Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (52 page)

 
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The pre-Roman Iron Age tribe living in central southern England between the
BELGAE
to the south and the
CATUVELLAUNI
to the north. Their capital appears to have been at
SILCHESTER
, a site which later became the
civitas capital
after the Roman conquest. The Atrebates minted coins from about 75 bc onwards and from these it is possible to know the names of some of their leaders including Commius, Tincommius, and Verica. By the early 1st century
ad
it is likely that the Atrebatic territory had been subdivided into at least six socio-economic zones, in three of which there were substantial, semi-urbanized settlements or
OPPIDA
.

 
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Literally, the ‘place made black by the smoke’, but more generally used to refer to a small court or hall, open to the sky, sometimes colonnaded with four or more columns supporting the roof, and rooms opening on to the colonnade. In some Roman examples there is a central pond or basin to collect rainwater.

 
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Type of pottery manufactured in the Attica region of southern Greece from about 720 bc. Vase-painters in Athens and Corinth developed a characteristic style of decoration in which one or more friezes of human and animal figures are presented in silhouette in black against a red ground. The delineation of the figures is sometimes heightened by the use of incised lines and the addition of white or purple colouring agents. Around 530 bc the style was replaced by its inverse:
RED-FIGURE WARE
.

 
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King of the Huns from ad 445 who, for a short period, united his people against the Roman Empire and invaded Gaul and Italy. He was defeated in battle by Aetius in ad 452, and died in ad 453 while preparing to resume the attack. His death destroyed the Hunnic ‘empire’ and the nomads were crushed by revolts of their German subjects.

 
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A minimal characteristic of an artefact such that it cannot be further subdivided; attributes commonly studied include aspects of form, style, decoration, colour, and raw material.

 
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