Animal Domestication - Table of Dates and Places of Animal Domestica…Updated: Mon May 12 13:11:49 2008
Domestication is the process of genetically adapting an animal or plant to better suit the needs of human beings; this page includes a definition of domestication and a table of domestication dates…
Cuneiform - What is CuneiformUpdated: Mon May 12 13:03:49 2008
One of the earliest forms of writing, cuneiform was (probably) invented in Uruk, Mesopotamia around 3000 BC. …
Babylon - What and Where is BabylonUpdated: Mon May 12 13:03:08 2008
The archaeological site of Babylon was the capital of a small city state of Mesopotamia, named Babylonia, located in what is now Iraq, near the modern town of Hilla. …
Monte Verde II - A Photo Essay of Monte VerdeUpdated: Mon May 12 12:58:16 2008
Monte Verde is an archaeological site, located in southern Chile, on an inland estuary 55 kilometers west of the current Pacific coastline. …
Iceman - Who was the IcemanUpdated: Sat May 10 13:29:59 2008
The Iceman was found in the Alps between Italy and Austria in 1991, and are the remains of a Bronze Age hunter lost in a storm between 3350-3300 BC…
Graduate School - Why You Should or Should Not Go to Graduate SchoolUpdated: Sat May 10 13:29:03 2008
Deciding to go to graduate school is one of the tougher decisions you'll have to make as a beginning archaeologist. To be a career archaeologist, you'll need that advanced degree; but having it may…
Capacocha Ceremony - Inca Child SacrificesUpdated: Sat May 10 13:15:45 2008
The capacocha ceremony was an important part of the Inca civilization, in which children were sacrificed to celebrate royal events, or to avoid natural catastrophes. …
Chickpeas - When and Where were Chickpeas DomesticatedUpdated: Sat May 10 13:12:42 2008
Chickpeas were domesticated about 11,000 years ago in what is now Turkey; but the changes instilled by Neolithic people are unlike most other domesticates. …
Monte Verde - What and Where is Monte VerdeUpdated: Sat May 10 12:11:46 2008
Monte Verde is Southern Chile's addition to the problem of when was the earliest settlement of the American continent…
Pacific Coast Migration Model - What is the Pacific Coast Migration …Updated: Tue May 6 19:40:14 2008
The Pacific Coast Migration Model is a theory concerning the original colonization of the Americas that proposes that people entering the continents followed the Pacific coastline…
Inca Empire - Study Guide of the Inca EmpireUpdated: Mon May 5 21:13:34 2008
The Inca empire was the largest pre-hispanic empire of South America when it was 'discovered' by the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century AD…
Roman Roads - What Were Roman RoadsUpdated: Mon May 5 12:57:40 2008
Roman roads (called Viae Publicae in Latin) were an extremely important construction project for imperial Rome, as they allowed for communication and control of the vast Roman empire throughout Eur…
Ancient Roads - Science Fair Project - Ancient RoadsUpdated: Mon May 5 12:45:48 2008
This science fair project includes making a study of an ancient roadway or transportation network, that could include a map, a plan or cutaway drawing to show how the road or causeway was construct…
The Inca Road - What and Where was the Inca RoadUpdated: Mon May 5 12:40:16 2008
The Inca road system (called Capaq Ñan or Gran Ruta Inca) was an essential part of the success of the Inca Empire…
Paleolithic - Study Guide and Chronology of the PaleolithicUpdated: Fri May 2 21:51:17 2008
A definition and chronology of the Stone Age (more commonly known to scholars as the Paleolithic era), which in human prehistory is the name given to the period between about 2.5 million and 20,000…
Sunflowers - When and Where were Sunflowers DomesticatedUpdated: Fri May 2 21:15:39 2008
Sunflowers (Helianthus spp.) are native to the American continents. Prehistoric use of sunflowers included ornamental and ceremonial use, as well as for food and flavoring. …
Machu Picchu - an Introduction to Machu PicchuUpdated: Thu May 1 20:24:12 2008
On a cloud-draped ridge between the two peaks lies the site of Machu Picchu, part of the estate of the Inca king Pachacuti, one of the glories of the ancient past. …
Aztec Civilization - Study Guide to the Aztec CivilizationUpdated: Thu May 1 20:20:18 2008
The Aztec civilization was the last great precolumbian civilization on the American continents. This study guide is a capsule description of the important elements of the Aztecs, some facts and fig…
Aztecs - Who Were the AztecsUpdated: Thu May 1 20:00:03 2008
Aztec is the collective name given to seven Chichimec tribes of northern Mexico…
Ice Free Corridor - What is the Ice Free CorridorUpdated: Wed Apr 30 16:20:03 2008
Since at least the 1930s, the Ice Free Corridor hypothesis was the accepted human colonization route for the American continents; but the hypothesis has since been called into question. …
Clovis People - Who were the Clovis peopleUpdated: Mon Apr 28 12:59:40 2008
The Clovis culture is the earliest well-established human culture in the North American continent…
Dakhleh Oasis - The Western Desert Haven of Dakhleh OasisCreated: Sat Apr 26 22:15:27 2008
Dakhleh (also spelled Dahkla or is the name of an important oasis located in the Western Desert of Egypt about 300 kilometers west of Luxor. …
Savi - West African Slave Capital SaviUpdated: Sat Apr 26 21:39:55 2008
Savi (also spelled Xavier, Sabi or Sabbee) was the capital city of the Hueda kingdom, located on the Atlantic coast of Africa near the town of Ouidah in what is today Benin. …
Being a Freshman - Sureyya's Journey Part 5 - Being a FreshmanUpdated: Thu Apr 24 15:21:43 2008
Being a freshman after changing careers is a challenge. I.T. sysop Sureyya Kose has decided to change careers from Information Technology to Archaeology. In this part of Sureyya's Journey, Sureyya …
Igbo Ukwu - What and where is Igbo UkwuUpdated: Thu Apr 24 15:05:34 2008
Igbo Ukwu is an archaeological site near the modern town of Onitsha, southeastern Nigeria. …
Great Zimbabwe - What and where is Great ZimbabweUpdated: Thu Apr 24 15:04:28 2008
Great Zimbabwe is an Iron Age settlement and dry-stone monument located near the town of Masvingo in central Zimbabwe…
Tula - Where is the Toltec Site of TulaUpdated: Wed Apr 23 14:18:28 2008
The archaeological ruins of Tula (also called Tula de Hidalgo), are located in the Mexican state of Hildalgo about 50 kilometers northwest of Mexico City. …
Early Africans in the New World - Archaeology and Isotope Analysis a…Updated: Tue Apr 22 14:20:14 2008
Stable isotope analysis has assisted in identifying what may be among the earliest Africans in the New World, and perhaps indications of slave trade in the early 16th century between West Africa an…
Applications of Stable Isotope Research - Research Applications of S…Updated: Tue Apr 22 14:15:18 2008
The application of stable isotope analysis to archaeological questions is about 30 years old; and since this innovative research was conducted in the mid 1970s, the variety and number of applicatio…
Phalaborwa - African Iron Age site of PhalaborwaUpdated: Tue Apr 22 14:10:43 2008
The archaeological complex of Phalaborwa consists of a series of iron and copper mining sites dated the early parts of the second millennium AD. …
History of Stable Isotope Research in ArchaeologyUpdated: Tue Apr 22 14:07:29 2008
The very first archaeological application of stable isotope research was by South African archaeologist Nikolaas van der Merwe, who was excavating at the Iron Age site of Kgopolwe 3…
The Lost Legions - Cultural Contact in Colonial Australia - Book Rev…Updated: Mon Apr 21 20:13:32 2008
The Lost Legions is Alistair Paterson's book about the British colonialism of the Australian outback--and it contains more fascinating ideas than can be fully explicated between its covers. …
Ochre - What is OchreUpdated: Mon Apr 21 19:49:54 2008
Ochre (also spelled ocher) and Hematite are names archaeologists use to refer to several forms of iron oxide, that is to say a type of clay or sandy clay mineral that is found naturally in many dif…
The Solutrean-Clovis Connection - Peopling America Theory called So…Updated: Mon Apr 21 13:50:53 2008
The Solutrean-Clovis connection is a theory suggesting that the original human colonizers of the North American continent were direct descendants of Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherers from the Iber…
History of Archaeology: The Series - History of ArchaeologyUpdated: Mon Apr 21 12:28:00 2008
The history of archaeology is a long and checkered one. If there is anything archaeology teaches us, it is to look to the past to learn from our mistakes and, if we can find any, our successes. Wha…
The Origin of Archaeological Science - The History of Archaeology, P…Updated: Sun Apr 20 17:33:55 2008
The science of archaeology got a kickstart with the help of 19th century thinkers: museum curators Worsaae and Thomsen, biologist Charles Darwin and geologist Charles Lyell…
Effects of the Enlightenment - The History of Archaeology Part 2 - E…Updated: Sun Apr 20 17:11:45 2008
The Enlightenment of 18th century Europe had a profound effect on people interested in nature and philosophy, leading to the creation of the first sciences including the study of archaeology…
Career Change - Sureyya's Journey Part 1 - Career ChangeUpdated: Thu Apr 17 19:00:01 2008
Changing careers is always difficult, no matter what career you choose or what age you are when you set out to make a change. 22-year-old I.T. sysop Sureyya Kose has decided to change careers from …
Changing Careers - Sureyya's Journey Part 4 - Sometimes Life Interve…Updated: Thu Apr 17 16:52:16 2008
The difficulty in changing careers is not always simply a matter of the hitches in getting the background you need. 22-year-old I.T. sysop Sureyya Kose has decided to change careers from Informatio…
Career Research - Sureyya's Journey Part 2 - Career ResearchUpdated: Thu Apr 17 16:46:46 2008
Career research is a vital part of any prospective career change. I.T. sysop Sureyya Kose has decided to change careers from Information Technology to Archaeology. In this part of Sureyya's Journey…
Career Change Advice - Sureyya's Journey Part 3 - A Bumpy Career Cha…Updated: Thu Apr 17 16:10:08 2008
Career changes are fraught with snags and holdups. I.T. sysop Sureyya Kose has decided to change careers from Information Technology to Archaeology. In this part of Sureyya's Journey, Sureyya descr…
Barbara Mertz [b. 1927]Updated: Thu Apr 17 14:19:28 2008
American Egyptologist Barbara Mertz is best known for her numerous archaeologically-related novels, including a long-running series on the fictional Egyptologist family of Amelia Peabody and Radcli…
Cacao - The Archaeology of Cacao in Central AmericaUpdated: Tue Apr 15 02:31:58 2008
Criollo cacao (Theobroma cacao spp cacao) is the name of a small tropical tree with large ovate fruit, native to the northern Amazon of South America but found in ancient planted groves throughout …
Goat Domestication - History of Goat DomesticationUpdated: Mon Apr 14 22:00:58 2008
Domestic goats (Capra hircus) were among the first domesticated animals. Beginning about 10,500-10,800 years ago, Neolithic farmers in the Near East began keeping small herds of goats for their mil…
The Domestic Donkey - Origins of the Domestic DonkeyUpdated: Mon Apr 14 21:12:31 2008
The modern donkey (Equus asinus) was bred from the wild African ass (E. africanus spp) in northeastern Africa during the predynastic period of Egypt, about 6,000 years ago. …
The Domestic Cat - The Origins of the Domestic CatUpdated: Mon Apr 14 21:09:50 2008
Although available evidence makes it difficult to say, the modern day cat was permanently domesticated about 4000 years ago, in Egypt. …
Jericho - The Archaeological Ruin of JerichoUpdated: Mon Apr 14 21:05:27 2008
Jericho (also called Tell es-Sultan) is the name of tell situated on an ancient lake bed plain in what is known as the West Bank, in the territory belonging to Palestine…
Smakkerup Huse - European Mesolithic site of Smakkerup HuseCreated: Mon Apr 14 21:04:35 2008
Smakkerup Huse is a European Mesolithic Ertebølle site located at the headwaters of a former fjord called the Saltbaek Vig on the island of Zealand, Denmark…
RCYBP - Radio Carbon Years Before the Present or RCYBPUpdated: Mon Apr 14 21:02:53 2008
RCYBP (Radio Carbon Years Before the Present and abbreviated in many different ways) is a shorthand reference to the uncalibrated date recovered from carbon 14 dating. …
Archaeology Definitions - Several Scholarly Versions of Archaeology …Updated: Mon Apr 14 20:57:57 2008
What is Archaeology? The study of archaeology has been defined in a number of silly and serious ways. Here's a collection of pithy quotes from archaeologists and non-archaeologists. …
Deir el-Medina - The New Kingdom Village of Deir el-MedinaUpdated: Mon Apr 14 13:54:37 2008
Deir el-Medina is a New Kingdom (18th dynasty) residential village of the workmen who built and decorated Egyptian tombs in the Valley of the Kings. …
Hunter Gatherers - What are Hunter GatherersUpdated: Mon Apr 14 13:30:21 2008
Hunter gatherers is the name anthropologists have given to people who rely on a combined living of hunting game and gathering root vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Hunting and gathering was the lifesty…
Lucy - the Australopithecus afarensis LucyUpdated: Mon Apr 14 13:10:53 2008
Lucy is the name of the nearly complete skeleton of an Australopithecus afarensis, found in 1974 at AL 333, a site in the Hadar archaeological region on the Afar Triangle of Ethiopia…
Obsidian HydrationUpdated: Mon Apr 14 12:49:01 2008
The dating technique called obsidian hydration is a favorite of archaeologists, both because it is relatively secure and because it is relatively inexpensive. …
Ushki Lake Sites - What and Where are the Ushki Lake SitesUpdated: Mon Apr 14 12:42:20 2008
The Ushki Lake sites are five locales along the Ushki Lake shore of the Kamchatka Peninsula of northeastern Siberia, in the region known as western Beringia. …
RCYBP - Radio Carbon Years Before the PresentUpdated: Mon Apr 14 12:25:04 2008
RCYBP (Radio Carbon Years Before the Present) is a shorthand reference to the calibration (or rather, lack of it) for that particular date…
Predmostí (Czech Republic)Updated: Sun Apr 13 21:14:07 2008
Predmostí is an early modern human Upper Paleolithic site, located in the Moravian region of what is today the Czech Republic. …
European Mesolithic - A Timeline of the European MesolithicUpdated: Sun Apr 13 14:59:25 2008
The Mesolithic period is traditionally that time period in the Old World between the last glaciation (ca. 10,000 years BP) and beginning of the Neolithic (ca. 5000 years BP)…
Skhul Cave - The Neanderthal site of Skhul CaveUpdated: Sun Apr 13 14:58:37 2008
Skhul Cave is a rockshelter located on the slopes of Mount Carmel in Israel, with evidence for occupations dating between about 80,000 and 100,000 years ago…
Palynology - What is PalynologyUpdated: Sun Apr 13 14:55:11 2008
Archaeological palynology is the study of pollen, the virtually indestructible, microscopic, but easily identifiable plant parts in archaeological sites. …
Opal Phytoliths - What are Opal PhytolithsUpdated: Sun Apr 13 14:54:42 2008
An opal phytolith is a tiny, three-dimensional copies of a plant cells created by a plant as a product of taking in water with dissolved silica…
La Garma A - The Spanish Rockshelter of La Garma AUpdated: Sun Apr 13 14:54:02 2008
La Garma A is the name of part of an extensive cave system located within the Monte de la Garma hill in the Cantabrian region of northern Spain. …
Kaletepe Deresi 3 - The Paleolithic site of Kalatepe DeresiUpdated: Sun Apr 13 14:49:06 2008
The site of Kaletepe Deresi 3 is located in the Göllü Dag region of central Turkey, and it contains at least three Middle and Lower Paleolithic archaeological components. …
Misericordia - The Vitrified Fort of MisericordiaUpdated: Sun Apr 13 14:46:36 2008
Misericordia is a vitrified fort in Portugal, which was used in a recent innovative study to test the utility of archaeomagnetic dating techniques on such sites. …
Thebes - The Middle and New Kingdom Capital of ThebesUpdated: Sun Apr 13 14:45:30 2008
The Egyptian Middle and New Kingdom capital of Thebes, in the modern town of Luxor Egypt, was first occupied during the Old Kingdom. …
Arene Candide - Upper Paleolithic Burial of Arene CandideUpdated: Sun Apr 13 14:44:58 2008
The site of Arene Candide is a large cave located on the Ligurian coast of Italy near Savona, in which the richly appointed grave of an Upper Paleolithic young man was discovered. …
Adaima - The Predynastic site of AdaimaUpdated: Sun Apr 13 14:44:10 2008
Adaïma is a predynastic and early Dynastic settlement located in the Nile valley of Egypt…
Plant Residues - Archaeological Study of Plant ResiduesUpdated: Sun Apr 13 14:43:38 2008
A plant residue is the term used by archaeologists to refer to the microscopic parts of sticky bits left over from either processing or cooking vegetal matter…
Daisy Cave - The California Rockshelter of Daisy CaveUpdated: Sun Apr 13 14:42:36 2008
Daisy Cave is a rockshelter located in the northern Channel Islands off the coast of California in the western United States, with a Paleoindian occupation. …
Molodova Sites - The Upper Paleolithic Moldova SitesUpdated: Sun Apr 13 14:41:34 2008
The Middle and Upper Paleolithic site of Molodova is located on the Dniester River in the Chernovtsy province of the Ukraine. …
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