Archaeology Odyssey

Very ancient dates are usually expressed in years ago, or years before the present (B.P.), rather than with the more conventional designation “B.C.”

In archaeological terminology, an industry is a group of related artifacts, such as stone tools, that were made at about the same time using the same manufacturing techniques. Artifact industries are generally named for the site at which they were first identified. For example, the Oldowan industry was named for Olduvai Gorge in Kenya, where Oldowan tools were first identified.

The term “Paleolithic” (Old Stone Age) refers to both a time period—from roughly 1.5 million years ago to roughly 10,000 years ago—and a cultural phase, in which subsistence is based on hunting and gathering. The period is subdivided into three stages: the Lower Paleolithic, during which Homo erectus lived; the Middle Paleolithic, which is characterized by Neandertal culture; and the Upper Paleolithic, the time of the first modern humans. Dates for these stages vary depending on the part of the world being studied.

See Simo Parpola, “Sons of God: The Ideology of Assyrian Kingship,” AO 02:05.

See Dorit Symington, “Recovered! The World’s Oldest Book,” AO 02:04.

See the following articles in Archaeology Odyssey, September/October 2001: William H. Stiebing, Jr., “When Civilization Collapsed: Death of the Bronze Age,” AO 04:05 and Amos Nur and Eric H. Cline, “What Triggered the Collapse? Earthquake Storms,” AO 04:05.

See J. Harold Ellens, “The Ancient Library of Alexandria: The West’s Most Important Repository of Learning,” BR 13:01.

From Michael Fox, The Song of Songs and Ancient Egyptian Love Songs (Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin, 1985), p. 32.

See Birgit Brandau, “Can Archaeology Discover Homer’s Troy?” AO 01:01.