Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (505 page)

BOOK: Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology
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Ozieri Culture
[CP].
Late Neolithic and Copper Age communities of Sardinia in the western Mediterranean in the late 4th and 3rd millennia
bc
. Open villages, caves, and rock-cut tombs are known. The pottery is of very high quality with polished and burnished surfaces. Decoration includes incised motifs such as zig-zags, hatched triangles, arcs, festoons, and stars. The carinated forms suggest some connections with
CHASSEY
or
LAGOZZA
pottery, but the decoration is quite different. Marble figurines and a few copper and silver objects are also known. Beaker ceramics reached Sardinia from southern France during the later Ozieri Culture.
P

 

pa
[MC].
A Maori defended settlement either comprising an enclosure bounded by a bank and ditch or, in swampy areas, an enclosure defended by one or more palisades. Mostly found in the North Island of New Zealand.
Pacacocha Culture
[CP].
South American farming cultures found in the Rio Ucayali area of Amazonia and tentatively dated to
c.
ad 400–500. Characterized by their ceramic assemblages which belong to the Polychrome Horizon Style of Amazonia.
Pacal
[Na].
Ruler of Palenque, Mexico, between ad 615 and 682 during which time the town became an important centre of the Maya Lowlands. When Pacal died he was buried in a subterranean crypt over which was constructed the Temple of the Inscriptions.
Pachacamac, Peru
[Si].
Large ceremonial centre of the middle Horizon situated in the Lurin Valley south of Lima. Excavated by Max Uhle , the site appears to have been a major pilgrimage centre focused on the oracle of Pachacamac, possibly part of the Huari empire although possibly the centre of its own polity.
Pottery from the graves associated with early temples on the site define three main styles in the local polychrome technique known as the Pachacamac technique. When the Inca conquered the site they added their own Temple of the Sun to the existing structures. Numerous richly appointed female mummies were found associated with this temple, some showing evidence of death by strangulation.
[Rep.: M. Uhle , 1903,
Pachacamac
. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania; M. Rostworowski de Diez Canseco , 1992,
Pachacamac y El Señor de los Milagros
. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos]
Pacific Eskimo Cultures
[CP].
General term covering the descendants of Palaeo-Arctic communities occupying the coastal fringes of western and northern Alaska, lands fringing the Arctic Ocean, around Hudson Bay, the north Labrador Coast, and parts of Greenland from about 3000 bc. These groups are commonly believed to be the ancestors of modern Inuit communities. They made use of resources found in the sea, on the coast, and on the tundra.
One of their most distinctive innovations was a bone toggling harpoon. This was a harpoon with a detachable head that could twist sideways (toggle) in the flesh of animals that were shot. They probably used dog traction and had boats.
BOOK: Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology
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