WHAT IS THE GUNZ GLACIATION?

First major Alpine glacial advance and first major Pleistocene glaciation (ice age), which started c. 590,000 years ago and lasted until the end of the Mindel glaciation. The Günz preceded the Günz-Mindel interglacial and followed the Donau-Günz interglacial, both periods of relatively moderate climatic conditions. The Günz is correlated with the Baventian stage of marine deposits of Great Britain and the Menapian glacial stage of northern Europe. It is broadly equivalent to the Nebraskan glacial stage of North America.

WHAT IS THE GUNDESTRUP?

Find spot of a great silver cauldron of the late pre-Roman Iron Age in a bog in northern Jutland, Denmark, that was clearly a votive offering. On the 12 plaques which decorate both the inside and outside of the bowl are scenes from Celtic mythology. The cauldron was probably manufactured in Romania or Bulgaria or possibly Thrace during the 1st or 2nd centuries bc.

WHAT IS THE GROUND STONE TOOL?

a class of lithic (stone) artifacts produced by abrasion – grinding or pecking – and formed into a tool or vessel. Granite, pumice, and steatite fall into this class. Manos, metates, mortars, and pestles are common ground stone artifacts. Ground stone tools used to crush, pound, grind, or otherwise process materials are also commonly referred to as milling implements

WHAT IS THE GROOVED WARE?

A pottery style of the British Late Neolithic, widely distributed c. 2750–1850 bc. The characteristic vessel is flat based with straight vertical or outward sloping walls. It was formerly known as Rinyo-Clacton after two widely separated findspots (Clacton in Essex and Rinyo in the Orkney Islands). Throughout eastern and southern England, where it is particularly frequent on henge sites (Stonehenge

and Durrington Walls), it is decorated with shallow grooving or sometimes with applied cordons. A Scottish group, where appliqué cordons were much used in addition, is represented in Orkney at sites like Rinyo and Skara Brae. It is also found in settlement sites and in chambered tombs.

WHAT IS THE GRIMSTON WARE?

A type of Early and Middle Neolithic pottery of northeast

England, characterized by fine fabrics, good-quality finish, and round-bottomed forms with a carinated profile.

WHAT IS THE GRAVETTIAN?

An Upper Paleolithic industry named after the site La Gravette in the Dordogne of southwest France and characterized by well-developed blade tools of flint and female figurines of ivory. This advanced industry succeeded the Aurignacian and preceded the Solutrean, c. 28,000–20,000 bp. In France it is known as the Upper Périgordian (Périgordian IV) and the Gravettian appears to have developed in central Europe, expanding to the east and west. The small, pointed blades with straight blunted backs are called Gravette points. Most of the French sites are caves, but related industries, known as Eastern Gravettian, are possibly distributed through the loess lands of central Europe and Russia at the camp sites of mammoth hunters; other sites are in Spain, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Italy. The Gravettians invented the bow and arrow, blunted-back knives of flint, and tanged arrowheads. They are famous, too, for their cave paintings. Other artifacts include bone or ivory spears and, in eastern Europe, numerous other bone tools incised with an elaborate geometric pattern.

WHAT IS THE GRAVER?

A stone tool manufactured from a flake by chipping (pressure flaking) it on two edges at one end so as to leave a sharp point. Gravers were used to cut or score soft materials such as bone, shell, wood, and antler; perhaps also for punching leather and other purposes. The term also refers to a type of metalworking tool that comprises a number of subtypes, though all are handheld, hard, and sharp and are used to cut or engrave metal. Such a graver has a metal shaft that is cut or ground diagonally downward to form a diamond-shaped point at the tip. The angle of the point affects the width and depth of the engraved lines; the point is guided by thumb and forefinger.

WHAT IS THE GRAVENEY BOAT?

A well-preserved Anglo-Saxon timber boat found in 1970 in the Graveney marshes in Kent, England. It is the only vessel of this period from the British Isles which has left more than an impression in the soil. Radiocarbon and dendrochronology have effectively dated it to the late 9th century ad. The well-constructed Graveney Boat was a cross-Channel cargo; it has been restored and is in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England.

WHAT IS THE GRAPE CUP?

A type of miniature cup or accessory vessel of Early Bronze Age graves in southern England, with a narrow base and mouth, and expanded bulbous body covered in small applied balls of clay that look like a small bunch of grapes.

WHAT IS THE GORYTOS?

A sheath, combining quiver and bowcase, which was characteristic of the Scythians in the 6th to 3rd centuries bc. Fancy ones, covered with golden plaques decorated with artistic relief scenes, are known from the Scythian Kurgans of the 4th century bc, such as Solokha and Chertomlyk. There is a depiction of a gorytos on the famous golden Scythian vase from the Kul’-oba kurgan.

WHAT IS THE GORGONEION?

Mask of the gorgon, the mythical monster whose glance could turn people to stone, which became a symbol to ward off evil. It was widely used on Athenian pottery and on Roman cineraria. It was on the center of the pediment of the temple of Artemis on Corfu.

WHAT IS THE GORGET?

A flat artifact made of stone or another material and worn as an ornament over the chest. It may also have been a protective piece for the throat region. These ornamental collars were common in prehistoric southeast and midwest US.

WHAT IS THE GNATHIAN WARE?

A pottery fabric of the Hellenistic period (4th to 3rd centuries bc) in southern Italy. Produced originally at Apulia, the pots are decorated with a black-glossed technique with simple designs in yellow and white. It is the western equivalent of West Slope ware. It is unlike other south Italian pottery and was widely exported.

WHAT IS THE GLOBULAR URN?

A type of Middle Bronze Age pottery in southern England, part of the Deverel-Rimbury tradition and characterized by a flat base, expanded body, and vertical neck. They are generally made from coarse fabrics and decoration is on the upper body and neck, typically incised or made with impressed cord. Some have lugs or applied decoration between the body and neck.

WHAT IS THE GLOBULAR AMPHORA?

Bulbous pots with a narrow neck and perforated lugs or small handles for suspension. Cord impressed decoration is usual. A type of pottery vessel that has given its name to a Late Neolithic

or Copper Age culture of the 3rd millennium bc through much of Germany, Poland, and western Russia. It appeared with the eastern wing of the European Funnel-necked beaker culture, differentiated from the western part. Some examples are undecorated, while others have incised, stamped, or cord-impressed ornament on the upper part of the vessel. There are individual burials in stone cists under barrows, accompanied by the globular amphora. The culture is closely linked to the TRB culture and may be a parallel development to the Single Grave/Corded ware group in Scandinavia of 2600–2200 bc.

WHAT IS THE GLACIATION?

Process by which land is covered by continental and Alpine glacier ice sheets or the period of time during which such covering occurred; several glaciations are required to make up an ice age (such as the Pleistocene). The land is subject to erosion and deposition by this process, which occurred repeatedly during the Quaternary; the process modifies landscapes and affects the level of ocean basins. These periods of colder weather are also called glacials, and the warmer periods between them interglacials. At the onset of colder weather, water is taken up into the ice sheets and glaciers, causing a drop in sea level. Landscapes once covered by ice can be recognized by the smooth rock surfaces and the U-shaped valleys formed by the ice sheets and glaciers and the rock rubble carried along in them. As the climate warmed, the glaciers retreated, the ice melted, and the sea level rose. The ice also deposited various forms of boulder clays, and banks of debris at the sides and ends of glaciers, known as moraines. Beyond the limits of glaciers and ice sheets, extensive layers of outwash sands and gravels were deposited; where these deposits occur in lakes they are called varves. The periglacial zone around the margin of an ice sheet has permanently frozen subsoil, and is occupied by cold-loving plants and animals. Erosion was mainly brought about by solifluxion. The low temperatures and the constant freezing and thawing also affect the soil; these frost effects are called cryoturbation. Particularly characteristic are ice wedges, polygonal cracks in the ground frequently recognizable in air photographs. They are caused by the shrinking of the ground at low temperatures and the filling of the cracks with water, which subsequently expand on freezing to open the crack still further. The last 2 million years have been marked by a series of such glaciations. Broad correlations between the glaciation schemes in different parts of Europe and North America exist. Four ice ages have been figured; in Europe, the first glaciation was at a climax 550,000 years ago. This gradually gave way to the first interglacial (Gunz-Mindel) period lasting about 60,000 years in which warm conditions again prevailed. The second glaciation came along with its climax 450,000 years ago, and the second interglacial (Mindel-Riss) period followed, lasting 200,000 years. The third glacial (Riss) period climax 185,000 years ago was relieved by 60,000 years of interglacial warmth. The fourth (Wurm) and last ice age was at its height 72,000 years ago. The term has also commonly been used to describe the periods of generally cold climate that occurred at intervals during the Quaternary period. It is, however, now clear that ice sheets grew only during parts of these socalled “glacials” (e.g., the Devensian). For this reason, the term “cold stage” is preferable.

WHAT IS THE GISANT?

ın sepulchral sculpture, an effigy representing the person in death; especially an effigy depicting the deceased in a state of advanced decomposition. It was popular in 15th- and 16th century northern Europe. The gisant was often placed below a portrait, or orant, which represented the person praying or kneeling, as in life. It was a reminder of the transitory nature of life.

WHAT IS THE GE?

A dagger ax, the characteristic weapon of the Chinese Bronze Age during the Shang dynasty and then made from iron from the Zhou/Chou dynasty onwards. The dagger-shaped bronze blade, usually with a flat tang but occasionally with a shaft hole, was mounted perpendicular to the wooden shaft. The blade had a cross-piece parallel to the shaft to help hold it in place. Bronze Age blades and nonfunctional jade replicas of blades often appear as mortuary gifts in Shang tombs. The earliest ge yet known have come from Erlitou, c. mid 2nd millennium bc. In the Eastern Zhou/Chou period the ge was sometimes combined with a spear, the ge blade at right angles to the spearhead, to form a ji. The ji was in existence by the late 6th or early 5th century bc. They are chopping implements.

WHAT IS THE GALLINAZO?

A pottery style and culture of the first phase of the Early Intermediate Period, flourishing c. 200 bc to ad 200 on the north central coast of Peru (Virú Valley). Together with the slightly earlier Salinar, the Gallinazo culture is seen as transitional from Chavín-associated groups, such as Cupisnique, to the rise of the Moche state. It is related to the contemporary Recuay style of the highlands. The best-known

Gallinazo pottery is black-on-orange negative resist decorated ware. The type site appears to have been a ceremonial center with a nucleus of adobe mounds and walled courtyards. Residential apartment complexes are scattered over an area around the center; it was abandoned some time after the rise of Moche.

WHAT IS THE GADROON?

a decorative pattern used in the ornamentation of gold and silver metalwork and pottery, consisting of an embossed tear shape. A gadroon is one of a set of convex curves or arcs joined at their ends to form this pattern, usually one of a series radiating from the base of a work.

WHAT IS THE FUNNEL BEAKER?

A vessel with a globular body and expanded neck, characteristic of the Early and Middle Neolithic culture of northern Europe. The funnel beaker is not directly related to the bell beaker of central and western Europe. The complex Funnel beaker culture represents the first agriculturists in Scandinavia and the north European plain, appearing from 3500 bc onwards. It is named after the characteristic pottery, which is often found in megalithic tombs in northern Germany.

WHAT IS THE FUNERARY MONUMENT

In many cultures and civilizations the tomb was superseded by, or coexisted with, monuments or memorials to the dead. This foreshadowed a general revival of the Greek practice of erecting funerary monuments, rather than tombs, during the 16th century. 

WHAT IS THE FUNERARY CONE?

Egyptian solid pottery cones, 10–30 cm (4–12 inches) in length, which were placed at the entrances to tombs, often with the name and titles of the deceased on the flat, circular end. Found mainly in the Theban area of Middle Kingdom to Late Period dates (2125–332 bc), these cones were originally inserted in the brick-built tomb facade or tomb pyramid to form horizontal rows. Most belong to the New Kingdom and the bulk of them to the 18th dynasty (1550– 1295 bc).

WHAT IS THE FULTON TURKEY TAIL POINT?

A leaf-shaped, side-notched point – with notches chipped into each side of the base to form a stem below the main part of the point, generally 95–150 mm (3.75–6 inches) long.

WHAT IS THE FRIEZE?

A decorative band or feature, such as a long band of relief sculpture decorating the upper stonework of a temple. It is the zone above the epistyle, decorated with triglyphs and metopes in Doric order architecture or sculpture or dentils in Ionic order architecture. This type of band of decoration on a wall or vessel may be painted or in bas-relief.

WHAT IS THE FRESCO?

A method of painting on the plastered surface of a wall or ceiling before the plaster has dried so that the colors become incorporated in it. The term refers to any painting done on freshly laid wet plaster and left to dry with the plaster; the painting is part of the wall. It was usually executed with mineral and earth pigments upon a freshly laid ground of stucco. Lime was found in nearly all the colors of Pompeii, which is part of fresco.

WHAT IS THE FORUM WARE?

A distinctive green glazed pottery found in the 19thcentury excavations of the forum in Rome. This ware has since been found on many sites close to Rome, and in settlements of all types in

southern Etruria. Typically there are pitchers, often with incised wavyline decoration around the body of the pot. The ware belongs to the late 6th or early 7th century, a phase of late Roman activity.

WHAT IS THE FOOD VESSEL?

A series of pottery vessels found in northern Britain, Scotland, and Ireland; used as the name of one of the two main cultures of the Bronze Age. The Food Vessel culture was a prototype derived from that of the Beaker folk and other Neolithic cultures. The Food Vessel culture people were hunters and farmers, raising sheep and growing corn. They also sold bronze and other metal goods made in Ireland. They buried food vessels with their dead (inhumation, in crouched positions, buried in cists under cairns or barrows). In the graves, too, are found crescent-shaped necklaces of jet and shale beads, and gold necklaces of the same shape (lunula) from Ireland. Then there are bronze halbards, axes, and daggers, earrings of gold and bronze, bone hairpins, and planoconvex flint knives. The culture is dated to 2000–1600 bc.

WHAT IS THE FOLSOM POINT?

A distinctive Paleoindian fluted projectile point with a single flute on each face and fine pressure flaking. Found in association in sites around Folsom, New Mexico from c. 9000–8000 bc (alternately 11,000–10,200 bp), they differ from Clovis points in the length of the flute, which extends over most of the point’s side. Folsom points are smaller, with their widest dimension near the middle rather than towards the base; they are more concave base than Clovis points, and the edges of Folsom points were retouched.

WHAT IS THE FLUTE POINT?

a projectile point with a distinctive longitudinal groove left after the removal of a channel flake; a long, medial channel notched to the base of a flake. The channeled flake is removed from one or both faces by striking the specially prepared base sharply with a piece of wood or bone. The sharp ridges of the flutes were ground smooth near the base of the point, to prevent them from cutting the bindings when the point was inserted into a notched foreshaft. These points have extreme symmetry, careful flaking, and the removal of a long, parallel and shallow flake from one or both sides. Fluted points are characteristic of the Paleoindian peoples of North America such as the Clovis and Folsom projectile points.

WHAT IS THE FLINT KNAPPING?

technique of striking flakes or blades from a large flint stone (core or nucleus) and the shaping of cores and flakes into tools. The most commonly used stone was flint (chert), a hard, brittle stone, commonly found as nodules in limestone areas, that breaks with a conchoidal fracture. Flint knapping began with the simple striking of one stone against another. Later methods include the use of antler and wooden strikers for both direct and indirect percussion, and bone and antler pressure-flaking tools.

WHAT IS THE FLINT CREEK FLAKING?

A characteristic flaking style of the Flint Creek

culture which was accomplished by removing regular, deep, elongate, opposing pressure flakes from the blade edges. The application of this flaking style usually resulted in the formation of very fine biface serrations.