Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (233 page)

General term, now largely obsolete, referring to a series of Archaic Stage hunter-gatherer cultures living on the southern coast of California in the period 6000–1000 bc, broadly corresponding to the Southern Californian early period and its three phases the
EX, EY AND EZ
defined by Chester King. Many of these communities engaged in extensive use of gathered plant foods, especially seeds. While settlements contain abundant shellfish remains, evidence for the hunting of mammals and other kinds of fish is rare.

 
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A type of burial ground generally dating to the later 3rd and 2nd millennia
bc
in northwest Europe which comprises deposits of burnt bone interred in pits within a well-defined area that is enclosed within a roughly circular or oval earthwork. Also known as embanked cemeteries. See also
URNFIELDS
.

 
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A nucleated settlement of the later Iron Age in southern Britain and northern France, usually covering in excess of 10ha, whose boundaries are marked by large earthworks comprising a bank and outer ditch. Enclosed
oppida
appear to have been economic, political, and religious centres with a considerable resident population. The enclosures might have been for defence, but more likely they were built to assist these sites in having a distinctively urban feel.

 
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See
URNFIELD
.

 
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One of the most frequently encountered forms of archaeological site: an area of land which is bounded and defined by some kind of earthwork, fence, wall, or defensive work. There is enormous variety in the shape, size, and scale of enclosures, as well as in their situation, context, and date. They do, however, seem to represent an extremely widespread human instinct to create boundaries around many of the spaces that they use.

 
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The process whereby open land or common land was parcelled up into privately owned blocks or fields. In Britain this started in the 16th century
ad
, gathering pace during the 17th and 18th centuries, and is known as the
Enclosure Movement
. This mainly meant re-allocating the rights that people had to cultivation plots and common grazing so that compact farms were created. From the early 18th century this required a private Act of Parliament.

 
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