Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (570 page)

In archaeological science, precision is the degree to which random errors effect a set of measurements; high precision means that the overall random error is small and that replicated measurements will provide closely similar results. A random error in this sense is one which, when averaged, tends to zero as the number of measurements averaged is increased. High precision does not, therefore, mean that the measurements will necessarily be close to the true value; systematic errors may give low accuracy. In other words, precise results are not ecessarily accurate results and vice versa. compare
ACCURACY
.

 
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See
FORMATIVE
.

 
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The use of existing models or literature searches to create a background knowledge about the location and extent of target populations. Such locations are then checked to determine presence or absence.

 
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Archaic Stage hunter-gatherer communities living in northern areas of North America in the period 1700–900 bc. There is much debate about the relationship of Pre-Dorset Cultures to the Arctic Small Tool Tradition and other related groups. Although the question has not been solved, the matter of seasonality may underlie some of the apparent differences. Pre-Dorset groups relied heavily on seals for their subsistence, hunting them at their winter breathing holes. Musk ox, caribou, polar bears, and other smaller animals were hunted with harpoons and bows and arrows. Fish, especially Arctic char were caught in weirs and traps and taken using fish spears. Pre-Dorset communities used bone and ivory needles to make tailored clothing. They kept dogs, perhaps for hunting. Camps are generally coastal. Summer dwellings seem to have been tents weighted down by stones around the periphery. Winter dwellings may have been built from stone blocks like the familiar igloos of more recent times. Heat and light were provided by soapstone lamps burning seal fat. The Pre-Dorset culture evolved into the Dorset culture around 800–500 bc, continuity being evident in the tool kits, although Dorset assemblages generally include more ground stone items.

 
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The period before the establishment of ruling dynasties and the emergence of a unified state in ancient Egypt
c.
3000 bc. The first ruler of all Egypt was
MENES
who forged a kingdom out of the previously incompatible elements of the people occupying Upper and Lower Egypt.

 
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A unit of civic administration in early state societies such as the Tang and Sung dynasties of China.

 
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