Glossary
This glossary covers some of the most common words that newcomers to CADAS are likely to hear. For more detailed information of a wider range of archaeological terms, there are both published books and on-line dictionaries (such as at Answers.com or About.com.)
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T V W
- Area Excavation:
- A huge hole, spread over part of the site
- Context:
- This is a unique number given to each post-hole, pit, wall, ditch feature etc for the purposes of recording. It allows you to see how one context relates to other contexts as a series of events. A context could be a uniform layer of build up that took place over a period of time (single context) or a post hole, where the hole, the post and the backfill of the hole constitutes 4 contexts (post hole is one context with 3 associated contexts).
- Chronology:
- A rough guide to the periods of human history;
- Conservation:
- in general, the preservation and care of ancient sites and landscapes and more specifically, the laboratory techniques for stabilising objects or structures therefore preventing further decay.
- Dendrochronology:
- Tree-ring dating. The dating of large samples of wood by matching the pattern of annual rings o a known, dated reference sequence.
- Ditch:
- A long hole dug as a boundary, for defence or to drain water from a field. It will appear in a trench as a dark strip of earth which can be further excavated. The outline will show the sides of the ditch.
- Environmental Archaeology:
- The study of the human interaction to the biological and physical environment at the time of their living, analysing climatic features, specific foodstuffs, landscape and soils. Incorporating pollen analysis and analysis of seeds, nuts etc found in the excavated soil.
- Fieldwalking:
- The setting up of a grid and systematic walking through the grid, observing the ground surface and retrieving and logging of any artefacts.
- Finds:
- Items which are found during the digging of trenches or from field-walking. Can include bits of pot, bone, metal (jewellery, industrial etc), glass, building materials, seeds/pollen, cloth etc
- Grave goods:
- personal, or otherwise, items placed in a burial. Can be interpreted as gifts to take into the afterlife, or serve as an indication of deceased's sex, social status and religion.
- Magnetometry:
- Consists of 2 sensors; one measures the earth's magnetic field, the other measures the distortion in the magnetic field, caused by features in the ground. By walking up and down a pre-determined grid and logging the data on a PC, plans of these variations can be plotted and any walls, ditches or burnt areas picked up.
- Matrix Diagram:
- This is a diagram showing the interrelationships between different contexts. It is useful on a large site when comparing the contexts from one trench and seeing if they can be matched to contexts of other trenches.
-
- Pit:
- Indicated by large area of staining. Pits were dug for storage or to bury rubbish or human waste. They may also be the remains of what's left of a hearth, oven or some other industry.
- Post-hole:
- Recognised by a patch of different coloured or different textured earth. This is a clue that the hole was dug to support a wooden post.
- PPG16:
- Planning Policy Guidance issued by government in 1990. This is not a law but allows local authorities to enquire about potential archaeology on a site before planning application is agreed. The archaeologist can ask the developer to get some evaluation trenches dug to find out what's down there. This is part of the expense borne by the developer along with any further archaeological work deemed necessary on a site.
- Radioactive Carbon 14 dating:
- Radioactive Carbon (C14) is formed in the atmosphere by cosmic radiation and then absorbed by vegetation. Living things take in C14, as part of their food, and the C14 is absorbed into their body. Scientists discovered that the speed at which the radioactive particles decay is always the same, so, by measuring how much decay had taken place, will determine how long the living thing had died and stopped absorbing C14.
- Resistivity:
- A two pronged machine which is pressed into the ground. A weak electronic signal is passed from one prong to the other through the ground. If the current hits a wall or some other solid material that doesn't conduct electricity well, the machine will measure the resistance. If the signal passes through a ditch, pit or waterlogged material, the current will flow more quickly i.e. with less resistance and this is also measured. The result is a map of the ground showing features or more or less resistance allowing the archaeologist to determine what may be beneath the surface.
- Robber trench:
- A trench dug in order to get at whatever's buried in it, e.g. stone, bricks, in order to reuse it for building. An ancient form of recycling.
- Sondage:
- A test-pit inside a trench to see how deep the archaeology goes
- Spoil Heaps:
- Earth from the digging of trenches
- Stake-hole:
- A small patch of different coloured earth where a stake has been hammered into the ground
- Stepped Trench:
- If the archaeologists are investigating a trench that is potentially very deep e.g. a ditch or moat, they dig the trench in a series of steps, usually 1 - 1.5 metres high.
- Stratigraphy:
- Describes the layering of deposits which have become buried over time. The top most layer excavated is the youngest and the layer on the bottom, before the bedrock, is the oldest.
- Test-pit:
- A small exploratory hole, usually square. Dug in order to obtain a "snapshot" of the archaeology below. Usually 1 metre square
- Trench:
- A rectangular hole, dug to investigate the archaeology
- Treasure:
- Defined as a) an object over 300 years old (not coin) that's at least 10% silver or gold, or b) all coins from same find (over 300 years old), of which, at least 2 coins have 10% silver or gold or 10 coins which are less than 10% silver or gold, or made of base metal, or c) any object associated with the treasure regardless of what it's made of. By law, the finder should inform the coroner within 14 days of discovery.
- Typology:
- Development of the forms of individual artefacts over a period of time/in a chronological order e.g. the development of axe heads from stone to metal
- Watching Brief:
- Observations by an archaeologist on any operation carried out for non-archaeological reasons, on a site where there is a possibility of archaeological deposits being disturbed or destroyed.
| Before 8500 BC | Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age |
| 8500 - 4000 BC | Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age |
| 4000 - 2000 BC | Neolithic or New Stone Age |
| 2000 - 700 BC | Bronze Age |
| 700 BC to AD 43 | Iron Age |
| AD 43 - 410 | Roman |
| AD 410 - 1066 | Early Medieval (including Anglo-Saxon) |
| AD 1066 - 1500 | Late Medieval |
| AD 1500 - 1750 | Post Medieval |
| AD 1750 - 1900 | Early Modern |
| AD 1900 upwards | Modern |