Archaeology Books

Book SynopsisAn accessible account of Norwegian runic inscriptions from their first appearance around AD200 until their demise around 1400. Runes, a unique functional writing system, exclusive to northern and eastern Europe, were used for some 1300 years in Scandinavia, from about AD 200 till around the end of the fourteenth century, when the runic alphabet, called fuþark after the six first characters, finally gave way to the modern writing system. Runes were not written, but carved - in stone, and on jewellery, weapons, utensils and wood. The content of the inscriptions is very varied, from owner and carpenter attributions on artefacts to memorials to the deceased on erected stones; contrary to popular belief, they are not necessarily magical or mystical, and the post-it notes of today have their forerunners in such runic reminders as: "Buy salt, and don't forget gloves for Sigrid." The typical medieval runic inscription varies from the deeply religious to the highly trivial [or perhaps crucial], such as "I slept with Vigdis when I wasin Stavanger." This book presents an accessible account of the Norwegian examples throughout the period of their use. The runic inscriptions are discussed not only from a linguistic point of view but also as sources of information on Norwegian history and culture. TERJE SPURKLAND is Associate Professor of Nordic Medieval Studies at the University of Oslo.Trade ReviewA hand-book full of surprising insights. A splendid guide to the Norwegian runes and it can be strongly recommended both to the beginner and to the advanced reader. * JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY *A thorough, learned, and most attractively written examination of Norwegian runes and runic inscriptions. It provides an excellent introduction to the subject. * SPECULUM *This is a very accessible introduction to what can be a very arcane subject. [...] Readable, enjoyable and provides a clear overview of runes and their importance to reading the past. * EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE *An ideal teaching text. [...] This well illustrated book will make an excellent teaching tool. * TOEBI NEWSLETTER *Will probably be found useful and attractive by anyone interested in Old Norse of Norwegian history. * SAGA-BOOK *A very useful survey. * RUNA *A highly accessible resource for scholars interested in Norwegian runes and Scandinavian runology more generally [and] a useful introduction to the issues of reading and interpreting runic inscriptions. * JOURNAL OF THE AUSTRALIAN EARLY MEDIEVAL ASSOCIATION *

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Book SynopsisThe best new research on medieval clothing and textiles, drawing from a range of disciplines and with a special focus on reconstruction and re-enactment. Historical dress and textiles, always a topic of popular interest, has in recent years become an academic subject in its own right, transcending traditional genre boundaries. This annual journal includes in-depth studies from a variety of disciplines as well as cross-genre scholarship, representing such fields as social history, economics, history of techniques and technology, art history, archaeology, literature, and language. The contents cover a broad geographical scope and a range of periods from the early Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Papers in this latest volume discuss clothing descriptions in an early Irish poem in relation to archaeological finds; the Latin inscription embroidered on the Bayeux Tapestry; clothmaking in twelfth-century French romances; medieval Paris as an international textile market; the cost of sartorial excess in England as attested by sumptuary laws and satire; textile cleaning techniques at a German convent in the fifteenth century; the use of jewelled animal pelts as fashion accessories in the Renaissance; and the social significance of the embroidered jacket in early modern England. Also included are reviews of recent books on dress and textile topics. ROBIN NETHERTON's research focuses on medieval Western European clothing and its interpretation by artists and historians; GALE R. OWEN-CROCKER is Professor ofAnglo-Saxon Culture, The University of Manchester. Her most recent books are Dress in Anglo-Saxon England (2004), and King Harold II and the Bayeux Tapestry (2005). Contributors: Niamh Whitfield, Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Monica L. Wright, Sharon Farmer, Margaret Rose Jaster, Drea Leed, Tawny Sherrill, Danielle Nunn-WeinbergTrade ReviewThe quality of papers is notably high and will be of interest to others beyond medieval historians of textiles and dress. [It] will engage anyone interested in the study of textiles and dress of western medieval Europe; additionally scholars of economic history, social history, literature and art history will find articles of interest. * THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW *A book for the truly serious historical costume researcher. * RENAISSANCE MAGAZINE *These articles document what a useful undertaking this specialized and yet wide-ranging journal is. * HISTORY *Table of ContentsDress and Accessories in the Early Irish Tale "The Wooing of Becfhola" - Niamh Whitfield The Embroidered Word: Text in the Bayeux Tapestry - Gale R. Owen-Crocker "De Fil d'Or et de Soie": Making Textiles in Twelfth-Century French Romances - Monica L. Wright Biffes, Tiretaines, and Aumonières: The Role of Paris in the International Textile Markets of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth CenturiesFourteenth Centuries - Sharon Farmer "Clothing Themselves in Acres": Apparel and Impoverishment in Medieval and Early Modern England - Margaret Rose Jaster "Ye Shall Have It Clene": Textile Cleaning Techniques in Renaissance Europe - Drea Leed Fleas, Fur, and Fashion: Zibellini as Luxury Accessories of the Renaissance - Tawny Sherrill The Matron Goes to the Masque: The Dual Identity of the English Embroidered Jacket - Danielle Nunn-Weinberg

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Book SynopsisThe best new research on medieval clothing and textiles, drawing from a range of disciplines and with a special focus on reconstruction. The third volume of this pioneering series explores the manufacture and trade of textiles and their practical, fashionable, and symbolic uses. Papers include in-depth studies and cross-genre scholarship representing such fields associal history, economics, art history, archaeology and literature, as well as the reconstruction of textile-making techniques. They range over England, Flanders, France, Germany, and Spain from the seventh to the sixteenth centuries, and address such topics as soft furnishings, ecclesiastical vestments, the economics of the wool trade, the making and use of narrow wares, symbolic reference to courtly dress in a religious text, and aristocratic children'sclothing. Also included are reviews of recent books on dress and textile topics. ROBIN NETHERTON is a professional editor and a researcher/lecturer on Western European dress, specializing in the depiction and interpretation of clothing by artists and historians. GALE R. OWEN-CROCKER is Professor of Anglo-Saxon Culture at The University of Manchester and author of Dress in Anglo-Saxon England; she is the Director of an ARHC-fundedproject on cloth and clothing terminology in medieval Britain. CONTRIBUTORS: ELIZABETH COATSWORTH, SARAH LARRATT KEEFER, SUSAN LEIBACHER WARD, JOHN H. MUNRO, JOHN OLDLAN, LESLEY K. TWOMEY, ELIZABETH BENNS, LOIS SWALES, HEATHER BLATT, MELANIE SCHUESSLERTrade ReviewEnhance[s] our knowledge of dress and fashion [and] enriches our wider perception of the medieval world. * COSTUME, vol. 42, 208 *Table of ContentsPreface Cushioning Medieval Life: Domestic Textiles in Anglo-Saxon England - Elizabeth Coatsworth A Matter of Style: Clerical Vestments in the Anglo-Saxon Church - Sarah Larratt Keefer Saints in Split Stitch: Representations of Saints in Opus Anglicanum Vestments - Susan Leibacher Ward The Anti-Red Shift - To the Dark Side: Colour Changes in Flemish Luxury Woollens, 1300-1550 - John H. Munro The Finishing of English Woollens, 1300-1550 - John Oldland Poverty and Richly Decorated Garments: A Re-Evaluation of Their Significance in the Vita Christi of Isabel de Villena - Lesley K. Twomey "Set on Yowre Hondys": Fifteenth-Century Instructions for Fingerloop Braiding - Elizabeth Benns Tiny Textiles Hidden in Books: Toward a Categorization of Multiple-Strand Bookmarkers - Lois Swales Tiny Textiles Hidden in Books: Toward a Categorization of Multiple-Strand Bookmarkers - Heather Blatt "She Hath Over Grown All that Ever She Hath": Children's Clothing in the Lisle Letters, 1553-40 - Melanie Schuessler Bond Recent Books of Interest Index Contents of Previous Volumes

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Book SynopsisAn important study of the treatment of cultural property, and cultural heritage in general, in modern theatres of conflict. Winner of the 2011 James R. Wiseman Book Award. Discussion of the issues surrounding the destruction of cultural property in times of conflict has become a key issue for debate around the world. This book provides an historical statement as of 1st March 2006 concerning the destruction of the cultural heritage in Iraq. In a series of chapters it outlines the personal stories of a number of individuals who were - and in most cases continue to be -involved. These individuals are involved at all levels, and come from various points along the political spectrum, giving a rounded and balanced perspective so easily lost in single authored reports. It also provides the first views written by Iraqis on the situation of archaeology in Iraq under Saddam and an overview and contextualisation of the issues surrounding the looting, theft and destruction of the archaeological sites, the Iraqi National museum and the libraries in Baghdad since the war was launched in 2003. Beyond this, it examines our attitudes towards the preservation of cultural and heritage resources and, in particular, the growing political awareness of their importance. Although related to a single conflict, taking place at a specific time in history, the relevance of this work goes far beyond these self-imposed boundaries. PETER STONE is Professor of Heritage Studies and Head of School of Arts and Cultures at Newcastle University; JOANNE FARCHAKH BAJJALY is a Lebanese archaeologist and Middle East correspondent for the French magazine Archéologia.Trade ReviewThis book is a must-read for any archaeologist concerned with the many faces of the destruction of cultural heritage, not only in Iraq. [...] The multimodality of this volume, including many different backgrounds and connections to Iraq, serves not only as a sad document of the destruction of Iraq's heritage, but also as a warning of the consequences of the failure to consider cultural heritage in military planning. * JOURNAL OF FIELD ARCHAEOLOGY *This volume can be warmly recommended to anyone interested in the sordid tale of Iraq's rape in the wake of the latest, and almost certainly not the last, Gulf War. * AUSTRALIAN ARCHAEOLOGY *An extraordinary achievement that will stand as the definitive account of the desperate, avoidable cultural tragedy of Iraq for many years to come. * THES *This book is mandatory reading for anybody who expresses an opinion about archaeologists and the invasion of Iraq. * BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGY *

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Book SynopsisA new way of looking at the medieval castle - as a cultural reflection of the society that produced it, seen through art and literature. Medieval castles have traditionally been explained as feats of military engineering and tools of feudal control, but Abigail Wheatley takes a different approach, looking at a range of sources usually neglected in castle studies. Evidence from contemporary literature and art reveals the castle's place at the heart of medieval culture, as an architecture of ideas every bit as sophisticated as the church architecture of the period. This study offers a genuinely fresh perspective. Most castle scholars confine themselves to historical documents, but Wheatley examines literary and artistic evidence for its influence on and response to contemporary castle architecture. Sermons, sealsand ivory caskets, local legends and Roman ruins all have their part to play. What emerges is a fascinating web of cultural resonances: the castle is implicated in every aspect of medieval consciousness, from private religious contemplation to the creation of national mythologies. This book makes a compelling case for a new, interdisciplinary approach to castle studies. ABIGAIL WHEATLEY gained her PhD at the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York.Trade ReviewThere has been a great deal of talk lately about enlarging the scope of castle studies. But few have achieved as much as Abigail Wheatley in this genuinely groundbreaking book. * MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY *A powerful exposition of an invigorating approach to castle studies. [...] It is deeply researched, lucidly and convincingly written. * CASEMATE *Table of ContentsIntroduction The Idea of the Castle The Urban Castle The Spiritual Castle The Imperial Castle Conclusion Bibliography

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Book SynopsisMapping the boundaries between ancient societies through studies of "ethnicity," migration, or economic systems is of perennial interest to archaeologists, who typically have taken two divergent approaches. North American archaeologists have studies formal variation in the style of finished products, while the French tradition, exploring links between cognition and technical choice, has focused on how variation occurs during the manufacturing process.Fourteen contributors examine an array of media -- from ceramics and personal ornaments to architecture and site structure -- in small-scale societies and apply methods from both sides of the Atlantic to explore how technical choices made in the creation of everyday objects can both reflect and define social boundaries. In chapters on pre-historic and historic societies that range from North America to Africa to Oceania, the authors suggest that variation in technical systems corresponds more closely than stylistic variation does to the boundaries between groups. They also address the question of whether modern concepts of ethnicity can be translated into archaeological terms.The Archaeology of Social Boundaries demonstrates that the search for social boundaries in material culture patterning can benefit from the study of both technological and stylistic qualities. By uniting two disparate intellectual traditions, this book contributes to a growing archaeological theory of material culture.

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