Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (646 page)

Egyptian lion goddess worshipped at Memphis as the consort of Ptah, and with shrines throughout Egypt. She was regarded as a manifestation of the Eye of Re, and acted as a destroyer of mankind. She represented the harmful powers of the sun. Her name means ‘the Powerful One’ and she was known as the Lady of the Messengers of Death. Associated with pestilence, she also became the patron goddess of healing, and her priests became doctors.

 
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Archaeological excavation of parts of a site using sampling methods or carefully placed trenches that do not uncover the entire site.

 
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Egyptian scorpion goddess. Like Isis, Nephthys, and Neith, a goddess who guarded the dead. She watched over the canopic jar containing the intestines. Equivalent to the Greek Selkis.

 
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Egyptian goddess. See
SELKET
.

 
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See
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE
.

 
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The study of the imputed relations between signs and the designata: the meaning of signs such as may be found in material culture and its disposition.

 
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Semenov , Sergei Aristarkhovich
(1898–1978)
[Bi].

Soviet archaeologist who pioneered the technique of microscopic analysis of wear patterns on archaeological artefacts to determine their function and uses. His seminal work on the subject,
Prehistoric technology
, was first published in Moscow in 1957; it was later translated into English and published in Britain in 1964.
[Obit.:
Soviet Archaeology
, 1979 (4), 314–5]