B
ball court
ball game
barrow
Bat Cave
bean
Bonampak
bone
bone dating
bone measurement
bosing
boulder clay
bowl barrow
ball court: See BALL GAME.
ball game: A game both recreational and also of ritual significance, originating in MESOAMERICA and ultimately spreading over wide areas of the Americas; it is also known by the NAHUATL word tlatchli. Stone reliefs at Dainzu and the possible remains of a ball court at SAN LORENZO TENOCHTITLAN indicate that the game existed as early as PRE-CLASSIC times. There is considerable diversity in the rules both over time and across cultures, but typically, opposing teams or individuals played on a court, classically (but not necessarily) in the shape of an elongated H. Players wearing special equipment (see YOKE) would attempt to keep a solid rubber ball (sometimes 30 cm in diameter and more than 2 kilos in weight) in motion without the use of hands or feet. Some courts, especially in the POST-CLASSIC, had a series of stone rings set high in the court wall; if a team managed to pass the ball through one of these (a rare event indeed) the game was immediately won. Death through injury was not unusual and the loss of a game could sometimes result in the SACRIFICE of the losing team. There is a considerable inventory of artifacts associated with the ball game, including hachas, palmas, court markers, elbow stones and yokes.
barrow: A mound, usually of earth and rubble, and occurring in a variety of shapes and sizes, which was raised over to cover either single or multiple burials. The term "tumulus" is used synonymously with barrow, while the related term 'cairn' is used to describe a mound constructed exclusively of stone. The term 'barrow' is used widely in European prehistory but most commonly in Britain, where it originated. In Britain most barrows of the Neolithic period were long, either oval or trapezoidal in shape, and usually covered either mortuary houses or other timber structures, or MEGALITHIC chambers (see also PASSAGE GROVE, GALLERY GRAVE). In the BEAKER period and subsequent Bronze Age, round barrows became the dominant form and generally covered single burials, rather than the collective inhumations of the Neolithic. Bowl barrows - simple round mounds, often surrounded by a ditch - were the most common form, used throughout the Bronze Age and sporadically also in the Iron Age. The WESSEX CULTURE of the southern English Early Bronze Age was characterized by special types of barrow: bell, disc, saucer and pond barrows. Bell barrows have relatively small mounds and a berm or gap between the mound and the ditch; disc barrows are very small mounds in the center of a circular open space, surrounded by a ditch, saucer barrows are low disc-like mounds occupying the entire space up to the ditch; while the misleadingly named pond barrows are not mounds at all, but circular dish-shaped enclosures surrounded by an external bank.
On the continent of Europe both long and round barrows are found in association with megalithic tombs during the Neolithic and Copper Age, while round barrows covering single inhumations or cremations occur in a number of different areas in the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Indeed, barrow burials occur also in Roman and post-Roman times: one of the most famous of all barrows in Britain is that covering the Anglo-Saxon boat burial at SUTTON HOO.
Bat Cave: A site in southwestern New Mexico, USA, notable for its evidence of prehistoric plant cultivation. Early levels indicate the use of primitive pod corn (dated c3500 bc), but a cultivated form of MAIZE was in sue by 2500 bc, the earliest date for cultigens in the American Southwest. Both maize and squash remains were found in association with COCHISE materials of the CHIRICAHUA stage, and evidence of beans (dated to 1000-400 bc) was found in association with SAN PEDRO materials. These plants represent the three basic staples which underlie North American agriculture, although a cave location seems far more appropriate to the earlier ARCHAIC lifestyle, based on hunting and gathering.
bean: The general term 'beans' includes two genera of plants: Phaseolus and Vicia. Phaseolus comprises a number of species, varieties of which include the haricot bean, French bean, runner bean, butter bean etc. These species all originated in Mexico and South America, only spreading to the Old World after Columbus. The earliest finds of cultivated Phaseolus beans are from Peru to Mexico, during the 6th millennium bc. Vicia, on the other hand, includes only one cultivated species, Vicia faba, the horsebean, field bean or broad bean. This species originated in the Old World. The earliest finds are from early Neolithic sites in the Near East. Later in the Neolithic, the species appeared in Spain and Portugal, and eastern Europe. During the Bronze Age, the field bean occurred in southern and central Europe, and by the Iron Age it appeared as far north as Britain.
Bonampak: A MAYA CEREMONIAL CENTRE located close to the Lacanha River in the tropical rain-forest of northeast Chiapas, Mexico. Dating to the Late CLASSIC PERIOD (c450-750), it is most notable for its polychrome murals which can be tightly dated to 800 on the basis of LONG COUNT inscriptions. The so-called Temple of the Paintings consists of three rooms, painted from floor to ceiling with scenes of ceremony, battle and sacrifice. Hieroglyphs also occur frequently and the whole collection is seen as a continuous narrative (showing the battle itself, the disposal of the captives and the victory celebration). Aside from the artistic achievement, the murals provide remarkably detailed information on Maya dress, music and weaponry.
bone: In life, bone is one of the connective tissues of the body and consists of crystallites of the mineral hydroxyapatite, deposited on a fibrous matrix of the protein COLLAGEN. Mineral occupies 71 per cent of the volume, collagen 19 per cent, other proteins 2 per cent, and water 8 per cent. After death, the proteins slowly decompose (this gradual decomposition forms the basis of a BONE DATING method - nitrogen analysis). The remaining mineral is subject to solution in acid soil conditions. Bones are preserved on a wide variety of archaeological sites, and the state of bone preservation varies widely. Two main types of bone are found in mature animals: compact, or cortical bone and cancellous, spongy or trabecular bone. Compact bone forms the dense outer layer in a particular structure of the skeleton. Cancellous bone is found inside forming a light internal framework. Bones as elements of the skeleton have a number of forms: long bones - as in the limbs; flat bones - as in the cranial vault of the skull; cuboidal bones - as in the wrists and ankles; irregular bones - vertebrae and bones of the face and jaws. For the study of bones from archaeological sites, see SKELETON.
bone dating: BONE may be dated in a number of ways. The most commonly used is RADIOCARBON DATING: both the COLLAGEN and mineral components of bone are dateable. Recently a number of bone samples have been dated by a URANIUM SERIES method. Relative dates may be obtained from time-related chemical changes which occur in bone after burial. In particular, these include FLUORINE DATING, NITROGEN DATING and AMINO ACID RACEMIZATION.
bone measurement: Dimensions of skeletal structures can be taken using a variety of calipers and other measuring equipment. The aim of such work is to compare the size and shape of BONES between many different individuals. This is done by statistical methods, nowadays using MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS to compare many measurements at once. Comparisons of this kind can help in identifying bones (for example in distinguishing sheep from goat), in sex determination and in studying the genetics of groups of animals. Much work has been carried out with human skull measurements to investigate the genetical relationships of ancient populations.
bosing: A method of detecting buried features of archaeological sites. The fill of pits and ditches, or hollow chambers, may resonate if the ground is struck with a heavy implement. Bosing has been successful in finding sites (particularly tomb chambers), but it is not as other geophysical methods of investigation.
boulder clay: A type of TILL. The term is sometimes (erroneously) used to mean all kinds of till.
bowl barrow: See BARROW.