Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (204 page)

Genes, the organizers of inheritance, are composed of DNA, thread-like molecules which carry the hereditary instructions needed to build an organism and make it work. Genes are copied or replicated with every new generation of living cells and thus preserve the blueprint for that form of life. For archaeology this opens up tremendous potential to address problems that could hardly be contemplated in the 1970s. What have been called studies of ‘the archaeology of the human body’ allow populations to be explored in terms the sex, hair colour, skin type, blood group, and family connections of individuals from whom DNA can be recovered. Major issues about patterns of colonization and relationships between human populations can also potentially be explored, although issues relating to early hominid development are way beyond the range of preserved DNA which so far has been recovered from preserved remains back to about 40000 years ago. Already DNA studies of North American populations suggest three waves of migration between 15000 and 9000 years ago.

 
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A variable or factor causally influenced by another (the independent variable).

 
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A distinctive type of pottery produced in Derbyshire from the mid 2nd century
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through to the 4th century
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. It is hard and gritty with a surface that is sometimes described as being like ‘petrified gooseflesh’. Colour varies from grey and light-brown to red. The surface texture is due to the presence of silica particles in the local clay. All vessels are jars, mostly with a lid-seating on the rim.

 
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Categories of material based on the physical or external properties of an artefact.

 
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General term referring to the early Archaic Stage cultural groupings of the Great Basin and western parts of North America during the period 7500–2000 bc. These communities were mainly hunter-gatherers who exploited a wide range of habitats with commensurate diversity in their subsistence base reflected in the use of a range of waterfowl, shore-birds, rabbits, antelopes, and mountain sheep. The material culture includes baskets, mats, and many items of organic materials. Chipped stone artefacts including arrowheads and knives were carried around, but heavier items such as grinding stones may have been left at convenient stations on the main migratory routes.

 
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Obsolete term sometimes used to refer to the groups occupying the Great Basin of western North America. See
DANGER CAVE,UTAH
, AND
DESERT ARCHAIC
.

 
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