Home
History of the Trail
Archaeology Speaker Series
Home
History of the Trail
Archaeology Speaker Series
Trail Activities & Events
Become a Member!
Hot News
Trail Newsletters
Contact Us
Organization Members
Individual Member
Site Member
Trail of the Lost Tribes
2003 Florida Archaeology Speaker Series
Key Terms
archaeologist—a scientist who studies people who lived in the past through the material remains they left behind
artifact—an object made or used by people, for example, a chipped stone scraping tool, a stone spear point, or a carved mammoth tusk
burial mound—a mound where the dead were buried by piling dirt or sand up around and on top of the bodies
B.P.—an abbreviation for ‘years Before present”, for example, 12,000 B.P. = 12,000 years ago. Present is defined as 1950 when radiocarbon dating was developed.
cacique—(kah-SEE-kay) Spanish word meaning king or ruler as in Calos, the Cacique of the Calusa Indians
charnel house—structure built
by ancient native Americans in
council house—a large community building where ancient Native American leaders met to conduct town business
entrada—Spanish word for
entrance or entry; often used to describe the earliest Spanish explorations in
the
estuary—the area where a river meets the sea
gorget—a large ornament worn covering the throat of upper chest
matrilineal—a family history is traced through the mother’s ancestral line
platform mound—a mound with a flat top that once had a building on top; sometimes called a ‘temple mound’
posthole—a discolored soil where a post once stood
pre-Columbian—the time before
the arrival of
prehistoric—history that occurred before written records
shell midden—a trash heap with shells in it
Vocabulary adapted from the Florida Heritage Education program, Division of Historical Resources, Florida Department of State.
Home
History of the Trail
Archaeology Speaker Series
Trail Activities & Events
Become a Member!
Hot News
Trail Newsletters
Contact Us
Organization Members
Individual Member
Site Member