Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (18 page)

A straight line formed by connecting three or more significant or related points. Compare
ORIENTATION
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Early Neolithic
TELL
on the Deh Luran plain in lowland Khuzistan, western Iran. Excavated by Frank Hole and Kent Flannery in the 1960s, the work was innovative in successfully using a flotation unit to sample deposits for carbonized plant remains. The cultural sequence begins at about 8000 bc and runs through for about two millennia, spanning the period when farming developed in the region. In the earliest, Bus Mordeh, phase (
c.
8000–7000 bc) the settlement comprised simple rectangular houses built of mud brick. The occupants lived through a combination of simple farming, hunting, and gathering. Domesticates included herded sheep and goats together with hulled barley, and emmer and einkorn wheat. The inhabitants collected a wide range of plants and also fished. In the succeeding Ali Kosh Phase (
c.
7000–6200 bc) the same range of domesticates were found and some hunting and fishing still occurred, but the contribution made by wild plants decreased dramatically as the use of cultivated plants increased. The settlement was larger, with more substantial buildings. In the third, Muhammad Jaffar, phase (
c.
6200–5800 bc) there were further innovations, including the introduction of pottery, and farming had become firmly established. The site appears to have been abandoned in the mid 6th millennium
bc
.
[Rep.: F. Hole , K. V. Flannery and J. A. Neely , 1969,
Prehistory and human ecology of the Deh Luran Plain
. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press]

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Autumn/winter festival traditionally celebrated in northwest Europe on 1 November in the Gregorian calendar. This was the time when stock were excluded from fields in tillage and when the sowing of winter corn was expected to be completed. The night before, All Hallows Eve, was regarded as a time when the spirits of the dead were at large amongst the living.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Roman finance minister to the Carausius and his murderer in ad 293. Allectus was defeated and deposed by Constantius Chlorus , in ad 296.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Class of Neolithic chambered tomb found in central and northern France. It comprises long rectangular chambers with little or no evidence of differentiation within them, although some have antechambers at the entrance and a small inaccessible cell beyond the back wall of the main chamber. This end-cell sometimes has pairs of raised lumps carved on to the faces of the wall stones that are interpreted as female breasts. Low stone and earth mounds cover the chambers, and in some cases there are kerbs around the outer edge of the mound. They date to the 3rd millennium
bc
and are especially common in Brittany and the Paris basin (
SEINE–OISE–MARNE CULTURE
). Where excavated, the chambers are found to contain the remains of several hundred individuals.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Allen , Derek Fortrose
(1910–75)
[Bi].

British numismatist and archaeologist well known for his work on early coinage in Britain and Gaul. From 1935 until 1939 he was Assistant Keeper in the Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum. Subsequently he worked in the Ministries of Shipping and Transport, rising to become Under-Secretary in the Ministry of Aviation. Celtic coins remained his great love and he maintained his interest in them, finding time to publish numerous papers and reports throughout the 1950s and 1960s. On his retirement from the civil service he was appointed Secretary of the British Academy, successor to Sir Mortimer Wheeler , a post he held until 1973. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1947 and a Fellow of the British Academy in 1963.
[Obit.:
The Times
, 16 June 1975]