Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (489 page)

A form of writing in which twenty or so letters or sounds are represented by groups of strokes, no more than five in number, either vertical or diagonal and either above or below or through a baseline. Many inscriptions are written along the edge of a stone using the corner angle as the baseline. Widely found in the western parts of the British Isles, it may have originated in Ireland or South Wales as a secret script in the 3rd century
ad
. Its use dates to the period from the 3rd century
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through to the 9th century
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when it is found on
SYMBOL STONES
. Claims have been made for the presence of ogham inscriptions in North America, but these are treated with extreme scepticism.

 
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A type of jug made from precious metal, bronze, or clay. In Greek times it was used to dispense wine during a symposium and is often depicted in conjunction with a phiale during the pouring of libations at an altar.

 
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O'Kelly , Michael Joseph
(1916–82)
[Bi].

Irish archaeologist who specialized in the prehistory of Ireland. Born and brought up in County Limerick, he studied archaeology at University College, Cork. In 1944 he was appointed curator of the Cork Museum, and in 1946 succeeded S. P. O'Ríordáin to the Chair of Archaeology in University College, Cork. Amongst his numerous excavations the best known is that undertaken with his wife Claire at Newgrange, County Meath, between 1962 and 1975. O'Kelly served on the councils of many learned societies and advisory boards in Britain and Ireland. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1947.
[Obit.:
The Times
, 27 October 1982]

 
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Archaic Stage marine-mammal-hunting communities flourishing around the coasts of the Bering Straits in North America and Siberia between about 200 bc and ad 500, either predating or, more likely, contemporary with the Old Bering Sea Culture in the same area. The two cultures were very similar except in art styles: the Old Bering Sea Culture preferred ornate, plastic, and curvilinear styles while the Okvic Culture used a flat angular style of ornamentation.

 
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Archaic Stage marine-mammal-hunting communities flourishing around the coasts of the Bering Straits in North America and Siberia between about 200 bc and ad 500. Representing the early stages of the Thule Tradition, the material culture includes pottery influenced by developments in Siberia. Stone tools tend to be polished slate rather than chipped stone, and include lanceolate knives, projectile heads, and the
ulu
transverse-bladed knife.
Weapons of these groups were decorated with incised designs and spirit images in the belief that their beauty, which honoured the animal spirits, would draw game to the hunter. Feathers and wings transformed the weapons into swift birds of prey. Stylistic variation suggests that the carvings were the symbols of individuals rather than groups. Kayaks and
umiaks
(large skin boats) appear in the archaeological record, as do a wide range of bone tools dominated by ivory harpoon heads, bird darts, fish spears, snow goggles, blubber scrapers, needles, awls, mattocks, snow shovels made from the shoulder-blades of walrus, and harpoon-mounted ice picks for winter seal hunting.
Houses were rectangular with an entrance tunnel that dipped lower than the floor of the living space in order to trap cold air. Yupid Eskimo hunters of southwest Alaska continued these traditions down to the present century. The Old Bering Sea Culture was the predecessor of the Punuk Culture that developed on the St Lawrence islands after ad 500.

 
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