Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (777 page)

British prince who flourished in the mid 5th century
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after the withdrawal of the Roman administration. According to tradition Vortigern established federate Saxons in southeastern England, apparently to ward off attacks by the Picts and other pirates. The traditional account makes this the first settling of the heathen in Britain, and Vortigern is castigated for his policy by subsequent writers.

 
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Danish word for a disease in cattle resulting from deficiencies in the mineral content of their diet and causing progressive debility. Held to account for migrations away from marginal lands in Scandinavia.

 
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Term used to describe the offering to a deity of a gift of some kind in order to appease, thank, or enhance the success of pleas, prayers, or supplications. In Mycenaean times a terracotta model, often of an animal, seems to have been used as a device to make the donor's prayer more likely to be remembered by the deity. In Greek and Roman societies a person or city might dedicate a statue, or a golden tripod, or some other valuable object to one or other deity with the result that a considerable collection of
objets d'art
accumulated around the temples. In other cultural contexts such objects accumulated in pits, shafts, bogs, lakes, or whatever places were sacred to the gods.

 
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A group of material deposited in circumstances that can be interpreted as being votive in intent.

 
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Wedge-shaped stone, brick, or box tile forming one of the units of an arch.

 
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1
A hole made through a piece of bone, stone, or other hard material by grinding or drilling a conical depression from one side only of the material, work proceeding until the tip of the cutter emerges on the other side. See also
HOUR-GLASS PERFORATION
.
2
In making buttons, V-perforations involve drilling two convergent holes until they meet at an angle within the body of the button. Especially common in the European early Bronze Age.

 
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