Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (303 page)

Bifacially worked chipped stone projectile points of the
PLANO
Tradition with a broad pointed top set on a straight-sided trapezoidal body. The base is narrow and straight. Used by later Palaeo-Indian cultures of the North America Plains in the period around 7500 bc. Experiments show that these points were probably spearheads and fully capable of penetrating the hide and rib cage of large beasts such as bison.

 
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The original inhabitants of Laconia and Messeania, enslaved by the Spartans after their conquest of these territories.

 
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Archaic Stage hunter-gather communities living in the eastern woodlands of North America in the period
c.
4000–3000 bc. Villages housing up to 150 people have been found, the houses having sunken earth floors and post and wattle construction walls on two sides, the ends being covered with skins or mats. Occupants made extensive use of shallow lakes and slow-moving water for fishing. They also used acorns, hickory, walnuts, pecans, and hazelnuts. Grass seeds were also exploited and processed in stone mortars. The hunters also took deer, small mammals and waterfowl such as ducks and geese. A cemetery is known at Koster, Illinois, in which the bodies had been smothered in red ochre.

 
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Style of plain early and middle Neolithic pottery found in southwestern England during the 4th millennium
bc
. Named after the Neolithic enclosure site of Hembury in Devon, Hembury ware is characterized by round-bottomed vessels with straight sides or S-profiled bodies.

 
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A style of bronze sword with a leaf-shaped blade and flanged hilt developed in central Europe during the Hallstatt A period and traded to other parts of northern Europe. They appear in Britain, especially in the Thames Valley, during the Penard Phase.

 
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A distinctive class of late Neolithic enclosure found throughout the British Isles and dating mainly to the 3rd millennium
bc
. Roughly circular in plan, henges are bounded by a bank, usually with an internal ditch. They usually have either a single entrance (Class I), two diametrically opposed entrances (Class II), or, exceptionally, four entrances (also Class II). Some examples have a second ditch outside the bank (Class IA/IIA). Single henges as well as groups of three or four examples near together are known. Henges frequently contain a scatter of pits, occasional burials, circular settings of posts, or stone circles. The largest example is at
AVEBURY
, Wiltshire, in southern England. Also known as classic henges.

 
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