Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (418 page)

A great naturally fortified settlement on a plateau at the edge of the Judaean desert west of the Dead Sea in modern Palestine. Excavated by Yigael Yadin in 1963–5, the site is of great historic as well as archaeological interest. It was occupied from at least the Chalcolithic period (
c.
4000 bc) onwards but it flourished particularly during the Iron Age. The first major fortifications were erected by the Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus who ruled in the period 101–3 bc. However, Herod the Great was the chief builder of Masada. His constructions between 37 and 31 bc included two ornate palaces (one of them on three levels), heavy walls, and aqueducts, which brought water to cisterns holding nearly 200000 gallons. After Herod's death in 4 bc, Masada was captured by the Romans, but in ad 66 Jewish Zealots took it by surprise and occupied it. In ad 73 the site achieved lasting fame as the stronghold in which almost a thousand Zealots committed mass suicide rather than surrender to the 10th Roman Legion who had besieged the hilltop.
[Sum.: Y. Yadin , 1966,
Masada: Herod's fortress and the Zealots' last stand
. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson]

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

South American farming cultures found in lowland Bolivia and tentatively dated to
c.
ad 1000–1200. Characterized by their ceramic assemblages which belong to the Polychrome Horizon Style of Amazonia.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

AVIENUS
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

A machine for measuring the atomic weight or mass of an element and hence useful for distinguishing between different elements and different isotopes of the same element. See also
ACCELERATOR MASS SPECTROMETRY
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

A flat-topped, bench-like Egyptian tomb structure under which rulers, high-ranking officials, and priests were buried, mainly of the early dynastic and Old Kingdom. The term comes from the Arabic word for ‘bench’. Early examples tend to be low rectangular buildings with a flat roof and vertical or slightly inclined walls that enclosed a shaft leading to an underground burial chamber. Later versions were reinforced with stone and were more elaborate. They often contained a chapel and a statue of the deceased, and had several rooms. The pyramids were a direct development from the mastaba.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Mousterian of Acheulian Tradition. See
MOUSTERIAN
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search