Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (756 page)

Different philosophical underpinnings to the way that archaeological problems are approached carry with them specific implications for the way in which the results or outcomes are presented. Positivist approaches, seen for example in
PROCESSUAL ARCHAEOLOGY
, favour the development of
EXPLANATIONS
. The relativist approaches axiomatic to most
POST-PROCESSUAL ARCHAEOLOGY
seek instead to develop understandings; the articulation of a set of perceived meanings or knowledge which together form a
DISCOURSE
that is situated within a particular set of circumstances. In this sense an understanding carries with it the idea of contradiction and an acceptance that what is being presented is neither the ‘truth’ nor a complete picture that everyone agrees with. See also
MULTIVOCALITY
.

 
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A subdiscipline involving the study and investigation of archaeological sites, deposits, and shipwrecks beneath the surface of the water in the seas, oceans, lakes, and rivers. See also
MARITIME ARCHAEOLOGY
;
WETLAND ARCHAEOLOGY
.

 
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See
URNFIELD
.

 
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Group of dwelling houses and associated structures and working areas that are not surrounded by a defensive or boundary work such as a fence or rampart. Unenclosed settlements are often closely associated with or directly connected to field systems and tend to be built where the need for defence against animals or other communities is minimal.

 
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United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Established in 1946 for the purpose of advancing, through the educational, scientific, and cultural relations of the peoples of the world, the objectives of international peace and the common welfare of mankind.

 
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A large group of early Bronze Age communities in central Europe, especially Bohemia, Bavaria, southeastern Germany, and western Poland dating to the second half of the 3rd millennium
bc
. Named after a cemetery of 60 graves excavated north of Prague in the Czech Republic. Also known as the
Aunjetitz Culture
. The early phase seems to have developed out of the local
BELL BEAKER CULTURE
and embraces a series of regional groups including Nitra (western Slovakia), Adlerberg (mid-Rhine), Straubing (Bavaria), Marschwitz (Oder Basin), and Unterwölbling (Austria). The later or ‘classic’ Ún
tice Culture dates to the end of the 3rd millennium
bc
. Burials are generally inhumations, sometimes within wooden mortuary houses under round barrows, and show marked social differentiation. The most lavish have been compared to the broadly contemporary
WESSEX CULTURE
burials of southern England. One of the distinguishing features of the culture is its use of tin-bronze metallurgy. Amongst the metal artefacts made were ogival and triangular daggers with metal hilts, flanged axes, halberds, spiral arm-rings, solid bronze bracelets, and a variety of pins. Settlements are less well documented than cemeteries, but have produced timber houses of long rectangular plan. To the east, the Ún
tice Culture overlaps the currency of the
NAGYRÉV
and
HATVAN CULTURES
, all within Montelius' Bronze Period I.