Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (81 page)

Type of tool current in the middle Bronze Age of Europe, having two ovate lobes of thin metal attached to a central tang. Typically 10–15cm in length and with sharp edges to the main lobes, these tools are interpreted as razors for use in removing body hair.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

A kind of moulding consisting of short, cylindrical pieces set in hollow mouldings at intervals about equal to their own length.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

An ecological community of plants and animals established over a wide area.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

All of the earth's living organisms interacting with the physical environment.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Changes to the nature, form, and arrangement of archaeological deposits and sediments as a result of biological activity in the ground. This includes root action from plants and trees; animal activity at many different scales from large burrowing mammals through earthworms down to tiny insects and the mesofauna; and the effects of fungi, micro-organisms, and the degeneration of organic matter forming part of the deposit itself.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

The habit of walking on two feet. Apes can walk bipedally for short distances, but of the mammals only the hominids became fully adapted to bipedal walking.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

The technique whereby a core is placed on an anvil and a flake is detached by striking it with a third implement. The flake is characterized by a double bulb of percussion, one at each of its ends or, more often on quartz flakes, by crushing at each end.