Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (624 page)

Phoenician and Roman port on the North African coast in modern-day Libya, excavated by Kathleen Kenyon between 1948 and 1951. Founded by the Phoenicians in the 5th century
bc
, it quickly became a major trading port. It was annexed to the Roman world in 46 bc, later becoming one of the three cities of the Roman Tripolitania, alongside Oea and Leptis Magna. The port was an important part of the sea-routes of the western Mediterranean, but also served to connect the sea-borne trade to the overland routes used by the trans-Saharan caravans. The city enjoyed great prosperity during the early empire, and in the 2nd century
ad
was made a
colonia
. A number of bath buildings and the Antonine-period theatre survive from this period. Sacked by the Austuriani in ad 363 and the Vandals in the 5th century, eventually the city enjoyed a second period of prosperity as part of the Byzantine empire in the 6th century
ad
. New walls were constructed, albeit enclosing smaller areas than in earlier times. Occupation of the site ended about ad 643> when the city was taken by Arab forces.
[Rep.: P. M. Kendrick , 1986,
Excavations at Sabratha 1948–1951. A report on the excavations conducted by Dame Kathleen Kenyon and John Ward-Perkins
. London: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies]

 
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Latin word meaning the shrine in the headquarters building of a Roman fort.

 
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Book containing the prayers and order of ceremony used at (Catholic) church services.

 
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An object or structure that prompts or inspires attitudes of awe or reverence among believers in a given set of religious ideas.

 
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The slaughter of an animal or person or the surrender of a possession as an offering to a deity. Many societies in different parts of the world and at different times practised sacrifice, often according to regularized astronomical or calendrical events relating to dangerous or critical moments. Although generally seen as ceremonial in context, sacrifice may have functional ends institutionalized in the practice itself, for example the regulation of population and the creation of an instrument of political terror.

 
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Inca ceremonial centre and fortress situated on a hill on the outskirts of modern Cuzco. Set out some time after ad 1438 in the shape of a puma's head, the site was originally planned as a Temple of the Sun to stand at the head of a site which would have extended over what is now Cuzco.
A round tower was built on the top of the hill, and three parallel zig-zag walls of cut and fitted polygonal stones run along the northern side of the hill creating terraces 550m long. In the interior there were also storage structures and dwellings, a reservoir, and a water supply system. The site was used as a fortress against the Spanish in the 16th century
ad
, but after the conquest the round tower was demolished.
[Rep.: V. R. Lee , 1987,
The building of Sacsayhuaman
. Berkeley CA: Institute of Andean Studies]

 
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