Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (384 page)

A kind of two-pronged fork-like spear used in fishing, with a pair of bone or antler heads set with their barbs pointing inwards and backwards. Usually represented archaeologically by the barbed points, which when found separately are indistinguishable from harpoon tips. Common in Mesolithic and riverside or coastal Neolithic assemblages. The name is taken from the term for contemporary Eskimo fish-spears.

 
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A Greek vessel with a slender, cylindrical body and narrow neck, and a handle between the shoulder and neck. Used to contain perfumed oil.

 
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Leland , John
(
c.
1506–52)
[Bi].

British antiquary and traveller who held the post of librarian to Henry VII before being appointed King's Antiquary in 1533. Between 1534 and 1543 he travelled throughout England collecting material for a major history, but became insane in 1550. Because of this his work was never published, but his notes were preserved and published as Leland's
Itineraries
in 1710. They provide important source material for archaeological studies of all periods.
[Bio.:
Dictionary of National Biography
, 11, 892–6]

 
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A pair of rock-shelters about 15km from Les Eyzies beside the Vezère River in the Dordogne, the type-site for the
MOUSTERIAN
industries of the Middle Palaeolithic. Excavations by Edouard Lartet and Henry Christy in the 1860s established the basic stratigraphy of the site and its contents. A skeleton believed to be of
Homo neanderthalis
type was found in the lower shelter in 1908, but has never been fully examined.
[Sum.: J. Coles and E. Higgs , 1969,
The archaeology of early man
. London: Faber and Faber, 272–3]

 
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Late Neolithic (post-LBK) communities of the 4th millennium
bc
living in western Hungary, parts of Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Poland. Named after the type-site near Szekszard in western Hungary excavated by M. Wozinszky in the 1880s and found to comprise a settlement and adjoining cemetery of 90 inhumations. Many regional variations of the Lengyel have been identified, but they are also linked to the
TISZA CULTURE
of the Hungarian Plain and these connections may be responsible for the introduction of painted pottery and the occasional use of copper items. There are also links with the
RÖSSEN CULTURE
.
Two branches of the Lengyel are commonly recognized: the
Painted Lengyel
defined by the presence of white, red, and yellow crusted wares dating to the early 4th millennium; and the
Unpainted Lengyel
defined by the presence of knobbed and incised pottery dating to the second half of the 4th millennium
bc
.
The culture is characterized by pottery in a variety of forms including bowls, small amphorae, biconical vessels, and pedestalled bowls. Settlements include open sites as well as some large ditched enclosures such as Hluboke Ma
ûky. All have trapezoidal timber-framed houses. Burials are mainly contracted inhumations in flat cemeteries or within settlements.

 
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