Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (301 page)

Area at the end of a furlong or other strip of ploughed ground on which the plough could be turned. Could be cultivated or left as pasture to serve as access to the field.

 
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A series of almost sheer sandstone cliffs surrounding a creek cutting into a shallow basin in a great plain, this site is the oldest, largest, longest-lived, and best-preserved buffalo jump in North America. Over 500 small stone cairns up to 0.3m high and extending for up to 8km from the cliffs mark the edges of drive-lanes along which animals were stampeded.
The remains of thousands of beasts have been found at the base of the cliffs, some dating back to 5400 bc. The jump was still used in ad 1797 when Peter Fidler of the Hudson Bay Trading Company visited the area. Near the kill site at the base of the cliffs was a campsite and an area for processing carcasses.
[Rep.: J. Brink
et al
., 1986,
Final report of the 1984 season at Head-Smashed-in Buffalo Jump, Alberta.
Edmonton: Alberta Culture]

 
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A regional metalworking tradition covering the north of England, within the
EWART PARK PHASE
of the British late Bronze Age. Named after the discovery of a hoard of bronzes in the Heathery Burn Cave, Co. Durham, the tradition is characterized by three-ribbed and plain forms of socketed axe, late palstaves, socketed gouges and chisels, tanged chisels, knives with ribbed tangs, swords, plain rings, pegged spearheads, bronze buckets, tongs, horse-harness fitments, and the metal parts for wheeled vehicles.

 
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A technique based on petrological methods for characterizing and tracing the origins of pottery or stone. By crushing samples and mixing them with a high-viscosity fluid various particles will separate out, amongst them the so-called heavy minerals, such as garnet, epidote, tourmaline, and zircon, which have a relatively high specific gravity. These are also the minerals that are most variable in their occurrence and which can sometimes be matched by suites from source areas. The technique was used very successfully to examine the production of Roman black burnished wares.

 
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A substantial trading settlement covering 25ha on the Schlei estuary at the southern end of the Jutland peninsula in northwest Germany. Defended by a rampart on the landward side, excavations over many seasons have revealed wooden buildings, well preserved in waterlogged conditions, and evidence of industrial as well as commercial activity. The main use of the site was between about 800 ad and 1050 ad.
[Sum.: T. Ramskou , 1962,
Hedeby: Vikingetidens internationale handelsby.
Copenhagen: Munksgaard]

 
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A rough and ready way of approximating the age of living hedges on the basis that over the course of time one new species per century successfully colonizes the boundary—a proposition that has become known as
Hooper's hedgerow hypothesis
. The average number of species in a 30m length of reasonably well-managed hedge gives the approximate age of the hedge in centuries.

 
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