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New Stone Age

(Encyclopedia)New Stone Age: see Neolithic period. ...

Old Stone Age

(Encyclopedia)Old Stone Age: see Paleolithic period. ...

Merovingian art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)Merovingian art and architecture mĕrˌəvĭnˈjēən [key]. This period is named for Merovech, the founder of the first Germanic-Frankish dynasty (c.a.d. 500–a.d. 751). The Merovingian period was m...

growing season

(Encyclopedia)growing season, period during which plant growth takes place. In temperate climates the growing season is limited by seasonal changes in temperature and is defined as the period between the last killi...

Dione, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Dione dīōˈnē [key], in astronomy, one of the named moons, or natural satellites, of Saturn. Also known as Saturn IV (or S4), Dione is 695 mi (1,120 km) in diameter, orbits Saturn at a mean distanc...

Mousterian

(Encyclopedia)Mousterian or Levalloiso-Mousterian: see Paleolithic period. ...

baby boom

(Encyclopedia)baby boom, a period in which the birthrate is significantly higher than in other periods, especially the post–World War II period in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. In the Uni...

Gilded Age

(Encyclopedia)Gilded Age, a term used to describe a period in United States history—from roughly 1870 to 1900—when the wealthy elite consisted of industrialists w...

sunspots

(Encyclopedia)sunspots, dark, usually irregularly shaped spots on the sun's surface that are actually solar magnetic storms. The spots are darker because the temperature of the spots is lower than that of the surro...

Gibbs, James

(Encyclopedia)Gibbs, James, 1682–1754, English architect, b. Scotland, studied in Rome under Carlo Fontana. Returning to England in 1709, he was appointed a member of the commission authorized to build 50 churche...