Archaeology Vocabulary Words in Spanish
Do you need some archaeology vocabulary words in Spanish? Maybe you are taking or teaching a Spanish class and you are going to study archeology. Whatever the reason that you need these words, this article will be useful to you.
Archaeology
Archaeology is the study of past human societies. The word comes from the Greek “archaiologia” which breaks down into two words: “archaeo” meaning ancient and “logos” meaning study or discuss. So archaeology is the study of antiquities.
Information about these past times is gleaned from studying artifacts, landscapes, architecture, and other things left behind. Many times these objects have to be excavated, which means clearing away years of dirt and rock. Then the artifacts and other objects are analyzed to determine composition, usage, and age.
Archaeology Vocabulary Words in Spanish
Following is a list of archaeology vocabulary words in Spanish. The Spanish word is listed first, followed by the English word and the definition. Also, some words are the same in both languages:
- Artefacto - Artifact: an object that was made by humans
- Biface - Biface: a tool that is flaked on two sides but is not a knife or axe
- Característica - Feature - something that can’t be removed from a site, like a hearth, architecture, or a storage pit
- Datación por radiocarbono - Radiocarbon dating: a way of determining the approximate age of a feature or artifact by using the half-life of Carbon-14
- Chert - Chert: a rock that is used in making tools which is usually brown, white, gray, or has a pink hue.
- Core - Core: a stone from which flakes has been removed to make a tool
- Endurezca - Temper: a substance added to clay before firing it to make it stronger
- Excavación - Excavation: the process of uncovering artifacts from an archaeological site.
- Flake - Flake: a fragment that has been removed from a stone to make a tool; the action of removing a flake
- Lithic - Lithic: this means stone or referring to stone
- Mano - Mano: a small handheld stone used to grind grains on a stone slab
- Metate - Metate: a large stone slab where grains were ground
- Reuniуn - Assemblage: a group of objects recovered from the same site
- Sherd - Sherd: a piece of ceramic pottery
- Sitio - Site: an area of archaeological investigation which is usually an excavation site, but not always.
- Strata - Strata: layers of sediment rock
- Stratigraphy - Stratigraphy: The study of strata which helps archaeologists determine time lines of events that made the layers of deposits
- Tipología - Typology: organizing artifacts into groups according to function, composition, or other attributes
- Varves - Varves: layers of alluvium that was left by glaciers
Archaeology Finds in Spain and South America
Now that you have a list of archaeology vocabulary words in Spanish, perhaps you would like to know about some of the archaeological sites from Spain and South America.
Spain
Can Llobateres - There were fossilized remains of an ape that was determined to be 9-10 million years old found at this site.
Gran Dolina - This site had evidence of humans from around 780,000 years ago. It is the second oldest site in Europe for human remains and the oldest discovery of cannibalism.
L'Arbreda Cave - This has evidence of Neanderthals and later of modern Homo sapiens.
South America
Peru: Caral has been discovered to be the oldest city in the Americas, starting at about 2600 B. C. The civilization flourished for about five centuries.
Columbia: San Agustin has the largest group of huge sculptures in South America. There are many sculptures of gods and mythical animals which date from the first to the eighth century.