Chapter+1+Vocabulary

=Vocabulary=

Adze- A tool similar to an axe, with the blade attached crosswise to the handle. Used for carving a canoe out of a whole log.

Alluvial- left behind by streams and rvers. Alluvial soils are those deposited by a river as it carries soil from upstream to downstream. The Mississippi Alluvial Plain covers much of eastern Arkansas and is referred to in Arkansas as "The Delta".

Archeologist- Scientists who carefully uncover objects left behind by earlier people. Archeologists are able to judge how people lived and when they lived by putting together the physical clues- like pieces of pottery made in a certain way- that they find. Their study is archeology.

Atlatl- A tool used by the early Indian for throwing spears.

Delta- In one meaning, the land around the mouth of a river built up by the river as it deposits silt, or soil, as it empties into the sea. In Arkansas and Mississippi, the entire flatland region of alluvial soil on either sid of the Mississppi River is called"The Delta."

Glacier- A sheet of snow and ice that never completely melts, even in the middle of summer. During the Ice Ages, huge glaciers covered North America as far south as the Great Plains states. Their advances and retreats during the Pleistocene era created much of North America's current topography, such as lakes, hills, and valleys.

Hematite- A stone native to Arkansas that is especially heavy because it contains iron.

Loess- Wind-borne soil. The soil of Crowley's Ridge in northeastern Arkansas is cheifly loess that was carried there and deposited by the wind thousands of years ago. It is especially fragile soil, and it is subject to erosion.

Mastodon- An ancestor of the modern elephant that lived in the Pleistocene era, or during the Ice Age.

Moat- A water-filled circular ditch surrounding a building of set of buildings, usually designed to protect the buildings from attack.

Novaculite- A stone native to southwestern Arkansas that is a natural sharpening tool. Known to prehistoric Indians and traded widely among the Indian tribes of the eastern United States, novaculite is still very much in demand today.

Plaza- An open area, like a park, surrounded by buildings.