Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (124 page)

A technique for dating the rock varnish that develops over the petroglyphic component of rock art. The technique works by determining the ratio of calcium and potassium to titanium—(Ca + K/Ti)-concentrations within the rock varnish. Calcium and potassium ions are more mobile than titanium and so tend to be more readily leached from the surface. Thus the older the varnish the nearer the ratio gets to 1:1. The ion concentrations are determined using chemical analysis, the calibration of the ratios being dependent on having comparative samples from historical graffiti or other petroglyphs of known age.

 
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Caton-Thompson , Gertrude
(1888–1985)
[Bi].

A British traveller and archaeologist well known for her work in Egypt and Zimbabwe. She began studying archaeology in 1921 under the guidance of Sir Flinders Petrie at University College, London. Excavating with Petrie at Abydos, Egypt, she later went on to conduct her own excavations at the predynastic village of North Sapur, Hemmamiya. Turning her attention to Africa she discovered a series of previously unrecorded Neolithic cultures living in the southern Saharan margins around Fayum Lake, work published as
The desert Fayum
(1934, London: Royal Anthropological Institute). In 1929 she began the first scientific investigation of the ruins at the Great Zimbabwe, firmly establishing that they had been built by an indigenous African culture in the period ad 1270 to ad 1450. Together with Miss E. W. Gardner she excavated at the Saharan Kharga Oasis and went on with Freya Stark to excavate later prehistoric sites in southern Arabia just before WW2. This was the last of her fieldwork, although later publications include
The tombs and moon temple of Hureidha (Hadhramaut)
(1944, London: Society of Antiquaries) and
Kharga Oasis in prehistory
(1952, London: Athlone Press). She received an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University, and was an Honorary Fellow of Newham College, Cambridge. She was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1939.
[Abio.: 1983,
Mixed memoirs
, London: Paradigm Publishing]

 
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The domesticated form of the
AUROCHS
(Bos primigenius) that was probably tamed in a number of different places independently, defined as Bos taurus but probably the same species as the wild form and separable only in terms of size. The earliest evidence for the domestication of cattle is from
ÇATAL HÜYÜK
, Turkey, and other sites in northern Greece. A number of different breeds have been recognized including Bos longifrons in Europe and southwest Asia, and Bos indica in India.

 
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Pre-Roman Iron Age tribe living in the area north of the Thames in modern-day Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire in the south midlands of England at the time of the Roman conquest. Their capital was at Verulamium (St Albans). They minted coins and were closely engaged in long-distance trade in the 1st century
bc
. At the time of Caesar's visit to Britain in 55 and 54 bc their chief was
CASSIVELLAUNUS
.

 
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A large metal bowl with a rounded base used for cooking and serving food. Two types of bronze cauldrons are known from the later Bronze Age of northwest Europe: Class A with necks, usually ribbed, whose bodies are made from three sheets of bronze, one circular in form to made the bottom and the other two rectangular to make the sides; and Class B which lack necks and are made from numerous small rectangular sheets of bronze riveted together. Both types are fitted with a pair of free-moving ring-handles to allow them to be suspended over a fire or source of heat.

 
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