WHAY IS THE NEOLITHIC?

Neolithic: the period of prehistory when people began to use ground stone tools, to cultivate plants, and to domesticate livestock, but before the use of metal for tools. It is the technical name for the New Stone Age in the Old World following the Mesolithic. In the Neolithic, villages were established, pottery and weaving appeared, and farming began. The Neolithic began about 8000–7000 bc in the Middle East and about 4000–3000 bc in Europe. It was followed by the Bronze Age, which began about 3500–3000 bc in the Middle East and about 2000–1500 bc in Europe. The criteria for “defining” the Neolithic has become progressively more difficult to apply as both food production and metalworking took a long time to develop. In Britain, the Neolithic has other more specific characteristics: the use of pottery and of ground stone (beside the long-employed flaked stone), and the appearance of construction works like the long barrow, causewayed camp, and megalithic tomb. Elsewhere, however, some Mesolithic cultures made use of pottery, in Japan for example; and certain so-called Pre-Pottery Neolithic groups had none, as at Jericho. If the term Neolithic is to be retained at all, it must be based on the appearance of food production (especially cereal grains), sometimes called the Neolithic Revolution, commencing in southwest Asia 9000–6000 bc. This might be considered the most important single advance ever made by man, since it allowed him to settle permanently in one spot. This in turn encouraged the accumulation of material possessions, stimulated trade, and by producing a storable surplus of food allowed a larger population and craft specialization. All these were prerequisite to further human progress. The Neolithic was followed by the Mesolithic period, the Chalcolithic, or the Bronze Age, depending on the terminology used in different areas and the nature of the archaeological sequence itself. The Neolithic followed the Paleolithic period 

WHAT IS THE MESOLITHIC?

A time period in human history beginning with the retreat of glacial ice c. 8500 bc and the changing climatic conditions following it; a development in northwestern Europe that lasted until about 2700 bc. This Middle Stone Age followed the Upper Paleolithic and preceded the Neolithic. It was a period of transition in the Early Holocene between the hunter-gatherer existence and the development of farming and pottery production. Glacial flora and fauna were replaced by modern forms and the flint industries are often distinguished by an abundance of microliths. The equipment was designed for fishing and fowling as well as hunting and often included many tiny flints, or microliths, that were set in wooden shafts and hafts, and stone axes or adzes used for woodworking. Forests grew in Europe and people modified their lives accordingly. In the Near East, which remained free of ice sheets, climatic change was less significant than in northern Europe and agriculture was practiced soon after the close of the Pleistocene. In this area the Mesolithic period was short and poorly differentiated. In Britain the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition did not come until around 4000 bc. The dog was domesticated during the Mesolithic. The term is used widely only in European prehistory.

WHAT IS THE MAGDALENIAN?

The final major European culture of the Upper Paleolithic period, from about 15,000 to 10,000 years ago; characterized by composite or specialized tools, tailored clothing, and, especially, geometric and representational cave art (e.g., Altamira) and for beautiful decorative work in bone and ivory (mobiliary art). The people were chiefly fishermen and reindeer hunters; they were the first known people to have used a spear thrower (of reindeer bone and antler) to increase range, strength, and accuracy. Magdalenian stone tools include small geometrically shaped implements (e.g., triangles, semilunar blades) probably set into bone or antler handles for use, burins (a sort of chisel), scrapers, borers, backed bladelets, and shouldered and leaf-shaped projectile points. Bone was used extensively to make wedges, adzes, hammers, spearheads with link shafts, barbed points and harpoons, eyed needles, jewelry, and hooked rods (probably used as spear throwers). They killed animals with spears, snares, and traps and lived in caves, rock shelters, or substantial dwellings in winter and in tents in summer. The name is derived from La Madeleine or Magdalene, the type site in the Dordogne of southwest France. The culture’s center of origin was southwest France and the adjacent parts of Spain, but elements characteristic of the later stages are represented in Britain (Creswell Crags), and eastwards to southwest Germany and Poland. The Magdalenian culture, like that of earlier Upper Paleolithic communities, was adapted to the cold conditions of the last (Würm) glaciation. The Magdalenian has been divided into six phases; it followed the Solutrean industry and was succeeded by the simplified Azilian. Magdalenian culture disappeared as the cool, near-glacial climate warmed at the end of the fourth (Würm) glacial period (c. 10,000 bc), and herd animals became scarce.

WHAT IS THE LOWER PALEOLITHIC?

The earliest part of the Paleolithic period, beginning about 2.5 million years ago and lasting to about 100,000 years ago. It was characterized by the first use of crude stone tools, the practice of hunting and gathering, and the development of social units, settlements, and structures. It was the era of the earliest forms of humans. The phases of the Paleolithic have been subdivided based on artifact typology; the Lower Paleolithic is the period of early hominid pebble tool and core tool manufacture. In China, the Early Paleolithic ran from 1,000,000 to 73,000 bc.

WHAT IS THE KNAPPING?

Working of stone by applying force to its surface – by percussion or pressure – to produce a tool. A knapper is one who manufactures stone artifacts, especially by chipping. This technique of striking flakes or blades from a hard, brittle rock, such as flint or obsidian, is done by means of short, sharp blows delivered with a hammer of stone, bone, or wood. Knapping was used to fashion stone tools and weapons, such as blades and arrowheads, in the Harappan culture of the Indus Valley and was also applied to making beads from agate and carnelian.

WHAT IS THE IVORY?

Material from enlarged teeth (or tusk) of certain mammals and used for various tools and artifacts from the Upper Paleolithic. The tusks of elephants, mammoths, and walruses have been prized throughout prehistory and history.

WHAT IS THE HELL GAP?

A Plano tradition complex of the Paleoindian period from c. 11,200 to 8000 bc (the complex dates to c. 10,000–9500 bp) and centered on a well-preserved, deeply stratified site in eastern Wyoming. Hell Gap is also the name of a projectile point type of the Plano tradition, which is bifacially worked with a broad pointed top set on a straight-sided trapezoidal body. The base is narrow and straight. Experiments show that these points were probably spearheads and fully capable of penetrating the hide and ribcage of large beasts such as bison.

WHAT IS THE DIRECT PERCUSSUION ?

DIRECT PERCUSSION: A technique used in the manufacture of chipped-stone artifacts in which flakes are produced by striking a core with another stone, a hammerstone, or by striking the core against a fixed stone or anvil in order to dislodge a flake. The method is less precise in its results than indirect percussion. [free-hand percussion]

WHAT IS THE DIADEM?

DIAMDEM: A plain or decorated headband or crown of manmade or natural materials, usually as a badge of status or office.

WHAT IS THE DEPAS ?

Homeric term that Schliemann used to describe the two-handled cups which he found in Early Bronze Age contexts at Troy. [depas amphikypellon]

WHAT IS THE DAUB ?

Cay which is smeared onto a structure of timber or wattle (interwoven twigs) as a finish to the surface. It is normally added to both faces of a wall and is used to keep out drafts and give a smooth finish. The material usually survives only when baked or fire-hardened, as would be the case if a structure burned down. It can usually be recognized by the impressions of the wattle to be found on its inner face. It was used by both Indians and European settlers in North

America to construct houses.

WHAT IS THE DALLAS WARE ?

DALLAS WARE: Coarse, shell-gritted, handmade cooking pots from the mid 2nd century ad onward around the Trent and Humber Rivers. The fabric is hard and coarse with a smooth but unpolished surface and gray, black, or brown in color.

WHAT IS THE DAGGER AX ?

DAGGER AX: A bronze Chinese weapon in use from the Shang dynasty (c. 1500 bc) to the Han dynasty (206 bc to ad 220). The earliest forms

were broad and mounted at right angles to a wooden shaft through which the tang projected. Later forms had a slender blade which extended down the shaft at right angles to the main point to prevent it snapping. [ko]

WHAT IS THE CYLINDER SEAL ?

CYLINDER SEAL: A cylinder engraved with a design, scene, and/or inscription which was impressed onto the plastic clay when the cylinder seal was rolled over a clay tablet. This was the standard seal form of the Mesopotamian civilization, starting in the Uruk period. The incised stone cylinder was rolled over a soft surface so that the design appeared in relief. These seals were used to mark property and to legalize documents. Dating is based on changes in the design carved on the seal as well as the seal’s size and proportion.

WHAT IS THE CYCLADIC ?

CYCLADIC: Concerning the Bronze Age of the Cyclades, Aegean Islands, equivalent to Helladic on the Greek mainland and Minoan in Crete. It is usually divided into three major divisions: Early (c. 3000–2000 bc), Middle (c. 2000–1550 bc), and Late (c. 1550–1050 bc). In the earlier Bronze Age, Cycladic culture seems to be largely independent, but in the late Middle Cycladic to early Late Cycladic, Minoan influence becomes important. After c. 1400 bc mainland (Mycenaean) influence replaces the Minoan and many islands were colonized by the Mycenaeans. Colin Renfrew has proposed an alternative Early Cycladic subdivision into Grotta-Pelos, Keros-Syros, and Phylakopi I – a culture sequence.

WHAT IS THE CURRENCY BAR ?

CURRENCY BAR: A strip of iron about 4 cm (1.5 inches) wide and 30–90 cm (2–3 feet) long and pinched up at one end, which served as a unit of currency in Britain during the Late Iron Age, before the introduction of coins by the Belgae. The bars may have originated as sword

blanks or roughouts. Their distribution was mainly in Dorset and the Cotswolds, with some in the Severn Basin.

WHAT IS THE CUPISNIQUE ?

CUPISNIQUE: A style of pottery of the north coast of Peru during the Early Horizon, and a local variant of Chavín culture. It is most often associated with graves and is characteristically a polished gray–black ware with globular bodies, stirrup spouts, and relief decoration. Early Cupisnique tends to be strongly modeled by plastic manipulation of the surface. In later phases, red and black banding, separated by incision and life modeling, especially stylized felines, appear. The style dates from 900–200 bc and gave rise to three other styles: Salinar, Gallinazo, and Vicus.

WHAT IS THE CUMB AND RING MARK ?

CUMB AND RING MARK: The commonest form of rock carving in the British Isles, consisting of a cuplike depression surrounded by one or more concentric grooves. Cup-and-ring marks are found on standing stones, singular or in stone circles, and on the slabs of burial cists, as well on natural rock surfaces. In its classic form most cup-and-ring art belongs in the Bronze Age, but the motif occurs on passage graves, for example in the Clava tombs and on the capstones at Newgrange, where it may show links with similar rock carvings in northwest Spain. They are also found in Ireland and Scotland and can be dated to the Neolithic period of the 4th to 3rd millennium bc.

WHAT IS THE CUMBRIAN CLUB ?

CUMBRIAN CLUB: A term for a distinctive type of large polished stone ax of Middle Neolithic date made in northwest England. It has a broadbutted form, long, narrow proportions, and a distinct “waisting” of constriction towards the butt end. [Cumbrian-type stone ax]

WHAT IS THE CRESWELL POİNT ?

CRESWELL POİNT: Type of later Upper Paleolithic flint tool found in the British Isles made from a narrow flint blade, with one end worked to produce a slightly elongated trapezoidal form, with the long side of the blade left unworked, and the shorter side blunted.