WHAT IS THE FENGATE WARE ?

A family of elaborately decorated Neolithic ceramics found in southern and eastern parts of the British Isles. Dating to the period 3000–2000 bc, Isobel Smith divided Peterborough wares into three successive styles – Ebbsfleet, Mortlake, and Fengate – on the basis of their occurrence in the ditch fills at Windmill Hill. It is now recognized that these three groups overlap rather more than originally thought, and that they are best seen as part of the broad group of impressed wares found over much of northern Europe in the 3rd millennium bc. The decoration on Peterborough ware consists of pits, “maggot impressions” made by impressing tightly rolled cord, and the impressions made by pressing the ends of bird bones into the soft clay before firing. Some of the later vessels are the first in Britain to be made with flat bases. [Peterborough ware]

WHAT IS THE FEDERMESSER ?

A small backed blade, about the size and shape of a penknife blade; these blades were the most distinctive artifacts of the Final Glacial peoples of the north European plain during the Allerød oscillation (c. 9850–8850 bc). Similar bladelets occurred in the related Creswellian culture of Britain and the blades are very similar to the Azilian point. They are backed blades tapering to a point, and were probably used as arrowheads. They tend to have curved or angled backs unlike the earlier Gravette points.

WHAT IS THE FECUNDITY FIGURE ?

A type of offering bearer depicted on Egyptian temple walls which is mostly seen as a personification of geographic areas, the inundation, or abstract concepts. The male figures have heavy pendulous breasts and bulging stomachs, their fatness symbolizing the abundance they bring with them.

WHAT IS THE FAIENCE ?

1. A name used for the medieval pottery of Faenza in northern Italy, one of the chief seats of the ceramics industry in the 16th century; it was an early type of majolica. 2. It is also used for the tin-glazed earthenware made in France, Germany, Spain, and Scandinavia as distinguished from Faenza majolica, and that made in the Netherlands and England, which is called delft. 3. Most accurately, it is the primitive form of glass developed in Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium bc and then, almost as early, in Egypt; it is sometimes called Egyptian faience. It is a substance composed of a sand and clay mixture baked to a temperature at which the surface begins to fuse to a bluish or greenish glass. It was colored with copper salts to produce a blue-green finish and used especially for beads and figurines, particularly in the second millennium bc. Its main use in the Bronze Age was for beads, seals, figurines, and similar small objects. The glazed material could be comprised of a base of either carved steatite (soapstone) or molded clay with a core of crushed quartz (or quartz and soda-lime) fired so that the surface fuses into a glassy coating. Examples occur also in Bronze Age contexts in Europe, including the Wessex culture.

WHAT IS THE ETRUSCAN POTTERY ?

Pottery produced at various centers in Etruria, especially during the Archaic and Classical periods. Although plain wares were particular common (Bucchero, Impasto), figure decorated pottery was also produced (Caeretan ware, Pontic ware).

WHAT IS THE EOLITH ?

Any naturally shaped or broken stone, once considered to be the oldest artifacts of early man. They consist of crudely chipped flakes and cores from pre-Pleistocene or very early Pleistocene deposits. It is now accepted that eoliths were not made by humans but were chipped by natural agencies as far back as 500,000 years bc. Most eoliths were frost-split chunks with irregular chipping round the edge. Eolithic is a term sometimes used by archaeologists for the earliest stage of human culture before the Paleolithic, characterized by very primitive stone tools, especially of flint. It means “dawn of the Stone Age.” [dawn stone]

WHAT IS THE EOCENE ?

a major geological epoch of the Earth’s history – the second division of the Tertiary period (Cenozoic era) that began about 57.8 million years ago and ended about 36.6 million years ago (mya). It follows the Paleocene epoch and precedes the Oligocene epoch. The Eocene is often divided into Early (57.8–52 mya), Middle (52– 43.6 mya), and Late (43.6–36.6 mya) epochs. The name Eocene is derived from the Greek eos (“dawn”) and refers to the dawn of recent life. During the Eocene, all the major divisions, or orders, of modern mammals appeared.

WHAT IS THE ENOLITHIC ?

a period in the Near East and southeastern Europe when copper metallurgy was being adopted by Neolithic cultures, in the 4th and 3rd millennia bc. The period is called the Chalcolithic in the Near East and the Copper Age in other areas.

WHAT IS THE END SCRAPER?

a stone tool formed by chipping the end of a flake of stone which can then be used to scrape animal hides and wood. Its steeply angled (acute) working edge was used for flensing or softening hides and to dress skins. It appeared in Europe during the Upper Paleolithic period. It differed from side scrapers in that it had a rounded retouched end and was often made on a blade. A side scraper had a retouched working edge along the long edge of the flake.

WHAT IS THE EMBLEM GLYPH ?

Symbols standing for royal lineages and their domains in the Maya civilization; a Maya glyph identifying a place or polity. Each of the principal Maya cities had its own hieroglyph, which appears in inscriptions of all kinds. All such emblem glyphs share the same prefix, but the main element varies from one city to another. Many of these glyphs can now be linked to specific sites; others have still to be identified. They were first discovered in 1958.

WHAT IS THE ELKO POINT?

Large, roughly triangular-shaped chipped stone points with concave, straight, or slightly concave bases either with corner notches or “ears” on the base. They are dated to 1300 bc to ad 700, the desert Archaic stage in Great Basin and western North America.

WHAT IS THE EDEN POINT?

Eden points are known for their exceptionally well done, parallel pressure flaking and diamond cross-section. The people that made them were hunting large animals like bison. Eden points were first discovered in Yuma County, Colorado blow outs during the 1930s but none were found in situ until the spring of 1940 when Harold J. Cook spent several days digging in a site discovered by O. M. Finley. The Eden point was named by H. M. Wormington after the town of Eden, Wyoming. The Eden type site was named the Finley site in honor of O. M. Finley who discovered it.