Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (629 page)

BOOK: Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology
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Sami
(Saami)
[CP].
Indigenous communities traditionally practising reindeer pastoralism in northern Scandinavia, north Russia, and Greenland. Formerly known by the general name of Lapps.
Samian ware
[Ar].
sampling
[Ge].
The process of taking a defined and quantified proportion of a larger population of target items as being representative of the population as a whole. A number of sampling schemes are commonly used in archaeology including:
SIMPLE RANDOM SAMPLING
,
STRATIFIED SAMPLING
, and
SYSTEMATIC SAMPLING
.
San Agustín Culture
[CP].
A regional chiefdom of farming communities living in the highlands of south Columbia in South America in the period 500 bc–ad 500. Over 30 sites are known, mostly dispersed hamlets, although some ceremonial centres have been recognized. Agriculture was intensive and involved terracing and small-scale irrigation systems in the highlands. The ceremonial sites include earth mounds up to 30m across, used for burials. Each mound contained galleries and tomb-chambers built of stone slabs. The dead were placed in carved stone sarcophagi. Sculpture was also characteristic of the San Agustín Culture, mainly anthropogenic forms carved on boulders, in cliff faces, or as free-standing pillars. The heads of these sculptures often have grimacing faces whose mouths reveal crossed fangs.
sanction
[Ge].
A mode of reward or punishment that reinforces socially or politically expected forms of behaviour or conduct.
Sanctuary (The), Avebury, Wiltshire, UK
[Si].

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