Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (82 page)

 
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Birley , Eric
(1906–95)
[Bi].

British archaeologist who became the leading authority on the Roman army and Roman frontier control. Born in Lancashire, he was educated at Clifton College and Brasenose College, Oxford. While still a student he began working on excavations on Hadrian's Wall, and in 1928 joined R. G. Collingwood's survey of the Cumberland coast signalling stations. In 1930 he was appointed director of the Durham University Excavation Committee, and in 1931 became lecturer in Romano-British history and archaeology at Armstrong College in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, then part of Durham University. Throughout the 1930s he excavated at Roman sites on or around Hadrian's Wall. During WW2 he served in Military Intelligence Research, rising to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Returning to Durham University after the war he was vice-master and then master of Hatfield College where he founded the School of Archaeology. He was appointed to the Chair of Romano-British History and Archaeology in 1956. He retired in 1971. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1931, and a Fellow of the British Academy in 1969. His publications include
Roman Britain and the Roman army
(1953, Kendal: Titus Wilson ) and
Roman frontier studies
(1969, Kendal: Titus Wilson ).
[Obit.:
Daily Telegraph
, 17 November 1995]

 
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Whale- and seal-hunting communities of the north Alaskan coast from Cape Nome to Point Barrow between about ad 500 and ad 1000. Contemporary with the Punuk and ancestral to the Thule. Birnirk communities took over areas previously used by Ipiutak folk. Harpoon heads used by Birnirk Cultures show derivation from the Okvic–Old Baring Sea Traditions, while the small chipped stone tools suggest roots extending back to the Arctic Small Tool Tradition. Birnirk assemblages also contain many artefacts paralleled in the tool kits of modern Inuit.

 
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The first of two firings given to glazed pottery of the post-medieval period and later. The biscuit firing creates a solid, evenly baked body to the vessel which is then glazed and fired a second time to fuse the glaze to the main fabric.

 
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Early Iron Age fortified settlement in Biskupin Lake in the valley of the River Warta in central Poland. Discovered in 1993, the site has since been extensively excavated and physically restored by Jozef Kostrzewski and Zdzislaw Rajewski of Poznan University. Because the site is waterlogged, wood and other organic materials are extremely well preserved. Originally constructed on an island in the lake, an area 160m by 200m was enclosed by wooden stakes to act as a breakwater and then by a defensive
BOX RAMPART
. The entrance lay to the southwest and the way was protected by a gatetower. Inside, eleven streets were set out as
CORDUROY TRACKS
, more than 100 houses being ranged along these streets. All were built of horizontal logs jointed into uprights with wooden pegs. Each house had an anteroom and a main room with a hearth; a loft ran over the main part of the house, reached by a ladder. Two main phases have been recognized, beginning in the 7th or 8th century
bc
(Hallstatt C). In the first phase most of the timber used in construction work was oak, but in the second phase pine was more common.
[Sum.: W. Niewiarowski
et al
. 1992, Biskupin fortified settlement and its environment in the light of new environmental and archaeological studies. In B. Coles (ed.),
The wetland revolution in prehistory
. Exeter: WARP. 81–92]

 
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Wild hump-backed shaggy-haired ox found in North America (Bison bison) and Europe (Bison bonasus). Bison are distinguished by their low horns, rounded forehead, and greater height of the forequarters compared with the hindquarters. They have a large hump on their shoulders and a thick mane covering the back of their heads, neck, and shoulders. Bison roamed the Great Plains of North America and the North European Plain in large herds from Pleistocene times onwards, and were widely hunted by communities who lived almost exclusively from their flesh. In Europe bison were hunted to extinction before Neolithic times and now survive only in parts of Lithuania and the Caucasus. In North America bison were on the verge of extinction by the end of the 19th century
ad
, although protective legislation since 1910 has allowed their numbers to increase again.