Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (622 page)

Early copper-mining area in the limestone hills of the Saska Valley in the upland Majdapek area of eastern Serbia. Excavations by B. Jovanovi between 1968 and 1982 revealed more than 25 shafts following veins of malachite 20m or more into the ground. The technique used seems to have been to build platforms on the steep hillside and from these to follow the almost vertical veins down into the ground. Sealed deposits of miners' lamps, antler picks, and stone mauls have been found in abandoned shafts. Pottery of the
VIN
A CULTURE
has also been found in the backfilled shafts, emphasizing the antiquity of these operations back into the early 4th millennium
bc
.
[Sum.: B. Jovanovi , 1979, The technology of primary copper mining in south-east Europe.
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society
, 45, 103–10]

 
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A dilapidated, devastated, decayed, partly destroyed, fallen-down, or tumbled structure or construction. Usually as applied to buildings or architectural features.

 
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An angular script consisting of simple strokes devised by Germanic peoples through contact with Mediterranean alphabets in the 3rd century
ad
. Runes were used throughout northern Europe up to the Middle Ages as a result of Viking expansion, most commonly in dedications on jewellery and on free-standing memorial stones.

 
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General term for an upright block of slate or stone carrying a runic inscription. Found in northern and western parts of the British Isles and Scandinavia, but few remain in situ.

 
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A leguminous plant (Phaseolus coccineus) with kidney-shaped edible seeds in a long thin pod. Native of Mesoamerica. Domesticated from perhaps 3000 bc.

 
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A kind of
RIDGE AND FURROW
cultivation used in northern and western parts of the British Isles, especially in Scotland. Here agriculture was based on a farmstead rather than the village so that the area of cultivated land was usually smaller. Near the farm was ‘infield’ that was regularly cultivated. Beyond was ‘outfield’ that received no manuring and would be ploughed annually for a short time (typically five years) before being allowed to revert to grassland. All the arable was divided into ridged strips as in lowland England.

 
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