Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (758 page)

1
General term used in Britain to refer to an archaeological contracting company and sometimes mentioned in the name of the organization (e.g. Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit, BUFA).
2
A basic category used in describing the components in a
STRATIGRAPHIC SEQUENCE
or for grouping comparable artefacts together when describing and analysing them.

 
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An enclosure defined by a single bank and ditch. Compare
MULTIVALLATE HILLFORT
.

 
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A defended enclosure common in the later Bronze Age and Iron Age of northwest Europe which is bounded by a single line of ramparts. Some strengthening may be visible around the entrance by the construction of outworks or an out-turned bank to create an entrance passage in front of the main gate. Early univallate hillforts often have timber-laced or box-framed banks to provide a strong but substantial inner element to the defences.

 
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A large metal projectile point typical of the later Bronze Age in Europe that was mounted on a wooden shaft by way of a socket cast into the base of the object, usually with a hole to allow a peg to pass through the socket walls and the shaft to ensure secure attachment. Such spearheads lack the loops of earlier designs which seem to have been used to tie the spearhead to the shaft.

 
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Egyptian god. See
OSIRIS
.

 
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Style of Neolithic pottery found in the northern part of the British Isles, especially the Hebrides, Western Isles, and Orkney, defined by Stuart Piggott in 1954 on the basis of an assemblage from the chambered tomb of Unstan on Orkney. Including both decorated and undecorated vessels, Unstan ware is diverse in the range of shapes and sizes represented. However, it can be typified by round-bottomed forms either as deep bowls and jars or as shallow bowls with a carinated profile produced by the application of a fillet or cordon of clay. The decoration is generally incised with oblique or horizontal lines, triangles, or a zone of hatched triangles. Dated examples of this ware fall within the period 3500–2800 bc, Unstan ware being slightly earlier than
GROOVED WARE
in the region.

 
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