Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (616 page)

This term is used both of wheel-made Roman pottery in coarse or colour-coated fabrics with stamped or bossed decoration resembling that on many hand-made Saxon vessels, and of hand-made Saxon pottery imitating Roman forms. It is found mainly in eastern England. The former class belongs to the late 3rd and 4th centuries and is not to be confused with stamped ware of earlier periods such as
LONDON
and
PARISIAN
wares.

 
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More formally known as the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, this membership organization was founded in 1911 to deal with the archaeology, art, literature, and history of Italy and the Roman empire down to the year ad 700. The society publishes the
Journal of Roman Studies
and
Britannia
.

 
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Below the modern streets of the capital of Italy lie the remains of one of the greatest and most influential centres in the ancient world. Legend holds that Rome was founded in 754 bc by the twins Romulus and Remus who were abandoned by their parents but suckled by a she-wolf, but archaeology shows that the story begins rather before this and can be divided into five main phases.
The early settlement began in the 10th or 9th century
bc
when a series of farmsteads and villages developed on the famous seven hills (Capitoline, Palatine, Aventine, Caelian, Esquiline, Viminal, and Quirinal) overlooking the River Tiber. The areas between the hills were poorly drained and were used as burial grounds.
In the 7th century
bc
the existing settlements were brought together as an Etruscan city by rulers from the north. New and substantial buildings were erected and the low-lying marshland was drained and used for the construction of public buildings and the city centre. The city became an important religious and trading centre.
In the 6th century the Romans rose in revolt against their Etruscan rulers and expelled them from the city. In place of the monarchy they set up a republic with power vested in a senate and two annually elected consuls. The city quickly grew and by the 4th century needed its own water supplies to be brought via the Aqua Appia, the first of many aqueducts feeding the city.
Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 bc was followed by the development of imperial rule, headed by the first emperor, Augustus . By this time Rome was the largest city in the ancient world with a population of around 1 million people. Augustus and his successors embarked on ambitious building programmes and the expansion of the empire to support it. By the later 3rd century
ad
the empire had reached its peak and from that time began to decline. Defence became important and one of the most conspicuous monuments even today are the massive walls started by the emperor Aurelian around ad 271. Rome declined in importance during the 4th century
ad
, and was sacked by the Goths in ad 410.
Rome retained its pre-eminence as a religious centre and Papal State into the Middle Ages and beyond, while classical Roman traditions lived on in art and architecture.
[Sum.: A. Claridge , 1998,
Rome. An Oxford archaeological guide
. Oxford: OUP]

 
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Late Neolithic culture of the Isle of Man named after a substantial assemblage of material recorded during the wartime excavation of a sunken-floor structure at Ronaldsway Airport in the south part of the island. Characterized by deep baggy jars, stone axes with roughened butts, and distinctive types of flint tools, the Ronaldsway Neolithic dates to the 3rd millennium
bc
and is found exclusively on the Isle of Man. Contacts with surrounding areas are represented by shared monument types such as mini-henges, stone circles, passage graves, and entrance graves, but the culture has its own unique structures too, including the deposition of earthfast jars.

 
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The ancient script of Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean. The script has about 120 pictographic symbols but has not been deciphered and no outside source is known.

 
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