Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (245 page)

A regular pattern in the way that goods and services are exchanged between individuals and communities.

 
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A technique for decorating pottery, in particular where strips or shapes are cut out from the vessel walls before firing and while the pot is still soft. The resulting voids are often filled with coloured paste to provide a contrast with the colour of the main body of the pot.

 
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A curved marble wall, often used as a base for one or more statues, and provided with a marble bench which offered dignified and sheltered casual seating in public places.

 
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A rule requiring marriage outside one's own social or cultural unit. Compare
ENDOGAMY
.

 
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A branch of archaeological investigation in which carefully controlled experiments are undertaken in order to provide data and insights that aid in the interpretation of the archaeological record. These experiments vary widely in their nature and purpose. Some, such as the creation and monitoring of experimental earthworks to see how they decay, are long-lived and massive in scale. Others, such as the reproduction of ancient tools to learn about the processes of manufacture, may take a matter of hours or days.

 
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The development of a closed loop of interpretation in which a particular factor or a series of factors are deemed to be responsible for, or causally related to, a set of observed conditions. Explanation with reference to established laws is the main means of interpretation within the physical sciences; in the social sciences there is greater interest in developing an
UNDERSTANDING
of something rather than an explanation of it.

 
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