Glossary: F Terms
al-Fustat (Egypt)
Al-Fustat is the name of the first Islamic capital of Egypt, founded shortly after the Ummayyad conquest of Egypt in the 7th century AD.
Faience
Faience is a completely manufactured material created (one assumes) to imitate the bright colors and gloss of hard-to-get gems and used in jewelry throughout Egypt and the Near East beginning about 5500 years ago.
Failaka (Kuwait)
Failaka, known in the epic of Gilgamesh as the Garden of Eden, is the name of an island in the Persian Gulf where Dilmun culture houses and temples were located.
Fanshan (China)
Fanshan (Fan Hill) is the name of an archaeological settlement and cemetery of the Liangzhu culture in China, 3300-2200 BC.
Farnham Castle Keep (United Kingdom)
Farnham Castle Keep is a Norman castle in Surrey, England, built by Bishop Henry de Blois in 1138 AD.
What is a Feature?
A feature is a useful term used by archaeologists to identify a group of objects or stains which ought to be studied in detail.
Fauresmith Industries
Fauresmith is a controversial stone tool technology today believed to date to the Middle Stone Age, and representing the earliest use of stone tipped spears, some 500,000 years ago.
Feasting
Feasting has been an important ritual function in human societies for at least 12,000 years.
Federmesser Culture
The Federmesser Culture is the name of a Scandinavian Late Mesolithic group (circa 12,500-9000 BC)
Feddersen Wierde (Germany)
An Iron Age Saxon settlement, Feddersen Wierde is located on the marshy coastland of northern Germany.
Feldberg Culture
"Slavic" cultural group in the 6th century AD of Germany and the Czech Republic.
Feudalism
Feudalism is a system of political organization, in which an elite individual called a "lord" has control over several common people, or "vassals" who till the land, serve as warriors, and conduct other work for the lord.
Feminist Archaeology
Feminist archaeology is that branch of theoretical archaeology which places women at the center of the investigations, by using gender theory as a background to discuss evidence, associations, and frameworks from a feminist persepective.
Fiction
The term fiction, in archaeology and elsewhere, refers to a piece of literature or other creative work that's wholly invented by the author.
Firuzabad (Iran)
Firuzabad is a modern city in southern Iran, about 200 kilometers south of Shiraz in Fars province.
Fish Weir
A fish weir or fish trap is a step forward in fishing technology, used in North America for the past several thousand years.
Fishbourne (United Kingdom)
Fishbourne is the name of a palace dated to the Roman empire, and built in Sussex, England, during the 1st century AD. The site, now open to the public, boasts Britain's largest collection of Roman mosaics still in their original setting in the floor of the palace.
Field Systems (Agricultural)
A "field system" generally refers to the innovative prehistoric and historic agricultural programs with elements such as raised fields, irrigation ditches, and the use of natural fertilizers.
Fission Track Dating
Fission track dating was developed in the mid 1960s by three American physicists
Five Mile Rapids Site, Oregon
Five Mile Rapids is the oldest fishery site in North America, with archaeological evidence of the earliest salmon consumption in North America
Flint Knapping
Flint knapping is the process by which stone tools are made
Fishtail Points
Fishtail points are to South America what Clovis points are to North America: associated with the earliest occupations in South America that everybody agrees on.
Flotation Method
Archaeological flotation involves using water to process soil or feature fill to recover tiny artifacts.
Folsom Culture
Folsom is the name of early Paleoindian hunter-gatherer peoples of the North American continent, ca. 9,000-10,500 years ago.
Flint Run Complex
Flint Run Complex is a subset of Clovis, located in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia.
Footwear and Shoe History
Evidence for the earliest use of shoes--protective covering of the foot--appears to date from the Middle Paleolithic period of approximately 40,000 years ago.
Forensic Anthropology Definition
Forensic anthropology is the study of human behaviors as they apply to the law. Here are more definitions of the study of forensic anthropology
Fort Atkinson (Iowa, USA)
The archaeological site of Fort Atkinson was an Indian Agency during the early 19th century.
Fort de Chartres (USA)
Fort de Chartres is an ighteenth century French fort located in the most remote part of New France--on the Mississippi River in Illinois, United States.
Fourknocks (Ireland)
Fourknocks is a Mesolithic settlement in Brugh na Bóinne or Boyne Valley or Ireland
Franchthi Cave (Greece)
Franchthi Cave is every archaeologist's dream site: great preservation in a stratified deposit covering thousands of years, and a great location.
Fortified Settlement
A fortified settlement is a dwelling, village or urban settlement in prehistory (or history for that matter) that has defensive structures such as moats, enclosures or ramparts
Frankfurt School
The Frankfurt School were a handful of critical theorists in the 20th century in Germany; their ideas were eventually brought to archaeology.
Franks
The Franks were a cultural group in Germany, closely watched by the latter-day Romans.
Fremont People
Fremont is the name archaeologists have given to the cutlural remains of people who farmed the arid deserts of the Great Basin of the southwestern United States, including portions of Utah, Nevada, and Colorado.
Fremont Culture
The Fremont culture of the American Great Basin are primarily known today for their rock art.
Frisians
About 2000 years ago, the Roman Empire reached the northwest coast of Germany, where (according to reports from Plinius and Tacitus) they met the formidable Frisians.
Froslunda Hoard (Sweden)
The Froslunda Hoard is a Late Bronze Age bronze cache of Herzsprung type shields.
Frénouville (France)
The site of Frénouville consists of a series of Late Antique and Early Medieval cemeteries in the Calvados region of western Normandy, including a total of over 650 burials interred between the Late Roman period and 7th century AD
Frontier
A frontier in archaeological terms means more than a border between two countries.
Fukui Cave (Japan)
Fukui Cave is a rockshelter located in Nagasaki Prefecture of the island of Kyushu, Japan, with three Incipient Jomon tradition occupations.
Funan State
Funan is the name given by two Chinese travelers, who in AD 250 visited a country ruled by a king in a palace with a walled settlement.
Fulani Caliphate
The Fulani are modern African pastoralists who are Muslim and today live in Mali, Guinea, Cameroon, Senegal and Niger.
Füzesabony Culture
Füzesabony culture, also known as Otomani culture, is the name given to a group of Bronze age settlements in the Carpathian basin in the early 2nd millennium BC.
La Ferrassie Cave (France)
La Ferrassie cave is a very large rock shelter in the Les Eyzies region of the Perigord, Dordogne Valley, France, with Middle and Upper Paleolithic occupations.
Le Flageolet I (France)
Le Flageolet I is a small, stratified rockshelter in the Dordogne valley of southwestern France, near the town of Bezenac.
Wadi Feinan (Jordan)
Wadi Feinan is the name of a wadi, or dry valley, in Jordan, where a number of important Chalcolithic and Bronze Age sites are located.
When was Fire First Controlled?
The controlled use of fire was an invention of the Early Stone Age (or Lower Paleolithic).
Funnel Beaker Culture
The Funnel Beaker Culture, called TRB for the abbreviation of its German name (Tricherrandbecher), is a subset of the Beaker culture.