Archaeological words

 

 

There are some words you will read all the time on Buckinghamshire's Heritage Portal. See if you can work out what these words mean by looking at the glossary. Put them into your own words:

 

An artefact, in this case a medieval peg tile

Word

Description

Artefact

 

 

 

 

Earthwork

 

 

 

 

 

Monument

 

 

 

 

 

Landscape

 

 

 

 

 

Feature

 

 

 

 

 

BC

 

 

 

 

 

AD

 

 

 

 

 

A monument, in this case the Saxon barrow at Taplow

 

Archaeologists use some strange words to describe the ancient remains of past peoples. These words can be useful to describe something very specific that otherwise you would need lots of words to describe. Look through the glossary terms and do a search on Buckinghamshire’s Heritage Portal and see if you can work out what these are descriptions of. You can draw a picture of them too:

 

Word                                         

Description

Picture                                       

 

A mound of earth built over a burial. They can date to the Bronze Age, Roman and Saxon periods. They are also sometimes known as tumuli.

 

 

A Roman building, sometimes a farm and sometimes a wealthy person’s country house. They often have baths and farm buildings attached and had under-floor heating.

 

 

 

A set of buildings for a medieval religious community, which could include a church, dining hall, a dormitory (shared bedroom) and guest rooms. People who lived here were called monks.

 

 

A post-medieval garden feature that was basically a large ditch, sometimes fortified with brick walls. They were dug instead of building banks, which would have blocked the view of the garden.

 

 

Here’s another challenge. From looking at the glossary terms on Buckinghamshire’s Heritage Portal organise these terms into whether they refer to artefacts, buildings, earthworks or archaeological techniques. Add a short definition under each.

 

Geophysical surveying at Claydon House

Test-pit

Hillfort

Hollow-way

Minster

Fieldwalking

Moot

Sceatta

Scaramax

Geophysics

Dowsing

Cursus

Cruck

Palstave

Icehouse

Imbrex

Motte

Almshouse

Fibula

Dendrochronology

Hypocaust

Radiocarbon

Peg tile

Berm

Aviary

Ampulla

 

Yewden Roman villa

Artefacts

Buildings

Earthworks

Techniques

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go back to the Archaeological skills and concepts main page.