Archaeologs
Language:
Category:
Source:
Login
  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Search
  • Categories
  • News
  • Books
  • Map
  • Add
  • About
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Categories
  • News
  • Books
  • Map
  • Add
  • About
  • Contact

Lynchet

IN OthersSave
  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Greek
  • Turkish
Add a definition Support on Patreon
Please login to save a definition. Lynchet en 13378

added by archaeologs A bank of earth which accumulates on the downhill side of an ancient plowed field as the disturbed soil moves down the slope under the action of gravity. It is a small-scale terracing effect visible particularly in ancient field systems which is caused by accumulation of soil against an obstruction such as a field boundary. Field boundaries, such as banks or walls, become enlarged and overlaid by material loosened in the cultivation process. A corresponding erosion from the downslope side of the boundary creates a negative lynchet. Lynchets are conspicuous in the square Celtic fields (Bronze Age to Romano-British in date) and in the long rectangular fields, the so-called strip lynchets, laid out on sloping terrain in post-Roman and medieval times.

  • 0

added by archaeologs A step-like feature of the landscape, formed when colluvial material, eroded as a result of ploughing, accumulates downslope against a field boundary. Series of lynchets may develop up hillsides, marking the boundaries of ancient fields.

The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983

  • 0
© 2022 - Archaeologs