Glossary: A Terms
Aspero (Peru)
Aspero is the name of a large mound site, part of the Caral-Supe Tradition located on the central coast of Peru and dated to approximately 5,000 years before the present.
Atapuerca (Spain)
The Sierra de Atapuerca is an ancient karst topography region of Spain, where several caves are located with evidence of very old occupations.
Áth Cliath (Ireland)
Áth Cliath is a Viking longphort established at least as early as 841 AD at what was to become Dublin, Ireland.
Atchana (Syria)
The tell site of Atchana was an Early to Late Bronze Age trading center in Syria.
Athens (Greece)
Surely among the most well known of archaeological sites, the ancient capital of the Greek civilization Athens was first occupied during the Neolithic period.
Atlantis
Atlantis is a fictional kingdom described by Plato in two of his dialogues, Timaeus and Critias.
Athabaskan
The Athabaskans were late prehistoric and historic period peoples of the American southwest, considered ancestral to the Navajo and Apache and other modern groups.
Atlatl
The atlatl is a sophisticated combination hunting tool or weapon, formed out of a short dart with a point socketed into a longer shaft.
Atlit-Yam (Israel)
Atlit-Yam is a 9,000 year old fishing village about 24-30 feet below the Mediterranean Sea on the Carmel Coast of Israel.
Avocado History
The avocado was domesticated in central Mesoamerica and has spread far and wide from there.
Aurignacian Period
The Aurignacian period (40,000 to 28,000 years ago) is an Upper Paleolithic stone tool tradition
Avar Culture
The Avar culture is the name given to Slavic nomads living near the Danube River basin from the 6th through 9th centuries AD.
Australopithecus
Australopithecus is an early hominid ancestor of ours, depending on how you define "ancestor", the most famous of which is Lucy.
Avebury (United Kingdom)
Avebury is an ancient megalithic site, dated to the Late Neolithic period and located in in central south England.
Axe
An axe is a stone wood working tool, used as modern day axes are, to cut down trees, horizontally slicing through the wood.
Ayer Pond (Washington State, USA)
Ayer Pond, excavated by workmen in 2003, contains what appears to be a bison butchered by pre-clovis people.
Aymara Culture
The Aymara are a modern cultural group of the Andes in Peru, and the descendants of the Tiwanaku Empire in the Lake Titicaca region of Bolivia and Peru (400-1500 AD).
Axumite Civilization
The Axumite civilization is a Coptic pre-Christian state in Ethiopia, from about AD 100-800.
Ayn Qasiyya (Jordan)
Ayn Qasiyya is an Epipaleolithic site where an unusual burial was identified, located in the Azraq Oasis of Jordan.
Aztec Calendar Stone
The Aztec Calendar Stone, aka the Aztec Sun Stone, is a basalt sculpture with politically-motivated carvings related to the sun god Tonatiuh.
Aztec Civilization
The Aztec civilization is the collective name given to seven Chichimec tribes of northern Mexico
Aztlán, The Mytical Homeland of the Aztec-Mexica
Aztlan is the name of the mythical (and perhaps historical) homeland from which the Aztec/Mexica migrated to the Valley of Mexico in the 13th century.
Azilian Culture
The Azilian culture refers to the material remains of the people in Europe at the end of the last Ice Age who were smart enough to adapt to conditions and survive to become Mesolithic hunters and gatherers
Aztalan is a large Mississippian site located on the west bank of the...
Aztalan is a Woodland and Mississippian site located on the west bank of the Crawfish River near Lake Mills in the midwestern US state of Wisconsin, with clear, direct connections with Cahokia.
Azuki (Vigna angularis)
The azuki bean (or adzuki or red bean) was probably domesticated somewhere in East Asia about 7,000 years ago.