Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (611 page)

A stretch of flowing water set aside for catching fish by the use of wickerwork or basketry traps attached to artificial structures placed on the bed of the river or stream. In many cases a weir or platform provides the foundation for the traps, and may extend across the full width of the water course. Alternatively, traps may be secured to stakes driven into the bed of the water course or be weighted down to rest on the river bed. There may be associated structures such as fish houses and processing areas on the adjacent banks. Occasionally water courses may be artificially created to provide fisheries. Widely found in many parts of the world at different times, river fisheries occur in both tidal and freshwater catchments. Early examples of wicker fish traps go back to Mesolithic times in northern Europe.

 
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Late Archaic Stage hunter-gatherer communities living in the eastern states of North America, particularly in the Mississippi and Missouri basins. One of a series of regional adaptations to different environments, Riverine Archaic people took advantage of the wide range of resources available in the deciduous forests and river valleys of this region. They hunted and trapped small mammals such as deer, turkey, and wildfowl and took turtles, fish, and mussels from the rivers. They gathered nuts (e.g. hickory nuts, black walnuts, acorns, pecans, and hazelnuts) and seeds (e.g. from marsh elder and pigweed). Settlements sometimes comprised small villages of up to six post-built houses providing home to a nuclear family. Burials were typically flexed inhumations in pits, heads turned to the right. The corpses had been sprinkled with red ochre.

 
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A platform of land formed beside a river flowing across a plain where, for some reason, the river channel has deepened and cut down to create a new flood-plain at a lower level. River terraces are often made of fluvially eroded material laid down during the creation of the flood-plain. This material sometimes includes archaeological material and faunal remains which date from any time earlier than the creation of the deposit in which they are incorporated. In this way some river terraces can be roughly dated by reference to the latest material present in the assemblages. Large river valleys usually have more than one set of terraces forming a complicated series of platforms.

 
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Small metal rod passed through two or more overlapping pieces of material (usually metal) that need to be joined together, the ends of which are hammered over to spread and flatten the rod and draw the material together. Riveting is one of the earliest methods of fastening metal together and was first used in metalworking during the early Bronze Age in Europe.

 
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Rivet , Albert Lionel Frederick
(1915–93)
[Bi].

British archaeologist specializing in the Roman empire. Educated at Oriel College, Oxford, his archaeological interests were aroused intellectually by R. G. Collingwood at Oxford and practically by working for Mortimer Wheeler at Maiden Castle in Dorset in the mid 1930s. Briefly working as a schoolmaster, in 1938 Rivet enlisted as a private soldier before service with the Royal Signals where he eventually rose to the rank of major and undertook service in East Africa. After the war he was a bookseller in Cambridge for five years before taking up a post as an archaeological officer with the Ordnance Survey. Working there for thirteen years, he was responsible for producing the third edition of the
Map of Roman Britain
(1956, Ordnance Survey); it was also during this period that he wrote
Town and country in Roman Britain
(1958, London: Hutchinson). In 1964 he was appointed to a lectureship in classics at Keele University, and it was from this time that he started publishing on the place-names which led to a magisterial volume written in association with Colin Smith entitled
The placenames of Roman Britain
(1979, London: Batsford). He was awarded a personal Chair at Keele University in 1974 and was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1981. He served on numerous committees and editorial boards for academic societies, and published widely.
[Obit.:
The Times
, 22 September 1993]

 
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