Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (451 page)

Morgan , Lewis Henry
(1818–81)
[Bi].

A lawyer practising in New York who developed a special interest in the social organization and origins of the American Indians and the light this threw on the general problem of cultural origins. Much of his work was influenced by the writings of Engels and Tönnies ; he lived with and was adopted into the Iroquois tribe. In 1877, Morgan published a book entitled
Ancient society
(New York: Henry Holt) in which he proposed three main evolutionary stages in the development of human societies: savagery, barbarism (in seven substages), and civilization. This scheme proved popular for a while, although was soon abandoned as being too simplistic.
[Bio.: T. R. Trautmann , 1987,
Lewis Henry Morgan and the invention of kinship
. Berkeley: University of California Press]

 
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Morris , Ronald Wilson Boyd
(1902–92)
[Bi].

British lawyer and amateur archaeologist well known for his work on British rock art. After graduating in law from the University of Glasgow he followed his father into the Scottish legal profession, joining one of the oldest law practices in Glasgow where he later became senior partner. Although well beyond call-up age in 1939, he saw active service with the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. After his retirement from legal practice in 1963 he turned to archaeology and the study of rock art in northern Britain. He published numerous articles and books including
The prehistoric rock art of Galloway and the Isle of Man
(1979, Poole: Blandford Press). He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1971.
[Obit.:
Society of Antiquaries Annual Report and Proceedings 1992–1993
, 54]

 
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Middle Archaic bifacially worked chipped stone projectile points found in eastern parts of North America and dating to the period
c.
6000–4000 bc. Characteristically, the points are triangular in outline with slightly flared sides towards the base, and a small rounded tang on the base.

 
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A fairly deep bowl-like vessel, usually of stone but sometimes of wood or metal, used in conjunction with the
PESTLE
for crushing foodstuffs by placing them in the mortar and pounding them with the pestle.

 
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A stout mixing bowl with a strong lip and a pouring spout, dusted on the inside with hard grit (trituration grits) to improve its ability to shred foodstuffs rubbed around it and to strengthen it against wear during the pounding of foodstuffs.

 
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Mortillet , Gabriel de
(1821–98)
[Bi].

French prehistorian best known for his work on the classification of Palaeolithic material. A pupil of Edouard Lartet (1801–73), he took the criteria of classification used in palaeontology and applied them to archaeological materials, especially tool types. He extended the geological system of periods and epochs into the recent past, characterizing each by a series of archaeological ‘type-fossils’ and naming them after a ‘type-site’. In 1864 he founded one of the earliest archaeological journals, entitled
Matériaux pour l'histoire positive et philosophique de l'homme
. By 1869 his scheme for European prehistory was fairly well elaborated and included: the Thenasian (for the now obsolete Eolithic), Chellean, Mousterian, Solutrean, Aurignacian, Magdalenian, and Robenhausian. Many of these remain in use as cultural-historical labels for bodies of material, but whereas de Mortillet saw each as a block of time they are now seen as geographically as well as chronologically defined entities.
[Bio.: G. Junghans , 1987,
G. de Mortillet (1821–1898). Eine biographie: materiellen zur Darstellung seiner Ideen und Beitrage zur Erforschung von Ursprung und Geschichte des Menschen
. Bonn: Habelt]