These are some archaeological terms. Here, you can find the meanings to words read in our articles and other sources.

　　A

　　absolute dating: the determination of age with reference to a specific time scale, such as a fixed calendrical system; also referred to as chronometric dating.

　　aerial reconnaissance: an important survey technique in the discovery and recording of archaeological sites (see also reconnaissance survey).

　　altithermal: a postulated climatic period characterized by warmer and/or drier conditions approximately 4,000-8,000 years ago.

　　amino-acid racemization: a method used in the dating of both human and animal bone. Its special significance is that with a small sample (10g) it can be applied to material up to 100,000 years old, i.e. beyond the time range of radiocarbon dating.

　　analogy: a process of reasoning whereby two entities that share some similarities are assumed to share many others.

　　ancillary sample: any non-artifactual materials collected by archaeologists to aid in dating, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, or other interpretations - e.g. carbon samples, soil samples, palynological samples etc.

　　anthropology: the study of humanity - our physical characteristics as animals, and our unique non-biological characteristics we call culture. The subject is generally broken down into three subdisciplines: biological (physical) anthropology, cultural (social) anthropology, and archaeology.

　　anthropomorphic: "man-like." Used to describe artifacts or art work decorated with human features or with a man-like appearance.

　　arbitrary level: an excavation level defined by factors of convenience, with no necessary relationship to site-stratigraphy or cultural components.

　　archaeological culture: a constantly recurring assemblage of artifacts assumed to be representative of a particular set of behavioral activities carried out at a particular time and place (cf. culture).

　　archaeomagnetic dating: sometimes referred to as paleomagnetic dating. it is based on the fact that changes in the earth‘s magnetic field over time can be recorded as remnant magnetism in materials such as baked clay structure (ovens, kilns, and hearths).

　　archaeozoology: sometimes referred to as zooarchaeology, this involves the identification and analysis of faunal species from archaeological sites, as an aid to the reconstruction of human diets and to an understanding of the contemporary environment at the time of deposition.

　　articulated: two or more bones left in their anatomical position after tissue decay.

　　artifact: any manually portable product of human workmanship (see feature). In its broadest sense includes tools, weapons, ceremonial items, art objects, all industrial waste, and all floral and faunal remains modified by human activity.

　　assemblage: a group of artifacts recurring together at a particular time and place, and representing the sum of human activities.

　　association: the co-occurrence of an artifact with other archaeological remains, usually in the same matrix.

　　atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS): a method of analyzing artifact composition similar to optical emission spectrometry (OES) in that it measures energy in the form of visible light waves. It is capable of measuring up to 40 different elements with an accuracy of c. 1 percent.

　　attribute: a minimal characteristic of an artifact such that it cannot be further subdivided; attributes commonly studied include aspects of form, style, decoration, color, and raw material.

　　attritional age profile: a mortality pattern based on bone or tooth wear which is characterized by an overrepresentation of young and old animals in relation to their numbers in live populations. It suggests either scavenging of attritional mortality victims (i.e. those dying from natural causes or from non-human predation) or the hunting by humans or other predators of the most vulnerable individuals.