This was a large multi-function room capable of seating the bulk of the population of the house. The family would sit at the head table on a raised dais, with the rest of the population arrayed in order of diminishing rank away from them. Tables in the great hall would tend to be long trestle tables with benches.
Protozoan Cyst is a defense mechanism in the Protozoan family. It takes this form according to the conditions of the host. A change in pH, a change in oxygen supplies, anything that trigers the genetic mechanism. The cyst is evacuated trough the sediment. You could say that Cyst are a defense mechanism.
Centropyxis aculeata, a testate (shelled) amoeba. In 21st-century systems of biological classification, the Protozoa are defined as a diverse group of unicellular eukaryotic organisms. Historically, protozoa were defined as single-celled animals or organisms with animal-like behaviors, such as motility and predation. The group was regarded as the zoological counterpart to the protophyta, which were considered to be plant-like, as they are capable of photosynthesis.