Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (3 page)

 
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Åberg , Nils
(1888–1957)
[Bi].

Swedish archaeologist and scholar with wide interests in European prehistory. A pupil of Oscar Montelius and Professor of Archaeology at Stockholm University, his typological studies of Bronze Age, Iron Age, and migration period metalwork are fundamental to modern interpretation of European chronology and cultural groupings. The results were published in his five-volume work
Bronzezeitliche u. früheisenzeitliche Chronologie
(1930–5, Stockholm: Kungl Vitterhets och Antikvitets Akademien).
[Obit:
Kuml
, 1957, 192–5]

 
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A type of middle Neolithic round-bottomed decorated pottery found in the upper Thames valley and central parts of England, one of the regional variations of the so-called Southern Decorated series. Dates mainly to the 4th millennium
bc
.

 
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Derived from the Latin word ‘aborigine’ extended to mean the original inhabitants of a country. When used as a proper noun the term usually refers to the indigenous peoples of Australia.

 
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General term applied to a range of techniques that provide estimates of the age of objects, materials, or sites in real calendar years either directly or through a process of calibration with material of known age. Such techniques rely on principles that lie outside the influence of the makers and users of the material being dated, for example
RADIOCARBON DATING
. Various calendars are used to express absolute dates. Some sciences preferring BP as ‘before present’, the scientific present being conventionally taken as ad 1950. In archaeology the use of
bc
and
ad
based on the Gregorian Calendar is commonly used in Europe and America, although other calendars apply to specific cultures in other regions and these are used too where appropriate. Compare
RELATIVE DATING
.

 
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A pair of rock-cut temples in Lower Nubia, now overlooking the artificially created Lake Nasser 230km upriver from Aswan. Both temples were built by Ramesses II in the 13th century
bc
. The Great Temple is dedicated to him and has as its facade two pairs of colossal seated figures of him (each about 22m tall). The main part of the temple is cut into solid rock, 55m deep, and the main walls are decorated with reliefs showing the king's military campaigns in Syria and Nubia. The Small Temple is more modest and is dedicated to his principal queen, Neferirkare. Both temples were sawn into blocks, dismantled, moved upslope, and re-erected in their present positions in 1968 as part of the Nubian Rescue Campaign to save important archaeological sites from the rising waters of Lake Nasser.
[Rep.: T. Säve-Söderbergh (ed.), 1987,
Temples and tombs of ancient Nubia: the international rescue campaign at Abu Simbel, Philae, and other sites
. London: Thames & Hudson and UNESCO]

 
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