Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (632 page)

Possible Pleistocene kill site dating to
c.
30000 years ago where it is claimed that dwarf mammoths, which were native to the island, were slaughtered by human groups. However, there is no certain association between the artefacts recovered and the mammoth bones.
[Sum.: C. V. J. Haynes , 1966, Elephant hunting in Northern America.
Scientific American
, 214(6), 104–12]

 
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South American farming cultures found in the Lower and Middle Amazon areas of Brazil and tentatively dated to
c.
ad 1500 and later. Characterized by their ceramic assemblages which belong to the Incised and Punctuate Horizon Style of Amazonia. Vessels in this style from Santarem itself were festooned with adornos in the form of humans, crocodiles, jaguars, monkeys, birds, and frogs. Such adornment would have precluded much everyday use and instead these wares are interpreted as funerary vessels.

 
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This ancient city a little inland from the Atlantic coast of northern Spain was built around its great cathedral dedicated to St James the Great, son of Zebedee . A sanctuary was built on the site of the present cathedral in ad 813 to house St James's relics but this was destroyed by Almansor in ad 997. The present fabric was begun during the reign of King Alfonso VI in the 11th century
ad
. It was consecrated in ad 1105 and finished in ad 1128. Although many alterations have been made since, the basic plan of the church in the form of a Latin cross and the Romanesque arches in the nave are still prominent. The cathedral became one of the most popular centres of pilgrimage in northwest Europe.
[Sum.: M. Stokstad , 1978,
Santiago de Compostela: in the age of the great pilgrimages
. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press]

 
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Major necropolis adjacent to modern Abusir in southern Egypt. Burials started in the 2nd Dynasty, including many royal tombs. Over time the tombs became bigger and more elaborate, eventually being hewn from the solid rock. In the 3rd Dynasty two pharaohs, Sekhemkhet and Djoser, each built massive stepped pyramids surrounded by walled enclosures.
[Sum.: J. P. Laier , 1976,
Saqqara: the royal cemetery of Memphis
. London: Thames & Hudson]

 
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Originally the Arab tribes of Syria but later extended to refer to all Arabs, especially those of Spain, Italy, and Palestine.

 
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Egyptian god, a late god introduced into Egypt in the reign of Ptolemy I, and a hybrid, having the characteristics of the Egyptian Osiris and the Greek Zeus and intended to appeal to both Greeks and Egyptians. Never popular with Egyptians but his worship spread from Alexandria around the Mediterranean. Represented as a bearded man.

 
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