Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (504 page)

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

A ceramic fabric in which iron oxide in the clay has absorbed as much oxygen as possible during firing. It is produced when vessels are fired with an ample and continuous supply of oxygen, usually resulting in a white, buff, orange, or red colour. Pottery can be partly oxidized (indicated by colour differences between the surface and core of the fabric), or unevenly oxidized (indicated by colour differences on the surface of a vessel).

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

The shoulder-blade of an ox or large cow which has been used to shovel up broken rock and soil. Discarded and broken examples of such shovels are well represented at Neolithic and early Bronze Age sites in the British Isles, usually in association with
ANTLER PICKS
and antler rakes which, together perhaps with baskets, leather ropes, and wooden levers, comprising the main tool kit of those responsible for earthmoving.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

A method of determining patterns of climatic change over long periods using the ratio of the stable oxygen isotopes
¹⁸
O to
¹⁶
O as an indicator of the amount of water locked up in ice-sheets and thus of global temperature. Sea water contains many isotopes of oxygen, the most common being
¹⁸
O to
¹⁶
O. During cold periods the glaciers grow, water is drawn up into them, and the proportion of
¹⁸
O increases. When the ice-caps melt during periods of warm climate the proportion of
¹⁸
O decreases. There are two ways of obtaining data about the
¹⁶
O to
¹⁸
O ratio, both using measurements made using a mass spectrometer. The first is to use cores from the polar ice-caps which preserve layers of snow ultimately made from sea water. The second is to use the skeletons of foraminifera preserved in ocean-bottom ooze because these marine fossils had the same
¹⁶
O to
¹⁸
O ratio as the sea water during the time they were alive. Using this data a series of at least eleven cycles of cooling and warming climatic conditions have been recognized in the northern hemisphere during the
PLEISTOCENE
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Makah Indian village situated on the western tip of the Olympic Peninsula on the coast of Washington State. The site was occupied from the 16th century
ad
down to the 20th century
ad
.
Once described as a hunter-gatherer ‘Pompeii’ because of its excellent preservation, excavations directed by Stephen Samuels and Richard Daugherty provide a vivid insight into the cultures of the Northwest Coast Tradition. The quality of survival arises because of a series of mudslides which periodically overwhelmed the settlement, thereby sealing it.
The most catastrophic inundation came about ad 1550 (stratigraphic unit IV), covering at least four timber houses and entombing no less than thirteen dogs in the process. The longhouses had been constructed of cedar planks. They were found to contain abundant artefacts of wood and other organic material. Baskets full of tools or stored food were found. Finely carved bone objects were represented including a replica whale fin with shells set in it.
The Makah were renowned whale hunters and stratigraphic unit V yielded the remains of at least 67 animals, mainly humpbacks and greys. Evidence of social stratification was evident in the disposition of artefacts and food waste within the houses. Each house was probably home to several nuclear families, each with its own hearth, but the family living in the northeastern corner of the house lived a demonstrably different way of life.
[Rep.: S. R. Samuels (ed.), 1991–4,
Ozette archaeological project research reports
. Seattle: Washington State University, 2 vols.]

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search