Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (131 page)

A type of anthropomorphous altar found on Mesoamerican religious sites dating to the early 1st millennium
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. The top of the stone altar is adorned with a reclining human figure with hands resting on the lower abdomen. These altars were often set near the entrances to temples.

 
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A wide alluvium-floored canyon, 15km in length, with high steep sides in northwest New Mexico. Over 2400 archaeological sites have been recorded within the 82 square kilometres of the canyon floor and its immediate surroundings. These document a long history of settlement from Palaeo-Indian and Archaic times onwards. Most remarkable, however, and sometimes known as the ‘chaco phenomenon’ was a rapid rise in population density and social complexity which began about ad 900 and lasted for some 250 years. In this period people constructed at least twelve large pueblo-type villages or towns and many smaller settlements of the Ansazi Tradition. They built an extensive road network and water control systems. An elaborate trading network was established for the acquisition of materials and objects from afar.
The largest of the pueblo towns in the canyon is
PUEBLO BONITO
which covers 1.2ha. Aerial photographs have revealed roads running out from Chaco Canyon to settlements up to 100km away. Since no wheels were available at this time the roads must have been for walkers or runners, or perhaps they had a symbolic significance.
[Sum.: H. Frazier , 1986,
People of Chaco: A canyon and its culture
. Springfield: Illinois State Museum; S. H. Lekson
et al
., 1988, The Chaco Canyon community.
Scientific American
, 259(1), 100–9]

 
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Literally, operational sequence, the term was introduced by the French anthropologist André Leroi-Gourhan in 1966 to provide a theory of technical processes in which technical acts were also social acts. In it he emphasized the importance of the human body as an expression and a source of meaning, power, symbol, and action. The actions carried out in making something may, quite literally, speak louder than words or the message conveyed by the final product.

 
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A type of protective armour made from interlinked metal rings.

 
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A small stone or timber structure built beside a river or harbour mouth to house the end of a defensive chain, or the mechanism to raise and lower a defensive chain. Such chains were laid bank to bank across a river or inlet so that in normal circumstances they rested on the riverbed or sea bed. At times of trouble they could be lifted to run more or less along the waterline, thus barring access to hostile ships. The towers were usually strongly built so that they could be defended against attacks from landing parties set ashore to unblock the navigation. Most chain towers date to the 15th and 16th centuries
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Pre-Classic Olmec frontier site in the Amatzinac Valley of eastern Morelos. Two natural igneous intrusions rising to over 300m above the valley floor dominate the whole area and must have been sacred places throughout much of prehistory. At the base of the sheer sides of the central mountain are a series of Olmec bas reliefs carved on boulders. The most elaborate shows a woman sitting on a throne, holding in her hand a ceremonial bar. She sits within the mouth of the Olmec earth monster, as though within a cave. Also at the foot of the central mountain there are platform mounds and terraces. Excavations by David C. Grove and Jorge Angulo in the 1960s show that the site was founded about 1500 bc and reached its peak during the Cantera Phase of the middle Formative, 700–500 bc.
Chalcatzingo had many Olmec features in addition to the rock carvings, including crypt burials, human sacrifice, and the use of cultivation terraces. There are no local antecedents for the Olmec elements at the site so some kind of population movement must be envisaged.
[Sum.: D. C. Grove , 1968, Chalcatzingo, Morelos, Mexico: A reappraisal of the Olmec rock carvings.
American Antiquity
, 33(4), 486–91; D. C. Grove
et al
., 1976, Settlement and cultural development at Chalcatzingo.
Science
, 192, 1203–10]