WHAT IS THE KHIRBET KERAK?

A Palestinian site on the southwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, settled from the Early/Middle Bronze Age and occupied again from the Hellenistic to the Byzantine periods. In the 4th to 3rd millennia bc, it was a small walled town which lent its name to a distinctive pottery ware (Khirbet Kerak ware, c. 3400) which has been found on many sites throughout the Near East, from Judeidah in Amuq to Lachish in the south. This highly burnished ware with red or black slip is often incised or ribbed in decoration. Its origins lie up in the southern Caucasus (it was related to early Transcaucasian wares), from which it was likely carried south by an emigration of the ancestors of the Hittites. The pottery belongs to the Early Bronze Age III phase and has a wide distribution in Syria and Palestine. It is usually thought to have originated in northeast Anatolia and may have been distributed either by emigration or by trade. The town of the mid 3rd millennium bc contains a massive public building, probably a religious structure, that comprises eight circular stone structures all enclosed by a massive

outer rectangular wall.

WHAT IS THE KERNOS?

Greek cult vessel – dish, bowl, or jar – made of terra cotta or stucco-covered, sun-baked brick and used for the offering of first fruits. The jar held small cups around its lip and examples are found from the Bronze Age onwards.

WHAT IS THE HOARD?

Any collection of objects buried at one time; a deliberate deposit of complete and/or broken objects buried in the ground for subsequent recovery or as a symbolic act. A hoard often includes valuables or prized possessions. Many hoards represent the personal property of individuals, buried for safety at a time of threat and not recovered. Hoards are a useful source of evidence for archaeologists, because they provide considerable quantities of material and, except in the case of some votive hoards, that material represents a true association. Various classes are distinguished according to their method of accumulation. A merchant’s hoard will contain new objects ready for sale. A founder’s hoard by contrast will contain obsolete, worn out, or miscast objects, and frequently cake metal as well – all of it awaiting melting down and recasting. A votive hoard is rather different in that the objects were deposited, possibly over a long period of time, in temples or caves, buried, or thrown into water as religious offerings, with no intention of recovery. A hoard of loot is self-explanatory. Bronze Age hoards provide much of the evidence for the period.

WHAT IS THE DRAKENSTEIN URN ?

Type of Middle/Late Bronze Age ceramic vessel found in the Low Countries. The pots were barrel-shaped with impressed cordon decoration on the upper part of the body and occasionally with zigzag decoration. The shape and decoration of these vessels suggest some contact with the Deverel-Rimbury wares of southern England.

WHAT IS THE CORDENED URN ?

CORDENED URN: A type of Middle Bronze Age pottery in the northern parts of the British Isles during the 2nd millennium bc, generally tall straightsided vessels with a flat base, slightly flaring body and a simple rim. The outer face is decorated with applied cordons ornamented with incised decoration.

WHAT IS THE COPPER AGE ?

Iceman Otzi

COPPER AGE: An intermediate period between the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, characterized by the use of copper tools. According to the principles of the Three Age System, it should strictly mean the period when copper was the main material for man’s basic tools and weapons. It is difficult to apply in this sense as copper at its first appearance was very scarce, and experimentation with alloying seems to have begun early on. The alternative names of Chalcolithic and Eneolithic imply the joint use of copper and stone. In many sequences, notably in Europe and Asia, there is a period between the Neolithic and Bronze Age, separated from each by breaks in the cultural development, within which copper was coming into use and Copper Age is the best term to use. In Asia, the age saw the origins of civilization, and in Europe the great folk movements of the Beaker and Corded ware cultures, and perhaps the introduction of the Indo-European languages. The period lasted for almost 1000 years in southeast Europe, from 3500 bc.

WHAT IS THE COMPARTMENTED SEAL ?

COMPARTMENTED SEAL: The typical, usually metal, seal of the Bronze Age in western Central Asia and northern Afghanistan. Most often round, the seal motifs were geometric or of objects in nature.

WHAT IS THE COLLARED URN ?

COLLARED URN: A type of urn used in the British Early Bronze Age, also called an overhanging rim urn. It has a developed rim which may be straight, convex, or slightly concave in profile. Decoration is normally on the rim or the upper half of the vessel. Collared urns often contained cremation burials, though some have been found in domestic contexts.

WHAT IS THE CHEEKPIECE ?

CHEEKPIECE: 1. Part of a horse bridle, a crescent section of brow tine from a deer’s antler, perforated with a central hole or slot for the soft mouthpiece of rope or leather, with perforations above and below for a bifurcate rein. Found in the Early Bronze Age of the Carpathian Basin dating

to the mid 2nd millennium bc. 2. A plate or rod of bone, bronze, leather, or another metal that is attached to the lower rim of a helmet to protect the wearer’s cheeks.

WHAT IS THE CELTIC ART ?

CELTIC ART :An art style of the European Iron Age, c. 500 bc, developed presumably by Celtic peoples. It originated on the middle Rhine River, extending to the upper Danube and the Marne. Its finest specimens are from the British Isles in the 1st century bc and ad. It appears most commonly in bronzework or other metals, weapons and horse gear, eating and drinking vessels, personal ornaments, and monumental stone carvings. It seems likely that the craftsmen worked under the direct patronage of the chieftains. Techniques employed were decoration in relief, engraving, and inlay. Stylistically, Celtic art combines elements taken from the Classical world, from the Scythians to the east and from the local earlier Hallstatt Iron Age. The art developed into several styles in continental Europe (Early, Waldalgesheim, Plastic, and Sword styles) but came to an end with the Roman occupation. In Ireland, the art style returned after the Roman withdrawal. [La Tène art]

WHAT IS THE CELT ?

CELT: A New Stone Age tool, usually a polished, ungrooved ax or adze head or blade that would be attached to a wooden shaft. The tool, often shaped like a chisel and made of stone or bronze, was probably used for felling trees or shaping wood. Great numbers of celts have been discovered in the British Isles and Denmark and were traded widely. Bronze Age tools of similar general design are also called celts.

WHAT IS THE CASTING ?

CASTING: 1. Casting that consists of pouring molten metal into a mold, where it solidifies into the shape of the mold. The process was well established in the Bronze Age (beginning c. 3000 bc), when it was used to form bronze pieces. It is particularly valuable for the economical production of complex shapes, from mass-produced parts to one-ofa- kind items or even large machinery. Three principal techniques of casting were successively developed in prehistoric Europe: one-piece stone molds for flat-faced objects; clay or stone piece molds that could be dismantled and reused; and one-off clay molds for complex shapes made in one piece around a wax or lead pattern (cire perdue). Every metal with a low enough melting point was exploited in early Europe, except iron and steel, and used for casting artifacts. 2. A process for forming a ceramic object by pouring a clay slip into a hollow, porous (usually plaster) mold and leaving it there long enough for a layer of clay to settle and thicken on the mold wall. The remaining slip is poured off, and the object is removed from the mold when it has dried. [slip casting, solid casting]

WHAT IS THE CARP'S TONGUE SWORD ?

CARP'S TONGUE SWORD: A type of bronze sword used in the Late Bronze Age in western Europe – mainly in northwest France and southern England – in the early 1st millennium bc. It had a broad slashing blade and a long projecting point for thrusting and a flange hilt.

WHAT IS THE CALLAIS ?

CALLAIS: A greenish decorative stone occasionally used for beads from the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age in western Europe.

WHAT IS THE BRONZE AGE ?

BRONZE AGE: Second age of the Three Age System, beginning about 4000– 3000 bc in the Middle East and about 2000–1500 bc in Europe. It followed the Stone Age and preceded the Iron Age and was defined by a shift from stone tools and weapons to the use of bronze. During this time civilization based on agriculture and urban life developed. Trading to obtain tin for making bronze led to the rapid diffusion of ideas and technological improvements. Bronze artifacts were valued highly and became part of many hoards. In the Americas, true bronze was used in northern Argentina before ad 1000 and its use spread to Peru and the Incas. Bronze was never as important in the New World as in the Old. The Bronze Age is often divided into three periods: Early Bronze Age (c. 4000–2000 bc), Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000–1600 bc), and Late Bronze Age (c. 1600–1200 bc) but the chronological limits and the terminology vary from region to region.

WHAT IS THE BIFID RAZOR ?

BIFID RAZOR: Type of tool, possibly a razor, of the Middle Bronze Age of Europe, with two ovate, sharp-edged lobes of thin metal attached to a central tang.

WHAT IS THE BICONICAL URN ?

BICONICAL URN: Style of Early Bronze Age pot of northwestern Europe with a deep, largely plain, outwardly flared body. Above that is a sharp carination, decorated and sometimes with an applied cordon, and an inwardly angled neck with impressed cord designs. The rim is typically beveled and lightly ornamented.

WHAT IS THE BARREL URN ?

BARREL URN: Type of large Middle Bronze Age pot found within the Deverel-Rimbury ceramic tradition of southern Britain c. 1500 bc through to 1200 bc. Barrel urns have a distinctive profile, wider in the middle than at the base or the rim, often with applied cordons that are decorated with fingertip impressions. They were used as storage vessels and as containers for cremations.