Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (800 page)

Fourth and final glacial geostratigraphic stage of the
PLEISTOCENE
sequence represented in the Alps, spanning the period
c.
110000–10000 bc. Equivalent to the
DEVENSIAN
in the British Isles and the
WISCONSIN
in North America.

 
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Ruler of the
ACHAEMENID
empire in the period 486–465 bc. He is remembered for his savage destruction of
BABYLON
and for his disastrous attempt to conquer Greece at Salamis in 480 bc.

 
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Post-
MEROITIC
culture in Lower Nubia dated to the period ad 350–600. Represented archaeologically by settlements such as Qasr Ibrim and cemeteries at Ballana and Qustul.

 
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A primitive wooden image so unlike marble sculpture that it was supposed to have fallen from heaven and was deeply revered. Such an image of Athena was housed in the Erechtheum on the Athenian Acropolis and dressed in a new robe (peplos) at her great Panathenaic festival every fourth year.

 
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Early fortified site and ceremonial centre of the late Classic Stage set on one of the string of hills in southern Morelos where it controlled access to the Balsas River basin. The centre of the site was constructed on an artificially levelled and terraced hill. The inhabitants of Xochicalco maintained close links with communities in the basin of Mexico, the Gulf Coast, and Maya Lowlands, and the centre may have been a satellite of Teotihuacán for a while. After the collapse of Teotihuacán, however, Xochicalco seems to have grown in importance.
[Rep.: C. A. Sáenz , 1962,
Xochicako, Temporada, 1960
(= Instituto Nacional al Anthropologia é Historia, Colección Informes 2). Mexico: Instituto Nacional al Anthropologia é Historia]

 
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An imaging technique used to study the structure and composition of objects or materials. The specimen is placed on a radiosensitive surface, usually a photographic plate or real-time sensor, and then bombarded with short-wavelength high-energy electromagnetic radiation (X-rays). The image is recorded as darker and lighter tones according to the intensity of the X-rays that pass through the different parts of the sample material, the structure and composition of the material differentially absorbing X-rays. X-radiography is extensively used in archaeology to study metal objects, especially iron, where corrosion products mask the form of the original piece and any decoration that may once have been visible. It is also used to examine large objects prior to excavation under laboratory conditions (e.g. cremation urns; mummies), paintings and drawn images that have several layers to them, and human body parts and biological samples.

 
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