Archaeology Glossary Entries from A-Group to Adze

A.D. (Anno Domini)
The initials A.D. (used with or without periods) is an abbreviation for the Latin "Anno Domini", which translates to "the Year of Our Lord," referring to years after the birth of Jesus Christ.

A.H. (Anno Hegirae)
A.H. (Anno Hegirae) is the calendar designation for the Muslim religion.

Abri Castanet (France)
Abri Castanet is a rockshelter in the Dordogne region of France, where rich Aurignacian deposits have been discovered.

Aachen (Germany)
A modern day city in Germany, Aachen (or Aix-la-Chapelle) is reputed to be the birthplace of Charlemagne; it was the capital of his empire, and it is where he is buried.

Aali Cemetery (Bahrain)
The Dilmun culture Aali Cemetery contains over 11,000 burials belonging to the people who traded with Mesopotamia and Meluhha during the 3rd millennium BC.

Abbasid Dynasty
The Abbasid Dynasty ruled the Arab world between 758-1258 AD, and so is considered the medieval period for Islamic culture.

Abbots Way (UK)
Abbot's Way is a Neolithic trackway, first built about 2000 BC as a footpath to cross a lowland mire in the Somerset Levels and Moors wetland region of Somerset, England.

Aboriginal Peoples
The term aboriginal peoples or, more simply aborigines, is an anthropological term referring generally to the native people of an area, in contrast to invading or colonizing peoples.

Abri Pataud (France)
Abri Pataud is an important Upper Paleolithic Cave located in the Dordogne valley of south central France, with important human occupations dated between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago.

Abric Romani (Catalonia)
The rockshelter of Abric Romaní is located in a cliff outside of the village of Capellades, in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, some 50 kilometers west of Barcelona, Spain.

Abydos (Egypt)
Abydos is an Early Dynastic city and necropolis in Egypt, built ca 3150 BC by Seti I and sacred to Osiris.

Abu Ghurab (Egypt)
Abu Ghurab is a 5th dynasty (Old Kingdom, 2465-2323 BC) Egyptian pyramid and solar temple complex on the Saqqara plateau.

Abu Simbel (Sudan)
Abu Simbel is a temple built by Ramesses II (Pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty of the New Kingdom, who ruled 1279-1213 BC) in Nubia, now the Sudan.

Acheulo-Yabrudian Cultural Complex
The Acheulo-Yabrudian Cultural Complex (or AYCC) is the name archaeologists have given to the period between the Lower and Middle Paleolithic periods in the Levant.

Achaemenid Dynasty
The Achaemenids were the ruling dynasty of Cyrus the Great and his family over the Persian empire, from 550-330 BC, when it was conquered by Alexander the Great.

Acheulean Tradition
The Acheulean Tradition is an Old World Lower Paleolithic culture, dated from 1.4 million years ago to 100,000 years ago.

Actun Tunichil Muknal, or ATM Cave, Belize
Actun Tunichil Muknal is a cave in Belize where has been found archaeological evidence of human sacrifice associated with rain rituals.

Acoma Culture
The Acoma is the name of a Native American pueblo culture of the American southwest, which arose at the end of the Great Drought in the 14th and 15th centuries AD.

Acropolis of Athens (Greece)
The Acropolis of Athens is located on the top of a steep rock outcrop in the middle of the ancient city, which covered with Classical Period temples and structures and topped with the Parthenon.

Adaïma (Egypt)
Adaïma is a predynastic and early Dynastic settlement located in the Nile valley of Egypt

Adena Hopewell Civilization
The Hopewell civilization (also called Adena in some regions) is a prehistoric culture of the American middle west.

Adze
An adze is a stone wood-working tool, like an axe, except that the blade is at right-angles to the haft.

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is an independent political body of the United States government created under the National Historic Preservation Act, to advise the President and Congress on historic preservation issues.

Abu Hureyra (Syria)
Abu Hureyra is the ruins of an ancient settlement, located on the south side of the Euphrates valley of northern Syria, where the earliest...