Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (785 page)

 
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A group of richly furnished aristocratic graves dated to the La Tène III period (
c.
40–10 bc) found in a restricted area to the north of the River Thames around modern-day Welwyn, Buckinghamshire, England. The burials were usually cremations placed in the centre of a large pit or subterranean chamber, with no covering mound. Around the burial itself were placed many grave goods, mainly items connected with eating, drinking, or feasting: imported continental tableware, wine amphorae, bronze vases, strainers, and patellae, silver cups, glass dishes, fire-dogs, and hearth furniture. Personal items such as buckles, bracelets, beads, and gaming pieces are also found. Meat on the bone and weapons are conspicuous by their absence. More than a dozen examples have been discovered and excavated.

 
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Egyptian god known as the ‘Opener of the Ways’, depicted as a wolf god, a deity of the necropolis and avenger of Osiris. Principal places of worship were at Assiut and Abydos.

 
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Variously defined region dominated by the chalk downlands of southern England and well known in the archaeological literature because of the wealth of well-preserved archaeological sites, many of which were subject to investigation early in the history of antiquarian and archaeological research. In Anglo-Saxon times Wessex was a large kingdom of the West Saxons covering the present counties of Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire, and Berkshire. It was probably the last such kingdom to be established, perhaps in the 6th century
ad
by Cerdic. By the 9th century it had expanded considerably in land area and influence under its most famous ruler
ALFRED THE GREAT
. Eventually, the royal house of Wessex became the nucleus for a unified kingdom of England. More recent perceptions of Wessex have been influenced by the writings of Thomas Hardy whose literary vision of Wessex focused on the more westerly part of the earlier kingdom, centred on his home town of Dorchester, Dorset.

 
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One of the largest archaeological contractors in Britain, based at Salisbury, Wiltshire. Originally established in 1974 as the Trust for Wessex Archaeology, it was born out of the Wessex Archaeological Committee as one of the first regional rescue archaeology units in the country. Still a charity, the company is independent of ties to local or national government, and carries out archaeological investigations, surveys, and management projects throughout England.

 
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Early Bronze Age culture of central southern England defined by Stuart
PIGGOTT
in 1938 on the basis of a series of well-known richly furnished burials under round barrows in the Wessex region of Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire, and surrounding areas. Later, in 1954, Arthur ApSimon proposed subdividing the Wessex Culture into two consecutive phases initially on the basis of the dagger typology: Wessex I (
c.
2000–1650 bc) with richly furnished inhumation graves containing bronze triangular daggers (Bush Barrow type), axes, beads, and buttons of amber and shale, and gold dress fittings. The most famous example is the Bush Barrow burial near Stonehenge, Wiltshire. Wessex II (
c.
1650–1400 bc) was characterized by ogival daggers (Camerton–Snowshill type) together with cremation replacing inhumation and faience beads becoming more common. Goldwork is less common in Wessex II graves. Connections between both phases of the Wessex Culture and contemporary communities in northern France are widely accepted (e.g. with the Armorican Tumulus Culture), and these date to the European early Bronze Age, Reinecke A1 and A2. There has been much discussion of the possibility of long-distance links to the Aegean world, but most can be discounted on chronological grounds. Wessex I is closely associated with the construction and use of the later phases of Stonehenge, specifically Stonehenge 3. In recent decades the Wessex Culture has been seen as a limited social stratum within a broader cultural phenomenon rather than a distinct cultural grouping.