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Warendorf

A migration period settlement located by the River Ems in Westphalia, West Germany. The excavations represent a palimpsest of individual phases which overlie each other, spanning the latter part of the 7th,8th and early 9th centuries. The excavations were carried out in the 1950s and uncovered a ...

EnglishPlace Names

Wangshan

[Wang-shan]. See Jiangling, Yue.

Wangshan

archaeologsOthers

Wallacea

The biogeographical zone of eastern Indonesia, flanked by the Sunda Shelf to the west and the Sahul Shelf to the east. This zone has never been fully land- bridged and dates of first human settlement are unsure. The first settlers of Australia prior to 30,000 years ago had to cross sea gaps of up...

Waldalgesheim

A chariot burial of the La Tene Iron Age in the Rhineland, western Germany. It contained the bodies of a man and a woman and many fine grave goods of both bronze and gold. Some of these objects were imports, for example a bronze bucket of Italian type, but most were of native manufacture. Many of...

Wairau Bar

An archaic Maori burial ground in the northern South Island, New Zealand, excavated by Sir Roger Duff. The site is remarkable for its rich grave goods, which include adzes, necklace units and fishhooks, similar to those from contemporary sites in tropical eastern Polynesia (Hane, Maupiti, Vaito’O...

Waira-Jirca

An Initial Period phase from the Kotosh site, Peru, during which a distinctive pottery style appeared. Although no pottery occurred in the preceding Mito phase, Waira-jirca pottery appeared as a fully developed style. Typically it is a dark brown polished ware decorated with incised geometric des...

Wadi Kubbaniya

Site of the 16th millennium be near Aswan, Egypt, which has yielded remarkably early evidence for the intensive exploitation of cereal foods, at least one species of which is stated to show signs of incipient domestication. Several varieties of grain have been preserved, among which both barley a...

Wadi Fallah

Another name for the site of Nahal oren.

Wadi Fallah

archaeologsOthers

Veselinovo

The eponymous tell site of the Karanovo III culture, located near Jambol, eastern Bulgaria, and dated to the late 5th millennium be. Excavated by V. Mikov, the site has a five-metre stratigraphy with Middle Neolithic and Early Bronze Age occupation horizons. The Veselinovo culture represents an e...

EnglishCultures

Vucedol

A TELL-like settlement by the River Danube in Srem, north Yugoslavia, is the eponymous site for the Late Copper Age Vucedol culture of northwest Yugoslavia. Excavations by R. Schmidt revealed a 4.6-metre stratigraphy with 8 occupation horizons I, a thin StarCevo level; II, a Baden-Pecel level; II...

Vrsnik

Tell settlement of the Macedonian Early Neolithic (StarCevo) culture, located near Stip in the Ovfce Polje, Yugoslav Macedonia, with radiocarbon dates of c4950 and 4915 be. Four phases are represented in a 5.4-metre stratigraphy; the material culture sequence leads from a preference for painted w...

Vrsnik

archaeologsOthers

V-Perforation

A method of constructing buttons which involves drilling two converging holes until they meet at an angle. The technique was used in prehistoric Europe, especially in Beaker and Early Bronze Age times.

Vorbasse

Settlement in southern Jutland, Denmark. Excavations have dated its origins to the Migration Period (4th and 5th centuries) when it took the form of a planned village consisting of a series of sturdy long houses. Each house was divided into three rooms (living room, stall and bam) with two or thr...

EnglishPlace Names

Volterra

[Etruscan Velathri, Roman Vola-terrae]. An important Etruscan city and member of the confederation of twelve mentioned in traditional sources. The naturally defensive position on an elevated ridge some 32 km inland dominates much of north Etruria. Good agricultural land, rich deposits of metallic...

Vogeiherd

Palaeolithic cave at Stetten near Ulm in southern Germany, with hand axe as well as Mousterian and Upper Palaeolithic levels. Only the Aurignacian levels were rich in artefacts and bone tools. A few human fragments were found amongst the faunal remains.

Vogeiherd

archaeologsOthers

Vlasac

Late Mesolithic fisher-hunter site located in the Iron Gates gorge of the river Danube some 5 km from Lepenski V1R. Three occupation phases are known, with radiocarbon dates of 6000-5500 be. In each phase, small circular tents are arranged near stone hearths around a central space or platform. La...

Vladimirovka

A large open settlement site of the Late Neolithic Tripolye culture, situated in the southern Bug Valley, western Ukraine, USSR and dated to the late 4th millennim be. The settlement consists of over 200 complete house plans organized in concentric rings on a broad promontory. Amongst the rich do...

Vix

Hallstatt wagon burial in east central France. The burial, dated to the end of the 6th century bc, was of a woman, accompanied by some of the richest grave goods ever found in a European Iron Age burial. The goods included a gold diadem, an imported Attic Black-figure cup and Etruscan bronze wine...

Vitrified Fort

Name given to a type of Iron Age hillfort where the stone defences have been significantly vitrified. This has come about through the firing of the timber-laced stone walls which, especially in windy conditions, generated sufficient heat to bring about vitrification. Vitrified forts occur commonl...

Viru Valley

In 1946 a multi-disciplinary team, headed by Gordon R. Willey, embarked upon a comprehensive project of survey and excavation in this Peruvian north-coast valley. Isolated archaeological work had been carried out in the valley before, but this was the first settlements pattern study conducted in ...

EnglishOthers, Place Names

Viru Valley

archaeologsOthers, Place Names

Vinca

The eponymous tell site of a Middle and Late Neolithic culture distributed in east Yugoslavia, southern Hungary and western Rumania and dated ¿4500-3300 be. Excavated by M.M. Vasic, the tell has a 10.5-metre stratigraphy, comprising I a thin StarCevo occupation; II nine occupation levels of the V...

Vinapu

The location of two important Easter Island ahu, one with a seaward face of close-fitted blocks of stone, similar to Inca masonry in Peru, the other of normal Easter Island type. The architectural history of the Vinapu ahu suggests that the Easter Island temple structures are of fully Polynesian ...

Villein

See feudalism.

Villein

archaeologsOthers

Villanovan

Early Iron Age culture of Etruria and the Po Plain of Italy, named after the site of Villanova, outside Bologna, dated to the 9th-8th centuries bc in Etruria, though lasting to the 6th century in the northern area. Villanovan remains are characterized by urnfield cemeteries containing decorated b...

Villa

Roman country dwelling, probably always with some connection with local agriculture. Early examples may have been in all essentials equivalent to farms, having house, workshops, stables and animal quarters. They seem to have been run either by small farmers in persons, or by slave-farmers on beha...

Vila Nova De Sao Pedro

Strongly fortified Copper Age settlement near Santarem in Portugal. A citadel enclosed by a bastioned stone wall was surrounded by two outer walls, also both with bastions, enclosing a number of huts. The main phase of settlement belongs to the mid-3rd millennium be (late 4th millennium bc), but ...

Viking

A collective term used to describe the Scandinavian peoples whose movements made a major impact on much of Europe during the 9th and 10th centuries. The exact origin of this emotive term is keenly debated and no consensus of opinion exists, but in the early Middle Ages it meant a pirate, a robber...

Vijaya

One of the natural provinces of Champa, corresponding to present Binh-dinh in central Vietnam. Vijaya became the capital of Champa, and its conquest in 1471 by the southward-expanding Vietnamese marked the beginning of the end of this independent kingdom. See also AmaravAti, KauthAra, PAnduranga.

Vijaya

archaeologsOthers

Vietnam

Prehistory. Vietnamese archaeology is at present in a very active phase and interpretations change rapidly. Most sites are in the north of the country; Lower Palaeolithic tools are claimed from Mount Do and teeth of Homo erectus from Tham Khuyen cave. From the end of the Pleistocene there is a li...

Vidra

A tell settlement of the Middle and Late Neolithic period, located near Giurgiu in the lower Danube Valley, southeast Rumania. Excavated by D. Rosetti, the site has a four-metre stratigraphy with five main occupation horizons; I, a Boian level, separated by a thin silt level from IIA, a Boian-GUM...

Vicus

In Roman rural and urban organization, the smallest division of housing, and roughly equivalent, therefore, either to a village or to a suburb. As a village, the vicus would be administered by magistri or aediles elected by the villagers. An urban vicus would come under the municipal authorities ...

Victoria Falls

This great waterfall on the Zambezi River, on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, has cut its way back along a zig-zag series of successive fall-lines. The area is of particular archaeological interest in view of the artefact-bearing gravels which were originally laid down by the river and wh...

Victoria Falls

archaeologsOthers

Vetulonia

[Etruscan Vetluna]. A principal Etruscan city and, according to traditional sources, one of the confederation of twelve. Original settlement is perhaps early Iron Age (Villanovan), and it looks as if the city’s chief period of prosperity and influence came early, in the 7th and 6th centuries bc. ...

Veruiamium

Present-day St. Albans, Hertfordshire, southeast England. Normally reckoned to be the third largest Roman town in Britain and situated astride Watling Street, which it spanned with monumental gateways. Starting as a small fort near Verlamio, the capital of Tasciovanus, King of the Castuvellauni, ...

EnglishPlace Names, Architectural

Veruiamium

archaeologsPlace Names, Architectural

Vertesszollos

The travertine deposits of Vertesszollos, not far north of Budapest in Hungary, have revealed stone tools and traces of fire as well as mammals of late Cromeri an age, perhaps about 400 thousand years old. Two deciduous teeth and an occipital portion of skull have been found and are attributed ei...

Vertesszollos

archaeologsOthers

Verona

Situated on the River Adige in Veneto, northern Italy, Verona was a principal city of imperial Roman Venetia, and has well-preserved monuments from that period. Little is known of the pre-Roman settlement, but an origin as a Celtic foundation of the 5th-4th centuries bc is likely. The town is wel...

Vernacular Architecture

The study of the vernacular architecture of the post-medieval period has developed mainly in Britain. Vernacular architecture comprises buildings belonging to the middle and lower end of the social scale which fall into three main categories, domestic, agricultural and industrial. The study of po...

EnglishArchitectural

Venus Figurine

One of the most remarkable features of the late Palaeolithic are the female figurines which have been called venuses. They are made in all kinds of material, including ivory, bone, limestone and steatite and are even modelled in clay. Most typically, the figures are large-stomached and largebreas...

Ventris

(1922-1956). Scholar responsible for the decipherment of the Linear B script of the Mycenaeans, showing it to be, to everyone’s surprise, an early form of Greek.

Ventris

archaeologsOthers

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