| hunter-gatherer | A hunter of large wild animals and gatherer of wild plants, seafood, and small animals, as opposed to farmers and food producers.
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| Mesolithic | The period of time of hunter-gatherers in Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia between the end of the Pleistocene and the introduction of farming; the Middle Stone Age.
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| Archaic | The term used for the early Holocene in the New World, from approximately 6000 b.c. to 1500–1000 b.c.
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| cultigen | A cultivated plant.
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| transhumance | A pattern of seasonal movement usually associated with pastoralists who take their herds to the mountains in summer and to the valleys in winter; more generally, a regular pattern of seasonal movement by human groups.
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| shell midden | A mound of shells accumulated from human collection, consumption, and disposal; a dump of shells from oysters, clams, mussels, or other species found along coasts and rivers, usually dating to the Holocene.
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| adze | A heavy, chisel-like tool.
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| Jomon | The archaeological culture of late-Pleistocene and early-Holocene Japan.
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| cord-marking | A decorative technique in Jomon Japan and elsewhere, in which cord or string is wrapped around a paddle and pressed against an unfired clay vessel, leaving the twisted mark of the cord.
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| pithouse | A prehistoric semisubterranean dwelling in which the lower parts of the walls were the earthen sides of a shallow pit; the top part of the walls often consisted of a framework of poles intertwined with small twigs, covered with mud.
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| cultural resource management | The survey and/or excavation of archaeological and historical remains threatened by construction and development.
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| midden | An accumulated pile of trash and waste materials near a dwelling or in other areas of an archaeological site.
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| grave goods | The items that are placed in graves to accompany the deceased.
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| epiphysis | The end of a long bone in humans and other mammals that hardens and attaches to the shaft of the bone with age.
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| sondage | (French) A test excavation or test pit made at an archaeological site to determine the content and/or the distribution of prehistoric materials.
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