Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (111 page)

An artificial watercourse or extensively modified natural channel used for inland water transport and/or the control and diversion of water for drainage or irrigation. Most canals have a fairly even width and a roughly uniform depth. They tend to run along the contour of the land or have a very slight fall to them in order to promote the flow of water. From the 18th century
ad
, locks were used to allow canals to rise up slopes. Some canals were built to link inland waterways with the sea, or occasionally to join seaways.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

A traditional calendar festival in northern Europe celebrated in recent times on 2 February, the Christian feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

The practice of eating human flesh, normally either out of dire need or for ceremonial purposes. The latter is more common, and usually related to a belief that eating parts of deceased relatives or enemies slain in battle allows their power to be passed on to the celebrants. The practice is not easy to prove from the archaeological record, although cutmarks on bone that relate to de-fleshing a corpse, the splitting of long bones, and the systematic opening of the skull to extract the brain are usually taken as strong indicators.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

A stone or pottery container used in ancient Egyptian burial practices from Old Kingdom times onwards for holding the entrails of an embalmed body. Four separate jars were usually provided to hold the liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines. From New Kingdom times onwards each jar was covered by a lid carved with a head representing one of the four sons of Horus, each also having a protecting goddess: the falcon-headed Qebhsnuf (the intestines) watched over by Selket; the human-headed Imsety (the liver) watched over by Isis; the jackal-headed Duamutef (the stomach) watched over by Neith; and the baboon-headed Hapi (the lungs) watched over by FNephthys.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

The late Iron Age tribe living in southeastern England (Kent and East Sussex) at the time of Caesar's visits to Britain in 55 bc and 54 bc. They were the first tribe in Britain to issue their own coinage to serve as small change. Caesar's accounts tell of four kings amongst the Cantii, suggesting that they comprised a number of separate kingdoms united by tribal affinities. Their main centre appears to have been near to modern Canterbury, with an earlier centre at nearby Bigbury. After a brief period under the influence of the Atrebates in the early 1st century
bc
they came within Trinovantian/Catuvellaunian control under Cunobelin prior to the Roman conquest in ad 43.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

See
CIVITAS
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search