Exam 1 - Concept/Terms Flashcards
Seriation
a relative dating method in which assemblages or artifacts from numerous sites, in the same culture, are placed in chronological order.
Shephelah
a lowland in south-central Israel stretching over 10–15 km between Mount Hebron and the coastal plain. It was one of the regions allotted to the biblical Tribe of Dan (Joshua 19:40-41). Today the Shfela is largely rural with many farms.
Arabah
“Desolate/Dry Area” a section of the Jordan Rift Valley running in a north-south orientation between the southern end of the Sea of Galilee (as the Jordan river valley) down to the Dead Sea and continuing further south where it ends at the Gulf of Aqaba. It includes most of the border between Israel to the west and Jordan to the east.
absolute chronology
chronology that determines the age of a feature or event in years.
relative chronology
chronology that determines the age of a feature or event relative to the age of other features or events (for example, younger than or older than)
Indicators of Sedentism
- Increasing presence of organisms who benefit from human sedentary activities, e.g.
House mice
Rats
Sparrows
2. Cementum increments on gazelle teeth
Indications that hunting took place in both winter and summer
3. Energy expenditure
Leveling slopes Building houses Production of plaster Transport of undressed stones Digging of graves Shaping of big mortars[2]
Northern Mesopotamia
name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq and northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey.
Queen Helena
Mother of Constantine
Sickle Blade Sheen
Silica residue found on blades suggesting they have been used to cut cereals…forming indirect proof for incipient agriculture
Processual Archaeology
Used the scientific method to get past the limits of the archaeological record
Gobekli Tepe
Hilltop temple. Excavated by Klaus Schmidt. Early neolithic sanctuary
Cave of the Warrior
Judean Desert. Skeleton in contracted position along with reed mat, textiles, bowls, bow and arrow, leather sandals.
Zagros Mountains
Mountains on the East border of Iraq
Startum
a layer of sedimentary rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers.
Tel el-Hesi
First major site excavated in Palestine by Flinders Petrie in 1890 sponsored by the Palestine Exploration Fund. One of the first sites to use stratigraphy and seriation
Oasis Theory
as the climate got drier due to the Atlantic depressions shifting northward, communities contracted to oases where they were forced into close association with animals, which were then domesticated together with planting of seeds.
Balk
A side wall of an excavated unit (square) or a partition of earth left standing between adjoining excavation units. Balks are often left to aid with stratigraphic analysis.
