Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (766 page)

Within a scientifically constituted archaeology the idea of value-free interpretation means aspiring to the exclusion of value-laden terms and value judgements. While it is accepted that the selection of material for investigation involves value judgements about how interesting or relevant it may be on the basis of academic or professional values, the overall aim is to separate ‘facts’ from ‘interpretation’. That this is either possible or desirable has been widely challenged. As an alternative it is argued that archaeologists should take full responsibility for their work and not try to detach themselves from issues of cultural politics or contemporary social articulations; archaeologists cannot justifiably claim to be concerned with neutral knowledge separable from the conditions within which it is produced and applied.

 
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Germanic people, perhaps originally from the Baltic region, who invaded Gaul in ad 406, and established a kingdom in Spain. The majority of Vandals later migrated to Africa where they founded a state which survived until the reconquest of the western Mediterranean under Justinian in ad 535. The Vandal empire was overrun by the Arabs late in the 7th century
ad
.

 
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A type of
MYCENAEAN
drinking vessel named after the find of two gold examples in a
THOLOS
burial at Vapheio near Sparta, southern Greece. A Vapheio cup has a flat base, straight flaring sides, and a single handle. The original gold examples were decorated in relief with scenes of bulls. Vapheio cups are found in middle
MINOAN
levels in Crete and were popular on the mainland in the late
HELLADIC
period.

 
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A factor that can be assigned a measurable dimension of some kind that varies: for example, cost, life-span, age, length, height, or weight. A
dependent variable
is any measurable factor whose behaviour is controlled by another. An
independent variable
is any measurable factor that produces change or reaction in another.

 
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Late Neolithic/Copper Age cemetery near the Black Sea coast of eastern Bulgaria. The site was discovered in 1972 when drainage works cut through a rich grave. Subsequent excavations by I. Ivanov have uncovered more than 280 graves. Dating to the early 4th millennium
bc
, the significance of the site is that it is earliest floruit of gold metallurgy in the world. The cemetery comprises flat graves with individuals buried in shallow pits, males, females, adults, and children all being represented. A small proportion of the graves contained exceptionally rich grave goods, including gold sceptres, diadems, pendants, and earrings as well as copper artefacts, pottery, and flint tools. Analysis of the gold itself indicates two sources: the eastern Mediterranean and the Caucasus. Other exotic items include copper and graphite, spondylus and dentalium shells, carnelian, and marble. The range of grave goods represented suggests social ranking amongst local communities, and illustrates the very wide trading networks in which they must have participated.
[Sum.: C. Renfrew , 1978, Varna and the social context of early metallurgy.
Antiquity
, 52, 199–203]

 
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Pottery, usually small bowls, decorated with rough-cast scales or roundels, or rough-cast beakers in white fabric with greenish-brown shiny slip. Generally 1st century
bc
/
ad
in date and produced in central Gaul and on the Rhine.

 
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