Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (518 page)

The dependent peasants of a Byzantine monastic economy.

 
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Type of glazed ceramic jug found in Britain and northern Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries
ad
, distinctive in having a rather stylized polychrome image of a large-beaked bird on the side.

 
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The principal temple situated in the centre of the
ACROPOLIS
in Athens and visible from many places within the city. The temple has a long and chequered history, and in the late 20th century
ad
was the subject of a major conservation and restoration programme. The temple is dedicated to the maiden Greek goddess Athena and was probably begun in limestone at the end of the 6th century
bc
. It was replanned in marble after the battle of Marathon in 490 bc, but it was not constructed in its final form until 447–432 bc when it became the centre-piece of Pericles' scheme for the Acropolis. The architects were Ictinus and Callicrates who worked under the supervision of the sculptor Phidias . Pentelic marble is the main material used in its construction, the design and form of the buildings being widely regarded as the highest achievement in the
DORIC ORDER
of architecture. In 438 bc a great statue of Athena in gold and ivory was dedicated in the shrine, where it remained until its transportation to Constantinople in ad 426.
After the classical period the temple was converted first to a church and then a mosque. It survived well until Turkish occupying forces used it as powder magazine; it exploded in 1687 after being hit by Venetian fire. Some of the finely sculptured marble friezes were acquired from the Turkish authorities by Lord Elgin and taken to London, where from 1816 they have been displayed in the British Museum.
[Sum.: R. A. McNeil , 1991, Archaeology and the destruction of the later Athenian acropolis.
Antiquity
, 65, 49–63]

 
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A semi-nomadic steppe people who established themselves in northern Iran about 250 bc under Arsaces . Between 160 and 140 bc Mithridates I extended the Parthian state into an empire which survived 350 years or so. Geographically it covered all of modern Iran and Iraq and most of Afghanistan. Its original capital was at Arsak but later moved to Ctesiphon on the middle Tigris. The Parthians were in constant conflict with the Seleucids and, later, the
ROMANS
. In the west the Parthians were known as superb horsemen, their art and architecture showing an interesting blend of eastern and western styles. The Parthian state was overthrown by the
SASSANIANS
in ad 224.

 
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A method of research widely used in sociology and anthropology in which the researcher takes part in the activities of a group or community being studied.

 
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The description and characterization of sediments or soils by quantitatively establishing the size distribution of the constituent particles. A combination of sieving and measuring is usually used to distinguish (in increasing order of size) the proportions of clay, silt, sand, gravel, stones, pebbles, cobbles, and boulders. Microscopic methods are also used in some cases to examine the finer material. Various systems of classification are available, one of the most common being the Wentworth–Udden scale developed in geology. Although particle size distributions are not diagnostic of particular formation processes, they can be enormously helpful in differentiating deposits.

 
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