Archaeology by period / region Books

Book SynopsisAn up-to-the-minute account of ten of the most exciting archaeological discoveries in Britain over the past decade.Trade Review'Lucid and informative … conveys both the thrill of discovery and the painstaking, puzzling interpretation work that follows it. … If you’ve ever wondered how we know so much about who we used to be, this is the book for you ' - Greg Jenner, historian and bestselling author of 'A Million Years In A Day''By taking us backwards in time, 'Digging Up Britain' has the quality of really good science fiction ' - Tom Holland'The popular archaeology book we have been waiting for … Pitts has presented readers with a vision of a modern discipline, engaged and relevant politically, socially, intellectually and economically' - British Archaeology'Many books claim to detail Britain’s ancient past, but few are as absorbing, entertaining and subversively informative as this one' - BBC History'A great book, full of engaging and thought-provoking new perspectives on some key discoveries which will appeal to archaeologists and non-archaeologists alike' - Professor Carenza Lewis, University of Lincoln'Authoritative stuff' - Book BrunchTable of Contents1. A Viking massacre: Weymouth, AD 1000 • 2. The Staffordshire Hoard: Hammerwich, AD 600–700 • 3. Roman occupation: London, AD 45–400 • 4. Living in round houses: Black Loch, 450–250 BC and Must Farm, 1300–800 BC • 5. Paths of the dead: Cliffs End, 900–300 BC • 6. Shaped by beliefs: Stonehenge, 4000–2000 BC • 7. Deer hunters: Star Carr, 11k years ago 8. Cannibals: Gough’s Cave, 15k years ago • 9. Elephant hunters: Barnham, 400k years ago

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Cornwall in Prehistory' provides an introduction to this fascinating era in the county's past.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisExcavations at 12 and 3 Redcliff Street, Bristol, revealed domestic and industrial remains dating from the establishment of the Redcliffe suburb in the 12th century through to the later post-medieval period.Trade Review...the relatively prompt appearance of the present report by Cotswold Archaeology is extremely welcome. * Bristol and Gloucestshire Archaeology Society *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book is the first to closely examine the location of the earliest purpose-built Christian buildings inside the city of Rome in their contemporary context. It argues that some of these were deliberately sited by their builders so as to utilise prominent positions within the urban landscape or to pragmatically reuse pre-existing bath facilities for Christian liturgical practice. Several examples are discussed with the latest archaeological discoveries explored. Two particular case studies are also examined within the Subura area of the city, and their urban location is examined in relation to the commercial, religious, social and public spaces around them, known through a 3rd century A.D. survey of the city. Certain other Christian basilicas in the city encroached or blocked roads, were situated by main arterial highways, were located on hills and eventually reused prestigious public buildings. Other examples were located by potent ‘pagan’ sites or important places of public congregation, with two structures suggesting the political astuteness of a 4th century pope. This book shows that the spatial Christianisation of Rome was not a random and haphazard process, but was at times a planned project that strategically built new Christian centres in places that would visually or practically enhance what were generally small and modest structures.Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Building a Titulus-Basilica in Late Antique Rome; 2. Christian Basilicas and Baths; 3. Striving for Attention; 4. The Tituli of Equitius and Sylvester in the Subura; 5. Some Other 4th-7th Century Intramural Christian Basilicas in their Urban Context; 6. Conclusion; Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book is for students and practitioners of not only knapping, lithic technology and archaeology, but also of fractography and fracture mechanics. At conferences on fractography of glasses and ceramics, the author has often been asked to demonstrate knapping as well as provide overviews of fractography learned from it. The first part of the book is intended to stimulate such interests further, in order to solicit contributions from a largely untapped pool of experts. Such contributions can advance significantly our understandings of knapping as well as fractography. In Part II of the book, fracture markings as the tools of fractography are introduced, with their formation, meaning and utility explained. Observations on the presence or absence of the markings in knapping are considered in Part III, along with a number of interpretations of fracture features. The basic principles and concepts of fracture mechanics and fractography apply to fractures produced in any cultural context. This volume therefore addresses most questions on fracture in a generic sense, independent of cultural contexts. In general, understanding of fractures provides a sounder basis for lithic analysis, and use of more recent scientific tools opens new avenues for lithic studies.Trade Review"For more than 40 years, Are Tsirk has developed interdisciplinary research on the physical phenomena in knapping, combining his experience in knapping with his longstanding interest in fracture. The work is enhanced by his curiosity and minute observational ability of a natural scientist. It is the most complete monograph on the subject. It will be of interest to all amateurs in knapping and useful, if not indispensible, to fractographers as well as all archaeologists in the study of lithics." -Jacques Pelegrin, Lab. "Prehistoire et Technologie" CNRS, Paris "The book - is a delight to read. It contains information of interest and importance to the knapper, fractographer and anyone interested in flint knapping or finding out about knapping. It contains so much material in one place that it becomes an invaluable resource. It is easy to read and many of the sections are self-contained - The pictures are marvelous and very descriptive. If you have an interest in history, art, anthropology, fractography or knapping in any aspect, you will enjoy and appreciate this book." -John J. Mecholsky Jr., Materials and Engineering Department, University of Florida, Gainesville "Tsirk understands lithic fracture mechanics better than anyone. - This his latest work will stand as his testament of a lifetime of critically important research in archeology." -Errett Callahan, Consultant in Reconstructive Archeology, Lynchburg, VATable of ContentsPART I: ELEMENTS OF KNAPPING 1.Knapping Past and Present Introduction Traditional Crafts and Industrial Society Prehistoric Knapping Recent and Remnant Knapping Traditions Some Specialized Knapping Traditions Gunflints Threshing Sledges Ceramic Industry Modern Knapping and Recent Explosion Of Interest Knapping Studies Archaeological Record Ethnography Knapping Experiments Living Archaeology Mechanics, Fracture Mechanics and Fractography Contemporary Crafts 2.Knapping Tools and Techniques Antler and Wood Billets Hammerstones Punches Pressure Flakers Holding and Fabricating Devices Anvils and Supports Hides Grinding and Abrading Stones Nontraditional Tools and Acessories Use-Wear Indicators Direct Percussion Anvil Technique and Anvil Percussion Bipolar Percussion Indirect Percussion Pressure Flaking Pecking, Grinding, Polishing Edge and Platform Preparation Some Rules of Thumb Knappers' Wisdom, Folklore and Dilemmas Softer Percussors and Slower Blows Follow-Through with Forces Ridge Abrasion Wetting and Soaking Learning to Knap 3.Raw Materials Material Selection and Use Obsidian Flint and Chert Other Materials Physical and Mechanical Properties Microstructure and Physical Properties Homogeneity and Isotropy Elasticity, Ductility, Brittleness Elastic Constants Constants for Thermal Effects Strength and Fracture Toughness Mirror Constants Workability Alteration of Properties And Behavior Hydration and Vesiculation of Obsidian Cortex and Patina on Flint and Chert Thermal Cracking Thermal Alteration and Heat Treatment Environmental Effects Procurement Nontraditional Uses of Obsidian, Flint and Chert PART II - FRACTURE MARKINGS: THE TOOLS OF FRACTOGRAPHY 4.An Overview 5. Hackles and Hackle Scars Twist Hackles and Single Tails Multiple Tails Parabolic Double Tails Hackle Scars Hackle Scar and Hackle Flake Bulbar Scar and Proximal Scar Ripple Scars Ridge Scars More on Hackle Scar Formation 6.Ripples Ripples Wallner Lines Normal Wallner Lines Anomalous Wallner Lines Stress Changes Causing Ripples Static Effects Specimen Vibration Stress Pulses Experimental Ripples Ultrasonic Modulation Sonic Modulation Exploding Wire Experiments Terminology and Interpretations by Others 7. Mirror, Mist, Hackle, Branching Mirror Mist and Velocity Hackle Branching, Incipient Branching and Lateral Wedges Velocity and Energy Considerations Mirror Constants and Stresses Markings Related to Mist and Hackle Wallner Mist-Hackle Configuration Mist Suppression Configurations Mist Lines 8.Miscellaneous Markings Material Interface Markings Material Interface Ridges and Ripples Material Interface Hackle Material Transition Ridge Split Marks Dividing Lines Ruffles Liquid-Induced Fracture Markings (Lifms) Effects of Moisture and Liquids Conditions for Manifestation of LIFMs Occurrence of LIFMs Significance of LIFMs Basic Kinds of LIFMs A Catalogue of LIFMs and Patterns Observation of LIFMs Variability with Liquids Variability with Lithic Materials LIFMs with Sonic Modulation LIFMs Observed with Condensation Some Surface Patterns PART III - FRACTURES IN KNAPPING 9.Introduction Elements of a Mechanical System And Knapping Stresses, Stress Waves and Vibrations Some Fundamentals in Fracture Mechanics Catastrophic and Subcritical Crack Growth Research on Fractures in Knapping Other Research 10.Flake Initiations, Proximal and Surface Features Flake Initiations Some Definitions Hertzian Cone Fractures Contact Initiations Non-Contact Initiations Initiations with Multiple Blows Effects of Cortex and "Layering" Environmental Effects Percussor Softness and Speed Proximal Flake Features Platform Characteristics Dorsal Ridges and Curvatures Interior Platform Edge Wing Flakes Bulbs Popouts and Stepouts Flake Surface Features Fracture Directions Ripple Configurations and Fracture Fronts Ripple Concavity Ripples Related to Flake and Core Geometry Ripples at Inhomogeneities Why Ridges Guide Flakes Fracture Velocities Mist and Related Markings Hackle Scars Ruffles Split Marks Tails and Incipient Tails 11.Crack Paths and Flake Profile Features Criteria for Crack Paths Crack Paths and Core Geometry Crack Paths and Forces Applied Popouts and Related Fractures Compression Lips, Curls and Compression Wedges Step-In and Step-Out Fractures Incipient Breaks Popout Fractures Ripple Profiles and Kinks Wavy Crack Paths Flake Terminations "Jacked" Flakes 12.Forces in Knapping Non-Contact Flake Initiations Edge Angle and Core Geometry Location and Direction of Force Application Platform Characteristics Flaw Distributions Flaker Properties Contact Initiations Location of Force Application Direction of Force Application Edge Angle and Core Geometry Platform Characteristics Flaw Distributions Flaker Properties Contact and Non-Contact Flake Initiations: Comparisons Subsequent Detachment Direct Percussion Percussor Characteristics Velocity of Blows Indirect Percussion Punch Characteristics Striker Characteristics Core Mobility Percussion Flaking Pressure Flaking Supports Distal Dorsal Bipolar Percussion 13. Breakage of Blades, Flakes and Bifaces Axial Loads, Bending, Shear, Torsion and Their Effects Clues from Fracture Markings and Other Features Some Fractures with Blades and Flakes Splitting of Blades and Flakes Step-In and Step-Out Fractures Incipient Breaks Popouts Some Fractures with Bifaces Overshots and Edge-to-Edge Flakes Amputations Transverse Breakages Fracture Origins Fracture Directions Compression Lips, Curls and Compression Wedges Mist and Related Markings Branching and Lateral Wedges for Blades and Flakes Fracture Velocities Location of Force Application Some Special Breaks Bowties Slices Segmentation Aztec Appreciation of Mechanics

Read more less

Book SynopsisManetho’s obscure reference to a race of invaders has been a constant source of debate and controversy. But who are these invaders? They are named the ‘Hyksos’ – a Greek modification of the Egyptian expression HqA xAs.wt ‘ruler of foreign lands’. The Hyksos are correlated with the Fifteenth Dynasty of the Second Intermediate Period, a time characterised by the destabilisation and regionalisation of the Egyptian state. Several scholars have pondered over their victory and rule in Egypt, from the manner in which they entered Egypt and the means with which they claimed the throne to their final expulsion from the land. This book assesses their rise to power, exploring the preliminary stages that enabled the Hyksos to gain control over a portion of Egyptian territory and thus to merit a small mention in Manetho’s history.Table of ContentsSection I: Studying the Hyksos Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Previous Scholarship Chapter 3: Ethnicity and its Representation Section II: Evidence for Contact Chapter 4: Tracing Asiatics in Egypt Chapter 5: Between Egypt and the Levant: The Eastern Desert Chapter 6: Contact with the Egyptian in the Levant Section III: Observations and Findings Chapter 7: Representing Asiatics and the Levant Chapter 8: Rulers of Foreign Lands Select Bibliography Appendix A : Translations Appendix B : Ambiguous Data from the Levant

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this book Anne Teather develops a new approach to understanding the Neolithic flint mines of southern Britain. These mines include some of the earliest - and also some of the largest - monumental constructions that transformed the landscape of Britain during the period of social change that accompanied the transition from foraging to farming 6000 years ago. Yet the sophisticated architecture of these mines and the unique deposits that they contained have received relatively little attention from archaeologists. This book draws together the results of an extensive analysis of archival records and material to illustrate how these mines and the activities that took place in them can be seen as integral to Neolithic life. Previous studies of the flint mines have focused on the functional demands of flint extraction and the ways in which the raw flint material was distributed and processed into tools such as axes. Yet there is compelling evidence that the voids – shafts and galleries created through the process of flint extraction – were not merely the abandoned features of flint exploitation but instead should be seen as dynamic and monumental architectural spaces where creative and meaningful social actions took place. This interpretation is evidenced through the recognition of repeated motifs of chalk art inscribed on the walls of the mines and in the deliberate placement and deposition of artefacts. These artefacts include both naturalistic and abstract forms made of chalk, items that have not previously been recognised as a cohesive class of material. The book draws together for the first time a comprehensive typology, chronology and classification system for prehistoric chalk artefacts. The concept of artefact is broadened to include natural materials whose selection and placement in specific archaeological contexts is pivotal in understanding depositional complexity and the symbolic meaning conveyed by elements of the natural world.Table of ContentsChapter 1: Mining and Materiality ; Chapter 2: Situating Flint Mines in Neolithic Studies ; Chapter 3: Addressing Functionality with Materiality and Phenomenology ; Chapter 4: Non-Portable Chalk: Art and Artefacts ; Chapter 5: Portable Chalk Artefacts ; Chapter 6: Natural Objects to Cultural Artefacts ; Chapter 7: Beyond Extraction ; Bibliography ; Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis report aims to offer glimpses of the human condition on Naxos island, Greece, focusing on the archaeoanthropologic study of the human skeletal remains along with associated contexts of faunal materials recovered from the Geometric (9th -7th c BC) component of the burial ground site of Plithos in Chora at Naxos island.Table of ContentsPrologue; Geometric Component Burial Contexts and Anthropological Remains; Anatomic Distribution of Preserved Skeletal Remains; Aspects of Population Sample Demographic Profile; On Skeletal Morphology; Palaeopathological Profile; Non-Anthropological Organic Materials of Burial Contexts with Emphasis on Faunal Remains; Epilogue; Graphs; Tables

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis volume contains the papers presented during the Meeting ‘Off the Beaten Track – Epigraphy at the Borders’, the sixth in a series of international events planned by the EAGLE, Europeana network of Ancient Greek and Latin Epigraphy international consortium.The Meeting was held on 24–25 September 2015, with the support of the Department of Classics and Late Antiquity Studies at the University of Bari Aldo Moro (Italy). During the event, the EAGLE Portal (http://www.eagle-network.eu) was officially launched and presented to the public for the first time. The event was intended to address the issues which arise in digitizing inscriptions characterised by ‘unusual’ features in comparison with the epigraphic norm. Here are collected contributions from several ongoing digital projects raising questions and proposing solutions regarding encoding inscriptions – from the Archaic period to the Middle Ages and beyond, even in languages other than Greek and Latin – which do not fall within those labelled as standard. The projects involved are the following: ILA – Iscrizioni Latine Arcaiche; The Ancient Graffiti Project; DASI – Digital Archive for the Study of pre-Islamic Arabian Inscriptions; EDB – Epigraphic Database Bari; EDV – Epigraphic Database Vernacular Inscriptions; AshLi – Ashmolean Latin Inscriptions Project.Table of ContentsForeword (Silvia Orlandi) ; Off the Beaten Track. Epigraphy at the Borders: An Introduction (Antonio Enrico Felle) ; The Encoding Challenge of the ILA Project (Giulia Sarullo) ; Images and Text on the walls of Herculaneum: Designing the Ancient Graffiti Project (Rebecca R. Benefiel and Holly M. Sypniewski) ; Is still Arabia at the margins of digital Epigraphy? Challenges in the digitization of the pre-Islamic inscriptions in the project DASI (Alessandra Avanzini, Annamaria De Santis, Daniele Marotta and Irene Rossi) ; From Officina Lapidaria to DYE. Encoding inscriptions from the Roman ; Catacombs (Anita Rocco) ; Challenges of Byzantine Epigraphy in the 21st Century. A Short Note (Andreas Rhoby) ; EDV Italian Medieval Epigraphy in the Vernacular (9th-15th century). A new Database (Luna Cacchioli, Nadia Cannata, Alessandra Tiburzi) ; Signals, Symbols, and Spaces in the Ashmolean Latin Collection (Hannah Cornwell and Jane Masséglia) ; Epigraphy out there (Pietro Liuzzo)

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book is an essay on architectural drawings of the Greek and Roman world. The first chapter is focused on the possibility that ancient treatises of architectures were endowed with drawings in order to make clear expositions which sometimes were not easily explainable only with words. Then the drawings which once clarified the treatise of Vitruvius are considered. The problem concerning the possible presence of drawings in post-Vitruvian architectural treatises is also discussed. The issue as to whether descriptive literary compositions sometimes contained illustrations as well is also examined. Then representations of architecture in Roman treatises on divisions of land (the so called gromatic treatises) are considered. The references to architectural drawings in literary and epigraphical testimonia are collected and a catalogue of the surviving Greek and Roman drawings of buildings or of parts of them is given. Thus this research offers all the basic data for the study of an important tool in the context of architecture in antiquity.Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1. The treatises written by architects about specific architectural works made by them; 2. The illustrations which accompanied the text of the de architectura by Vitruvius; 3. Drawings included in handbooks after Vitruvius; 4. Images attached to ancient descriptions of architectures; 5. Miniature illustrations in Gromatic treatises; 6. References to architectural drawings in ancient literatures and inscriptions; 7. Archaeological evidence of drawings of architectures; 8. Conclusions; 9. Catalogue of drawings of architectures in the Greek and Roman world

Read more less

Book SynopsisŌsaka, now a city of 19 million inhabitants, was the economic powerhouse of Japan for two thousand years and remains an important international center. In an unusual archaeological treatment of regional long-term history, Richard Pearson proposes that a kind of entrepreneurial mentality motivated leaders to expand the economy through projects of all kinds. He summarizes results of decades of Japanese intensive archaeological study of these projects and introduces some local museums conserving and interpreting cultural heritage in the face of overwhelming urbanization. The Ōsaka Plain was the scene of vigorous Palaeolithic and Jōmon hunting and gathering communities and large agricultural villages during the Yayoi Period, and was the political center of Japan for parts of the Kofun, Asuka and Nara Periods. In the 5th century AD some of the largest burial mounds in the world were built there. Later it was an area of rich and powerful manors in the Heian and Kamakura Periods. At the end of the Chūsei (Mediaeval) Period, the city of Sakai emerged as the financial center of Japan. and Ōsaka Castle briefly dominated the region. Working in tandem with the adjacent Nara and Kyōto Basins, Ōsaka was a center of innovation and economic, social, and cultural exchange between the Japanese Islands and coastal Asia.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; Chapter 1: Ōsaka Archaeology; Chapter 2: The Environment Of The Ōsaka Area And Its Changes; Chapter 3: Early Hunter Gatherers: the Palaeolithic and Jōmon Periods (ca. 20,000 BC to 950 BC); Chapter 4: The Expansion of Agrarian Society; the Yayoi Period (950 BC to 240 AD); Chapter 5: Consolidation of Political Power and Trade; the Kofun Period (240 to 600 AD); Chapter 6: The Naniwa Port as a Regional Center; The Kodai (600 to 1185 AD) Period; Chapter 7: Ōsaka as a Commercial Center; The Chūsei Period (ca 1185 to 1603 AD); Chapter 8: The Beginnings of Modern Ōsaka; The Kinsei Period (ca 1603 to 1868 AD) ; Chapter 9: Ōsaka’s Special Features; Appendix A: Site Descriptions; Appendix B: Sakai Historical Background; Appendix C: Ōsaka’s Cultural Heritage and Selected Museums; Glossary; References Cited; Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Ouse valley, East Sussex, is a key communication route from the Channel coast, via the Downs (and the historic county town of Lewes), to the wide expanse of the Weald. It traverses and encompasses landscapes and archaeological sites of both regional and national importance – all connected by the river Ouse and its valley. This is the first review of the archaeology of this important landscape – from Palaeolithic to medieval times by contributors all routed in the archaeology of Sussex. Binding together the archaeology is a review of the geoarchaeology and palaeo-environment following which the chapters document the collective archaeology and potential from the Palaeolithic of Boxgrove vs Piltdown, via Mesolithic archaeology from the textbook excavations of Grahame Clark to recent 21st century investigations. Monuments of causewayed enclosures, long barrows and round barrows represent some of the Neolithic and Bronze Age evidence with some extraordinary finds recorded in the Bronze Age. From hillforts and villas, to medieval rural and urban excavation; the Ouse valley represents a microcosm of the wider region, the contributions collectively reveal the importance and significance of this valley to the development of landscape history and society of a quintessential English county. The narrative concludes with the first detailed research agenda for the Ouse valley.Table of ContentsDudley John Moore; an appreciation and tribute to ‘a life well lived’ (Sarah Green); Foreword. CCE (University of Sussex) and its three Sussex River Ouse Projects: teaching, learning and research (David Rudling); 1. Introduction: studying the Ouse Valley (Dudley Moore); 2. Holocene geoarchaeology and palaeo-environment; setting the scene (Michael J. Allen); 3. Palaeolithic record of the Sussex Ouse Valley (Matt Pope and Jenny Brown); 4. Mesolithic (Diana Jones); 5. Neolithic (Steve Sutcliffe); 6. Bronze Age, a north-south divide (Lisa Jayne Fisher); 7. Iron Age (Stuart McGregor); 8. Impact of Rome (David Rudling); 9. Anglo-Saxons (Simon Stevens); 10. The Upper Ouse in the Medieval period (AD 1066 to 1499) (David H. Millum); 11. Lower Ouse in the Medieval period (AD 1066 to 1499) (David J. Worsell); 12. Research priorities for the Ouse valley (Michael J. Allen and David Rudling

Read more less

Book SynopsisWas the purpose of an Iron Age hillfort to defend people and resources or was it there to show the power of the community and its leaders? Was the Middle Iron Age trend to large complex ‘defences’ a response to developing tactics of assault or did the huge amounts of construction work serve the purpose of building community identity through shared labour? The name ‘hillfort’ implies a defensive purpose, but in recent decades alternative interpretations have gained favour, based on analyses suggesting that hillforts are poorly suited to military purposes and on views of Iron Age society that emphasise the importance of boundaries, symbolic display and communitybuilding. Excavations of hillfort interiors reveal they were sites for many activities; large caches of stones suggest that sling warfare was one. This book reports an investigation of these issues. Sling accuracy at a hillfort was measured for the first time, in a controlled experiment comparing attack and defence across single and developed ramparts. Tactical scenarios modelled from the results showed that hillfort development gave defenders increased advantage. These results support defence as the explanation for the features of the enclosing works of hillforts. Full details of the method and analyses are included.Table of ContentsAbstract; Preface; Acknowledgements; Chapter 1: Introduction; Chapter 2: Iron Age Hillfort Defences; Chapter 3: The Sling and Sling Warfare; Chapter 4: Background to the Experiment; Chapter 5: The Experiment; Chapter 6: Discussion; Chapter 7: Conclusions; Appendix A: Procedure Exhibits and Experiment Equipment; Appendix B: Experiment Results and Data Analyses; Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe papers collected in this book correspond to the lectures held during session B34 of UISPP conference in Burgos (June 2014) where the presentation of multidisciplinary works were encouraged. The main goal of bringing together specialists from various disciplines (humanities and natural sciences) was to debate, from different perspectives, the networks in raw materials and technological innovation in Prehistory and Protohistory, involving investigation topics typical of archaeometry: archeometallurgy, petrography, and mineralogy.Table of ContentsForeword to the XVII UISPP Congress Proceedings Series Edition (Luiz Oosterbeek); Networks of trade in raw materials and technological innovations in Prehistory & Protohistory: an archaeometry approach Introduction (Davide Delfino, Paolo Piccardo, João Carlos Baptista); Middle Bronze Age metalworking in the cave of Monte Meana (South-western Sardinia, Italy) (Marco Serra, Stefano Naitza, Carla Cannas, and Giacomo Paglietti); Bronze Age silver artifacts from Romania – an archaeo-metallurgical study (Bogdan Constantinescu, Daniela Cristea-Stan and Anca-Diana Popescu); Prehistoric gold metallurgy in Transylvania – an archaeometrical study (Daniela Cristea-Stan and Bogdan Constantinescu); Passage of technologies – an archaeometric case study of iron artifacts of a Scythian Age grave from the Carpathian Basin (B. Török, A. Gyucha, Á. Kovács, P. Barkóczy, and Gy. Gulyás); An indigenous pottery production strategy in the late Early Bronze Age site of Mursia, Pantelleria, Italy. Perspectives on social complexity and indigenous interaction patterns (Matteo Cantisani); Bronze Age ceramics from Sardinia (Italy) – a technological study (Maria Giuseppina Gradoli); A preliminary archaeometric study of eneolithic anthropomorphic statues from Nurallao (central Sardinia, Italy) (Marco Serra, Valentina Mameli and Carla Cannas); Early Iron Age pottery in south-western Iberia – archaeometry and chronology (Michał Krueger, Dirk Brandherm)

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book examines different forms of ritual activities performed in houses of Graeco- Roman Egypt. It draws on the rich archaeological record of rural housing and evidence from literature or papyrological references to both urban and rural housing. The introduction critically considers the literature relevant to the topic in order to identify the research gap. Chapter I attempts to reconstruct the structure of urban and rural houses in Graeco- Roman Egypt in the light of papyri and archaeology. This aims to establish the physical and spatial framework for the rituals considered in the following chapters. In line with this reconstruction of domestic properties is the reconstruction of the architectural layout and use of the domestic pylon in Chapter II. Chapter III deals with two rituals enacted before the front door of the house, namely the sacrifice of fish on the 9th of Thoth and the sacrifice of pigs on the 15th of Pachon. Chapter IV considers the ritual of the illumination of lamps for the goddess Athena-Neith within and around houses on the 13th of Epeiph. Chapter V highlights the use of the house as an arena for social types of rituals associated with dining, birthdays, the mallokouria, the epikrisis, and marriage. Chapter VI explores the religious sphere of houses, which is obvious from domestic shrines, wall paintings with religious themes, and figurines of Egyptian and Graeco-Roman deities uncovered from houses. The last chapter deals with mourning rituals, which the house occupants performed after the demise of their beloved animals, such as dogs, and their family members. In the conclusion, I summarize my work and draw out its implications, suggesting that the house was the locus of social, religious, and funerary rituals in Graeco-Roman Egypt.Table of ContentsChapter I: The Internal Division of Houses; Chapter II: The Domestic Pylon; Chapter III: Ritual Activities Enacted Before the Front Door of Houses; Chapter IV: The Illumination of Lamps (Lychnocaia) for Athena-Neith on 13 Epeiph (Julian: 24 June); Chapter V: The House as Social Space; Chapter VI: The House as Religious Space; Appendix 1: Catalogue of Roman-period Houses; Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisAmong the numerous deities in the ancient Egyptian mythology, whose nature and function are still vague and obscure, are mś.w Bdšt – ‘Children of Weakness’. These beings are twice mentioned in the Book of the Dead chapter 17. The text fragments contain two local versions of the myth with mś.w Bdšt – Hermopolitan (Urk. V: Abs. 1), and Heliopolitan (Urk. V: Abs. 22). Since the last text describes the combat between Re and the ‘Children of Weakness’, the same is likely to be reflected on the vignette, which depicts the battle of Re against mś.w Bdšt, metaphorically shown in the form of a serpent. This book is a comprehensive study of the ‘Children of Weakness’ myth and the scene depicting the cat, cutting off the head of the serpent under the branches of the išd-tree found on the number of Book of the Dead chapter 17 vignettes.Table of ContentsPreface; Chapter 1: The scene with the cat, serpent and sacred tree, 19th–21st Dynasties; Chapter 2: Correlation between text and visual image; Chapter 3: Mś.w Bdšt – the sources and the plot; Chapter 4: Mś.w Bdšt in the context of BD 175A, BD 123, CT Sp. 409, pBrooklyn 47.218.84 and the Book of Heavenly Cow – the Cosmogonic myth dénouement; Chapter 5: Mś.w Bdšt in the Book of Gates; Chapter 6: Mś.w Bdšt – the name and the image; Chapter 7: Essence of mś.w Bdšt in the Egyptian world view; Conclusion; Appendix 1: Catalogue of sources; Appendix 2: Selected texts; Abbreviations; Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisCollections management practice is an often ignored aspect of archaeological research and salvage activities in many Middle Eastern countries, yet literally thousands of artefacts are recovered every year with no real strategies for managing them sustainably into the future. In this guide, archaeologist Dianne Fitzpatrick sees archaeological collections management not in terms of a last-ditch effort to solve on-site storage crises and preservation problems at the end of a project, but as a means of integrating achievable good-practice strategies into research designs and site management plans from the start, or for that matter, at any time that assist project directors and local Antiquities Directorates. Strategies designed to protect and preserve ensure the cultural significance and research potential of artefacts is maintained throughout the archaeological process and encourages those creating, managing and preserving archaeological collections to work toward the same goals. Merging together conservation-led principles with current on-site practice in a practical manner, Managing Archaeological Collections in Middle Eastern Countries aims to be a good practice standard or checklist.Table of ContentsAims and Objectives; Archaeological Collections Management Practice; Archaeological Collections Management; Recording Archaeological Collections; Short-Term: Registration, Analysis And Access; Long-Term: Archaeological Collections Storage; Implementing Archaeological Collections Management Strategies; Summary; Glossary; Bibliography; Appendix 1: Field Study: Syria and Turkey; Appendix 2: Survey: Archaeologists, Conservators and Curators

Read more less

Book SynopsisBetween January 2008 and July 2009, Northamptonshire Archaeology, now part of MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology), carried out a series of excavations along the route of a new water pipeline being constructed by Anglian Water Services as part of a major project to increase the supply of water to new homes and businesses in the south-east Midlands region. Nineteen sites were investigated, dating primarily to the Iron Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. The earliest remains were a late Bronze Age/early Iron Age pit alignment near Seaton, Rutland. The Iron Age and Roman sites were small rural settlements comprising ditched enclosures, the remains of roundhouses and pits. Settlements were located near Seaton and Caldecott in Rutland and in Northamptonshire at Swinawe Barn near Corby, Thorpe Malsor, White Hill Lodge, Great Cransley and Willows Nursery. A Roman site near Rushton, Northamptonshire may be associated with a villa estate. Other sites included part of a Roman field system at Violet Lane, near Corby, and Roman cremation burials near Gretton, Northamptonshire. The settlements mainly date from the late middle Iron Age, 2nd century BC, through to the 4th century AD, although there was little evidence for direct continuity of settlement between the Iron Age and Roman periods. An Anglo-Saxon cremation cemetery dated to the late 5th century to mid-7th century AD, at Glaston, Rutland, contained 16 cremation burials deposited in decorated and plain urns along with small assemblages of grave goods, often also burnt on the pyre, and including a brooch, glass beads, and fragments of a bone comb and mount. Later features generally comprised medieval and post-medieval furrows from ridge and furrow field systems and field boundary ditches.Table of ContentsContributors; Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction; 2. Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (c.4000-1450BC); 3. Middle Bronze Age to Early Iron Age (c.1450-400BC); 4. Middle to Late Iron Age (400 BC - 43 AD); 5. Roman Settlement (AD43 - AD450); 6. Anglo-Saxon burial and settlement (AD450-650); 7. Medieval and post-medieval field systems; 8. Discussion; Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this book, Dr Vyron Antoniadis presents a contextual study of the Near Eastern imports which reached Crete during the Early Iron Age and were deposited in the Knossian tombs. Cyprus, Phoenicia, North Syria and Egypt are the places of origin of these imports. Knossian workshops produced close or freer imitations of these objects. The present study reveals the ways in which imported commodities were used to create or enhance social identity in the Knossian context. The author explores the reasons that made Knossians deposit imported objects in their graves as well as investigates whether specific groups could control not only the access to these objects but also the production of their imitations. Dr Antoniadis argues that the extensive use of locally produced imitations alongside authentic imports in burial rituals and contexts indicates that Knossians treated both imports and imitations as items of the same symbolic and economic value.Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction; Chapter 1: Death and her Objects: Theoretical Approaches; Chapter 2: Would you like your tomb with or without dromos? Tombs and Society in EIA Knossos; Chapter 3: The Near Eastern Connection: The Finds and their Contexts; Chapter 4: Who gets the Imports and who the Imitations?; Conclusion: An Overview of the Knossian Early Iron Age Society; Appendix I: The Tombs and the Burials; Appendix II: Imports and Imitations; Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisBodies of Maize, Eaters of Grain provides a comparative study of the earliest urban civilisations of the Maya lowlands and the Greek mainland. It builds upon earlier comparative studies by Gordon Childe, Robert Adams and Bruce Trigger, extending their work into new directions. Specifically, the focus lies on the art styles of the Late Preclassic lowland Maya and Mycenaean Greece. The approach used here seeks to combine more traditional iconographic approaches with more recent models on metaphor and the social agency of things. Comparing Maya and Mycenaean art styles through the three aspects of metaphor, semiotics and praxis, their differences and similarities are made clear. The book shows art to have played a more active role in the development of the earliest urban civilisations, rather than passively reflecting economic and political trends. In that way, the social role of art provides a key to understanding the relations between the different factors in the development of the two societies, as they played out at different temporal and geographical scales. To understand this, the notion of distinct Maya and Mycenaean ‘material worlds’, involving both materials and ideas, is proposed, with consequences for models about the earliest urban civilisations in general.Table of ContentsSummary ; Chapter One: Introduction ; Chapter Two: Philosophical - Methodological Issues for Cross-cultural Comparison in Archaeology ; Chapter Three: Introduction to Mycenaean Early Civilisation ; Chapter Four: General Characteristics of Mycenaean Art ; Chapter Five: Contexts and Agency of Mycenaean Art ; Chapter Six: Introduction to Late Preclassic Lowland Maya Early Civilisation ; Chapter Seven: General Characteristics of Late Preclassic Lowland Maya Art ; Chapter Eight: Contexts and Agency of Late Preclassic Lowland Maya Art ; Chapter Nine: Comparing the Art of the Mycenaean and Late Preclassic Lowland Maya Early Civilisations ; Chapter Ten: Conclusion ; Bibliography ; Appendix: Overview of the Narrative Micro-structures in the San Bartolo Wall-paintings

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe present volume originated in session A25b (‘Current Approaches to Collective Burials in the Late European Prehistory’) of the XVII World Congress of the International Union of the Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences (UISPP), held in Burgos in September 2014. Collective burials are quite a common feature in Prehistoric Europe, with the gathering of multiple individuals in a shared burial place occurring in different types of burial structures (natural caves, megalithic structures, artificial caves, corbelled-roof tombs, pits, etc.). Such features are generally associated with communities along the agropastoralist transition and fully agricultural societies of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic. For a long time, human skeletal remains exhumed from collective burials were dismissed as valuable sources of information, their studies being limited mostly to morphological assessments and subsequent classification in predefined ‘races’. They currently represent a starting point for diversified, often interdisciplinary, research projects, allowing for a more accurate reconstruction of funerary practices, as well as of palaeobiological and environmental aspects, which are fundamental for the understanding of populations in the Late Prehistory of Europe and of the processes leading to the emergence of agricultural societies in this part of the world. The articles in this volume provide examples of different approaches currently being developed on Prehistoric collective burials of southern Europe, mostly focusing on case studies, but also including contributions of a more methodological scope.Table of ContentsIn Memoriam Rui Boaventura (February 10th 1971 – May 28th 2016) – Ana Catarina Sousa, Tiago Tomé, Ana Maria Silva Foreword to the XVII UISPP Congress Proceedings Series Edition – Luiz Oosterbeek Introduction – Tiago Tomé, Marta Díaz-Zorita Bonilla, Ana Maria Silva and Claudia Cunha Tomb 3 at La Pijotilla (Solana de los Barros, Badajoz, Spain): A Bioarchaeological Study of a Copper Age Collective Burial – Marta Díaz-Zorita Bonilla, Charlotte A. Roberts, Leonardo García Sanjuán and Victor Hurtado Pérez On the applicability of the assessment of dental tooth wear for the study of collective prehistoric burials – Luís Miguel Marado, Claudia Cunha, G. Richard Scott, Tiago Tomé, Hugo Machado and Ana Maria Silva Cova de Can Sadurní (Begues, Barcelona). Towards the definition of a multiple funerary model inside caves during the middle Neolithic I in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula – Manuel Edo, Ferran Antolín, Pablo Martínez, Concepció Castellana, Remei Bardera, María Saña, M. Mercè Bergadà, Josep Maria Fullola, Chus Barrio, Elicínia Fierro, Trinidad Castillo and Eva Fornell Mora Cavorso Cave: a collective underground burial in Neolithic central Italy – Mario F. Rolfo, Katia F. Achino and Letizia Silvestri Bioarchaeological approach to the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic population of Cameros megalithic group (La Rioja, Spain) – Teresa Fernández-Crespo Anthropological and taphonomical study of human remains from the burial cave of El Espinoso (Ribadedeva, Asturias, Spain) – Borja González Rabanal, Manuel Ramón González Morales and Ana Belén Marín Arroyo Diet and ritual in the western Mediterranean Copper Age: human and animal stable isotopes from the collective burial at S. Caterina di Pittinuri (Sardinia, Italy) – Luca Lai, Ornella Fonzo, Elena Usai, Luca Medda, Robert Tykot, Ethan Goddard, David Hollander and Giuseppa Tanda The artificial caves of Valencina de la Concepción (Seville) – Pedro M. López Aldana and Ana Pajuelo Pando Multiple burials in pit graves from Recent Prehistory at Southwest of Iberia: The cases of Monte do Vale do Ouro 2 (Ferreira do Alentejo), Ribeira de S. Domingos 1 and Alto de Brinches 3 (Serpa) – Tânia Pereira, Ana Maria Silva, António Valera, Eduardo Porfírio

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe architecture of the temple at Baitokaike shares the characteristics that are typical of the Phoenician region especially during the imperial era. Baitokaike corresponds to that Phoenician tradition, but our knowledge about the foundation of these shrines and their development is still limited. This study aims to deepen this topic, while proposing new chronological phases of the site, starting from the time when it was an open cult place, through the architectural analysis of its buildings. In addition, it reexamines the Seleucid and Roman privileges of the sanctuary in order to extend our understanding of the territory of Baitokaike: agriculture, production and trade, the connecting roads and transport to nearby urban centers. Finally, the study of the iconography of the Greco-Latin inscriptions on site reveal the nature of the Zeus cult at Baitokaike as well as the rituals and processions that took place in the sanctuary. This monograph also contains three appendices. The first is a collection of the Greek-Latin inscriptions found on the site, and includes an unpublished inscription found on an altar in the sanctuary. The second appendix constitutes a numismatic study of 46 coins uncovered during the excavation of 2004. Finally, the last appendix presents a catalogue of selected archaeological finds like pottery sherds, bronze and bones objects; Il complesso di Baitokaike (Hoson Sulaiman) è considerato uno degli esempi più peculiari di santuari rurali romani in Siria che pongono la problematica relativa alla creazione dei luoghi di culto extraurbani e il loro sviluppo architettonico durante il periodo classico. Questo lavoro si propone di affrontare tale problematica su un piano archeologico e storico esaminando nel dettaglio la morfologia spaziale e architettonica del complesso di Baitokaike tramite un’analisi comparata dei suoi edifici con altre strutture religiose siriane e dell’Asia Minore, e mediante una accurata classificazione delle sue evidenze epigrafiche, numismatiche e di altri materiali archeologici, per lo più inediti, provenienti dai recenti scavi nel sito. Il libro è teso a discutere anche lo status politico e amministrativo di Baitokaike e il suo territorio sacro durante l’epoca ellenistica e romana tramite uno studio epigrafico delle sue iscrizioni, soprattutto quelle relative ai privilegi concessi dai Seleucidi e confermati successivamente dagli imperatori romani. Il fulcro di questo lavoro, dunque, è quello di riesaminare l’architettura del complesso monumentale di Baitokaike e di proporre un suo nuovo inquadramento cronologico.Table of ContentsPremessa Capitolo 1. Analisi architettonica e funzionale Capitolo 2. Analisi cronologica Capitolo 3. La fondazione del luogo di culto a Baitokaike Capitolo 4. I privilegi del santuario Capitolo 5. Il territorio sacro di Baitokaike Capitolo 6. Il culto di Zeus a Baitokaike Conclusioni Appendice I. Iscrizioni greco-romane Appendice II. Monete di Baitokaike Appendice III. Elenco dei materiali archeologici scelti Bibliografia Generale Abstract (in English)

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom the Fjords to the Nile brings together essays by students and colleagues of Richard Holton Pierce (b. 1935), presented on the occasion of his 80th birthday. It covers topics on the ancient world and the Near East. Pierce is Professor Emeritus of Egyptology at the University of Bergen. Starting out as an expert in Egyptian languages, and of law in Greco-Roman Egypt, his professional interest has spanned from ancient Nubia and Coptic Egypt, to digital humanities and game theory. His contributions as scholar, teacher, supervisor and informal advisor to Norwegian studies in Egyptology, classics, archaeology, history, religion, and linguistics through more than five decades can hardly be overstated.Table of ContentsPreface; Nubians move from the margins to the center of their history – László Török; Potsherds on the grave. On burial traditions in the Renk area, South Sudan – Else Johansen Kleppe; Reconstructing a codex with the Coptic Encomia on Apa Victor – Alexandros Tsakos; Bridging Gaps: Archaeological sources and resources in museums – Saphinaz-Amal Naguib; ‘Egypt and the recalcitrant Pharaoh.’ Origin and function of a biblical motif – Kåre Berge; A ‘Sayings Gospel’ attested at Nag Hammadi – Einar Thomassen; Chaotic mothers and creepy shadows. Metaphors of procreation and vision in On the Origin of the World (NHC II, 5) – Ingvild Sælid Gilhus; Liquid Images and the poetics of vision in ancient Greece – Jørgen Bakke; Umm Gumyāna and the Zār – Richard Johan Natvig; Trade and religion in the Central Sahara. The Ibāḍīs and Kawar – Knut Vikør; Fluidité et fixité dans les néotextes numériques – Daniel Apollon

Read more less

Book SynopsisAnthropomorphic objects from the Egyptian Predynastic have been a topic of frequent study and debate, from the time they were first excavated until today. These objects, including human figurines, hippopotamus tusks, tag amulets and combs carved with the human image, continue to fascinate and perplex scholars today. Objects such as these form part of the extensive and distinctive iconographic imagery of Predynastic Egypt, and are often interpreted solely in the context of their symbolic or iconographic significance. The aim of this study is to examine these anthropomorphic objects in terms of their original context in order to determine what role they played in Predynastic burials – a useful method, as most of these objects are found in graves. A database comprising all provenanced anthropomorphic Predynastic objects and their placement in the grave, in addition to the details of each grave, has been composed in order to conduct a detailed analysis. The analysis is geared to answer the question of whether it is possible to determine the function of these objects from the available data, and if so, what the results could tell us about burial practices and rituals in Predynastic Egypt. It became clear from the results that the context, especially the specific placement of the object in the grave, can reflect significantly the meaning and function of anthropomorphic objects. The placement and function seems to have depended on the type of object: for instance, figurines had different placements and meanings to tusks and tags. Ultimately, it appears that anthropomorphic objects, especially figurines, were personal items with which the deceased were identified and buried by their relations and friends. They may have served as magical or protective items, or as representations of ancestors or the deceased individuals themselves. This conclusion is significant, as it confirms the previous assumptions about the functions of anthropomorphic objects in Predynastic graves through a thorough analysis of available data, making a contribution to our understanding of Predynastic burial rituals.Table of ContentsCHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ; CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY OF PREDYNATIC FIGURINES ; CHAPTER 3: METHODS OF ANALYSIS ; CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND RESULTS ; CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION ; CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION ; APPENDIX I: THE OBJECT CATALOGUE ; APPENDIX II: ADDITIONAL GRAVES ; APPENDIX III: ASSOCIATED OBJECTS ; APPENDIX IV - LIST OF OBJECTS AND FIGURES ; FIGURES ; BIBLIOGRAPHY

Read more less

Book SynopsisColourless glass, deliberately decolorized with manganese or antimony, became prominent between the middle of the 1st century AD and the beginning of the 4th century. This book reflects the diversity of glass objects (tableware, containers and small objects) and is designed as a practical manual divided into three parts. The first presents contexts in which colourless glass has been found; the second, in the form of index cards, is a typological catalogue which gives an overall picture of the colourless glassware found throughout Gaul; glass is highly useful as a dating tool but also tells us much about the economic, social and cultural aspects of its time. Chemical analyses form the third component. The volume of material gathered in this book makes it an indispensable working tool for researchers and students interested in the glassware of Roman antiquity. Le verre incolore, volontairement décoloré au manganèse ou à l’antimoine, est celui qui est le plus souvent utilisé entre le milieu du Ier s. apr. J.-C. et le début du IVe s. Verres incolores de L’antiquité romaine en Gaule et aux marges de la Gaule rend compte de la diversité de ce mobilier (vaisselle, contenants et petits objets) est conçu comme un manuel pratique divisé en trois parties. La première présente des contextes renfermant du verre incolore ; la seconde, sous forme de fiches, est un catalogue typologique qui livre une image globale de la verrerie incolore découverte dans l’ensemble de la Gaule. Outil de datation, le verre nous informe aussi sur les aspects économiques, sociaux et culturels de son époque. Les analyses chimiques forment le troisième volet. La masse documentaire réunie dans cet ouvrage en fait un instrument de travail indispensable aux chercheurs et étudiants qui s’intéressent au verre de l’Antiquité romaine.Table of ContentsVolume 1: Introduction; Avertissement; Abréviations; Bibliographie; Partie 1: Assemblages; Planches typologiques synthétiques; Volume 2: Partie 2 : Catalogue typologique; 1 Skyphoi, canthares et trullea; 2 Gobelets, coupes et cuillères moulés (?) et à décor taillé; 3 Gobelets et coupes à lèvre coupée; 4 Gobelets à pied annulaire et à lèvre arrondie; 5 Verres à pied à balustre ou à pied tronconique et à lèvre arrondie; 6 Bols, coupes et gobelets à lèvre arrondie ou coupée; 7 Assiettes et coupes moulées; 8 Assiettes et coupes soufflées; 9 Petits contenants et amphores; 10 Flacons allongés : fusiformes, tronconiques et cylindriques; 11 Bouteilles ansées; 12 Flacons sphériques; 13 Flacons ovoïdes, piriformes et tronconiques; 14 Cruches et flacons à panse aplatie; 15 Cruches et flacons à tubulure; 16 Cruches; 17 Flacons, autres objets insolites et vitres; 18 Les décors sur les verres incolores; Partie 3 : Analyses chimiques; Contribution à l’étude des verres décolorés à l’antimoine; Annexes; Abstract (English)

Read more less

Book SynopsisPerspectives on materiality in ancient Egypt – agency, cultural reproduction and change expresses the authors’ broad theoretical interest on materiality and how it helps us to understand the crucial role of material culture in ancient Egyptian society in a more complex way. In the volume, mainly young scholars in Brazil, France, Germany and the UK approach the potential of materiality based on several case studies covering a wide range of topics such as Egyptian art, recent perspectives on sex and gender, hierarchies, and the materiality of textual sources and images. The idea of gathering young scholars to discuss ‘materiality’ first took place in the form of a colloquium organised in São Paulo, but soon after became a more encompassing project aspiring to produce a publication. The editors’ aimed to include researchers from various places, which makes the volume a materialisation of fruitful collaborations between individuals coming from different scholarly traditions. The combination of different ways of looking at the ancient material culture can hopefully contribute to the renovation of theory and practice in Egyptology. The editors believe that the emphasis on diversity— of background histories, national traditions and mind-sets—is one the main elements that can be used to boost new perspectives in a connected, globalised and hopefully less unequal world.Table of ContentsForeword – by Lonneke Delpeut; Editors’ Foreword; Divine worship and action: representations of the Amarna Royal Family – by Gisela Chapot; Children and materiality in Ancient Egypt – by Benjamin Hinson; Materiality and cultural reproduction in non‐elite cemeteries – by Rennan Lemos; The sap of life: materiality and sex in the divine birth legend of Hatshepsut and Amenhotep III – by Uroš Matić; Texts, materiality and agency in Middle Kingdom literature – by Érika Maynart; “All that glitters is not gold”: the symbolism and materiality of Egyptian funerary amulets – by Carmen Muñoz Pérez; Materiality and history: some reflections – by Marcelo Rede; The acting image and the materialisation of social realities – by Carolina Velloza; Agency and representation of Nubians in Egyptian iconography in the 18th Dynasty: ethnic strategies and negotiations – by Fábio Amorim Vieira

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe ancient city of Hatra is located 80 km southwest of the modern city of Mosul. The site reached its apogee during the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, arriving at the striking dimensions of c. 300 hectares and into a new role as the capital of a significant buffer state between the Parthian and Roman empires. This volume is devoted to the study of the landscape surrounding Hatra and of the development of this important city, drawing on published information gathered by Iraqi and foreign expeditions, as well as unpublished data garnered from over fifteen years of fieldwork at the site by the Italian Archaeological Expedition. The study of the landscape comprehends the morphology, hydrology and geology of the region and offers new proposals regarding the exploitation of natural resources and the development of regional and local routes through the territory under Hatra’s political and military control during the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. The analysis of Hatra as an urban centre consists of a detailed study of the city’s hydrology, street network and urban areas, with the purpose of detecting the principles behind the planning and development of the city. The main elements of the urban space are treated in this book: the Temenos area and the Small Shrines, the Necropoles, the Fortifications, the Houses, and the Palaces. Due to the cross-referencing of archaeological, historical and epigraphic data, new ideas have been proposed regarding the chronological phases of urbanism at Hatra, from its foundation up to the destruction of the city by the Sasanian army in AD 241. La città di Hatra si trova nella Jazira irachena a circa 80 km a sud-ovest di Mosul. Il centro raggiunse il suo apogeo durante il II-III sec. d.C., toccando l’impressionante estensione di quasi 300 ettari e divenendo la capitale di un influente stato cuscinetto, collocato tra l’impero partico e l’impero romano. Questo volume è dedicato allo studio del territorio e dell’urbanistica di questo importante sito antico, impiegando contestualmente informazioni edite, raccolte dalle varie missioni irachene e straniere che si sono avvicendate sul terreno, e inedite, provenienti dal vasto Archivio della Missione Archeologica Italiana a Hatra in più di quindici anni di ricerche sul campo. Lo studio del territorio definisce un quadro dettagliato della morfologia, idrologia e geologia della regione e dell’area prossima al centro, oltre a proporre alcune nuove ipotesi interpretative sullo sfruttamento delle risorse ambientali, sull’articolazione della rete viaria periurbana e regionale e sull’estensione del territorio sottoposto al controllo politico e militare della città durante il II e III sec. d.C. L’analisi urbanistica comprende uno studio approfondito dell’idrologia cittadina, della rete stradale e delle aree urbane, allo scopo di individuarne le principali caratteristiche ed eventuali regole nella pianificazione e nello sviluppo della città. Nel libro sono inoltre analizzati i principali elementi che compongono il tessuto urbano: il Temenos e i templi minori, le necropoli, le difese cittadine, le case e i palazzi. Grazie all’utilizzo contestuale del dato archeologico, storico ed epigrafico, è stato inoltre possibile formulare nuove ipotesi sulle fasi urbanistiche e sulla cronologia di Hatra dalla fondazione alla sua distruzione, avvenuta per mano sasanide nel 241 d.C.

Read more less

Book SynopsisApres la formidable avancee que fut la theorie documentaire a la fin du xixe siecle, identifiant des " auteurs " et des ecoles de redaction, un siecle plus tard, la theorie a laisse de plus en plus la place a un reel complexe, celui des scribes modifiant les textes a mesure qu'ils les copiaient. " La Bible " n'apparait plus alors comme etant un projet theologique et historiographique maitrise mais comme l'agencement empirique de textes heterogenes relies entre eux par une ideologie religieuse evolutive. Si le grand recit d'ensemble des premiers livres se construit sur l'election et la migration d'un peuple en son entier, les fondements ideologiques du yahwisme font plutot etat d'un dieu etranger qui serait parvenu jusqu'en terre israelite pour, a terme, s'y imposer. Cette ideologie monotheiste fut surtout un exclusivisme qui se renforca de l'epoque des rois d'Israel et de Juda jusqu'aux revoltes judeennes contre Rome aux premiers siecles de notre ere. Pour tenter de saisir la nature et l'origine, ainsi que l'evolution, de cette forme specifique de monotheisme, qui a fait d'un dieu jaloux le seul Dieu, nous nous sommes appuye avant tout sur le concept des " deux yahwismes ". Cette theorie permet en effet de comprendre comment un dieu faisant alliance avec un peuple en particulier a pu etre egalement un dieu createur de l'univers et de l'humanite entiere.Table of ContentsIntroduction Partie I : " La " Bible, produit d'une culture scribale Chapitre I : La Genese comme point de depart... et d'arrivee Chapitre II : Developpement d'une pensee sacerdotale Chapitre III : Activite scribale, autres livres Partie II : Le monotheisme, fusion de deux formes de yahwisme Chapitre I : Aux origines du yahwisme Chapitre II : Anthropologie du monotheisme Chapitre III : Messianisme en Judee Conclusion Bibliographie Archaeology of the Hebrew Bible. Scribal Culture and Yahwisms Index des noms d'auteurs

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Lost Abbey of Eynsham will be of interest not just to local historians but to those with an interest in the development of monasticism and medieval art and architecture, particularly the Romanesque. Eynsham was one of the few religious foundations in England in continuous use from the late Saxon period to the Dissolution. Its first Benedictine Abbot was the internationally renowned scholar and teacher, Aelfric, and it was frequently visited by medieval kings given its close proximity to the royal hunting lodge of Woodstock. Hugh of Avalon, later canonised, was appointed Bishop of Lincoln at a royal council at Eynsham in 1186. Shortly afterwards the abbey achieved fame with the Vision of the Monk of Eynsham which is said to have influenced Dante. Its reputation was further enhanced when Eynsham acquired an important relic, the arm of St Andrew in 1240. In the later Middle Ages, the abbey went into decline and was beset by scandal. It surrendered to the Crown in 1538 and the huge structure was gradually demolished and pillaged for its building materials. Now, nothing remains in situ above ground. This book aims to rescue this important abbey from obscurity by summarising its history and examining the material remains of Eynsham Abbey, most of which have never been published before.Table of ContentsChapter 1. Beginnings Chapter 2. Aelfric’s Abbey Chapter 3. Re-foundation Chapter 4. Abbey Stones Chapter 5. Fame and Ambition Chapter 6. The Shrine of St Andrew Chapter 7. The Oxfordshire School Chapter 8. The Wrath of God Chapter 9. Visions of Heaven and Hell Chapter 10. Keeping up Appearances Chapter 11. Laying Up Treasures on Earth Chapter 12. Scandal Chapter 13. Endings Chapter 14. Rediscovery Chapter 15. Rescue Appendix 1: A List of Eynsham’s Abbots Appendix 2: Eynsham Abbey’s Properties Appendix 3: The Bainbridge Slide Collection Appendix 4: Glossary of some Architectural terms Bibliography Sources Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisCity of culture, 2600 BC presents the city which lies beneath the surface of the archaeological site of Abu Salabikh in south Iraq, first investigated in the 1960s and excavated in the 1970s and 1980s. It starts from the facts on the ground, and shows how the material remains can resurrect the city, illuminated by its library of literary and lexical texts, and documents from institutional administration. The archaeology and the textual data reinforce each other and together convey a picture of the city and its architecture, agricultural and industrial enterprises, and social structure. These are all integrated with our wider knowledge of south Mesopotamia at this time, and with the world view given us by the rich body of Sumerian literature myths, epics and religious texts, but also homespun secular philosophy to create a vivid image of city life in 2600 BC.This is an account of one city and what it tells us. Cities were the defining components of early Mesopotamia, acting as the base for all economic, social, political and cultural activity. With their shared languages and traditions they belonged to a single cultural order, and as with other similar groupings of individual urban centres whether in Greece, Italy or China the rivalry and emulation generates a vibrant but varied and innovative world. The book concludes therefore with a more general account of The Land (kalam) in the pre-imperial Early Dynastic era, and with an assessment of the nature of the early Mesopotamian urban scene.

Read more less

Book SynopsisNorway and Sweden are among the biggest consumers of energy per capita, yet the Nordic nations also lead the world in clean power production and have ambitious goals of decarbonizing their energy systems by 2050. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland vary drastically in geography and the availability of natural resources, but each consistently generates electricity from renewable sources at multiple times the average rate of other high-income countries.Mogens Rüdiger and Anna Åberg present a concise and timely history of energy production, trade, and consumption in Norden, starting with a review of the regional energy mix—from wind, solar, tide and wave, geothermal, biomass, nuclear, coal, and gas sources. Brief chapters describe the diversity of Nordic energy markets, assess how far the green transition has come, and explore what comes next as global crises, domestic politics, and technological developments present novel challenges and opportunities. Energy infrastructures and economic activities, Rüdiger and Åberg argue, serve as unique cultural focal points in the region. The coauthors summarise the national policy frameworks for the sector as well as the key energy and economic indicators used in infrastructure planning, regulation, and the opening of the electricity and gas markets to free competition.Energy in the Nordic World is the essential primer to the power markets at the heart of Europe’s energy transition.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA PROSPECT BOOK OF THE YEARIn this acclaimed bestseller, an explorer and Neanderthal hunter takes us on a riveting journey of discovery''With the style of a poet and imagination of a philosopher, Ludovic Slimak probes the minds of Neanderthals. . . This fun and provocative book is a reminder that we still have a lot to learn about biological intelligence'' Steve BrusatteWhat if we have completely misunderstood who the Neanderthals truly were?For over a century we saw them as inferior to Homo Sapiens. Today, Neanderthals are seen as fully human, different from us only because of their distant cultural traditions. But does the truth lie somewhere else entirely?Neanderthal hunter and paleoanthropologist Ludovic Slimak understands these enigmatic creatures like no one else after studying them for three decades. Taking us on a fascinating archaeological investigation from the Arctic Circle to the deep Mediterranean Trade ReviewNeanderthal hunter Ludovic Slimak has dedicated decades to unearthing the mystery of our prehistoric ancestors. Now he has found a missing piece that radically reshapes our understanding – not just of the Neanderthals but of humanity itself -- Michael Segalov * Observer *One of the most enjoyable and enlightening history books of the year, Ludovic Slimak’s The Naked Neanderthal, attempts to teach us about ourselves by teaching us about the mysterious, dead creatures we call Neanderthals * Prospect Magazine, Books of the Year 2023 *Intriguing … Ludovic Slimak finds unique insights through an exhaustive excavation he conducted of a rock shelter in France – a Rosetta Stone of the Neanderthal world … The Naked Neanderthal sets out to free this extinct species of the prejudices we have imposed – and, as such, is a resounding success -- Alison George * New Scientist *Vivid, refreshing ... this intriguing book offers personal vignettes of archaeological excavations and provocative critiques of researchers’ tendencies to interpret Neanderthals as the intellectual and creative cousins of Homo sapiens ... The Naked Neanderthal is absorbing, elegantly written and sometimes mischievously humorous, ... a wealth of useful, up-to-date information and debate -- Rebecca Wragg Sykes * Nature *An entertaining book … His research has led him to conclude that Neanderthals weren’t another version of modern Homo sapiens when it comes to mental structures. They were instead an utterly different humanity -- Jules Stewart * Geographical *An exhilarating contemplation of human otherness … Clear explications of scientific concepts, lively commentary on the implications of competing ideas, and engaging storytelling describing the pursuit of knowledge by dedicated investigators bring a startling picture of an alternate humanity into view … Also excellent is the author’s broader discussion of how our own human prejudices have limited our appreciation of the Neanderthals’ achievements, a perceptual blindness he convincingly relates to modern forms of racism. Slimak shows how we have much more to learn about ourselves by studying “exotic sensibilities” and more fully acknowledging “our nature not as humanity but as a humanity” * Kirkus Reviews *With the style of a poet and imagination of a philosopher, Ludovic Slimak probes the minds of Neanderthals, our closest cousins. All too often Neanderthals are envisioned as either prehistoric brutes or full humans, but Slimak argues that they were something unique, a species that developed their own forms of consciousness and intelligence. In an age of artificial intelligence, this fun and provocative book is a reminder that we still have a lot to learn about biological intelligence -- Steve Brusatte, author of The Rise and Fall of the DinosaursA thrilling, bracing and scholarly introduction to modes of being and of paying attention to the world which are both akin to ours and importantly and revealingly different. We need urgently to consider less dysfunctional ways of occupying the cosmos and our own heads. The Neanderthals, speaking movingly and iconoclastically through Slimak, might be able to help -- Charles Foster, author of Being a BeastLudovic Slimak provides a remarkable and well-informed account of the many facets of the lost Neanderthals. It shows us what it means to be human and allows us to better imagine what extraterrestrials might be like -- Avi Loeb, author of ExtraterrestrialWho were the Neanderthals, and what do we really know about their artefacts and tools, customs and culture? An eye-opening and refreshing account, full of surprising revelations and personal reflections from a researcher who has spent thirty years coming face-to-face with another human species -- Lewis Dartnell, author of Being HumanA fascinating, immensely enjoyable read by a brilliant and original thinker who has dedicated his working life to studying Neanderthals -- Jonathan Kennedy, author of PathogenesisRoaming through caves, digging through earth and rocks, and unearthing fossils, this adventurous, bearded archaeologist takes us from the Arctic Circle to Mediterranean forests in his search for the famous Neanderthal. His personal quest combined with the scientific argument gives the book its real weight. The writing is lively and the author deftly uses sarcasm and shock factor * Les Echos *A candid and uncompromising approach to a much-debated part of humanity's early history ... Slimak immerses us in the daily life of a prehistoric archaeologist ... a bold book * L'Histoire.fr *Ludovic Slimak takes us on an astonishing archaeological quest. . . he squarely confronts the myths surrounding this extinct species ... This human 'creature' is the Neanderthal, of course. But it's us too, whose unexpected portrait emerges from this comparison across millennia * Les Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco *

Read more less

Book SynopsisBeneath the waters of Abukir Bay, lie the submerged remains of the ancient Egyptian cities Canopus and Thonis-Heracleion, which sank over 1,000 years ago but were brought to the surface by in the 1990s. These ancient artefacts are to be exhibited in Britain in 2016. This book tells the story of these two ancient civilizations.Table of Contents• Director’s foreword • Sponsor’s foreword • Foreword from the Hilti Foundation • 1. Rediscovering Thonis- Heracleion and Canopus • 2. Egypt and Greece: early encounters • 3. Greek kings and Egyptian gods • 4. From myth to festivals • 5. Egypt and Rome

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisBone and tooth tools and ornaments have been made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for at least 46,000 years - some of the oldest organic technologies in the world. Despite their beauty, sophistication, and ubiquity, archaeologists and other researchers have overwhelmingly focused on the stone artefacts of Australia. Consequently, until now, we knew little of how bone and tooth objects were made and used, or how individual communities differed in how they worked with these distinctive materials.A Record in Bone brings together the scattered and sometimes difficult-to-find research and findings of more than a century. It reveals innovative bone, tooth, quill, and claw industries, including extensive use of ornamentation, bone points, fishhooks, and much more.This volume is a perfect companion to A Record in Stone: The study of Australia''s flaked stone artefacts (ASP 2007). It is an invaluable reference text for professionals and students of archaeology, anthropo

Read more less

Book SynopsisKhnumhotep I was the first governer of the Oryx nome during Egypt's formative Twelfth Dynasty. The report includes a description of the tomb's architecture, its various scenes on daily life, desert-hunting and militaristic activities, as well as a new copy and translation of Khnumhotep I's biography.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAs well as illustrating some of the surviving finished products, the author discusses the techniques used to cast bronze and the level of skill involved in producing complex metal statuary.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis collection of essays investigates the rich evidence for the character of the Mycenaean feast. While much of the evidence discussed comes from the Palace of Nestor near Pylos, the authors also present new material from Tsoungiza near Nemea, and from other Bronze Age sites on mainland Greece and Crete.Table of ContentsIntroduction (James C. Wright); A Survey of Evidence for Feasting in Mycenaean Society (James C. Wright); Animal Sacrifice, Archives, and Feasting at the Palace of Nestor (Sharon R. Stocker & Jack L. Davis); Mycenaean Feasting on Tsoungiza at Ancient Nemea (Mary K. Dabney, Paul Halstead, & Patrick Thomas); Native Traditions of Drinking at Phaistos during the Mycenaean Period (Elisabetta Borgna); "A Goodly Feast... A Cup of Mellow Wine" : Feasting in Bronze Age Cyprus (Louise Steel); Sacrificial Feasting in the Linear B Tablets (Thomas G. Palaima); Feasting in Homeric Epic (Susan Sherratt).

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less