Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (129 page)

 
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An officer of the Roman army, a centurion commanded a group of 80 men. Centurions usually rose through the ranks of the legion and were thoroughly experienced and professional soldiers. The senior centurion in a legion commanded the First Cohort and was known as
primus pilus
.

 
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A period of 100 calendar years.

 
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A measure of the shape of the human skull obtained by expressing the maximum breadth of the skull as a percentage of the maximum length measured from a point just below the eyebrow ridges. A figure below 75 is considered
DOLICHOCEPHALIC
, between 75 and 80 is mesocephalic, and above 80 is
BRACHYCEPHALIC
. It has long been argued that related population groups can, in broad terms, be distinguished from one another using this measure and to a point this is true. It is recognized, however, that the cephalic index is a rather crude measure and that far more dimensions are required adequately to compare skull shapes.

 
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The state that clay achieves when converted into pottery by firing to a temperature of not less than 500°C. The term ‘ceramics’ is often used to refer to assemblages of pottery.

 
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A technique for studying the composition, character, and construction of ceramic materials by treating them like pieces of rock (which really they are). Two main approaches are used:
THIN SECTION
analysis and
HEAVY MINERAL ANALYSIS
.

 
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A general term covering a range of
BARLEY
,
WHEAT
,
OATS
, and
RYE
.