Winckelmann

(1717-68). German scholar who was an early contributor to the development of archaeology and art history. He is best known for his work on the art of Pompeii and Herculaneum, which was uncovered during the 18th century.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Winckelmann

Winchester Style

From the beginning of the 10th century until the Norman Conquest the Late Saxon kingdom of Wessex was a prominent artistic centre. This renaissance was directed from Winchester, where the building of the New Minster had inspired an artistic tradition based on the revived antique models of Carolin...

archaeologsEnglishArchitectural

Winchester

The Roman predecessor of medieval Winchester in southwest England was a walled town known as Venta Bulgarum. In the later 9th century the Alfredian burh with its planned streets and defensive system rose to prominence as the capital of Wessex; it continued to thrive during the Middle Ages as an i...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Wilton

The name Wilton has in the past been applied somewhat indiscriminately to many backed microlith industries in sub-Saharan Africa. It derives from a small rock shelter on a farm near Alicedale in the Cape Province of South Africa, but industries from as far northwest as Nigeria and as far north-ea...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Wilson Butte Cave

A site of long occupation on the Snake River plain in Idaho USA. It is located on what is postulated as one of the major routes to the interior for migrating Paleo-Indian groups. A radiocarbon date of 14,450 be is regarded as unreliable, but a less controversial date of 12,500 be from an overlyin...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Williamsburg

The site of one of the most extensive restoration projects in North America. Begun in conjunction with a programme of archaeological excavation in 1928, the site has since been developed as a working model of life in the 18th century. Located on a tidal water peninsula between the York and James ...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Willendorf

Loess site near Krems in lower Austria with nine Palaeolithic levels. The upper five are of Willendorfian or east Grav-ettian type including the famous venus statuette (see venus figurines), while the lower levels were closer to the Aurignacian.

archaeologsEnglishPlace Names

Willandra Lakes

See Lake Arumpo, Lake Mungo.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Wichqana

A site in the Ayacucho province of the central highlands of Peru. Dating to the beginnings of the Early Horizon, it is probably antecedent to Chavin. The U-shaped ceremonial structure has no examples of carved stone, but is built of stones of alternating size in a similar manner to Cerro Secchin....

archaeologsEnglishOthers

White Pottery

Fairly rare white earthenware made only in the Shang period and found chiefly at Anyang, in China. The Anyang white pottery was probably made for ritual or mortuary purposes. Its decoration seldom strays outside a narrow repertoire of incised geometric patterns. Fired at about 1100° C, it is made...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Wheelhouse

Type of dwelling found in Scotland in the Iron Age and Roman period, taking its name from its form, which is circular, with partition walls running from the outside wall to an open central area, like the spokes of a wheel. They are built in dry-stone.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Wheeler

(1890-1976). British archaeologist who made major contributions to the development of excavation and recording techniques. He excavated many sites, both in Britain and abroad, especially in India (including modem Pakistan, then part of an undivided India), where he was DirectorGeneral of the Arch...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Wheeler

Wheat

Group of cereals, members of the genus Triticum. Two wild forms of wheat are found in the Near East today, wild einkorn (Triticum boeoticum) and wild emmer (T. dicoccoides). A closely related group, the goat grasses (Aegilops) is also present in the area. Species of Aegilops can cross with Tritic...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Wharram Percy

Deserted medieval village on the western edge of the Yorkshire Wolds, which has been the site of one of the most important landscape projects in Britain. The Medieval Village Research Group has combined archaeological and historical evidence to document a peasant community between the Early Saxon...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

West Stow

An Early Saxon settlement in Suffolk, eastern England extensively excavated in the 1960s. Situated on the northern bank of the River Nank near a Romano-British site, the Saxon settlement was inhabited between the 5th and 7th centuries, at which time it was surrounded by boundary ditches. In the c...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

West Kennet

The largest of the Severn- situated near Avebury in Wiltshire, southern England. The tomb is a transepted gallery grave withan impressive concave facade, under a massive long barrow, clOO metres in length. Excavations early in the century and again in the 1950s produced evidence of use for collec...

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Period

The earlier part of the Zhou dynasty, from the fall of the Shang dynasty (in the 12th or 11th century bc) to 771 bc. See Zhou.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Western Zhou

[Chou]

archaeologsEnglishOthers

Western Zhou

Western Neolithic

Name given to a group of Early and Middle Neolithic cultures in western Europe, that were thought to be related. The group includes the Windmill Hill culture of Britain, the Chassey culture of France, the Cortaillod culture in Switzerland, the Lagozza culture in Italy and the Almerian culture of ...

archaeologsEnglishPeriods

West Drayton

See Yiewsley.

archaeologsEnglishOthers

West Drayton

Wessex Culture

Early Bronze Age culture of southern Britain characterized by a group of very rich burials under round barrows of special types (bell, disc and saucer barrows and enclosures strangely labelled ‘pond barrows’). The burials are usually divided into two groups, with inhumation predominating in the e...

archaeologsEnglishCultures