Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (386 page)

 
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A distinctive type of flint knapping found occasionally in the Lower Palaeolithic but most associated with the
MOUSTERIAN
industries of the Middle Palaeolithic. In the Levant the technique is also used in the Upper Palaeolithic. The technique is named after finds made during the 19th century at Levallois-Perret in the suburbs of Paris, and involves the careful preparation of substantial core prior to the removal of the intended flake. Preparation involved establishing a striking platform, trimming the edge of the core to the desired shape and working the surface to create a slightly domed form by flaking inwards from the outer edges towards the centre. The finished core before the flake is removed is often known as a ‘tortoise core’ because of its faceted domed back and flat underside. When the desired flake is detached from the core the flake itself (known as a Levallois flake) shows the scars of the preparatory work on the dorsal surface while the ventral face is smooth. Because of the wide range of cultural contexts in which this technique was used the idea of a Levallois Culture is now obsolete.

 
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A general term to describe the rock art found in rock-shelters in eastern Spain and believed to be of Mesolithic and Neolithic date. The images are dominated by red painted figures of deer, ibex, and humans, some in hunting scenes.

 
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In pottery making, a method of purifying clay by sedimentation. The clay is thoroughly mixed with water and then left to stand. The coarser particles will sink to the bottom while the water and any organic impurities will rise to the top and can be poured off. In the middle there will be a layer of especially fine textured clay.

 
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Lhwyd , Edward
(1660–1709)
[Bi].

British antiquary and Celtic scholar, he was Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1690–1709, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He travelled extensively in Wales to collect material for a new edition of Camden's
Britannia
and published
Archaeologia Britannica
in 1707. Some of his drawings and paintings of the sites he visited provide important details about their construction that have now vanished.
[Bio.: F. Emery , 1958, Edward Lhwyd and the 1695
Britannia
.
Antiquity
, 32, 179–82]

 
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Early Neolithic forest zone communities forming part of the Volga-Oka Cultures of the 4th millennium
bc
in the upper Volga and Oka rivers and their tributaries around Moscow in western Russia. In origin, the Lialovo Culture results from local later Mesolithic groups adopting the use of pottery and characteristically Neolithic stone artefacts from groups further to the south. The basic economy of hunting, fishing, and food gathering, and the settlement pattern that focused on lake margins and river valley locations, remained unchanged. Lialovo pottery vessels are bag-shaped with pointed bases. They are heavily decorated using the pit and comb technique, usually with horizontal rows of pits or patterns made using pits and comb impressions. Three main phases have been recognized on the basis of decorative patterns: early styles which almost exclusively use round pits as motifs; the middle style using comb impressions and pits together; and the late style which is predominantly decorated using comb impressions. It is possible, however, that these different styles of decoration represent spatial variations between contemporary groups rather than successive phases.

 
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