Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (128 page)

 
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A general and misapplied term referring to the small square and rectangular fields usually bounded by lynchets, originating in the Bronze Age, but widespread in Romano-British times in the British Isles and northwest Europe.

 
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Any group of two or more separate or substantive graves.

 
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A set of ideas and principles developed by the German geographer W. Christaller in the 1930s to explain the spacing and function of settlement patterns. Under ideal circumstances, he argued, central places of the same size and form will become established at roughly equal spacings with secondary or lower-order centres in between, each of which in turn may be connected to smaller units. Despite certain limitations, the general principles appear to have application to ancient settlement patterns, especially those relating to societies in which a
MARKET ECONOMY
of some kind was operating.

 
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See
CORE–PERIPHERY MODEL
.

 
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Unit of 80 legionary soldiers, commanded by a centurion.

 
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The Roman practice of formally dividing up the countryside (
territorium
) around newly established
coloniae
into square blocks as allotments for the occupants of the colony. The blocks are typically 776 yards along each side, the boundaries being formed by roads or substantial fences/hedges. Once established the regular grid pattern usually survives into much later times even though the land tenure system changes.