Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (193 page)

BOOK: Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology
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curtain wall
[Co].
Wall of a fortification.
curvilinear decoration
[De].
cushion stone
[Ar].
A flat-faced smooth stone used as a small anvil in metalworking. The earliest cushion stones from northern Europe are those from
BEAKER
graves.
custumal
[Ge].
A written statement of the customs of the manor, the services owed by tenants, and the rights and obligations of the lord.
Cuvier , Baron Georges Leopold
(1769–1832)
[Bi].
Pioneer French geologist and exponent of the
CATASTROPHIST
theory. He acquired a great reputation as a naturalist, and is widely acclaimed as the founder of vertebrate palaeontology. He developed the theory that there had in fact been three separate creations, each of which had ended in a cataclysm such as a great flood, in order to explain the fossils visible in the rock sequences he examined. In a sense such thinking paved the way for the comprehension of very big geological eras.
[Bio.: D. Outram , 1984,
George Cuvier: vocation, science and authority in post-revolutionary France
. Manchester: Manchester University Press]
Cuzco, Peru
[Si].
Capital of the Inca empire. The name Cuzco means ‘navel’ in Quechua, the holy place or Hauatanay on the southwest side of the town being the point at which the four quarters of the empire met.
Founded
c.
ad 1200 by Manco Capac , progenitor of the Inca dynasty, and rebuilt by Pachacuti at the time of Inca expansion after ad 1438, the city is built in the form of a puma and is divided into upper and lower halves. The enormous fortress of Sacsayhuamán lies at the northwest end and forms the head of the animal. The site was mainly a ceremonial and political centre rather than a major residential area. The Haucaypata has a large U-shaped plaza in the centre of the site, surrounded by public buildings.
[Rep.: J. H. Rowe , 1944,
An introduction to the archaeology of Cuzco
. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press]

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