Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (538 page)

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

1
An ingot of metal, especially lead or iron, taken from a smelting furnace.
2
[Sp].
An omnivorous hoofed bristly mammal, descendant of the wild boar (Sus scrofa scrofa) and native to virtually the whole of Europe and southern Asia. Pigs were first domesticated in the Near East in the 7th millennium
bc
. Modern domestic pigs (Sus scrofa vittatus) mainly derive from examples native to southeastern Asia which were introduced to Europe in the 18th century
ad
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Bone pin made from the fibula of a pig with a long narrow triangular outline and a perforation at the thicker wider top end. Scandinavian in origin this simple style is found widely across northern Europe in the later 1st millennium
ad
. Possibly used as netting needles or dress pins.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Piggott , Stuart
(1910–96)
[Bi].

British prehistorian well known for his studies of the European Neolithic. Born in Petersfield he was educated at Churcher's College and later at St John's College, Oxford. After five years with the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales starting in 1929, he went on to become assistant director of excavations at Avebury, Wiltshire. During WW2 he served in the army and from 1942 to 1945 was in India where, in the company of Mortimer Wheeler , he greatly advanced archaeological research, later publishing a book on
Prehistoric India
(1950). Upon returning to England he went to St John's College, Oxford, to take a B. Litt.; his thesis was on the noted 18th-century antiquary
WILLIAM STUKELEY
. In 1946 he was appointed to the Abercromby Chair of Archaeology in the University of Edinburgh, where he stayed until his retirement in 1977. In 1953 he excavated at Stonehenge, Wiltshire, and in 1955 at the West Kennet long barrow, Wiltshire. His publications include
The Neolithic cultures of the British Isles
(1954) and
Ancient Europe
(1965). The latter remains a key textbook on the prehistory of Europe and illustrates very well Piggott's ability to synthesize large bodies of material into an informative narrative. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1953 and made a CBE in 1972. Piggott continued his academic studies after his retirement, from his home in West Challow, Oxfordshire. In this period he published important texts such as
The first wheeled vehicles
(1983) and
Ancient Britons and the antiquarian imagination
(1989). He was also productive outside archaeology with a volume of poems published as
Fire amongst the ruins 1942>–1945
(1947) and contributions to other works.
[Obit.:
Proceedings of the British Academy
, 97 (1988), 413–42]

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Medieval weapon comprising a long narrow lance-like head and a shaft between 3m and 6m long.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Pillars of brick (or stone) typically 20–40cm square and up to 0.8m high supporting the floor of a room with a hypocaust below.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search