There are two living species of bison: the American bison and the European bison; and two types of buffalo: the African buffalo, native to Africa, and the water buffalo, native to Asia. Samuel de Champlain applied the term buffalo (buffles in French) to the bison in 1616 (published 1619), after seeing skins and a drawing shown to him by members of the Nipissing First Nation, who said they travelled forty days (from east of Lake Huron) to trade with another nation who hunted the animals. In English usage, the term buffalo dates to 1625 in North America, when the term was first recorded for the American mammal. The word buffalo is derived from the French “bœuf,” a name given to bison when French fur trappers working in the US in the early 1600s saw the animals. The word bœuf came from what the French knew as true buffalo, animals living in Africa and Asia. The term bison was first recorded in 1774, and is the correct scientific terminology.
In Plains Indian languages in general, male and female bison are distinguished, with each having a different designation rather than there being a single generic word covering both sexes. Thus:
in Arapaho: bii (bison cow), henéécee (bison bull)
in Lakota: pté (bison cow), tȟatȟáŋka (bison bull)
Such a distinction is not a general feature of the language (for example, Arapaho possesses gender-neutral terms for other large mammals such as elk, mule deer, etc.), and so presumably is due to the special significance of the bison in Plains Indian life and culture.


The American bison (Bison bison) is a species of bison native to North America.  Sometimes colloquially referred to as buffalo (a distinct clade of bovine), it is one of two extant species of bison, alongside  the European bison. Its historical range, by 9000 BC, is described as the great bison belt, a tract of rich grassland that ran from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico, east to the Atlantic Seaboard (nearly to the Atlantic tidewater in some areas) as far north as New York, south to Georgia and, according to some sources, further south to Florida, with sightings in North Carolina near Buffalo Ford on the Catawba River as late as 1750. Once roaming in vast herds, the species nearly became extinct by a combination of commercial hunting and slaughter in the 19th century and introduction of bovine diseases from domestic cattle.  With a population in excess of 60 million in the late 18th century, the species was culled down to just 541 animals by 1889. Recovery efforts expanded in the mid-20th century, with a resurgence to roughly 31,000 wild bison as of March 2019. For many years, the population was primarily found in a few national parks and reserves. Through multiple reintroductions, the species now freely roams wild in several regions in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with it also being introduced to Yakutia in Russia.
Two subspecies or ecotypes have been described: the plains bison (B. b. bison), smaller in size and with a more rounded hump, and the wood bison (B. b. athabascae)—the larger of the two and having a taller, square hump. Furthermore, the plains bison has been suggested to consist of a northern plains (B. b. montanae) and a southern plains (B. b. bison) subspecies, bringing the total to three. However, this is generally not supported. The wood bison is one of the largest wild species of extant bovid in the world, surpassed only by the Asian gaur. Among extant land animals in North America, the bison is the heaviest and the longest, and the second tallest after the moose.
Spanning back many millennia, Native American tribes have had cultural and spiritual connections to the American bison. It is the national mammal of the United States of America.


Female bison live in maternal herds which include other females and their offspring. Male offspring leave their maternal herd when around three years old and either live alone or join other males in bachelor herds. Male and female herds usually do not mingle until the breeding season, which can occur from July through September. However, female herds may also contain a few older males. During the breeding season, dominant bulls maintain a small harem of females for mating. Individual bulls "tend" cows until allowed to mate, by following them around and chasing away rival males. The tending bull shields the female's vision with his body so she will not see any other challenging males. A challenging bull may bellow or roar to get a female's attention and the tending bull has to bellow/roar back. The most dominant bulls mate in the first 2–3 weeks of the season. More subordinate bulls mate with any remaining estrous cow that has not mated yet. Male bison play no part in raising the young.
Bison herds have dominance hierarchies that exist for both males and females. A bison's dominance is related to its birth date. Bison born earlier in the breeding season are more likely to be larger and more dominant as adults. Thus, bison are able to pass on their dominance to their offspring as dominant bison breed earlier in the season. In addition to dominance, the older bison of a generation also have a higher fertility rate than the younger ones.
Bison mate in August and September; gestation is 285 days. A single reddish-brown calf nurses until the next calf is born. If the cow is not pregnant, a calf will nurse for 18 months. Cows nurse their calves for at least 7 or 8 months, but most calves seem to be weaned before the end of their first year. At three years of age, bison cows are mature enough to produce a calf. The birthing period for bison in boreal biomes is protracted compared to that of other northern ungulates, such as moose and caribou.
Bison have a life expectancy around 15 years in the wild and up to 25 years in captivity. However, males and females from a hunted population also subject to wolf predation in northern Canada have been reported to live to 22 and 25 years of age, respectively.
Bison have been observed to display homosexual behaviors, males much more so than females. In the case of males, it is unlikely to be related to dominance, but rather to social bonding or gaining sexual experience.


The toad can be found in Korea, northeastern Russia, (where they have become rather rare) and northeastern China, and possibly southern Japan, specifically Tsushima Strait, although the latter is very likely erroneous, as a team of Japanese researchers in the later half of the 20th century was unable to locate any. There is also a somewhat genetically distinct population in Beijing that was introduced from Yantai in Shandong in 1927 by Mr. Liu Cheng-chao. About 200 were released into wetland habitats, where they later bred. There have been multiple reports of escaped specimens in Broward County, Florida, US, mostly in the immediate vicinity of an animal importer's facility. There have been no other reports of such occurrences in the United States, and there are no well-established escaped populations.
They are semiaquatic, generally dwelling in slow-moving streams or ponds. When out of the water, they can often be found in coniferous and broadleaved forests. They can be found at elevations of up to 1,100 metres (3,600 ft). They are very resilient to environmental disturbance, especially compared to other amphibians, and as such can be found living and even breeding in heavily polluted water.


Oriental fire-bellied toads can be bright, grayish, or brownish green, with black mottling on their dorsal regions. Like other Bombina species, B. orientalis has a brightly colored ventral region, which can be yellow, red, or orange-red, mottled with dark spots. The finger and toe tips are usually red. The skin on its upper side is covered in small tubercles, the most pronounced of the genus Bombina. Although it is typically referred to as a toad, the fire-bellied toad is not a true toad. They can reach a length of about 3.8–5.1 centimetres (1.5–2.0 in), weighing about 28–57 grams (0.99–2.01 oz). Males and females can be told apart by the males' nuptial pads on their first and second fingers.
Besides having more noticeable tubercles on their skin, B. orientalis can also be distinguished from other members of Bombina by their lack of gular sacs (like B. pachypus and unlike B. bombina) and nuptial pads (like B. bombina and unlike B. pachypus, although later research has shown that males do in fact have a few, as previously mentioned). Subtler differences include their belly coloration, which is typically more red than yellow (unlike B. pachypus) and bright finger tips (unlike B. bombina).


The Oriental fire-bellied toad was first described by George Albert Boulenger as Bombinator orientalis, who placed it within the same genus as the European fire-bellied toad and the Apennine yellow-bellied toad, noting their many similarities. He considered it an "intermediate" between the latter two species, although he thought it was closer to the Apennine yellow-bellied toad overall. His research was based on 19 specimens housed in the British Museum. The three species have been moved into the genus Bombina in 1907 by Leonhard Stejneger.
The toad was later divided into two subspecies in 1972, B. o. practicola and B. o. silvatica, with the former being more aquatic and the latter more terrestrial, although newer research has found them to display few genetic differences, despite some physical ones. These findings support their classification as a monotypic species, albeit one with multiple morphs that may have diverged rather recently. A population in Beijing, despite having existed for less than a hundred years, has shown signs of evolution at a molecular level, displaying genetic uniqueness from the original population. While genetic diversity is somewhat low, it is still high enough that the Beijing toads may continue to survive.
In the late Quaternary, seismic activity at the Yilan–Yitong fault zone is believed to have split the toad into two subpopulations in its native range, with the much smaller western one having low genetic diversity. In more recent times, gene flow has begun to occur between the two.


The skin of Oriental fire-bellied toads contains bombesin, a peptide first isolated from their relatives, European fire-bellied toads (and later other types of frogs, in the genera Rana and Phyllomedusa). Among other effects, bombesin hinders gastric functions in mammals, including dogs, cats, rabbits, and rodents. Later studies on B. orientalis discovered that the peptide came in three separate forms.


The American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus), often simply known as the bullfrog in Canada and the United States, is a large true frog native to eastern North America. It typically inhabits large permanent water bodies such as swamps, ponds, and lakes. Bullfrogs can also be found in man made habitats such as pools, koi ponds, canals, ditches and culverts. The bullfrog gets its name from the sound the male makes during the breeding season, which sounds similar to a bull bellowing. The bullfrog is large and is commonly eaten throughout its range, especially in the southern United States where they are plentiful.
Their presence as a food source has led to bullfrogs being distributed around the world outside of their native range. Bullfrogs have been introduced into the Western United States, South America, Western Europe, China, Japan, and southeast Asia. In these places they are invasive species due to their voracious appetite and the large number of eggs they produce, having a negative effect on native amphibians and other fauna. Bullfrogs are very skittish which makes capture difficult and so they often become established.
Other than for food, bullfrogs are also used for dissection in science classes. Albino bullfrogs are sometimes kept as pets, and bullfrog tadpoles are often sold at pond or fish stores.


The dorsal (upper) surface of the bullfrog has an olive-green basal color, either plain or with mottling and banding of grayish brown. The ventral (under) surface is off-white blotched with yellow or gray. Often, a marked contrast in color is seen between the green upper lip and the pale lower lip. The teeth are tiny and are useful only in grasping. The eyes are prominent with brown irises and horizontal, almond-shaped pupils. The tympana (eardrums) are easily seen just behind the eyes and the dorsolateral folds of skin enclose them. The limbs are blotched or banded with gray. The fore legs are short and sturdy and the hind legs long. The front toes are not webbed, but the back toes have webbing between the digits with the exception of the fourth toe, which is unwebbed.
Bullfrogs are sexually dimorphic, with males being smaller than females and having yellow throats. Males have tympana larger than their eyes, whereas the tympana in females are about the same size as the eyes. Bullfrogs measure about 3.6 to 6 in (9 to 15 cm) in snout–to–vent length. They grow fast in the first eight months of life, typically increasing in weight from 5 to 175 g (0.18 to 6.17 oz), and large, mature individuals can weigh up to 500 g (1.1 lb). In some cases bullfrogs have been recorded as attaining 800 g (1.8 lb) and measuring up to 8 in (20 cm) from snout to vent. The American bullfrog is the largest species of frog in North America.


After selecting a male, the female deposits eggs in his territory. During the mating grasp, or amplexus, the male rides on top of the female, grasping her just behind her fore limbs. The female chooses a site in shallow water among vegetation, and lays a batch of up to 20,000 eggs, and the male simultaneously releases sperm, resulting in external fertilization. The eggs form a thin, floating sheet which may cover an area of 0.5 to 1.0 m² (5.4 to 10.8 sq ft). The embryos develop best at water temperatures between 24 and 30 °C (75 and 86 °F) and hatch in three to five days. If the water temperature rises above 32 °C (90 °F), developmental abnormalities occur, and if it falls below 15 °C (59 °F), normal development ceases. Newly hatched tadpoles show a preference for living in shallow water on fine gravel bottoms. This may reflect a lesser number of predators in these locations. As they grow, they tend to move into deeper water. The tadpoles initially have three pairs of external gills and several rows of labial teeth. They pump water through their gills by movements of the floor of their mouths, trapping bacteria, single-celled algae, protozoans, pollen grains, and other small particles on mucus in a filtration organ in their pharynges. As they grow, they begin to ingest larger particles and use their teeth for rasping. They have downward-facing mouths, deep bodies, and tails with broad dorsal and ventral fins.
Time to metamorphosis ranges from a few months in the southern part of the range to 3 years in the north, where the colder water slows development. Maximum lifespan in the wild is estimated to be 8 to 10 years, but one frog lived for almost 16 years in captivity.


The hooded skunk ranges from the Southwestern United States to Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northwest Costa Rica. It is more abundant in Mexico. These skunks are found to be more than 50% smaller in size in southern Mexico than in the Southwestern United States. It is found in grasslands, deserts, and in the foothills of mountains, avoiding high elevations. It tends to live near a water source, such as a river. The females tend to be 15% smaller in size than the males  and their breeding season is between February and March. The litter size ranges from three to eight.


The diet of the hooded skunk consists mostly of vegetation, especially prickly pear (Opuntia spp.), but it will readily consume insects, small vertebrates, fruit, bird eggs, and human garbage as well. Hooded skunks in Costa Rica utilize their forelimbs to throw bird eggs between their hindlegs, in order to break the eggs open. In the wild, their stomach contents include 74.3% insects, with 50% of their diet consisting of earwigs, stink bugs, and beetles. Vertebrate tissues made up 12% of the diet, and only about 1% of the diet consisted of plant material. No cases of rabies are reported, but they host a range of parasites, including nematodes, roundworms, and fleas.


The Plains leopard frog, as its name implies, is found throughout the Great Plains of the United States, from Indiana west across central and southern plains to South Dakota, south to Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, with a disjunct population in Arizona.


The Plains leopard frog grows from 2.0 to 4.3 in (5.1 to 10.9 cm) in length, and is typically brown in color. Their common name originates from the distinctive irregular, dark colored spotting on their backs. They have long, powerful legs, and are capable of leaping great distances.
The frog's spots are brown or greenish brown, and are not ringed in white. There is a distinct white line above the sides of the jaw. The lines along the sides of the back are broken toward the rear, with the short broken section closer to the center of the back. There is often a white spot in the center of the tympanum, and a dark spot on the top the snout.


The Plains leopard frog (Lithobates blairi) is a spotted frog found in North America. It is sometimes referred to as Blair's leopard frog, named after the noted zoologist and University of Texas professor, Dr. W. Frank Blair.


The greenhouse frog (Eleutherodactylus planirostris) is a species of frog in the family Eleutherodactylidae, native to Cuba, the Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands, and it has been introduced to other areas, such as Florida, Hawaii, Guam, Hong Kong and Shenzhen.


The greenhouse frog is native to Cuba and some other islands in the West Indies. It has been introduced to Hawaii and Florida, where it has become common. It has been sporadically found in southern Georgia, southern Alabama and eastern Louisiana. It is an introduced species in Jamaica , Guam and Shenzhen, China. It lives in moist leaf litter, often near human habitations, but is seldom seen because it is nocturnal. It sometimes emerges on warm, rainy days in summer, and in Florida, it has been found hibernating in March under the flaking bark of a wild tamarind (Lysiloma) tree.


The greenhouse frog is a very small species, ranging from 17 to 31 mm (0.67 to 1.22 in) in length. These frogs are usually drab or olive-brown in colour, and occur in two forms; one has two broad stripes running longitudinally down the back, and the other is mottled. The undersides of both are a paler colour than the back, and the eyes are red.


The greenhouse frog is unusual in that its eggs are not laid in water or in a frothy mass as is the case in some tree frogs. Instead, the eggs are enclosed in a thick membrane and laid singly in concealed, damp locations, such as beneath a log, buried in debris, or even under a flower pot. Clutch sizes vary between three and 26 eggs in Florida. They pass through their tadpole stage while still in the egg, and emerge as fully developed juvenile frogs about 5 mm (0.20 in) long with a short tail that soon gets reabsorbed. In warm conditions, hatching may occur on the 13th day of development. The tadpoles have an "egg tooth" on the end of their snouts to help them to emerge from the egg case. Afterwards, this is no longer of use, so is shed. The adult frog may provide some parental care by guarding the eggs, as frogs have been observed lurking in the vicinity of egg clumps.


Dryophytes eximius, commonly known as the mountain tree frog, is a species of frog in the family Hylidae endemic to Mexico. Its natural habitats are mesquite grasslands, scrub forests, and pine-oak forests. It is a widely distributed species that faces no major threats.
Dryophytes eximius is listed as the state amphibian of Arizona. As currently circumscribed, Dryophytes eximius does not occur in Arizona. Dryophytes wrightorum, the Wright's mountain tree frog, which has previously been regarded as a synonym of Dryophytes eximius does occur in Arizona.


The eastern dwarf tree frog (Litoria fallax), also known as the eastern sedge-frog, is a small and very common tree frog found on the eastern coast of Australia, from around Cairns, Queensland, to around Ulladulla, New South Wales. Individual frogs of this species are often found elsewhere, having been accidentally relocated by transported fruit boxes. Confirmed sightings of breeding pairs have confirmed their survival in Victoria's cooler climate.


This frog is associated with a wide variety of habitats, including coastal swamps, lagoons, dams, ditches, and garden ponds in forest, heathland, wallum country, and cleared farmland. It lives in reeds and similar plants both near and away from the water, and often inhabits banana trees in the northern areas of Australia, and are sometimes shipped with the bananas throughout Australia. They are known in Australia for becoming lost frogs by turning up in fruit shops outside of their normal range.


This is a small species of frog; females can reach a maximum size of 25–30 mm, while males may only reach 20 mm when fully grown. It is of variable colour (depending upon temperature and colour of surrounding environment), ranging from fawn to light green on top, and occasionally has black flecks on its back. A white line begins under the eye, and joins the white stomach. A brown line begins from the nostril, and continues across the eye, and between the green (or fawn) and white sections on the top and bottom of the body. This species' toe discs are only slightly larger than the toes, and toes are 75% webbed. Some individuals will have an orange posterior thigh. The tadpoles are bigger than the adult frogs, with a size of 30 mm.


Breeding occurs at small ponds or dams, which have ample reeds or other emergent vegetation. This species will often breed in temporary water. Its call is a short, high pitched, wr-e-e-ek ip-ip, repeated three or four times. They emit their calls from a single submandibular vocal sac. The males call during the spring and summer seasons, often before and after heavy rain.
About 200-301 eggs are laid at each amplexus, and clumps of spawn contain up to 35 eggs. The minimum tadpole lifespan is 118 days, at a consist temperature of 20 °C. Metamorphosis occurs from January to March, the metamorphs resemble the adults and are very small, only 9–13 mm in length.


The pickerel frog (Lithobates palustris, formerly Rana palustris) is a small North American frog, characterized by the appearance of seemingly "hand-drawn" squares on its dorsal surface.


Pickerel frogs have varied habitats, the northern specimen prefers to live near cold, clear water. They prefer rocky ravines, bogs and meadow streams, but can be found around lakes and rivers that are heavily wooded. The southern specimen prefer warmer waters, like those of the Coastal Plain and floodplain swamps. They are seen most often along the edges of streams, lakes, rivers, and even flooded ditches. During the winter months they will hibernate under the silt and debris in their aquatic environments; they are usually only active from April to October. When feasible, this species utilizes caves for thermal refugia during the coldest months of the year.  The pickerel frog is a trogloxene species meaning they occur in caves, but are unable to complete their life cycles there. Though they are most abundant in caves during the winter, they are active deep within caves at almost any time of year.


Egg masses are typically laid in well-vegetated areas and are often difficult to locate. The masses superficially resemble those of wood frogs but at close inspection one can usually distinguish between the two. Pickerel frog egg masses are spherical and about the same size of a wood frog egg mass roughly 5–10 cm in diameter; however, pickerel frog egg masses contain more eggs, about 2000-3000 eggs. Pickerel frog eggs are multicolored, they are dark brown on top and cream colored on the bottom. The egg masses adhere to woody or herbaceous vegetation, varying in depth from a few centimeters below the surface to 4 feet deep. Like most amphibious eggs development is temperature dependent, but pickerel frog eggs usually hatch in 11–21 days.


In case of attack, pickerel frogs have an excellent defense mechanism: they emit skin secretions which are irritating to people and toxic to some predators; making the pickerel frog the only poisonous frog native to the United States. Due to its poison, most mammals, birds, snakes and other frogs will leave the pickerel frog alone. The skin secretions of a stressed pickerel frog are known to be toxic to other frogs, as many a novice frog catcher has found when he finds only the pickerel frog still alive in his bucket. These secretions can also be moderately irritating if they come in contact with the eyes, mucous membranes, or broken skin.


The western toad (Anaxyrus boreas) is a large toad species, between 5.6 and 13 cm (2.2 and 5.1 in) long, native to western North America. A. boreas is frequently encountered during the wet season on roads, or near water at other times. It can jump a considerable distance for a toad. Breeding occurs between March and July in mountainous areas, and as early as January in lower-elevation regions. The female lays up to 17,000 eggs stuck together in strings that adhere to vegetation and other objects along water edges.


The boreal toad is found in the Rocky Mountains in aspen (Populus spp.) groves and riparian forests. In Colorado, the largest populations are typically found in areas characterized by willows (Salix spp.), bog birch (Betula glandulosa), and shrubby cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa). In the Pacific Northwest, the western toad occurs in mountain meadows and less commonly in Douglas-fir forests (Pseudotsuga menziesii).
In California, optimum habitat for the western toad includes wet or dry mountain meadows or riparian deciduous forest with available open water for breeding. Suitable habitat includes blue oak (Quercus douglasii) savanna, gray pine-oak forest (Pinus sabiniana-Quercus spp.), mixed conifer forest, and alpine meadows. Marginal habitats include annual grasslands, chaparral, ponderosa pine forests, California black oak woodlands, Jeffrey pine forests, and red fir forests.
In the Sierra Nevada, the western toad occurs in mid-elevation pine forests (including Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi) at higher elevations and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) at lower elevations), California black oak woodlands (Quercus kelloggii), giant sequoia groves (Sequoiadendron giganteum), montane fir forest (which includes white fir (Abies concolor), red fir (Abies magnifica], and western white pine (Pinus monticola)), and redwood forest (Sequoia sempervirens). It is also found in riparian areas within sagebrush-pinyon communities (Artemisia spp.-Pinus spp.), oak-pine woodland and savanna (including coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia), interior live oak (Quercus wislizenii), and canyon live oak (Quercus chrysolepis)), and California coastal forest and scrub.
Western toads have been collected from sedge meadows near a pond occurring in a creosotebush (Larrea tridentata) community, and from aspen (Populus spp.)-willow groves within big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata)-grassland.


Western toads are active from January to October, depending on latitude and elevation, and hibernate over the winter. Boreal toads in one Colorado population used natural chambers near a small stream bed. The high water table, constantly flowing stream, and deep winter snow served to maintain the air temperature within the hibernaculum at a point slightly above freezing. Emergence from hibernation followed a few days of warm temperatures that freed the entrance and increased temperatures within the chamber to about 39.2 °F (4.0 °C).
At low elevations western toads are active at night; at high elevations and in the northern parts of their range they are diurnal. Body temperature of western toads is closely correlated with the substrate temperature. Basking and conduction from the substrate are primary means of increasing body temperature and cooling is achieved by evaporative cooling and conduction of heat to a cooler medium. Diurnal and nocturnal activity are often related to seasonal changes in temperature; most western toads are diurnal during the spring and fall but are nocturnal during the warmer summer months.
In central Oregon, the minimum breeding age for male western toads is three years, and probably four or five years for females. California toads are reported as sexually mature at 2 years of age. Male western toads breed every year; females breed at less regular intervals, depending on individual condition and previous years' breeding effort. Sex ratios differ according to habitat type; males are more numerous in wet areas and females are more numerous in dry habitats.
Eggs are laid in open water from February to July, with peak activity occurring in April. Timing of egg-laying activity varies with elevation and weather conditions. In Colorado, initiation of breeding was correlated with the onset of warming weather and initiation of snowpack melting. Eggs are usually laid in late May or early June. In western Montana, a few males were present on the shores (of two gravel pits) by May 11, 1967, and by May 14, each pond contained at least 30 males. Males were spaced at least 1 foot (0.30 m) apart, all facing the shore Eggs are laid in gelatinous strings of 13 to 52 eggs per inch (2.5 cm), in masses of up to 16,500 per clutch. Egg development rate is partially dependent on temperature; hatching times vary.
Metamorphosis is usually completed within three months of egg laying. The time required for metamorphosis is given as 30 to 45 days for the boreal toad and 28 to 45 days for the California toad.
Female western toads at least 10 to 11 years of age have been reported. In Colorado, boreal toads probably attain a maximum age of at least 9 years.


The spotted salamander or yellow-spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) is a mole salamander common in eastern United States and Canada. The spotted salamander is the state amphibian of Ohio and South Carolina. This salamander ranges from Nova Scotia, to Lake Superior, to southern Georgia and Texas. Its embryos have been found to have symbiotic algae living in and around them, the only known example of vertebrate cells hosting an endosymbiont microbe (unless mitochondria are considered).


The spotted salamander usually lives in mature forests with ponds or ephemeral vernal pools for breeding sites. Vernal pools are suitable breeding sites for these amphibians as they dry often enough to exclude fish that eat the salamander eggs and larvae, while retaining water long enough to allow amphibian larvae to complete development and metamorphose into terrestrial adults.
Salamander populations from nearby pools form genetically-distinct Metapopulations. Subpopulations within 4.8 kilometers share a higher proportion of genes, while populations greater than 4.8 kilometers share a smaller proportion of genes. Inter-population dispersal is likely mediated by both species-specific behaviors and natural limitations.


The spotted salamander is about 15–25 cm (5.9–9.8 in) long. They are stout, like most mole salamanders, and have wide snouts. The spotted salamander's main color is black, but can sometimes be a blueish-black, dark gray, dark green, or even dark brown. Two uneven rows of yellowish-orange spots run from the top of the head (near the eyes) to the tip of the tail. The spotted salamander's spots near the top of its head are more orange, while the spots on the rest of its body are more yellow. The underside of the spotted salamander is slate gray and pink. Sexual dimorphism, physical differences between males and females, is displayed in the form of larger-bodied females having brighter-coloured spots.
The scientific name Ambystoma maculatum comes from Ambystoma– amblys (Greek) for blunt; -stoma (Greek) meaning mouth; or anabystoma (New Latin) meaning ‘to cram into the mouth’ maculatum – macula (Latin) for spot; maculosus (Latin) for spotted.


During the majority of the year, spotted salamanders live in the shelter of leaves or burrows in deciduous forests. However, when the temperature rises and the moisture level is high, the salamanders make their abrupt migration towards their annual breeding ponds. In just one night, hundreds to thousands of salamanders may make the trip to their ponds for mating. Males migrate at higher rates than females early in the migration season. This could be due to different responses to temperature between males and females. Mates usually breed in ponds when it is raining in the spring. Females usually lay about 100 eggs in one clutch that cling to the underwater plants and form egg masses.
The egg masses are round, jelly-like clumps that are usually 6.4–10.2 cm (2.5–4 in) long. The spotted salamander produces a unique polymorphism in the outer jelly layers of its egg masses: one morph has a clear appearance and contains a water-soluble protein, whereas the other morph is white and contains a crystalline hydrophobic protein. This polymorphism is thought to confer advantages in vernal pools with varying dissolved nutrient levels, while also reducing mortality from feeding by wood frog larvae.

Adults only stay in the water for a few days, then the eggs hatch in one to two months.When the eggs hatch depends on the water temperatures. Eggs of A. maculatum can have a symbiotic relationship with the green alga Oophila amblystomatis. A dense gelatinous matrix surrounds the eggs and prevents the eggs from drying out, but it inhibits oxygen diffusion (required for embryo development). The Oophila alga provides increased oxygen and supplemental nutrition from fixed carbon products via photosynthesis and removes the embryo’s nitrogenous waste (ammonia) in the egg capsule, aiding in the salamander's embryonic development and growth. The developing salamander thus metabolizes the oxygen, producing carbon dioxide (which then the alga consumes). Photosynthetic algae are present within the egg capsule of the developing salamander embryo, enhancing growth. However, the widely used herbicide, atrazine, has been found to significantly lower hatching success rate by eliminating the symbiotic algae associated with the egg masses.
 As larvae, they are usually light brown or greenish-yellow. They have small dark spots and are born with external gills. In two to four months, the larvae lose their gills, and become juvenile salamanders that leave the water. Spotted salamanders have been known to live up to 32 years, and normally return to the same vernal pool every year. These pools are seasonal and will usually dry up during the late spring and stay dry until winter.
Spotted salamanders are often preyed on by raccoons, skunks, turtles, and snakes. However, one of their top predators is humans since they are popularly sought out through the pet trade.


The African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis, also known as the xenopus, African clawed toad, African claw-toed frog or the platanna) is a species of African aquatic frog of the family Pipidae. Its name is derived from the three short claws on each hind foot, which it uses to tear apart its food. The word Xenopus means 'strange foot' and laevis means 'smooth'.
The species is found throughout much of Sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria and Sudan to South Africa), and in isolated, introduced populations in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. All species of the family Pipidae are tongueless, toothless and completely aquatic. They use their hands to shove food in their mouths and down their throats and a hyobranchial pump to draw or suck things in their mouth. Pipidae have powerful legs for swimming and lunging after food. They also use the claws on their feet to tear pieces of large food. They have no external eardrums, but instead subcutaneous cartilaginous disks that serve the same function. They use their sensitive fingers and sense of smell to find food. Pipidae are scavengers and will eat almost anything living, dying, or dead and any type of organic waste.
It a pest in many countries, i.e. in Europe.


In the wild, X. laevis are native to wetlands, ponds, and lakes across arid/semiarid regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. X. laevis and X. muelleri occur along the western boundary of the Great African Rift. The people of the sub-Saharan are generally very familiar with this frog, and some cultures use it as a source of protein, an aphrodisiac, or as fertility medicine. Two historic outbreaks of priapism have been linked to consumption of frog legs from frogs that ate insects containing cantharidin.
X. laevis in the wild are commonly infected by various parasites, including monogeneans in the urinary bladder.


Xenopus embryos and eggs are a popular model system for a wide variety of biological studies, in part because they have the potential to lay eggs throughout the year. This animal is widely used because of its powerful combination of experimental tractability and close evolutionary relationship with humans, at least compared to many model organisms.  For a more comprehensive discussion of the use of these frogs in biomedical research, see Xenopus.
Xenopus laevis is also notable for its use in the first widely used method of pregnancy testing. In the 1930s, two South African researchers, Hillel Shapiro and Harry Zwarenstein, students of Lancelot Hogben at the University of Cape Town, discovered that the urine from pregnant women would induce oocyte production in X. laevis within 8–12 hours of injection. This was used as a simple and reliable test up through to the 1960s.
In the late 1940s, Carlos Galli Mainini found in separate studies that male specimens of Xenopus and Bufo could be used to indicate pregnancy Today, commercially available hCG is injected into Xenopus males and females to induce mating behavior and to breed these frogs in captivity at any time of the year.
Xenopus has long been an important tool for in vivo studies in molecular, cell, and developmental biology of vertebrate animals.  However, the wide breadth of Xenopus research stems from the additional fact that cell-free extracts made from Xenopus are a premier in vitro system for studies of fundamental aspects of cell and molecular biology.  Thus, Xenopus is the only vertebrate model system that allows for high-throughput in vivo analyses of gene function and high-throughput biochemistry.
Xenopus oocytes are a leading system in their own right for studies of various systems, including ion transport and channel physiology. Xanthos et al 2001 uses oocytes to uncover T-box expression earlier than previously found in vertebrates.
Although X. laevis does not have the short generation time and genetic simplicity generally desired in genetic model organisms, it is an important model organism in developmental biology, cell biology, toxicology and neurobiology. X. laevis takes 1 to 2 years to reach sexual maturity and, like most of its genus, it is tetraploid.   It does have a large and easily manipulated embryo, however. The ease of manipulation in amphibian embryos has given them an important place in historical and modern developmental biology.  A related species, Xenopus tropicalis, is now being promoted as a more viable model for genetics.
Roger Wolcott Sperry used X. laevis for his famous experiments describing the development of the visual system. These experiments led to the formulation of the chemoaffinity hypothesis.
Xenopus oocytes provide an important expression system for molecular biology. By injecting DNA or mRNA into the oocyte or developing embryo, scientists can study the protein products in a controlled system. This allows rapid functional expression of manipulated DNAs (or mRNA). This is particularly useful in electrophysiology, where the ease of recording from the oocyte makes expression of membrane channels attractive. One challenge of oocyte work is eliminating native proteins that might confound results, such as membrane channels native to the oocyte. Translation of proteins can be blocked or splicing of pre-mRNA can be modified by injection of Morpholino antisense oligos into the oocyte (for distribution throughout the embryo) or early embryo (for distribution only into daughter cells of the injected cell).
Extracts from the eggs of X. laevis frogs are also commonly used for biochemical studies of DNA replication and repair, as these extracts fully support DNA replication and other related processes in a cell-free environment which allows easier manipulation.
The first vertebrate ever to be cloned was an African clawed frog in 1962, an experiment for which Sir John Gurdon was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012 "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent".
Additionally, several African clawed frogs were present on the Space Shuttle Endeavour (which was launched into space on September 12, 1992) so that scientists could test whether reproduction and development could occur normally in zero gravity.
Xenopus laevis also serves as an ideal model system for the study of the mechanisms of apoptosis. In fact, iodine and thyroxine stimulate the spectacular apoptosis of the cells of the larval gills, tail and fins in amphibians metamorphosis, and stimulate the evolution of their nervous system transforming the aquatic, vegetarian tadpole into the terrestrial, carnivorous frog.
Stem cells of this frog were used to create xenobots.


The green salamander is small and notably flat. Aneides aeneus‘ green, lichen-like blotches against a darker dorsum make it the only salamander in North America with green markings. A. aeneus possesses squared toe-tips, large, conspicuous eyes, and a light blue to yellow ventral surface. Adults range from 8–12 cm (3 to 5 in) with 14 to 15 costal grooves.
Aeneus was formerly considered the only species of the Aneides genus found in the Eastern United States. However, some claimed that there could be up to four different species of Aneides between the Cumberland Plateau and Blue Ridge Escarpment populations. A 2019 study found several A. aeneus populations to represent distinct taxonomic groups, supporting the presence of a possible species complex. At least one was found to represent a distinct species in its own right, the Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander (A. caryaensis). The subgenus Castaneides was created to contain all eastern species of Aneides, with caryaensis being the most basal member of the complex. Castaneides diverged from the Aneides hardii lineage between 27.2 and 32.3 million years ago.
Members of Castaneides are the only salamanders in North America with green markings. Due also to their hyper-specific habitat, they are almost unmistakable when found in the field.


Efforts aimed towards the conservation of such a secretive organism are proving complicated. While the fact that Aneides aeneus is such a habitat-specific salamander results in more vulnerability to habitat destruction, the cliffs and outcroppings it has chosen are relatively safe from harm. It has been speculated that A. aeneus inhabited the ancient chestnut forest that covered a large percentage of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is not known whether or not A. aeneus utilized these trees more or less than its currently preferred habitat, but it is certainly a possibility. When inhabiting arboreal habitats studies have found that green salamanders prefer hardwood trees to conifers. In Indiana, the green salamander is listed as an endangered species.


The blue-spotted salamander (Ambystoma laterale) is a mole salamander native to the Great Lakes states and northeastern United States, and parts of Ontario and Quebec in Canada. Their range is known to extend to James Bay to the north, and southeastern Manitoba to the west.


Blue-spotted salamanders are primarily found in moist, deciduous hardwood forests and swampy woodlands, though they can be found in coniferous forests and fields too. They prefer vernal pools that retain water into mid-summer, to ensure access to a suitable breeding habitat. Underbrush, leaf litter, rocks and logs are commonly used for shelter. Studies are beginning to show that habitat selection may also be affected by factors such as light pollution and chemical hues.


Blue-spotted salamanders are between 10 and 14 cm (3.9 and 5.5 in) in length, of which the tail comprises 40%. Their skin is bluish-black, with characteristic blue and white flecks on its back, and bluish-white spots on the sides of its body and tail. They have elongated bodies. The vent is typically black, which contrasts with the paler belly. Larvae that have transformed may have yellow splotches; these turn blue once the individual becomes terrestrial. Occasionally, a melanistic individual may be found in the wild.
They have long toes: four on the front feet and five on the hind feet. Typically, specimens will have 12–14 costal grooves. Males tend to be smaller than females, though they have longer, flattened tails.


Female Tremblay's salamanders (Ambystoma tremblayi) breed with male blue-spotted salamanders from March to April. Eggs are laid singly or in small masses of 6 to 10 eggs on debris at pond bottom. The males' chromosome contribution only stimulates the egg's development; its genetic material is ignored.


Priniatikos Pyrgos is an archaeological site near Istron River, in the eastern Cretan regional unit of Lasithi, (Greece). The nearest big town is Agios Nikolaos, Crete. The site is on a coastal promontory. It appears to have been first settled in the Final Neolithic, circa 3000 BC. Nearby, there's a small resort town of Kalo Chorio, Lasithi. It is not to be confused with Myrtos Pyrgos on the south coast.


Edith Hall (Dohan), of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, pioneered archaeological work in eastern Crete. She excavated the Bronze and Early Iron Age refuge settlement of Vrokastro (2 km east of Pirgos), above the river Istron valley. After that, in 1912, she started a brief excavation on the coastal promontory of Priniatikos Pyrgos, where she believed a Minoan harbor town was located. This small scale excavation yielded large quantities of fine Minoan pottery of both the Early and Late Minoan periods (3000-1000 B.C.). She also discovered a large Roman settlement in the area.
Minoan vases that she excavated at the site have been published. They are now in the Mediterranean collection of the University of Pennsylvania Museum.


Activity on the site continued throughout the Minoan Bronze Age and the Classical Greek (polis-town of Istron) and Roman periods to Byzantine and Venetian periods, spanning a total of up to 4,000 years. The site may have been a harbour settlement, an industrial area, a cult area or any combination of such functions, which may have changed throughout its long occupation. Since 2007, Priniatikos Pyrgos has been undergoing excavation by an international team under the auspices of the Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies at Athens.
There's another important archaeological site nearby, Vasiliki, Lasithi, roughly contemporary with Pyrgos. Vasiliki gave its name to a type of early pottery known as Vasiliki ware. Much Vasiliki ware was excavated at Priniatikos Pyrgos.


The excavations on the archaeological site started in the period between the two World Wars. Radoslav Gruić discovered the early Christian basilica in 1925 and the most important discovery was made by Nikola Vulić, a Serbian archeologist, when he found the ancient Macedonian theater. Nikola Vulić was the archeologist that published most about Scupi.
Excavations on the site were done in 1959–61 by Duje Rendić-Miočević that were published in 1981 and by Ivan Mikulčić published in 1971 and 1973.
The Museum of the City of Skopje began new excavation and conservation work on the site from 1966 led by Milutin Garašanin. From 1980 the person responsible for the excavation and conservation work on the site is Dušanka Koraćević.
In July 2008, a well-preserved statue of the Roman goddess Venus was found. The statue measures 1.7 metres (5.6 ft) in height.
The Illyrian tribe Albanoi is attested in an ancient funeral inscription in ScupiIt was excavated in 1931 by Nikola Vulić and its text was curated and published in 1982 by Borka Dragojević-Josifovska. The inscription in Latin reads "POSIS MESTYLU F[ILIUS] FL[AVIA] DELVS MVCATI F[ILIA] DOM[O] ALBANOP[OLI] IPSA DELVS" ("Posis Mestylu, son of Flavia, daughter of Delus Mucati, who comes from Albanopolis"). It dates to the end of the 1st century CE and the beginning of the 2nd century CE. Dragojević-Josifovska added two lines to the existing reading: VIVA P(OSUIT) SIBI/ ET VIRO SUO. Delus Mucati is an Illyrian name and his home region was Albanopolis (domo Albanopoli). Dragojević-Josifovska proposed that like others he had settled in Macedonia from southern Illyria.


The Cagsawa Ruins (also spelled as Kagsawa, historically spelled as Cagsaua) are the remnants of a 16th-century Franciscan church, the Cagsawa church. It was originally built in the town of Cagsawa in 1587 but was burned down and destroyed by Dutch pirates in 1636. It was rebuilt in 1724 by Fr. Francisco Blanco, but was destroyed again, along with the town of Cagsawa, on February 1, 1814, during the eruption of the Mayon Volcano.
The ruins are currently located in Barangay Busay, Cagsawa, in the municipality of Daraga, Albay, Philippines.
It is part of Cagsawa Park, is protected and maintained by the municipal government of Daraga and the National Museum of the Philippines, and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the area. The Internationale Tourismus-Börse Berlin, one of the world's top travel trade shows based in Berlin, has even recognized the site as one of the places to visit in Asia. A preliminary excavation of the Cagsawa ruins by the Bulacan State University, show that the Spanish incorporated Mesoamerican influences in constructing the complex.


(Basamento de los Volcanes in Spanish, designated as Building E4)
This structure lies in the middle of the central plaza and is oriented north–south. The building measures 50 meters along its north–south axis and is 35 meters wide. Construction began in the Middle Preclassic, the building was then reused during the Classic Period, thus producing two phases of architecture. More than two hundred figurines representing the female form were recovered from this structure during the 1960s by German archaeologist Bodo Spranz. Of particular interest was a figurine representing a flayed female and identified as the goddess Tlazolteotl.
The earliest phase of construction, including the east and west stairways, is built from tepetate overlaid with mud. The second phase reused the earlier stone walls, which were then covered with stucco. As at Teotihuacan, this building deviates 16 degrees from magnetic north, this is particularly evident with the earlier construction phase.  A looted offering consistent with the interment of the remains of human infants was found in the upper part of this platform.
Xochitecatl is in the care of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (National Institute of Anthropology and History) and is open to the public.


Xochitecatl is located in a dominant position upon the summit of a 4 km-wide extinct volcano that forms a range of hills that rises approximately 200 meters above the floor of the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley; the so-called Atlachino-Nativitas-Xochitecatl block, which is located in the centre of the valley. Xochitecatl has clear views across the surrounding valleys to the neighbouring volcanoes of Popocatepetl, Iztaccihuatl and La Malinche. The rivers Atoyac and Zahuapan flow close to the site. The site is the focal point of an area distinguished by its high agricultural productivity, sometimes named "the Mesoamerican Mesopotamia", because of its fertile lands between the rivers Atoyac and Zayapan.
Xochitecatl lies 1 km west of, and within sight of, the contemporary Classic Period site of Cacaxtla, distinguished by its famous painted murals in Maya style. Xochitecatl is located 500m north of the modern town of Xochitecatitla and the same distance to the southeast of Atoyatenco.


Haḍḍa (Pashto: هډه) is a Greco-Buddhist archeological site located ten kilometers south of the city of Jalalabad, in the Nangarhar Province of eastern Afghanistan.
Hadda is said to have been almost entirely destroyed in the fighting during the civil war in Afghanistan.


The Tapa-i Kafariha Monastery is generally dated to the 3rd-4th century CE. It was excavated in 1926–27 by an expedition led by Jules Barthoux as part of the French Archaeological Delegation to Afghanistan.


The Chakhil-i-Ghoundi monastery is dated to the 4th-5th century CE. It is built around the Chakhil-i-Ghoundi Stupa, a small limestone stupa. Most of the remains of the stupa were gathered in 1928 by the archeological mission of Frenchman Jules Barthoux of the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan, and have been preserved and reconstituted through a collaboration with the Tokyo National Museum. They are today on display at the Musée Guimet in Paris. It is usually dated to the 2nd-3rd century CE.
The decoration of the stupa provides an interesting case of Greco-Buddhist art, combining Hellenistic and Indian artistic elements. The reconstitution consists of several parts, the decorated stupa base, the canopy, and various decorative elements.


Lanyon Quoit is a dolmen in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, 2 miles southeast of Morvah. It collapsed in a storm in 1815 and was re-erected nine years later, and as a result the dolmen is now very different from its original appearance.


The Grapevine Canyon Petroglyphs are located in Grapevine Canyon on Spirit Mountain near Laughlin, Nevada, and are listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places. The area is also known as Christmas Tree Pass. While the petroglyphs extend through the canyon, a significant concentration lies at the entrance to the canyon which is at an elevation of 2,395 feet (730 m). The area features over 700 petroglyphs and many rock shelters.


The glyphs were created between 1100 and 1900 AD.  Both the meaning of the glyphs and their creators remains unclear although the area was inhabited by the Mojave.
The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 15, 1984.  Mapping of the estimated 250 panels of glyphs was conducted in 2009.
In March 2010, David R. Smith, accompanied by two other individuals, defaced 30 areas of petroglyphs by shooting them with an automatic paintball gun. He was sentenced to serve time in federal prison and pay almost $10,000 in restitution.


Amrit (Arabic: عمريت), the classical Marathus (Greek: Μάραθος, Marathos), was a Phoenician port located near present-day Tartus in Syria. Founded in the third millennium BC, Marat (Phoenician: 𐤌𐤓𐤕, MRT) was the northernmost important city of ancient Phoenicia and a rival of nearby Arwad. During the 2nd century BC, Amrit was defeated and its site largely abandoned, leaving its ruins well preserved and without extensive remodeling by later generations.


Excavations of the site principally began in 1860 by Ernest Renan. Excavations were again carried out in 1954 by French archaeologist Maurice Dunand. Ceramic ware finds at Amrit indicated the site had been inhabited as early as the third millennium BC. Middle and Late Bronze Age "silo tombs" were also excavated, with contents ranging from weapons to original human remains. Excavations at the necropolis south of the town yielded several tomb structures. The funeral art found in some tombs with pyramidal-or cube-shaped towers, is considered some of "the most notable grave-monuments of the Phoenician world." Excavations also uncovered the town's ancient harbor, and a U-shaped stadium that dates back to the 4th and 3rd centuries BC and measures around 230 m (750 ft) in length.


The city lies on the Mediterranean coast around 6 km (3.7 mi) south of modern-day Tartus. Two rivers cross the city: Nahr Amrit, near the main temple, and Nahr al-Kuble near the secondary temple, a fact that might be linked to the importance of water in the religious traditions in Amrit. The city was probably founded by the Arvadites, and served as their continental base. It grew to be one of the wealthiest towns in the dominion of Arwad. The city surrendered, along with Arwad, to Alexander the Great in 333 BC. During Seleucid times the town, known as Marathus, was probably larger and more prosperous than Arwad. In 219 BC Amrit gained independence from Arwad, and was later sacked by forces from the latter city in 148 BC.


One of the most important excavations at Amrit was the Phoenician temple, commonly referred to the "ma'abed," dedicated to the god Melqart of Tyre and Eshmun. The colonnaded temple, excavated between 1955 and 1957, consists of a large court cut out of rock measuring 47 × 49 m (154 × 161 ft) and over 3 m (9.8 ft) deep, surrounded by a covered portico. In the center of the court a well-preserved cube-shaped cella stands. The open-air courtyard was filled with the waters of a local, traditionally sacred spring, a unique feature of this site. The temple—which was dated to the late 4th century BC, a period following the Persian expansion into Syria—shows major Achaemenid influence in its layout and decoration. According to Dutch archaeologist, Peter Akkermans, the temple is the "best-preserved monumental structure from the Phoenician homeland."
A second temple, described by visitors to the site in 1743 and 1860 and thought to have disappeared, was later discovered by the Syrian archaeological mission near the Nahr al-Kuble spring.


Toro Muerto (English: Dead Bull) is a collection of ancient petroglyphs in the Peruvian coastal desert, found in the Castilla province in the region Arequipa in Peru. The site contains some 3000 volcanic rocks with petroglyphs dating back to the Wari culture, active from 500 to 1000 CE. The Wari (Spanish: Huari) were a Middle Horizon civilization that flourished in the south-central Andes and coastal area of modern-day Peru.


Moss Farm Road Stone Circle (or Machrie Moor 10) is the remains of a Bronze Age burial cairn, surrounded by a circle of stones. It is located near Machrie on the Isle of Arran in Scotland (grid reference NR90063265).


Dún Aonghasa (Unofficial anglicised version Dun Aengus) is the best-known of several prehistoric hill forts on the Aran Islands of County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It lies on Inis Mór, at the edge of a 100-metre-high (330 ft) cliff.
A popular tourist attraction, Dún Aonghasa is an important archaeological site.


It is not known exactly when Dún Aonghasa was built, though it is now thought that most of the structures date from the Bronze Age and Iron Age. T. F. O'Rahilly surmised in what is known as O'Rahilly's historical model that it was built in the 2nd century BC by the Builg following the Laginian conquest of Connacht. Excavations at the site indicate that the first construction goes back to 1100 BC, when rubble was piled against large upright stones to form the first enclosure. Around 500 BC, the triple wall defenses were probably constructed along the fort's western side.
The 19th-century artist George Petrie called "Dún Aonghasa" "the most magnificent barbaric monument in Europe". Its name, meaning "Fort of Aonghas", may refer to the pre-Christian god of the same name described in Irish mythology, or the mythical king, Aonghus mac Úmhór. It has thus traditionally been associated with the Fir Bolg.


The fort consists of a series of four concentric walls of dry stone construction, built on a high cliff some one hundred metres above the sea. At the time of its construction sea levels were considerably lower and a recent Radio Telefis Eireann documentary estimates that originally it was 1000 metres from the sea. Surviving stonework is four metres wide at some points.  The original shape was presumably oval or D-shaped but parts of the cliff and fort have since collapsed into the sea. Outside the third ring of walls lies a defensive system of stone slabs, known as a cheval de frise, planted in an upright position in the ground and still largely well-preserved. These ruins also feature a huge rectangular stone slab, the function of which is unknown.  Impressively large among prehistoric ruins, the outermost wall of Dún Aonghasa encloses an area of approximately 6 hectares (14 acres).


Skardu Fort or Kharpocho (Balti: کھر فچو; Urdu: قلعہ سکردو) means The king of Forts is a fort in Skardu city in Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan. Australian mountaineer and film maker Greg Child writes that the fort is "perched above the junction of the rivers" and overlooks the Rock of Skardu.


Dainzú is a Zapotec archaeological site located in the eastern side of the Valles Centrales de Oaxaca, about 20 km  south-east of the city of Oaxaca, Oaxaca State, Mexico. It is an ancient village near to and contemporary with Monte Albán and Mitla, with an earlier development. Dainzú was first occupied 700-600 BC but the main phase of occupation dates from about 200 BC to 350 AD. The site was excavated in 1965 by Mexican archaeologist Ignacio Bernal.


The Bhir Mound archaeological remains represent one stage of the historic city of Taxila. The first town in Taxila was situated in the Hathial mound in the southwest corner of the Sirkap site. It lasted from the late second millennium BC until the Achaemenid period, with the Achaemenid period remains located in its Mound B. The Bhir Mound site represents the second city of Taxila, beginning in the pre-Achaemenid period and lasting till the early Hellenistic period. The earliest occupation on the Bhir mound began around 800-525 BC, and what now appears to be the second phase might date to the late 6th and 5th centuries BC, as originally suggested by Marshall.


The Bhir Mound (Urdu: بھڑ ماونڈ) is an archaeological site in Taxila in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It contains some of the oldest ruins of Ancient Taxila, dated to sometime around the period 800-525 BC as its earliest layers bear "grooved" Red Burnished Ware,  the Bhir Mound, along with several other nearby excavations, form part of the Ruins of Taxila – inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.


Halabiye (Arabic: حلبيّة, Latin/Greek: Zenobia, Birtha) is an archaeological site on the right bank of the Euphrates River in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria. It was an ancient city and former bishopric known as Zenobia and a Latin Catholic titular see.
Halabiye was fortified in the 3rd century CE by Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, after whom the site was named in Antiquity. After her revolt against the Roman Empire in 273, Halabiye was captured by the Romans and subsequently refortified as part of the Limes Arabicus, a defensive frontier of Roman Syria to protect the region mainly from Persia. The site occupies an area of 12 hectares (30 acres), protected by massive city walls and a citadel on top of a hill. Remains of two churches, a public bath complex and two streets have been excavated. These all date to the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, who refortified the city in the 6th century AD.


The Guayadeque ravine, in Spanish Barranco de Guayadeque, is a ravine-type valley located on the Spanish municipalities of Ingenio and Agüimes, in the province of Las Palmas on Grand Canary island, off the coast of Morocco.
One of the largest ravines on the archipelago, it is notable for its archaeological remains and for its valuable endemic species of flora and fauna – the latter including one of the largest lizard species. It is also notable for the large quantity of cave houses, including a hermitage and various restaurants dug into the rock.


The Drususstein (Drusus stone) is a nearly 20 metres high masonry block of Roman origin on the grounds of the citadel of Mainz, Germany. It was originally cased in marble. Researchers now largely accept that this is the structural remnant of the cenotaph mentioned by writers like Eutropius and Suetonius, erected in 9 BC by Roman troops in honour of the deceased general Drusus, in Mogontiacum (now Mainz) as part of the Roman funerary art.
During the early days of the Principate the Drususstein was the starting point for elaborate memorial services in honour of Drusus, and the centre of the imperial cult in Mogontiacum. A procession road linked it to the public theater of Mogontiacum, which contained approximately 12,000 seats, making it the largest known theater north of the Alps. It may have hosted a part of the annual ceremonies at the day of Drusus' death, and probably also at his birthday.
After being robbed of its marble casing in the early Middle Ages, the Drususstein served as a watchtower in the fortifications of the city in the 16th century. For that purpose a staircase and doorframe were made in the structure, which had been up to that point a solid building. Besides the pillars of aqueducts and the stage of the theatre, the Drususstein is one of the few remaining visible reminders of Roman Mogontiacum. Together with the Igel Column, it is the only funerary monument north of the Alps dating from antiquity that remains in its original location.


The Roman general Nero Claudius Drusus, stepson of Augustus, founded the legionary camp of Mogontiacum opposite the mouth of the River Main, no later than 13/12 BC. It was intended to serve as a strategic starting point for the conquest of Magna Germania. During the campaign in 9 BC Drusus died. His brother Tiberius and the Roman army returned his body back to Mogontiacum. Before the transfer of the body to Rome, the soldiers honoured their popular commander with a memorial ceremony. During this time the apparently spontaneous wish arose among the soldiers to erect a monument to permanently honour Drusus in Mogontiacum. Appropriate construction activities were probably already ongoing in the immediate vicinity of the legionary camp, as Augustus approved the project retroactively. As a special tribute to Drusus, Augustus himself wrote a grave inscription (Elogium) which was attached to the cenotaph. With this the building was completed, of which the remains are now known as the Drususstein, the Drusus stone.


Muyuq Marka, also Muyuqmarka (Quechua, hispanicized spellings  Moyoc Marca, Muyucmarca, Muyuqmarca, Muyucmarka, Muyuc Marca, Muyuc Marka), is an archaeological site in Peru. It is the base of what was a round Incan tower, which is situated within the fortress Saksaywaman above Cuzco. It was used as a Temple of Inti (god Sun), but became part of a complex of rectangular buildings which mostly still remain today.
However, the temple and the two flanking towers were dismantled during the Spanish rule. What remains of Muyuq Marka indicates that it was "a round building with an open central court which had a fountain." The temple had triple walls, which were aligned with the zenith sunrise and the antizenith sunset.
It was one of the three towers that were in the upper part of the Inca temple of Sacsayhuamán. This tower is famous because in 1536, in the Battle of Sacsayhuaman the Inca army soldier named Cahuide jumped from the top of the tower so as not to fall into the hands of the Spaniards. According to "Inca" Garcilaso de la Vega this tower was a store of pure water.
The Muyuqmarka consists of three concentric, circular stone walls connected by a series of radial walls. There are three channels constructed to bring water into what many scientists consider to be a reservoir. A web-like pattern of 34 lines intersects at the center and there is also a pattern of concentric circles that corresponded to the location of the circular walls.
Originally, the Myuqmarka was a building with 4 superposed floors. The first body would have had a square floor; the second would have been cylindrical; the third would have had also a cylindrical shape. The successive would have formed circular cultivation terraces with decreasing width, being the widest of 3.6 m and the narrowest of 3 m. The tower would have ended up in a conic ceiling. Muyu Marca must have reached a total height of 20 meters. It was an amazing work that generated the admiration of several chroniclers. The Spaniards destroyed it, in spite of the protests both from Cieza and Inca Garcilaso.  (3)


Dowth (Irish: Dubhadh) is a Neolithic passage tomb located in the Boyne Valley, County Meath, Ireland. It is one of the three principal tombs of the Brú na Bóinne  World Heritage Site – a landscape of prehistoric monuments including the large passage-tombs of Dowth, Newgrange and Knowth. Unlike Newgrange and Knowth, Dowth has not been independently dated, but its features align it with the other passage tombs which date from between approximately 3200 and 2900 BC. However, Harbison (1970) dates the tomb at  2500 – 2000 BC.  It is less developed as a tourist attraction than its neighbours, partly because the chamber is much lower, and partly because the decoration is less visible. It was partly excavated, in 1847 by the Royal Irish Academy who dynamited the roof causing the still visible crater, though it was pillaged by Vikings and earlier looters long before that.
Archaeological and geophysical field surveys of the entire site, including later monuments, were carried out episodically from 2012-2015. In July 2018, another passage tomb in the grounds of nearby Dowth Hall was excavated, revealing significant examples of Neolithic rock art similar to those at Dowth and the other Brú na Bóinne sites.


During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the village saw fierce fighting, due to its key location near the Jerusalem highway. In late 1947 and early 1948, irregular forces of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood stationed in Suba took part in the fighting against Jewish forces, including attacks on Jewish traffic on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Road. The village was attacked several times by the Haganah, and finally conquered by the Palmach during the night of July 12–13 as part of Operation Danny.  Most of the inhabitants had fled during the fighting, and those who remained were expelled. In October 1948, the "Ameilim" group of Palmach veterans established a kibbutz called Misgav Palmach on village lands 1 km to the south. Later it was renamed Tzova.
Today Tel Tzova is a national park surrounded by the lands of the kibbutz. The ruins of the village are visible along with remains of Belmont Castle.
By 2011, the history of the village of Suba has been the subject of two books; one by Ibrahim ‘Awadallah published in Amman, Jordan in 1996, and another by Muhammad Sa’id Muslih Rumman in the West Bank, published in 2000.


It has been suggested that Suba was Subahiet, one of 21 villages given by King Godfrey as a fief to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In 1114, the gift was re-confirmed by Baldwin I of Jerusalem.
A "Brother William of Belmont" was mentioned in Crusader sources in the years 1157 and 1162, he might have been castellan at Belmont.
Sometime before 1169, the Crusaders built a castle there called Belmont, run by the Hospitallers. In 1170 an unnamed castellan was mentioned. Today, parts of the northern and western Crusader wall remain, as well as ruins of a tower and other structures. These include large underground cisterns, some pre-dating the Crusader period.
Belmont Castle was taken by Saladin in 1187. According to the chronicles it was destroyed by him in 1191 but no trace of the destruction was located during the archaeological investigation.
Settlement at the site continued, and it was mentioned as "Suba", a village of Jerusalem, about 1225 by Yakut.
Belmont castle was excavated by archaeologists in 1986–9.


Several groups of Paleo-Indians (13000 B.C. to 7000 B.C.) occupied the land in Ohio prior to the Adena and Hopewell cultures. Evidence shows that numerous civilizations of Paleo-Indians occupied the land in Ohio, thriving through hunter-gatherer techniques, and ranged throughout the land. The Paleo-Indians hunted large game such as mastodon. Archaeologists have found remains of more 150 mastodons in Ohio alone, as well as the remains from other large game. The most complete mastodon skeleton was excavated at the Burning Tree Mastodon site.
Clovis point spear heads have been found that indicate interaction with other groups of Paleo-Indians that also hunted large game.
The Paleo Crossing site and Nobles Pond site tools, like spear-throwers, were more sophisticated. Base camps were established for winter lodging. The Glacial Kame culture, a late Archaic group, traded for sea shell and copper with other groups and were used as a sign of prestige within the group, for respected healers and hunters. The objects were buried with their owners.
Following the ancient Paleo-Indians, the Woodland Period (800 B.C. to A.D. 1200) of the Post-Archaic Period is known for its rich ritual and artistic life and well-developed villages. The Woodland Period is well known for the emergence of earthworks and mounds, which were commonly used for burials as well. Along with hunted and gathered for their food and game, many civilizations cultivated crops such as maize, squash and beans. The Adena and Hopewell cultures flourished during the Early and Middle Woodland periods, while the population of the Woodland people expanded dramatically. Several groups of the Woodland people lived in larger villages, surrounded by defensive walls or ditches that were built for protection. Ritual and artistic endeavors waned during the Late Woodland period, as well as trading amongst other groups. Many of the earthworks and effigy mounds were built early on in this period, while these cultures lack construction of new mounds after their inception.
During the late prehistoric period (900 A.D. to 1650 A.D.) the villages of civilizations such as the Adena people and the Fort Ancient people were much larger. These villages were often built on a higher ground near a river, commonly surrounded by a wooden stockade. After a long hiatus, civilizations returned to building earthworks and effigy mounds, but not as frequently as during the Woodland period.


The Adena culture consists of the pre-contact American Indian culture that lived throughout the midwest in states such as Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and most predominantly Ohio. The majority of these civilizations inhabited the Scioto River and Hocking Valleys in southern Ohio, as well as the Kanawha Valley near Charleston, West Virginia. This period is often referred to as The Early Woodland Period, ranging between 800 B.C. and 1 A.D. The name “Adena” refers to the culture that once inhabited this land rather than a singular group or tribe. The name originates from the estate of Ohio Governor Thomas Worthington, which can be found about one and a half miles northwest of Chillicothe, Ohio. The estate itself belongs to a small town in Ohio called Ross County, which Worthington referred to as “Adena”, a Hebrew name that “was given to places for the delightfulness of their situations”. Worthington's estate was previously home to an ancient burial mound, standing 26 feet tall, hence the name "The Adena Mound".
Archaeologists attribute the creation of these civilizations to the Adena culture as a whole, though are unsure of the specific tribes that inhabited the land. The title is used out of archaeological convenience, that encompasses similarities in artifact style, architecture, and other cultural practices, allowing archaeologists to distinguish the Adena culture from other cultures in the region at different time periods. The Adena Mound site became the "type site" of the culture itself due to its exemplification of all the culture's significant features. In light of this, the site's title was later applied to the entire culture.
As were many of the tribes of the Woodland period, the Adena people were hunter-gatherers. As well as hunting large game and reaping the lands crop, the Adena people survived through domesticating various crops such as squash, sunflower, sumpweed, goosefoot, knotweed, maygrass, and tobacco. They often lived in small villages with surrounding gardens but moved frequently to follow various animal herds while planting and feeding on various types of nuts along the way. In addition to undertaking small-scale horticultural production, the Adena people are also known for their production of clay pottery, having been one of the first to cultures to bring it to Ohio. Observed through remains found at the type site, achaeologists characterize the Adena's clay pottery through its large, thick-walled vessels, resembling a modern-day bowl. Archaeologists believe that this clay pottery was used to cook ground seeds into an oatmeal-like substance.
The Adena were known for their burial practices, having buried their dead in prominent mounds throughout the midwest. Many archaeologists believe that these structures served as territorial markers for the Adena people. The mounds themselves were often accompanied by small circular earthen enclosures that many archaeologists believe were once used for rituals. The Miamisburg Mound in Montgomery County, Ohio, is home to the largest Adena burial mound in the state. Mounds such as this hosted multiple burials, characterized by the rituals performed and the funerary objects worn such as bracelets, ear spools, gorgets and other ornaments. Larger ornaments such as bones and stone tools were often worn around the neck. The deceased individual was either cremated or placed on their back in timber-lined tombs.
By around the time of A.D. 1, the Adena culture began to decline and their civilizations began to evolve into what is known as The Hopewell culture. Numerous Adena groups began to build larger earthworks and effigy mounds, expanding their efforts to acquire exotic raw materials such as copper and mica. Many people of The Hopewell culture continued to follow the old ways of the Adena people. In some regions, including Southwestern Ohio, the Adena way of life persisted well into the first century A.D. through the efforts of these people.


Ballowall Barrow (Cornish: Krug Karrekloos) is a prehistoric funerary cairn (chambered tomb) which Ashbee (1982) and Hencken (1902–81)  state contains several phases of use from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. It is situated on the cliff top at Ballowall Common, near St Just in Cornwall, England, UK. It is also known as Carn Gluze Barrow.
It was first excavated in 1878 by William Copeland Borlase, when it was discovered under mining debris. A report by Sharpe (1999) states that there are several discrepancies in the accounts of the excavation work, some of the finds were lost and interpretation of the site is difficult. Reconstruction work which was done after the excavation to make the inside more accessible has further complicated the site. The site today is a confused mix of original and reconstructions introduced by Borlase. The finds from excavations are in stored in museums at Truro, Cambridge and the British Museum
The barrow is 72 feet (22 m) in diameter. The Cornwall and Scilly Historic Environment Record describes it as a central domed structure, containing cists and with a pit beneath, surrounded by an outer cairn also containing cists. An entrance grave is located in the external side of the outer cairn.
The construction of the site is unique in consisting of a combination of Neolithic and Bronze Age funerary rituals. A similar site was recorded by Borlase but its location has been lost.
The site is a protected Scheduled monument (ref. number 15410). It was included in the Schedule on 10/8/1923 and the scheduling was updated on 22/2/1996. The site is in the guardianship of English Heritage, and is managed by the National Trust.


Tomen y Mur is a First Century AD Roman fort in Snowdonia, Gwynedd, Wales. The fortification, which lies on the slope of an isolated spur northeast of Llyn Trawsfynydd, was constructed during the North Wales campaigns of governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola in AD 78.  The fort stood adjacent to the Roman road known as Sarn Helen. It was occupied until it was abandoned around AD 140. In the 11th century, the Normans reused part of the site for a motte.
Tomen y Mur, which is managed by Snowdonia National Park Authority, is a scheduled monument.


The fort's remains are extensive with many ancillary features being traceable as earthworks outside the fort: a parade ground, bath house, mansio (Inn), roads, burial mounds, a possible temple and a small military amphitheatre (Ludus) – a rare feature in Britain. It has been speculated that the arena was built to compensate the legionaries for such a bleak posting, but it is also possible that the fort's very isolation allowed its preservation; many auxiliary forts having had their own arenas erased by ploughing, etc.


Castledermot Round Tower is a 10th-century round tower in Castledermot, County Kildare, Ireland. The tower, and the high crosses nearby, are a National Monument.


The Jewry Wall is a substantial ruined wall of 2nd-century Roman masonry, with two large archways, in Leicester, England. It stands alongside St Nicholas' Circle and St Nicholas' Church. It formed the west wall of a public building in Ratae Corieltauvorum (Roman Leicester), alongside public baths, the foundations of which were excavated in the 1930s and are also open to view. The wall gives its name to the adjacent Jewry Wall Museum.


The Jewry Wall Museum faces the Jewry Wall ruins, and houses artefacts from Iron Age, Roman, and medieval Leicester. The building is Grade II listed and below Vaughan College, home to Leicester University's Institute for Lifelong-Learning. The museum is run by Leicester City Council and is free to enter.
In 2004, as part of a scheme of cost-cutting by Leicester City Council, it was proposed that the Jewry Wall Museum's hours be reduced. An interest group was created in response, and the 'Friends of Jewry Wall Museum' have been actively promoting the museum since. Nevertheless, Leicester City Council reduced the museum's hours to save money, and it is closed for several months over the winter. Councillor John Mugglestone rationalised the decision at the time, saying: "At Jewry Wall, we have more curators than visitors".
The museum was threatened again in 2011, when Leicester City Council announced plans to close the museum (along with two others in the city) to save money. This decision was overturned following a motion by the City Council's backbench Labour councillors, led by former Labour Council leader Ross Willmott.


Ñusta Hispana Ñusta Ispanan (also written Ñusta Ispana), previously known as Chuquipalta (possibly from Quechua chuqi precious metal, p'allta plane) is an archaeological site in Peru. It is located at Vilcabamba, La Convención Province, Cusco Region.
A carved rock on the site is known as Yurac Rumi (White Rock).
Hiram Bingham III discovered the site on 9 Aug. 1911.  Bingham noted that the Augustinian monks Friar Marcos and Friar Diego, led their converted natives in burning down the Temple of the Sun, and scorching the rock itself, when Titu Cusi was absent.


Navajo National Monument is a National Monument located within the northwest portion of the Navajo Nation territory in northern Arizona, which was established to preserve three well-preserved cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloan people: Keet Seel (Broken Pottery) (Kitsʼiil), Betatakin (Ledge House) (Bitátʼahkin), and Inscription House (Tsʼah Biiʼ Kin). The monument is high on the Shonto plateau, overlooking the Tsegi Canyon system, west of Kayenta, Arizona. It features a visitor center with a museum, three short self-guided trails, two small campgrounds, and a picnic area.
The Sandal Trail is an accessible self-guided 1.3 mi (2.1 km) roundtrip trail that  ends at an overlook of the Betatakin ruins across the 560-foot-deep (170 m) Betatakin Canyon. The overlook is the only point in the monument where visitors can view the cliff dwelling other than on the guided tours.  Rangers guide visitors on free (3-5 hour long) tours of the Betatakin cliff dwellings and on 17 mi (27 km) roundtrip back-country hikes to the Keet Seel. The Inscription House site, further west, has been closed to public access for many years.
The National Monument was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.


Betatakin means "House Built on a Ledge" in Navajo. In Hopi, the name of the place is Talastima, or "Place of the Corn Tassel". Betatakin is smaller than nearby Keet Seel, with about 120 rooms at the time of abandonment. However, like Keet Seel, Betatakin was constructed of sandstone, mud mortar, and wood. Today only about 80 rooms remain, due to rock falls inside the alcove. Betatakin only has one kiva, whereas Kiet Siel has several. Betatakin was built in an enormous alcove, measuring 452 feet high and 370 feet across, between 1267 and 1286
The first excavations occurred in 1909 under Byron Cummings, University of Utah, and continued into the 1950s and 1960s under archaeologists like Jeffery Dean. During its two-decade heyday Dean estimated a maximum population of about 125 people.


The site of Keet Seel was known to resident Navajos in the area for decades or longer prior to the first Anglos arriving in 1895 (the Wetherill brothers). Originally part of a ranching family from Colorado, the Wetherills' keen interest in the Ancestral Puebloans led them to pursue numerous expeditions into the heart of the Kayenta region, largely uncovering a number of sites that had remained undiscovered to Anglos until then. The Wetherills took many artifacts from the ruins which the Navajos had left untouched for centuries. Richard Wetherill is credited for selecting the term Anasazi, which refers to the ancient people (ancestral puebloans) that inhabited this region and means "Ancient Enemy Ancestors" in Navajo. It was not until 1909, after Navajo National Monument was created, that John Wetherill, Byron Cummings, and Navajo guide Clatsozen Benully first recorded Betatakin.
The Wetherill Brothers made a living from giving guided tours of sites in and around the Tsegi Canyon and Utah. Later in their careers, the Wetherill brothers were largely involved in efforts for the preservation and protection of the sites that made up Navajo National Monument. The artifacts which the Wetherills had removed from the Ancestral Pueblo sites were sold or shipped to far-flung locations so that today little is known of the artifacts' whereabouts.


WikiWeb_Reducción de Santa María la Mayor, Argentina_0

Reducción de Santa María la Mayor (Reduction of Holy Maria Major), located in the Santa María Department of the Misiones Province, Argentina, at approximate coordinates 27°33′S 55°20′W, was one of the missions or reductions founded in the 17th century by the Jesuits in the Americas during the Spanish colonial period. In 1984 it was one of four reduction sites in Argentina designated as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.


WikiWeb_Kincaid Mounds State Historic Site_0

The Kincaid Mounds Historic Site (11MX2-11; 11PO2-10) c. 1050–1400 CE, is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located at the southern tip of present-day U.S. state of Illinois, along the Ohio River. Kincaid Mounds has been notable for both its significant role in native North American prehistory and for the central role the site has played in the development of modern archaeological techniques. The site had at least 11 substructure platform mounds (it ranks fifth among known sites of this period for the number of such structures), and 8 other monuments.
Artifacts from the settlement link its major habitation and the construction of the mounds to the Mississippian culture period. It is 140 miles from Cahokia, the major center of Mississippian culture in North America. The Kincaid site was also occupied earlier by indigenous peoples of the Late Woodland period. The site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964 for its significance as a major Native American mound center and prehistoric trading center along the Ohio River.


WikiWeb_Kincaid Mounds State Historic Site_2

The Chicago excavators in the 1930s documented a prehistory in the Kincaid area stretching back thousands of years, into what is now known as the Archaic Period (8000 to 2000 BCE). The Chicago crew recognized this period as the Faulkner Component, which was described as a pre-pottery culture.  Except for the lack of pottery, archeologically the evidence showed that it was otherwise very like the subsequent cultures of the Early Woodland, such as the Adena culture (1000 to 200 BCE).
Teams documented more intensive occupation in the ensuing Early Woodland and Middle Woodland periods. It was similar to the contemporaneous Adena and Hopewell cultures that began during this time period throughout eastern North America. This involved a more sedentary lifestyle and a semi-agricultural culture characterized by the use of limestone-tempered ceramics and the presence of semi-permanent housing. The extensive occupation is chronologically classified as the Baumer phase (a local variation of the Crab Orchard culture). The Baumer-phase occupants of Kincaid used no Havana Hopewell culture motifs when decorating their pottery, as did other Crab Orchard peoples,  but used cord and fabric marking. They also preferred more limestone and grog tempering in their clay paste. Excavations prior to construction of an informational kiosk and viewing platform in 2003 revealed six Baumer-phase pit features dating to 250 BCE to 1 CE. One of the pits contained the intentionally buried remains of a small domestic dog, a rare find for the area.
Occupation continued into the Late Woodland period. This period is known as the Lewis culture.
But, the most notable occupation at Kincaid was during the period of the Mississippian culture, which developed from the local Lewis community about 1050 CE. Kincaid was a near neighbor of Cahokia, only 140 miles (230 km) away, and is thought to have been influenced by its development as the major site in North America of Mississippian culture. The people at Kincaid built at least 19 earthwork mounds during this period, mostly the characteristic Mississippian platform mounds. Since 2003 teams from Southern Illinois University have been conducting more intensive research at the site.
A large central plaza, constructed by filling and leveling, was created at the center of the community; it is surrounded by the major mounds, one of which is almost 500 feet (150 m) long. Although none of Kincaid's earthworks rivals the size of Monks Mound at Cahokia, the largest is very big by Mississippian standards and ranks 12th in size among all known Mississippian mounds. The overall site ranks 5th in size among the Mississippian sites, in terms of the number of mounds constructed at the site. The remaining platform mounds' heights range from 8 feet (2.4 m) to 30 feet (9.1 m).
Remains of large buildings atop the main mounds seemed to indicate temples or council houses. Carved figurines in coal and fluorite seemed to characterize the local iconography, with images showing connections to the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC). Trade for chert resources appeared to extend into Missouri, Tennessee, and other parts of Illinois. Several examples of Mill Creek chert, which came from quarries very near by, were found at the site. Mississippian culture pottery painted with a negative resist are also characteristic of the site.
In the 1930s, the Chicago team excavated a major burial mound, Pope Mound 2, yielding further evidence for hierarchical social structures and Kincaid's status as a chiefdom. The mound contained a number of stone box graves and log-lined tombs, similar to those frequently found to the south in the Middle Cumberland Valley of Tennessee.
Mississippian culture occupation at the site appears to have ended by 1400–1450 CE. No documented occupation of the site by historic Native American tribes exists. The site was evidently abandoned, perhaps because of exhaustion of timber and game resources. It remained uninhabited for three centuries, until the arrival of American settlers. Most of these settlers arrived more than 400 years after the site was abandoned.


The Subashi Temple is a ruined Buddhist temple near Kucha in the Taklamakan Desert, on the ancient Silk Road, in Xinjiang, Western China. The city was partly excavated by the Japanese archaeologist Count Otani.
Other famous sites nearby are the Ah-ai Grotto, Kizilgaha caves, the Kumtura Caves, the Kizil Caves and the Simsim caves. These sites and others along the Silk Road were inscribed in 2014 on the UNESCO World Heritage List as the Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor World Heritage Site.
A sarira, a Buddhist relic box of the 6th–7th century, discovered in Subashi shows Central Asian men in long tunics, reminiscent of other friezes which have been called Tocharian.
The "Witch of Subashi" is another famous archaeological artifact, the mummy of a woman with a huge pointed hat, thought to be a representative of early Caucasian populations who lived in the region around the beginning of our era.


Zengpiyan (Chinese: 甑皮岩; pinyin: Zèngpíyán) is a Neolithic cave site in southern China. It is located in the Guilin region on the south-western fringes of the Dushan Mountain (Dú Shān 独山) in the autonomous region Guangxi and is considered to be one of the most important cave sites of the Neolithic in China as it is one of the many independent centers for the introduction of animal domestication and pottery.
The cave was discovered in 1969 and archaeological excavations began in 1973. Dating revealed that the cave was occupied between 9,000 and 7,500 years ago, the oldest layer reaching as far back as 12,000 years ago. This natural cave was used as a dwelling place, whether it was only a seasonal habitat is not yet clear. The main cave has an area of approximately 220 m² (2,368 sq ft) and faces southwest, adjacent to the Li River with neighboring woods for hunting, lakes for fishing and plains for collecting wild vegetables.
Excavations have so far yielded over 30 human corpses, 110 kinds of mammals, birds, fishes and reptiles, over 1,000 pieces of polished and pierced stone and bone ware, animal teeth, mussel shells and over 10,000 pieces of pottery. Many fireplaces and waste pits were also discovered. In the back of the cave stone material is piled up. In older sediments semi-finished stone tools were abundant. Pierced stone tools and polished stone tools were unearthed from more recent layers. Bone artifacts included fishing spears (Yubiao 鱼镖), arrowheads (zú 镞) needles (zhēn 针) and hairpins (jī 笄).
The cave yielded some of the country's oldest pieces of pottery as the appearance of pottery in the area is believed to be related to freshwater snail eating. "Freshwater snails were one of their staple foods, judging by the quantities of snail shells found in various strata". The oldest local pottery is according to Chinese archaeologists dated to 12,000 years BP. The ceramics of more recent strata were determined to belong to the "String pattern-Guan-vessel-type" (绳纹罐类).
For some time the cave must also have served as a primitive tomb as bones of about 30 humans were discovered. No burial pits and funeral tools have been found. The bodies were buried mainly in a squatting position.
The cave was finally abandoned after being inhabited for 5,000 years when a warm and humid period started around 7,000 years ago and the cave, only one meter above the surrounding plain, was often flooded.
The assertion that the pig was domesticated at this site remains controversial and has not yet been answered conclusively.
scholars Zhang Chia and Hsiao-chun Hung in "Later hunter-gatherers in southern China, 18 000–3000 BC":
"The ‘Neolithic package’ doesn't really work for this fascinating chapter of the human experience, where pottery, social aggregation, animal domestication and rice cultivation all arrive at different places and times. The authors define the role of the ‘pottery-using foragers’, sophisticated hunter-gatherers who left shell or fish middens in caves and dunes. These colonising non-farmers shared numerous cultural attributes with rice cultivators on the Yangtze, their parallel contemporaries over more than 5000 years. Some agriculturalists became hunter-foragers in turn when they expanded onto less fertile soils. No simple linear transition then, but the practice of ingenious strategies, adaptations and links in a big varied land."
Zengpiyan has been listed a monument of the People's Republic of China in 2001.


The Ōyu Stone Circles (大湯環状列石, Ōyu Kanjyō Resseki) is a late Jōmon period (approx. 2,000 – 1,500 BC) archaeological site in the city of Kazuno, Akita Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan.  The remains were designated a Special National Historic Site of Japan in 1956 by the Japanese government.  The site is located approximately ten minutes by car from Towada-Minami on the JR East Hanawa Line of the Towada Interchange on the Tohoku Expressway.


The site consists of two large stone circles built on an artificially flattened plateau on the left bank of the Oyu River, a tributary of the Yoneshiro River in northeastern Akita Prefecture. The site was discovered in 1931, with detailed archaeological excavations taking place in 1946 and in 1951-1952.
The larger circle, named the Manza(万座) circle, has a diameter of 46 metres and is the largest stone circle found in Japan. Several reconstructions of Jomon-period dwellings have been built around the site. The slightly smaller circle, named the Nonakadō(野中堂) circle, is 42 metres in diameter and is around 90 metres away, separated from the Manza circle by Akita Prefectural Route 66.  Each circle is made from rounded river stones brought from another river approximately 7 kilometres away. Each circle consists of two concentric rings separated by an open strip approximately 8 metres wide. Each circle contains smaller clusters of stone, including standing stones surrounded by elongated stones in a radiating orientation, forming a sundial pointing toward the sunset on the summer solstice, and allows for calculation of the winter solstice, the vernal equinox and the sun's movements.
Each circle is surrounded by the remains of buildings, storage pits and midden, and clay figurines, clayware and stoneware (including everyday pottery), stone swords and objects have been discovered. Although the form of the stone circles may have been based on the shape of circular settlements, there is no indication of permanent settlement on the site.
The site is on the UNESCO World Heritage List as one of the Jōmon Archaeological Sites in Hokkaidō, Northern Tōhoku, and other regions.