Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (665 page)

A farming technique in which patches of forest are cleared for agriculture by cutting and burning the undergrowth. The plots are used for a relatively short time before being abandoned in favour of freshly cleared areas. Alternative terms include the German
brandwirtschaft
, the Spanish American
roza
, and the North American
swidden
.

 
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Type of miniature cup or accessory vessel found in early Bronze Age (
WESSEX
II) graves in southern England. Generally less than 15cm across, slashed cups are characterized by having a narrow base, narrow mouth, and an expanded body with vertical slots cut in the side.
INCENSE CUP
.

 
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Thin slabs of slate, sandstone, or limestone used for roofing.

 
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A form of social stratification in which some individuals are literally owned by others as their property.

 
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A general term referring to a series of ethnic groups, distinguished mainly on linguistic and place-name evidence, who during the early Middle Ages inhabited the area centred on what is now Poland. The origin of these communities is not fully understood, but they appear to derive from the indigenous Iron Age tribes of the Oder–Vistula area such as the Przeworsk, Zarubintsy, and Chernyakhov cultures. State-level political organization can be seen amongst the Slavs from the 9th century
ad
, with nodes of trade and commerce established in towns such as Novgorod, Russia, and Kiev, Ukraine. The basic settlement unit of all these communities was the ‘gród’ or stronghold.

 
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A horizontally set timber that rests on the ground or in a prepared slot forming the base of a wall or the lowest structural component of a timber frame in a building or structure. Commonly used in Roman and later times in northern Europe, sleeper beams are rarely found archaeologically, but can be identified from compaction or the slots in which they once lay.

 
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