stratified random sample | A sampling strategy through which a certain number of specimens is randomly selected from a variety of predetermined categories. | ||||
| Stratigraphic analysis | A form of analysis that originated in geology. The goal of stratigraphic analysis is to understand the layering of soil in order to make temporal and cultural interpretations. | ||||
| Stratigraphy | Layers of soil and associated artifacts, which help to determine a site's chronology. | ||||
| striking platform | A place on a flake that marks the location where the core was struck to remove the flake – it is often marked by a small, flat surface directly above the bulb of percussion. | ||||
| subsurface | just below the surface | ||||
| systematic | methodical | ||||
| Systematic sample | A sampling strategy through which a regular pattern is followed. | ||||
| systematic sampling | A sampling strategy through which samples are selected at regular intervals across the site or within the unit. | ||||
| Taphonomy | The study of the transition from the biosphere to the lithosphere, anything that happens to a body from the time of death to the time of discovery. | ||||
| Taxonomic classification | The systematic ranking of biological organisms based on hierarchical categories that reflect the sharing of similar traits or common ancestry. | ||||
| Temper | When used in reference to ceramics, material that is intentionally added to the clay to prepare it for different uses. Temper can include quartz and other minerals; grasses or other organic materials; or ground shell, bone, or pottery fragments. | ||||
| Thermoluminescence | A dating method which measures accumulated radiation since the last time a material has been heated. When used on ceramics, this will usually provide the approximate date that the piece was initially fired. | ||||
| THPO (Tribal Historic Preservation Officer) | Someone officially designated by a federally-recognized Indian tribe to direct a program approved by the National Park Service, who assumes some or all of the functions of State Historic Preservation Officers on Tribal lands. | ||||
| Tool | An object that is made for a specific purpose. Tools are generally characteristic of humans although some animals are also known to make and use tools. | ||||
| Traditional Cultural Property | A place significant to the cultural practices and belief systems of one or more groups of people. | ||||
| Traditional Ecological Knowledge | The knowledge Indigenous peoples have learned about their environment through interacting with it for generations. | ||||
| Typology | A grouping or classification of different objects based on predetermined criteria. | ||||
| Unit | In archaeology the (usually) square space that is excavated, slowly and in layers. | ||||
| use-wear analysis | a method in archaeology that determines how an artifact was used by looking at evidence of wear on the artifact | ||||
| Venus figurines | Small statuettes of women found across Europe from approximately 35,000-20,000 years ago. | ||||
| Vertebrates | Animals with a spinal column or backbone, and at least some internal skeletal elements; refers to the subphylum Vertebrata, within the phylum Chordata in the animal kingdom (kingdom Animalia). | ||||
| Vertical excavation | A style of excavation that prioritizes depth, allowing archaeologists to view stratigraphic layers and observe the chronology of the site occupation. | ||||
| vessel-glass | glass that was part of a vessel | ||||
| Warp | In weaving, the set of threads that runs the length of the fabric. | ||||
| Weft | In weaving, the set of threads that runs from side-to-side along the fabric, at right angles with the warp. | ||||
| Woodland | The period in Eastern North American history spanning from 3200 to 1000 years ago (1200 BCE to CE 1000), or as late as CE 1600 in some places, when Native Americans started to live more sedentary lives and use horticulture and agriculture | ||||
| X-ray spectroscopy | A technique that measures X-ray photons to characterize different materials. | ||||
| Zooarchaeology | The study of animal remains recovered from prehistoric and historic archaeological sites, to better understand how past human-animal interaction. |