Glossary/Archaeological Terms

Anasazi: A Navajo word, has been translated by some to mean “old enemies”, was adopted by archaeologists to refer to the ancient Puebloan peoples of the Four Corners region of the American Southwest.

Anthropomorph: A stylized human figure. They can be represented in rock art, figurines, or painted on pottery.

Atlatl: A spear thrower that increases the velocity of a hand thrown dart/spear by adding leverage.

Archaic: Cultural phase roughly covering the time period from c.7000 - c.100 B.C. While moving about gathering seasonally available foods, people during the Archaic period begin to rely less on hunting big game, and more on collecting a variety plant foods. The domestication of planted crops begins. Groundstone used in processing seeds are abundant from this period.

Corrugated Pottery: Grey cooking/storage pottery with a corrugated exterior. Thin coils of clay were attached to the one below and pinched together. The corrugations increased surface area to heat when cooking and added an aesthetic element to a utilitarian object.

Deflector: A feature of kivas and some houses; an upright slab or small wall built between the interior opening of the ventilator and the fire pit. It would help to deflect gusts of wind from scattering sparks and debris from the fire.

Desert Varnish: Refers to a dark “coating” on the exposed surface of rock in desert environments. It is composed of clays, minerals, oxides and bacteria.

Fremont: A modern term applied by archaeologists to scattered, diverse groups of ancient hunters and farmers living in the Eastern Great Basin and Western Colorado Plateau. Covering an area including most of Utah west of the Colorado River the Fremont extended into the northwestern corner of Colorado, southwestern Wyoming, a small section of southern Idaho and southeastern Nevada.

Granary: A storeroom/structure for the storage of maize, beans, or other food stuffs. Very often built in hard to reach, secluded and sheltered locations; often sandstone masonry but occasionally waddle and daub technique was used.

Hunter-gatherer: Very mobile, pre-agricultural peoples dependent on hunting game and/or gathering plant foods for subsistence.

Jacal: Pronounced “hä-käll”; a thatch-roofed structure made of wattle and daub found in Mexico and the southwest United States – see wattle and daub.

Kayenta: One of the western “branches” of the Anasazi, located in northeastern Arizona .

Kiva: A “special” room, often circular in shape, set aside from the room block. Kivas are usually subterranean and get their name from the modern Hopi term. Anthropologists assume that the kiva was used as both a ceremonial/religious structure and as a men's house or possibly clan house.

Loophole: Small holes built into the outer walls of settlements. They typically look onto important features near the settlement such as approach trails, or springs. It is possible that arrows could have been fired through them. They do appear to have defensive purpose.

Mano: A hand held stone used with a metate to grind corn and seeds – see metate.

Metate: A milling stone with a shallow trough used with a mano to grind corn and seeds. The metate can be a portable, free standing stone, or may be found on the surface of large boulders or bedrock slabs.

Midden: Located just outside the living area of a habitation site, this is where refuse or trash would have been "thrown". Consisting of pottery fragments, food remains, bones, tool fragments, charcoal and other materials, middens provide a great deal of information to archaeologists on the people that inhabited a particular site.

Moqui Step: Small steps that have been hand carved or pecked into the sandstone. Many of these “trails” are carved into vertical rock.

Mortar: Mud or clay layered between sandstone blocks or slabs to help solidify a wall.

Pilaster: A slightly projecting column built into a kiva wall to support roof beams. Several good examples of this architectural element can be seen at Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon and Mule Canyon .

Olla: A large, bulging ceramic pot with loop handles used for storing water or food.

Petroglyph: Rock art image created by removing the surface of the stone by means of pecking, stippled and solid; scratching; abrading; grinding; and/or incising. No painting is involved.

Pictograph: Rock art image created by means of painting using dyes or pigments that are spattered; brushed; blown; and/or daubed onto the surface of the rock.

Pithouse: A subterranean structure dug two to five feet into the ground and then roofed over with poles, brush and mud. In the Southwest they were typically roundish or irregular in shape; most faced east or southeast; most had storage pits located very close by. Hearths, when built inside, would have a windscreen;

Posthole: Easily visible in excavated pithouses; the poles supporting the roof of the structure were set into shallow holes. Archaeologists can use the postholes to help determine the size and shape of a structure.

Potsherd: A fragment of broken pottery/ceramic; as opposed to “shard”, which refers to fragments of glass or metal.

Projectile Point: Commonly and misleadingly referred to as “arrowheads”. A projectile point is the “business end” of any projectile weapon including darts and arrows. Prehistoric projectile points were made from flaked or shaped stone and are grouped by archaeologist according to their shape, size, time-period and/or geographic location.

Pueblo: A Spanish word meaning "town or village". Often refers to any of the Native American peoples, including the Hopi, Zuni, and Taos, living in established villages in northern and western New Mexico and northeast Arizona.

Roomblock: A single or double row of masonry constructed rooms, associated with a pithouse or kiva. The masonry rooms would have been utilized as living, storage or ceremonial space.

Rubble Mound: The remains of a collapsed structure or structures, usually not revealing much regarding the layout of the structure. Can consist of shaped or natural stone.

Sipapu: A small hole in the floor of a kiva; the symbolic opening from which human-kind first emerged. They are usually situated in line with the ventilator shaft opening, wind deflector and fire pit.

Slab Cist: Small storage pits dug into the ground and lined with thin, upright slabs of sandstone.

Tower: Multi-story structures, often built in line-of-sight with other settlements. They may have served as ceremonial, defensive or communication structures. Many of them were accessed through doors on the upper levels; pole ladders would be used enter and could be pulled up to prevent uninvited guests from getting in.

Ventilator Shaft: Built into the base of a structure wall; the ventilator shaft was a fresh air “tunnel” that would facilitate airflow into a room to keep smoke down and help maintain fires.

Waddle and Daub: A method of construction consisting of interweaving rods and laths or twigs then plastering them over with mud or clay – see jacal.