Romans on the Don glossary

Glossary

• Bracae- Iron Age trousers
• Brigantes- the Iron Age tribe who lived to the north of the River Don
• Brythonic- the language spoken in Iron Age Britain, similar to modern Welsh
• Corieltauvi/Coritani- the Iron Age tribe who lived to the south of the river Don
• Crop marks- marks visible from the air and created by differences in crop growth due to buried archaeological features
• Droveway- a track used by farmers to drive animals along
• Enclosure- an area defined by a boundary such as an earthen bank and ditch. Some enclosures were used to gather and keep livestock, others surrounded farmsteads. The enclosure boundaries were as often built to define the limits of property as they were defensive
• Geophysical survey- archaeological techniques that use resistance, conductivity and magnetic susceptibility to detect underground features without disturbing the surface
• Iron Age- the period in cultural development succeeding the Bronze Age and characterized by the introduction of iron
• Kiln- an oven in which pottery or ceramic ware is fired
• Magnesian limestone- a limestone rock containing a mix of calcium and magnesian carbonate
• Mortaria- a Roman ceramic mixing bowl
• Pedagogue- an educated slave used to teach Roman children
• Physical survey- a survey where an area is fully traversed and any identifiable archaeological features are plotted on a plan
• Pollen analysis- the study of vegetation history using fossil pollen
• Radiocarbon dating- an absolute dating method based on the radioactive decay of Carbon-14 contained in organic materials
• Romanisation- the adoption of Roman culture by native populations
• Romano-British- a site or artefact dating from the Roman occupation
• Sherd- a piece of broken pottery
• Stylus- a Roman writing instrument usually made of metal with one pointed end and one flattened end
• Tree ring dating- an archaeological dating technique which compares the successive annual growth rings of old timber
• Trial trenching- an inexpensive method of evaluation used to estimate the archaeological potential of a site by digging test pits
• Wattle and daub- sticks intertwined with twigs or branches and smeared with mud or clay, used for walls, roofs and fences

For further information, please contact us:

• tel: 0114 273 6354
• address: South Yorkshire Archaeology Service, Howden House, 1 Union Street, Sheffield, S1 2SH