Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (406 page)

 
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Copper Age communities occupying the Caucasus mountain region of southern Russia in the later 3rd millennium
bc
, named after the rich grave at maikop, Russia. Maikop settlements comprise groups of up to ten houses, were usually built in defensible positions, and were sometimes enclosed by stone walls or timber palisades. Cist graves under small barrows were the usual burial tradition.

 
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A stout annual cereal plant (Zea mays, sometimes called Indian corn) growing up to 1.8m tall and yielding large grains set in rows on a cob. Teosinte, the wild ancestor of maize, is found in Mesoamerica from Mexico to Honduras, and perhaps further south still. The transition from wild grass to a maize cob appears to have happened in about a century or less, although it took far longer for large succulent cobs to evolve. First domesticated by
c.
3500 bc in Mesoamerica, maize makes its first appearance in the
COXCATLÁN PHASE
of the Tehuacán Valley sequence dated to before
c.
5000 bc. In North America it was the hardy low-yielding chapalote form of maize that was first cultivated in the southwest in the period
c.
1500–1000 bc, but this was soon replaced by the far more productive form maiz de ocho which is adapted to dry conditions but highly productive.

 
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Manufacturing marks etched or stamped onto mass-produced ceramics, glassware, and metals.

 
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Hydrous copper carbonate (Cu
₂
(OH)
₂
CO
₃
) representing a minor but widespread copper ore, green in colour. Probably first exploited as a cosmetic and ointment for the eyes, to cut down the glare of the sun and to discourage flies. The extensive deposits in Sinai were much exploited in antiquity. It was also used for oils and watercolours and encrusted on other materials as ornament.

 
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The study of molluscs. See
MOLLUSCAN ANALYSIS
.

 
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