Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (790 page)

Middle Saxon style of pottery made using a slow-turning potter's wheel at workshops around Whitby in North Yorkshire, England.

 
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White , Leslie Alvin
(1900–75)
[Bi].

American anthropologist well known for promoting evolutionary thinking in archaeology and anthropology. He viewed culture as a system and saw the development of societies as being related to the need to capture ever greater amounts of energy in order to sustain themselves. In this, White ignored the influence of environment and one culture on another, emphasizing instead the long-term nature of cultural development and the fact that if human groups did not stay ahead they were subsumed by other groups. As a result his perception of cultural change was materialistic and rather deterministic, but it was an approach that contributed much to the development of
PROCESSUAL ARCHAEOLOGY
. White published two important general accounts of his work: in 1949 as
The science of culture: a study of man and civilization
(New York: Strand), and in 1959 as
The evolution of culture
(New York: McGraw-Hill).
[Obit.
American Anthropologist
, 78 (1976), 612–29]

 
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Style of Greek pottery common in the 5th century
bc
in which a white slip was applied to the surface of a vessel onto which was painted figurative decoration in a range of colours. The most common vessel form decorated in this way was the
LEKYTHOS
, often linked with funeral ceremonies.

 
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See
HILL FIGURE
.

 
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William Hunt and Sons (now part of Spear and Jackson ), manufacturers of high-quality robust steel mason's pointing trowels that have become the industry-standard tool for excavating in Britain. Experienced excavators often have a collection of prized trowels, the blades variously worn down from the preferred 4-inch starting size, that have served through many seasons so that each has a story to tell.

 
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Interwoven branches or withies formed as panels for screens and revetments, or shaped as fabrications such as baskets, traps, and containers.

 
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