Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (486 page)

A general term used to describe any set of deposits that are believed to represent in situ settlement at a site, especially quantities of domestic refuse such as, for example, broken pottery, discarded tools, faunal remains, and ash and charcoal from hearth sweeping.

 
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Archaic Stage marine-mammal-hunting communities, descendants of the Palaeo-Arctic traditions, living on Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula in the period
c.
4000–2500 bc, predating the emergence of sedentary coastal populations. Barbed stone harpoon points of polished slate and stone lamps are known. Hunted food sources include sea otter, seal, sea lion, and porpoise. The spears used in hunting were lightly coated in aconite poison from the monkshood plant to increase efficiency.

 
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An early trading port in the Mekong Delta in Cochin China, South Vietnam, excavated by L. Malleret in the 1940s, and thought to be the main port of the Funan kingdom. The town, which dates to the early 1st millennium
ad
, had substantial defences comprising five ramparts and four moats. The area enclosed covers 450ha. Inside there are buildings of stone as well as timber structures on piles. The scale of trade is represented by the finds of objects of Mediterranean origin, including a gold coin of Antonius Pius dated ad 152 and Sassanid seals. Indian material also includes seals of 3rd-century
ad
date, beads, and jewellery. There are also Chinese bronzes. Local craft production included the manufacture of glass and stone beads, and extensive tin, bronze, and gold working. The town was linked to the coast and its hinterland by a series of canals that can be traced on aerial photographs.
[Sum.: L. Malleret , 1959–63,
L'archéologie du Delta du Mekong
. Paris, 4 vols.]

 
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See
ORKNEY–CROMARTY–HEBRIDEAN GROUP
.

 
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Naturally occurring soft oxides of iron in either yellow or red forms. Ochres were much used as colouring materials in prehistoric and later times for cave art, decorating pottery, and probably colouring parts of the human body. Red ochre was certainly used in a ceremonial context to colour corpses before burial from Palaeolithic times onwards.

 
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A type of thick red-coloured pottery with an ochre wash on the surface found at sites in the upper Ganges Valley of India and Pakistan. Dating to the later 2nd millennium
bc
, it bridges the period between the late
HARAPPAN CULTURES
and the
INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION
.

 
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