Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (526 page)

A type of small roughly built barn-like house of oblong plan and between two and four storeys high found in the borderlands of England and Scotland and mainly dating to the period between the 14th and 16th centuries
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. Pele towers are characterized by thick dry-stone-built walls, external stairs, and the presence of a barmkin or enclosed yard round about. Originally they were built as defensive refuges for occupation in times of trouble.

 
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A mixture of pounded meat and fat made by hunter-gatherer groups in North America in recent times, and presumably in the ancient past as well. Pemmican was manufactured from meat dried after a major kill. It is easily transportable and able to be eaten on the move.

 
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An enclosure within which animals are kept.

 
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In the shape of a ring, but with a break at one point. Often used to describe brooches and torcs as well as arrangements of posts, slots, and ditches forming the walls of round houses and enclosures.

 
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A common type of metal dress fastening found especially in post-Roman and later times down to the 10th century
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in northwest Europe. Developed out of earlier Iron Age and Roman brooch forms, penannular brooches comprise an open hoop with two terminals and a pin backing the hoop. The terminals in particular were often ornamented, some very elaborately.

 
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Industrial phase of the British Bronze Age immediately following the
KNIGHTON HEATH PERIOD
. Named after a hoard of bronze tools and weapons found in a quarry at Penard, West Glamorgan, in South Wales in 1827, the tradition spans the period 1200 bc through to 1000 bc. During this time there was much experimentation in metalworking, stimulated by contact with
URNFIELD
smiths in northern and central Europe. Imports in the period include early styles of sword and perhaps shields. Inventions include cylinder sickles and leaf-shaped pegged spearheads. Sheet metal became more extensively worked than in earlier phases and there was increasing use of clay moulds and more lead-rich alloys.

 
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