Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (287 page)

A Roman patrician who in
c.
ad 575 left an official career to become a monk. He became involved in church administration and in 590 was made Pope. He is famous for reputedly introducing the ‘Gregorian’ chant, and his correspondence contains a wealth of information about the later 6th century in Italy. In 596 he sent missionaries to convert the English to Christianity. Pope Gregory I died
c.
ad 604.

 
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Archaeological reports with limited distribution, usually client reports prepared by archaeological contractors.

 
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Flat ceramic plate used for baking manioc as the final stage in the process of detoxifying it for human consumption. Such griddles are especially common in the north-eastern part of South America. The presence of such griddles is also a sign that manioc is being cultivated.

 
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Grimes , William Francis
(1905–88)
[Bi].

British archaeologist and prehistorian who was the first archaeologist to be employed full-time on rescue archaeology. Peter , as he was invariably known, was born in South Wales and educated at the University of Wales where he read classics before going on to a master's degree on the Legionary Fortress at Holt in Denbighshire. He joined the National Museum of Wales as Assistant Keeper of Archaeology in 1926, remaining there until 1938 when he left to join the Ordnance Survey Archaeology Section. This continued to be his official post until 1945, but at the outbreak of WW2 he was seconded to the Ministry of Defence to record and excavate archaeological sites threatened with destruction because of wartime defence requirements. In 1956 he became director of the Institute of Archaeology in the University of London, and over the following decade and a half guided the Institute through many changes and developments. His many publications include
The prehistory of Wales
(1951, Cardiff: National Museum of Wales),
Excavations on defence sites 1939–45
(1960, London: HMSO), and
The excavation of Roman and medieval London
(1968, London: Methuen).
[Obit.:
The Times
, 28 December 1988]

 
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An extensive series of later Neolithic flint mines on the Breckland of East Anglia in eastern England. Surveys and limited excavations since the late 19th century
ad
have revealed more than 350 shafts over an area in excess of 7ha. The high-quality flint available at the site lies in three bands—topstone, wall-stone, and floorstone—but it was only the deeper floorstone that seems to have interested the miners and they excavated shafts up to 12m down into the chalk to get it. Use of the site spanned at least 1000 years and it is suggested that at any one time there might have been just a few shafts in operation.
[Rep.: R. Mercer , 1981,
Grimes Graves, Norfolk. Excavations 1971–72
, volume 1. London: Department of the Environment]

 
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A type of early and middle Neolithic pottery found in the northeast of England, named after the site of Hanging Grimston in what was formerly the East Riding of Yorkshire. Characterized by fine fabrics, good-quality finish, and round-bottomed forms with a carinated profile. In 1974 Isobel Smith suggested that such pots were part of a far wider distribution of carinated vessels found right across the British Isles and she proposed the term Grimston–Lyles Hill ware. These vessels represent the earliest style of pottery found in the British Neolithic, although the term
shouldered bowl
is now preferred to Grimston–Lyles Hill.

 
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