Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (456 page)

A small grinding stone, often for use with pigments but also grains, ores, and drugs.

 
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Müller , Sophus Otto
(1846–1934)
[Bi].

Danish archaeologist well known for his work developing excavation technique. Born in Copenhagen, he enrolled at Copenhagen University in 1864 to study classics and attend lectures by Jen
WORSAAE
. During the 1870s he worked for a short time as a teacher but gradually became more closely involved with the collections in the Copenhagen Museum and in 1871 he accompanied Worsaae on visits to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. In 1878, after further travels, he was employed as a scientific assistant to his father in the Department of Numismatics in the museum. He became curator of the Royal Museum in 1885, and in 1892, when the museum was reorganized as the National Museum, he became co-director with responsibility for the prehistoric collections. He remained here until retirement in 1921. Throughout his professional life Müller carried out a lot of fieldwork and considerably developed the techniques of stratigraphic excavation, especially in respect of recognizing superimposed burials within round barrows. He also developed a more socially sensitive view of early communities by recognizing the existence of local and regional cultures rather than the very broad chronological horizons that were the concern of Montelius and others.
[Bio.: M. L. Stig Sørenson , 1999, Sophus Otto Müller (1846–1933). In T. Murray (ed.),
Encyclopedia of archaeology I. The great archaeologists
. Oxford: ABC-Clio, 193–210]

 
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A vertical post or bar dividing a window into two or more lights.

 
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A theory of cultural evolution that sees each human culture evolving in its own way by adaptation to diverse environments: different ‘pathways’ of evolutionary development followed by different societies. Sometimes divided into four broad stages of evolving social organization: band, tribe, chiefdom, and state-organized society.

 
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A class of enclosure complex associated with extensive linear ditch systems on the chalk ridges of southern Britain, dated to the later Iron Age. Sites of this class cover large areas, typically between 25ha and 60ha, the boundaries being marked by discontinuous single or multiple ditches. They seem to have been settlements as well as the contexts for a range of agricultural, political, and ceremonial activities. One of the most fully investigated is Blagdon Copse at Hurstborne Tarrant, Hampshire.

 
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A class of later prehistoric enclosure found in the southwest of Britain, usually on sloping ground. The defining characteristics are the series of two or more broadly concentric earthworks bounding the site. The central areas are generally small, between 0.4ha and 3.5ha, although some have a range of annexes and appended structures. They usually have a single entrance and where excavated show evidence for domestic occupation. They were probably farmsteads occupied by pastoralist communities. Also known as hillslope enclosures.

 
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