Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (75 page)

An approach to the study of archaeological materials formulated by Michael Schiffer in the mid 1970s that privileged the analysis of human behaviour and individual actions, especially in terms of the making, using, and disposal of material culture. In particular this focused on observing and understanding what people actually did, while refraining from considering people's thoughts and intentions in explaining that behaviour. See also
FORMATION PROCESSES
.

 
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Early Neolithic communities forming part of the Volga-Oka Culture group in the forest zone of western Russia in the later 4th millennium
bc
. The Belev Culture occupied a territory to the south of the
LIALOVO CULTURE
around the upper Oka. It is named after the site of Belev beside the Oka, north of Orel. Characteristic of the Belev Culture are elongated ceramic vessels, similar in form to those of the Lialovo Culture, but decorated with rhomboid-shaped impressed pits. Flint implements typical of the culture include large chopping tools and massive knives. By the middle of the 3rd millennium
bc
the Belev Culture had spread southwards into the middle Donetz River system.

 
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A tower or wooden structure, sometimes simply a frame, in which bells are hung so that when rung the sound can escape. Often associated with churches and religious sites, early examples are often freestanding structures away from the church building itself. In Ireland the tall round towers associated with monastic sites were probably used as belfries as well as refuges. The tradition of incorporating the bell-tower into the main church structure dates to the period after the 11th century
ad
.

 
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The name given by Caesar and other Roman authors to communities living in northern Gaul during the 2nd and 1st centuries
bc
. They were divided into at least 27 different branches. Caesar records that the Belgae raided maritime areas of Britain and that some eventually settled there. Certainly there are tribal names in central southern England that would support that. However, archaeologists have long searched without success for patterns in the distribution of material culture that would allow the movements of these people to be mapped. Some scholars from the time of Arthur Evans onwards have favoured identifying the Belgae with communities in Kent and the extreme southeast of England who used distinctive styles of pottery and are known as the Aylesford–Swarling Culture. The problem, however, is that nothing amongst the material culture of these areas pre-dates Caesar's visits to Britain in the mid 1st century
bc
. Others see the term Belgae or Belgic as having little or no meaning in the British context. The term is, however, widely and rather loosely used to refer to those tribes living in southeastern England in the 1st century
bc
who had close contact with the continental mainland and who, after 57 bc, traded with Roman–Gaulish communities then inside the empire.

 
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General term, now almost obsolete, sometimes applied to the range of late Iron Age wheel-turned pottery vessels found in southeastern England, especially Aylesford–Swarling pottery, even though this is too late to be directly related to Belgic settlement from the continent.

 
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Roman general who campaigned against Persia in ad 527 and ad 540, captured Vandal Africa in ad 533–4, and began the reconquest of Ostogothic Italy in ad 535. Died ad 565.

 
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