Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (84 page)

A standard range of culinary vessel-forms manufactured in two different fabrics and widely imitated. BB1 (black-burnished ware Category 1), was black, gritty, hand-made, mainly in Dorset, and widely distributed from
c.
ad 120 to the late 4th century
AD
. BB2 (black-burnished ware Category 2) was greyer and finer, with a silvery finish, wheel-thrown in the Thames Estuary area, and widely exported from
c.
ad 140 to the mid 3rd century
AD
.

 
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A particularly severe outbreak of plague which crossed Europe between ad 1346 and 1350, probably a combination of bubonic and pneumonic plagues. Believed to have been carried by rats and fleas. It was brought to Britain from Europe in ad 1348. There were several major outbreaks from the mid 14th century through to the 17th century
AD
.

 
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See
ATTIC BLACK-FIGURE WARE
.

 
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Hunter-gatherer communities of the early Desert Archaic in the eastern and northern Great Basin of North America 4000 bc to ad 500. These communities appear to have been highly mobile, living in small family groups, and exploiting mountain sheep, deer, and rabbits, as well as available plant foods in this fairly arid region.

 
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A series of settlement sites along a shallow valley in the Llano Estacado with evidence of occupation from earliest Palaeo-Indian through to Archaic times. Finds include abundant Clovis and Folson points, and also well-made blades. The stone used to make these implements came from over 300km away, and must therefore have been obtained through exchange or actually travelling out to the source.
[Rep.: F. Wendorf and J. Hester (eds.), 1975,
Late Pleistocene environments on the southern high plains
. New Mexico: Fort Bungwin Research Centre]

 
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A long narrow stone flake. A blade must be at least twice as long as broad. Blades become much favoured in the Upper Palaeolithic, but are found in some earlier phases. Some blades are struck with soft punches. Blades are useful because of their long, sharp cutting edges.

 
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