Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (192 page)

A skin-covered timber-framed boat of a type in use until recently on the west coast of Ireland and believed to have a long ancestry running back into prehistoric times.

 
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A type of standardized iron bar romantically believed to have been used as a form of currency before the introduction of coinage, but more likely to be ingots or blanks relating to the circulation of raw material. In Britain three main types are known: sword-shaped, spit-shaped, and ploughshare-shaped. On the continent rhomboid ingots may have had a similar role.

 
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Term used to describe rounded forms of script used in everyday informal writing, usually on papyrus, paper, or wax.

 
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cursus
(pl.
curs
s
)
[MC].

A kind of Neolithic ceremonial monument comprising a rectangular enclosure defined by a bank with external ditches. The longest example is the pair of end-to-end joined curs
s known as the Dorset Cursus on Cranborne Chase, Dorset, which together run for more than 10km across the grain of the landscape. More typically, curs
s are between 500m and 3km long and up to 80m wide. Dating mainly to the 3rd millennium
bc
, their purpose is not known, although they are widely believed to have been ceremonial pathways that, when used for processions, structured the participants' vision of the surrounding landscape and the monuments within it. William Stukeley was the first to recognize this class of monument back in the 18th century
ad
, but his belief that they were racecourses is not correct.

 
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The Latin term for the posting system of the Roman empire. Inns and change points for horses and vehicles were maintained along principal roads by local authorities in order to facilitate the smooth running of the system.

 
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