Key Archaeology Terms and Concepts

This set of flashcards includes key vocabulary terms related to archaeology, human evolution, and historical periods.

A.D

Anno Domini, “the Year of the Lord”

B.C.

Before Christ

C.E.

Common Era or Christian Era (functionally synonymous with AD)

B.C.E

Before Common Era or Before Christian Era (Functionally synonymous with BC)

B.P.

Before Present (defined as before 1950)

History vs. Prehistory

History refers to the recorded events of human activity, while prehistory encompasses the period before written records were kept.

Classical vs Anthropological Archaeology

One focuses on the study of ancient civilizations primarily through material remains, while the other examines human behavior and cultural practices across all time periods.

Paleolithic

“Old Stone Age” overlapping closing with the Pleistocene geological era from approx. 2.6 million to 12,000 BP or 10,000 BCE

Homo Sapians

anatomically modern human, first appears in Africa 250,000 years ago, rapidly colonized the entire earth replacing the earlier human species, but interbreeding with some of them

behaviorally modern humans

when modern humans began to have complex tools, figurative art, evidence of religion, etc.

Hominin

any of the bipedal species descended from African apes, including modern humans and our extinct “archaic” cousins (ex. neanderthals and homo erectus)

Site formation processes

erosions, deposition, disturbance

Alluvial

deposits created by rivers and streams through erosion and sedimentation

Eolian

relating to deposits and landforms created by the wind, often consisting of sand or silt

Colluvial

relating to deposits made by gravity, typically found at the base of slopes.

Law of Superposition

older layers in a stratigraphic profile occur below newer layers because soil is deposited by gravity with the exception of disturbances or intrusion penetrating features

Stratigraphy, Stratum, Strata

the study of rock layers and layering, often used in geology and archaeology to understand temporal sequence and environmental changes.

Terminus Post Quem (TPQ)

no earlier than - a reference point before a known event

Terminus Ante Quem (TAQ)

no later than - a reference point after a known event or a suspected event

Fertile Crescent

so-called “cradle of civilization” is the location where many animals and plants were first domesticated in the first Neolithic villages, and where the first Bronze Age cities appeared; mainly the region is the adjacent Tigris and Euphrates valleys and floodplains in the Iran/Iraq border region known as Mesopotamia; also includes a portion of east/central Anatolia/Asia Minor (modern Turkey), the Levant (Israel/Palestine) and sometimes lower Egypt (northern)

Epipaleolithic

“Outer Stone Age”, transitional period in Fertile Crescent

Mesolithic

“Middle Stone Age”, fuzzy transition to the Neolithic outside the fertile crescent

Chalcolithic

“Copper Stone Age”, late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age transition

Bronze Age

3300 BCE - 1200 BCE

Hoyuk/Tel/Tepe

hill

Chatalhoyuk

a large neolithic settlement in southern Anatolia

Gobekli Tepe

Neolithic archaeological site in Mesopotamia (Turkey), oldest known megalithic structure

Jericho

neolithic villiage

Uruk

ancient Sumerian city in Mesopotamia (Iraq) and is the world’s first true city

Sumer

earliest known civilization, located in southern Mesopotamia, emerges during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages

Knossos (Crete) Minoan Palace

spoke an unknown language, biggest and most important palace on Crete, becomes a Mycenean capital

Mycenae (Mainland Greece) - Mycenaean citadel, Late Bronze Age

ancestors of the classical Greeks

Etruscan

a civilization in ancient Italy, known for advanced culture, sophisticated art, and influence on early Roman culture

Phoenician

key Semitic group in the Mediterranean, naval superpower of the early Iron Age, trade partners of the greeks

Hittites/Hatusa

Indo-European group inn Anatolia (Turkey) during the Bronze Age

Cuneiform

writing system developed in Sumer

Indo-European & Semitic/Afro-Asiatic

a group of related languages that started as one language that started in the later part of the Neolithic that became the dominant languages in the Bronze Age