GRST Midterm 1: Terms and Definitions
Terms Given out by prof
Upper Palaeolithic - 40 000 – 10 000 BCE (youngest Palaeolithic/Stone age) Homo sapiens
sapiens
- Cave paintings and clay mouldings of animals
- Evolution of the composite tool (ex: the hafted axe or spear head – stone
attached to a timber handle)
- Spear throwers and bone/antler tools
- Venus figurines and totemism
Neolithic Age - Upper Stone Age: 8000-3000BCE
- Agricultural revolution and settled villages
- Very important age! Influenced the uprising of technology
- Domestic plants (wheat) and animals
- Composite tools geared towards cultivation and butchering animals
Flint - A hard type of quartz. Found as lumps and nodules in seams of rock like
limestone. Evidence of flint mines
- Knapping: hitting flint with something else to break off specific shards and
create a tool. Produces extremely sharp edges
- Spark from flint creates source for controlled fire
Venus Figurine - Upper Palaeolithic stone carvings
- Fertility symbols made from heat-treated clay
Pisé-wall construction - “Rammed earth”
- Common in the middle east
- Layers of earth pounded into timber frame to create walls
- No evidence of huge palaces, all houses pretty much the same
Tell - Archaeological mound of continuous layers of habitation over centuries
(building a new settlement over old ones)
Obsidian - Volcanic glass
- Flaked obsidian blades were extremely sharp, sometimes used by surgeons
Fertile Crescent - Contains Mesopotamia and Egypt
- Natural conditions of this area made agriculture particularly good here
- Three rivers: Euphrates, Nile, Tigris
Henrich Schliemann - And Sophia excavated Troy and destroyed much evidence in the process
The Dark Ages - A period in history that we have very little evidence from
- Between the bronze and iron ages, something ended bronze age
civilizations
Pompeii - City preserved by volcanic ash from Mt. Vesuvius
- Contains lots of Iron Age evidence from Imperial Rome
- Pliny the Elder (technical writer) died here
Vitruvius - Technical Writer on architecture and military technology
Pyrolysis - Makes charcoal
- Process of burning timber extremely slowly. Pile branches in tipi shape
with timber at the bottom. Timber must smoulder for around 5 days
- Process evaporates water as well as other volatile products like tar and gas
- Method used in the Bronze Age
Lever - First basic machine
, - Beam placed on fulcrum in order to lift great weight with less effort
- Used in basic olive/grape presses
Antikythera - Very complex geared system of wheels that represent calendars
Mechanism (astronomical)
- First analog computer because it can make fine computations
Threshing - Gets grain off the stem and stuff we don’t want (chaff)
- Stalks placed on level ground and animals or sleds driven back and forth
over it
Winnowing - Separates grain and chaff
- Mixture is scooped into the air where the wind will blow away the chaff
and the grain will fall back down
Saddle Quern - Saddle/boat shaped slab of rock that held the grain and was used for
grinding grain with a rubber/rubbing stone
- Often domestic/women’s work
- Basalt was best type of stone to use – gritty but no bits come off
- Neolithic Age
Mortar and Pestle - Used for pounding grain
- Used alongside rotary and push mills
- Iron Age
Beam Press - Easy method for squeezing liquid from grapes and olives
- Fasten one end of the beam to a pole in the ground and lay the beam
across a bag of fruit. Weight other end of the bag so it will press down
- Can also be screw/winch operated
- Beam press cavity found within Pompeii ash, filling void with plaster
allowed for accurate reconstruction
Pithos - Storage jars for grain, wine, olive oil, and other food
- Freestanding around 2m high, very heavy when full, could also be buried
so just the top sticks out to keep jars cooler and out of the way
Nilometer - A set of stairs neat the Nile River with markings on the interior wall for
measuring water levels
- May have been part of a temple complex where only priests could read it
Shaduf - Water-lifting system based on the lever
- Horizontal beam attached to frame on ground. Longer end of beam has a
bucket, shorter end has counterweight.
- Pull bucket down into water, counterweight pulls it back up
Saqiya - Precursor to the waterwheel – buckets or jars on the outer rim of a wheel,
wheel turns, buckets dip into water then pour it into a channel/trough
- Geared wheel and axel system with animal or human power
Tympanum - Compartmented drum
- Encased subdivided wheel, water enters wheel on downturn and exits
through a hole near wheel centre on upturn
Qanaat - Underground aqueduct found in Persia first then Egypt and Levant area
- Covered vertical shafts along underground channel allow for ventilation,
channel access and maintenance, and water access in additional locations
- Particularly used for agriculture purposes to get water from source to field
- Build with gradual slope ideally 1:200
Groma - For measuring straight lines and right angles
Terms Given out by prof
Upper Palaeolithic - 40 000 – 10 000 BCE (youngest Palaeolithic/Stone age) Homo sapiens
sapiens
- Cave paintings and clay mouldings of animals
- Evolution of the composite tool (ex: the hafted axe or spear head – stone
attached to a timber handle)
- Spear throwers and bone/antler tools
- Venus figurines and totemism
Neolithic Age - Upper Stone Age: 8000-3000BCE
- Agricultural revolution and settled villages
- Very important age! Influenced the uprising of technology
- Domestic plants (wheat) and animals
- Composite tools geared towards cultivation and butchering animals
Flint - A hard type of quartz. Found as lumps and nodules in seams of rock like
limestone. Evidence of flint mines
- Knapping: hitting flint with something else to break off specific shards and
create a tool. Produces extremely sharp edges
- Spark from flint creates source for controlled fire
Venus Figurine - Upper Palaeolithic stone carvings
- Fertility symbols made from heat-treated clay
Pisé-wall construction - “Rammed earth”
- Common in the middle east
- Layers of earth pounded into timber frame to create walls
- No evidence of huge palaces, all houses pretty much the same
Tell - Archaeological mound of continuous layers of habitation over centuries
(building a new settlement over old ones)
Obsidian - Volcanic glass
- Flaked obsidian blades were extremely sharp, sometimes used by surgeons
Fertile Crescent - Contains Mesopotamia and Egypt
- Natural conditions of this area made agriculture particularly good here
- Three rivers: Euphrates, Nile, Tigris
Henrich Schliemann - And Sophia excavated Troy and destroyed much evidence in the process
The Dark Ages - A period in history that we have very little evidence from
- Between the bronze and iron ages, something ended bronze age
civilizations
Pompeii - City preserved by volcanic ash from Mt. Vesuvius
- Contains lots of Iron Age evidence from Imperial Rome
- Pliny the Elder (technical writer) died here
Vitruvius - Technical Writer on architecture and military technology
Pyrolysis - Makes charcoal
- Process of burning timber extremely slowly. Pile branches in tipi shape
with timber at the bottom. Timber must smoulder for around 5 days
- Process evaporates water as well as other volatile products like tar and gas
- Method used in the Bronze Age
Lever - First basic machine
, - Beam placed on fulcrum in order to lift great weight with less effort
- Used in basic olive/grape presses
Antikythera - Very complex geared system of wheels that represent calendars
Mechanism (astronomical)
- First analog computer because it can make fine computations
Threshing - Gets grain off the stem and stuff we don’t want (chaff)
- Stalks placed on level ground and animals or sleds driven back and forth
over it
Winnowing - Separates grain and chaff
- Mixture is scooped into the air where the wind will blow away the chaff
and the grain will fall back down
Saddle Quern - Saddle/boat shaped slab of rock that held the grain and was used for
grinding grain with a rubber/rubbing stone
- Often domestic/women’s work
- Basalt was best type of stone to use – gritty but no bits come off
- Neolithic Age
Mortar and Pestle - Used for pounding grain
- Used alongside rotary and push mills
- Iron Age
Beam Press - Easy method for squeezing liquid from grapes and olives
- Fasten one end of the beam to a pole in the ground and lay the beam
across a bag of fruit. Weight other end of the bag so it will press down
- Can also be screw/winch operated
- Beam press cavity found within Pompeii ash, filling void with plaster
allowed for accurate reconstruction
Pithos - Storage jars for grain, wine, olive oil, and other food
- Freestanding around 2m high, very heavy when full, could also be buried
so just the top sticks out to keep jars cooler and out of the way
Nilometer - A set of stairs neat the Nile River with markings on the interior wall for
measuring water levels
- May have been part of a temple complex where only priests could read it
Shaduf - Water-lifting system based on the lever
- Horizontal beam attached to frame on ground. Longer end of beam has a
bucket, shorter end has counterweight.
- Pull bucket down into water, counterweight pulls it back up
Saqiya - Precursor to the waterwheel – buckets or jars on the outer rim of a wheel,
wheel turns, buckets dip into water then pour it into a channel/trough
- Geared wheel and axel system with animal or human power
Tympanum - Compartmented drum
- Encased subdivided wheel, water enters wheel on downturn and exits
through a hole near wheel centre on upturn
Qanaat - Underground aqueduct found in Persia first then Egypt and Levant area
- Covered vertical shafts along underground channel allow for ventilation,
channel access and maintenance, and water access in additional locations
- Particularly used for agriculture purposes to get water from source to field
- Build with gradual slope ideally 1:200
Groma - For measuring straight lines and right angles
