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Glossary

Activity Areas - areas of distinct patterning of objects and features that reflect specific human activities

Anachronistic - representing something out of its proper historical period

Archaeology - study of past cultures primarily through the study of material culture (sites and artifacts)

Antiquity - the distant past, ancient times; usually the classical Greek and Roman period and everything prior to that time

Artifact - an object that has been made or modified by human activity

Association - the occurrence together in one context of archaeological remains

Balk sections - the balk is the unexcavated 1.0 meter area between squares; the section is the vertical face of the balk that remains; it is drawn and photographed

BCE / CE - "Before the Common Era" and "Common Era." - terms that are gradually replacing the more traditional BC/AD

Bovine - an ox or a cow

Byzantine - a term that reflects a shift in the Biblical Lands from dominance by the Roman Empire to influences from Constantinople and the East. Officially begins the period when the term "Holy Land" began to be used; 333 CE to 640 CE

Canaanean blade - a flint knife worked on both sides and trapezoidal in shape

Canaanites - Biblical term for the people who possessed the biblical lands before the Israelites; general term for populations in the southern Levant

Ceramist - an expert in the study of pottery

Chronology - study of the relationship of materials in a time sequence; the sequence of layers

Cist Tomb - a type of tomb that consisted of a pit over which stone slabs were laid.

Classification - an arrangement into categories of similarly related materials

Contour map - map showing characteristics or different elevations of an area; a series of contour lines shows different elevations

Cores - a lithic artifact from which flakes are removed

Cultic - the ritualistic practices of ancient religions

Culture - the way of life or sum total of the behavior and beliefs shared by a particular group

Culture Change - the variations in human culture over time, e.g., change from urban to nomadic lifestyle

Cultural complexity - a term to describe the scale of a society usually urban, that evidences full-time specialists, e.g., priest, craftsman, farmer

Debitage - the refuse or workshop debris resulting from flintknapping

Dipper Juglet - a type of vessel, usually miniature or small-sized, that serves as a type of ladle for liquids

Duckbill Jar - a type of EB I vessel whose side handles resemble a duck's bill.

Elites - members of a community who belong to an upper class or privileged element in society

Excavation - the systematic investigation of an archaeological site

Faunal - animal remains

Feature - material remains found at a site that are not architecture, but permanent structures such as pits, bins, ovens, etc.

Flintknapping - the art of manufacturing stone tools

Floral - plant remains

Geomorphologist - a Geologist whose primary concern is the study of geological processes that affect the environmental history of an area.

Grid - a network of squares, usually 5 x 5 meters, that divides the site into units in which artifacts and materials can be precisely recorded

Hematite - a reddish brown ore that can be pulverized into a reddish powder and used as a coloring agent

Horizontal Excavation - the exposure of archaeological remains of contemporary date; allows a view of settlement plan on a site

Hunter - Gatherer - a society of people not permanently settled, who hunt animals and gather wild food like seed and nuts.

Khirbet - an Arabic term for ruin; refers to a ruin that arose on a hilltop; similar to tell.

King's Highway - the major caravan route, mentioned in the Bible, that runs through Jordan from the Red Sea to Damascus, Syria

Israelites - a Biblical people who gradually took control of the ancient land of Canaan (modern day Israel) from the Canaanites

Levant - the region of the Eastern Mediterranean, usually Syria, Israel and Jordan.

Libations - cultic offerings such as precious oils poured from special vessels

Lifeways - the cultural aspects of people, their customs, rituals, patterns of life that reflect their society

Lithic - stone materials, used often as a general term for stone tools and weapons

Magnetometer - a remote sensing device to detect differences in magnetism below ground and thus reveal probable features and materials

Material Remains - the physical side of human remains; anything that exhibits activities of human beings

Menhir - an orthostat or single standing stone that is generally accepted as having a cultic or religious significance

Mesopotamia - "the land between the rivers." The Greek name for the area between the Tigris an the Euphrates in modern-day Iraq

Mortar - a stone bowl-like object used with pestle for grinding materials into powder, e.g., flour from grain.

Nomadism - a non-permanently settled way of life; nomads move constantly with their animals in search of pasture

Osteologist - an expert in the study of human skeletal remains

Palaeoethnobotanist - an expert in the study of ancient plant life and interrelations with people

Palaeoethnozoolo gist - an expert in the study of ancient animal life and interrelations with people

Pastoral - nomadism - a type of nomadism that refers to herders of sheep and goat, who migrate seasonally in search of pasture; may be settled for short periods of time

Patina - the glossiness found on flint knives, generally resulting from the cutting of grain

Pivot Stone - a socket that served as a pivot for the shaft of a door

Plan - an architectural drawing that shows the area as viewed from the top

Probe - a preliminary investigation of a small area or trench; it serves as a stratigraphical guide to later excavation

Radiocarbon (C14) samples - carbonized remains like seeds or wood that can be analyzed for dating purposes.

Random Survey - an archaeological survey that is based on sampling techniques in order to ensure control and reliability of statistics

Redistribution Center - a public administrative building where surpluses were stored and used to support certain services, e.g. army

Remote Sensing - exploring features of sites and regions without excavation, e.g., infrared photography, radar, magnetometers

Research Design - a plan constructed prior to excavation that seeks systematic problems to solve; a research strategy

Roman - the term that reflects the Roman conquest and the cultural period in the Biblical Lands that dates to ca. 63 BCE to ca. 324 CE;

Sedentism - permanent settlement of people; opposite of nomadism

Shaft Tomb - a tomb that consists of a shaft cut through the rock as a passage and a carved out chamber where the human remains and gifts were laid.

Sherded - the technique in survey of picking up all pottery sherds

Site - a place where there is evidence of human activity, a tell, a scatter of flints

Sieved - process of straining soil through small-meshed sieves to recover small objects, e.g., seeds, beads

Specialized - refers to differentiated occupations of people as reflected in distinctive activity areas on the mound

Squares - the areas of excavation within the grid, usually 5 x 5 meters surrounded by 1.0 meter balks or catwalks

Stratigraphic Profile - Refers to the accumulations of layers that vertical excavation reveals concerning the history of a site

Stratigraphy - the study of the layers of deposits at archaeological sites. The Study of the sequence of data and their dates

Stratum - a layer of earth that is distinct and discrete from those above or below.

Surpluses - supplies of foodstuffs that go beyond the everyday needs of the people; excess quantities

Survey - Investigation of the remains of human culture by the discovery of artifacts and features on the ground surface; refers to sites and regions

Symbiotic Relationship - the association of two dissimilar groups, e.g., nomads and urban people

Tabun - or Tannur; an oven for baking bread

Tell - a ruin or mound; an accumulation of layers of human deposits; usually the debris of city upon city

Theoretical inferences - archaeologists draw logical conclusions and set forth hypotheses about past societies based on material remains

Topographical - refers to the physical features of a site or area

Type Site - refers to a site that is a model of a particular period, culture, material, etc.

Typology - a classification of objects into groups (or types) according to similar traits; the study of types through time to establish a chronology

Urban cultures - societies that are not rural or of the countryside; society that is composed of cities and towns

Vertical Excavation - refers to depth, chronology and stratigraphy; opposite of horizontal excavation

Wadi - an Arabic term meaning dry river bed; often the wadi runs with water during the rainy season

Worked - sharpened edges of flint tools and weapons

Working hypothesis - the theory or speculation archaeologists set forth to investigate in their work; an argument that needs further investigation and testing