Archeology, Archaeology

A calendrical date that applies to a site, artifact, or feature; calendar dating: The procedure of assessing an age of a clearly and explicitly stated chronology in geology and archaeology is termed absolute dating.

Literally "high city", a natural hill that formed the center of ancient Greek cities: An acropolis was a promontory fortified with a citadel to be used for defense in Greece and were built prior to and during the Classical period

Abbreviation for "Anno Domini" A.D. means in the year of the Lord, which refers to years dated after the birth of Jesus Christ.

Originally, "the market place", later "a public meeting place", in ancient Greek cities: In classical Greece, an agora was a place for selling and buying goods, like food and clothing.

The scientific study of the cultural development of groups of people by examining their customs, beliefs, and behavior: Anthropology is the study of humans, concentrating on culture, defined as non-genetic human behavior.

Normally broken down into these various fields:
• Cultural anthropology, contemporary cultures.
• Archeology, cultures of the past.
• Linguistic anthropology, languages and their cultural roles.
• Physical anthropology, the evolution of humans and the relationsip between biology and culture.

An individual who collects or studies antiquities: Antiquarianus ually refers to those scholars and amateurs who investigated artifacts in the 16th-19th centuries, before the development of modern archeology.

The sum total of all artifacts, features and other objects produced by humans: Archeological records indicate the complete group of physical objects found at an archeological site.

An anthropologist who seeks to document and explain the continuity, changes, similarities and differences among human cultures: Archaeologists work with the material remains of cultures, past and present, providing the only source of information available about past non-literate societies and supplementing written sources for historical and contemporary groups.

The branch of anthropology that studies past human behavior through the physical remains of the past: Archeology is the study of the human past through the recovery and analysis of material remains.

As people search for their origins, archeology provides insights into their shared heritage.

• In the absence of written records, archeology provides a prime channel for the understanding of human societies and cultures.
• Archeology can complement written or historical sources.
• The recovery of the past has involved the removal of layers of earth to look back in time.
• Archeology is more than digging Iron Age sites or uncovering Maya temples in the jungles of Central America, or studying rock art in Australia's Norther Territory.
• Archeology involves teams of science-based archeologists who analyze bones, seeds, pottery, and metalwork.
• Archeologists learn from anthropologists, who study living societies, since they can suggest social structures or economic patterns for societies that have not left behind written records.
• Humans have probably been curious about the past for centuries because such interest can be traced as far back as the first civilizations of Mesopotamia and China, which left records of ancient remains.
• From the 16th century onward, Europeans began studying ancient monuments and forming collections of antiquities where famous sites were visited, painted, and described for those at home.

Any portable item manufactured or used by humans: An artifact is an object produced or shaped by human skills, especially a tool, a weapon, artwork, or an ornament of archaeological or historical interest;

A peninsula of western Asia between the Mediterranean Sea, the Aegean Sea, and the Black Sea: Asia Minor includes a large segment of modern-day Turkey.

A collection of artifacts used at a particular time and place: The assemblage of the man-made objects were thought to have represent an ancient activity or set of activities.

A term for the earliest hominids, who appeared in Africa approximately five million years ago.

An artificial earthen mound raised over Neolithic and Bronze Age burials.

Sculpture in which the figures project slightly from the background.