Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (149 page)

 
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1
[De].
Identifiable division or order within a society based on formally or informally recognized characteristics, for example social classes based on the nature of the work a person does. The possible existence of class divisions may be explored archaeologically through the distribution and associations of objects relating to the creation and projection of identity.
2
[Th].
A grouping of material based on shared characteristics; one of the divisions used in a classification. Following the lead provided by the biological sciences, a class in archaeology may be regarded as more specific than a ‘category’ and less particular than a ‘type’. Vessels are said to belong to the same class if they are of the same general form and usable for the same purpose; monuments are regarded as being of the same class if their form and function appear very similar, allowing for regional or chronological variations that can be defined at the level of type.

 
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The fourth of five general cultural stages proposed by G. Willey and P. Phillips in 1958 as a framework for the study of ancient communities in the Americas. The Classic embraced communities with urban settlements and is thus confined in its application to Mesoamerica and the central and northern west coast of South America, where such societies were present in the period from about ad 250 through to about ad 900 depending on region. The Classic was therefore a time of high populations and elaborate social organization, the peak of social, artistic, and religious endeavour in Pre-Contact society, a succession of connected complex societies or states. The succeeding stage is known as the Post-Classic.

 
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1
A term derived from the Latin word
classicus, meaning of ‘of the highest class’ and used to indicate a high point in the development of a particular society or civilization.
2
In art history the term refers to Greek art of the 5th and 4th centuries
bc
: the
CLASSICAL PERIOD
.

 
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A branch of archaeology that focuses on the great civilizations of the Old World, especially Greece and Rome during the later 1st millennium
bc
and early 1st millennium
ad
.

 
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Broadly the period from the Persian Wars through to the unification of Greece under Philip II and the world empire of Alexander the Great (i.e. the 5th and 4th centuries
bc
).

 
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