Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (376 page)

A closed box often used as a container for human remains. In Minoan–Mycenaean times it took the form of a ceramic coffin imitating a wooden chest. In Hellenistic times it was a kind of terracotta sarcophagus that enjoyed a brief period of popularity during the 6th and 5th centuries
bc
. Some were painted in imitation of contemporary vase styles. A small gold larnax containing the ashes of a male was found in the so-called royal tomb at Vergina, Greece.

 
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A term once generally applied to the later Mesolithic of Ireland, and especially the communities living in coastal regions of northern Ireland. Following investigations at Newferry and elsewhere, however, it is clear that its use is inappropriate as a general cultural label, and instead Peter Woodman suggests using it only with reference to a particular technique of flintworking that involves direct percussion for the production of broad blade industries.

 
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Lartet , Edouard
(1801–73)
[Bi].

French scholar and archaeologist best known for his work on the Palaeolithic. Initially he was a magistrate working in the south of France but he gave up law to study palaeontology and from there to examine cave deposits containing the remains of early human communities. From 1863 onwards he worked in collaboration with his British friend Henry Christy , the two of them carrying out the first systematic studies of French caves in the Dordogne, including Laugerie-Haute, Le Moustier, and La Madelaine. Realizing that several different phases were represented in these sites they divided the excavated material into a series of stages: an early group with two subdivisions based on associations with cave bear and later with woolly mammoth and rhinoceros bones; and a late phase with two subdivisions characterized by associations with reindeer bones and later aurochs. These two main phases have become the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic respectively. They also discovered mobiliary art in a proper archaeological context, so helping the arguments in favour of the cave art of France being truly ancient.
[Bio.: E. T. Hamy , 1872,
Édouard Lartet: sa vie et ses travaux
. Brussels]

 
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A Palaeolithic cave site on a hillside above Montignac in the Dordogne region of southern France, containing what are probably the most famous cave paintings in the world. The cave was discovered in September 1940; it was cleared out and opened to the public in 1948, sadly without proper excavation. The level of tourist interest was such, however, that in 1963 it was closed to the public because of fears about the long-term survival of the paintings. A facsimile of the cave has been created nearby (Lascaux II), and this opened in 1983.
Little is known about the Lascaux cave and its original use; even the original entrance remains unknown. It seems unlikely, however, that it was an occupation site; rather it is seen as a place that was periodically visited for the purposes related to the paintings themselves. Stylistically the images relate to the Upper Palaeolithic and were made between 20000 and 15000 years ago, the
MAGDALENIAN
. There are about 600 paintings in the cave, including images of bulls, horses, and deer, and a range of other motifs. What appears to be a bird-headed man with a wounded bison and a rhinoceros is usually interpreted as a shaman. In addition there are nearly 1500 engravings, again of both animals and motifs. Some of the tools and equipment used by the artists, for example lamps, mixing pallets, mortars and pestles, and engraving tools have been found in the caves. Wooden scaffolding must originally have been used to reach some of the high ceilings and upper parts of the walls.
[Sum.: A. Leroi-Gourhan and J. Allain , 1979,
Lascaux inconnu
. Paris: Editions du CNRS]

 
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An early kind of key, found in Roman and early medieval contexts, it is simply a bent piece of iron rod with an expanded end that could be pushed through a hole in a wooden door to raise a catch-bar on the inside.

 
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