The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology
© Oxford University Press 2000, 2003
Published by Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP
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Entry categories
In order to assist with the usage of the entries in this dictionary, all the terms have been classified into a series of main groupings. These are indicated by abbreviations in square brackets set immediately after the word or term and before the definition. The following categories have been used:
[Ab]
| Abbreviation
|
[Ar]
| Artefact
|
[Bi]
| Biographical entry
|
[Co]
| Component or feature of a recognized class of monument
|
[CP]
| Cultural phase, period, tradition, or defined grouping
|
[De]
| Descriptive term
|
[Di]
| Deity
|
[Do]
| Document (usually a historical text relevant to archaeological enquiry)
|
[Eq]
| Equipment used in archaeological work
|
[Ge]
| General term
|
[Le]
| Legal term
|
[Ma]
| Material
|
[MC]
| Monument class or category
|
[Na]
| Name of historical or mythical person
|
[Or]
| Organization, association, society, institution, or company
|
[Sp]
| Plant or animal species/genus
|
[Si]
| Site, monument, or area of archaeological importance
|
[Sl]
| Slang
|
[Te]
| Technique commonly used in archaeological work
|
[Th]
| Theoretical perspective, model, or set of principles underpinning archaeological work
|
Abbreviations
Abio.
| Autobiography
|
AD
| anno Domini
|
BC
| Before Christ (expressed in conventional calendar/solar years)
|
Bio.
| Biography
|
c .
| circa
|
CoE
| Council of Europe
|
CUP
| Cambridge University Press
|
d.
| died
|
EC
| European Commission
|
EU
| European Union
|
HMSO
| Her Majesty's Stationery Office
|
Not.
| Biographical note/review
|
Obit.
| Obituary
|
OUP
| Oxford University Press
|
pl.
| plural
|
RAF
| Royal Air Force
|
RCHME
| Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England
|
Rep.
| Report on a major excavationor survey of the site/region
|
Rev.
| Review
|
Sum.
| Summary
|
TV
| Television
|
UK
| United Kingdom
|
USA
| United States of America
|
WW1
| World War 1
|
WW2
| World War 2
|
A
AAS
[Ab].
abacus
[Ar].
The uppermost member of a capital, set atop a pillar, and, on classical buildings, in contact with the bottom of the
ENTABLATURE
. The abacus resembles in form the flat slab on which it was modelled.
Abbasids
[CP].
An Arab dynasty descended from Abbas , uncle of Muhammad , who supplanted the Umayyads in ad 750.
Abbeville, France
[Si].
A gravel pit in the 45m gravel terrace of the Somme Valley, France, from which numerous handaxes were obtained by Boucher de Perthes and others from ad 1836 onwards and which in 1939 gave its name to the
ABBEVILLIAN
.
[Sum.: F. Bordes , 1956, Some observations on the Pleistocene succession in the Somme Valley.
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society
, 22, 1–5]