Analysis: A stage in archaeological research design where the archaeologist classifies and describes the data to determine the when, how, and why the artifact was made in the past. Feature: a non-portable artifact such as a house or hearth.
Areas of Use: The place where an artifact was found and used if it is in a primary context.
Artifacts: a discrete or portable object whose characteristics result wholly or in part from human activity.
Basalt: A dark- to medium-dark-colored, commonly extrusive mafic igneous rock composed primarily of calcic plagioclase and clinopyroxene in a glassy or fine-grained ground mass (Banks 1990:149). Basalt is characteristically black, dense and massive. Individual crystals cannot be seen with the naked eye, but under the microscope tiny needles of plagioclase crystals commonly form a felt-like network surrounding crystals of pyroxene and olivine (Hamblin and Howard 1980:29).
Black and White: a ceramic with black painted decorations on a white exterior created from specific firing conditions or using a white slip.
Brownware: a ceramic artifact that appears brownish colored on the exterior due to firing conditions.
Ceramic Artifacts: the archaeological use of the term ceramics is often distinguished from the term pottery in that ceramics refers to high-fired, glazed, vitrified objects. However, in archaeology the term more commonly refers to the working and firing of clay to create objects and/or cooking and storage vessels. Thus, for the purposes of this website, the terms pottery and ceramics are interchangable.
Chert: A hard, extremely dense or compact, dull to semi-glassy rock where you can not see the crystals. You can not typically see through the rock, however, sometimes it is slightly see-through. The color is highly variable. Some archaeologists confine chert to the lighter colors and flint to the darker colors.
Classification: systematic arrangement in groups or categories according to established criteria.
Coil and Scrap: a pottery making technique consisting of coiling thin ropes of clay around a base and finished by smoothing the surfaces using a scraping motion with a gourd, a broken piece of pottery or other similar objects.
Collect: To collect an artifact or ecofact on a site using archaeological methods employs documenting the contextual information along with each artifact. Thus, a three dimensional reconstruction of the site can occur back in the lab. In doing so, the archaeologist can make an accurate interpretation of the artifact or ecofact.
Context: The location, matrix, and association of archaeological data to other data.
Core: a lithic artifact from which flakes are removed; it is used as a tool or as the raw material from which other tools are made.
Corrugated: a surface treatment made to pottery that results in a parallel grooves with ridges.
Cultivation: To prepare the land for crops by plowing, weeding, planting seeds, and caring for the growing plants.
Data: a collection of observations.
Domestic: Made or produced in the home country; native.
Dry-Farming Agricultural Techniques: Different ways to cultivate the land in almost rainless regions without the help of irrigation: it is done by conserving the natural moisture of the soil and by planting crops that can resist drought.
Ecofact: Nonartifactual evidence from the past that has cultural relevance.
Erosion: When the land wears away or deteriorate, decay or vanishes due to the weather and other natural forces.
Excavation: A method of acquiring archaeological data by removing matrix from beneath the ground, revealing the three dimensional location of the data.
Exchange System: How people and/or groups organize how they trade goods, services, and ideas between individuals and other groups of people.
Faunal: of or pertaining to animal remains.
Feature: a non-portable artifact, not recoverable from its context without destroying it.
Figurine: a small sculptured or molded figure in the shape of a human, animal, or something representing a symbol or concept.
Flake: a lithic artifact removed from a core or tool.
Flint Knapping: a method used to make lithic tools. A hammerstone or antler is struck against another stone, making smaller pieces of stone fall from it. The flint knapper continues to take off chips or flakes of stone until the tool is complete.
Flotation: Placing excavated matrix in water to separate and recover small ecofacts and artifacts.
Form: the shape of something such as a pot, jar, or bowl.
Function: what and how something is used. Many artifacts look the same but were used differently.
Groundstone: any lithic artifact that has evidence of a smooth surface caused from grinding.
Hammerstone: a lithic tool used during flint knapping to remove flakes from a core.
Hoe: a lithic tool used to break up soil and remove weeds during gardening practices.
Incensario: a sculptured object used to hold incense.
Interpretation: A stage in archaeological research design that summarizes the results of data analysis and the explanation of their meaning. An interpretation is a reconstruction of the past.
Irrigation: The act of supplying land with water.
Limestone: A sedimentary rock consisting primarily of calcium carbonate that precipitated from the sea or lakes forming a texture of interlocking crystals. The texture can be coarse or crystalline. Often the microcrystalline material is banded due to variations in conditions during deposition (Hamblin and Howard 1980:39).
Lithic Artifact: Artifacts made from stone.
Manos: In the Southwest, mano comes from the Spanish word for "hand" and is a small grinding stone held in the hand.
Manufacturing Place: The location where an artifact was created.
Material Culture: A material culture refers to the common technologies and artifacts of ancient groups of people.
Matrix: The physical medium that surrounds, holds, or supports archaeological data (usually sediment or soil of some kind).
Metate: a lithic artifact that is the larger stone ground upon with a mano.
Midden: a trash or refuse deposit.
Paddle-and-Anvil Technique: One way a potter can finish a ceramic artifact to shape, size, and surface the wet or nearly dry object. A flat or concave stick is beaten on the exterior (sometimes interior) surface while the potter follows the stick on the opposing side using a convex stone or clay anvil. This leaves a series of rounded impressions on the surface of the ceramic artifact.
Projectile point: a triangular lithic artifact that has flakes removed from over 2/3 of both the artifact sides.
Non-utilitarian: An artifact that is considered non-utilitarian would be a gift, ritual item and prestige goods.
Obsidian: a hard, dark, glassy, volcanic rock that is form when lava cools.
Osteologist: a person who studies the structure and function of bones.
Paleoethnobotany: the analysis and interpretation of ancient plant remains such as pollen grains, phytoliths, charred wood, seeds, and the like and how they related to prehistoric people.
Paleopathologist: a person who studies disease and the structural and functional changes of disease in ancient human bones.
Plainware: a ceramic artifact that has no decoration.
Population Densities: the number of people who lived in an area per a unit of measurement.
Pottery: The archaeological use of the term pottery is often distinguished from the term ceramics in that pottery refers to low-fired, unvitrified objects and/or cooking and storage vessels. However, for the purposes of this website, the terms pottery and ceramics are interchangable.
Pueblo (pweb-loz): a community dwelling with numerous households within up to five stories high, built of stone or adobe by Indian tribes in the southwestern United States.
Prestige: An artifact with prestige is one that demonstrates status through power, success, and wealth.
Primary Context: The location where an artifact was first discarded and disturbed since it was thrown away.
Raw Materials: What an artifact was made out of. For example, the raw material of a shell bracelet is the shell itself.
Record: Document any information regarding the context and location of an artifact or ecofact.
Redware: a ceramic artifact that appears reddish colored on the exterior due to firing conditions.
Research Design: A systematic plan used to guide how archaeologists interpret the past. A research design will contain one or more questions about the past, observations and analyses, interpretations, and a form of communication that conveys the archaeological interpretation to a variety of audiences.
Resource: Something that lies ready for use or that can be drawn upon for aid or to take care of a need.
Ritual: An artifact that is used during a religious or sacred ceremony.
Sandstone: A medium-grained sedimentary rock formed by the cementation of sand grains.
Scraper: a lithic tool used to rub or smooth over a surface.
Screening: Passing excavating matrix through a metal mesh to improve the recovery rate of artifacts and larger ecofacts.
Sinagua: the Sinagua (sin-nah-wa) are the people who lived in the area bounded by the Little Colorado River to the north, the San Francisco Peaks, and just west of the Verde River between A.D. 700 and 1400. Archaeologists typically differentiate between the northern Sinagua who lived above the Mogollon Rim and the Southern Sinagua who occupied the area in the Verde River Valley.
Style: The way in which something is said or done. Archaeologists identify style based on the exterior and/or surface characteristics of an artifact -- color, texture, decoration, etc.
Subsistence Strategies: Different ways to support the most basic of lifestyles including feeding, clothing, and providing shelter needed to sustain life.
Systematic: Doing something in an organized, planned out way.
Technology: the methods and materials used to create an artifact or feature.
Terrace Walls: linear stone features built to control water run-off and/or soil erosion for agricultural practices. Due to excessive soil erosion, sediment builds up behind a terrace wall and often forms a good surface for planting. Cross-channel terraces are located perpendicular to the slope in arroyos or small drainages. Gentle-slope terraces occur on mild to moderate slopes in areas where there are no visible drainages.
Stone Tool: a lithic artifact that is used by humans to cut, saw, scrap, drill, hammer, grind, chopping, etc.
Utilitarian: A utilitarian artifact consists of items such as food, tools to get, store, and make food, weapons, clothing, and other items used to help people take care of their most basic needs.
Waffle Garden: A garden with separate plotting areas divided by a grid of low stone walls.
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Instructional
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