WHAT IS THE BEAKER ?

BEAKER: A simple pottery drinking vessel without handles, more deep than wide, much used in prehistoric Europe. The pottery was usually red or brown burnished ware, decorated with horizontal panels of combor cord-impressed designs. It was distributed in Europe from Spain to Poland, and from Italy to Scotland in the years after 2500 bc; the international bell beaker is particularly widespread, though uncommon in Britain. In Britain there are local variants: the long-necked (formerly A) beakers of eastern England and the short-necked (formerly C) beakers of Scotland. There were local developments elsewhere, such as the Veluwe beakers in the Netherlands. Beaker vessels are commonly found in graves, which were often single inhumations under round barrows; commonly associated finds include copper or bronze daggers and ornaments, flint arrowheads, stone wristguards, and stone battle axes. In many northern and western areas its users were the first to start

copper metallurgy. The widespread distribution of beaker finds has led to the frequent identification of a Beaker people and speculations about their origins.

WHAT IS THE BEACHARRA WARE ?

BEACHARRA WARE: type of decorated Middle Neolithic pottery of western parts of Scotland. The ware is classified into three groups: (1) unornamented, bag-shaped bowls; (2) decorated, carinated bowls with a rim diameter less than the diameter at the carination and with incised or channeled ornament; and (3) small bowls with panel ornament in fine whipped cord. 

WHAT IS THE BANN FLAKE ?

BANN FLAKE: A type of leaf-shaped flake found widely amongst the later Mesolithic assemblages of Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man, and a component of the Bann culture. These are large flakes having no significant tang, with light retouch, either as elongated or laminar forms or as broader leaf-shaped forms with only very peripheral retouch at the bottom. [Bann point]

WHAT IS THE BANDKERAMIK ?

BANDKERAMIK: A pottery of the Danubian I culture, a Neolithic culture that existed over large areas of Europe north and west of the Danube River around the 5th millennium bc. It consists of hemispherical bowls and globular jars, usually round-based and strongly suggesting copies of gourds. The name refers specifically to the standard incised linear decoration – pairs of parallel lines forming spirals, meanders, chevrons, etc. There was farming of emmer wheat and barley and the keeping of domestic animals such as cattle. The most common stone tool was a polished stone adze. The people lived in large rectangular houses in medium-sized village communities or in small, dispersed clusters. [LBK, Linearbandkeramik, Linienbandkeramik (German)]

WHAT IS THE BAIKAL NEOLITHIC ?

BAIKAL NEOLITHIC: Neolithic period of the Lake Baikal region in eastern Siberia. Stratified sites in the area show a long, gradual move from the Paleolithic to Neolithic stage, starting in the 4th millennium bc. The postglacial culture was not “true” Neolithic in that it farmed, but was Neolithic in the sense of using pottery. It was actually a Mongoloid hunting and fishing culture (except in southern Siberia around the Aral Sea) with a microlithic flint industry with polished stone blade tools together with antler, bone, and ivory artifacts, pointed- or round-based pottery, and the bow and arrow. Points and scrapers made from flakes of Mousterian flakes and pebble tools displaying the ancient chopping tool tradition of eastern Asia have also been found. There was a woodworking and quartzite industry and some cattle breeding. The first bronzes of the region are related to the Shang period of northern China and the earliest Ordos bronzes. The area covers the mountainous regions from Lake Baikal to the Pacific Ocean and the taiga (coniferous forest) and tundra of northern Siberia. A first stage is named for the site Isakovo and is known only from a small number of burials in cemeteries. The succeeding Serovo stage is also known mainly from burials with the addition of the compound bow backed with bone plates. The third phase, named Kitoi, has burials with red ocher and composite fish hooks that possibly indicate more fishing. The succeeding Glazkovo phase of the 2nd millennium bc saw the beginnings of metal-using, but generally showed continuity in artifact and burial types. Some remains of semi-subterranean dwellings with centrally located hearths occur, together with female statuettes in bone.

WHAT IS THE ANTLER SLEEVE ?

ANTLER SLEEVE: a section of deer antler carved into a cavity or hole at one end to hold a stone axhead. The piece was either set into a socket in a haft or perforated to attach to the haft. This material was used for its resilience and shock-absorbing value in toolmaking. Roughly trimmed antler picks have been used in construction and flint mining.

WHAT IS THE ANTLER ?

ANTLER: lowest, forward branch of the horn of a deer – bonelike material that is grown and shed annually. Antlers indicate the sex of the species, for example only male red deer, fallow deer, and elk (moose) have antlers. They may also indicate whether a site is occupied seasonally as they are naturally shed in the winter, except for female reindeer that shed their antlers in spring. Antlers were a valuable material for making many tools.

WHAT IS THE ANTIMONY ?

ANTIMONY: A brittle metallic substance that has been used in the preparation of yellow pigments for enamel and porcelain painting. It forms a fourth constituent in alloys, along with nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, bismuth, and some others in forming triads and pentads.

WHAT IS THE ANTHROPOMORPH ?

ANTHROPOMORPH: A representation of the human form in art, such as those found on ancient pottery; figure, object, or rock art with or using a human shape. The term also refers to the attribution of human features and behaviors to animals, inanimate objects, or natural phenomena [anthropomorphic figure; anthropomorphism (n.); anthropomorphous (adj.)]

WHAT IS THE ANSA LUNATA ?

ANSA LUNATA: A handle or handles on a vessel or vase going in two opposite directions or in two diverging projects. The term describes Terramara pottery of the Apennine culture and vessels of central Europe of the Middle to Late Bronze Age.

WHAT IS THE AEGINETAN MARBLES ?

AEGINETAN MARBLES: archaic Greek sculpture discovered in the temple of Pallas-Athene at Aegina, an island in the Saronic group of Greece. They are in the Glyptothek at Munich, Germany. Aegina’s period of glory was the 5th century bc, which left a legacy of sculpture.

WHAT IS THE ADZE ?

ADZE: A cutting tool, similar to an ax, in which the blade is set at right angles to the handle or haft. One of the earliest tools, it was widely distributed in Stone Age cultures in the form of a handheld stone chipped to form a blade. By Egyptian times, it was made ofstone, metal, or shell and had acquired the handle. It is distinguished from the ax (working edge parallel with the haft) by its asymmetrical cross-section. This carpenter’s tool was used for rough dressing of timber and possibly for tree felling and for hollowing out a dugout canoe. The adze also was used in the ritual ceremony

“opening of the mouth” in Egypt; touching it to the mouth of the mummy or statue of the deceased was thought to restore the senses. [adz, adze blade]

WHAT IS THE ADOBE ?

ADOBE: Spanish term for sun-dried mud brick; also the name for a structure built out of this material. These claylike buff or brown mud bricks were not fired, but hardened and dried in the sun. The material was also used as mortar, plaster, and amorphous building material for walls. Adobe structures are found in the southwestern US and Mexico where there is heavy-textured clay soil and a sunny climate. These structures were often houses, temples, and large solid platforms in the shape of

truncated pyramids.

WHAT IS THE ADENA ROSSVIILLE POINT ?

ADENA ROSSVILLE POINT: Contracting stemmed point with a narrower section at the base than the main part of the arrowhead point.

WHAT IS THE AD ?

AD: used as a prefix to a date, it indicates years after the birth of Christ or the beginning of the Christian calendar. Anno Domini (Latin) means “In the year of our Lord.” The lower case “ad” represents uncalibrated radiocarbon years and ad denotes a calibrated radiocarbon date or a historic date that does not need calibration. There is no year 0; 1 bc is followed by ad 1.

WHAT IS THE ACTIVITY AREA ?

ACTIVITY AREA: 1. A place where a specific ancient activity was located or carried out, such as food preparation or stone toolmaking. The place usually corresponded to one or more features and associated artifacts and ecofacts. In American archaeology, the term describes the smallest observable component of a settlement site. 2. A patterning of artifacts in a site indicating that a specific activity, such as stone toolmaking, took place.

WHAT IS THE ACROTERION ?

ACROTERION:  A sculptured figure, tripod, disk, or urn, made of bronze, marble, or terra cotta, placed on the apex of the pediment of a Greek temple or other substantial building.

WHAT IS THE ACRATOPHORUM ?

ACRATOPHORUM: a Greek and Roman table vessel for holding pure wine, as opposed to the crater which held wine mixed with water. This vessel was often made of earthenware and metal, though some were gold or silver.

WHAT IS THE ACQUISITION ?

AQUISITION: First stage of the behavioral processes (followed by manufacture, use, and deposition), in which raw materials are procured. 

WHAT IS THE ACOUSTIC VASE ?

ACOUSTIC VASE: large earthenware or bronze vases that were used to strengthen actors’ voices and were placed in bell towers to help boost the sound of church bells. A church in Westphalia contains fine 9thcentury Badorf wares, and larger relief-band amphorae were used in 10th- and 11th-century churches. [acoustic vessel]