Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (591 page)

Orange mortarium usually with lug handles, an angular cut-out spout and a glossy red-brown slip applied only on the top of the flange, rim, and the internal concave moulding. The tradition stemmed ultimately from the continent, with factories known in Raetia. Most examples in Britain were locally made in kilns such as those at Holt, Wilderspool, Carlisle, and southwest Scotland.

 
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See
ROYAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
.

 
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An ancient shore-line formed at a time when the sea level was higher than it is today. As the sea level went down the former beach was left behind and may in some cases be far inland of the present shore.

 
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Wooden, brick, or stone-built structure used for storing grain or other crops built on stilts or legs of some kind to raise it off the ground. This allows the grain to be kept drier through the circulation of air below the floor and to be better protected from vermin. In England, medieval raised granaries were supported on mushroom-shaped
staddle stones
.

 
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Ancient city of the Ganges civilization, capital of the Magadha kingdom, now under the modern city of Rajgir. Early remains include a stone rampart of the 6th century
bc
. In later times the city was frequently visited by the Buddha and a series of elliptical structures may represent the remains of his Jivikarama monastery.
[Sum.: M. H. Kuraishi , 1951,
Rajgir
. Delhi: Department of Archaeology]

 
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Miocene-period hominid species dating to between
c.
15–6 million years ago generally believed to be ancestral to the
AUSTRALOPITHECUS
of
c.
5–1.5 million years ago and thus at the head of the sequence of hominid evolution that results in
Homo sapiens
. Ramapithecus was a small ape-like hominid that spent more time in the trees than on the ground; fossil remains have been found as far apart as Fort Ternan, Kenya, and the Siwalik Hills, India.

 
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