Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (180 page)

 
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The attribution of all matter and biological species to separate acts of creation rather than evolution. Such theories were current during the early centuries of antiquarian and archaeological research, and many reputations were staked and much energy was spent refuting them.

 
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The practice of burning the dead, variously on a specially constructed above-ground pyre, in a crematorium pit or trench, or occasionally by burning the house in which they lived. There are also many variations in the way that the cremated remains are disposed of. Archaeologically, the most common tradition was to gather up the ashes, place them in a pottery vessel of some kind, and bury the vessel in a pit that may or may not have been covered with a barrow of some kind. However, there are many ways of disposing of cremated remains that leave little or no archaeological evidence and these were probably the most usual in the past.

 
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An area used for the burial or scattering of cremated human remains. In some cases such cemeteries are represented by scatters of cremation-filled pits.
URNFIELD
.

 
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See
CINERARY URN
.

 
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The provision of regular spaces along the top of a wall or parapet through which missiles could be fired.

 
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British later Upper Palaeolithic cultures of the period 10000 bc down to 8000 bc, named after the type-site of Creswell Crags, Derbyshire, in central England. The characteristic tools of these cultures are large trapezes, obliquely blunted blades, and small backed blades. They occupied caves as well as open sites, their technologies and perhaps their culture being linked to the Tjongerian and
FEDERMESSER
industries of the Low Countries and northern Germany; these areas were accessible via what Bryony Coles has termed Doggerland—the dry bed of the North Sea.