archaic

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Pronunciation

• (British) IPA: /ɑː.ˈkeɪ.ɪk/
• (America) IPA: /ɑɹ.ˈkeɪ.ɪk/

Noun

archaic (plural archaics)

1. (archaeology, US, usually capitalized) A general term for the prehistoric period intermediate between the earliest period (‘Paleo-Indian ↗’, ‘Paleo-American’, ‘American‐paleolithic’, &c.) of human presence in the Western Hemisphere, and the most recent prehistoric period (‘Woodland’, etc.).
   • 1958, Wiley, Gordon R., and Philip Phillips, Method and Theory in American Archaeology, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, page #107:

     [...] Archaic Stage [...] the stage of migratory hunting and gathering cultures continuing into environmental conditions approximately those of the present.

2. (paleoanthropology) (A member of) an archaic variety of Homo sapiens.
   • 2009, The Human Lineage, page 432:

     [...] prefer the third explanation for the advanced-looking features of Neandertals (Chapter 7) and the Ngandong hominins (Chapter 6), but they have had little to say about the post-Erectine archaics from China.

Adjective

archaic

1. Of or characterized by antiquity; old-fashioned, quaint, antiquated.
2. (of words) No longer in ordinary use, though still used occasionally to give a sense of antiquity.
3. (archaeology) Belonging to the archaic period

Synonyms

• (old-fashioned) dated, obsolete, old fashioned; see also Thesaurus:obsolete

Related terms

• archaeologist, archeologist
• archaeology, archeology
• paleo, Paleo-indian, Paleolithic
• paleoethnobotany ("paleobotany", "archeobotany", etc.)
• (archeology) horizon, stage
• (anthropology) culture
• archeobacteria

Translations

• French: archaïque
• German: archaisch, veraltet
• Italian: arcaico
• Portuguese: arcaico
• Russian: архаи́чный
• Spanish: arcaico, arcaizante

Translations

• Portuguese: arcaico

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