ARCHAEOLOGY QUIZ 2

Levallois

A distinctive method of stone tool-making in which flakes are removed by percussion from a preshaped core, with little other modification. This prepared-core knapping technique allows the removal of large flakes of predetermined size and shape. The face of the core is trimmed to shape in order to control the form and size of the intended flake.

Clovis Point

A distinctive, fluted, lanceolate (leaf-shaped) stone projectile point characteristic of the early Paleo-Indian period, c 10,000-9000 BC, and often found in association with mammoth bones. the length of points varies from 2-4 in. (7-12 cm), and their widest width is 1-1 1/2 in (3-4 cm). Clovis points and the artifacts associated with them (grouped together as the Llano complex) are among the earliest tools known from the New World and have been found over most of North America, with a few outliers as far south as Mexico and Panama. It is the earliest projectile point of the Big Game Hunting tradition of North America.

Feral Animal

A floral ecofact: the elongated axis of an inflorescence or an extension of the petiole of a compound leaf that bears the leaflets. An example is the stem connecting the wheat kernel to the shaft.

Rachis

A floral ecofact: the elongated axis of an inflorescence or an extension of the petiole of a compound leaf that bears the leaflets. An example is the stem connecting the wheat kernel to the shaft.

Glume

A floral ecofact; the casing holding the wheat kernel.

Ovicaprid

A sheep or a goat.

Chaîne Opératoire

(French for "operational chain" or "operational sequence") is a term used throughout anthropological discourse, but is most commonly used in archaeology and sociocultural anthropology. It functions as a methodological tool for analysing the technical processes and social acts involved in the step-by-step production, use, and eventual disposal of artifacts, such as lithics or pottery

Mt. Vesuvius

On a fateful summer morning in A.D. 79, Mount Vesuvius buried the vibrant Roman city of Pompeii—and many of its citizens—beneath tons of volcanic ash and debris.

Bronze Metallurgy

metallurgy jus means bronze thooo

Coprolites

the technical term for preserved human (or animal) feces. Preserved fossil feces are a fascinating study in archaeology, in that they provide direct evidence of what an individual animal or human ate. An archaeologist can find dietary remains in storage pits, midden deposits, and within stone or ceramic vessels, but materials found within human fecal matter are clear and unrefutable evidence that a particular food was consumed.

Acheulian

A European culture of the Lower Palaeolithic period named for Saint-Acheul, a town in northern France, the site of numerous stone artifacts from the period. stone implements, the use of a flaking tool of soft material (wood, bone, antler) in place of a hammerstone. This culture is noted for its hefty multipurpose, pointed (or almond-shaped) hand axes, flat-edged cleaving tools, and other bifacial stone tools with multiple cutting edges. This progressive tool industry was the first to use regular bifacial flaking. it is in this sense that the term Acheulian is more often used today. In African terminology, the entire series of hand ax industries is called Acheulian, and the earlier phases of the African Acheulian equate with the Abbevillian of Europe.

Atlatl

A New World version of a spear-throwing device, used by the Aztecs and other peoples of the Americas. It consisted of a wooden shaft used to propel a spear or dart and it functioned like an extension of the arm, providing more thrusting leverage. Atlatl weights are objects of stone fastened to the throwing stick for added weight. These may be perforated so that the stick passes through the artifact, or they may be grooved for lashing to the stick.

Pompeii

A Roman town lying at the foot of Mount Vesuvius in Campania, Italy, which was covered with volcanic ash in an eruption in 79 AD. Much of the town has been uncovered since excavations began in the mid-18th century. The uncovering of the city offers much evidence for prosperous provincial urban life in the 1st century AD. It was a port and principal city on the Bay of Naples as early as the 8th century BC. In 89 BC, Pompeii was taken by Roman general Sulla and became subject to Rome. A new suburb was laid out next to the old town before an earthquake in 62 AD; much rebuilding in Roman imperial style was done before the final disaster. A Doric temple of the 6th century BC together with Attic Black-Figure Ware suggests a strong Greek presence, and association with Cumae, Naples, and Paestum is probable; Etruscan influence is also very likely. The deposits from Vesuvius in 79 AD was first small pumice and then ash, followed by poisonous gas and rain. Of all the numerous surviving buildings, Pompeii is perhaps most celebrated for its atrium-style private houses, often having fine gardens and decorated inside with elaborate mosaics and mural panels. The amphitheater is probably the earliest stone-built example in existence. There were two theaters, a palaestra, civic buildings, workshops, at least three major public bath complexes and nine temples. In particular, the Temple of Isis reflects the popularity of the personalized Oriental mystery cults under the early Roman Empire. Pompeian life is further documented by the frequent painted and inscribed notices, or graffiti, which are to be found on both internal and external walls. They often refer to local elections and to events taking place at the amphitheater. There was also a gambling den and brothel. Outside the city gates were cemeteries and large residential villas. During the eruption, both human beings and animals were covered by the deposit, forming paralyzed shapes. Casts made from these give a startling impression of the original victims. There are ancient accounts of the earthquake by Seneca, Tacitus, and Pliny the Younger. Also destroyed were the cities of Herculaneum and Stabiae. The ruins at Pompeii were first discovered late in the 16th century by the architect Domenico Fontana. Excavation of the buried cities began first at Herculaneum, in 1709. Work did not begin at Pompeii until 1748, and in 1763 an inscription (rei publicae Pompeianorum") was found that identified the site as Pompeii."

Core

A black or gray zone in the interior cross-section of a vessel wall, usually associated with incomplete removal of carbonaceous matter from the clay during relatively low-temperature firing

Geomorphology

A branch of geology (or geography) concerned with the form and development of the landscapes. It includes specializations such as sedimentology. Cultural remains are part of landscapes of the past.

Kiln

A chamber built for the firing (baking) of pottery, used from prehistoric times. These, usually dome-shaped, structures are designed to produce the high temperatures needed for the industry. In a pottery kiln, the pots were often stacked upside-down on a shelf. An opening for draft was left at the top, and a flue provided at the side. Fuel was piled within and around the kiln, and when the heat was at its greatest, the openings were shut to preserve the temperatures and fire the pots inside with temperatures of 800-1000 C achieved. Other versions were used glassmaking or the parching of corn. The kiln, like the potter's wheel, implies craft specialization, and appears only at advanced stages of economic development.

Chert

A coarse type of siliceous (silica) rock, a form of quartz, used for the manufacture of stone tools where flint was not available. It is of poorer quality than flint, formed from ancient ocean sediments and often has a semi-glassy finish. It is pinkish, white, brown, gray, or blue-gray in color. Flint, chert, and other siliceous rocks like obsidian are very hard, and produce a razor-sharp edge when properly flaked into tools. This crystalline form of the mineral silica is found as nodules in limestones. Varieties of chert are jasper, chalcedony, agate, flint, and novaculite. Chert and flint provided the main source of tools and weapons for Stone Age man.

Shell Midden/ Sidemi culture

A culture of the Vladivostok area of eastern Siberia from the late 2nd millennium BC. The population lived in coastal settlements of semi-subterranean houses, which are associated with shell middens. Characteristic tools were made of polished slate, though small quantities of iron were also used. The area came under strong influence from Manchuria and China, and in the 1st millennium AD it formed part of the Po Hai state.

Morphology

A descriptive and abstract grouping of individual artifacts whose focus is on overall similarity rather than specific form or function. The shape, size, and superficial characteristics of artifacts, features, structure, sites, etc., provided by measurements (including weight) that permit comparative statistical analysis of attributes and frequencies.

NISP (Number of Identified Specimens)

A gross counting technique used in the quantification of animal bones. The method may produce misleading results in assessing the relative abundance of different species, since skeletal differences and differential rates of bone preservation mean that some species will be represented more than others. It is a largely outdated measure of sample size in archaeological fauna.

obsidian

A jet-black to gray, naturally occurring volcanic glass, formed by rapid cooling of viscous lava. It was often used as raw material for the manufacture of stone tools and was very popular as a superior form of flint for flaking or as it is easily chipped to form extremely sharp edges.

Blade

A long, narrow, sharp-edged, thin flake of stone, used especially as a tool in prehistoric times. This flake is detached by striking from a prepared core, often with a hammer. Its length is usually at least twice the width. The blade may be a tool in itself, or may be the blank from which a two-edged knife, burin, or spokeshave is manufactured. Blades led to another invention -- the handle. A handle made it easier and much safer to manipulate a sharp two-edged blade."

Pressure Flaking

A method for the secondary working of flint tools involving the use of a hard object against a stone core or mass to remove flakes. The roughed-out form of the tool is sharpened and finished by exerting pressure with a bone, antler, stone, or stick on the edge in order to remove small thin chips. By using a short, pointed instrument to pry, not strike, the tiny flakes leave only the smallest scars. As the least violent and most advanced of the methods of working stone, it gave the craftsman the ultimate in control for the removal of materials in the shaping of an implement.

Plaster

A mixture of sediment and water for covering structural surfaces.

Age Profile

A pattern of the distribution of an animal population's ages as the result of death by natural causes. This mortality pattern is based on bone- or tooth-wear analysis. It demonstrates a natural" age distribution in which the older the age group the fewer the individuals it has."

Chopper

A pebble tool worked on both faces and often irregular in shape. The cutting edge can go around periphery or there may be a break; it can be plano-convex in section. It differs from biface in that it is often not axially symmetric and in the undifferentiated position of the cutting edge. It is characteristic of the Oldowan and Acheulian complexes.

Ice Age/Climatic Minimum

A period of intense cold and the expansion of glaciers, resulting in a lower sea level. Such periods of large-scale glaciation may last several million years and drastically reshape surface features of entire continents. In the past, there were many ice ages; the earliest known took place during Precambrian time dating back more than 570 million years. The most recent periods of widespread glaciation occurred during the Pleistocene Epoch (1,600,000 to 10,000 years ago). A lesser, recent glacial stage called the Little Ice Age began in the 16th century and advanced and receded intermittently over three centuries. Its maximum development was reached about 1750, at which time glaciers were more widespread on Earth than at any time since the principal Quaternary Ice Ages. The idea of an ice age in the geological sequence is usually credited to Jean Louis Agassiz, a Swiss naturalist, who suggested it c 1837. Agassiz conceived a worldwide cold period when areas as far apart as North America and Germany had been glaciated.

Charcoal

A porous black form of carbon obtained when wood is heated in the absence of air

Carnelian

A reddish brown semiprecious stone used for beads, seal stones, and jewelry in antiquity. It is a translucent variety of the silica mineral chalcedony. Carnelian is usually found in volcanic rocks, such as the Deccan Traps of western India. Engraved cornelians in rings and signets have offered information about manners and customs of ancient Greeks and Romans.

Seriation

A relative dating technique in which artifacts or features are organized into a sequence according to changes over time in their attributes or frequency of appearance. The technique shows how these items have changed over time and it is a way to establish chronology.

scraper

A retouched flake tool with a thick working edge; a flake tool that has been sharpened on one edge and left blunt on other edges to allow grasping, probably used to scrape (dress) animal hides. Scrapers were also used in woodworking and in shaping bone or ivory. Other types were snub-nosed round / horseshoe. Side scrapers are typical of the Middle Palaeolithic while end scrapers are typical of the later Palaeolithic."

Motif

A single repeated design (or color); an element in a (usually) complex design. It may be non-representational or pictorial.

Olduvai Gorge

A site in northern Tanzania which is one of the most important sites for the understanding of both human evolution and the development of the earliest tools. The gorge is 30 miles long, located on the volcanic belt of the Great Rift Valley. Louis and Mary Leakey uncovered numerous Hominid remains, animal bones, and stone artifacts from c 1.9 million years to less than 10,000 years ago. No site in the world has produced a longer sequence of stone tool assemblages and of hominid fossils.

Burin

A specialized engraving tool with a chipped flint or stone shaft that is cut or ground diagonally downward to form a diamond-shaped point at the tip. The angle of the point affected the width and depth of the engraved lines. The shaft of the tool was fixed in a flat handle that could be held close to the working surface. A burin had a wide rounded end for bracing against the palm of the hand and the point was guided by thumb and forefinger.

Younger Dryas

A stadial of the Weichselian cold stage, dated to between 11,000-10,000 bp. The last glacial recession (13,000-6,000 years ago) was interrupted by this sharp advance. It takes its name from a tundra plant called Dryas octopetala, fossil remains of which are common in deposits of the stadial. It was most evident around the North Atlantic and coincided with an apparent temporary diversion of glacial meltwater from the Mississippi River to the St. Lawrence drainage system. It has been postulated that this discharge of cold, fresh water disrupted the Atlantic Ocean circulation system that warms the North Atlantic.

Environmental Archaeology

A subfield of archaeology; the study of the environment in archaeological contexts. Studied in an attempt to recover the total environment of a past society and to understand man's impact on, and changes to, that environment.

Flotation

A technique developed to assist in the recovery of plant, insect, and molluscan remains from archaeological deposits; a method of screening in which minute pieces of flora are separated from the soil by agitation with water. The technique works on the principle that organic material such as carbonized seeds, snail-shells, and beetle wing-cases have a lower specific gravity than inorganic materials such as soil and stone, and will thus float on the top of a suitable liquid medium while the rest will sink. Water is commonly used for flotation, though there are disadvantages since it has a fairly low specific gravity and heavier material such as fruit stones will sink. Other media have been used, such as carbon tetrachloride solution or zinc chloride solution. Flotation of samples by hand is called wet sieving. Samples of material are slowly poured into water, any lumps are broken up, and the flot is drawn off with a sieve. The method is more controlled than flotation by machine, and the recovery rate is better. For large-scale excavations, machines are used. Operating principles vary: samples are poured into a large container of water, or water and paraffin, which is agitated by air injection or by currents of inflowing water. The addition of a floculating agent increases surface tension, though not all machines are 'froth flotation' machines. The flot is carried off the surface through a mesh, or series of meshes to allow preliminary sorting. Samples retrieved are sent away for specialist identification and analysis by an archaeobotanist.

Reducing Atmosphere

A term for pottery firing conditions in which the supply of air is limited or the fuel damp. The fuel does not totally burn under these circumstances and the gases contain carbon monoxide rather than oxygen. This generally results in black-surfaced pottery as opposed to the red produced in an oxidizing atmosphere, though shades of color may vary if the conditions during firing are not stable. Native Americans and Mesoamericans understood the effect of a reducing atmosphere, so that gray and black pots are found as well as the red and brown ones fired in an oxidizing flame.

Flake

A thin broad piece of stone detached from a larger mass for use as a tool; a piece of stone removed from a larger piece (core or nucleus) during knapping (percussion or pressure) and used in prehistoric times as a cutting instrument. Flakes often served as blanks" from which more complex artifacts -- burins scrapers gravers arrowheads etc. -- could be made. Waste flakes (débitage) are those discarded during the manufacture of a tool. Flakes may be retouched to make a flake tool or used unmodified. The process leaves characteristic marks on both the core and flake. This makes it comparatively easy to distinguish human workmanship from natural accident."

Cortex

A tough covering or crust on an unmodified stone cobble or newly exposed flint nodules and tabular flint. It is formed either by weathering and is usually discarded during the knapping process.

Flint

A type of hard stone, often gray in color, found in rounded nodules and usually covered with a white incrustation. Ideal for making stone tools with sharp edges. It is chemically a quartz, but has a different microcrystalline structure. It can therefore be flaked readily in any direction and so shaped to many useful forms. It is commonest 'stone' of the Stone Age.

Ceramic Profile

A vertical wall, section, or face of an excavation pit that exposes the lateral relationships, archaeological features, structures, stratigraphy -- and their relationships. .

Loess

A wind-borne rock dust (very fine sediments, silt) carried from outwash deposits and moraines and laid down as a thick stratum during periglacial conditions in the steppe country surrounding the ice sheets. Wind erosion was widespread in the periglacial zone that surrounded the large Quaternary ice sheets. Material was picked up by the wind from the large expanses of proglacial deposits at the ice sheet margins. Because of its exceptional fertility, areas of loess were chosen for settlement by early agriculturists. In central and eastern Europe, as well as Asia and North America, there are notable concentrations of sites on loess. It provided good grazing for the animals on which Palaeolithic man fed, was rich in nutrients for plants, and was later settled by Neolithic farmers who found it easy to till with primitive equipment. It is an essentially unconsolidated, unstratified calcareous silt; commonly it is homogeneous, permeable, and buff to gray in color, and contains calcareous concretions and fossils. Loess is important archaeologically as soil erosion in these regions during the Holocene caused substantial redeposition of this silt, often burying (deeply) and preserving archaeological sites. In semiarid regions people such as the Pueblo Indians made houses and fortresslike closed edifices from loess-based adobe.

Oldowan

An Earlier Stone Age industry and complex seen at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and other African sites, dating from c 2.5 million to about 1.6 million years ago (and later). It is comprised of the earliest toolkits, flake and pebble tools, used by hominids (Homo habilis). Oldowan tools were made for nearly 1 million years before gradual improvement in technique resulted in a standardized industry known as the Acheulian.

Flinders Petrie

An English Egyptologist and a leading figure in the development of archaeology; he developed the technique known as sequence-dating. He was self-taught and, in 1880, went to Egypt to draw up plans and take measurements of the Pyramids.

Dendrochronology

An absolute chronometric dating technique for measuring time intervals and dating events and environmental changes by reading and dating the pattern (number and condition) of annual rings formed in the trunks of trees. The results are compared to an established tree-ring sequence for a particular region with consideration to annual fluctuations in rainfall which result in variations in the size of the rings laid down by trees on the outside of their trunks. These variations, given favorable conditions, form a consistent pattern; and sections or cores taken from beams in ruins have been matched to provide a long chronology over large areas. The method is based on the principle that trees add a growth ring for each year of their lives, and that variations in climatic conditions will affect the width of these rings on suitable trees. In a very dry year growth will be restricted, and the ring narrow, while a wet and humid year will produce luxuriant growth and a thick ring. By comparing a complete series of rings from a tree of known date (for example, one still alive) with a series from an earlier, dead tree overlapping in age, ring patterns from the central layers of the recent tree and the outer of the old may show a correlation which allows the dating, in calendar years, of the older tree. The central rings of this older tree may then be compared with the outer rings or a yet older tree, and so on until the dates reach back into prehistory. Problems that arise are when climatic variation and suitable trees (sensitive trees react to climatic changes, complacent trees do not) are not be present to produce any significant and recognizable pattern of variation in the rings. Another problem is that there may be gaps in the sequences of available timber, so that the chronology 'floats', or is not tied in to a calendrical date or living trees: it can only be used for relative dating. Also, the tree-ring key can only go back a certain distance into the past, since the availability of sufficient amounts of timber to construct a sequence obviously decreases. Only in a few areas of the world are there species of trees so long-lived that long chronologies can be built up. This method is especially important in the southwestern United States, Alaska, and Scandinavia, dating back to several thousand years BC in some areas. Dendrochronology is of immense importance for archaeology, especially for its contribution to the refining of radiocarbon dating. Since timber can be dated by radiocarbon, dates may be obtained from dendrochronologically dated trees. It has been shown that the radiocarbon dates diverge increasingly from calendrical dates provided by tree-rings the further back into prehistory they go, the radiocarbon dates being younger than the tree-ring dates. This has allowed the questioning of one of the underlying assumptions of radiocarbon dating, the constancy of the concentration of C14 in the atmosphere. Fluctuations in this concentration have now been shown back as far as dendrochronological sequences go (to c 7000 BC), and thus dating technique is serving the further research on another. In 1929, A.E. Douglass first showed how this method could be used to date archaeological material. The long-living Bristlecone Pine (Pinus aristata) of California has yielded a sequence extending back to c 9000 bp. In Ireland, oak preserved in bogs has produced a floating chronology from c 2850-5950 bp.

Herculaneum

An ancient city of Campania, Italy, that was buried by the same volcano in 79 AD that took Pompeii. Already damaged by Vesuvius in 63 AD, Herculaneum was home to 5000 people. It had modern houses, tastefully decorated, and it was wealthier than Pompeii. In the destruction of 79 AD, the town was covered in liquid mud which subsequently solidified after percolating and filling structures. It tended to preserve organic materials, especially timber. The houses are remarkable for the preservation of internal and external structures in timber, and, in some cases, of furniture and fittings. Also found are papyri and a library containing the works of Epicurus. Herculaneum probably started as an Archaic Greek foundation.

Shell Mound/ Shell midden

An archaeological deposit consisting of a refuse mound of discarded shells, offering evidence of early human use of certain mollusks. These often extensive heaps are the result of many years of exploitation of marine resources as a main or supplementary food source. Shell middens provide information on diet, harvesting techniques, subsistence economy, and seasonality.

Diagnostic

An artifact or some other aspect of a site that is known to be associated with a particular time period

Foraminifera

An extensive order of rhizopods which generally have a chambered calcareous shell formed by several united zooids. These one-celled organisms secrete chambered or unchambered shells and are laid down on the ocean floor through the slow continuous progress of sedimentation. Variations in the ratio of two oxygen isotopes in the calcium carbonate of these shells gives an indication of the sea temperature at the time the organisms were alive.

Ecofact

Any flora or fauna material found at an archaeological site; nonartifactual evidence that has not been technologically altered but that has cultural relevance, such as a shell carried from the ocean to an inland settlement. Seeds, pollen, animal bone, insects, fish bones, and mollusks are all ecofacts; the category includes both inorganic and organic ecofacts.

Cutmarks

Any microscopic scratches on the surface of an animal bone, with distinctive V-shaped grooves. The marks indicate meat and muscle were removed from the bone using stone flakes.

Alloy

Any of a number of substances which are a mixture of two or more metals, such as bronze (copper and tin), brass (copper and zinc), or tumbaga (copper and gold). An alloy has properties superior to those of the individual metals. Slight alterations of the proportions of the metals can bring significant changes in the properties of the alloy. Bronze was the most important alloy in antiquity. The term is also used to describe the technique of mixing the metals.

Shard

Any pottery fragment -- piece of broken pot or other earthenware item -- that has archaeological significance.

Sherd

Any pottery fragment -- piece of broken pot or other earthenware item -- that has archaeological significance.

Seafloor Sediment Core

Basically, a geologist uses a long narrow metal (generally aluminum) tube to sample the soil deposits in the bottom of a lake or wetland. The soils are removed, dried, and analyzed in a laboratory. The reason sediment core analysis is interesting is because the bottoms of a lake or wetland are records of the silt and pollen and other objects and materials which have fallen into the lake over time.

Fukui Cave

Beginning in 1960, excavations of stratified layers in the Fukui Cave, Nagasaki prefecture in northwestern Kyushu, yielded shards of dirt-brown pottery with applied and incised or impressed decorative elements in linear relief and parallel ridges. The pottery was low-fired, and reassembled pieces are generally minimally decorated and have a small round-bottomed shape. Radiocarbon dating places the Fukui find to approximately 10,500 bce, and the Fukui shards are generally thought to mark the beginning of the Jōmon period. This early transitional period seems to lack convincing evidence of plant cultivation which would, along with microlith and pottery production, allow it to meet the criteria for a Neolithic culture.

Ice Core

Borings taken from the Arctic and Antarctic polar ice caps, containing layers of compacted ice, useful for the reconstruction of paleoenvironments and paleoclimatology and as a method of absolute dating. Continuous cores, sometimes taken to the bedrock below, allow the sampling of an ice sheet through its entire history of accumulation. Because there is no melting, the layered structure of the ice preserves a continuous record of snow accumulation and chemistry, air temperature and chemistry, and fallout from volcanic, terrestrial, marine, cosmic, and man-made sources. Actual samples of ancient atmospheres are trapped in air bubbles within the ice. This record extends back more than 300,000 years.

Earthenware

Clay that matures at lower temperatures. Ceramics fired at temperatures high enough for vitrification to begin.

C.J. Thomsen

Danish antiquary and first curator of the National Museum of Denmark. His main contribution to prehistory was the Three Age system (Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages), first devised in 1819 as a method of classifying the museum collections, but soon recognized as a tool of enormous value in interpreting the prehistoric past.

Stoneware

Distinctive pottery that has been fired at a high temperature (about 1,200 C / 2,200 F) until glasslike and impervious to liquid). Usually opaque, but mainly because it is nonporous, it does not require a glaze. When a glaze is used, it is decorative only. Stoneware originated in China as early as 1400 BC (Shang dynasty). The technique made possible the production of durable tablewares.

Temper

Foreign material (sand, plant fibers, grit, shell, crushed rock, broken pottery) added to clay for potterymaking to improve its firing qualities and prevent a vessel from cracking during the drying process. Temper reduces plasticity, which would cause shrinkage or cracking upon drying and firing.

Macrobotanical Remains

Fragments of plant tissue observable with the naked eye.

Ware

Generally, articles made of pottery or ceramic. Specifically, a class of pottery whose members share similar technology, paste, and surface treatment.

Bulb of Percussion

In flint-making, a swelling or bulb left on the surface of a blade or flake directly below the point of impact on the striking platform. In other words, a swelling on a flake or blade at the point where it has been struck to detach it from a core. On the flake or blade struck off there is a rounded, slightly convex shape around this point called the bulb of percussion and on the core there is a corresponding concave bulb. The point and the bulb of percussion are rarely present if a flake has been struck off naturally, as by heat or frost. Thus the presence of a bulb of percussion makes it possible to distinguish human workmanship from natural breakage.

Secondary Products Revolution

In the Late Neolithic, a series of changes in the culture and subsistence data which has been interpreted as a shift from floodplain horticulture to a greater reliance on domestic livestock, particularly their secondary products"."

Macrofauna

Large animals, cf. microfauna.

Lipid Residue

Lipids are a broad category of compounds that are insoluble in water (Chapter 5); those of archaeological interest include fatty acids, triacylglycerols, sterols, waxes, and terpenes. Rottländer (1990) noted that lipid analysis is suitable for the study of vessel contents because they are present in virtually all human food, they have a relatively high stability with increased temperature (up to 400°C), and their decomposition from cooking temperatures is minimal, compared to carbohydrates and proteins. Over the last four decades, different instrumental techniques have been used to obtain information about archaeological lipid residues. The most commonly employed involve component separation with gas chromatography: gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector (GC), gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC/MS), and, recently, gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio analysis (GC-C-IRMS).

Terracotta

Literally 'baked earth' or 'baked clay'; fired clay which is incompletely fired and still porous. It is used to make artifacts such as vessels, figurines, tablets, spindle whorls, loom weights, or net sinkers. It is a material from which much ancient pottery and other fired clay objects were made. It is also found as a structural material in hearths and kilns, where the clay of which they were built has been baked in use.

Inclusions

Material added to clay to provide strength and improve the firing process.

Secondary Products

Materials gained from animals without killing them, e.g. milk, wool.

Medieval Warm Period

Medieval Climate Optimum, or Medieval Climatic Anomaly was a time of warm climate in the North Atlantic region that may have been related to other warming events in other regions during that time, including China[1] and other areas,[2][3] lasting from about c. 950 to c. 1250. Possible causes of the Medieval Warm Period include increased solar activity, decreased volcanic activity, and changes to ocean circulation.

teosinte

Mexican tall annual grass grown as fodder, considered ancestral to domesticated maize.

phytolith

Microscopic silica bodies that form in living plants, providing a durable floral ecofact that allows identification of plant remains in archaeological deposits. It is a fossilized part of a living plant that secreted opal silica bodies and it is found within the cells of certain plants, especially grasses and cereals. These silica bodies are often able to survive after the organism has decomposed or been burned. They are common in ash layers, pottery, and even on stone tools used to cut the stems of silica-rich plants (e.g. cereals). Different plants produce phytoliths with different characteristic shapes and sizes, though not all are unique to specific species. These can be detected by an electronic scanning microscope.

79 C.E./A.D.

Mount Vesuvius, a volcano in modern-day Italy, erupted in 79 in one of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions in European history.

Lithic

Pertaining to or describing a stone tool or artifact. The capitalized term describes the first developmental period in New World chronology, preceding the Archaic period and characterized by the use of flaked stone tools and hunting and gathering subsistence. The combining form means relating to or characteristic of a (specified) stage in humankind's use of stone as a cultural tool and to form the names of cultural phases, e.g. Neolithic, Mesolithic. Lithics is the process or industry of making stone tools and artifacts.

Microfauna

Small animals, such as rodents and insectivores, as compared with macrofauna. Besides referring to the small or strictly localized fauna, as of a microenvironment, the term is applied to minute animals, especially those invisible to the naked eye.

O Horizon

The "O" stands for organic matter. It is a surface layer, dominated by the presence of large amounts of organic material in varying stages of decomposition. The O horizon should be considered distinct from the layer of leaf litter covering many heavily vegetated areas, which contains no weathered mineral particles and is not part of the soil itself. O horizons may be divided into O1 and O2 categories, whereby O1 horizons contain decomposed matter whose origin can be spotted on sight (for instance, fragments of rotting leaves), and O2 horizons containing only well-decomposed organic matter, the origin of which is not readily visible.

Domestication

The adaptation of an animal or plant through breeding in captivity for useful advantage to and by humans. Early agriculturists controlled fauna through selection and breeding so that animals might produce more of what man needed than their wild forebears. The definition includes the taming of cats and dogs as house pets, as well as the care and control of cattle, sheep, goat, pig, horse, llama, camel, guinea pig, etc. It included breeding for produce such as milk, meat, hides, and wool, and the training of animals for draft and carrying. This selection by man resulted in osteological changes in the animals, so that in general domesticated animals can be distinguished by their remains from their wild ancestors. The process of domestication was a slow one; dogs likely being the first in Mesolithic times. Sheep were likely domesticated by 9000 BC in Iraq. Goats, cattle, and pigs followed in the next 3000 years, all in southwest Asia. The horse appears in the 2nd millennium, and the camel in the 1st. In the New World, domesticable animals were far fewer, notably the dog, llama, and guinea pig. The change involved, from hunting and gathering to food production was one of the most important in human development. Adaptations made by animal and plant species to the cultural environment as a result of human interference in reproductive or other behavior are often detectable as specific physical changes in faunal or floral ecofacts.

Striking Platform

The area on a store core which is struck to remove a flake or blade in toolmaking. Part of the original platform is removed with the detached flake. The platform itself is prepared by the removal of one or more flakes, and in the latter case is described as a faceted striking platform.

Epiphysis

The articulating end of a long bone or vertebra, which in an adult are fused with the shaft or main part of the bone, but which are separate bony masses in the early years of life. For both human and animal bones therefore, the state of fusion of the epiphyses can be used to determine the age of the skeleton if it is under 20 years old (human) or 3-4 years (domestic animals).

Ecosystem

The complex of living organisms, their physical environment, and all their interrelationships in a particular unit of space; the total living community of a single environment -- the flora, fauna, insects, and man himself -- and the interactions of the constituent parts as well as their relationship with the non-living environment. The flow of energy through an ecosystem leads to a clearly defined structure, biotic diversity, and system of exchange cycles between the living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem.

Jomon

The earliest major postglacial culture of hunting and gathering in Japan, 10,000-300 BC, divided into six phases. divided into the six phases: Incipient (10,000-7500 BC), Earliest (7500-5000 BC), Early (5000-3500 BC), Middle (3500-2500/2000 BC), Late (2500/2000-1000 BC), and Final (1000-300 BC). Widespread trading networks and ritual development took place in the Middle Jomon.

Seasonality

The exploitation of different environments at different times of the year by the same group of people; an estimate of when during the year a particular archaeological site was occupied. Transhumance is one instance of this practice, where high pastureland is grazed in the summer. There was also exploitation of water resources for fish or water birds; the following of wild herds by hunter-gatherers. The people usually moved back to their original starting place each year.

Heavy Fractions

The heaviest materials that sink to the bottom of flotation equipment mesh -- such as pottery sherds, flint, and large seeds.

Pyrotechnology

The intentional use and control of fire by humans.

Light Fractions

The lighter materials that float to the top of flotation equipment during agitation -- such as seeds, shell, or flint chips.

Vitrification

The melting and fusion of glassy minerals within clay during the high-temperature firing of pottery (above 1000 C), resulting in loss of porosity. It occurs when clay particles fuse together as glass.

MNI (Minimum Number of Individuals)

The minimum number of individuals represented in a given faunal or human bone collection; determined from the number in the largest category of skeletal elements recovered. It is a method of assessing species abundance in faunal assemblages based on a calculation of the smallest number of animals necessary to account for all the identified bones. It is usually calculated from the most abundant bone or tooth from either the left or right side of the animal.

Paleolithic

The more technical name for the Old Stone Age, a division of prehistory covering the time from the first use of stone tools by humans, c 2.5 million years ago, to the retreat of the glacial ice in the northern hemisphere c 10,000-8500 BC. It began in the Pliocene epoch and was followed by the Mesolithic. It is the Old World equivalent, although with a much greater extension back in time, of the paleo-Indian or Early Lithic stage of New World development. The Paleolithic was characterized by the making of chipped or flaked stone tools and weapons and by a hunting and food-gathering way of life. It is usually divided into Lower, Middle, and Upper (or Late) Paleolithic -- mainly based on artifact typology. The subdivisions are characterized this way: Lower Palaeolithic, c 2.5 million - 200,000 BC, the earliest forms of humans (Australopithecus and Homo erectus), and the predominance of core tools of pebble tool, handax, and chopper type; Middle Palaeolithic, c 150,000-40,000 BC, the era of the Neanderthal and the predominance of flake-tool industries (e.g. Mousterian) over most of Eurasia; and Upper Palaeolithic (starting perhaps as early as 38,000 BC-c 10,000 BC), with Homo sapiens sapiens, blade-and-burin industries, and the development of cave art in western Europe. During this stage, man colonized the New World and Australia. The main Palaeolithic cultures of Europe were, in chronological order: 1. Pre-Abbevillian, 2. Abbevillian, 3. Clactonian, 4. Acheulian, 5. Levalloisian, 6. Mousterian, 7. Aurignacian, 8. Solutrean, and 9. Magdalenian. The term was introduced in 1865 by John Lubbock in Prehistoric Times". The Palaeolithic was originally defined by the use of chipped stone tools but later an economic criterion was added and the practice of hunting and gathering is now regarded as a defining characteristic."

Microwear

The patterns of edge damage on a stone tool providing archaeological evidence of the ways in which that tool was used.

Neolithic

The period of prehistory when people began to use ground stone tools, cultivate plants, and domesticate livestock but before the use of metal for tools. It is the technical name for the New Stone Age in the Old World following the Mesolithic. In the Neolithic, villages were established, pottery and weaving appeared, and farming began. The Neolithic began about 8000-7000 BC in the Middle East and about 4000-3000 BC in Europe. It was followed by the Bronze Age, which began about 3500-3000 BC in the Middle East and about 2000-1500 BC in Europe. The criteria for defining" the Neolithic has become progressively more difficult to apply as both food production and metalworking took a long time to develop. In Britain the Neolithic has other more specific characteristics: the use of pottery and of ground stone (beside the long-employed flaked stone) and the appearance of construction works like the long barrow causewayed camp and megalithic tomb. Elsewhere however some Mesolithic cultures made use of pottery in Japan for example; and certain so-called pre-pottery Neolithic groups had none as at Jericho. If the term Neolithic is to be retained at all it must be based on the appearance of food production (especially cereal grains) sometimes called the Neolithic revolution commencing in southwest Asia 9000-6000 BC. This might be considered the most important single advance ever made by man since it allowed him to settle permanently in one spot. This in turn encouraged the accumulation of material possessions stimulated trade and by giving a storable surplus of food allowed a larger population and craft specialization. All these were prerequisite to further human progress. The Neolithic was followed by the Mesolithic period the Chalcolithic or the Bronze Age depending on the terminology used in different areas and the nature of the archaeological sequence itself. The Neolithic followed the Paleolithic Period."

Form

The physical characteristics -- size, shape, composition, arrangement -- of any archaeological find or any component of a culture. Form is an essential part of attribute analysis; in archaeological research, the first objective is to describe and analyze the physical attributes of data to determine distributions in time and space and leads to form classifications. For example, the shape of a pot or other tool directly reflects its function.

Plasticity

The property of a material that enables it to be shaped when wet and to hold this shape when the shaping force is removed

Refitting

The reassembling of stone debitage and cores to reconstruct ancient lithic technologies. It is any attempt to put stone tools and flakes back together again, which provides important information on the processes involved in the knapper's craft. The techniquemay allow reconstruction of ancient manufacture and use behavior.

Fertile Crescent

The region in the Middle East where the civilizations of the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin began. The term was invented by the American Orientalist James Henry Breasted in 1916. It applied to the crescent-shaped area of cultivable land between the highland zones and the West Asian desert, stretching from Egypt through the Levant to southern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia, and eastwards to the flanks of the Zagros Mountains. Conditions in this area were favorable for the early development of farming, and all the earliest farming communities were thought to lie within it. The Fertile Crescent in its wider extension corresponds exactly to the region described in the Hebrew traditions of Genesis; it also contains the ancient countries -- Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt, Phoenicia -- from which the Greek and Roman civilizations evolved. The belief that the earliest culture known to mankind originated in the Fertile Crescent has been confirmed by radiocarbon dating since 1948.

Faunal Analysis

The study of animal remains in an archaeological site, as by identifying bones or shells, examining butcher marks, and so on. The analysis is used to determine past hunting and dietary practices.

Zooarchaeology

The study of animal remains, especially bones, from archaeological contexts, including the identification and analysis of faunal species as an aid to reconstructing human diets, determining the impact of animals on past economies, and in understanding the environment at the time of deposition. Animal remains are collected, cleaned, sorted, identified, and measured for their study and interpretation. The study of bones involves calculations of minimum numbers of individuals belonging to each species found; their size, age, sex, stature, dentition, and whether the bones have any marks from implements implying butchering and eating. Archaeologists attempt to answer questions such as how many species of domesticated animals there were, how far wild animals were exploited, how many very young animals there were to determine kill patterns and climate changes, in what way bones were butchered, what the sex ratios there were in determining breeding strategies, and if there were any animals of unusual size. By analyzing remains from different parts of a site it may be possible to understand some of the internal organization of the settlement, while a comparison between sites within a region may show areas of specialization.

Archaeobotany

The study of botanical remains at archaeological sites. The field examines the natural surroundings of flora as well as the human-controlled flora on sites. The terms palaeoethnobotany, palaeoentomology, and palaeobotany are sometimes used interchangeably in the literature of archaeology.

paleoethnobotany

The study of botanical remains at archaeological sites; the analysis and interpretation of interrelationships between people and plants from evidence in the archaeological record. The field examines the natural surroundings of flora as well as the human-controlled flora on sites. The terms archaeobotany, palaeoentolomology, and palaeobotany are sometimes used interchangeably in the literature of archaeology.

Palynology

The study of fossil and living spores (of lichens and mosses) and pollen (of flowering plants); the technique through which the fossil pollen grains and spores from archaeological sites are studied. The examination of their production, dispersal, and applications is an aid to the reconstruction of past vegetation and climates and developing relative chronologies. Each kind of flowering plant produces pollen that is unique and pollen grains have tough coverings that can last a long time. The resilient exine of the pollen and spores is preserved in anaerobic environments, such as lakes and bogs, and some acidic and dry soils, as in caves. Palynology helps archaeologists find out what plant resources were available to ancient peoples and what the climate was at those times. Palynology was developed by Swedish botanist Lennart von Post.

Landscape Archaeology

The study of individual features including settlements seen as single components within the broader perspective of the patterning of human activity over a wide area. It is the recovery of the story of an area of countryside using all possible techniques -- surface scatters, field and other boundaries, standing buildings, as well as excavation. This approach within archaeology emphasizes examination of the complete landscape, focusing on dispersed features and on areas between and surrounding traditional sites as well as on the sites themselves.

Pollen analysis

The study of pollen grains in soil samples from an archaeological site which provides information on ancient human use of plants and plant resources. This technique, which is used in establishing relative chronologies as well as in environmental archaeology, was developed primarily as a technique for the relative dating of natural horizons. Pollen grains are produced in vast quantities by all plants, especially the wind-pollinated tree species. The outer skin (exine) of these grains is remarkably resistant to decay, and on wet ground or on a buried surface, it will be preserved, locked in the humus content. The pollen grains of trees, shrubs, grasses, and flowers are preserved in either anaerobic conditions or in acid soils. Samples can be taken from the deposits by means of a core or from individual layers at frequent intervals in a section face on an archaeological site. The pollen is extracted and then concentrated and stained and examined under a microscope. Pollen grains are identifiable by their shape, and the percentages of the different species present in each sample are recorded on a pollen diagram. A comparison of the pollen diagrams for different levels within a deposit allows the identification of changes in the percentages of species and thus changes in the environment. As a dating technique, pollen has been used to identify different zones of arboreal vegetation which often correspond to climatic changes. The technique is invaluable for disclosing the environment of early man's sites and can even, over and series of samples, reveal man's influence on his environment by, for example, forest clearance. The sediments most frequently investigated are peat and lake deposits, but the more acid soils, such as podsols, are also analyzed. Radiocarbon dates may be taken at intervals in the sequence, and it is possible to reconstruct the history of vegetation in the area around the site where the samples were taken. Palynology plays an important role in the investigation of ancient climates, particularly through studies of deposits formed during glacial and interglacial stages of the Pleistocene epoch.

Pedology

The study of soils and their structure, especially the creation, characteristics, distribution, and uses of soils. Archaeology depends on identification of soils to come up with the proper interpretation of the context and integrity of deposits. This scientific discipline is concerned with all aspects of soils, including their physical and chemical properties, the role of organisms in soil production and in relation to soil character, the description and mapping of soil units, and the origin and formation of soils.

Taphonomy

The study of the transformation of organic remains after death to form fossil and archaeological remains. The study includes the processes that disturb and damage bones before, during, and after burial -- burial, decay, and preservation. The term combines the Greek word for tomb or burial (taphos) with that for law (nomos). The focus is on an understanding of the processes resulting in the archaeological record.

Geoarchaeology

The techniques of geology applied to archaeological issues, such as dating methodology, mineral identification, soil and stratification analysis; the investigation of the relationship between archaeological and geological processes. goal of understanding the physical context of archaeological remains and the emphasis on the interrelationships among cultural and land systems.

The Little Ice Age

The term Little Ice Age was originally coined by F Matthes in 1939 to describe the most recent 4000 year climatic interval (the Late Holocene) associated with a particularly dramatic series of mountain glacier advances and retreats, analogous to, though considerably more moderate than, the Pleistocene glacial fluctuations. This relatively prolonged period has now become known as the Neoglacial period. The term Little Ice Age is, instead, reserved for the most extensive recent period of mountain glacier expansion and is conventionally defined as the 16th-mid 19th century period during which European climate was most strongly impacted. This period begins with a trend towards enhanced glacial conditions in Europe following the warmer conditions of the so-called medieval warm period or medieval climatic optimum of Europe (see Medieval Climatic Optimum, Volume 1), and terminates with the dramatic retreat of these glaciers during the 20th century. While there is evidence that many other regions outside Europe exhibited periods of cooler conditions, expanded glaciation, and significantly altered climate conditions, the timing and nature of these variations are highly variable from region to region, and the notion of the Little Ice Age as a globally synchronous cold period has all but been dismissed (Bradley and Jones, 1993; Mann et al., 1999). If defined as a large-scale event, the Little Ice Age must instead be considered a time of modest cooling of the Northern Hemisphere, with temperatures dropping by about 0.6 °C during the 15th-19th centuries

Retouch

The working of a primary flake, usually by the removal of small fragments, to form a tool; to thin, sharpen, straighten, or otherwise refine an existing stone tool for further use. It is the work done to a flint implement after its preliminary roughing-out in order to make it into a functional tool. Retouch is one of the most obvious features distinguishing a manmade from a naturally struck flint.

Subsoil

They dig until they reach a sterile layer known as subsoil. Subsoil looks different in various parts of the world (in Williamsburg, it is yellow clay), but all subsoils share the characteristic of containing no evidence of human occupation. Once subsoil is reached, there is no reason to dig deeper. How deep is subsoil? Again, this varies depending on where you are. Deep in the woods where no one has ever lived, subsoil may be just a few inches under the surface. In Williamsburg, subsoil typically occurs at a depth of 18 to 24 inches, indicating that the soil has built up at a rate of roughly 1 foot every 100 years.

Microbotanical Remains

Those plant remains from archaeological sites that are visible only with the aid of magnification, primarily pollen and phytoliths. The term is also applied to any small or strictly localized flora, as of a microenvironment.

Porcelain

Vitrified pottery with a white, fine-grained body that is usually translucent, as distinguished from earthenware, which is porous, opaque, and coarser. Porcelain is a fine form of pottery which is fired to a very high temperature in order to vitrify the clay. The three main types of porcelain are true, or hard-paste, porcelain; artificial, or soft-paste, porcelain; and bone china.

Potter's Wheel

a horizontal revolving disk on which wet clay is shaped into pots or other round ceramic objects.

Buried A Horizon

a mineral horizon. This horizon always forms at the surface and is what many people refer to as topsoil. Natural events, such as flooding, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and dust deposition can bury an A horizon so that it is no longer found at the surface. A buried A horizon is a clear indication that soil and landscape processes have changed some time in the past. Compared to other mineral horizons (E, B, or C) in the soil profile, they are rich in organic matter, giving them a darker color. The A horizon, over time, is also a zone of loss - clays and easily dissolved compounds being leached out - and A horizons are typically more coarse (less clay) compared to underlying horizons (with the exception of an E horizon). Additions and losses are the dominant processes of A horizons.

Lapilli

a size classification term for tephra, which is material that falls out of the air during a volcanic eruption or during some meteorite impacts. Lapilli (singular: lapillus) means "little stones" in Latin. By definition lapilli range from 2 to 64 mm (0.08 to 2.52 in) in diameter

Debotage

all the material produced during the process of lithic reduction and the production of chipped stone tools. This assemblage includes, but is not limited to, different kinds of lithic flakes and lithic blades, shatter and production debris, and production rejects.

Diatoms

are a major group of microscopic algae and are among the most common types of phytoplankton. Most diatoms are unicellular, although some form chains or simple colonies. A characteristic feature of diatom cells is that they are encased within a unique cell wall made of silica. These walls show a wide diversity in form, some quite beautiful and ornate, but usually consist of two symmetrical sides with a split between them, hence the group name.

Pyroclastic Flow in Volcanic Eruptions

contain a high-density mix of hot lava blocks, pumice, ash and volcanic gas. They move at very high speed down volcanic slopes, typically following valleys. Most pyroclastic flows consist of two parts: a lower (basal) flow of coarse fragments that moves along the ground, and a turbulent cloud of ash that rises above the basal flow. Ash may fall from this cloud over a wide area downwind from the pyroclastic flow.

Roman Climatic Optimum

has been proposed as a period of unusually warm weather in Europe and the North Atlantic that ran from approximately 250 BC to AD 400.

Oxidizing Atmosphere

involving a gaseous atmosphere in which an oxidation reaction (the oxidation of solids) occurs. If a kiln is being fired with good, dry fuel and with plenty of draft, the carbon in the fuel is converted into carbon dioxide, and there is oxygen in the atmosphere. This is the oxidizing atmosphere which causes pottery to be fired to a red or orange color whether it has a slip or not.

Chaff

is the dry, scaly protective casings of the seeds of cereal grain, or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material such as scaly parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw. Chaff is indigestible by humans, but livestock can eat it and in agriculture it is used as livestock fodder, or is a waste material ploughed into the soil or burnt.

Stable Oxygen Isotope Analysis

is the identification of isotopic signature, the distribution of certain stable isotopes and chemical elements within chemical compounds. This can be applied to a food web to make it possible to draw direct inferences regarding diet, trophic level, and subsistence. Variations in isotope ratios from isotopic fractionation are measured using mass spectrometry, which separates the different isotopes of an element on the basis of their mass-to-charge ratio. The ratios of isotopic oxygen are also differentially affected by global weather patterns and regional topography as moisture is transported. Areas of lower humidity cause the preferential loss of 18O water in the form of vapor and precipitation. Furthermore, evaporated 16O water returns preferentially to the atmospheric system as it evaporates and 18O remains in liquid form or is incorporated into the body water of plants and animals.

Quarry

it is a cumulative feature resulting from the mining of mineral resources or a place where stone was removed from a larger source, e.g. to subsequently manufacture tools.

Coastal Flooding

occurs when normally dry, low-lying land is flooded by seawater.[1] The extent of coastal flooding is a function of the elevation inland flood waters penetrate which is controlled by the topography of the coastal land exposed to flooding. The seawater can inundate the land via several different paths: Direct inundation, Overtopping of a barrier, and Breaching of a barrier. Coastal flooding is largely a natural event, however human influence on the coastal environment can exacerbate coastal flooding. Extraction of water from groundwater reservoirs in the coastal zone can enhance subsidence of the land increasing the risk of flooding. Engineered protection structures along the coast such as sea walls alter the natural processes of the beach, often leading to erosion on adjacent stretches of the coast which also increases the risk of flooding.

Salinity

pertains to the degree of saltiness or the relative proportion of salt in a solution.

A Horizon

top layer of the soil horizons, often referred to as 'topsoil'. This layer has a layer IS of dark decomposed organic materials, which is called "humus".The technical definition of an A horizon may vary, but it is most commonly described in terms relative to deeper layers. "A" Horizons may be darker in colour than deeper layers and contain more organic material, or they may be lighter but contain less clay or sesquioxides. The A is a surface horizon, and as such is also known as the zone in which most biological activity occurs. Soil organisms such as earthworms, potworms (enchytraeids), arthropods, nematodes, fungi, and many species of bacteria and archaea are concentrated here, often in close association with plant roots. Thus the A horizon may be referred to as the biomantle.[3][4] However, since biological activity extends far deeper into the soil, it cannot be used as a chief distinguishing feature of an A horizon.