Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (385 page)

A small Mesolithic and Neolithic settlement on the banks of the Danube above the Iron Gates in Serbia. The site was discovered in 1960 and extensively excavated by D. Srejovic" between 1965 and 1971. Three levels have been identified, the first two being Mesolithic and spanning the period 6000–4000 bc. Here the occupants lived in trapezoidal houses with plastered floors. A total of 25 houses were excavated from these levels, all of them with their wide ends facing the river. Their economy was based on fishing, and as such the site and the community it represents is quite remarkable because of the cultural elaboration achieved. Amongst their material culture were a series of stone heads showing human faces but with ‘fishy’ features. The third level is a
STAR
EVO CULTURE
village with rectangular houses but none of the architectural niceties of the earlier phases. Domesticated pigs, cattle, sheep, and goats are represented in this phase.
[Sum.: D. Srejovi
, 1972,
Europe's first monumental sculpture: new discoveries at Lepenski Vir
. London: Thames & Hudson]

 
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Lepsius , Karl Richard
(1810–84)
[Bi].

German antiquary and philologist who specialized in early Egyptian texts. Born in Naumburg-am-Saale, he studied classics, philology, and archaeology at the universities of Leipzig, Göttingen, and Berlin, followed by three years in Paris. Between 1836 and 1842 he visited all the main European collections of Egyptian antiquities, making copies of the inscriptions and texts. Chronology and funerary texts became his speciality and with financial support from Frederick William IV of Prussia he organized an expedition to Egypt and Nubia to record inscriptions, the results of which were published in twelve large volumes between 1849 and 1859 as
Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien
. In 1865 he was appointed Keeper of the Egyptian collection in Berlin and Director of the National Library in 1873.
[Bio.: G. Ebers , 1887,
Richard Lepsius: a biography
. New York: W. S. Grottsberger]

 
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The principal city in Roman North Africa which is well preserved because after its decline in the 7th century
ad
it became covered in sand. The site has a long and complicated history during which the city has been in the hands of many different cultures. Its foundation as a settlement in the 7th century
bc
was by colonists from Phoenicia. It was then successively Carthaginian (until 146 bc), Numidian (until 46 bc) and then Roman. The town was the birthplace of the Emperor Septimus Severus in ad 193, and Roman domination brought great wealth and prosperity to the city and its region. Invasions by the Vandals in the 5th century and Arab forces in the 7th century caused its final decline.
[Sum.: K. D. Matthews and A. W. Cook , 1957,
Cities in the sand: Leptis Magna and Sabratha in Roman Africa
. Oxford: OUP]

 
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Type of chipped stone projectile point of leaf-shaped outline dating to before
c.
7000 bc and found mainly in Mexico and Central America.

 
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Leroi-Gourhan , André Georges Léandre
(1911–86)
[Bi].

French archaeologist and scholar, best known for his work on Palaeolithic cave art. Born in Paris he spent his student years learning Russian and Chinese before turning to ethnography and archaeology. He was involved in setting up the Musée de l'Homme and was director of
Gallia Préhistoire
from 1962 onwards. Following periods at the University of Yonne and the Sorbonne, he became Professor at the Collège de France in 1969. His work on Palaeolithic cave art introduced the idea that the motifs were carefully arranged in purposefully constructed scenes.
[Obit.:
Antiquity
, 55 (1986), 136]