earthwork - Hutchinson encyclopedia article about earthwork Printer Friendly
The Free Dictionary
1,136,320,102 visitors served.
?
Dictionary/
thesaurus
Medical
dictionary
Legal
dictionary
Financial
dictionary
Acronyms
 
Idioms
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
encyclopedia
?

earthwork

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.

earthwork

In archaeology, any artificial bank or mound of earth with or without a ditch. Examples include barrows or burial mounds, henge monuments (circular banks with ditches), earthen circles, cursus banks, dykes, hill forts, ancient settlement sites, primitive cultivation systems, trackways, castle mounds or mottes, and medieval homestead moats.

The causewayed enclosures of Wessex (early Neolithic or New Stone Age) may have needed 100,000 hours of labour; that is, an estimated 250 people working together for six weeks. Estimates for Silbury Hill (late Neolithic) suggest 18 million hours of work. How this was organized is pure supposition.



How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content.
?Page tools
Printer friendly
Cite / link
 Email
Feedback
?Sign in SSL protected
Email:
Password:
Register

? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
One Sunday when Joe, greatly enjoying his pipe, had so plumed himself on being "most awful dull," that I had given him up for the day, I lay on the earthwork for some time with my chin on my hand, descrying traces of Miss Havisham and Estella all over the prospect, in the sky and in the water, until at last I resolved to mention a thought concerning them that had been much in my head.
Great Expectations by Dickens, Charles View in context
She heard the shrill whistle of alarm, the beaten drum; she saw the spade exchanged for the rifle, and the long line of toilers disappear behind the natural earthwork which their labours had created.
A Millionaire of Yesterday by Oppenheim, E. Phillips View in context
Several battalions of soldiers, in their shirt sleeves despite the cold wind, swarmed in these earthworks like a host of white ants; spadefuls of red clay were continually being thrown up from behind the bank by unseen hands.
War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo View in context
More results
 
Hutchinson browser? ? Full browser
 
 
Hutchinson Encyclopedia
?

Disclaimer | Privacy policy | Feedback | Copyright © 2008 Farlex, Inc.
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. Terms of Use.