Read Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology Online
Authors: Timothy Darvill
Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (659 page)
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signal station
[MC].
[MC].
In Roman times a signal station was a distinctive military installation comprising a rectangular tower of stone or timber situated within a small enclosure. The tower was used for observation of the surrounding area and as a platform from which signals could be passed from tower to tower using fires or smoke.
sike
[Co].
[Co].
A drainage ditch, sometimes forming part of a meadow.
Silbury Hill, Avebury, UK
[Si].
[Si].
Reputedly the largest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe. Its present shape is a truncated cone with a base area of 2.1ha and a height of 40m. The flat top is 30m in diameter. The chalk to build this mound was quarried from a ditch which runs round the monument, but which is now partly silted up. It has been excavated on numerous occasions, but most recently under the direction of Richard Atkinson between 1968 and 1970, work sponsored by the BBC. These excavations revealed that the construction of the hill took place in three stages.
Silbury I (
c.
2800 bc) consisted of a flat circular area about 20m across which was enclosed by a low wattle fence. In the centre was a clay mound covered in soil and turves until it reached the fence. Over this was more earth and stone to form a mound 36m in diameter and 5.5m high. Silbury II involved the enlargement of the first mound with chalk from the surrounding quarry to form a structure 73m in diameter. In the final phase, Silbury III (?
c.
2200 bc), the mound was again extended to give a diameter of 160m. The new mound seems to have been built in a series of stages producing the effect of a stepped cone. Each stage was constructed with a series of buttress-like dumps of chalk contained within retaining walls. The total volume of chalk in the mound is estimated at 350000 cubic metres. What the purpose of the monument was is not known, as no burial has ever been discovered within it. It is partly intervisible with
AVEBURY
and a number of other contemporary sites in the area.
The top of the hill was occupied in medieval times, presumably because of its defensive potential.
[Rep.: A. Whittle , 1997,
Sacred mound, holy rings
. Oxford: Oxbow Books]
Silbury I (
c.
2800 bc) consisted of a flat circular area about 20m across which was enclosed by a low wattle fence. In the centre was a clay mound covered in soil and turves until it reached the fence. Over this was more earth and stone to form a mound 36m in diameter and 5.5m high. Silbury II involved the enlargement of the first mound with chalk from the surrounding quarry to form a structure 73m in diameter. In the final phase, Silbury III (?
c.
2200 bc), the mound was again extended to give a diameter of 160m. The new mound seems to have been built in a series of stages producing the effect of a stepped cone. Each stage was constructed with a series of buttress-like dumps of chalk contained within retaining walls. The total volume of chalk in the mound is estimated at 350000 cubic metres. What the purpose of the monument was is not known, as no burial has ever been discovered within it. It is partly intervisible with
AVEBURY
and a number of other contemporary sites in the area.
The top of the hill was occupied in medieval times, presumably because of its defensive potential.
[Rep.: A. Whittle , 1997,
Sacred mound, holy rings
. Oxford: Oxbow Books]
Silchester, Hampshire, UK
[Si].
[Si].
A major Roman city (
Calleva Atrebatum
) of some 43ha which is remarkable because it was not occupied in the post-Roman period and now survives in open countryside. Extensive excavations during the late 19th century, together with more recent campaigns directed by George Boon in the 1950s and 1960s, and Michael Fulford since 1974, provide a detailed picture of the development of the site.
Occupation started in the late 1st century
bc
when a series of earthworks defined an
oppidum
site of the
ATREBATES
. Following the Roman conquest the settlement was made into the cantonal capital of the region and was enclosed within a series of perimeter walls defining an irregular octagon in plan. Internally a regular street grid was laid out with the usual range of central administrative buildings such as the forum and basilica. Some areas within the walled town appear to have been occupied as urban farms, while elsewhere there were well-appointed town houses. Several temples are known inside the town, and there is an amphitheatre to the northeast. There is a possible early Christian church of the 4th century
ad
. The site was abandoned in the later 5th or early 6th century
ad
.
[Rep.: M. Fulford and J. Timby , 2000,
Late Iron Age and Roman Silchester
. London: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies]
Calleva Atrebatum
) of some 43ha which is remarkable because it was not occupied in the post-Roman period and now survives in open countryside. Extensive excavations during the late 19th century, together with more recent campaigns directed by George Boon in the 1950s and 1960s, and Michael Fulford since 1974, provide a detailed picture of the development of the site.
Occupation started in the late 1st century
bc
when a series of earthworks defined an
oppidum
site of the
ATREBATES
. Following the Roman conquest the settlement was made into the cantonal capital of the region and was enclosed within a series of perimeter walls defining an irregular octagon in plan. Internally a regular street grid was laid out with the usual range of central administrative buildings such as the forum and basilica. Some areas within the walled town appear to have been occupied as urban farms, while elsewhere there were well-appointed town houses. Several temples are known inside the town, and there is an amphitheatre to the northeast. There is a possible early Christian church of the 4th century
ad
. The site was abandoned in the later 5th or early 6th century
ad
.
[Rep.: M. Fulford and J. Timby , 2000,
Late Iron Age and Roman Silchester
. London: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies]
Silk Route
[Ge].
[Ge].
A rather generalized overland trading route of considerable antiquity that linked China with the Mediterranean. Dating from at least the 2nd century
bc
, if not earlier, the route is best known as the main conduit of silk, but other materials passed along it too. Starting in Chang'an (capital of the Han Dynasty) in China the route passed through the Gansu corridor and Wuwei into the Tarim Basin at Dunhuang. Here it branched into two main tracks across the nearly 2000km of desert (the Gobi and the Taklimakan) and the Pamirs before converging at Merv to continue on westward via Ecbatana and Ctesiphon to Palmyra and the Mediterranean coast. The cities along the Silk Route (such as Kuqa, Khotan, Jiaohe, and Gaochang) became immensely prosperous at the height of usage in Roman and later times down to the 11th century
ad
. Marco Polo followed the Silk Route in the 13th century to reach the court of Yuan emperor Kubilai Khan .
bc
, if not earlier, the route is best known as the main conduit of silk, but other materials passed along it too. Starting in Chang'an (capital of the Han Dynasty) in China the route passed through the Gansu corridor and Wuwei into the Tarim Basin at Dunhuang. Here it branched into two main tracks across the nearly 2000km of desert (the Gobi and the Taklimakan) and the Pamirs before converging at Merv to continue on westward via Ecbatana and Ctesiphon to Palmyra and the Mediterranean coast. The cities along the Silk Route (such as Kuqa, Khotan, Jiaohe, and Gaochang) became immensely prosperous at the height of usage in Roman and later times down to the 11th century
ad
. Marco Polo followed the Silk Route in the 13th century to reach the court of Yuan emperor Kubilai Khan .
BOOK: Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology
12.2Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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