Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (579 page)

BOOK: Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology
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Ptolemy
[Na].
The name used by all the kings who ruled Egypt in the period 304 bc to 30 bc. The founder of the dynasty was Ptolemy Lagus who was a general of Alexander the Great and who established himself in Egypt following the death of Alexander and the break-up of the Macedonian empire in 323 bc. Although Egypt was essentially a
HELLENISTIC
state during the Ptolemy period, many traditional forms of art and architecture were maintained and hieroglyphics were still used.
public archaeology
[Ge].
pueblo
[MC].
A Spanish word used to describe a type of stone or brick-built multi-roomed dwelling found in the southwest USA. Pueblos usually occur as a complex agglomeration of individual houses and other structures, sometimes on several levels. Many of the rooms were entered via a trap-door in the roof.
Pueblo Bonito, New Mexico, USA
[Si].
An Anasazi pueblo village in the Chaco Canyon, probably the largest such pueblo known in the area. Excavated by George Pepper and Richard Wetherill in 1897–9, and again by Neil Judd on behalf of the National Geographic Society in 1921–7, the site comprises over 300 ground-floor rooms and 32 kivas covering an area of 1.2ha.
Bonito was a planned settlement, set out in the form of a giant D with the back of the structure around the curve of the D so that it was built against the mesa cliff. The structure rises to four or five storeys and there are over 800 rooms in all.
At the focus of the pueblo was a large plaza in which was a great kiva flanked by rectangular rooms, possibly storerooms for food and ritual paraphernalia.
Two main phases of construction have been recognized: the earliest in the 10th century
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(Pueblo II), the second in the later 11th century
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(Pueblo III). The site seems to have been abandoned by ad 1200.
[Rep.: N. M. Judd , 1964,
The architecture of Pueblo Bonito
. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution]
Pueblo Cultures
[CP].
A general term used to describe culturally homogeneous but linguistically diverse agricultural communities of the Anasazi, Hohokam, and Mogollon cultures of southwestern parts of North America in the period after about ad 1400. The key feature of the Pueblo Tradition was the use of large settlements with multi-roomed, sometimes multi-storied houses, and some masonry construction.
At the 1927 Pecos Conference, five main stages to the Pueblo Tradition were identified. Pueblo I (ad 700–900) was represented by increased diversity of house types, improved ceramics, and the appearance of kivas. In Pueblo II (ad 900–1150) surface dwellings became the norm, pottery decoration changed, and multi-roomed complexes began to appear. Pueblo III (ad 1100–1300) is marked by greater nucleation of the population in fewer but larger settlements, including cliff dwellings such as at Monte Verde. Pueblo IV (ad 1300–1600) saw the virtual abandonment of small villages and the concentration of population along the Rio Grande. Pueblo V (ad 1600–present) is the period of European contact.
pulsed induction meter
[Eq].
A kind of metal detector used in geophysical surveying to detect primary metals and, under favourable conditions, shallowly buried features. A magnetic field is generated by a transmitted pulse in order to induce a magnetic moment in the soil and its contents. The magnetic moment continues to increase in magnitude while the field is maintained. When the magnetic field is removed at the end of the transmitted pulse, a small magnetic moment remains and the subsequent decay of this so-called magnetic viscosity induces a voltage in a receiver coil. The voltage induced is broadly proportional to the magnetic susceptibility of the soil and any materials in it at the point sampled. The technique is not very widely used.
BOOK: Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology
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