Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (556 page)

A city or city-state of ancient Greece, usually incorporating smaller towns and villages into the territory.

 
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A block of coarse stone, sometimes as an earthfast boulder or natural outcrop, used for grinding and polishing stone axes in the final stages of production. Archaeologically they are distinctive in having bowl-shaped depressions on which the bodies of the axes were ground. Some also have V-section grooves in which the blades were finished.

 
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Generally, a complex of decision-making roles that relate a society to the goals of its individual members through collective decisions. Colin Renfrew used the term in a particular archaeological context to refer to small-scale politically autonomous early states such as can be seen in
MYCENAEAN
Greece or
ETRUSCAN
Italy.

 
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Fine dust-like grains discharged from the male part of a plant with a tough outer layer called the exine surrounding the fertile gamete. Pollen grains are distinctive to species level or beyond in their shape and form and survive well for long periods. Fern spores also survive in a similar way.

 
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Studies of the plant life of a certain period using the remains of pollen grains found in the soils of the same period. The proportions of pollen grains representing different species will give an indication of the type and mix of flora. Analysis involves the extraction of preserved grains from the matrix in which they lie and then sampling residue by identifying a randomly selected fixed number (typically 200) in each sample.

 
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A column of soil or peat extracted from the ground containing a continuous record of pollen grains representative of changing vegetation over a period of time.

 
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