ASB 222
Archeology - answer The study of ancient cultures based on artifacts and other remains
79 AD Vesuvius buries surrounding cities
1736 King Charles sends explorer (Venuta) down a well, finds a theater, king sends
slaves to cut treasures from rock
Nabatean - answer Early civilization in Arabia, before Muslims; the first independent
Arab kingdom known to us, centered on Petra in modern Jordan. People here spoke a
form of Arabic, but wrote in the Aramaic script. The ______ Aramaic script was the
precursor of the Arabic script.
Excavation - answer the process of digging up the remains of the past
History - answerThe continuum of events occurring in succession leading from the past
to the present and even into the future
Myth - answerA traditional story about gods, ancestors, or heroes, told to explain the
natural world or the customs and beliefs of a society.
Assyriology - answer1. Archaeological, historical, linguistic study of ancient
Mesopotamia and cultures that used cuneiform writing
2. Misnomer. Covers not just Assyria but also Sumer and Babylonia.
Cuneiform - answerSumerian writing made by pressing a wedge-shaped tool into clay
tablets
Ancient wedge-shaped script used in Mesopotamia and Persia
Cyclopean Wall - answerConstructed without mortar of irregular stones so huge it was
late believed to be the work of a mythical race of giants called Cyclopes.
Iliad - answer...
Odyssey - answer...
Priam's Treasure - answerThe treasure of King Priam (Homeric King of Troy) that
included a cache of gold and other artifacts that were discovered by Heinrich
Schliemann.
Cache of gold and other artifacts discovered by classical archaeologist Heinrich
Schliemann, found at what Schliemann claimed to be ancient Troy at Hissarlik, Turkey
, Minoan Civilization - answerProsperous civilization on the Aegean island of Crete in the
second millennium B.C.E. The Minoans engaged in far-flung commerce around the
Mediterranean and exerted powerful cultural influences on the early Greeks.
Minoan Palace - answerEmerged ~2100 BCE
Named for King Minos (Theseus and the Minotaur)
Excavated in 1900 by Sir Arthur Evans
Has labyrinthine rooms, intricate structure, excellent plumbing, no defensive walls
Important symbol of Minoan culture, most important was Cnossus
Cnossus - answerAncient town on Crete where Bronze Age culture flourished from
about 2000 BC to 1400 BC
Fertility Goddess - answerA female deity or god who watches over and promotes fertility
pregnancy and birth in many polytheistic cultures
Bronze Age - answerA period between the Stone and Iron ages, characterized by the
manufacture and use of bronze tools and weapons
Linear A - answerAn undeciphered writing system used in Crete in the 17th century
B.C., Minoa's first written language; has not been translated
Linear B - answerA set of syllabic symbols, derived from the writing system of Minoan
Crete, used in the Mycenaean palaces of the Late Bronze Age to write an early form of
Greek. It was used primarily for palace records, and the surviving Linear B tablets
provide substantial information about the economic organization of Mycenaean society
and tantalizing clues about political, social, and religious institutions.
Eruption of Thera - answerResulted in the end of the Minoan time, caused city to sink
Thera - answerThe modern island of Santorini in the southern Cyclades; a volcanic
island, whose ashes covered a lost civilization, discovered in 1967 by Greek
archeologist, Spyridon Marinatos. Thera supported a flourishing civilization with
considerable interest in the arts. Thera is considered by some scholars to be the lost
city of Atlantis, mentioned by Plato in 4th century BCE Athens; the precise role of Thera
in the Minoan era still remains to be determined
Provenience - answerContext or location within a grid system used to detail where
artifacts were located in a given excavation
Archaeological Context - answerOnce artifacts enter the ground, they become part of
the archaeological context, can be affected by human action and natural processes
Where exactly an artifact is found and how it fits with things found around it
(association)
Archeology - answer The study of ancient cultures based on artifacts and other remains
79 AD Vesuvius buries surrounding cities
1736 King Charles sends explorer (Venuta) down a well, finds a theater, king sends
slaves to cut treasures from rock
Nabatean - answer Early civilization in Arabia, before Muslims; the first independent
Arab kingdom known to us, centered on Petra in modern Jordan. People here spoke a
form of Arabic, but wrote in the Aramaic script. The ______ Aramaic script was the
precursor of the Arabic script.
Excavation - answer the process of digging up the remains of the past
History - answerThe continuum of events occurring in succession leading from the past
to the present and even into the future
Myth - answerA traditional story about gods, ancestors, or heroes, told to explain the
natural world or the customs and beliefs of a society.
Assyriology - answer1. Archaeological, historical, linguistic study of ancient
Mesopotamia and cultures that used cuneiform writing
2. Misnomer. Covers not just Assyria but also Sumer and Babylonia.
Cuneiform - answerSumerian writing made by pressing a wedge-shaped tool into clay
tablets
Ancient wedge-shaped script used in Mesopotamia and Persia
Cyclopean Wall - answerConstructed without mortar of irregular stones so huge it was
late believed to be the work of a mythical race of giants called Cyclopes.
Iliad - answer...
Odyssey - answer...
Priam's Treasure - answerThe treasure of King Priam (Homeric King of Troy) that
included a cache of gold and other artifacts that were discovered by Heinrich
Schliemann.
Cache of gold and other artifacts discovered by classical archaeologist Heinrich
Schliemann, found at what Schliemann claimed to be ancient Troy at Hissarlik, Turkey
, Minoan Civilization - answerProsperous civilization on the Aegean island of Crete in the
second millennium B.C.E. The Minoans engaged in far-flung commerce around the
Mediterranean and exerted powerful cultural influences on the early Greeks.
Minoan Palace - answerEmerged ~2100 BCE
Named for King Minos (Theseus and the Minotaur)
Excavated in 1900 by Sir Arthur Evans
Has labyrinthine rooms, intricate structure, excellent plumbing, no defensive walls
Important symbol of Minoan culture, most important was Cnossus
Cnossus - answerAncient town on Crete where Bronze Age culture flourished from
about 2000 BC to 1400 BC
Fertility Goddess - answerA female deity or god who watches over and promotes fertility
pregnancy and birth in many polytheistic cultures
Bronze Age - answerA period between the Stone and Iron ages, characterized by the
manufacture and use of bronze tools and weapons
Linear A - answerAn undeciphered writing system used in Crete in the 17th century
B.C., Minoa's first written language; has not been translated
Linear B - answerA set of syllabic symbols, derived from the writing system of Minoan
Crete, used in the Mycenaean palaces of the Late Bronze Age to write an early form of
Greek. It was used primarily for palace records, and the surviving Linear B tablets
provide substantial information about the economic organization of Mycenaean society
and tantalizing clues about political, social, and religious institutions.
Eruption of Thera - answerResulted in the end of the Minoan time, caused city to sink
Thera - answerThe modern island of Santorini in the southern Cyclades; a volcanic
island, whose ashes covered a lost civilization, discovered in 1967 by Greek
archeologist, Spyridon Marinatos. Thera supported a flourishing civilization with
considerable interest in the arts. Thera is considered by some scholars to be the lost
city of Atlantis, mentioned by Plato in 4th century BCE Athens; the precise role of Thera
in the Minoan era still remains to be determined
Provenience - answerContext or location within a grid system used to detail where
artifacts were located in a given excavation
Archaeological Context - answerOnce artifacts enter the ground, they become part of
the archaeological context, can be affected by human action and natural processes
Where exactly an artifact is found and how it fits with things found around it
(association)
