Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (308 page)

Greek historian and traveller of the 5th century
bc
, born
c.
490 bc, whose principal work records the struggles between the Greeks and the Persians. Accounts of the campaigns of the 6th-century Achaemenid kings Cyrus , Cambyses , and Darius are followed by a description of the Ionic revolt, and of the attempts of Xerxes to exact retribution from the Greeks. Persian successes at Artemisium and Thermopylae finally led to the crucial sea-battle at Salamis in 480 bc, in which the Greeks under Thermistocles were victorious. Herodotus travelled widely in search of historical material, and in digressions from his central theme he gives accounts—some rather garbled—of barbarian tribes far beyond the Greek world. Died
c.
425 bc.

 
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Descriptive of a style of construction in which stonework or tiles are set in a zig-zag pattern.

 
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Hallstatt-period hillfort of about 3ha overlooking the River Danube in southern Germany. Extensive excavations directed by Kurt Bittel between 1950 and 1958 and by Egon Gersbach between 1963 and 1979 have revealed that the hilltop had first been occupied in the Bronze Age, but abandoned during the early Iron Age (Hallstatt C). During the 7th century
bc
it was re-occupied and from this period (Hallstatt D1) there are five main building phases. In the early 7th century
bc
the defences comprised a traditional timber-framed box rampart with a wall of timber back and front. This was replaced around 550 bc by a remarkable defensive system in a distinctively Greek style of construction. A wall was built of mud brick on a limestone foundation, punctuated by projecting bastions to allow cross-firing against anyone attacking the wall. Inside were rectangular houses of timber construction. This evidence of Greek influence is also reflected in the finds from the second phase, which include
ATTIC BLACK-FIGURE WARE
, wine amphorae imported from the Greek colony at Massalia, and coral. There was also extensive evidence for local manufacturing and trade. Throughout its life the Heuneburg seems to have been the seat of power for a local chiefdom, the power and wealth of which at least partly depended on the control of long-distance trade with the Mediterranean world. About 2km east of the fort is a rich cemetery at
SPECKHAU
, centred on the Hohmichele.
[Sum.: W. Kimmig , 1983,
Die Heuneburg an der oberen Donau
(2nd edition). Stuttgart: K. Theiss]

 
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A set of activities that are designed to throw up fresh ideas, new ways of looking at things, or alternative explanations of observed phenomena, as a prelude to the formulation of new propositions and theories. Some
EXPERIMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY
and a great deal of
ETHNOARCHAEOLOGY
is heuristic.

 
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Latin term for the winter quarters of a military force.

 
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An early medieval measure of land area, which at the Domesday Survey in ad 1086 in England can be taken to average about 120 acres (48.5ha), but there are wide disparities between regions. How it was measured in early medieval times is more difficult: it was either a unit of productivity, of extent, or of tax liability. A hide contained 4 virgates. The term is often encountered when working with early medieval documents in relation to archaeologically derived settlement patterns.

 
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