Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (169 page)

The production of similar final states from originally different starting points or conditions. For example, the more economically stable a society becomes, the more it resembles other industrialized countries.

 
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Cook , Captain James
(1728–79)
[Bi].

British navigator, explorer, and ethnographer whose records of first contacts between Europeans and aboriginal communities in the Pacific region are an important source of information for archaeologists. Born in Marton, Yorkshire, he joined the navy in 1755, becoming master of the
Mercury
in 1759. Between 1769 and his death in 1779 he made three voyages of exploration to the Pacific, especially Polynesia, Melanesia, and Australia. Although Cook was not always the first to discover these islands he was one of the most thorough explorers in terms of describing and recording what he saw. He died in some kind of skirmish with native tribes on 14 February 1779 in the Hawaiian Islands.
[Bio.: J. C. Beaglehole , 1974,
The life of Captain James Cook
. Stanford: Stanford University Press]

 
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A term usually used for jars or bowls which are known from soot encrustation to have been used for cooking.

 
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Australian aboriginal carrying dish made of wood or bark.

 
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Incense made from resin used extensively during religious ceremonies in Mesoamerica from Maya times through to the present day.

 
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Large Lowland Maya city believed to have been one of the most important intellectual and artistic centres of Maya culture. Situated above a tributary of the Río Motagua, Copán has been the subject of an international research programme in recent decades. The site was founded by the Olmec who came to the area to exploit jade. The principal temples rest on an artificial acropolis. Among them is the Temple of the Hieroglyphic Stairway, constructed in the 8th century
ad
with a stairway, every one of whose 63 steps is embellished on the risers with a text of over 2500 glyphs. The ball-court at Copán is the most perfect in Mesoamerica.
[Rep.: G. Willey , R. Leventhal , and W. Fash , 1978, Maya settlement in the Copán Valley.
Archaeology
, 34, 32–43; W. Fash , 1991,
Scribes, warriors and kings: the city of Copán and the ancient Maya
. London: Thames & Hudson]

 
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