Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (243 page)

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Evans , Clifford
(1920–81)
[Bi].

American archaeologist who, together with his wife Bettey Meggers , pioneered Amazonian archaeology, establishing the main cultural–historical sequence and chronology. Affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution from 1951 onwards, they carried out research in Ecuador, Venezuela, British Guiana, and Brazil.
[Obit.:
American Antiquity
, 47 (1982), 545–50]

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Evans , Joan>
(1893–1977)
[Bi].

British author, scholar, art historian, and antiquarian, daughter of Sir John Evans and half-sister to Sir Arthur Evans . After a haphazard early education she went up to St Hugh's College, Oxford, in 1914 where she remained as a don until 1922. During the 1920s she spend much time in France writing about its history and art, producing a new book more or less every year. She was President of the Society of Antiquaries between 1959 and 1964, the first woman to hold the post. Her many publications include
Romanesque architecture of the Order of Cluny
(1938, Cambridge: CUP), and
A history of the Society of Antiquaries
(1956, Oxford: Society of Antiquaries). She was made a DBE in 1976.
[Obit.:
Antiquaries Journal
, 58 (1978), 9–12]

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Evans , Sir John
(1823–1908)
[Bi].

British businessman and antiquary, probably one of the greatest and last of his generation, whose work in the late 19th century focused on recording and documenting many different kinds of artefacts. Brought up in Market Bosworth, he trained in Germany to join the family paper-making firm of Dickinsons . His interests in archaeology developed at an early age; he joined the Numismatic Society when he was 26 and was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries when he was 29. In 1864 he published
Coins of the ancient Britons
(London: Longworth), and joined international debates on the age and human origin of early flint tools. His two greatest works,
Ancient stone implements of Great Britain
(1871; 2nd edition, 1897, London: Longmans) and
Ancient bronze implements, weapons, and ornaments of Great Britain and Ireland
(1881, London: Longmans), remain important sources to this day.
[Bio.: J. Evans , 1943,
Time and chance: the story of Arthur Evans and his forebears
. London: Longmans]

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

A rim which turns sharply outwards and upwards from the shoulder of the vessel.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

The development through time of biological organisms by means of the adaptation of species to the demands of the physical environment. Such change generally involves an increase in complexity and functional improvement. Its greatest exponent was
CHARLES DARWIN
, whose
Origin of species
appeared in ad 1859 setting out the principles of evolution based on random mutation and natural selection. These principles have been carried over into archaeological thinking where they can be seen in terms of social evolution and the progressive climb from ‘savagery’ to ‘civilization’. At the small scale, it is applied to the typology of artefacts which can often be arranged in a developmental sequence. At a large scale, society as a whole is sometimes viewed as a unilinear progression through a series of pre-defined stages.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search