Eclectic Arcana

Glossary of Archaeological Terms and
those from Related Disciplines
(Please read my Request)

Term Definition
BCE Before Current Era. 1 BCE = 1 BC. See also CE. Modern Terminology.
Bhangar Older alluvium. See also khadar. (KARK2000 pg. 126)
Biota Flora + Fauna. Biotic region: a region defined by its biota.
BP Before Present. The year 1950 is considered present.
C3 Plants Most plants on Earth (over 95 percent) are classified as C3 plants.

A C3 plant is one that produces phosphoglyceric acid, (a molecule that has three carbon atoms) as a stable intermediary in the first step in photosynthesis (the Calvin Cycle). http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/plants/glossary/indexc.shtml
C4 Plants Plants found principally in hot climates whose initial fixation of carbon dioxide in photosynthesis is by the HSK pathway. Very few plants on Earth (less than 1 percent) are C4 plants. They include corn and sugarcane.

The enzyme responsible is PEP carboxylase, whose products contain four carbon atoms. Subsequently the carbon dioxide is released and re fixed by the Calvin Benson cycle. The presence of the HSK pathway permits efficient photosynthesis at high light intensities and low carbon dioxide concentrations. most species of this type have little or no photorespiration.
http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/c4_plant

C4 carbon fixation is a common metabolic pathway found in land plants (C4 plants). They are competitively superior to plants possessing the more common C3 pathway under the conditions of drought, high temperatures and nitrogen limitation. The C4 cycle allows for a spacial separation of carbon fixation from respiration, thus allowing C4 plants to increase concentration of CO2 within their leaves. This increases the amount of photosynthesis and decreases the chances of photorespiration.
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/C4_plants
CE Current Era. 1 CE = 1 AD. Modern Terminology.
Calcareous Composed of or containg calcium carbonate
Carbon 14 Dating Carbon 14 has a half life of 5730 years. Can only be used for materials less than 50,000 years old.
Clade Organisms that share common ancestors (and therefore have similar features) are grouped into taxonomic groups called clades.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/glossary/Cladistics.shtml
Cladistics Cladistics is a method of classifying organisms by common ancestry, based on the branching of the evolutionary family tree. Cladistics can also be used to predict properties of yet-to-be discovered organisms. Phylogenetic systematics is a method of classification based on the evolutionary history of organisms, dividing organisms into meaningful groups and subgroups. It was developed by Willi Hennig, an entomologist, in 1950, but was not well accepted until decades later.

Cladistics is based on three principles:
  • Groups of organisms are descended from a common ancestor.
  • At each node (divergence of a population), there are two branching lines of descendants.
  • Evolution results in modifications of characteristics over time.
    http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/glossary/Cladistics.shtml
    • Cladogram A Cladogram is a branching diagram that depicts species divergence from common ancestors. They show the distribution and origins of shared characteristics. Cladograms are testable hypotheses of phylogenetic relationships. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/glossary/Cladistics.shtml
    Disconformity See unconformity
    fascia A broad and distinct band of color. In Anatomy: A sheet or band of fibrous connective tissue enveloping, separating, or binding together muscles, organs, and other soft structures of the body.
    Fossil Diagenesis Under favorable post burial chemical conditions minerals can gradually penetrate bones, replacing the original minerals and filling spaces left after decay. Resistance due to compaction depends on some factors, including internal composition, the thickness of cortical bone and orientation within the sediment. There are three diagenetic environments:
  • The diagenesis of the bone tissue itself
  • The diagenesis in spaces and cavities within the bones
  • The diagenesis in the sediment surrounding the bone
    • Ga Giga Annum, or One billion years. For example the earth is about 4.5 Ga old.
    Geomorphology (Formerly physiography.)
  • The study of the Earth's surface features (landforms) and the processes that form them.
    Ref: http://academic.venturacollege.edu/spalladino/geosci/geog1/terms_print/test1_terms.html
  • The science dealing with the form and surface configuration of the solid earth. It is primarily an attempt to reveal the complex interrelationships between the origin (and therefore material composition) of surface features on the one hand, and the causes of the surface alteration (erosion, weather, crustal upheaval, etc.) on the other hand.
    Ref: http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/browse

  • The science that studies the evolution of the earth's surface. The science of landforms. The systematic examination of landforms and their interpretation as records of geologic history.
    Ref: http://www.soils.org/sssagloss/cgi-bin/gloss_search.cgi
    • Gneiss Metamorphic Rocks. Pronounced like niece.

    "Colour: Grey or pink but with dark streaks and layers. Texture: Medium- to coarse grained. Characterized by discontinuous, altering light and dark layers, the former usually having a coarsely granular texture while the latter, which often contains mica, may be foliated.

    Structure: In addition to the gneissose texture described above, gneisses tend to be banded on a large scale with layers and streaks of darker and lighter coloured gneiss. Granite and quartz veins and pegmatites are common. May be folded.

    Mineralogy: Feldspar is abundant and, together with quartz, forms the granular, lighter coloured layers. Muscovite, biotite and hornblende are commonly present, while any of the minerals characteristic of higher grades of regional metamorphism may occur.

    Field relations: At the highest grades of metamorphism rocks may approach melting temperature when they are able to recrystallize freely and so produce the textures characteristic of gneisses. Thus gneisses occur, in association with migmatites and granites, in the central parts of metamorphic belts."

    Tectonic association: Gneisses are typically associated with major mountain building events when shales or clay rich sandstones (wackes), or felsic igneous rocks (e.g. granite, granodiorite, etc.) are metamorphosed through depth of burial, and proximity to batholiths.

    Slates are part of a metamorphic sequence that begins with shale and progresses through slate, phyllite, schist, and gneiss.
    Günz Thought to be the first of four alpine glaciation periods of the Pleistocene at one time. We now know there have been about 20. [EB ???]

    "The geologists Albrecht Penk (1858-1945) and Eduard Brückner (1862-1927) (1909) identified four glaciations in the Alps that they named after the Bavarian valleys where the moraines and gravels were well represented", at the beginning of the last century. (KARK2000, p22).

    According to their theory the 4 alpine glaciation periods were (in order): Günz, Mindel, Riss, and Würm.

    This terminology is now obsolete. For example, we now know that Günz followed the Donau-Günz interglacial.(EB, Vol. 5, pg. 573). In fact, there have been as many as 20+ glacial cycles since the start of the Pleistocene. During that time there have been atleast 2 Mindel glaciations, Mindel I and Mindel II. There have been 2 Riss ice ages Riss I and Riss II, and 3 Würm glacial maxima, Würm I, Würm II, Würm III. (EB, Vol. 18, pg. 837)

    We now know that there have been 9 or 10 full glacial cycles (including intergalicals in between of course), in the last 1 million years. (Ref: KR2002).

    In any case, this concept of alpine glaciation is of limited applicability to Indian paleoclimate, since only a small portion of India, Kashmir, felt some impact. However, there is some evidence that there was lower rainfall, in India, during the last glaciation. During this protracted period of intense cold in the northern latitudes, the sea level also went down.
    Horizon
  • A discrete regional cultural period or level of cultural development marked by some easily recognizable criterion or trait. A division of cultural history which is characterized by a group of traits with a wide geographical distribution and a limited duration.
  • In soil-science terminology, a natural developmental zone in a soil profile such as the "A-horizon".
    Ref: http://archaeology.d.dictonarypage.co.uk/horizon/
    • Ka Kilo Annum, or One thousand years. Thus 5 Ka = 5 thousand years
    Kankars Concretionary nodular form of CaCO3 distributed all over the northern Indian plains. (AKD)
    Karewas Kashmir terraced foothills. Remnants of lake beds of the pleistocene, divided into upper and lower karewas. The two merge into the Kashmir valley at about a height of 1800m. (DPA)
    khadar Newer alluvium. See also Bhangar. (KARK2000 pg. 126)
    Ma Mega Annum, or One Million years. Thus 5 Ma = 5 Million years
    Matuyama-Brunhes boundary The last major reversal of the Earth's magnetic field, the Matuyama-Brunhes boundary (MBB), has long been used as a chronostratigraphic marker in Pleistocene studies.

    The MBB is dated at about 0.78 Ma, and occurred during Marine Oxygen Isotope 19.

    It has been widely identified in both marine and continental sequences and is also a key time marker for the chronology of human evolution and migration.
    Miliolite Also called Porbandar stone. Composed almost entirely of calcium carbonate of the foraminifera classified as Rotalids or miliolids, small molluscan fragments, broken spines of echinoderms, bits of coral, lime pellets, and microspar (KARK2000, p126)
    Mindel See Günz above.
    Movius Line Originally conceived as the boundary between the territory of the handaxe-makers and that of the 'chopper/chopping-tool' users. Still valid because bifaces are absent in SE Asia.
    Neogene The Neogene (24 million to 1.8 million years ago) was the later part of the Tertiary Period. It is divided into the Miocene Epoch (24 million to 5 million years ago, when many mammals appeared, including the horses, dogs, bears, South American monkeys, apes in southern Europe, and Ramapithecus; also, modern birds appear) and the Pliocene Epoch (5 million to 1.8 million years ago, when the first hominids (australopithecines) developed, modern forms of whales appeared, and Megalodon swam the seas).
    www.allaboutspace.com/subjects/plants/glossary/indexn.shtml
    Neolithic Neolithic is used in two different senses:
  • A stone tool technology that emphasizes grinding, rather than flaking (as in the Paleolithic) This results in smoother, stronger, longer-lasting edges (although not as sharp) good for axes needed to cut trees to clear farmland
  • More importantly for us, the period in which agriculture comes into use and is the main source of food. So called because in many places, ground-stone tools come into use at about the same time as agriculture becomes important so they serve as a convenient short-hand marker and term for early agricultural periods around the globe.
    Ref: http://bruceowen.com/worldprehist/3250s08.htm
    Incipient agricultural beginnings.
    • Nonconformity See unconformity
    OCP Ochre Colored Pottery
    Pedogenesis Pedogenesis or soil evolution (formation) is the process by which soil, i.e the part of the earth's surface consisting of humus and disintegrated rock, is created.

    Ref:
  • http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/ encyclopedia/P/Pe/Pedogenesis.htm
  • http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/10u.html
    • PGW Painted Grey Ware
    Palynology The science of reconstructing the past flora and past climate from the quantitative analysis of pollen, spores and related microfossils obtained from excavation sites. Quaternary Palynology deals with the palynology of Quaternary age (the last 2.5 million years).

    Particularly during the late Quaternary, the influence of environmental change on humans, and the influence of humans on the environment are important themes of Quaternary Palynology.
    Ref: http://www.geo.arizona.edu/palynology/quat_pal.html
    Riss See Günz above.
    Rock
    Sedimentary Rocks
    • Rocks that have formed from the accumulation of sediments (such as sediments from river channels or river floodplains or beaches)
      • If sandy: yield quartz sand on weathering
      • If clayey: yield clays on weathering
      • If salts or rocks made of fossil shells: yield elements in solution
    Ref: http://pls.atu.edu/physci/geology/people/baker/geol3023/sedrocks_htm.htm
    Taphonomy The study of what happens to a fossil, from the time of its initial creation (e.g. the death of an organism or the imprint left by the movement of an organism) and the time that the fossil is discovered by a paleontologist.
    Taxonomy Science of naming and classifying organisms according to a pre-determined system.
    Tephra Tephra is a general term for fragments of volcanic rock and lava regardless of size that are blasted into the air by explosions or carried upward by hot gases in eruption columns or lava fountains. Tephra includes large dense blocks and bombs, and small light rock debris such as scoria, pumice, reticulite, and ash.

    As tephra falls to the ground with increasing distance from a volcano, the average size of the individual rock particles becomes smaller and thickness of the resulting deposit becomes thinner. Small tephra stays aloft in the eruption cloud for longer periods of time, which allows wind to blow tiny particles farther from an erupting volcano.

    Ref: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Products/Pglossary/tephra.html
    Unconformity In geology, gaps in the geologic record are known as unconformities.

    Disconformity: If the beds are parallel above and below the unconformity, it is known as a disconformity.

    Nonconformity: If the upper rocks lie on an eroded surface of a different major type of rock (e.g. sedimentary or igneous on a metamorphic rock), the relationship is called a nonconformity. (AKD)
    Würm See Günz above.


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    Notes


    This glossary was originally developed for my own benefit, when I first started delving into prehistory. Now, I have found it useful to maintain it and have incorporated it in my website. There is nothing original about it. It is a very eclectic collection, but I hope readers will find it useful. See my bibliography for additional references.
    Plagiarize to your heart's content, and enjoy.

    Reference:

  • AKD: Geology of India, A. K. Dey, National Book Trust, New Delhi, India, 1968.
  • DPA: The Archaeology of India; D. P. Agrawal; Scandinavian Institute of Asian Studies, Monograph No. 46, Curzon Press, 1985.
  • EB: Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th. ed, 1990.
  • KARK2000: God-Apes and Fossil Men, Paleoanthropology of South Asia; Kenneth A R Kennedy; U. of Michigan Press, 2000.
  • KR2002: The Monsoon Background and the Evolution of Prehistoric Cultures in India, R. Korisettar and S. N. Rajguru in Recent Studies in Indian Archaeology, ed. K. Paddayya, Indian Council for Historical Reseach, Monograph No. 6, New Delhi, 2002.
  • The Internet.


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