Details Title: Exam 2 Description: History of Architecure and Urban Form Total Flash Cards: 22 Created: 10/08/2009 11:26:01		New Users: To study from this flashcard set, or to create your own your own study flash cards, REGISTER HERE. Existing Users: CLICK HERE. Additional Architecture Flashcards
Cards in this set: Term Adobe Definition Sun baked blocks made of clay mixed with straw. Also: the buildings made with this material. Term Archaelogy Definition The study of past human life and culture by the examination of material remains such as graves, tools and pottery. Term Chamber Tomb Definition A stone-built tomb, often MEGALITHIC in construction, generally used for communial burials over a long period. Found in many parts of the world and in many different forms. Term Civilization Definition An advanced state of human society marked by a relatively high level of cultural technical, and politcal development. Term Cromlech Definition A circular arrangement of megaliths enclosing a DOLMEN or burial mound. Term Cuneiform Definition The script used in MESOPOTAMIA and neighboring regions like Persia, for writing on clay tablets. Pressing a rectangular ended wooden instrument into the plastic clay to leave a pattern of wedge-shapes formed the impressions. Term Dolmen Definition A prehistoric monument consisting of two or more large upright stones supporting a horizontal stone slab, found especially in Britain and France and usually regarded as a tomb. Term Fertile Crescent Definition An agricultural region arching from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea in the west to Iraw in the east, the location of humankinds earliest cultures. Term Fossil Definition The remains, impression or trace of any living organism from a past geological age found preserved in rock or sediment. Term Henge Definition A circular area enclosed by stones or wooden posts set up by Neolithical builders. It was usually bounded by a ditch and raised embankment. Term Hunters-Gatherers Definition Members of a small-scale mobile or semi sedentary societies whose substinence is based mainly on hunting of wild animals and the gathering of wild plants. Term Lost Wax Casting Definition A method of casting metal, such as bronze, by a process in which a wax mould is covered with clay and plaster, then fired, melting the was and leaving a hollow form. Molten metal is then poured into the hollow space and slowly cooled. When the hardened clay and plaster exterior shell is removed, a solid metal form remains to be smoothed and polished. Term Megalithic Tomb Definition A chambered tomb built of large stones. Term Menhir Definition A very large stone of considerable size often int he form of an OBELISK or column. Term Mesopotamia Definition From the Greek "(The land) between the rivers", the region of western Asia defined by the Euphrates and Tigris rivers together with their tributaries. It is further divided between the northern upland zone (corresponding roughly to Assyria) and the southern alluvial zone (Sumer and Akkad; later Babylonia). Term Pise Construction Definition A wall construction method which involves a precess of compressing a damp mixture of earth (rammed earth) that has suitable proportions of sand, gravel and clay (sometimes with an added stabilizer like straw) into an externally supported frame that molds the shape of a wall section creating a solid wall of earth. Term Prehistoric Definition Of, pertaining to or existing in the time prior to the recording of human events, knowledge of which is gained mainly through archeological discoveries, study and research. Term Shard Definition A small piece of broken pottery Term Sumer Definition An ancient region in southern MESOPOTAMIA, where a number of independent cities and city-states were established as early as 5000 BC. A number of its cities, as Eridu, Urak and Ur are major archeological sites. Term Tell Mound Definition A mound formed by the repeated rebuilding of mud brick houses on the same site. As older homes collapsed their remains formed a raised base for later houses. Such mounds also incorporate other settlemnt refuse, graves, and many other materials, and sometimes reach considerable depth. Term Wattle and Daub Definition A wall construction method combining upright branches, woven with twigs and plastered or filled with clay or mud. Term Ziggurat Definition From the Assyrian word ziqquratu meaning mountaintop or height. In ancient Assyria and Babylonia, a pyramidal tower built of mud brick and forming the BASE of a temple; it was either stepped or had a broad scent winding around it, which gave it he appearance of being stepped.