|
Arenal Prehistory Project
The Arenal Prehistory Project ( es, Proyecto Prehistorico Arenal) was a multidisciplinary research effort taking place between 1984 and 1987 that uncovered evidence of human occupation from Paleoindian and Archaic times through four sedentary phases to the Spanish Conquest in the tropical rainforest of Northwest Costa Rica. Introduction The Arenal Prehistory Project took place as the start of a larger, ongoing research effort in the area around Lake Arenal and Arenal Volcano in Guanacaste province, Costa Rica that has spanned from the early 1980s to the present day. This particular area of Middle America was found to be especially suitable for archaeological study because its dominant geographical feature, the still-active Arenal Volcano, had erupted at least nine times in prehistory and provided for extraordinary site-preservation with stratified layers of tephra that facilitated the dating of uncovered discoveries. Examination of the area affected by volcanic eruptio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded on August 10, 1846, it operates as a trust instrumentality and is not formally a part of any of the three branches of the federal government. The institution is named after its founding donor, British scientist James Smithson. It was originally organized as the United States National Museum, but that name ceased to exist administratively in 1967. Called "the nation's attic" for its eclectic holdings of 154 million items, the institution's 19 museums, 21 libraries, nine research centers, and zoo include historical and architectural landmarks, mostly located in the District of Columbia. Additional facilities are located in Maryland, New York, and Virginia. More than 200 institutions and museums in 45 states,States without Smithsonian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archaeology Of Costa Rica
The pre-Columbian history of Costa Rica extends from the establishment of the first settlers until the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas. Archaeological evidence allows us to date the arrival of the first humans to Costa Rica to between 7000 and 10,000 BC. By the second millennium BC sedentary farming communities already existed. Between 300 BC and AD 300 many communities moved from a tribal, clan-centric organization – kinship-based, rarely hierarchical and dependent on self-sustenance – to a hierarchical one, with ''caciques'' (chiefs), religious leaders or shamans, artisan specialists and so on. This social organization arose from the need to organize manufacture and trade, manage relations with other communities and plan offensive and defensive activities. These groups established broader territorial divisions to produce more food and control wider sources of raw materials. From the 9th century certain villages grew in size, and the latter-period chiefdo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metate
A metate (or mealing stone) is a type or variety of quern, a ground stone tool used for processing grain and seeds. In traditional Mesoamerican cultures, metates are typically used by women who would grind nixtamalized maize and other organic materials during food preparation (e.g., making tortillas). Similar artifacts have been found in other regions, such as the sil-batta in Bihar and Jharkhand, India as well as other grinding stones in China. Design and use While varying in specific morphology, metates are typically made of a large stone with a smooth depression or bowl worn into the upper surface. Materials are ground on the metate using a smooth hand-held stone known as a '' mano'' or ''metlapil''. This action consists of a horizontal grinding motion that differs from the vertical crushing motion used in a mortar and pestle. The depth of the bowl varies, though they are typically not deeper than those of a mortar; deeper metate bowls indicate either a longer period of u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mano (stone)
A mano ( Spanish for ''hand'') is a ground stone tool used with a metate to process or grind food by hand. It is also known by the Nahuatl term metlapil. History Manos were used in prehistoric times to process wild seeds, nuts, and other food, generally used with greater frequency in the Archaic period, when people became more reliant upon local wild plant food for their diet. Later, Manos and metates were used to process cultivated maize.Gibbon, Guy E.; Ames, Kenneth M. (1998''Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America: An Encyclopedia''.pp. 107, 166. . In its early use in the American Southwest, the mano and metate were used to grind wild plants. The mano began as a one-handed tool. Once the maize cultivation became more prevalent, the mano became a larger, two-handed tool that more efficiently ground food against an evolved basin or trough metate. Besides food, Manos and metates were used to separate and pulverize clay from earthen debris and stones. The resulting clay ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phytoliths
Phytoliths (from Greek, "plant stone") are rigid, microscopic structures made of silica, found in some plant tissues and persisting after the decay of the plant. These plants take up silica from the soil, whereupon it is deposited within different intracellular and extracellular structures of the plant. Phytoliths come in varying shapes and sizes. Although some use "phytolith" to refer to all mineral secretions by plants, it more commonly refers to siliceous plant remains. In contrast, mineralized calcium secretions in cacti are composed of calcium oxalates.Piperno, Dolores R. (2006). Phytoliths: A Comprehensive Guide for Archaeologists and Paleoecologists. AltaMira Press . The silica is absorbed in the form of monosilicic acid (Si(OH)4), and is carried by the plant's vascular system to the cell walls, cell lumen, and intercellular spaces. Depending on the plant taxa and soil condition, absorbed silica can range from 0.1% to 10% of the plant's total dry weight. When deposited, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. Within this region pre-Columbian societies flourished for more than 3,000 years before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Mesoamerica was the site of two of the most profound historical transformations in world history: primary urban generation, and the formation of New World cultures out of the long encounters among indigenous, European, African and Asian cultures. In the 16th century, Eurasian diseases such as smallpox and measles, which were endemic among the colonists but new to North America, caused the deaths of upwards of 90% of the indigenous people, resulting in great losses to their societies and cultures. Mesoamerica is one of the five areas in the world where ancient civilization arose independently (see cradle of civ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Potsherds
This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z See also * Outline of archaeology * Table of years in archaeology * Glossary of history References Bibliography * * * * * * * External links About.com Archaeology Glossary {{Glossaries of science and engineering Archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), art ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radiocarbon Dating
Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was developed in the late 1940s at the University of Chicago by Willard Libby. It is based on the fact that radiocarbon () is constantly being created in the Earth's atmosphere by the interaction of cosmic rays with atmospheric nitrogen. The resulting combines with atmospheric oxygen to form radioactive carbon dioxide, which is incorporated into plants by photosynthesis; animals then acquire by eating the plants. When the animal or plant dies, it stops exchanging carbon with its environment, and thereafter the amount of it contains begins to decrease as the undergoes radioactive decay. Measuring the amount of in a sample from a dead plant or animal, such as a piece of wood or a fragment of bone, provides information that can be used to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ARENAL VOLCANO LAKE PANORAMA
''Arenal'' may refer to: People with the surname * Concepción Arenal (1820–1893), Spanish feminist writer and activist *Electa Arenal (1935–1969), Mexican muralist * Luis Arenal Bastar (c. 1900–1985), Mexican painter, engraver and sculptor * Elena Huerta de Arenal (1908–1997), Mexican muralist Places *Arenal, Arizona, one of the 19th century Pima Villages *Arenal, Yoro, a municipality in Honduras *Arenal del Sur, a town in Bolívar Department, Colombia *Arenal d'en Castell, a small town in Es Mercadal, Minorca * Nuevo Arenal, a town and district in Tilarán Canton, Costa Rica *Arenal Airport, an airport serving La Fortuna, Costa Rica *Arenal Botanical Gardens, on the shore of Lake Arenal, Costa Rica * Arenal Bridge, a reinforced concrete bridge in Bilbao, Spain *Arenal District, Paita, Peru *Arenal River, Costa Rica, a tributary of the San Carlos River * Arenal Volcano, a volcano in Costa Rica * Lake Arenal, a lake in Costa Rica Other uses *UD Arenal, a football tea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Juan College
San Juan College is a public community college in Farmington, New Mexico. Founded in 1956 as a branch of the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts, San Juan College became an independent community college following a county election in 1981. Awards In 2011, the San Juan College branch of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society earned the National Student Chapter of the Year award, and is the first community college to earn the national award formerly given at top schools such as Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ... and the University of California, Los Angeles. Campuses *Main Campus, Farmington, New Mexico *30th Street Education Center, Farmington, New Mexico *East Campus, Aztec, New Mexico *West Campus, Kirtl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
