Benin Culture History and Archaeology
Thursday June 30, 2005
Culture history, archaeological sites, and other information related to the past of the modern country of Benin.
Botswana Culture History and Archaeology
Thursday June 30, 2005
Culture history, archaeological sites, and other information related to the past of the modern African country of Botswana.
Mighty White of You: Are American Archaeologists White Supremacists?
Thursday June 30, 2005
In the July 2005 issue of Harper's magazine, contributing editor Jack Hitt accuses archaeologists looking for preclovis sites as searching for proof of the superiority of the European race.
Algerian Culture History and Archaeology
Thursday June 30, 2005
Culture history, archaeological sites, and other information related to the past of the modern country of Algeria.
Angolan Culture History and Archaeology
Thursday June 30, 2005
Culture history, archaeological sites, and other information related to the past of the modern country of Angola.
Benin Culture History and Archaeology
Wednesday June 29, 2005
Culture history, archaeological sites, and other information related to the past of the modern country of Benin.
Tlatelolco (Mexico)
Wednesday June 29, 2005
The town of Tlatelolco was a sister city to Tenochtitlan during the Aztec rule of Mexico.
Archaeology Quiz: The Maya Civilization
Wednesday June 29, 2005
What do you know of the Maya civilization? This week's trivia quiz wants to know!
Tlachuachero (Mexico)
Wednesday June 29, 2005
The archaeological site of Tlachuachero is a Chantuto phase site in Chiapas state, Mexico.
Tiryns (Greece)
Wednesday June 29, 2005
The Mycenaean site of Tiryns is located on a rocky hill on the Argolid coast of Greece, facing the Aegean Sea.
Timber Grave Culture
Tuesday June 28, 2005
The name Timber Grave Culture (or Srubnaya) refers to a group of pastoralists who lived in substantial villages in the arid steppes and semi-desert areas of Asia
Ormen Lange Marine Archaeology Project
Tuesday June 28, 2005
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology is exploring a proposed underwater gas line off the west coast of Norway. Several shipwrecks have been located in very deep water (160-200 ... Read More
Chinchawas (Peru)
Tuesday June 28, 2005
Chinchawas is a small village site, part of the Recuay polity, located on a known transportation route between the coast and the highlands in northern Peru.
Titus Tobler [1806-1877]
Tuesday June 28, 2005
Swiss explorer, physician and adventurer Titus Tobler was fascinated by the Holy Land of Syria and Palestine.
Sea Peoples
Monday June 27, 2005
Sometime in the late 13th or early 12th centuries BC a loose confederation of people from the Mediterranean Sea caused attacked and caused great havoc throughout the Mediterranean: the Sea ... Read More
Chiripa (Bolivia)
Monday June 27, 2005
The archaeological site of Chiripa is located in the Lake Titicaca region of Bolivia, associated with the Tiwanaku culture
Chirand (India)
Monday June 27, 2005
Chirand is a stratified Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Iron Age settlement in the eastern Ganges Valley of Bihar in northern India, between about 2500-AD 30.
Chinchorro (Chile)
Monday June 27, 2005
The archaeological site of Chinchorro is a cemetery site located on a beach in Arica, in southern Chile.
Chincha Culture
Sunday June 26, 2005
The Chincha was a small polity on the coast of Peru oriented to living on marine resources, from 1000 AD to 1476 when they were conquered by the Inca
Chimú State
Sunday June 26, 2005
The Chimú state, also called the "Kingdom of Chimor," was an Andean civilization established in Peru about 850 AD, and conquered by the Inca in 1470.
Chilhac (France)
Sunday June 26, 2005
Chilhac is the name of a karst cave in the Massif Central region of Auvergne, France, with an early hominid (probably Homo erectus) occupation.
Chilca (Peru)
Sunday June 26, 2005
Chilca is the name of an early Archaic period site located on the Peruvian coast about 70 kilometers south of Lima.
Chifumbaze Complex
Saturday June 25, 2005
The Chifumbaze complex is a widespread Iron Age culture, covering much of southern and eastern Africa.
Chichén Itzá (Mexico)
Saturday June 25, 2005
Chichén Itzá is a large Maya and Toltec village and temple complex on the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico.
Chernyakhov (Ukraine)
Saturday June 25, 2005
Chernyakhov is the name given to a Slavic village and cemetery in the Lower Danube region of Ukraine, dated to the 4th century AD.
Chengziya (China)
Saturday June 25, 2005
Chengziya is an archaeological site in Shandong Province, China, consissting of a walled settlement, with occupations primarily dated to the Longshan period (2600-2000 BC).
Chengbeixi Culture
Friday June 24, 2005
Chengbeixi culture is the name given to an early developmental Neolithic paddy rice agriculture village culture in the Yangtze River of China, between about 7000-5000 BC.
Chellean Man (Tanzania)
Friday June 24, 2005
Chellean man is the name given to a Homo erectus skull with an extremely large brow ridge, found by Louis Leakey in 1960.
Chavín de Huántar (Peru)
Friday June 24, 2005
Chavin de Huantar is an archaeological site of the Chavín culture located on a steep slope of the Andes Mountains of Peru, occupied from about 900-200 BC.
Chavín Culture
Friday June 24, 2005
The Chavín culture is the name of a cultural group in Peru, now thought to have been primarily a religious cult, dated from about 400-200 BC.
Chauvet Cave (France)
Thursday June 23, 2005
Chauvet Cave is one of the earliest rock art sites in the world, dating to the Aurignacian period in France, about 30,000-32,000 years ago.
Chatelperronian Period
Thursday June 23, 2005
The Châtelperronian period is the name given to similar Upper Paleolithic Neanderthal (probably) stone tool assemblages, from about 32,000 to 30,000 years ago.
Tlapacoya (Mexico)
Thursday June 23, 2005
The archaeological site of Tlapacoya is a multicomponent settlement located on an island in a precolumbian lake at the foot of the Tlapacoya volcano, in the central southern Basin of ... Read More
Toltec Civilization
Thursday June 23, 2005
The Toltec Civilization was one of three great empires of the Basin of Mexico, after the fall of Teotihuacan and before the rise of the Aztecs.
Tollund Man (Denmark)
Wednesday June 22, 2005
Tollund Man is the name given to an Iron Age man whose body was recovered in amazingly pristine state from the Bjældskovdal peat bog near Tollund, Denmark.
Tlaxcala (Mexico)
Wednesday June 22, 2005
Tlaxcala is the name of the state and its capital city in Mexico; and one of the rival city states with the Aztec nation in the mid-15th century AD.
Chaco Canyon: Traditions of the Sun
Wednesday June 22, 2005
Interesting GIS-type interface showing maps and details of Chaco Canyon, along with some nice time-lapse photography showing the effects of the solstice. From a joint collaboration of the United States ... Read More
The Anasazi Mysteries Series - A Book Review by Thomas F. King
Wednesday June 22, 2005
The Anasazi Mystery series, written by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear, are fascinating, well-paced page-turners, that convey a very real sense of what it’s like to do archaeology ... Read More
ArchNet Digital Library
Tuesday June 21, 2005
This site, developed by MIT and Texas Tech, is meant to be a meeting place for researchers in Islamic architecture. The Digital Library includes photographs of several historic sites throughout ... Read More
Prehistoric Tools
Tuesday June 21, 2005
Prehistoric tools used by people in the past to hunt, grow crops, paint, build housing; and were made of shell, bone, metal, stone, and other materials.
Unraveling King Tut
Tuesday June 21, 2005
From the American National Geographic, a detailed forensic look at the mummy of King Tutenkhamun, including reconstruction of the coffins and shrines, examination of the human remains, and facial reconstructions
Lene Hara Cave (Indonesia)
Tuesday June 21, 2005
Lene Hara Cave is a pre-Lapita site on the island of East Timor in the Indonesian archipelago, with occupations dated as old as 34,600 years ago.
Tikal (Guatemala)
Monday June 20, 2005
The ruins of the Maya temple known as Tikal are located in the rain forest of the central Peten peninsula of Guatemala.
Monte Loreto (Italy)
Monday June 20, 2005
The copper mines in the valleys and side walls of Monte Loreto in the Liguria region of Italy are some of the earliest known copper mines in the Iberian peninsula.
Woolly Mammoth DNA
Monday June 20, 2005
DNA extracted from a 10,000 year old frozen Woolly Mammoth has been sequenced by Japanese scientists. They found that the Woolly Mammoth is more closely related to Asian than African ... Read More
Tiwanaku Empire
Monday June 20, 2005
The Tiwanaku Empire controlled portions of what is now Peru, Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia in South America for four hundred years (AD 550-950).
Chan Chan (Peru)
Sunday June 19, 2005
The World Heritage archaeological site of Chan Chan is located in the Trujillo province on the north coast of Peru, and it was the capital of the Chimú state between ... Read More
Champa Kingdom
Sunday June 19, 2005
The Champa Kingdom was located along the coastal plains of southern and central Vietnam, between about AD 192 and 1832.
Mojiaoshan (China)
Sunday June 19, 2005
The archaeological site of Mojiaoshan is part of a Liangzhu complex site at Yuhang in Zhejiang Province, China.
My Son (Vietnam)
Sunday June 19, 2005
The World Heritage archaeological site of My Son was a Cham dynasty capital, between the 4th and 12th centuries AD.
Christian Jürgensen Thomsen [1788-1865]
Saturday June 18, 2005
Director of the Danish National Museum of Denmark in the early 19th century, C.J. Thomsen wrestled with the problem of trying to order the museum's collection of artifacts, gathered on ... Read More
Reginald Campbell Thompson [1876-1941]
Saturday June 18, 2005
British archaeologist and cuneiformist R. Campbell Thompson was an Assyriologist, excavating at Nineveh, Ur, and Carchemish among many other sites.
Stephen Thomas
Saturday June 18, 2005
Yacht captain and navigator Stephen Thomas is best known for his participant observation work with Polynesian navigator Mau Piailug and anthropologist Ward Goodenough.
Cellular Theory of Prehistory
Saturday June 18, 2005
The cellular theory of prehistory was dreamed up by German pathologist Rudolf Virchow, who believed that if you looked hard enough, you could find the archaeological roots of each particular ... Read More
Cayönü (Turkey)
Friday June 17, 2005
Cayönü is an Early Neolithic site (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B) in the upper Tigris valley of southeastern Turkey
Chateau Gaillard (France)
Friday June 17, 2005
Chateau Gaillard is a Medieval castle in France built by Richard Lionheart of England from 1197-1198, in order to protect his holdings in Normandy.
Chassey le Camp (France)
Friday June 17, 2005
Chassey le Camp is the Chasséen (middle Neolithic) type site located on the Saone river, a small farming village of between 100 and 400 people, occupied beginning about 1500 BC.
Chasséen Culture
Friday June 17, 2005
Chasséen Culture is the name given to a Middle Neolithic Bell beaker culture throughout what is now France between 4500 and 2500 BC.
Chaparron Complex
Thursday June 16, 2005
The Chaparron culture in the name given to a group of people who lived in sedentary villages of lower central America, especially Costa Rica, between about 1000-500 BC.
Chaoxian Cave (China)
Thursday June 16, 2005
The Chaoxian cave is an early hominin site located in eastern Anhui province, China.
Chantuto Phase
Thursday June 16, 2005
The Chantuto phase is the name given to Archaic period occupation of the coastal tidewaters along the southwest Mexico, dated roughly between 4000-1500 BC.
Chanka Polity
Thursday June 16, 2005
The Chanka was a small polity in the Peruvian highlands following the Wari empire and a rival to the Inca civilization
Chanhu Daro (Pakistan)
Wednesday June 15, 2005
The archaeological site of Chanhu Daro is a Jhukar culture site located in Sind province of modern day Pakistan.
Chang 'an (China)
Wednesday June 15, 2005
Chang'an is the name of one of the most important ancient capital cities of China.
Contamination of Oetzi
Wednesday June 15, 2005
CNN is reporting that modern bacteria may have contaminated the Iceman.
News stories aggregated by Mark McConaughy on our bulletin board.
Roman Mosaic from Libya
Wednesday June 15, 2005
A new mosaic was found at the Roman villa of Wadi Lebda on the Libyan coast. Mark McConaughy has the latest word on our bulletin board.
Archaeology Quiz: Olmec Civilization
Tuesday June 14, 2005
What do you know about the sophisticated central American culture known as the Olmec? Give this quiz a spin and find out.
2000 year old Date Palm seed germinated
Tuesday June 14, 2005
Scientists have managed to germinate a date palm seed that was recovered at Masada, Israel, in AD 73.
News stories aggregated by Mark McConaughy on the bulletin board.
The Rape of the Nile - A Book Review
Tuesday June 14, 2005
Brian Fagan's The Rape of the Nile is a resonant description of those days when science and scientific thought was being forged, both awful and awe-inspiring.
Thucydides [ca. 460 - 400 BC]
Tuesday June 14, 2005
The written work of Greek scholar and historian Thucydides has been an invaluable resource to archaeologists interested in the history of Greece
Donald Thomson [1901-1970]
Tuesday June 14, 2005
Australian anthropologist Donald Thomson is perhaps best known among anthropologists for his ethnographic work among the Wik Mungkan of in Cape York, Queensland, Australia.
Archaeology at the Presidio
Monday June 13, 2005
Barbara Voss (via the listserver HistArch) sends along information about a week-long archaeology event at the Presidio of San Francisco open to the public called "After the Dig." Details on ... Read More
Roman Statues Found in Libya
Monday June 13, 2005
News from the site of Cyrene, Libya is that 76 Roman statues were buried during an earthquake in AD 375; news summary from Mark McConaughy on the About Archaeology bulletin ... Read More
New Neolithic Culture Found in Europe
Monday June 13, 2005
On the bulletin board, Mark McConaughy sends along articles about an elaborate Neolithic culture recently found in Central Europe.
David Hurst Thomas
Monday June 13, 2005
American archaeologist David Hurst Thomas is probably best known for his series of books called Columbian Consequences
Cyrus Thomas [1825-1910]
Sunday June 12, 2005
Cyrus Thomas was an American archaeologist, associated with the Smithsonian Institution, who spent his career studying Native American burial mounds throughout the midwest.
Alexander Thom [1894-1985]
Sunday June 12, 2005
Scottish engineer Alexander Thom is best known in archaeological circles for his painstaking recordation of Stonehenge and other megalithic sites in the United Kingdom
Akrotiri (Greece)
Sunday June 12, 2005
The archaeological site of Akrotiri is the name given to a small Minoan settlement located on the volcanic island of Thera in the Aegean Sea.
Thule Tradition
Sunday June 12, 2005
Thule tradition is the name given to late prehistoric whale hunters of the Chukchi Sea.
Three Age System
Saturday June 11, 2005
The so-called Three Age System was developed by the Danish curator of the National Museum of Denmark C.J. Thomsen, at the instigation of his predecessor Rasmus Nyerup, and to resolve ... Read More
Thebes (Egypt)
Saturday June 11, 2005
The Egyptian Middle and New Kingdom capital of Thebes, in the modern town of Luxor Egypt, was first occupied during the Old Kingdom.
Thayngen-Weier (Switzerland)
Saturday June 11, 2005
The archaeological site of Thayngen-Weier is an early Neolithic (Cortaillod culture) Alpine lake settlement occupied between about 5500-5000 years ago.
Peiligang (China)
Saturday June 11, 2005
The Peiligang site is the type site of a Neolithic culture of the Liao basin of southwest Manchuria.
Naujan (Canada)
Friday June 10, 2005
The archaeological site of Naujan is located near the modern town of Repulse Bay on the northwestern edge of Hudson Bay in Canada.
Natsushima (Japan)
Friday June 10, 2005
The archaeological site of Natsushima is an early Jomon tradition site, located in Kanagawa Province on a small island in Tokyo Bay, Japan.
Casas Grandes, Mexico
Friday June 10, 2005
Casas Grandes (or Paquimé) was a large, influential capital city of the Casas Grandes polity in the state of Chihuahua, northern Mexico
Kuélap (Peru)
Friday June 10, 2005
The circular stone fortress of Kuélap is located on a rocky promontory deep in the Amazon rainforest of Peru, and dates to the Chachapoyas culture.
Kuélap (Peru)
Thursday June 9, 2005
The circular stone fortress of Kuélap is located on a rocky promontory deep in the Amazon rainforest of Peru, and dates to the Chachapoyas culture.
Chalchuapa (el Salvador)
Thursday June 9, 2005
Chalchuapa is the name of a Maya period site in El Salvador, occupied from about 1200 BC to the Spanish conquest.
Chahai (China)
Thursday June 9, 2005
Chahai is the name of an archaeological site in China, near Fuxin in Liaoning Province, Manchuria, and belonging to the early Neolithic Xinglongwa culture.
Chaco Canyon (USA)
Thursday June 9, 2005
Chaco Canyon is an archaeological site in the state of New Mexico in the American southwest, belonging to the Anasazi culture.
Chachapoyas Culture
Wednesday June 8, 2005
Chachapoyas culture is the name given to an Andean civilization, located in the Amazon rainforest
Cerén (el Salvador)
Wednesday June 8, 2005
The archaeological site of Ceren is a Mesoamerican agricultural village in El Salvador, known as the American Pompeii.
Celtic Culture
Wednesday June 8, 2005
The Celtic culture (or Celts) were a long-recognized cultural group of the Iron Age in western Europe, from about the 11th to the first century BC.
Thule Tradition Archaeology in the High Canadian Arctic
Wednesday June 8, 2005
The Thule Tradition is the name given to the ancestors of the modern day Inuit peoples of the Canadian High Arctic, who have lived in the region for at least ... Read More
Project Zeugma
Tuesday June 7, 2005
The University of Luxembourg conducted remote sensing examination of the Roman city of Zeugma in Turkey, shortly before the site was inundated by new Birecik dam built on the Euphrates ... Read More
Zeugma, Turkey
Tuesday June 7, 2005
The Roman city of Zeugma went under the water of the Birecik Dam in September of 2000; but not before French archaeologists were able to record and preserve some of ... Read More
Archaeology Quiz: Homo erectus and Homo ergaster
Tuesday June 7, 2005
Do you know much about our immediate human ancestors, Homo erectus and Homo ergaster? Try this quiz and see.
Zeugma, Turkey
Tuesday June 7, 2005
From the United States Public Broadcasting Service, a website built for the PBS special on the Roman villa salvaged by French archaeologists before being inundated by a dam on the ... Read More
Cave Art
Tuesday June 7, 2005
Cave art refers to paintings, murals, drawings, etchings, carvings, and pecked artwork on the interior of rockshelters and caves.
Causeways
Tuesday June 7, 2005
A causeway is an early form of transportation system, consisting of a narrow, man-made earthen or rock structure that bridged a waterway.
Cimmerian Culture
Tuesday June 7, 2005
The Cimmerian culture were nomadic horse-riding people of the Russian steppes beginning about 1200 BC.
Julio Cesar Tello [1880-1947]
Tuesday June 7, 2005
Peruvian archaeologist Julio Tello is considered the father of modern archaeology in Peru, and is probably most associated with the Chavín culture.
Ebla (Syria)
Monday June 6, 2005
Ebla is the name of an Early Bronze Age archaeological site in northern Syria, occupied beginnning in the 4th millennium BC through the 7th century AD.
Dereivka (Ukraine)
Monday June 6, 2005
Dereivka is a Eneolithic (or Copper Age) village in the Dneiper Valley of the Ukraine, dated 3380-4570 BC, excavated by Dmitriy Yakolevich Telegin of the Russian Academy of Sciences in ... Read More
Thapsos (Italy)
Monday June 6, 2005
The archaeological site called Thapsos is a Middle Bronze Age site on the island of Sicily near Syracuse, and the type site for the Thapsos culture.
A Walking Tour of Machu Picchu
Monday June 6, 2005
The ruins of Machu Picchu are framed by the mountain called Huayna Picchu. Photo Credit: Gina Carey
One of the best known sets of archaeological ruins in the world, Machu Picchu ... Read More
Textiles
Monday June 6, 2005
Archaeologists use the word textiles to refer to woven cloth, bags, nets, basketry, cord-twisting, sandals and other perishable material created out of organic fibers.
Terra Amata (France)
Sunday June 5, 2005
Terra Amata is an Acheulean paleolithic site located on the Mediterranean coast of southern France near the modern town of Nice.
Ternifine (Algeria)
Sunday June 5, 2005
Ternifine is an Acheulean site located near Palikao in the Oran region of Algeria, which contained hominin skeletal material, stone tools and theropithecus remains.
Tepe Gawra (Iraq)
Sunday June 5, 2005
The site of Tepe Gawra is a Mesopotamian city in northern Iraq, fifteen kilometers from the modern town of Mosul.
Tepanec Empire
Sunday June 5, 2005
The Tepanec Empire was based at the city state of Azcapotzalco when war with their Aztec neighbors to the north broke out in AD 1428.
Teotihuacan (Mexico)
Saturday June 4, 2005
The city of Teotihuacan was built in the highlands of central Mexico about 150 BC and became one of the largest cities in the world of the time.
Tenochtitlan (Mexico)
Saturday June 4, 2005
The capital city of the Aztec civilization, Tenochtitlan is now the metropolis of Mexico City.
Tenayuca (Mexico)
Saturday June 4, 2005
The site of Tenayuca is a Middle Post Classic period city and pyramid located in the state of Mexico north of Mexico City.
Templo Mayor (Mexico)
Saturday June 4, 2005
The principal temple for the Aztec people living in Tenochtitlan, the Templo Mayor was built beginning in the year 1390 AD
Temples and Shrines
Friday June 3, 2005
Basically, archaeologists think of the word temple as meaning one of three kinds of shrines.
Telloh (Iraq)
Friday June 3, 2005
The archaeological site of Telloh is the remains of an ancient Sumerian city called Girsu, occupied between 2500-2300 BC.
Toutswemogala (Botswana)
Friday June 3, 2005
The site of Toutswemogala is a large permanent settlement of the Toutswe Tradition located in the Limpopo River valley of eastern Botswana.
Tekkalakota (India)
Friday June 3, 2005
Tekkalakota is a Neolithic period site in Bellary district, India, where archaeologists found the foundations of circular huts and a small cemetery
Tehuacan Valley (Mexico)
Friday June 3, 2005
The Tehuacan Valley in the state of Puebla, Mexico, was the focus of a large-scale survey led by American archaeologist R.S. MacNeish during the 1960s.
Hisarlik (Turkey)
Thursday June 2, 2005
Hisarlik is the modern name for the ancient site of Troy, located in what is now Turkey.
Sipán
Thursday June 2, 2005
Located in the lower Lambayeque Valley of the northern coast of Peru, Sipán is one of the most well known archaeological sites in the world, an administrative and religious center ... Read More
San Pedro de Atacama (Chile)
Thursday June 2, 2005
The archaeological site of San Pedro de Atacama is a Tiwanaku culture outpost, located in a desert oasis some 800 kilometers from the capital of the Tiwanuku empire
Caddoan Culture
Thursday June 2, 2005
Caddoan culture is the name given to farmers in the Arkansas River Valley of the central southern United States and southwestward between about 1100-400 BP (years before the present).
Taos Conference
Thursday June 2, 2005
The Taos Conference is the name given to a 1988 committee meeting of the Society for American Archaeology where the Save the Future for the Past project was initiated.
Gallagh Man (Ireland)
Wednesday June 1, 2005
Gallagh Man is the name given to an Iron Age (ca 470 and 120 B.C.) bog body recovered from a peat bog in Castleblakeney, County Galway.
Cahokia (USA)
Wednesday June 1, 2005
Cahokia is a large Mississippian (AD 1000-1600) agricultural settlement located on the American Bottom of the Mississippi River in Illinois.
Monte Grande (Sicily)
Wednesday June 1, 2005
The Monte Grande site is a Castelluccio culture site, located in the Agrigento region and consisting of an Early Bronze Age sanctuary and a sulfur extraction and processing site.
Plum Piece (Lesser Antilles)
Wednesday June 1, 2005
The archaeological site called Plum Piece is an aceramic shell midden site on tiny Saba Island in the northern Lesser Antilles east of Puerto Rico.