Glossary

Material culture: It includes all the material objects used by the people of a given society for their day to day requirements. Prehistory: It is the story of region a nation or even race before it took to or knew writing. In other words, it is the study of the life and activities of mankind upto the beginning of recorded history. Primitive: The term is to describe a native or non literate population. It has also been used to describe early man or Homosapiens and primate characteristics. Primitive culture: Culture of those non-literate or preliterate people having simple technology. It also refers to a culture which has never used writing Pottery: Implements made of fired clay fashioned on a wheel or by hand. Pottery is a crucial factor in archaeological research because of its abundance, variety, rapidity of change in style and relative performance, at least in shards (potsherds). Bronze: An alloy of tin and copper, the optimum ratio being 10% of tin and 90% of copper. Bronze is superior to copper because the addition of tin increases hardness and strength, lowers the melting point and increases liquidity thus making casting operations easier. Ecology: The study of relationships between human and their environments or between organisms and habitat. Industry: A collection of artifacts of the same age found at a given site constitute the sites industry. If the site was inhabited successively, so that there are artifacts belonging to different ages, the one site represents different industries. Raft: It is a craft that keeps afloat because its material has a specific gravity of less than one. For instance in the upper Nile area rafts are made of Papyrus or Ambash shafts tied together. Another name of raft is a float. It cannot be easily used against the current or for a long trip. Tradition: It is a term used to describe a smaller section or division of an industry. It also refers to a part of culture. Tattoo: A coloured pattern on the skin, made by placing pigmen under the surface. Tattooing is especially practicing in Polynesia. The methods used are puncture, incision and sewing.