Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (205 page)

The abandoned remains of a nucleated rural settlement abandoned sometime between the 12th century
ad
and the 19th century
ad
. Such sites often survive as earthworks or, in marginal areas, as ruinous structures. In the larger examples it is possible to define the church, manor house, dwellings, yards, streets, and many other features of the village, while smaller examples may have comprised only farmsteads and dwellings. In most cases fields, tracks, and droves are also preserved as earthworks around the village itself. There are many reasons why such settlements became deserted, amongst them the oft-cited explanation of plague and especially the
BLACK DEATH
. The majority, however, appear to have been deserted for economic reasons: because of rural depopulation, through changes in landholding brought about by
ENCLOSURE
, and because of the creation of landscaped parks from the 17th century onwards, when wealthy landowners sometimes physically moved whole settlements.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

The prevention of military conflict on the basis of ensuring that any aggressor believes they would suffer too many losses or have a fruitless task to make the initiation of hostilities worthwhile. The construction of large defences and access to the latest military hardware are both means of deterrence seen widely in the archaeological record.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

De Valera , Ruaidhri
(1917–78)
[Bi].

Distinguished Irish archaeologist, best known for his work on Neolithic tombs in Ireland. Born in Dublin the fourth son of Irish president Eamon de Valera , he was educated at Blackrock College and University College, Dublin, where he obtained a Ph.D. with a thesis on court tombs. His first professional appointment was with the Ordnance Survey of Ireland. In 1957 he was appointed Professor of Archaeology at University College, Dublin, and thereafter developed his department into the largest school of archaeology in Ireland. Amongst his many publications are the first four volumes of
The survey of the megalithic tombs of Ireland
, which he wrote with Seán Ó Nualláin .
[Obit.:
Irish Times
, 31 October 1978]

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

A type of later Neolithic burial monument found in clusters along the Atlantic coastlands of Northwest Europe, notably in central Ireland, north Wales, and Orkney. Dating mainly to the 3rd millennium
bc
, these structures represent enlarged or developed versions of the earlier
SIMPLE PASSAGE GRAVES
. They typically comprise a large round mound of earth and stone more than 35m in diameter, within which there is one or more stone-built chambers accessible from the outside of the mound via a long narrow passage. The chambers are usually square, rectangular, or polygonal in plan and often show structural compartmentalization with side cells opening from the main chamber. Burials either by inhumation or cremation were made in the side cells. The walls of the passage and chamber often carry
PASSAGE GRAVE ART
, as do the stones forming the kerb around the outside of the mound in some examples. Decorated stones brought from elsewhere are sometimes broken up and used in the construction of developed passage graves. In a number of examples the passages are aligned such that the rising or setting mid-winter sun shines into the central chamber for a few days each year. The largest and best-known examples are those in central Ireland, such as
NEWGRANGE
and
KNOWTH
. See also
PASSAGE GRAVE
and
MULTIPLE PASSAGE GRAVE
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Most forms of property development and material changes to land use need approval from a local or national government body responsible for spatial planning. This process is known as development control. The determination of applications and the granting of permission increasingly includes consideration of the archaeological implications of proposals. Where permission for development is granted, a condition can be imposed through the planning system which requires the developer to undertake, at their own expense, an agreed mitigation strategy that may variously involve the preservation or excavation of archaeological remains, or a combination of the two. As such, this approach provides a variant on the widely applied principle of environmental protection in which ‘the polluter pays’ for any damage done to the environment.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search