Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (342 page)

Type of middle Saxon pottery made between the 7th and 9th centuries
ad
around Ipswich, Suffolk, where the remains of kilns have been found. Outputs include cooking pots and decorated pitchers that were distributed around East Anglia, and stamped pitchers that were traded still more widely to York and beyond.

 
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Byzantine empress born about ad 752 who became the wife of Leo IV (d. ad 780), and guardian of their son, Constantine VI. She favoured the use of icons in church and proved high-handed in her advocacy. In ad 797 she had her son blinded and proclaimed herself empress. Removed by a coup in ad 802, she died in exile a year or so later.

 
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Type of early Bronze Age ceramic vessel found in Ireland and the west of Scotland, mainly accompanying inhumation burials. These vessels have a small flat base, and a
BICONICAL
form to the body with elaborated and sometimes perforated lugs on the carination, and an internally bevelled rim. The upper part of the body, neck, and rim is usually decorated with impressed cord or other motifs. The bowls date to the early 2nd millennium
bc
.

 
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A hard grey-coloured metal (Fe), widely available in the form of ores such as laterites, haematites, siderites, and pyrites, as well as in the form of bog iron created through precipitation. The earliest ironworking in Eurasia appears to have been amongst the
HITTITES
in the mid 2nd millennium
bc
, knowledge of the technology only becoming more widely available after the collapse of the Hittite empire at the end of 2nd millennium
bc
. Although iron was probably the most widely used metal ever from the early first millennium
bc
onwards, the fact that it is prone to rapid corrosion in most buried environments means that it is archaeologically rather under-represented.
Meteoric iron, containing a high percentage of nickel, is found naturally and, since its heavenly origin was widely recognized, it was highly prized for its reputed magical properties. Such iron was used in making the sacred crook of Osiris held by the pharaohs of Egypt.

 
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The third of the principal periods of the
THREE AGE SYSTEM
. The working of iron was introduced, probably from Asia Minor, into southeastern Europe around 1000 bc, and into central Europe by the 8th–7th centuries
bc
. The European Iron Age has conventionally been divided into two phases, named after type-sites at
HALLSTATT
in Austria and
LA TÈNE
in Switzerland. In areas conquered by the Romans the ‘Iron Age’ is succeeded by the ‘Roman’ period. Contemporary cultures outside the empire are described as being of the ‘Roman Iron Age’. From about 400 ad these periods are succeeded by the migration period.

 
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See
FIELD SYSTEM
.

 
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