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<celtglos.htm> Archeology Index <Bronze Age Index> <American Archeology>
GLOSSARY For
North American Bronze Age Material Dr. Erich Fred Legner University
of California [Contacts] [Note: All
references to “Celts” should instead be made to other groups—see Celts] Aesir. Sky gods, chiefly Woden, Tiw, Thunor, and
Loki, introduced into North American contexts ca. 1700 BC from either
northern Germany or southern Denmark. Aquitania. District in southwest
France, adjacent to the Basque provinces, where an ogam consaine coinage in
silver was struck in the second century BC, carrying the Celtic word nomse [see Celts ] and modeled on the Green
coinage, nomisma, issued by the
nearby town of Emporion. See ogam, ogam consaine. The projectile points called "Clovis
Points" that are found all over North America are now known to have been
first developed in Aquitania and spread
from there across the Atlantic to America in ancient times. barrow. An earth mound, usually circular in
America, covering one or more human burials. boustrophedon. Term of Greek origin used for Bronze Age
script that runs alternately from right to left and left to right, like a
plowman's furrow. The term means
literally "walking like a plow-ox." brachycephalic. Adjective meaning skulls of rounded
type. Seen in most North American
Indians, Asiatic peoples, and the peoples of central Europe. Byanu. (and similar spellings). Mother goddess of the Gadelic Celts [see Celts ],
worshipped at Windmill Hill, Britain, ca. 2000 BC and in North America, as
ogam consain inscriptions at both extremities of the range disclose. cairns or carns. Mounds of stones, sometimes covering
burials, sometimes serving as way guides or as sighting points in calendar
regulation by the sunrise position. capstone. the uppermost slab of stone, or a boulder,
covering a dolmen or a part of a stone chamber, extending from side to side,
without corbeling. cog. An oceangoing Norse trading ship. Used by the Ontario Nordic settlers, who
called it kogh in their
inscriptions. consonatal script. Typical writing of the Bronze Age in which
only the consonants are expressed, the vowels being supplied by the reader
with the help of the context. corbeling. Method of roofing a stone chamber in which
each successive tier of stones overhangs the tier below and projects inward,
so that ultimately a tier is reached at which the overhanging stones all meet
at the center, producing an arched ceiling.
Used where large capstones are not available. Creole language. Any tongue that has
developed from the fusion of two or more languages. (A term used professionally, not yet assimilated into
vernacular English). Middle English
and many North American languages are example. Another term, preferred by some linguists is Mischsprache (German, "mixed language:") cromlech. A megalithic tomb in which a large
capstone and several vertical stones supporting it and concealing a burial
has become exposed through erosion of the original earth covering. Some dolmens may originally have been
earth-covered, and could therefore be called cromlechs. determinative. (also called classifier). A small pictograph
supplied by a Bronze Age scribe in words where the consonants alone may not
suffice to disclose the word intended.
it indicates the category of a word; e.g., "brother" is a
member of the category "men." disk barrow. A low circular earth mound containing one
or many burials, usually females.
Typical in Europe of the early Bronze Age. They occur in New England. dolichocephalic. Adjective meaning long-headed, applied to
skulls where the cranium is relatively long compared to its width, as in many
people who live on the western borders of Europe, or who descend from such
stock. See brachycephalic. dolmen. Megalithic monuments in which a capstone
of up to 90 tons stands supported on three or more vertical stones. Large examples appear to have been
monuments in honor of a deceased chief; perhaps sometimes also used for
religious gatherings. Smaller
examples are considered to be the internal chamber of a burial, exposed
through erosion of the earth. See cromlech. druid. Member of the Celtic pagan priesthood [see Celts ]. druid's chair. Term used in New England for megalithic
rock thrones, adapted for use from naturally occurring boulders of
appropriate shape. dysse. Scandinavian term for dolmen. Gadelic Celts. Celts [see Celts ] who spoke a language related to Gaelic, and who came to Britain
from the Rhineland around 2200 BC.
They built Stonehenge and their inscriptions from Windmill Hill show
them to have written their language in ogam consaine, similar to that of New
England. In Britain they are called
Beaker People. gorget. A neck or breast ornament. Ogam and Iberic inscriptions cut on some
bear out the true nature of some crude stones so identified as being loom
weights, for holding warp threads taut. grave goods. Articles buried with the dead. if inscribed in a readable script, they
disclose the linguistic relations of the deceased or of peoples with whom
trade was carried on. bella. A flat rock platform, often used for Norse
inscriptions. henge. A circular enclosed area, surrounded by an
earthen mound or by large stones, constructed in Europe at the end of the
Neolithic period, 2500 to 2000 BC, but continuing in use into Bronze Age
times. Presumably for religious and
astronomical purposes. North American
stone rings in some cases may have been henges. Hjulatorp. The locality in Sweden where Nordic words
for wheel and globe occur in ogam and Bronze Age runes ("Libyan
Tifinag") beside engravings of wheels and globes, dated to the
Scandinavian Bronze Age. Also applied
to similar localities. intrusive burial. A later burial inserted into an ancient
barrow and therefore accompanied sometimes by grave goods inappropriate to
the era of construction of the barrow. Iron Age. The period when iron replaced bronze as
the principal metal. In northern
Europe it lasted from about 700 BC until Roman times. jaettestue. Scandinavian term meaning "giant's
salon." Applied to megalithic
chambers of the Bronze Age and late Neolithic. Jol or Yul. Yule, the midwinter pagan
festival of the Nordic peoples. Jol-man or Yul-man. A clown featured in the midwinter festival
of the Nordic colony in Ontario, Canada. Lex Coloniae. Decree issued by the Roman Senate in 133
BC, forbidding (among other things) the use on Iberian coinage of ogam or
Iberic scripts. Temporarily revoked
by Augustus in AD 2, when an ogam consain coinage celebrated the adoption by
Augustus of Lucius Caesar as his heir. loathsome runes. Term used by nonliterate Norse, fearful
that written inscriptions might contain a curse. loom weights. Small stones with one or two holes, used for
keeping warp threads taut on the vertical loom of Scandinavian and Iberian
type. Ogam and Iberic inscriptions on
North American examples identify their purpose. Usually called "gorgets" in North America. See
gorget. Lug. Gadelic Celtic god of light [see Celts ]. In North America, introduced by the
Celtiberians but later fused with the Nordic Woden. Mabon. Gadelic Celtic [see Celts ] god of music, sports, and
fertility of males. In North America
later fused with Freyr and named in younger runes, but by his Celtic name. megalithic. Term applied to structures built of large
stone blocks, without mortar, usually religious or burial chambers, standing
stones and dolmens. menhir. Synonym for sarsen. mesocephalic. Referring to skulls intermediate between
long- and round-headed types. mesognathous. Jaws intermediate between orthognathous
and prognathous types. nokkvi or noghwi. Ancient Nordic and later Norse term for a
ship. used in Bronze Age inscriptions
in North America and Scandinavia as a term for the sky-ship of the sun god
and moon goddess and also for ordinary seagoing craft. Nordic. Any member of any tongue of the group that
includes the related Norse, Germanic, English, and Gothic peoples and
languages. ogam. A system of writing
employing combinations of up to five parallel strokes set on a
"stem" line. An ancient
writing system ranging back to at least the Bronze Age. See
Aquitania. ogam consaine. Consonantal ogam, not employing
vowels. Used in Swedish Bronze Age
inscriptions in conjunction with Bronze Age runes, in the Basque provinces at
least as early as the second century BC, also in France, in North America
throughout the first millennium BC, and thereafter to modern times. orthognathous. Term applied to skulls in which the chin
is well developed and the teeth form a vertical, not projecting, border to
the mouth. orthostats. Large flat slabs of stone sometimes used to
form the walls and entrance of megalithic chambers. Ostre or Eostre. A goddess of the dawn
of the Germans and English, lacking from Scandinavia. Celebration of the spring equinox (Easter)
by Woden-lithi's colonists [at Peterborough, Ontario, Canada] marked the
beginning of the new year and planting of crops. petroglyph. Any inscription or picture cut in rock. phonoglyph. Any carved letter that conveys a sound, as
in modern alphabets. potsherd. A broken pottery fragment. They are often used in classifying
archaeological sites. prognathous. Term applied to skulls in which the teeth
and jaws project. Regin-Domr. "Doom of the Gods," the end of
the world, as depicted in King Woden-lithi's inscriptions at Peterborough,
Ontario, Canada. rain god. A sky god, called Taran or Daran by the
Celts [see Celts ],
Thunor by the Ontario, Canada Nordic people of Woden-lithi, and corresponding
to Thor and Jupiter. Rock-cut
inscriptions in North America name the god in both languages. runes. (Old Norse runar, secret writing). Term
applied to any Nordic script, from the fact that originally the Nordic
scribes were wizards who did not disclose to commoners the meaning of the
letters. sarsen. Term used in southwest Britain for natural
stone elongate slabs that have been erected vertically by human agency,
either singly or in groups. Also
called phallic monuments, and supposedly the sites of fertility ceremonies. spatulate or "shovel-shaped" Term applied to the
upper incisor teeth of many North American Indians and Asiatic peoples. The characteristic is ancient, and occurs
in the Australopithecine ape-men of Africa, in Neanderthals, in Asian
Paleolithic people, and in a proportion of the population in many other
races. The characteristic is rare in
Europe and in Negroid races. suffix-article. Linguistic term for the definite article
suffixed to its noun, a characteristic feature of the Scandinavian
tongues. The suffix-article occurs as
a Norse aspect of the language of King Woden-lithi in Ontario, Canada, ca.
1700 BC. trilithon. Two upright stones with a third lying
horizontally across them. In the
Midwestern and Western states they seem to take the place of the eastern
dolmens, where three or more uprights support the capstone. At Stonehenge a group of trilithons
occurs, in which the capstone is smaller than the uprights. In North America only solitary examples
are known, and the capstone is much larger than the uprights. Walhol. The sky residence of the Aesir in
Woden-lithi's [Ontario, Canada] mythology.
It corresponds to Valhalla of the Norsemen. Wanir. Earth gods, chiefly Freyr and Freya,
relating to fertility, and introduced to North America ca. 1700 BC from north
Germany or southern Denmark. See Aesir. Woden-lithi. A Nordic king, perhaps of Jutish origin,
who established a trading colony in Ontario, Canada ca. 1700 BC. The name means "Servant of Odin." Ymir. A sea-dwelling giant of Nordic mythology (Himir in Norse), recorded in King Woden-lithi's
Ontario, Canada inscriptions. younger runes. Norse script in use
after ca. AD 1000. It appears in rock
scripts in North America, notably as identification labels on Celtic [see Celts ] gods such as Lug and
Mabon. |