Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (471 page)

Mountain-top sanctuary of the 1st century
bc
situated 250km northeast of Gaziantep in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey. The site was examined by Karl Humann and Otto Puchstein in 1890 and Friedrich-Karl Dorner between 1939 and 1963 and is one of a number of dynastic shrines built by the Commagene rulers before their kingdom was absorbed into the Roman empire around ad 72. The principal feature of Nemrut Da
is the colossal stone sculptures and mausoleum erected by Antiochus I (
c.
69–34 bc). The fragmentary Greek inscriptions indicate that the statuary represented the Achaemenid and Seleucid rulers whom Antiochus claimed as his ancestors, as well as a variety of syncretic gods including Apollo-Mithras and Zeus-Oromasdes. The burial chamber of Antiochus has never been located.
[Rep.: D. H. Sanders (ed.), 1996,
Nemrud Dagi: the hierothesion of Antiochus I of Commagene. Results of the American excavations.
Winona Lake IND: Eisenbrauns]

 
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Palaeo-Indian hunter-gatherer communities of south-central Alaska in the period
c.
10000–8000 bc. Characterized by small bifacially worked chipped stone projectile points and the absence of microblade technology. Nenana sites, probably related to big-game hunting, lie along river valleys in well-drained situations close to water and offering good look-out points.

 
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Type of Roman pottery manufactured at various sites immediately west of Peterborough in the lower Nene Valley from where it was widely distributed in Roman Britain from the mid to late 2nd century
ad
to the late 4th century
ad
. In particular, there are brown or black colour-coated tablewares including the
HUNT CUP
with trailed decoration en
BARBOTINE
. Also known by the rather obsolete term Castor ware.

 
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A prefix meaning ‘new’ or ‘different from’. As a hyphenated prefix it often refers to the reappearance of a culture or tradition after a period of decline or abandonment, as in ‘neo-classical’.

 
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The Assyrian empire can be divided into three main periods, the last of which dates to the Iron Age and is known as the neo-Assyrian. After a period of mediocrity between about 860 bc and 740 bc, Tiglath-Pileser III began the creation of the Assyrian empire, well reflected in the scriptures of the Old Testament and amongst whose rulers are Sargon (721–705 bc), Sennacherib (704–681 bc), Esarhaddon (690–699 bc), and Ashurbanipal (668–627 bc). At its largest, the neo-Assyrian empire ran from Elam to Egypt. It was destroyed in 612 bc by an alliance of the Babylonians and the Medes.

 
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