Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (491 page)

An early phase in the development of hominid societies recognized on the basis of stone toolmaking industries from Bed I sites in the Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, and other African sites. Consisting of simple chipped pebbles made by removing flakes from alternate faces of a naturally rounded pebble or cobble. Known as ‘choppers’, these tools show signs of use for cutting and scraping, but were probably opportunistically made as the need arose. Oldowan industries have been dated to the period 2 million to 1.6 million years ago and are provisionally associated with
Homo habilis
.

 
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Multi-phase hilltop settlement overlooking the river Avon about 2km north of modern-day Salisbury. Excavations and studies of the historical accounts of the site suggest at least four main phases to its use, starting in the 2nd century
bc
with the construction of a
HILLFORT
enclosing the entire hilltop. Occupation continued through into the Roman period when it lay at the junction of two major roads. The second main phase of use began immediately after the Norman conquest when William I constructed a motte and bailey castle in the middle of the earlier hillfort. A cathedral consecrated in ad 1092 was built adjacent to the castle, together creating an important political and ecclesiastical centre. During the 12th century
ad
, the castle was elaborated and the cathedral expanded. An outer curtain wall was built to enclose the settlement, which by this time was a prosperous trading centre too. The final phase dates to the 1220s when under the guidance of Bishop Poore the cathedral and the settlement were moved to the present site of Salisbury and the existing buildings and structures demolished.
[Sum.: RCHME, 1980,
City of Salisbury
, vol. 1. London: HMSO]

 
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See
PALAEOLITHIC
.

 
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An ancient lake basin on the edge of the Serengeti Plain in northern Tanzania containing a long sequence of sediments that contain one of the longest sequences of cultural remains currently known in the world. Excavated and surveyed by Louis and Mary Leakey intermittently between 1931 and the late 1960s, these deposits contain stone tools, faunal assemblages, and hominid fossils spanning the period 1.9 million years ago through to about 10000 bc. The earliest hominid fossils are those of
Homo habilis
and
Australopithecus boisei
associated with beds I and II and with the
OLDOWAN
stone tool industries. From about 1.6 million years ago the tool industries change to Acheulian and Developed Oldowan, the earliest fossils of
Homo erectus
being from about 1.25 million years ago and extending through beds III and IV.
[Rep.: M. D. Leakey , 1971,
Olduvai Gorge
, excavations in Beds I and II, 1960–1963. Cambridge: CUP]

 
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General term used to refer to Europe, western Asia, the Near East, and North Africa.

 
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An evergreen tree (Olea) that produces a small oval oil-producing fruit. Grown around the Mediterranean from the 3rd millennium
bc
onwards, the cultivated variety (Olea europaea) is believed to derive from a wild species native to Afghanistan, although wild species are known further west.

 
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