Environmental archaeology Books

Book SynopsisThis is the second volume arising from the 1994–2003 excavations of the Triconch Palace at Butrint (Albania), which charted the history of a major Mediterranean waterfront site from the 2nd to the 15th centuries AD. The sequence (Butrint 3: Excavations at the Triconch Palace: Oxbow, 2011) included the development of a palatial late Roman house, followed by intensive activity between the 5th and 7th centuries involving domestic occupation, metal-working, fishing and burial. The site saw renewed activity from the 10th century, coinciding with the revival of the town of Butrint, and for the following 300 years continued in intermittent use associated with its channel-side location.This volume reports on the finds from the site (excluding the pottery), which demonstrate the ways in which the lives, diet and material culture of a Mediterranean population changed across the arc of the late Roman and Medieval periods. It includes discussion of the environmental evidence, the human and faunal remains, metal-working evidence, and the major assemblages of glass, coins and small finds, giving an insight into the health, subsistence base and material culture of the population of a Mediterranean site across more than 1000 years. The findings raise important questions regarding the ways in which changes in the circumstances of the town affected the population between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. They illustrate in particular how an urban Roman centre became more rural during the 6th century with a population that faced major challenges in their health and living conditions.Trade ReviewRigour of method and intelligence of archaeological reading make this book an excellent example of how, from the 'little forgotten things' (to take up the title of a famous text by an American archaeologist), you can think about history in its broadest sense. * Archeologia Medievale *Table of ContentsPreface – William Bowden and Richard Hodges Introduction – William Bowden Summary of the excavated sequence The archaeological sequence and the material evidence An investigation of the subsistence base at Butrint: the archaeobotanical evidence – Alexandra Livarda and John Giorgi Sampling and processing methods Results Discussion Concluding remarks The faunal remains – William Bowden, Zoe Knapp, Adrienne Powell, and James Westoby Introduction Methods The assemblage The Roman/late antique period (Phases 1 to 10): 3rd century to early 7th century Age structure and husbandry practices at the late antique Triconch Palace and Merchant’s House areas The medieval period (Phases 12 to 15): early 10th century to 15th century and later Age structure and husbandry practices at the medieval Triconch Palace and Merchant’s House areas Discussion Conclusion The human skeletons from the Triconch Palace and the Merchant’s House – Jared Beatrice, Todd Fenton, Carolyn Hurst, Lindsey Jenny, Jane Wankmiller, Michael Mutolo, Christina Rauzi, and David Foran Introduction Demographic profile: the Triconch Palace and Merchant’s House skeletons The spatial arrangement of the skeletons Skeletal palaeopathology Discussion: living conditions at late antique and medieval Butrint Conclusion: life and death at late antique and medieval Butrint Metalworking at the Triconch Palace and the analysis of slags and waste – Patrice de Rijk Introduction Iron working Copper alloy working Silica-rich slag Other finds Conclusion The ancient and early medieval coins from the Triconch Palace c. 2nd century BC to c. AD 600 – T. Sam N. Moorhead Introduction The condition of the coins Coins per period Deposition of coins Mints Discussion by period Possible hoards Conclusion The middle and late Byzantine, medieval and early modern coins – Pagona Papadopoulou Byzantine coins (9th to 13th century) Non-Byzantine coins (late 10th to 12th century) Conclusion The small finds – John Mitchell Introduction 1. Silver artefacts 2. Copper alloy artefacts 3. Iron artefacts 4. The iron nails 5. Lead artefacts 6. Glass artefacts 7. Stone artefacts 8. Ceramic artefacts 9. Worked ivory and bone The vessel glass from the Triconch Palace: a catalogue – Sarah Jennings, with additional contributions from William Bowden and Karen Stark Introduction The glass as deposited The catalogue The Triconch Palace and Merchant’s House as lived environments in late antiquity – William Bowden The domus and Triconch Palace (pre-AD 425: Phases 1 to 4) The 5th-century domestic occupation (AD 425–500: Phases 5 to 6) The ‘ruralisation’ of the Triconch Palace? (AD 500–50: Phases 7 to 8) Blacksmiths and burials (AD 550–650: Phases 9–10) Living and dying in later 6th-century Butrint The Triconch Palace and the archaeology of late antiquity Conclusion Living and dying at the Triconch Palace in the Middle Ages – William Bowden Abandonment (mid-7th to early 10th century: Phase 11) Urban renewal, soldiers and stock rearing? (10th to 12th century: Phases 12 to 13a) Diminishing activity and the severing of the channel link (c. 12th to 14th century: Phases 13b to 14a) A small Venetian garrison? (c. later 14th to 16th century: Phases 14b to 15) Appendices 4.1. The human skeletal remains: supplementary material – Jared Beatrice 4.2. Summary of the human skeletal remains from the Baptistery – Jared Beatrice 6.1. Catalogue of coins from the Triconch Palace and Merchant’s House, up to c. AD 600 – T. Sam N. Moorhead 6.2. Excavated coins by context and period – T. Sam N. Moorhead 7.1. Catalogue of coins from the Triconch Palace and Merchant’s House 9th to 17th century – Pagona Papadopoulou

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Book SynopsisThis new collection of papers from leading experts provides an overview of cutting-edge research in Old World zooarchaeology. The research presented here spans various areas across Europe, Western Asia and North Africa – from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Several chapters focus on Iberia, but the eastern Mediterranean and Britain are also featured.Thematically, the book covers many of the research areas where zooarchaeology can provide a significant contribution. These include animal domestication, bone modifications, fishing, fowling, economic and social status, as well as adaptation and improvement. The investigation of these topics is carried out using a diversity of approaches, thus making the book also a useful compendium of traditional as well as more recently developed methodological applications. All contributions aim to present zooarchaeology as a discipline that studies animals to understand people, and their richly diversified past histories. This will be a valuable source of information not just for specialists, but also for general archaeologists and, potentially, also historians, palaeontologists and geographers, who have an interest for the research themes discussed in the book.The book is dedicated to Simon Davis, who has been a genuine pioneer in the development of modern zooarchaeology. It presents hugely stimulating case studies from the core areas where Davis has worked in the course of his career.Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic: Simon Davis’ exceptional contribution to the world of zooarchaeology (Umberto Albarella) METHODS AND THEORY IN THE ZOOARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD WORLD 2. Taphonomy of carnivores: Understanding archaeological small prey accumulations (Luis Lloveras) 3. Fish Bone studies in Iberia: An overview of 40 years of research (Arturo Morales Muñiz, Laura Llorente Rodríguez & Eufrasia Roselló Izquierdo 4. On the use of micromammals for paleoenvironmental reconstruction: Qesem Cave as a case study (Orr Comay & Tamar Dayan) 5. Traditional sheep and goat husbandry in Cyprus: the effects of scale and its identification in archaeological assemblages (Angelos Hadjikoumis) EARLY PREHISTORY 6. Among hyenas: Nery Delgado, Albert Gaudry, Edouard Harlé and the hyenas of Furninha cave (Portugal) (João Luís Cardoso) 7. Sheepish bones, sheepish dates, sheepish logic and the neolithization of Iberia (João Zilhão) LATE PREHISTORY 8. Astragali and their archaeological contexts in the Iberian Peninsula. Significance, meanings and historical implications (Ana Margarida Arruda) 9. Origins of metallurgy in the southern Levant: microscopic examination of butchering marks on animal bones at Tell Yarmuth, Israel (Haskel Greenfield, Annie Brown & Pierre de Miroschedji) 10. The food chain at the palace of King Amenhotep III at Malqata (Egypt) (Salima Ikram) 11. Caprine husbandry at the Iron Age settlement of A Lanzada (Pontevedra, Spain) (Marta Moreno-García) HISTORIC TIMES 12. Cattle from the East, cattle from the West: diversity of cattle morphotypes in the Iberian Peninsula during late prehistoric and Roman times (Ariadna Nieto-Espinet, Angela Trentacoste, Sílvia Guimarães & Silvia Valenzuela-Lamas) 13. Animal remains from 17th century Carnide, Lisbon, Portugal (Cleia Detry, Ana Beatriz Santos, Tânia Casimiro, Ana Caessa & Nuno Mota) 14. The contribution of Islamic culture to the medieval faunistic redefinition of the Iberian Peninsula (Marco Masseti) 15. Hovering over hawking in Early Medieval Iberia (Laura Llorente Rodríguez, Arturo Morales Muñiz, Leif Jonsson & Evelyne Browaeys) 16. Launceston Castle and Cornish zooarchaeology 25 years on (Polydora Baker) 17. Fodder in the city: rye for animals in the 1755 earthquake in Lisbon (João Tereso & Lídia Fernandes)

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Book SynopsisHerding and hunting, along with farming, represented the economic basis of subsistence of communities in the past. The strategies of animal husbandry and hunting were diverse and different between communities, whilst they also changed over time. The differences and variations were sometimes caused by local or regional environmental conditions, but were also the result of social, cultural, political, and even religious factors. Animal Husbandry and Hunting in the Central and Western Balkans Through Time brings new results of research on animal herding and hunting in the central and western Balkans during prehistoric and historic periods. The investigations presented here cover a wide range of topics related to animal exploitation strategies; they range from broad syntheses to specific case studies and, moreover, include interdisciplinary studies that use zooarchaeological and historical data, iconographic representations and modern laboratory analysis.Table of ContentsForeword – Nemanja Marković and Jelena Bulatović ; Eating well on Adriatic palaeoshore – marine and terrestrial molluscs as evidence of Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene cuisine in Vlakno Cave, Dugi Otok, Croatia – Antonela Barbir, Nikola Vukosavljević and Dario Vujević ; Bone technology from the Early Neolithic site of Bataševo (Serbia) – Selena Vitezović, Nemanja Marković and Velibor Katić ; Herding and hunting at Vinča – Belo Brdo and Stubline during the Late Neolithic, a stable isotopic perspective – Rosalind E. Gillis, Jelena Bulatović, Kristina Penezić, Miloš Spasić, Nenad N. Tasić and Cheryl A. Makarewicz ; Fishing techniques in the Late Neolithic Vinča culture: fish hooks from the site of Vinča – Belo Brdo – Selena Vitezović ; Storage practice and problems with pests in the Late Neolithic: two examples from the central Balkans – Đurđa Obradović ; Images of half-persons, hybrids and surreal creatures in the Late Neolithic Vinča culture – Miloš Spasić ; Animals in the Early Bronze Age funerary practice at Mokrin and Ostojićevo cemeteries, Serbia – Tamara Blagojević ; New data from the old records: zooarchaeological remains from Late Bronze and Early Iron Age sites in northern Bosnia – Jelena Bulatović and Aleksandar Jašarević ; Zooarchaeological research of the Late La Tène period in Serbia: an overview of the data – Teodora Radišić ; Animal husbandry and hunting in Roman provinces in Serbia: a zooarchaeological overview – Sonja Vuković ; The potential for horse breeding in the vicinity of Viminacium – Dimitrije Marković and Ilija Danković ; Fish consumption and trade in Early Byzantine Caričin Grad (Justiniana Prima) – Henriette Baron and Nemanja Marković ; Animal exploitation in the territory of present-day Serbia during the Medieval period: a zooarchaeological perspective – Teodora Mladenović and Mladen Mladenović

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Book SynopsisThis volume concerns the palaeo-environmental and archaeological investigations of the upper Allen Valley of Cranborne Chase, Dorset, between 1998 and 2003, which revealed sequences of landscape development which contrast with those previously put forward for the region. A programme of valley-wide geoarchaeological survey and palynological analyses of the relict palaeo-channel system was conducted, along with sample investigations and open area excavations of a variety of prehistoric sites in the area. Among the many excellent illustrations, GIS modelling techniques have been used to interrogate and visualise some of this new data which has provided possible independent corroboration.Trade ReviewThis important study establishes a more complex, and more satisfactory, model for chalkland ecology between the fifth and the first millennia BCE than has previously been available. It is likely to set the agenda for landscape research for some years to come.' -- The Holocene 18.8 The Holocene 18.8

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Book SynopsisRenowned environmental historian I.G. Simmons synthesises detailed research into the landscape history of the coastal area of Lincolnshire between Boston and Skegness and its hinterland of Tofts, Low Grounds and Fen as far as the Wolds. With many excellent illustrations Simmons chronicles the ways in which this low coast, backed by a wet fen, has been managed to display a set of landscapes which have significant differences that contradict the common terminology of uniformity, calling the area 'flat' or referring to everywhere from Cleethorpes to King's Lynn as 'the fens'.These usually labelled 'flat' areas of East Lincolnshire between Mablethorpe and Boston are in fact a mosaic of subtly different landscapes. They have become that way largely due to the human influences derived from agriculture and industry. Between the beginning of Norman rule and the advent of pumped drainage, a number of significant changes took place.The author has accumulated information from Roman times until the beginnings of fossil-fuel powered drainage, bringing together both scientific data and documentary evidence including medieval and early modern documents from the National Archive, Lincolnshire Archives, Bethlem Hospital and Magdalen College, Oxford, to explore the little-known archives of regional interest.Trade Review[A] particularly strong feature is the use of extracts from primary sources that bring the landscape - and the people who managed it - to life. * Medieval Archaeology *This is a rich and complex book … worth persisting with, which tells a fascinating story of the evolution of part of the Lincolnshire landscape. * Lincolnshire Past & Present *[T]his is a useful and highly accessible piece of landscape history that emphasises the richness and variety of an often overlooked and undervalued landscape. * Current Archaeology *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Plates List of Tables Preface Acknowledgements Note on Sources Abbreviations Scope and Direction Part 1: Before Domesday Part 2: The Manor and the Land Part 3: The High Middle Ages 1300-1500 Part 4: Medieval to Early Modern 1500-1700 Part 5: Some Contexts Appendix: The Wainfleet Custumal Bibliography

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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