| geoarchaeology | Archaeological research concerned with geology and the earth sciences.
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| geomorphology | The branch of geology concerned with the study of the shape of the land; involves classification, description, origin, and change of land forms.
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| uniformitarianism | Geological principle that the processes of erosion and deposition observed in action today also operated in the past.
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| levee | A raised bank created by repeated flooding.
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| oxbow lake | A stranded river meander left as a lake in a floodplain.
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| point bar | A low ridge of sand and gravel that forms underwater along the inner bank of a meandering stream.
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| sediment | Any particulate matter (clay, sand, silt, mud, leaves, shell, and other materials) that can be transported by water. Opposite of rock.
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| soil | Surface sediments weathered in situ.
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| weathering | Chemical and biological processes that break down and change the surface of the earth, altering its color, texture, or composition.
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| horizon | Layer or assemblage associated with geological strata or archaeological contents, e.g., usage includes a soil horizon, a cultural horizon; the geographic extent of similar artifacts and design in space.
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| pedologist | Soil scientist.
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| tectonic | Geological forces that move and deform the earth's crust.
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| stratigraphy | A sequence of layers in the ground.
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| superposition | Principle that governs the interpretation of stratigraphy—in a sequence the oldest layers are on the bottom and the youngest layers are on top.
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| midden | Any substantial accumulation of garbage or waste at a locus of human activity; archaeological deposits of trash and/or shells that accumulate in heaps and mounds. A shell midden is a specific type of midden composed largely of mollusk shells.
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| cut | Geomorphological term for erosion of sediments, also human digging.
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| fill | Geomorphological term for deposition of sediments, also human filling.
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| sterile | Containing no archaeological materials.
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| plow zone | The upper part of soil layers that has been disturbed by plowing.
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| plan view | A bird's-eye or top-down view of a site or region. A kind of map of the features and characteristics of a place. A standard representation of archaeological sites and areas.
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| profile | A cross-section of archaeological or geological deposits showing the stratigraphy, sequence of layers. Also, the cross-section of the walls of a ceramic vessel, a measure of shape.
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| micromorphology | The study of anthropogenic sediments at a microscopic level.
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| anthropogenic | Created or produced by human activity, e.g., anthropogenic soils are a result of human activity.
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| composition | The mineral and organic contents in a petrographic thin section.
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| texture | The size and sorting of sediments, for example, in a petrographic thin section.
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| fabric | The geometric relationship of the constituents in a petrographic thin section.
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| Harris Matrix | A method for depicting intricate archaeological stratigraphy in a schematic way.
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| interface | The term used in the Harris Matrix for surfaces at a site that were places of activity before they were buried—for example, the surface of a pit.
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| petrographic microscope | A specialized version of a binocular microscope designed for the study of thin sections of rock or pottery.
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