Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (473 page)

One of two kinds of jade (the other is
JADEITE
), being a semi-precious stone widely used for making ornaments and jewellery. Technically an iron calcium magnesium silicate of the amphibole mineral group, nephrite is generally a whitish to dark green colour, although it can be blue or black. Sources of nephrite material are known in China, Siberia, Pakistan, New Zealand, the Philippines, New Guinea, Australia, Poland, the Swiss Alps, Italy, Sicily, and North and South America.

 
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Egyptian goddess, sister of Osiris, Isis, and Seth, wife also of Seth, and a member of the Heliopolitan Ennead. She, like Neith, Isis, and Selket, was a guardian goddess of the dead and watched over the canopic jar containing the lungs. She was also said, according to some legends, to be the mother of Anubis.

 
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Roman emperor ad 54–68, stepson and heir of the emperor Claudius. He became infamous for his personal debaucheries and extravagances and, on doubtful evidence, for his burning of Rome and persecutions of Christians.

 
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Roman emperor ad 96–8, the first of a succession of rulers traditionally known as the Five Good Emperors. A member of a distinguished senatorial family, Nerva was distantly related by marriage to the Julio-Claudian house and had been twice consul (ad 71 and 90) when, on the assassination of the emperor Domitian, he became emperor.

 
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A piece of perforated stone or terracotta used to keep a gill net vertical in the water. Also known as a net weight.

 
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A needle for making and mending nets, often forked at both ends, and with a hollow centre in which the thread or twine being used can be conveniently wound.

 
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