Archaeological Code Words

Code Words Used in Some South Asian Archaeological Reports

I am NOT guaranteeing any of these but they might help you get started on making sense of some archaeological reports that seem hard to understand or contradictory. Please let me know any glaring errors...

BUT NOT EVERY EXCAVATOR USES EXACT SAME TERMINOLOGY though I'm trying to say how often used in certain ways
ALSO these are very possibly NOT true for after c800 CE or whenever more modern stuff appeared; I am only checking for up to c700 CE
Note that many of these terms are really shorthand for "something shaped like x."
Also be aware of typos and bad digitization eg "a covered dram of baked bricks" surely was a covered drain rather than some drink or measure.


apsidal shaped : seems to always just mean a building had some parts of it rounded, others not

ball : usually a sphere but also "oval" ones, never known for sure what for: cd be toy, slingshot stone, hammering tool, etc

bangle : always a wrist ornament without an opening; never modern style little glass things; at least sometimes refers to wide inc made of glass

barn : at least occasionally does not mean a building large enough to shelter animals but a tall but small-across silo-like structure

bathroom : never toilet, sink, bathing combo, but usually a room in which to bathe/shower/somehow wash whole body

began work : at least sometimes does not mean excavation work was not done here before; just means worked sometime during period being discussed (is basically a worthless phrase)

celt : at least sometimes simply an axhead

circular : sometimes means rounded even just on one edge; eg u-shaped, very much oval as opposed to round like a circle

courtyard : always just a walled yard, not neces surrounded even on 2 sides by the building unless it says so

cushion : occas refers to some thing made out of clay within a kiln (maybe a hollow thing), obviously not a soft pillow thing

dabber : possibly never like to dab on perfume, but usually something used by potters in making pottery (to decorate it??)

discover : see NOTICED

dishes : usually means plates, NOT even bowls, nor of course vases, jars, pots

dog : sometimes if not more often turns out to be surely a cat when speaking of artwork (I assume actual bones are correctly identified since they are done by professionals)

exotic : e.g. of a statue said to be of an "exotic" human; at least sometimes not at all realistic e.g. of a foreigner but could be for a joke as is extremely exaggerated and hardly human

factory : never modern of course; simply a place (possibly just all in the open) where something was made

few : at least sometimes can be more than a few in my opinion; e.g. a total of 14 is called "a few"

figure : usually same as figurine

figurine: always a little statue v often made of terracotta

fireplace : never early American style of course; simply a spot where a fire was made, says nothing of its style

furniture : in phrase "graveyard furniture" and similar, never means actual furniture but other stuff found in grave eg pots

frying pan : possibly never a metal one like we have but often a terracotta shallow pan suitable for frying over a fire

gamesman : poss never in shape of a person or even animal but geometric eg pyramid, cone, cylinder

hall : always in Indian sense of large public room (nowadays often a living room); never a narrow corridor/hallway (which are often called a passage)

hammerstone : never shape of our hammers of course; at least sometimes just a ball

hearth : SEEMS to mean same as fireplace which see except it also implies there was some way to demarcate it eg raised earth, stones, or a pit, because differentiate between a hearth and an "ash patch on the floor."

hopscotch: never is for sure used as a hopscotch piece; sometimes adults were buried w them; could be toy, ritual, currency, etc

house: occas just means building or just a separate room that is not just a eg small structure; though note residential always refers to something to do w a home

incense burner : at least sometimes could be a lamp

jar : sometimes at least not for storage but even for cooking; I think just refers to a container that gets narrower below its top

lane : always simply a narrow road

leaf : often even when stated "a gold leaf" just means foil-thin, not natural leaf-shaped thing

lid : often not a domed lid but goes down on side where apparent knob handle is; sometimes called a saucer

marble other than building material : always just a small ball which see often made out of terracotta

miniature pots : not necessarily toys nor ritual; occasionally conjecture were for working with molten metal

noticed : never that no one else had ever noticed it; could even be well known locally; but always that made official record of for the right government department (such as the Archaeological Survey of India); sometimes even discovered is used in the same way

oblong : I think usually means they are not sure it was oval or rectangular; but also might mean rectangular with rounded edges, because always mentioned as dif from oval, but also because rectangular is so commonly used they must mean something different by this in the cases when they've uncovered enough evidence to know

on : occas a non-English writer uses it for OF, as in "copies on terracotta" means copies made out of terracotta

oven : I THINK an enclosed place in which to cook something; are many dif styles

parer : never a clear vegetable cutter or something; usually or always could also have been a razor

pencil, eye : never eye makeup but I think a stick type thing with which to apply kohl

planning : to do w a house always re layout of several houses/neighborhood design, not floorplan etc of indiv house

plaster : never modern white plaster, often just mud

platform : often not like counter height but very short, just a few inches; can be the width and length though of maybe a small table all the way to huge and underneath a whole settlement; just means something built up from the ground, usually of dirt

pounder : at least sometimes just a stone ball (also see hammer)

razor : SEE parer; ALSO at least sometimes could also be a scraper for something other than one's face

ringwell : EITHER a septic tank type arrangement or a well for drawing cleanish water, though usually seems to be septic type; refers to its style of being made w terracotta rings stacked on top of each other

rubble : sometimes or often seems to mean better than random smallish rocks but just unfinished stones poss largeish

saucer : never looks much like ours; often has a knob handle, so see lid

silo : never huge like a farmer's grain silo today; I think always round and often built up from the ground and usually w evidence of having had grain in it, but only maybe a foot across

slingball : always a stone sphere at least roughly; at least usually could be a pounder too; I've seen no mention of actual slingshots found though this name could just mean something that can be thrown

spoon : usually a ladle

structure : always anything built/constructed by humans, including quite small things like ovens as well as big buildings; also incs plain mud floors; though never includes jewelry, dishes, artwork but things that are more in the construction trade

structural complex : at least sometimes not a set of buildings that really belong together (a la a modern-day office complex) but buildings that just happen to be close to each other but are obviously eg totally separate homes

tandoor oven : never what I've seen in restaurants today but an underground oven (see oven)

vase : at least sometimes if not always not a decorative container for flowers but a container at least sometimes just for storage [[I THINK is a tallish container with a narrower top than bottom]]

well : rarely actually proved to be a well in the sense of a hole dug for water, though usually that is the best explanation; sometimes could have been for storage (if shallow)




GENERAL NOTES
• Can't always completely trust reports because of careless writing; eg cfg their description w their drawing say rooms opened into courtyard not corridor but drawing is v clearly corridor; if absolutely crucial try to check more than one source or format of presentation. (My approach gets around this usually.)
• Can't always completely trust photographs because of reconstruction.