ad. Gr. ἀρχαιο- comb. form of ἀρχαῖος ancient, primitive (f. ἀρχή beginning). Formerly, and still occas., spelt archaio-. In compounds and derivatives, as ARCHÆOLOGY; also: Archæo-geology, the geology of ancient periods of the earth’s history. Archæolithic a. [λίθος stone], of or pertaining to the most ancient stone implements used by prehistoric man. Archæostomatous a. [στόμα mouth], having the primitive orifice of invagination of the wall of the embryo persistent as a mouth. Archæozoic a. [ζωή life], pertaining to the era of the earliest living beings on our planet.
1877. Shields, Final Philos., 143. Archæo-geology … has ventured still further backward through the past organic epochs.
1865. Lubbock, Preh. Times, 60. The period of the drift, which I have proposed to call the archæolithic period.
1877. Huxley, Anat. Inv. Anim., xii. 684. The limits within which the archæostomatous condition prevails.
1872. Dana, Corals, App. I. 373. The era … styled the Archeozoic.
