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All words
in bold appear in the glossary.
A
AMS system
accelerator mass spectrometry system; a method of achieving accurate
radiocarbon dates for very small samples
anatomically
modern humans
people
with the same physical appearance and intelligence as ourselves who
appeared in western Europe between 40,000 and 35,000 years ago, eventually
replacing Neanderthal people there. During the Palaeolithic period
these people lived by hunting wild animals and gathering natural plant
foods. They made their homes in caves and rockshelters where these were
available, as well as building tents and houses on open sites.
antler
tine
small
points of antler which stick out from the main shaft just above the
animal's head
assemblage
a
group of artefacts found in place together. An assemblage might
contain a distinct type or types of artefact such as the Creswellian
or, it may be characteristic of a particular type of activity for example,
a butchery or funerary assemblage. Assemblages consisting of similar
artefacts of particular types may be described by the name of a period
such as the Bronze Age or, as a culture such as the Aurigacian.
archaeology
the
study of human life in the past by the excavation of sites and the analysis
of the structures, objects, human, animal and plant remains they contain.
artefact
an
object used, modified or made by humans for example, a flint tool.
Aurignacian
early
Upper Palaeolithic cultural phase named after the cave of Aurignac,
France, beginning in Europe about 40,000 years ago and lasting until
about 22,000 years ago. The assemblages recognised as Aurignacian were
made by anatomically modern humans, Homo sapiens sapiens, as
they gradually replaced Neanderthal populations, Homo sapiens
neanderthalensis whose assemblages are referred to as Middle
Palaeolithic.
awl
a
small point tool used for making holes especially in leather. Upper
Palaeolithic awls may be made of bone or stone.
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B
backed blade
stone blade blunted by retouch along one side. Such a high
angled edge would not cut back into a wood, bone or antler haft or handle
during use. Such thicker edges could also have glue applied to them
to help hold the tool in place in its haft.
backing
removal
of tiny retouch flakes to form a blunt edge or edges on a stone
tool.
Beaker
a
type of pottery sometimes found with copper tools in the earliest part
of the Bronze Age.
bevelled
shaped
to form an angle. During the Upper Palaeolithic the bottoms of
bone, antler and ivory points were trimmed on one or both sides to form
an angle, thinning the base so that it could then be fixed into a haft.
Biconical
a shape formed when two cones are placed together point to point. A
biconical hole is often formed when an object is drilled from both sides.
biface
see
handaxe
bifacial
relates
to flaking a stone tool on both faces for example, handaxes and
leaf points are described as bifacially flaked.
blade
piece
of stone, often flint, at least twice as long as it is wide.
Blades are struck from cores which have been deliberately prepared
to make them. They are often retouched to form different types of tools.
blank
a
flake or blade before it has been retouched to make a particular type
of tool.
breccia
a
geological deposit consisting of fragments of rock and finer sediment
particles. In a cave formed in limestone, the rock fragments are mostly
pieces of limestone from the walls and roof. The finer sediments are
also derived from the limestone or, they may have come in from outside.
The amount of rock and fine sediment varies according to how the breccia
formed. Bones and artefacts may become part of a breccia. A breccia
may be a mass of loose debris but is often hardened because water draining
through the cave walls dissolves the limestone producing a solution
of calcium carbonate which, in the breccia, hardens like cement.
Bronze
Age
A
period of time when the use of the first metal artefacts, made
of bronze, gradually became widespread. In Britain this period is dated
to approximately 4,000 - 3,000 years ago.
bulbar
surface
the
surface of a struck flake or blade which was detached from the core
showing the characteristics of conchoidal fracture. Also known
as the ventral surface.
Bunter
Sandstone
Used
in Britain to refer to particular geological unit dominated by quartzite
pebbles. Pebbles derived from the Bunter Sandstone are also known as
Bunter Pebbles.
burin
an
engraving tool. During the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic
burins were made by knocking a small flake called a burin spall
from the side of a blade to leave a small straight edge at the top.
This edge was like the tip of a pencil. By drawing it along a stone,
bone, antler or ivory surface under a little pressure, the user could
make lines of varying lengths and depths. This technique could be used
to produce drawings of animals or, to cut the outlines of bone or antler
rods to used for making tools and weapons such as needles and points.
butt
the
remnant of the striking platform on the proximal end of
a flake or blade.
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C
calcareous
a rock or sediment which contains a significant amounts of calcium
carbonate
calcite
the
most common crystalline form of calcium carbonate (see also speleothem,
stalagmite, stalactite,
travertine)
carbonate
a
mineral involving bound carbon and oxygen; limestone is commonly composed
of calcium carbonate but the Creswell limestone also includes magnesium
carbonate (cf. Magnesian)
carnivore
a
group of animals (Carnivora) with powerful jaws and teeth able
to kill and eat other animals or, any animal which eats the meat from
another animal.
cave-earth
a
general term referring to deposits of small stones and finer sediments
which have been deposited in a cave by relatively gentle and local processes
centripetally
term
used to describe the flaking of a roughly circular core when
flakes have been removed from its surface from a striking platform
which goes right around its edge.
chopper
stone
tool made on a pebble or cobble, often quartzite, from which flakes
have been struck from one face to make a sharp edge, leaving the rest
of the natural surface unmodified. Known but not restricted to the Lower
and Middle Palaeolithic.
chopping
tool
stone
tool made on a pebble or cobble, often quartzite, from which flakes
have been struck from both faces to make a sharp edge, leaving the rest
of the natural surface unmodified. Known but not restricted to the Lower
and Middle Palaeolithic
clay-ironstone
a
fine grained sedimentary rock composed of clay and siderite (iron carbonate)
which sometimes occurs overlying coal measures.
conchoidal
fracture
the
way in which materials such as glass and flint break. When a flint knapper
strikes a piece of flint with a hammer, the force of the blow spreads
through the flint as waves originating from the point of impact or percussion.
The direction of force can be detected in the concentric rings known
as ripple marks which spread out from the point of percussion on the
bulbar surface of the flake.
context
the
position of an artefact or other remains within a landscape, geological
deposit or archaeological structure and its relationship to other material
evidence.
convex
having
an edge or outline which curves outwards like the outside edge of a
circle.
coprolite
the
fossilised droppings of mammals or reptiles (technically, ichnofossils).
In caves, coprolites usually derive from bone-eating carnivores such
as hyenas. They contain many small fragments of crunched and digested
bone and, occasionally, pollen.
cordiform
term
used to describe the roughly heart-shaped form of some handaxes
which are rounded at the bottom and have sided which curve slightly
inwards to join in a point.
core
waste
product or debitage left over when a tool maker has finished
striking flakes or blades from a cobble or nodule of stone. The shape
of the core and the pattern of scars left by the flakes or blades removed
from it show how it was worked and what was struck off. These clues
suggest how old it might be.
cortex
the
unmodified natural outer surface of a stone
culture
a
term used by archaeologists to connect assemblages which contain
the same distinctive types of artefacts and may be interpreted as representing
a particular people or society
Creswellian
Late
Upper Palaeolithic assemblages characterised by a particular
type of backed point. These assemblages date to around 12,000 years
ago. The type site for the Creswellian is Mother Grundy's Parlour.
Top
D
Debitage
cores, unmodified flakes and blades, as well as chips and chunks
of stone left over when a stone tool maker has finished working. The
term is also now used to refer to the process of reducing a nodule into
various pieces in contrast to the process of faconnage which describes
the shaping of a tool from a large piece of stone by the removal of
flakes
Devensian
the
last glacial period (or Ice Age) of the Pleistocene in Britain,
between about 80,000 years ago and 10,000 years ago. At the height of
the glaciation about18,000 years ago, the Creswell area lay quite near
but not under the glacial ice
Disarticulate
to separate the bones of an animal skeleton at the joints. Disarticulation
of a skeleton may take place during butchery or, as a result of natural
processes following death.
distal
used
to refer to the tip of a flake or blade opposite the butt or
proximal end and furthest away from the tool maker or, the bottom
end of a bone, furthest from the centre of the body.
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E
Early Upper Palaeolithic
In Britain, the period of the Upper Palaeolithic dating from
about 40,000 to 30,000 years ago. Separated from the Late Upper Palaeolithic
by the last glacial maximum about 18,000 years ago.
ESR
Electron
spin resonance. A radiometric dating technique which seeks to
measure the energetic radioactive decay products which have built up
at a steady rate within a crystalline material since it was formed.
Measurements of the these decay products in teeth, bones and some speloeothem
can provide an estimate of their age back to about 350,000 years ago.
Although capable of producing some reliable age estimates, this technique
sometimes provides some unlikely results and needs to be evaluated with
evidence obtained by other methhods such as TL and OSR.
Top
F
fissure
a high, narrow cavity in limestone. Fissures often develop from
a pre-existing crack in the rock
flake
piece
of stone struck from another using a hammer. A flake may be a waste
product or debitage as in the case of flakes struck off in the
making of a handaxe or, they may be deliberately produced for use as
tools.
flake
tool
flake
on which one or more edges have been modified by retouch for
use as a tool.
flowstone
a
deposit of calcium carbonate on the walls or floor of a cave deposited
from a constant flow of water over its surface.
Font
Robert point
a
tanged stone projectile point of the earlier Upper Palaeolithic.
The tang is formed by abrupt retouch on both sides. Above the
tang, the point has a lozenge shape and is retouched to form the pointed
tip. Two examples are known at Creswell Crags.
Top
G
glacial
characterised or produced by the presence or action of ice. The
phrase ‘glacial period’ does not necessarily imply the presence
of actual glaciers. Glacial periods (colder than today) alternated with
interglacial periods (as in the present) throughout the Pleistocene
glacial
till
geological
deposit consisting of mixture of clay, sands and rocks of varying size
and type picked up and dragged along by a glacier then dumped as the
ice melted. As known as a diamicton.
Gravettian
a
phase of the Upper Palaeolithic in Europe dating from about 28,000
to 22,000 years ago distinguished by particular tool types especially
backed blades and points.
Top
H
habitat
an environment providing the food and shelter required for an animal
to make its home.
hafting
the
process of fixing a stone or metal tool or weapon into or onto a handle.
hammerstone
a
pebble used as a hammer to strike flakes from another piece of stone.
handaxe
a
stone tool found on both Lower and Middle Palaeolithic sites.
Handaxes, also known as bifaces, vary a lot in size and shape.
They are made by knocking flakes off across both faces of a piece of
stone using another stone as a hammer. To make a handaxe the tool maker
would begin by roughing out the required shaped removing as much of
the natural outer surface or cortex of the nodule as possible.
Continuing with the stone hammer or changing to an antler hammer, the
rough out would then be shaped down and thinned across both faces producing
a more or less continuous edge around all or most of the piece. If necessary
the edges and tip might be finished by the removal of tiny retouch
flakes. Handaxes were used with handles. Their edges made them useful
for many jobs such as butchering animals, cutting soft materials, scraping
fat from animals skins and woodworking.
hinge
fracture
the
distal end of a flake which is relatively thick and rounded in
cross-section. When the toolmaker strikes off a flake at the cottect
angle, the force of the blow travels through and out of the struck block
detaching a flake with a thin, sharp end. If the striking angle is not
accurate, the force of the blow may stop short resulting in a thick,
rounded end which is unsuitable for use.
Holocene
the
present warm period, starting at the end of the last Ice Age (the Devensian)
about 10,000 years ago
Top
I
Ice Age
a cold period during which ice sheets and glaciers at times extended
beyond their present limits.
interglacial
a
warm stage between Ice Ages. The present warm period can be considered
as an interglacial.
interstadial
a
short warmer phase which alternates with colder stadial phases
during a glacial period.
Ipswichian
the
interglacial period immediately before the last Ice Age, during which
animals such as elephant, rhinoceros and hippopotamus reached Britain.
The main warm phase was centred about 125,000 years ago.
Iron
Age
the
period of time between the Bronze Age and the Roman period when use
of metal artefacts made of iron first became widespread. In Britain
this period is dated approximately 3,000 - 2,000 years ago.
Top
K
knapped
stone deliberately modified using a hammer.
Top
L
Last Cold Stage
the last cold period 75,000-10,000 years ago
Late
Upper Palaeolithic
In Britain, the period of the Upper Palaeolithic dating from
about 15,000 to 10,000 years ago. Separated from the Early Upper
Palaeolithic by the last glacial maximum about 18,000 years ago.
leaf
point
a
stone projectile tip pointed at both ends, produced by bifacial
flaking and characteristic of the period covering the end of the Middle
Palaeolithic and the beginning of the early Upper Palaeolithic.
Longitudinal
direction following the greatest length of an area or object.
Lower
Palaeolithic
the
oldest part of the Old Stone Age or Palaeolithic often characterised
by assemblages in which handaxes are the main type of
tool. The oldest known evidence for the Lower Palaeolithic in Britain
is currently dated to about 500,000 years ago and is thought to continue
until about 130,000 years ago.
Lumbar
vertebra
bones
of the lower part of the back.
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M
Magdalenian
the last phase of the European Upper Palaeolithic dating
from about 18,000 to 10,000 years ago and named after the site of La
Madeleine, France.
Magnesian
Limestone
a
limestone rock containing a mix of calcium and magnesian carbonate
marrow
a
soft fatty substance found inside some bones.
Mesolithic
archaeological
period immediately following the end of the last Ice Age in the earlier
part of the Holocene dated to between about 10,000 and 7,000
years ago. The way of life was still based on hunting animals and gathering
plant foods. Mesolithic stone tool assemblages often contain small flint
tools called microliths. These were probably put together in
groups forming composite tools. For example, a series of backed bladelets
could be lined up in a wooden handle to form a knife or, other types
of microliths could be used to form the tips and barbs or spear or arrow
tips.
Middle
Palaeolithic
period
of time in the later Pleistocene, in Britain between 100,000
and 40,000 years ago, when flakes produced from prepared cores and flake
tools were made and sometimes used alongside cordiform, discoidal
and triangular handaxes. Middle Palaeolithic assemblages are
the toolkits of Neanderthal people.
Mousterian
a
term used for the Middle Palaeolithic of southwest France, named
after the site of Le Moustier.
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N
Neanderthal
type of human known as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis
which began to evolve in Europe about 250,000 years ago and later spread
to the Middle East. By the time of the last Ice Age, fossil remains
of these people show that their faces had distinct eyebrow ridges, flattened
noses and heavy jaws. Their bodies were short and well built. These
features may be adaptations to the cold conditions of the last Ice Age.
Neanderthals survived in parts of Europe until some time after 30,000
years ago. For a time they seem to have lived side-by-side with anatomically
modern humans who were beginning to appear in western Europe by
about 40,000 years ago.
Neolithic
period
when the first farmers and animal herders appear, with assemblages that
usually include pottery and polished stone axes. In Britain the Neolithic
starts about 7,000 years ago, lasting until the start of the Bronze
Age about 4,000 years ago.
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O
ossiferous
containing bone.
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OSL
optically
stimulated luminescence, a radiometric dating technique which
measures the energetic radioactice decay products which have built up
at a steady rate within sand/silt grains since their last exposure to
bright sunlight and provides an estimate of the time that has elapsed
since burial. Measurement is achieved as in TL dating. In theory,
age estimates of up to 350,000 years could be achieved by this method
but the small sample size, an individual grain, may make dating beyond
150,000 years difficult.
Oxygen
isotope curve
The
most reliable curve indicating changes in world climate over approximately
the last 1 million years. The proportion of oxygen isotope 18 and 16
taken from deep sea cores is used to show how much ice is present at
the poles which reflects world temperatures. Increases in oxygen isotope
18 indicate cold glacial periods.
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P
Palaeolithic
word used for the period of the Old Stone Age made up from the Latin
word palaeo (old) and the Greek word lithos (stone). The Palaeolithic
is divided into Lower, Middle and Upper periods.
palaeontology
the
study of extinct and fossil animals and plants
palynology
the
study of pollen grains and other spores found in geological and archaeological
deposits.
periglacial
characteristic
of a region close to an ice sheet but not covered in ice. In such a
region, the ground may be frozen all year, thawing and waterlogging
the surface in summer because it cannot drain away through the sub-surface
ice. Such regions support only tundra vegetation.
Permian
the
geological period some 280-235 million years ago when warm, shallow
seas occupied much of the eastern part of Britain at this time giving
rise to the Magnesian Limestone of the Creswell area.
Pleistocene
the
term used to describe the period of climatic changes, including ice
ages, from about 1.8 million years ago to 10,000 years ago. The long
term average temperature was significantly lower than current levels.
During the Pleistocene, glacial (colder periods) alternated with interglacial
(warmer) periods. The glacial periods lasted much longer than the interglacials.
Post-Glacial
the time after a glacial period usually referring to the present period
of relative warmth known as the Holocene
projectile
a
weapon such as a spear, dart or arrow designed to be thrown
proximal
used
to refer to the struck or butt end of a flake or blade which
would be nearest to the tool maker during manufacture or, the top end
of a bone nearest the centre of the body.
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Q
quartzite
a metamorphic rock consisting mainly of quartz.
Top
R
radiocarbon
a radioactive isotope of carbon (carbon-14), produced in the upper
atmosphere and absorbed in a known proportion by all plants and animals.
Once the organism dies, the radiocarbon begins to decay at a steady,
known rate. Measuring the amount of radiocarbon remaining in an arganic
sample provides an estimate of its age.
radiocarbon
dates
an
estimate of the age of a piece of organic matter obtained by using the
known decay rate of the radioactive isotope of carbon (carbon-14). Radiocarbon
dating is accurate up to about 40,000 years ago after which there is
too little radiocarbon remaining to measure the decay without error.
radiometric
refering
to a method of dating which seeks to measure an approximation of real
time, or age estimate, in years before present, using the steady decay
of radioactive elements and/or the steady accumulation of radioactive
decay products. See OSL, ESR,
radiocarbon and uranium
series.
retouch
modification
of a handaxe, flake or blade to improve the quality of its working edges.
Using a small, stone, antler or wooden hammer, tiny flakes are chipped
from the edge to change its shape, angle and sharpness to suit a particular
type of job. A cutting edge might have a low angle and straight shape
whereas an edge needed for scraping fat from the inside of skins requires
a medium angle and a curved shape to prevent cutting and snagging. Abrupt,
high angled retouch or backing may be used to blunt an edge for
hafting.
root
etching
pattern
formed on a bone or stone surface caused by root growth.
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S
scraper
a common type of stone tool used throughout the Palaeolithic.
Produced by retouching the edges or ends of flakes and blades,
they were probably used for a variety of tasks such as scraping fat
from the inside of animal skins and wood working.
Scree
a mass of loose boulders, smaller pieces of rock and sediment at the
bottom of a cliff or steep slope.
sediment
a
body of material laid down either in air of water at or near the earth’s
surface. Sediments are usually dominated by minerals but they may also
contain biological remains (fossils). Sediments may later become compacted,
cemented and variously altered to form sedimentary rocks, for example
sand becoming sandstone.
shouldered
point
point
usually made on a blade.The point is formed by an oblique truncation
of the upper part of the edge produced by abrupt retouch. Backing
retouch is occurs along the edge of the blade forming an angle or shoulder
where it meets the truncation.This type of point is found in the Creswellian
in Britain.
speleothem
any
reasonably pure chemical precipitate found in caves. The majority of
speleothems are of calcite, the carbonate being derived from solution
of the surrounding limestone, and have been classified by their form
into flowstone, stalactite, stalagmite and travertine.
stadial
a
colder stage within a glacial period often corresponding with
growth of glacial ice and alternating with warmer interstadials.
stalactite
a
speleothem with a characteristic form like an icicle which hangs
from a cave roof.
stalagmite
a
speleothem with a characteristic form like a tapering tower growing
upwards from a cave floor. The term stalagmitic is used generally to
apply to any forms on a cave floor.
steppe
grassy,
unforested region suitable for large herds of grazing animals.
stratigraphy
/ stratigraphic
the
spatial ordering of geological layers or strata. It is usually assumed,
and is commonly true, that one layer is laid down upon the previous
layer in an orderly progression through time creating a stratigraphy.
striking
platform
the
surface of a stone that is struck by a stone tool maker in order to
detach a flake.
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T
tang
a projection at the bottom of a tool or weapon by which it is attached
to a haft or handle.
tool
an
object deliberately modified for a particular use such as a retouched
flake or blade.
travertine
a
speleothem forming a more or less continuous stalagmitic
floor.
tundra
treeless
vegetation of a periglacial region consisting of mosses, lichens
and low growing shrubs suitable only for animals such as reindeer.
type-site
(in
archaeology) a named location internationally accepted as the reference
point for a distinct type of tool, assemblage or culture.
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U
Upper Palaeolithic
period in the late Pleistocene, in Britain between 40,000 and 10,000
years ago, when stone tool assemblages made by anatomically modern
humans appeared. In Britain, this period is divided into the Early
and Late Upper Palaeolithic which are separated by the last glacial
maximum about 18,000 years ago.
Uranium
series dating
a dating technique (also known as Uranium/Thorium, U/Th) which aims
to measure the gradual decay rate of naturally formed radioactive uranium
found in materials such as teeth and flowstone. This technique can provide
dates up to 350,000 years ago.
use
wear
damage
to the edge of a tool caused during use. Such damage may consist of
irregular chipping visible to the naked eye or, scratches and polishes
which can only be seen using a microscope. It will show how a tool has
been used and can sometimes indicate what it was used on.
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