Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (739 page)

See
TERMINUS POST QUEM
.

 
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Elemental components of a material that upon analysis are found to comprise less than 0.1 per cent of the substance. The analysis of trace elements sometimes allows the characterization of otherwise rather homogenous materials such as obsidian, which in turn may lead to the identification of sources and the recognition of dispersal patterns.

 
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Ornamental work in the head of a window, screen, or panel formed by the curving and interlacing of bars of stone or wood grouped together over two or more windows or bays. In windows the tracery may be used as the glazing bars to hold pieces of glass in place.

 
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A formalized communications route linking one or more settlements, or a settlement with related features such as fields or quarries, which is unsurfaced except where it crosses difficult terrain and requires reinforcement of the ground surface with vegetation or laid timbers.

 
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One or more field plots, each defined by a ditch, hedge, or fixed boundary of some kind, which are linked together by a series of pathways or tracks running between the fields. In most cases it is probable that the tracks were first set out with the field plots aligned on them. The tracks not only connect the fields to adjacent settlements but also provide the main means of access from one field to another. Such arrangements are found in England and other parts of northwest Europe and have been dated to the 1st and 2nd millennia
bc
.

 
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In archaeology this term tends to be used in its broadest sense to mean the transfer of goods between communities, recognizing that many different social mechanisms may be responsible for those movements. See also
EXCHANGE
.

 
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