History Books

Book SynopsisScholars who will study the historiography of the European Neolithic, more particularly with regards to the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, will observe a progressive change in the core understanding of this period. For several decades the concept of ‘culture’ has been privileged and the adopted approach aimed to highlight the most significant markers likely to emphasise the character of a given culture and to stress its specificities, the foundations of its identity. In short, earlier research aimed primarily to highlight the differences between cultures by stressing the most distinctive features of each of them. The tendency was to differentiate, single out, and identify cultural boundaries. However, over the last few years this perspective has been universally challenged. Although regional originality and particularisms are still a focus of study, the research community is now interested in widely diffused markers, in medium-scale or large-scale circulation, and in interactions that make it possible to go beyond the traditional notion of ‘archaeological culture’. The networks related to raw materials or finished products are currently leading us to re-think the history of Neolithic populations on a more general and more global scale. The aim is no longer to stress differences, but on the contrary to identify what links cultures together, what reaches beyond regionalism in order to try to uncover the underlying transcultural phenomena. From culturalism, we have moved on to its deconstruction. This is indeed a complete change in perspective. This new approach certainly owes a great deal to all kinds of methods, petrographic, metal, chemical and other analyses, combined with effective tools such as the GIS systems that provide a more accurate picture of the sources, exchanges or relays used by these groups. It is also true that behind the facts observed there are social organisations involving prospectors, extractors, craftsmen, distributors, sponsors, users, and recyclers. We therefore found it appropriate to organise a session on the theme ‘Materials, productions, exchange networks and their impact on the societies of Neolithic Europe’. How is it possible to identify the circulation of materials or of finished objects in Neolithic Europe, as well as the social networks involved? Several approaches exist for the researcher, and the present volume provides some examples.Table of ContentsForeword to the XVII UISPP Congress Proceedings Series Edition (Luiz Oosterbeek); Foreword (Jean Guilaine and Marie Besse); White-painted Pottery in the Early Neolithic Balkans (Darko Stojanovski); Settlements – Head and Settlements – Tail in the Neolithic Obsidian Exchange Network in the Western Mediterranean (Tania Quero); Original and Skeuomorph: On the materiality of the Chalcolithic package of prestige in South Eastern Europe (Dragoş Gheorghiu); Exchange and interaction: the Iberian Mediterranean between the VI and III millennia cal BC (Teresa Orozco Köhler and Joan Bernabeu Aubán); The Western network revisited: the transition into agro-pastoralism in the Alto Ribatejo, Portugal (Nelson J. Almeida, Cristiana Ferreira, Sara Garcês, Ana Cruz, Pierluigi Rosina and Luiz Oosterbeek); Mobility in late Prehistory in Galicia: a preliminary interpretation from pottery (M Pilar Prieto Martínez and Óscar Lantes Suárez); Types and gesture. The jewellery of the Copper age in the Alps in a techno-typological study (Stefano Viola, Maria Adelaide Bernabo’ Brea, Dino Delcaro, Federica Gonzato, Cristina Longhi, Giorgio Gaj, Roberto Macellari, Luciano Salzani, Alessandra Serges, Iames Tirabassi, Marie Besse)

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Book SynopsisThe Small Isles comprise the Inner Hebridean islands of Rum, Eigg, Canna and Muck. The landscapes, rocks and fossils of these beautiful, remote islands tells of a drama involving erupting volcanoes, an ancient ecosystem that included dinosaurs and an ancient desert landscape. The geological history stretches back 3 billion years to the earliest events recorded on Earth. All four islands owe their origin to a group of three adjacent volcanoes that were active around 60 million years ago. Rum is the eroded remains of the magma chamber of one of these volcanoes. Eigg and Muck are part of the lava field that extends north from the Mull volcano and Canna lies towards the southern extent of the lavas that flowed from the Skye volcano. The final event that left a mark on these islands was the Ice Age that started around 2.4 million years ago. Its effect on the landscape was profound. The thick cover of erosive ice shaped the contours of the land into the hills and glens that we are familiar with today.Trade Review'Alan McKirdy’s insights are valuable because he is the author of a string of accessible and informative short illustrated books on the geological history of Scotland' * West Highland Free Press *‘Not only are they a wealth of information on Scotland's past, they offer valuable insight as Scotland’s future becomes increasingly uncertain due to climate change' * Dundee Courier *

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Book SynopsisHodges Figgis Book of the Year 2023 Maps are essential tools in finding our way around, but they also tell stories and are great depositories of information. Until the twentieth century and the arrival of aerial images, a map was the best way of getting a sense of what a city looked like on the ground. Through a carefully chosen selection of maps, the book traces the growth and development of Dublin from the early seventeenth century to the present day, offering a fascinating snap-shot of how the city has changed over time. Whilst the maps recount the big stories – the impact of major forces such as the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 or the effects of the Easter Rising in 1916 and the Civil War in 1922 – they also tell the smaller tales such as the creation of a colony of Irish speakers in the late 1920s and the arrival of parking meters and how they changed how people could use the city centre. Together with maps that reveal much about the famous buildings, transport, health, trade, life and work of the city, this book is a fascinating portrait of Dublin through the ages which offers many new perspectives on one of Europe’s great cities.Trade Review'An absolutely fascinating and beautiful book using maps to help us understand the growth and development of Dublin over time… I can’t emphasise enough how gorgeous the book is' -- Dr. Miranda Melcher * New Books Network *'A fascinating new book... an eclectic, illuminating cornucopia of unusual maps ... judiciously selected and explained by Brady and Ferguson' * Irish Independent *'A fine, solid, beautifully produced book ... wonderfully filled with information, written with a crisp clarity' * The Irish Catholic *'an eclectic, illuminating cornucopia of unusual maps, stretching back to 17th century charts to help sea captains approach the narrow entry into Dublin Bay . . . You may never have thought that a city planner once contemplated using gondolas to ease traffic congestion, or another felt that the solution lay in using flying boats, but you would be wrong' * Irish Independent *

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Book SynopsisThis work provides the first overview of mammal species distributions in Africa since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 18 ky) to modern time. It is derived from data published mainly in the zooarchaeological literature until 2009. During a post-doctoral project hosted in the zoological department of mammal collection at the Naturhistoriches Museum in Vienna (Austria), the occurrences of taxa in archaeological sites on the African continent were recorded in a database, integrating geographical and chronological information. This record offers the opportunity to produce a chronological atlas of mammalian distributions by presenting their occurrences on successive maps over the last 18 ky. This work is useful for zooarchaeologists dealing with one particular species by providing a bibliographical work that documents its past locations. It must be noted that fauna are mainly documented through their presence at archaeological sites and are therefore tied to the presence of humans and their activities. This may only partially reproduce their true past distribution. However, the sites offer a good coverage throughout space and time and generally reflect the extent of mammalian distributions, although the limits of their distributions may be further refined. The atlas will aid in the investigation of palaeoecological issues, such as the capacity of mammals to adapt to climatic change and respond to human disturbance in the recent past of Africa. The database also provides information that is fundamental to a better understanding of what influenced the present-day distribution, dynamism and structure of mammalian communities in Africa. By incorporating a larger temporal scale to modern ecological studies, it may help control their conservation since desiccation and human disturbance in Africa is still a worrying question for their future.Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Data and Methods; Chapter 3 Site Data : geography, archaeological context; Chapter 4 Chronological Data; Chapter 5 Species Distribution; Chapter 6 References

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Book SynopsisSurprisingly, the remarkable story of the Scottish role in the discovery of the Northwest Passage – a long desired trade route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific – has not received a great deal of attention. This book charts the extensive contribution to Arctic exploration made by the Scots, including significant names, such as John Ross from Stranraer, veteran of three Arctic expeditions; his nephew, James Clark Ross, the most experienced Arctic and Antarctic explorer of his generation and discoverer of the Magnetic North Pole; John Richardson of Dumfries, a medical doctor, seasoned explorer and engaging natural historian; and Orcadian John Rae, who discovered evidence of the grisly demise of John Franklin and his crew. The book also pays tribute to many others too: the Scotch Irish, the whalers and not least the Inuit, with whom the Scottish explorers cooperated and generally enjoyed good relations, relying on their knowledge of the environment in many crucial cases. The awakening of the Scots to the magnificence and dread of the hyperborean regions – as places of discovery, of inspiration and, regrettably, of exploitation – is traced, with particular emphasis on the first half of the nineteenth century until the search for the missing Franklin expedition mid-century.Trade Review'A fine book that helps put right a significant historical oversight: the lack of recognition awarded by their peers and by posterity to the contributions made by Scots to Arctic exploration' -- Ken Lussey * Undiscovered Scotland *'A splendid piece of compelling narrative history' -- Allan Massie * The Scotsman *'[an] extraordinary tome... Cowan's writing is lucid and engaging, and the concise chapters are easy to digest' -- Rosie Morton * Scottish Field *'A narrative that charts the remarkable — yet often overlooked or misidentified — Scottish contribution to Arctic exploration... For anyone fascinated by Scottish history or hungry for tales of Arctic adventure, Northern Lights is a vivid new addition to the rich tradition of polar narratives.' * Country Bookshelf *

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Book SynopsisThe story of the Bamburgh Sword – one of the finest swords ever forged. In 2000, archaeologist Paul Gething rediscovered a sword. An unprepossessing length of rusty metal, it had been left in a suitcase for thirty years. But Paul had a suspicion that the sword had more to tell than appeared, so he sent it for specialist tests. When the results came back, he realised that what he had in his possession was possibly the finest, and certainly the most complex, sword ever made, which had been forged in seventh-century Northumberland by an anonymous swordsmith. This is the story of the Bamburgh Sword – of how and why it was made, who made it and what it meant to the warriors and kings who wielded it over three centuries. It is also the remarkable story of the archaeologists and swordsmiths who found, studied and attempted to recreate the weapon using only the materials and technologies available to the original smith. Trade Review'Revelatory and fascinating ... the kind of book that Wayland the Smith would have adored' -- Tom Holland, author of Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic'[a] wonderfully well-written, entertainingly discursive and absorbing account of swordcraft and archaeology' -- Jason Goodwin * Country Life *'a thought-provoking account of swords and warfare in early medieval Britain' * Medieval Archaeology *'This fascinating book should appeal to many . . . abundantly confirms that the Dark Ages were not so dark when it came to metalworking' * Model Engineer *

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Book SynopsisThe present study examines the death of maidens in classical Athens, combining the study of Attic funerary iconography with research on classical Attic maiden burials, funerary inscriptions, tragic plays, as well as the relevant Attic myths. The iconography of funerary reliefs focuses on the idealized image of the deceased maiden, as well as the powerful bonds of love and kinship that unite her with the members of her family, whereas the iconography of vases emphasizes the premature death of the maiden, the pain of loss and mourning felt by her family, as well as the observance of the indispensable funerary rites concerning her burial and ‘tomb cult’. Particularly interesting is the fact that the ‘traditional’ theory according to which the loutrophoros marked the graves of the unmarried dead alone has been proven non valid. The study of classical Attic maiden burials indicates that the prematurely dead maidens were buried as children who didn’t live long enough to reach adulthood. The untimely death of maidens in Attic drama and mythology is beneficial to the family or the city. In great contrast to that, the premature death of real - life Athenian maidens was a terrible disaster for the girls’ families, as well as the polis itself. Despite this, the iconography of dead maidens in classical Athens is in accordance with the ‘image’ of the deceased maidens presented by funerary epigrams, tragedy, and mythology. It has to be noted though, that the same is not true in the case of maiden burials. This Access Archaeology publication presents a special edition of Katia Margariti’s doctoral thesis entitled The Death of the Maiden in Classical Athens. The original thesis was submitted to the Department of History, Archaeology, and Social Anthropology (IAKA) of the University of Thessaly in Volos in 2010. Here the original thesis is augmented by an extensive 63 page summary in English accompanied by the original Greek text, catalogue and illustrations. The thesis contains much valuable analysis and catalogue material and this publication has been produced in order that the work should not be overlooked merely for reasons of language.Table of ContentsENGLISH SUMMARY TABLE OF CONTENTS; Introduction; History of the subject; THE DEAD MAIDENS IN THE FUNERARY ART OF CLASSICAL ATHENS; MAIDEN BURIALS IN CLASSICAL ATHENS; FUNERARY EPIGRAMS OF DEAD MAIDENS; THE DEATH OF THE MAIDEN IN GREEK TRAGEDY; THE DEATH OF THE MAIDEN IN ATHENIAN MYTHS; CONCLUSIONS; TABLE OF CONTENTS (English translation of the Greek thesis table of contents): Introduction; 1. The dead maidens on the Attic vases of the Classical period; 2. The dead maidens on the Attic funerary reliefs of the Classical period; 3. The burials of maidens in other areas of the Greek world; 4. The dead maidens in the Attic funerary epigrams of the Classical period; 5. The death of the maiden in Attic tragedy; 6. The death of the maiden in Athenian mythology; The death of the maiden in classical Athens: Conclusions; CATALOGUES: Funerary Reliefs; Attic Vases; Funerary Inscriptions; ABBREVIATIONS; BIBLIOGRAPHY; TABLES - GRAPHS

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Book SynopsisPeople are drawn to the harbours and boats of Scotland whether they have a seafaring background or not. Why do boats take on different shapes as you follow the complex shorelines of islands and mainland? And why do the sails they carry appear to be so many shapes and sizes? Then there are rowing craft or power-driven vessels which can also be considered ‘classics’, whether they were built for work or leisure. As he traces the iconic forms of a selection of the boats of Scotland, Ian Stephen outlines the purposes of craft, past and present, to help gain a true understanding of this vital part of our culture. Sea conditions likely to be met and coastal geography are other factors behind the designs of a wide variety of craft. Stories go with boats. The vessels are not seen as bare artefacts without their own soul but more like living things. 'A writer uniquely attuned to the water, and to the relationships each boat shares with the places it shaped, his stories restore past sea roads and river routes to life' - David Gange, author of The Frayed Atlantic EdgeTrade Review'Wonderful... a rich compendium of the Scottish engagement with the sea' -- Adam Nicolson, author of Life Between the Tides'The small boats that made Scottish history have never seemed so charismatic and characterful as in Ian Stephen’s gorgeous, vivid prose. A writer uniquely attuned to the water, and to the relationships each boat shares with the places it shaped, his stories restore past sea roads and river routes to life' -- David Gange, author of The Frayed Atlantic Edge'[Boatlines] tells of the compelling bonds between humans and nature, along with copious anecdotes about the vessels, who built them, sailed in them, and the communities they served... an evocative love letter to the sea' -- Neil Drysdale * Press and Journal *'A magisterial flight across 30 or 40 different vernacular vessels... it is fascinating' * West Highland Free Press *'Ian Stephen's fascinating new book explores Scotland's deep relationship with boats, the talented people who built them and the many communities that still depend on them' * The Herald *'A wonderful book about...the small boats that do so much to give individual stretches of the coastline of Scotland such distinctive characters' -- Ken Lussey * Undiscovered Scotland *'Although there's an incredible density of nautical information, Stephen also packs in anecdotes and has a light writing style' * Scottish Field *'A sensitively written account of sailors' lore to vicariously share the pleasures of life afloat... absorbing and leaves you wanting more' -- Frank Rennie * Stornoway Gazette *'carefully researched and there are a selection of nice pencil drawings which make for a pleasing read' * Sailing Today *'Stephen, through his wonderful use of prose, allows us to experience the culture of these coastal and canal communities which followed a natural rhythm governed by the seasons, the weather, and the tides' -- Marc Chivers * Mariner's Mirror *

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Book SynopsisWe are very lucky to have small, contemporary records of history scattered throughout our soil in the form of lead seals. With a couple of notable exceptions, they have largely been ignored by archaeologists and historians, but the recent explosion in the numbers found and recorded has helped to bring their importance and potential to the attention of those interested in our heritage. This book is intended to be a repository of the salient information currently available on the identification of cloth seals, and a source of new material that extends our understanding of these important indicators of post medieval and early modern industry and trade. It is, primarily, a guide to help with the identification of cloth seals, both those found within and those originating from the United Kingdom. Most of the extra examples, referenced beneath the images, can be quickly located and viewed through access to the internet.Table of ContentsIntroduction to Cloth Seals: Aim; Sources; Introduction; Basic Identification of Cloth Seal Type; Component Parts of a Cloth Seal; The Use of Lead Cloth Seals; Alnage & Subsidy; Cloth Seal Matrices; Lead v Wax Seals; The Type of Seals Attached to a Cloth (and Woven Marks); Dating of Cloth Seals; Ordering of Presentation; Images; List and Description of Seals: Seals of Known Locations; Seals of Known Monarch; Seals with Type of Cloth Named; Seals for Faulty Cloth; Seals of Guilds and Companies; Broad Arrow Seals; Alnage Seals; Searchers’ Seals; Clothworkers’ Personal Seals; Other Seals Conventionally Grouped with Cloth Seals; Continental Seals; Cloth Seal Identification Resources; Handling, Cleaning and Obtaining Images of Lead Seals; Bibliography; Appendix 1: Time-line of Events & Legislation in the Textile Industry with Emphasis on the Use of Cloth Seals & the Information They Displayed; Appendix 2: Types of Cloth; Appendix 3: List of Known Alnagers and Their Agents; Appendix 4: Known 16th & 17th Century Clothworkers’ Privy Marks; Appendix 5: Distinctive Identification Features on Cloth Seals; Appendix 6: Tubular Cloth Seals Employed by the Dutch Immigrant Cloth Makers in 16th and 17th Century England; Index

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Book SynopsisOne of the greatest stories of world exploration ever told. By the late eighteenth century, the river Niger was a 2,000-year-old two-part geographical problem. Solving it would advance European knowledge of Africa, provide a route to commercial opportunity and help eradicate the evil of slavery. Mungo Park achieved lasting fame in 1796 by solving the first part of the Niger problem – which way did the river run? Park died in 1806, in circumstances which are still uncertain, in failing to solve the second – where did the Niger end? Numerous expeditions explored the river in the decades following Park’s death, but not until 1830 was its final course revealed following in-the-field exploration. By then, however, the Niger problem had been solved by ‘armchair geographers’ who had never even visited Africa. Majestic River celebrates Mungo Park's achievements and illuminates his rich afterlife – how and why he was commemorated long after his death. It is also the thrilling story of the many expeditions that sought to determine the Niger’s course and the facts of Park’s disappearance, as well as a biography of the Niger itself as the river slowly took shape in the European imagination. Shortlisted for the Saltire Society History Book of the Year AwardTrade Review'Punchy, eloquent, and infused with forensic research ...This book is in all senses a geographical epic' -- Nicholas Crane, writer and presenter, BBC Two’s Coast and author of The Making of the British Landscape'This deeply researched and sumptuously illustrated book is at once an exciting new biography of Mungo Park, a wide-ranging history of the decades-long efforts by the British to explore the Niger, and an illuminating study of the evolution of geography and cartography as fields of scientific knowledge' -- Dane Kennedy, author of The Last Blank Spaces: Exploring Africa and Australia'A fascinating and illuminating read' -- Megan Amato * Scottish Field *'Both an admirable biography of the explorer Mungo Park and also a thoughtful meditation on early British involvement in West Africa' -- Allan Massie * The Scotsman *'It's always thrilling to stumble across a book that is so well researched and written that as a reader you get the sense it will be the definitive account of the subject it covers for quite some time to come. "Majestic River" is one of those books' -- Ken Lussey * Undiscovered Scotland *'Mungo Park died in 1806 before realising his mission to trace the course of the Niger. The author looks at the life and legacy of this famed explorer' * The Saltire Society *

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Book SynopsisRaider. Conqueror. King. Saint. This is the story of Olav Haraldsson, the greatest Viking who ever lived. A ruthless Viking warrior who named his most prized battle weapon after the Norse goddess of death, Olav Haraldsson and his mercenaries wrought terror and destruction from the Baltic to Galicia in the early eleventh century. Thousands were put to the sword, enslaved or ransomed. In England, Canterbury was sacked, its archbishop murdered and London Bridge pulled down. The loot amassed from years of plunder helped Olav win the throne of Norway, and a century after his death he was proclaimed ‘Eternal King’ and has been a national hero there ever since. Despite his bloodthirsty beginnings, Olav converted to Christianity and, in a personal vendetta against the old Norse gods, made Norway Christian too, thereby changing irrevocably the Viking world he was born into. Told with reference to Norse sagas, early chronicles and the work of modern scholars, Desmond Seward paints an intensely vivid and colourful portrait of the life and times of arguably the greatest Viking of them all.Trade Review'All books about historical subjects should be as good as this one: but very few actually are' * Undiscovered Scotland *'Paints an intensely vivid and colourful portrait of the life and times of arguably the greatest Viking of them all' -- Michael Alexander * Dundee Courier *

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Book SynopsisThis volume presents the proceedings of the conference “L’arte rupestre dell’età dei metalli nella penisola italiana: localizzazione dei siti in rapporto al territorio, simbologie e possibilità interpretative” that took place in Pisa at the Cantiere delle Navi di Pisa under the aegis of the Soprintendenza Archeologica della Toscana and of the University of Pisa on 15th June 2015. The addressed issues were related to the Post-Pleistocene rock art along the Apennine ridge; in recent years more and more evidence has been identified, which is different from the magnificent evidence found in the Alps such as, for example, the well-known Monte Bego and Val Camonica. This evidence, despite various and peculiar features, can be all related to the iconographic field whose main expressions are anthropomorphic figures, weapons, daggers, halberds and several other symbols, all similarly stylised. A peculiarity of these manifestations is their location in small shelters inappropriate for habitation or in places suitable for supervising mountain and territory roads, bearing comparison to evidence from Western Mediterranean coastal areas. An interpretative possibility has emerged: these sites could have been not only ceremonial places, but also spaces linked to the socio-economic fields or perhaps to the power of communities that occupied these territories.Table of ContentsRENATA GRIFONI CREMONESI, ANNA MARIA TOSATTI Prefazione; RENATA GRIFONI CREMONESI, L’arte rupestre dell’età dei metalli nella penisola italiana. Localizzazione dei siti in rapporto al territorio, simbologie e possibilità interpretative; ANDREA DE PASCALE, GIUSEPPE VICINO, Le incisioni rupestri del Finalese: nuovi dati, riflessioni e proposta di classificazione; NADIA CAMPANA, NEVA CHIARENZA, MARCELLA MANCUSI, La Liguria di Levante tra problematiche e prospettive; ANNA MARIA TOSATTI, Manifestazioni di arte rupestre nella Toscana nord‐occidentale in relazione all’ambiente e ai percorsi montani; TOMASO DI FRAIA, Le nuove scoperte di arte rupestre in Abruzzo: verso un’interpretazione sistemica; DARIO SIGARI, L’arte rupestre si fa paesaggio. Il caso del Morricone del Pesco (Civitanova del Sannio, IS); ARMANDO GRAVINA, Alcuni dati sull’arte rupestre preistorica nel Gargano meridionale. Nota preliminare; MARTA COLOMBO, MARCO SERRADIMIGNI, L'arte rupestre in Italia meridionale e in Sicilia; DARIO SIGARI, GINEVRA GAGLIANESE, Pietra Santa Filomena (Decollatura, CZ), una roccia coppellata sul Monte Reventino. Nuovi aspetti pre‐protostorici dell’appennino calabrese; ANDREA ARCÀ, Documentazione e rilevamento delle incisioni rupestri dell'arco alpino tra esame autoptico, gestione informatizzata dei dati e restituzione digitale; FRANCESCO M. P. CARRERA, Metodologie di analisi e tecniche di rilievo dei graffiti rupestri: il caso della grotta di Diana (MS); SUELY AMANCIO MARTINELLI, Caratterizzazione delle figure di siti di arte rupestre della Fazenda Mundo Novo Caninde di San Francisco – Sergipe – Brasile. Inter‐relazione di simboli Brasile – Italia.

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Book SynopsisWidely revered as the father of Western literature, Homer was the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the epic poems which immortalised such names as Achilles, Cyclops, Menelaus, and Helen of Troy. In this vivid introduction, Elton Barker and Joel Christensen celebrate the complexity, innovation, and sheer excitement of Homer’s two great works. Investigating the controversy surrounding the man behind the myths, they ask who Homer was and whether he even existed. Making parallels between Homeric hexameter and rap, and between his battle scenes and The Lord of the Rings, the authors highlight how his hugely influential epics deal with ageless questions that still confront us today. Perfect for new readers of the great poet and full of insights that will delight Homeric experts, this book will inspire you to discover – or rediscover – his masterpieces first-hand.Trade Review"A really good introduction to the Iliad and Odyssey, wearing its learning lightly and conveying a sense of both the delights and the profundity of the Homeric poems." Christopher Pelling, Regius Professor of Greek, University of Oxford, UK "Provides readers with exactly what they need to know in order to read the epics with the greatest comprehension and enjoyment." Erwin Cook, T. F. Murchison Distinguished Professor of the Humanities, Trinity University, USA "Interesting, thoughtful, and well written. The book covers an admirably wide range of issues with clarity and assurance." Barbara Graziosi, Professor of Classics, Durham University, UK "A smart book and a stylish piece of writing." Bruce Heiden, Professor of Classics, The Ohio State University, USA "Barker and Christensen have written the best introduction I know to the Homeric poems. They explain the main themes, scenes, and characters in clear, jargon-free language that is a pleasure to read, whether for those new to Homer or advanced students." Pura Nieto, Senior Lecturer in Classics, Brown University, USA "Barker and Christensen make fantastic guides to understanding the master of story telling - an enjoyable and compelling read that is sure to get people hooked on Homer." Assistant Professor of Classics, University of Warwick, UK'Lively and wide-ranging... pulls readers right into the vast impace of Homer on our own world. Anyone needing to justify the reading and study of Homer should read this.' * Classical Journal *

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Book SynopsisNo other political entity has shaped the modern world like the Roman Empire. Encompassing close to a quarter of the world’s population and 3 million km2 of land, it represented a diverse and dynamic collection of nations, states and tribes, all bound to Rome and the ideal of a Roman identity. In the lively and engaging style that he’s known for, Philip Matyszak traces the history of the Roman Empire from the fall of the Assyrians and the rise of the Roman Republic through to the ages of expansion, crisis and eventual split. Breathing new life into these extraordinary events, Matyszak explains how the empire operated, deploying its incredibly military machine to conquer vast territory then naturalizing its subject peoples as citizens of Rome. It was a method of rule so sophisticated that loyalty to Rome remained strong even afters its collapse creating an expansive legacy that continues to this day.Trade Review‘Remarkably wide-ranging, accessible and well-informed. A must for all students of the Roman world.’ -- Mark Bradley, Associate Professor of Ancient History, University of Nottingham‘A brilliant introduction to the Romans – informative and entertaining.’ -- Roy and Lesley Adkins, authors of Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome‘Well-crafted. Scholarly while managing to retain easy accessibility to the general reader.’ -- Ian Hughes, Late Roman historian and author of Belisarius: The Last Roman General

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Book SynopsisThis volume illustrates lamps from the Byzantine period excavated in the Holy Land and demonstrates the extent of their development since the first enclosing/capturing of light (fire) within a portable man-made vessel. Lamps, which held important material and religious functions during daily life and the afterlife, played a large role in conveying art and cultural and political messages through the patterns chosen to decorate them. These cultural, or even more their religious affinities, were chosen to be delivered on lamps (not on other vessels) more than ever during the Byzantine period; these small portable objects were used to ‘promote’ beliefs like the ‘press’ of today. Each cultural group marked the artifacts / lamps with its symbols, proverbs from the Old and New Testaments, and this process throws light on the deep rivalry between them in this corner of the ancient world. The great variety of lamps dealt with in this volume, arranged according to their various regions of origin, emphasizes their diversity, and probably local workshop manufacture, and stands in contrast to such a small country without any physical geographic barriers to cross, only mental ones (and where one basket of lamps could satisfy the full needs of the local population). The lamps of the Byzantine period reflect the era and the struggle in the cradle of the formation of the four leading faiths and cultures: Judaism (the oldest), Samaritanism (derived from the Jewish faith), newly-born Christianity – all three successors to the existing former pagan culture – and the last, Islam, standing on a new threshold. Unlike during the former Greek and Roman periods of rule, the land of Israel during the Byzantine period did not really have a central government or authority. The variety of the oil lamps, their order and place of appearance during the Byzantine period can be described as a ‘symphony played by a self-conducted orchestra, where new soloists rise and add a different motet, creating stormy music that expresses the rhythm of the era’. This volume, like the author’s earlier books on this subject, is intended to create a basis for further study and evaluation of the endless aspects that lamps bring to light and which are beyond the capacity of any single scholar.Table of ContentsIntroduction; I. The Southern region: Judean Shephelah; II: The Yavne region: (I. LR2a, LR5a included above) and II. LR 11, II. LR11a; III. Jerusalem workshops, types III. LR12-III.B15 (Map 4); IV. Negev, Southern region, wheel-made oil lamps; V. The Samaria Region (V. LR 18 - V. B27); VI. The Phoenician coast including the Northern part of the country (VI. I B31- VI.III B 45); VII. The Bet She’an boundary, eastern part of the Decapolis (VII. LR45–VII. B54); VIII: Imported Oil Lamps; Bibliography; Concordance Table of Sites; Catalogue; Plates

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Book Synopsis‘By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show.’ – Samuel Johnson It is the people who make London what it is. The men and women living within its walls, with all their successes and failures, their loves and lies, their dramas and indulgences. Taking us from the sixteenth century to the present day, London author David Long introduces us to fifty of the most eccentric, revolutionary, bloodthirsty and memorable characters to have walked London’s streets. Many are familiar names, but others remain largely unknown. From a house lived in by both Handel and Hendrix to Queen Victoria’s rat catcher, an emperor in exile and real-life tales of derring-do, A History of London in 50 Lives is a unique take on the English capital and on some of the more remarkable characters who have called it home.Trade Review‘Packed with fun facts’ * Daily Express *'any city is only the sum of its inhabitants as Long amply demonstrates' * The Good Book Guide *

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Book SynopsisIn December 1941 the Japanese invaded Burma. For the British, the longest land campaign of the Second World War had begun. 100,000 African soldiers were taken from Britain’s colonies to fight the Japanese in the Burmese jungles. They performed heroically in one of the most brutal theatres of war, yet their contribution has been largely ignored. Isaac Fadoyebo was one of those ‘Burma Boys’. At the age of sixteen he ran away from his Nigerian village to join the British Army. Sent to Burma, he was attacked and left for dead in the jungle by the Japanese. Sheltered by courageous local rice farmers, Isaac spent nine months in hiding before his eventual rescue. He returned to Nigeria a hero, but his story was soon forgotten. Barnaby Phillips travelled to Nigeria and Burma in search of Isaac, the family who saved his life, and the legacy of an Empire. Another Man’s War is Isaac’s story.Trade Review'a heroic tale of survival' * Cotswold Life *'Remarkable...spellbinding' * Mail on Sunday *‘Impressive… Phillips is a confident narrator… a gripping military history which brings African witnesses to the dying days of the British Empire out of the shadows’ * TLS *‘Excellent… such a gripping and valuable contribution to the literature… fascinating’ * African Arguments *‘Two young West African soldiers shipped halfway across the world in 1943 to fight for the British in Burma find themselves abandoned – wounded, starving and sick – in the unmapped jungle of the Arakan. Their astonishing adventures are reconstructed here in gripping detail… A real-life thriller with sobering implications for the British reader – but I found it impossible to put down.’ -- Hilary Spurling, author of Burying the Bones‘Brimming with facts, anecdotes and pathos, this page-turner is a must-read for anyone interested in military history and Nigeria’s transformation in the mid-twentieth century.’ -- Noo Saro-Wiwa, author of Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria‘An enthralling human story of soldiers whose sacrifice has been too long neglected… This book deserves to become a classic of war history.’ -- Fergal Keane, BBC Foreign Correspondent and author of Road of Bones‘The hard-won victories of the Second World War define British identity to an extraordinary degree. Phillips illuminates vividly, through a very human story, how that ostensible struggle between democracy and fascism was experienced and interpreted by a large majority of the world’s population. Another Man’s War admirably complicates and deepens our sense of history.’ -- Pankaj Mishra, author of From the Ruins of Empire‘A rich story, richly told. An inspiring instance of common human deceny, handled brilliantly by a writer whose research is as dogged as his touch is fine.’ -- Tim Butcher, author of Blood River and Chasing the Devil‘Another Man’s War is a testament to the kindness of strangers and the power of memory. Meticulous research is matched by profound human emotion.’ -- Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor, Channel 4 News‘Barnaby Phillips has uncovered a tale which touches the world in every sense. The story is a deceptively simple one, of a lanky boy who runs away from his dusty Nigerian village to join the British Army and is left for dead thousands of miles from home in the Burmese jungle. The miraculous sheltering and survival of Isaac Fadoyebo not only make an irresistible human drama. They also illustrate the terrifying global swirl of the conflict. Told with warmth and colour, this account of a forgotten soldier in a forgotten army in a forgotten war will not itself be easily forgotten.’ -- Ferdinand Mount, author of The New Few‘Dramatic, moving, often shocking, painstakingly researched and brilliantly told, Another Man’s War is a story the world should hear, not just so that West Africans may know the part they played in the Burma campaign and in the Second World War, but so that Britain and the world knows it too.’ -- Aminatta Forna, author of The Hired Man and The Memory of Love

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Book SynopsisThe Hellenistic society of the Rhodian metropolis, a naval aristocracy (Gabrielsen), dedicated bronze statues of their members in the sanctuaries and public buildings and used marble and -occasionally-lartios lithos to carve portrait-statues originally for funerary use and in a later period also for honorific purposes, figures of deities and decorative sculpture for the houses and the parks. The artists, local and itinerant, from Athens, the islands and the Asia Minor, established artistic workshops on Rhodes, some of them active for three centuries and for more than one generation. The impact of Rhodian art is evident on the islands of the Aegean and the cities of Asia Minor, due to the expansion of the Rhodian Peraia. Together with Pergamon, Rhodes emerges as a productive artistic centre of the Hellenistic era, creating statuary types and combining them with landscape elements. The radiance of its art is evident in the late Hellenistic period in Rome, the new capital of the world, where the Rhodian artists create mythological statuary groups set in grottoes. This volume presents the large-scale Rhodian sculpture of the Hellenistic and Roman period through the publication of sixty unpublished sculptures of life size or larger than life size, together with forty-five sculptures already published. The sculptures are grouped according to their statuary type (gods, mortals and portraits), while those unable to be firmly identified due to their fragmentary condition are grouped under the category ‘uncertain identification’. The presentation of the sculptures is further supplemented by a technical description and an analysis of stylistic characteristics according to chronological development. Excavation data, wherever available, are also provided.

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Book SynopsisMoura Budberg: spy, adventurer, charismatic seductress and mistress of two of the century’s greatest writers, the Russian aristocrat Baroness Moura Budberg was born in 1892 to indulgence, pleasure and selfishness. But after she met the British diplomat and secret agent Robert Bruce Lockhart, she sacrificed everything for love, only to be betrayed. When Lockhart arrived in Revolutionary Russia in 1918, his official mission was Britain’s envoy to the new Bolshevik government, yet his real assignment was to create a network of agents and plot the downfall of Lenin. Lockhart soon got to know Moura and they began a passionate affair, even though Moura was spying on him for the Bolsheviks. But when Lockhart’s plot unravelled, she would forsake everything in an attempt to protect him from Lenin’s secret police. Fleeing to a life of exile in England and taking a string of new lovers, including Maxim Gorky and H. G. Wells, Moura later spied for Stalin and for Britain amidst the web of scandal surrounding the Cambridge spies. Through all this she clung to the hope that Lockhart would finally return to her. Grippingly narrated, this is the first biography of Moura Budberg to use the full range of previously unexamined letters, diaries and documents. An incredible true story of passion, espionage and double crossing that encircled the globe, A Very Dangerous Woman brings her extraordinary world vividly to life with dramatic resonances to rival the most sensational novel.Trade Review'Riveting biography…of [Moura Budberg's] remarkable life…Dangerous woman, indeed'. * Independent on Sunday *‘An extraordinarily complex story based on a fabulous cache of rich material… the end result really is an example of truth being stranger than fiction’ * Good Book Guide *'Hard to go wrong with Moura's combustible life, and the authors relish her excesses'. * Independent *‘McDonald and Dronfield’s summaries of events during the revolutionary period make a coherent narrative from a bafflingly complex series of events’ * The Guardian *‘A rollicking good read’ * Country Life *‘A thrilling new biography of baroness and double agent Moura Budberg…. Brave and multi-faceted, a mosaic monument to a mistress of deceit.’ * Russia Beyond the Headlines *‘The tale of Baroness Moura Budberg is a splendid one… entertaining and well-researched.’ -- Dr. Mark Galeotti, Clinical Professor of Global Affairs, New York University‘There is an echo of foxy, seductive Scarlett O'Hara about Moura Budberg’ * Herald *‘This book could read like a thriller, yet the thorough research here provides a weightier feast… impressive… alive… a well-researched and well-ordered biography’ * Spectator *‘Conjures up a vivid and alluring version of old Russia’ * Mail on Sunday *‘An astoundingly unbelievable life well retold in this gripping new biography. Well-written too. The book’s account of the Lockhart Affair is particularly fascinating, recreating the paranoid, anti-Western world that was Soviet Russia in the late 19-teens and early 1920s.’ * Russian Life *‘[The authors] have done a sterling job of piecing together the pieces of this mysterious, peripatetic life… they are very clear about the limits of what can and cannot be known from the extant evidence’ * Daily Telegraph *'A fast-paced story of European intrigue, featuring an enigmatic, strong-willed woman [whose] survival story is fascinating.' * Publishers Weekly *'The authors draw on diaries, correspondence, and newly released files to create a powerful study that attracts sympathy toward their subject. It also produces a great snapshot of life in Russia during the collapse of the czarist regime through the early part of the Joseph Stalin era.' * Library Journal *

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Book SynopsisThe XXI International Congress of Roman Frontier studies was hosted by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums in Newcastle upon Tyne (Great Britain) in 2009, 60 years after the first Limeskongress organised in that city by Eric Birley in 1949. Sixty years on, delegates could reflect on how the Congress has grown and changed over six decades and could be heartened at the presence of so many young scholars and a variety of topics and avenues of research into the army and frontiers of the Roman empire that would not have been considered in 1949. Papers are organised into the same thematic sessions as in the actual conference: Women and Families in the Roman Army; Roman Roads; The Roman Frontier in Wales; The Eastern and North African Frontiers; Smaller Structures: towers and fortlets; Recognising Differences in Lifestyles through Material Culture; Barbaricum; Britain; Roman Frontiers in a Globalised World; Civil Settlements; Death and Commemoration; Danubian and Balkan Provinces; Camps; Logistics and Supply; The Germanies and Augustan and Tiberian Germany; Spain; Frontier Fleets. This wide-ranging collection of papers enriches the study of Roman frontiers in all their aspects.Table of ContentsForeword (David J Breeze); Introduction by the Editors; Women and Families in the Roman Army (Session organisers: Carol van Driel-Murray, Martina Meyr, Colin Wells): Women, the Military and patria potestas in Roman Britain (Lindsay Allason-Jones); Beyond von Petrikovits - artefact distribution and socio-spatial practices in the Roman military (Penelope Allison); Some thoughts about the archaeological legacy of soldiers' families in the countryside of the civitas Batavorum (Harry van Enckevort); The Families of Roman Auxiliary Soldiers in the Military Diplomas (Elizabeth M. Greene); British families in the Roman army: living on the fringes of the Roman world (Tatiana Ivleva); Women and Children in Military Inscriptions from northern Germania Superior (Michael J. Klein); The Empress and her Relationship to the Roman Army (Kai M. Topfer); Women and children at the Saxon Shore fort of Oudenburg (Belgium) (S. Vanhoutte and A. Verbrugge); Roman Roads: Decem Pagi at the end of antiquity and the fate of the Roman road system in eastern Gaul (Joachim Henning, Michael McCormick and Thomas Fischer); The planning of Roman Dere Street, Hadrian's Wall, and the Antonine Wall in Scotland (John Poulter); Some notes on the development of the military road network of the Roman Empire (Zsolt Visy); The Roman Frontier in Wales (Session organisers: Barry Burnham, Jeffrey Davies): Rewriting The Roman Frontier in Wales: an introduction (Barry C. Burnham and Jeffrey L. Davies); Recent work on the site of the legionary fortress at Caerleon (Peter Guest and Tim Young); Roman Roads in Wales (R. J. Silvester); The Cadw-grant-aided `Roman Fort Environs Project' - the contribution of geophysics (David Hopewell); Roman Frontiers in Wales: 40 years on (Jeffrey L. Davies); The military `vici' of Wales - progress since Jarrett 1969 (Barry C. Burnham); The Eastern and North African Frontiers (Session organisers: James Crow, Eberhard Sauer): Transformation patterns of Roman Forts in the Limes Arabicus from Severan to Tetrarchic and Justinianic periods (Ignacio Arce); Recent Research on the Anastasian Wall in Thrace and late antique linear barriers around the Black Sea (James Crow); New Research on the Roman Frontier in Arabia (S. Thomas Parker); The Archaeology of Sasanian Frontier Troops: Recent Fieldwork on Frontier Walls in Northern Iran (Hamid Omrani Rekavandi, Eberhard Sauer, Tony Wilkinson and Jebrael Nokandeh); Soldiers or Tribesmen: who guarded the frontiers of late Roman Africa? (Alan Rushworth); Roman-Armenian Borders, Part I: The Upper Euphrates Frontier (Everett L. Wheeler); Smaller Structures: towers and fortlets (Session organisers: Bill Hanson, Matt Symonds); Bauliche und funktionale Gliederung des Obergermanisch-Raetischen Limes anhand der Turmgrundrisse (Thomas Becker); A Roman road station on the Pannonian limes (Szilvia Biro); River frontiers or fortified corridors? (Erik Graafstaliii); A Battle of Wills: Manoeuvre Warfare and the Roman defence of the North Yorkshire Coast in the late C4th (A McCluskey); The Castelinho dos Mouros (Alcoutim) and the `casas fuertes' of southern Portugal (Thomas Schierl, Felix Teichner, Gerald Grabherr, Alexandra Gradim); Smaller structures on Hadrian's coastal frontier (Matthew F. A. Symonds); Roman Towers (David Woolliscroft); Recognising Differences in Lifestyles through Material Culture (Session organisers: Stefanie Hoss, Sonja Jilek, Eckhard Deschler-Erb): La ceramique " militaire " dans le Nord de la Gaule de la Conquete au debut du IIe siecle apres J.-C.: Facies et particularites (Cyrille Chaidron, Raphael Clotuche et Sonja Willems); Auxiliaries and their forts: expression of identity? (Julia Chorus); Military versus civilian and legionary versus auxiliary: the case of Germania Inferior (Stefanie Hoss); Die zivile Nutzung militarischen Baumaterials - Kontexte und Interpretation (Thomas Schmidts); Barbaricum (Session organiser: Thomas Grane): Barbaricum: an introduction to the session (Thomas Grane); An imported bronze casket from the Przeworsk culture cemetery in Lachmirowice, distr. Inowroclaw (Katarzyna Czarnecka); Multifunctional coins - a study of Roman coins from the Zealandic isles in eastern Denmark (Mads Drevs Dyhrfjeld-Johnsen); Medical instruments, tools and excavation locations - `The reason why...' (Annette Frolich); Patterns in Cross-frontier Relations (Marjan C. Galestin); Bemerkungen zu den Formen des Zustroms der Importguter in das germanische Siedlungsmilieu wahrend der Romischen Kaiserzeit im mittleren Donauraum (Balazs Komoroczyiv); Romische Bronzegefassgarnituren Romischer und germanischer Fundkontext im Vergleich und deren jeweilige Aussage: Wo, wann, wie, warum, wer, fur was? Sudskandinavien und die romischen Provinzen (Ulla Lund Hansen); The C3rd AD Romano-Germanic Battlefield at Harzhorn near Kalefeld, Landkreis Northeim (Michael Meyer, Felix Bittmann, Michael Geschwinde, Henning Hassmann, Petra Lonne and Gunther Moosbauer); Hacksilber inside and outside the late Roman world: a view from Traprain Law (Kenneth Painter and Fraser Hunter); Why are the South Scandinavian weapon deposits relevant for limes research? An update of research progress (Xenia Pauli Jensen); Corpus der romischen Funde im europaischen Barbaricum - Ruckblick und Ausblick (Hans-Ulrich Voss und Claus-Michael Hussen); Britain: Hadrian's Wall and the Mommsen thesis (David J Breeze); Continuing the search for an `Antonine Gap' on Hadrian's Wall (R. J. Brickstock); A late Roman military command in Britain reinstated (Roger White); A new Roman fort at Staxton in the Vale of Pickering, Yorkshire, England (Pete Wilson); Roman Frontiers in a Globalised World (Session organisers: Richard Hingley, Divya Tolia-Kelly, Rob Witcher): Does History repeat itself?- The Roman Frontiers from the viewpoint of a European Archaeologist of today (Eduard Nemeth); The attraction of opposites: Owen Lattimore and studies of the Inner Asian frontiers of China (Naomi Standen); Changing Presents Interpret the Past, AD 1500-2010: The Frontier on the Limes and the Upper Danube (Peter S. Wells); Civil Settlements (Session organisers: Edward Dabrowa, Pete Wilson): Military Colonization in the Near East and Mesopotamia under the Severi (Edward Dabrowav); The Canabae Legionis of Carnuntum: Modelling a Roman Urban Landscape from systematic, non-destructive Prospection and Excavation (Christian Gugl, Michael Doneus and Nives Doneus); Neues vom Vicus der Saalburg (Cecilia Moneta); Viminacium - Roman City and Legionary Camp: Topography, Evolution and Urbanism (Nemanja Mrdic and Bebina Milovanovic); The Veterans' Colony Aequum, the Legionary Fortress Tilurium and the Sinj Field.Re-examining Old Problems (Mirjana Sanader); Death and Commemoration (Session organiser: Maureen Carroll); Some aspects of death, ritual and commemoration in the Lower Rhineland (Germany) (Clive Bridger); Dress, self and identity in Roman funerary commemoration on the Rhine and Danube frontiers (Maureen Carroll); The Funerary Commemoration of Veterans and Soldiers at the Colony of Augusta Emerita (Merida, Spain), 25 BC - AD 235 (Jonathan Edmondson); The Roman Cemetery at Pottenbrunn.Structural Analysis of a rural necropolis (Eva Hoelbling); The Roman cemetery at Mannersdorf am Leithagebirge, Lower Austria: The late antique inhumations as an information source of the population of the C4th and C5th (Rene Ployer); Ein neue Grabinschrift fur einen Soldaten der legio VI Victrix in Novaesium/Neuss (Marcus Reuter); The Decoration of some Early Imperial Tombs of Primi Pili (Kai M. Topfer); Danubian and Balkan Provinces: Stories and Facts about the Function of Dacia's South-eastern Frontier: Forty Years of Research (I. Bogdan Cataniciu); Maximinus Thrax in Novae (Piotr Dyczek and Jerzy Kolendo); A contribution to the study of the Roman Limes in the Croatian Danube region (Mato Ilkic and Daska Osonjacki); Overlapping Phases in the defensive systems of the Roman forts and the archaeological experience: the case of Roman Dacia (Dan Isacvi); Detail eines romischen Kellers aus dem Vicus von Aquincum - Vizivaros (Budapest) (Katalin H. Kerdo); Vindobona fortress - barracks, fabrica and intervallum (Martin Mosser); The Late Roman Principia in Tarsatica, part of Claustra Alpium Iuliarum (Josip Visnjic and Luka Bekic); Romuliana - Gamzigrad in der Provinz Dacia ripensis.Kaiserpalast und Militarstation (Gerda von Bulow); The Army in the Hinterland - a case study of Pons Aeni/Pfaffenhofen (Meike B Weber); The Scythian Section of Notitia Dignitatum: A Structural and Chronological Analysis (Mihail Zahariade); Camps (Session organiser: Rebecca Jones): What is a Roman Camp? (Rebecca H. Jones); The Marching Camp at Deer's Den, Aberdeenshire: a precis of the excavations (Murray Cook); Romische Feldlager aus der Zeit der Markomannenkriege in der Slowakei (Jan Rajtar und Claus-Michael Hussen); GIS application in Roman military invasion survey within barbarian territories during the Marcomannic wars - introduction into problems and perspectives (Balazs Komoroczy and Marek Vlach); The Roman Republican Battlefield at Pedrosillo (Casas de Reina, Badajoz, Spain): New Research (2007) (Angel Morillo, German Rodriguez Martin and Esperanza Martin Hernandez); Remains of the Roman baggage train at the battlefield of Kalkriese (Achim Rost); The function of temporary camps along Hadrian's Wall (Humphrey Welfare); The battlefield of Kalkriese: The rampart at the site `Oberesch' during and after the battle (Susanne Wilbers-Rost); Logistics and Supply (Session organisers: Bill Hanson, Valerie Maxfield): Voorburg-Arentsburg: a Roman harbour with a British connection in the hinterland of the Limes (Mark Driessenvii); The grain supply for the Roman army in Hispania during the Republican period (Javier Salido Dominguez); Die romischen Steinbruchinschriften des Brohltals (Markus Scholz - unter Mitarbeit von Holger Schaaff); A sustainable frontier? Timber supply for the Roman army in the Lower-Rhine delta, AD 40-150 (Pauline van Rijn); The Germanies and Augustan and Tiberian Germany (Session organiser: Sebastian Sommer); Lahnau - Waldgirmes.Die Ausgrabungen 2007 - 2009 (Armin Becker); Neue Luftbilder zu den Militarlagern und den canabae legionum von Vetera castra I (Xanten) (Norbert Hanel und Baoquan Song); The Augustan legionary camp on the Hunerberg in Nijmegen (NL) revised.New information and re-interpretation of old data of the defence system (Elly N. A. Heirbaut); New thoughts on the so-called temple of Mars in the legionary camp of Vindonissa (Andrew Lawrence); Iupiter im Brunnen - Neues zur siedlungsgeschichtlichen Entwicklung im Nordvicus von Heidelberg (Petra Mayer-Reppert); The Roman military presence in the Rhine delta in the pre-Flavian period (Marinus Polak); Quarries on the Raetian Limes, the height and construction of the wall (C. Sebastian Sommer); Spain: The Roman fort in El Real (Campo de Criptana, Ciudad Real, Spain) (Antxoka Martinez Velasco); The Cantabrian Wars (26-25 BC campaigns): contesting old interpretations (Angel Morillo); Frontier Fleets (Session organisers: Boris Rankov, Jorit Wintjes); Antiqua ... Arte Cilix (Lucan., Phars.4.449) (Sinisa Bilic-Dujmusic); Ultro Citroque Discurrere - Operational Patterns and Tactics of Late Roman Frontier Fleets on Rivers (Florian Himmlerviii); Project Exploratio Danubiae - New Insights into Troop Transport on the River Danube in the Late Roman Period (Heinrich Konen); The Frontier Fleets: What Were They and What Did They Do? (Boris Rankov); The Northern Fleets in the Principate (Christoph Rummel); Did the Romans have a fleet on the Red Sea? (Denis B. Saddington); The Ghost Fleet of Seleucia Pieria (Jorit Wintjes); Miscellaneous Contributions: Wells and Ritual Deposition at the Newstead Roman Military Complex (Simon Clarke); A Cost-Control Model for Imperial Frontiers? (Raphael M. J. Isserlin); Der Soldat und die Gotter - wie privat war Religion? (Nina Willburger)

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Book SynopsisIn AD 66 a local disturbance in Caesarea caused by Greeks sacrificing birds in front of a local synagogue exploded into a pan-Jewish revolt against their Roman overlords. Gaining momentum, the rebels successfully occupied Jerusalem and drove off an attack by the Roman legate of Syria, Cestus Gallius, who was defeated at the battle of Beth Horon. The emperor Nero dispatched the Roman general Vespasian along with reinforcements and, having crushed the revolt in Galilee he became embroiled in the events of the Year of the Four Emperors that would lead to his assumption of the Imperial throne. His son Titus was left to carry on the war which culminated in the dramatic siege of Jerusalem in AD 70. Remorselessly, the legions strangled the life out of the defense street by street, leaving nothing but rubble and ashes in their wake. The apotheosis of the conflict was the final stand of the last holdouts in the Temple precinct itself, and the utter annihilation of this, the physical manifestation of Judaism itself. The last remnants held out in the mountain fortress of Masada until AD 73 when with the Romans breaking down the walls the defenders committed mass suicide bringing the revolt to an end.Table of ContentsOrigins of the campaign /Chronology /Opposing commanders /Opposing fleets /Orders of battle /Opposing plans /The campaign /Aftermath /Further reading /Index

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Book SynopsisThe battle for Guadalcanal that lasted from August 1942 to February 1943 was the first major American counteroffensive against the Japanese in the Pacific. The battle of Savo Island on the night of 9 August 1942, saw the Japanese inflict a sever defeat on the Allied force, driving them away from Guadalcanal and leaving the just-landed marines in a perilously exposed position. This was the start of a series of night battles that culminated in the First and Second battles of Guadalcanal, fought on the nights of 13 and 15 November. One further major naval action followed, the battle of Tassafaronga on 30 November 1942, when the US Navy once again suffered a severe defeat, but this time it was too late to alter the course of the battle as the Japanese evacuated Guadalcanal in early February 1943.This title will detail the contrasting fortunes experienced by both sides over the intense course of naval battles around the island throughout the second half of 1942 that did so much to turn the tide in the Pacific.Table of ContentsOrigins of the campaign /Chronology /Opposing commanders /Opposing fleets /Orders of battle /Opposing plans /The campaign /Aftermath /Further reading /Index

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Book SynopsisRecycling is a basic anthropological process of humankind. The reutilization of materials or of ideas from the Past is a process determined by various natural or cultural causes. Recycling can be motivated by a crisis or by a complex symbolic cause like the incorporation of the Past into the Present. What archaeology has not insisted upon is the dimensional scale of the process, which operates from the micro-scale of the recycling of the ancestors’ material, up to the macro-scale of the landscape. It is well known that there are direct relations between artefacts and landscapes in what concerns the materiality and mobility of objects. An additional relation between artefact and landscape may be the process of recycling. In many ways artefact and landscape can be considered as one aspect of material culture, perceived at a different scale, since both have the same materiality and suffer the same process of reutilisation. This book invites archaeologists to approach the significant process of recycling within the archaeological record at two different levels: of artefacts and of landscape.Table of ContentsThe Never Ending Journey: Cycling and Recycling Seen through a Critical Assessment of the Taphonomic Process (Roberta Robin Dods); Sustainability, Health, and Society: Prehistoric Artefacts as Sustainable Materials (Lolita Nikolova); Recycling Power and Place: The Many Lives of Traprain Law, SE Scotland (Ian Armit, Andrew Dunwell, Fraser Hunter); Tells as Recycled Places. Experimenting the Chalcolithic Ritual Technologies of Construction and Deconstruction (Dragoş Gheorghiu); Copper and Bronzes: The Birth of Complete Recycling in The Bronze Age (Davide Delfino); Rock Art Recycled? On the Use of Bronze Age Rock Art Sites during the Iron Age in Southern Scandinavia (Per Nilsson); Recycled Memories: The Past and Present in Early Iron Age Landscapes of Southern Germany (Matthew L. Murray); Ancestral Places: The Creation and Recycling of Monumental Landscapes in South-Eastern Slovenia in The 1st Millennium BC and the 1st Millennium AD (Phil Mason); Recycling Pots, Places and Practices: The Roman Cemetery at Podlipoglav (Bernarda Županek and Irena Sivec); Secondary Use of Storage Vessels and Household Pottery During the Late Middle Ages: Pottery in Vaults as a Case Study (Marta Caroscio); The Reuse of Materials during the Medieval and Post-Medieval Periods: A Case Study of Recycling Building Materials in Rothwell, near Leeds, England (George Nash)

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Book SynopsisPrehistoric drummers used natural acoustics to recreate natural sound. In classical Europe, orators turned the human voice into a lyrical instrument. In Buddhist temples, the icons' ears were exaggerated to represent their spiritual power. And in modern metropolises we are battered by the roar of sound that surrounds us. In the first narrative history of the subject which puts humans at its centre, and following the author's major BBC Radio 4 series Noise, acclaimed historian David Hendy describes the history of noise - which is also the history of listening. As he puts it: 'By thinking about sound and listening, I want to get closer to what it felt like to live in the past.' This unusual book reveals fascinating changes in how we have understood our fellow human beings and the world around us. For although we might see ourselves inhabiting a visual world, our lives are shaped by our need to hear and be heard.Trade ReviewAs social history it's hard to beat * Independent *David Hendy reconstructs the acoustic environments of our ancestors and contemporaries in words, conjuring them to life for the mind's ear. Brilliant and thought-provoking - curl up somewhere noisy and enjoy! * Nigel Warburton *Fascinating. Noise is something to shout about -- Emily Cockayne * Hubbub *Praise for the radio series: 'A strange and lovely series ... Hendy found the roots of human language in the sounds and rhythms of bodies, our heartbeats, breathing, walking' -- Gillian Reynolds * Daily Telegraph *Highly enjoyable and thought-provoking ... Hendy does a great job of reconstructing a whole range of long-gone sound worlds - and, importantly, he makes clear what is assumption, what is fact and what is guesswork, while still presenting his descriptions in an evocative way. -- Mike Goldsmith * Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisLife's Greatest Secret is the story of the discovery and cracking of the genetic code. This great scientific breakthrough has had far-reaching consequences for how we understand ourselves and our place in the natural world. The code forms the most striking proof of Darwin's hypothesis that all organisms are related, holds tremendous promise for improving human well-being, and has transformed the way we think about life. Matthew Cobb interweaves science, biography and anecdote in a book that mixes remarkable insights, theoretical dead-ends and ingenious experiments with the pace of a thriller. He describes cooperation and competition among some of the twentieth century's most outstanding and eccentric minds, moves between biology, physics and chemistry, and shows the part played by computing and cybernetics. The story spans the globe, from Cambridge MA to Cambridge UK, New York to Paris, London to Moscow. It is both thrilling science and a fascinating story about how science is done.Trade ReviewIt is to Cobb's considerable credit that he manages to provide such an authoritative but nevertheless thrilling narrative, while also establishing, on a more serious level, how the genetic code has made its impact on everyday life 50 years since its discovery. In short, this is a first-class read. -- Robin McKie * Observer *

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Book SynopsisUnlike the Sahara or Southern Africa, the rock art of Central Africa is still largely unknown today. Despite being reported as early as the 16th century by Diego del Santissimo Sacramento, the rock art of the Kongo Central, an area encompassing parts of modern day Angola, Cabinda, the Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gabon, has never been widely researched and its age remains uncertain. Populated by the Ndibu, one of the Kongo subgroups, the Lovo massif is in the north of the ancient kingdom of Kongo. Even though this kingdom has, since 1500 AD, been one of the best documented in Africa, from historical sources as well as ethnographic and anthropological sources for the more recent periods, it remains largely unrecognized archaeologically. With 102 sites inventoried (including 16 ornate caves), it contains the largest concentration of rock art sites in the region, representing more than 5000 rock art images. Crossing ethnological, historical, archaeological and mythological points of view, this book illustrates that rock art played an important part in Kongo culture. Like historical sources or oral traditions, it can provide historians with important documentation and contribute significantly to the reconstruction of Africa's past. French description: A la difference des arts rupestres du Sahara ou d'Afrique australe, ceux d'Afrique centrale restent encore aujourd'hui largement meconnus. Bien que signale des le XVIe par Diego del Santissimo Sacramento, l'art rupestre du Kongo Central n'a jamais fait l'objet d'une recherche de grande ampleur et son age reste toujours incertain. Peuple par les Ndibu, un des sous-groupes kongo, le massif de Lovo se trouve dans le nord de l'ancien royaume de Kongo. Meme si ce royaume est, a partir de 1500, l'un des mieux documentes de toute l'Afrique tant par les sources historiques que par les sources ethnographiques et anthropologiques pour les periodes plus recentes, il reste largement meconnu sur le plan archeologique. Avec 102 sites inventories (dont 16 grottes ornees), il contient la plus importante concentration de sites rupestres de toute la region, ce qui represente plus de 5000 images rupestres. En croisant les points de vue ethnologique, historique, archeologique et mythologique, j'ai pu montrer que l'art rupestre a bel et bien une part importante dans la culture kongo. Au meme titre que les sources historiques ou les traditions orales, il peut apporter aux historiens une documentation de premier plan et contribuer a reconstruire le passe de l'Afrique.Table of ContentsRemerciments; Chapitre 1 Le Massif de Lovo, un Patrimoine Meconnu; Chapitre 2 Presentation du Massif de Lovo; Chapitre 3 Historique des Regards; Chapitre 4 Methodologie; Chapitre 5 Presentation des Sites; Chapitre 6 Apport d'une Documentation Nouvelle; Chapitre 7 Analyse de la Matiere Picturale; Chapitre 8 Elements de Datation; Chapitre 9 L'Art Rupestre en Contexte : un Etat des Lieux; Chapitre 10 Les Sources Capucines; Chapitre 11 La Croix Kongo a travers les Siecles; Chapitre 12 La Figure du Lezard : une Piste Possible ?; Chapitre 13 Les Motifs Derives de la Vannerie et du Textile; Chapitre 14 L'Art du Mythe; Chapitre 15 L'Art Rupestre du Massif de Lovo au sein des Zones Kongo et Mbundu; Chapitre 16 Le Massif de Lovo, quel Futur ?; Epilogue; Bibliographie; Volume 2 : Annexes (online)

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Book SynopsisThe United Kingdom; Great Britain; the British Isles; the Home Nations: such a wealth of different names implies uncertainty and contention - and an ability to invent and adjust. In a year that sees a Scottish referendum on independence, Linda Colley analyses some of the forces that have unified Britain in the past. She examines the mythology of Britishness, and how far - and why - it has faded. She discusses the Acts of Union with Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and their limitations, while scrutinizing England's own fractures. And she demonstrates how the UK has been shaped by movement: of British people to other countries and continents, and of people, ideas and influences arriving from elsewhere. As acts of union and disunion again become increasingly relevant to our daily lives and politics, Colley considers how - if at all - the pieces might be put together anew, and what this might mean. Based on a 15-part BBC Radio 4 series.Trade ReviewPraise for Linda Colley and for Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837: 'A completely original intelligence -- Roy Foster * Financial Times *The most dazzling and comprehensive study of a national identity yet to appear. * Scotsman *Magnificent ... a brilliant account * Western Mail *A book written with such gusto and verve that even a non-academic reader drives through its pages with ease * Independent *In this brilliant book ... Dr. Colley tells this story with scholarly punctilio, yet also with the brio of an historian who has something serious to say * Guardian *Its real strength is its ability to make those interested in the politics of the coming year think afresh about the independence debate and what it is actually all about. -- Magnus Gardham * The Herald *What has held the nations of the United Kingdom together for so long-and what is now pulling them apart-is the subject of Linda Colley's short and fascinating study, * The Economist *The prestigious scholar eschews academic opacity, has flair, an instinct for engagement, a lucidly democratic style. She can reach that autodidact ex-miner, slothful student, amateur genealogist, louche Chelsea girl, loyal citizen, flippant politician and know-it-all journalist and get them to look through different windows to the past... This isn't just a smart little digest. The sharp essays snip at and cut through unreconstructed patriotisms and political manipulations... This is a lively and urgent little tract. Drawing on art, literature, facts, landscapes and political dramas, it reveals the false unities and real disunities of the UK, past and present.' -- Yasmin Albhai-Brown * The Independent *What we need from historians is an ability to contextualise the debate, and in those terms, her book is a valuably pithy contribution. -- David Robinson * Scotland on Sunday *Linda Colley is such a good writer I'd buy her shopping lists if anyone published them. -- Nick Cohen * The Observer *There is much food for thought in this little book, and numerous unexpected and illuminating pieces of information, much that cannot be dealt with in a brief review. Anyone interested in the background to today's most pressing political arguments will find much of interest, and much to provoke thought and stimulate argument. Colley has offered a brief and very useful contribution to our British-Scottish, English, Welsh, Northern Irish and European debates; and she has done so in a commendably calm and reasonable tone of voice. -- Allan Massie * The Scotsman *A timely book. -- Alex Massie * Daily Telegraph *A bald and bold, usefully succinct review of 400 years of the legislative acts, historical events and politics that predate but underpin the current state of the United Kingdom. -- Iain Finlayson * The Times *This enjoyable and readable book * Times Higher Education *For a current take on that curious country that once ruled Hong Kong, and vast tracts of the world, Acts of Union and Disunion provides compelling reading by an engaging voice on what it means to be British, and the complexities of a nation that, in the 21st century, is populated by subjects rather than citizens. * South China Morning Post *

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Book SynopsisIn the heroic days of rail travel, you could dine on kippers and champagne aboard the Brighton Belle; smoke a post-prandial cigar as the Golden Arrow closed in on Paris, or be shaved by the Flying Scotsman's on-board barber. Everyone from schoolboys to socialites knew of these glamorous 'named trains' and aspired to ride aboard them. In Belles and Whistles, Andrew Martin recreates these famous train journeys by travelling aboard their nearest modern day equivalents. Sometimes their names have survived, even if only as a footnote on a timetable leaflet, but what has usually - if not always - disappeared is the extravagance and luxury. As Martin explains how we got from there to here, evocations of the Golden Age contrast with the starker modern reality: from monogrammed cutlery to stirring sticks, from silence on trains to tannoy announcements, from compartments to airline seating. For those who wonder whatever happened to porters, dining cars, mellow lighting, timetables, luggage in advance, trunk murders, the answers are all here. Martin's five journeys add up to an idiosyncratic history of Britain's railways, combining humour, historical anecdote and reportage from the present and romantic evocations of the past.Trade ReviewWhether describing his trips to Paris or Penzance, Martin is entertaining company, alive to the history of his route ... leaves you with renewed confidence that trains can still be the most civilised way to travel. -- Orlando Bird * FT *A bittersweet journey of contrasts between romance and reality. Martin's wry, witty commentary punches more than just tickets. -- Iain Finlayson * Saga *His wonderfully well-informed, anecdotal prose punches more than just tickets -- Iain Finlayson * Times *

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Book SynopsisIn ancient times, the first communities, societies and civilizations in the Iberian peninsula, according to archaeological evidence, began to develop following a progressive local evolution tempered by the significance of outside contacts. In order to reconstruct our history, resorting to ancient poets, we strive to distinguish reality from myth in the pursuit of a bond of certainty between the data provided by historical and literary sources and the excavated remains. Greek epics, based on the Illiad and the Odyssey, are the basis for the first speculations that link societies all along the Mediterranean coast, from east to west, with a common thread. However, how many times have we been told about mythical places, such as cities of great splendour and unique cultural progress? Did the land which Plato called Atlantis and Adolf Schulten linked to Tartessos truly exist? These answers may never be revealed (they are not at the forefront of research interests nowadays); for the time being, they are lost into a mythical and legendary world. Nonetheless, they remain alive over time. Spanish description: En tiempos lejanos, ahora sepultadas bajo la caída de los años, comienzan a formarse las primeras comunidades, sociedades y civilizaciones que se irán desarrollando en la Península Ibérica, por una progresiva evolución local, sin descuidar la atención de los contactos foráneos previa contrastación arqueológica. Refugiándonos en figuras creadas por los antiguos poetas, tratamos de discernir entre lo que comúnmente se ha denominado mito-leyenda y lo real, buscando un vínculo de certeza entre los datos que revelan las fuentes literario-históricas y los vestigios que se desentierran de nuestra primera historia, aquella que tratamos de reconstruir. La épica occidental apoyada en los relatos homéricos de la Ilíada y la Odisea, son la base de las primeras conjeturas que con un hilo, unen a las sociedades que conviven en el Mar Mediterráneo desde Oriente hasta Occidente. Pero ¿cuántas veces hemos oído contar relatos sobre míticas ciudades de gran esplendor e inigualable progreso cultural? ¿Existió aquella tierra denominada por Platón “Atlántida” y que fue asociada por Adolf Schulten a Tartessos? Estas respuestas quizá nunca lleguen a desvelarse (tampoco están en la vanguardia de los intereses de la investigación), por ahora sólo están inmersas en un mundo mítico y legendario, pero es cierto que se mantienen vivas, nostálgicas, con el paso del tiempo.Table of Contents1. Introducción.; 2. ¿Crecientes intercambios, contactos interregionales, formas de contacto?; 3. Una visión historiográfica del II milenio a. C. en el Sur de la Península Ibérica.; 4. El proceso de análisis de los yacimientos prehistóricos de Llanete de los Moros (Montoro, Córdoba) y Fontanar de Cábanos (Córdoba).; 5. Metodología y tipología para el estudio del material cerámico.; 6. El yacimiento protohistórico El Llanete de los Moros (Montoro, Córdoba).; 7. El yacimiento protohistórico El Fontanar de Cábanos (Córdoba).; 8. Contactos e influencias provenientes de Oriente.; 9. Conclusiones.; 10. Bibliografía.; 11. Catálogo.; 12. Lista de figuras, cuadros, mapas, tablas, gráficos y muestras.

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Book SynopsisAndrew Gant's compelling account traces English church music from Anglo-Saxon origins to the present. It is a history of the music and of the people who made, sang and listened to it. It shows the role church music has played in ordinary lives and how it reflects those lives back to us. The author considers why church music remains so popular and frequently tops the classical charts and why the BBC's Choral Evensong remains the longest-running radio series ever. He shows how England's church music follows the contours of its history and is the soundtrack of its changing politics and culture, from the mysteries of the Mass to the elegant decorum of the Restoration anthem, from stern Puritanism to Victorian bombast, and thence to the fractured worlds of the twentieth century as heard in the music of Vaughan Williams and Britten. This is a book for everyone interested in the history of English music, culture and society.Trade ReviewExcellent ... This authoritative and engaging history brings ... light and warmth to the subject * Sunday Times *A wonderfully lively account of one of our greatest stories -- Peter PhillipsAn illuminating and entertaining history [...] Drawing on his own extensive experience as choirmaster at the Chapel Royal, Andrew Gant covers this vast territory in breezy, unbuttoned fashion, without recourse to pedantry or jargon. * Literary Review *Making sense of English church music's relationship to the turbulent history of English Christianity is hard enough, but Andrew Gant manages to combine this with a lively survey of the music itself. -- Ivan Hewett * Daily Telegraph *A comprehensive and thoughtful survey that is also eminently readable. -- James Bowmanan extraordinarily thorough treatment of English church music's history. -- Roxanna PanufnikGant's love of this imperishable repertoire, breadth of research and stylish, approachable writing add up to an indispensable guide to a great tradition - and a very good read. -- Catherine Bott, Presenter, Classic FMAs a former director of choirs at the Chapel Royal and the Guards' Chapel, Gant has false relations and diminished fourths, not to mention hockets, coming out of his professional fingertips. He also has an infectious desire to make sure that we, the congregation, derive as much pleasure from them as he does ... This is a story of church music that celebrates the sheer pleasure of raising a joyful sound to the Lord -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian *A terrific book * The Awl *I would urge everybody interested in English history to buy this book at once: Mr. Gant maneuvers so elegantly between the better-known historical narrative and the music that reacts to and supports that political ecosystem. [...] The whole time I was reading O Sing Unto the Lord, I was making copious notes to go and rediscover some forgotten anthem. Time after time, passing references to pieces I've sung and loved brought me sharp pangs of nostalgia, followed by a sense of gratitude that this tradition has been such an important part of my musical world. -- Nico Muhly * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisThis volume has two main objectives: establishing a chronology of the Middle Balsas and detailing the region’s pottery production methods. The author posits that pottery intended for different functions was often deliberately made and/or decorated in ways that were chosen to make the vessels more appropriate for their intended functions. More specifically, this study determines whether any of the pottery production patterns identified in the region are linked to specific constraints imposed by the materials during the process of pottery manufacture. For example, it examines whether variables such as vessel shape and wall thickness correlate with the clay types and processing techniques determined during thin section analysis of the ancient sherds. Additionally, certain production behaviours are identified that are characteristic of the entire region and that can be used as markers of local tradition.Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction: Problem Statement, Theoretical Underpinnings, and the Ecology of the Middle Balsas Region ; Chapter 2: Previous Work and Contemporary Archaeological Projects in and Surrounding the Middle Balsas Region ; Chapter 3: Methods ; Chapter 4: Field Results from the Sites of La Quesería, Itzímbaro, and Mexiquito ; Chapter 5: Results from Laboratory Analyses and Replication Studies ; Chapter 6: Patterns in Middle Balsas Pottery Production and their Interpretation ; Chapter 7: Conclusions ; Bibliography ; Appendix 1: Registry of Bags from La Quesería, Itzímbaro, and Mexiquito ; Appendix 2: Ceramic Analysis ; Appendix 3: Diameter and Thickness Measurements ; Appendix 4: Obsidian Analysis ; Appendix 5: Figurine Analysis ; Appendix 6: Raw Point Count Data ; Appendix 7: Strength Test Data

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Book Synopsis'Brilliantly original ... shimmering book. ... What binds this book together and gives it a numinous quality is the tenderness that the author displays for other people's ingenious leftovers, from brotherly teeth to Puritan kites.' Guardian 'Rich, meticulous, lively' Sunday Times Rummage tells the overlooked story of our throwaway past. Emily Cockayne extracts glittering gems from the rubbish pile of centuries past and introduces us to the visionaries, crooks and everyday do-gooders who have shaped the material world we live in today - like the fancy ladies of the First World War who turned dog hair into yarn, or the Victorian gentlemen selling pianofortes made from papier-mâché, or the hapless public servants coaxing people into giving up their railings for the greater good. In this original and fascinating new history, Cockayne illuminates our relationship to our rubbish: from the simple question of how we reuse and recycle things (and which is better), to all the weird and wonderful ways it's been done in the past. She exposes the hidden work (often done by women) that has gone into shaping the world for each future generation, and she shows what lessons can be drawn from the past to address urgent questions of our waste today.Trade ReviewBrilliantly researched and stuffed to the brim with weird and wonderful facts. Rummage lifts the lid on rubbish to reveal the story of reuse and recycling in all its fascinating glory. -- Lara Maiklem, author * Mudlarking *A marvellous history of the second and third lives of objects and, just as important, a timely reminder that there are ways out of a throw-away-society. -- Frank Trentmann, author of Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-FirstPertinent, fascinating and full of intricate, joyful detail. -- Annie Gray, author of The Greedy QueenOne of those rare books, a marvellous curiosity shop of fascinating historical gems, objects and insights, a feat of scholarship and a salutary book for our throw-away times. -- Rebecca Stott, author * Ghostwalk *

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Book SynopsisThe later part of the Bronze Age (1500-700 BC) was a time of settlement expansion and economic prosperity in Ireland. This was a landscape of small autonomous farming communities, but there is also evidence for control of territory and population, involving centralized organization of trade and economy, ritual and military force. That concentration of power was connected to the emergence of chiefdom polities active in the consolidation of large regional territories. Their competitive tendencies led on occasion to conflict and warfare, at a time of growing militarism evident in the mass production of bronze weaponry, including the first use of swords. Hillforts are another manifestation of a warrior culture that emerged not only in Ireland but across Europe during the Middle and Late Bronze Age. They were centers for high-status residence, ceremony and assembly, and represented an important visual display of power in the landscape. This is the first project to study hillforts in relation to warfare and conflict in Bronze Age Ireland. New evidence for the destruction of hillforts is connected to territorial disputes and other forms of competition arising from the ambitions of regional warlords, often with catastrophic consequences for individual communities. This project combines remote sensing and GIS-based landscape analysis with conventional archaeological survey and excavation, to investigate ten prehistoric hillforts across southern Ireland. These include a cluster of nine examples at Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow, often termed ‘Ireland’s hillfort capital’. The results provide new insights into the design and construction of these immense sites, as well as details of their occupation and abandonment. The chronology of Irish hillforts is reviewed, with a new understanding of origins and development. The project provides a challenging insight into the relationship of hillforts to warfare, social complexity and the political climate of late prehistoric Ireland.Table of Contents1. Introduction (William O’Brien); 2. Prehistoric Hillforts in Ireland and Europe (James O’Driscoll); 3. Clashanimud Hillfort, Co. Cork (William O’Brien); 4. Other Bronze Age Hillforts in Munster/south Leinster (William O’Brien); 5. The Baltinglass Hillfort Landscape of Co. Wicklow (James O’Driscoll); 6. The Baltinglass Hillfort Excavations (William O’Brien); 7. Hillfort Chronology in Ireland (William O’Brien); 8. Modelling the Baltinglass Hillfort Landscape (James O’Driscoll); 9. Hillforts and Warfare (William O’Brien); 10. The Hillfort in Prehistoric Ireland (James O’Driscoll and William O’Brien); Appendix 1. Archaeological survey of environs of Clashanimud hillfort (Nick Hogan); Appendix 2. Public presentation of Clashanimud hillfort (William O’Brien); Appendix 3. Hillfort conservation and forestry in Ireland (William O’Brien; Catalogue of hillforts in Ireland (James O’Driscoll); Bibliography

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Book Synopsis'Essential ... endlessly fascinating ... to read Sixsmith is to want to read more Sixsmith' Forbes More than any other conflict, the Cold War was fought on the battlefield of the human mind. And, nearly thirty years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, its legacy still endures - not only in our politics, but in our own thoughts, and fears. Drawing on a vast array of untapped archives and unseen sources, Martin Sixsmith vividly recreates the tensions and paranoia of the Cold War, framing it for the first time from a psychological perspective. Revisiting towering personalities like Khrushchev, Kennedy and Nixon, as well as the lives of the unknown millions who were caught up in the conflict, this is a gripping account of fear itself - and in today's uncertain times, it is more resonant than ever.Trade ReviewAn ambitious study of the cold war ... filled with fascinating insights into the psychology of one of the most dangerous periods in world history ... illuminating -- P.D. James * Guardian *There have been many histories of the cold war, but the virtue and originality of Mr Sixsmith's is to see almost every aspect of the stand-off in psychological terms * Economist *Written with exemplary clarity and full of succulent anecdotes ... Sixsmith's huge canvas encompasses the Space Race, the motivations of the Cambridge spies, and the details of Project MK Ultra * Daily Telegraph *[Sixsmith] has found another way of telling the story of the Cold War, one that laces history with the mind games that were played by both sides ... a good read ... peppered with anecdote, archival nuggets and short flashes of insight ... The book stands out from other Cold War narratives by its introduction of psychological theorising ... It was time for a vivid popular history of the Cold War, and this is it. -- Roger Boyes * The Times *Essential ... endlessly fascinating ... to read Sixsmith is to want to read more Sixsmith * Forbes *This fascinating study of Cold War psychology also has much to teach us about contemporary tensions -- Vin Arthey * Scotsman *Praise for Martin Sixsmith: 'Sixsmith has the knack of delivering complex material with a clear voice * The Times *A lively chronicle -- Orlando Figes * Sunday Times *Russia, a 1,000 Year Chronicle of the Wild East contains many of the required ingredients to become the leading popular history of Russia. Colloquial, personal and anecdotal in style ... well researched and factually sound. * TLS *Has a greater resonance now than ever * An Consantoir *Russia delivers a thoroughly satisfying history...a lively opinionated narrative. * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisESCAPE FROM EARTH is the untold story of the engineers, dreamers and rebels who started the American space programme. In particular, it is the story of Frank Malina, founder of what became Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the scientist who cracked the, as he called it, problem of escape from the Earth by rocket. It's a wild ride. Jack Parsons, Malina's chemistry-expert research partner, was a bed-hopping occultist with delusions of grandeur. We get all the horrible details: drug parties and sex magic, cameos by Aleister Crowley and L Ron Hubbard, and an ill-fated attempt to start a mail-order religion. Armed with hitherto unpublished letters, journals, and documents from the Malina family archives, Fraser MacDonald reveals what we didn't know. Jack Parsons betrayed Frank Malina to the FBI, cooperating fully in their investigation of Malina for un-American activities. The Jet Propulsion Lab's second director secretly denounced Frank as a Communist. Frank's research group had close ties to the spy network of the infamous Rosenbergs - the only Americans executed during the Red Scare. This is a story of soaring ideals entangled in the most human of complications: infidelity and divorce, betrayal and treason.Trade ReviewExcellent ... has raised a crucially influential American pioneer rocketeer from obscurity to the recognition he deserves...MacDonald's access to Malina's family archives and freedom of information FBI files adds intimate details to this scholarly and colourful work * Spectator *Riveting ... MacDonald has vastly enriched the overarching story - and in ways transformed it * Times Literary Supplement *Meticulously researched yet immensely readable ... I have never before seen anyone express with such clarity the contradiction at the heart of the space age ... It is refreshing to read an account of these events that is so nuanced, seamlessly melding the personal and the scientific. This expert history offers insights into the early space age with dazzlingly beautiful writing and a keen eye for irony * Times Higher Education *Absorbing and stimulating ... a superb book which sheds new light on the conflicts of the mid-20th century * Scotsman *A compelling saga of secrecy, activism, betrayal ... superb, illuminating * Herald *A tangled, fascinating story that is a mixture of science, politics and soap opera ... an extraordinary, important yet neglected slice of space history * Literary Review *Fascinating ... a superb book * Yorkshire Post *Excellent ... MacDonald tells this whole grubby story superbly * Strong Words *Frank Malina, one of the most talented pioneers of American rocket science, flirted with communism and pacifism, and then gave it all up-rocketry included-to become a painter. History has in consequence all but erased his memory-except that now, thanks to Fraser MacDonald's fascination with his story and a dogged determination to write this riveting and important book, his legacy has been revived, and will surely long endure. * Simon Winchester, New York Times bestselling author of Exactly: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World *Exquisitely researched, thoughtfully written, Escape from Earth is a fascinating exploration of an endlessly intriguing and remarkable subject. Fraser MacDonald has not only brought to life Frank Malina, he has captured perfectly the political and scientific contradictions of the dawn of the Space Age. * Henry Hemming, author of The Ingenious Mr Pyke and Agents of Influence *A fascinating history of America's ascent into space that literally rewrites our understanding of the rocket age; a story that mixes sex, Nazis, Communists, the FBI, and rockets and along the way reminds us how complicated and untidy even celebrated history can be. Escape from Earth is an instant addition to the rocketry canon, right there with Operation Paperclip and Hidden Figures. * Garrett Graff, bestselling author of Raven Rock *Escape from Earth is a fascinating story about the arms race, the space race and the cold war. Fraser MacDonald has restored to their rightful place in history a cast of characters airbrushed out of the story because of their political convictions. This book has the rare quality of being both a well-told tale and throughly researched. * McKenzie Wark, author of The Beach Beneath the Street *

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Book SynopsisShifting Sand is the journal of Julian Berry, then a 17-year-old archaeologist, written on-site during excavations in Deir Alla, Jordan, in 1964. The dig was organized by the University of Leiden and led by Dr Henk Franken who was looking to find a material context for Old Testament narratives, and to build a stratigraphic chronology to mark the transition from the Bronze through to the early Iron Ages based mainly around pottery finds. When the author was working on the site, three clay tablets were discovered from the late Bronze Age with early Canaanite inscriptions, that when translated in 1989 showed that Deir Alla was the Biblical Pethor, and that it had been attacked by Israelites from Pithom in Egypt. Later a wall inscription was found in Aramaic dating to 880-770BCE referencing the prophet Balaam. Berry was as much interested by what was going on above ground as below, and kept a detailed journal of the daily lives of the archaeologists and life in the camp. The dig also had many fascinating and famous archaeologists visiting, including Father Roland de Vaux, and Diana Kirkbride. During breaks from the dig Berry went on a number of journeys in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria and he describes their cities, but also the very tranquil agricultural countryside that he found at that time. He discovered adventure when a drunk taxi driver tried to murder him as he resisted his advances; later he was caught up in a revolt against Hafez al-Assad in Homs, father of Bashir, and was asked by a taxi driver if he had come to Damascus to see the public hanging. Above all this book should be read as fascinating insight into the lives of archaeologists over 50 years ago, and the very close links between the European team, the Arab workmen, and the daily life in a simple mud-brick village.Table of ContentsForeword; Introduction; Diary Entries, 1964; Appendix; Postscript

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Book Synopsis‘Passengers’ is a social history of Britain between 1790 and 1840. This is the period of the Napoleonic War and of rapid technological change and social tension. It was a contradictory age, simultaneously the elegant era of Jane Austen and the inspiration for Charles Dickens’s work on poverty and injustice. The book has an initial focus on transport and hospitality, but it is also a wider portrait of this important but neglected period of British history. The author covers all aspects of the period-work, law, technology, finance, politics, poverty and crime are the most prominent. The inn and the stagecoach were some of the few places that the different classes met and co-existed in a country that was stratified and deferential. The poor served the transport and hospitality system, the middle classes used it and the ruling classes profited from it. The life of women is an important part of this book; they worked at levels in the travel and hospitality industries.This is everybody’s story, an exposition of real places and real people in a society that was ‘on the move’, in all senses of the phrase.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Is there Really a Stagecoach History of Britain?; 1 The Walking Classes; 2 Scandal at the Swan; 3 Respectability; 4 Bad Education ; 5 Calculated Charity; 6 The Stagecoach Masters; 7 The Entrepreneurial Widows; 8 Crime in the Coaching Inn; 9 Crime On The Road; 10 Roads Work; 11 Who’s on Board Today?; 12 The Stagecoach Driver: A Class Act; 13 A Georgian Family and their Struggle with Transport; 14 Melancholy Events; 15 The Stagecoach v the Law; 16 Hell for Horses; 17 A Journey up the Great North Road; 18 Moving the Mail; 19 Attacked by a Lioness; 20 The Brighton Line; 21 Inn Hospitality; 22 Poor Women and their Work; 23 New Times, New Time and New Timing; 24 First with the News; 25 The Stagecoach Defeats the Steam Engine; 26 The Steam Engine Defeats The Stagecoach; Conclusion: Immortality via Nostalgia.

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Book SynopsisNormally dealt with in a rather limited way, through the examination of a particular activity or geographical zone, the artisans of ancient North Africa are here, for the first time, the subject of an entire book. Focusing on urban production in Algeria during Antiquity, this critical study brings together new documentation drawn up on the basis of field data and the consultation of archives from a long history of survey in Algeria and France. This synthesis reviews the archaeological sites with workshops by defining their activities, at the same time as analyzing how they operated and looking at them typologically. Based on a comparison with documented workshops in the Western Roman world, the study of the techniques highlights the very strong similarities between the Roman regions but also the specific local variations of the methods used in Africa at this time. Maghreb ethnography shows the permanence of certain practices over time while attempting to reconstruct the "chaîne opératoire". Although it is still difficult to obtain an overall picture both from a spatial and a chronological point of view of the artisanal topography, the data reveals the existence of varied artisanal and commercial activities in urban areas throughout Antiquity. French description: Abordé généralement de façon ponctuelle à travers une activité particulière ou une zone géographique donnée, l’artisanat en Afrique du nord antique fait ici pour la première fois l’objet d’un ouvrage. Centrée sur la production urbaine en Algérie durant l’Antiquité, cette étude critique rassemble une nouvelle documentation élaborée à partir des données de terrain et de la consultation des archives à partir d’un long travail d’enquête en Algérie et en France. La synthèse fait le point sur les sites archéologiques présentant des ateliers en définissant leur activité tout en analysant leur fonctionnement et leur typologie. En s’appuyant sur une comparaison avec les découvertes d’ateliers dans le monde romain occidental, l’étude des techniques met en évidence les similitudes très fortes entre les régions romaines mais aussi les spécificités locales des méthodes employées en Afrique durant cette période. L’ethnographie maghrébine montre quant à elle la permanence de certaines pratiques à travers le temps tout en complétant l’essai de restitution de la « chaîne opératoire ». S’il est encore difficile d’avoir une vision d’ensemble tant d’un point de vue spatial que chronologique de la topographie artisanale, les données recensées révèlent l’existence d’activités artisanales et commerciales variées incluses dans l’ensemble du domaine urbain tout au long de l’Antiquité.Trade ReviewAmraoui’s main achievement is to assemble and evaluate the evidence for the spectrum of different ancient crafts, hitherto scattered widely throughout multiple publications, archives, and museum collections. As her supervisors remark in their highly supportive preface, by making clear the current foundation of evidence and what still survives in the museums, she manages to draw a line under more than a century of previous research and provide the point of departure for future study of artisanal crafts in this region. This alone will make the reworked version of the thesis published here essential reading for anyone engaging with the issues of craft production and the economic organization of Roman-period North Africa for a long time to come. -- Matthew S. Hobson * American Journal of Archaeology *Table of ContentsPréface; Introduction générale; Première partie. Les installations artisanales urbaines : descriptions et documentation; Chapitre 1: La Maurétanie césarienne; Chapitre 2: La Numidie; Chapitre 3: L’Afrique proconsulaire; Deuxième partie. La technologie et le fonctionnement des ateliers; Chapitre 4: La production de denrées alimentaires; Chapitre 5: L’artisanat du textile, de la matière première à l’entretien des vêtements; Chapitre 6: Les artisanats du feu; Troisième partie. Les ateliers et les artisans dans la ville en Afrique : réflexions sur la topographie artisanale et l’économie urbaines; Chapitre 7: Implantation et répartition des ateliers dans la ville; Chapitre 8: Les productions urbaines et l’économie des villes romaines en Algérie; English Summary: Urban crafts in ancient Algeria (Ist century BC – VIIth century AD); Arabic summary; Index

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Book SynopsisIn the U.S. Civil War, Mary Richards, a free Black woman, risked her life posing as an illiterate slave to spy in the home of rebel President Jefferson Davis. Whether as a Union agent sending vital intelligence to the U.S. military or facing down the Klan while teaching freed slaves in postwar Georgia, hers was a heroic one-woman fight for justice.

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Book SynopsisFifteen stories showing from many different perspectives what happened when the evil of slavery was confronted with the values of the Scottish Enlightenment

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Book SynopsisThe secluded sanctuary on the coastal promontory of Ras il-Wardija on the central Mediterranean island of Gozo (near Malta) constitutes another landmark on the religious map of the ancient Mediterranean. Ritual activity at the sanctuary seems to be evidenced from around the 3rd century BC to the 2nd century AD and, possibly, even as late as the 4th century AD. This ritual activity was focused in a small built temple and in a rock-cut cave that seems to have incorporated a built extension in a later stage. But the practised cult or cults were aniconic and remained so largely throughout. This may explain why the sanctuary’s excavators did not report any findings of statuettes or any figural images. Contemporaneously, figural images were also venerated on other sites showing that, for a long while, iconism and aniconism co-existed on the Maltese islands. There might have been more than one deity venerated in this sanctuary. Dionysos could have been one of them. But whoever they were, they are likely to have been somehow connected with the sea and / or with a maritime community or communities as the sanctuary itself evidently was.Table of ContentsPreface; Chapter 1: 1.1 Introducing the sanctuary site at Ras il-Wardija; 1.2 History of research and existing literature; 1.3 Objectives, aims, approach, and method of this study; 1.4 Background to the Maltese islands: a brief historical profile; Chapter 2: 2.1 Ras il-Wardija and its regional context: geographical extent and topography; 2.2 Continuous human presence and occupation; 2.3 Maritime connections and related activities; 2.4 Seeking divine protection at sea; Chapter 3: 3.1 The toponym ‘Ras il-Wardija’; 3.2 Origins and development of the sanctuary complex; 3.3 Relationship between the sanctuary and the physical form of the landscape; 3.4 Visual domination of the seascape; 3.5 The temple building on the first terrace; 3.6 The cave and ancillary features on the fifth terrace; 3.7 Sacrality of doors: doorways with offering holes or other sacred features; 3.8 Stone worship; 3.9 Possible mysteries and the enigmatic cruciform and ‘flying’ figures; 3.10 Regulating relations through ritual; Chapter 4: 4.1 Closure of the site; 4.2 Concluding observations; Appendix I; Appendix II; Bibliography; General Index

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Book SynopsisPassages from Antiquity to Feudalism is a sustained exercise in historical sociology that shows how the slave-based societies of Ancient Greece and Rome eventually became the feudal societies of the Middle Ages. In the course of this study, Anderson vindicates and refines the explanatory power of historical materialism, while casting a fascinating light on the Ancient world, the Germanic invasions, nomadic society, and the different routes taken to feudalism in Northern, Mediterranean, Eastern and Western Europe.Through this work and its companion volume, Lineages of the Absolutist State, Anderson presents a Marxist history of Western political development that takes readers from the first stirrings of political consciousness in the classical world to the rise of absolutist monarchies in Europe and the birth of the modern epoch.Trade ReviewA complex, beautifully interwoven account of Europe from the ancient Greeks to modern absolutist monarchies ... exhilarating. * Guardian *Quite splendid ... A powerful and lucid intelligence. -- Eric Hobsbawm * New Statesman *The breath-taking range of conception and the architectural skill with which it has been executed make his work a formidable intellectual achievement. * New York Review of Books *

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisGlassware and Glassworking in Thessaloniki: 1st Century BC – 6th Century AD is a detailed examination of the production of glass and glass vessels in the eastern Mediterranean from the Hellenistic Age to the Early Christian period, analysing production techniques and decoration. The volume establishes the socio-economic framework of glassmaking and glassmakers’ social status in the Roman world generally and in Thessaloniki specifically, while identifying probable local products. Presented are all the excavation glass finds from Thessaloniki and its environs found between 1912 and 2002. A typological classification was created for almost 800 objects – which encompass the overwhelming majority of common excavation finds in the Balkans – as well as for the decorative themes that appear on the more valuable pieces. Comparative material from the entire Mediterranean was studied, verified in its entirety through primary publications. A summary of the excavation history of these vessels’ find-spots is provided, with details for each excavation, in many cases unpublished and identified through research in the archives of the relevant museums and Ephorates of Antiquities. The uses of glass vessels are presented, and there is discussion and interpretation of the reasons that permitted, or imposed, the choice of glass for their production. The finds are statistically analysed, and a chronological overview examining them century by century on the basis of use and place of production is given. Finally, there is an effort to interpret the data from the study in historical terms, and to incorporate the results into the political-economic evolution of the region’s political history. Relatively unfamiliar glassmaking terms are explained in a glossary of glassworking technology and typology terms. The material is fully documented in drawings and photographs, and every object in the catalogue is illustrated. A detailed index of the 602 geographical terms in the work, many unknown, concludes the book.Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Production – Forming – Decoration ; 2. Secondary Glass-Workshops ; 3. Glassworkers: People, Artisans and Traders ; 4. Typological Classification of the Material Under Study ; 5. Decoration of the Studied Material ; 6. Uses of Glass Vessels ; 7. Chronological Overview of the Finds – Conclusions ; 8. Catalogue of the Glass Vessels ; 9. Catalogue and Brief History of the Excavations and Find-Spots of the Glass Vessels ; Glossary of Technological Terms Related to Glassworking ; Plates ; Bibliography and Abbreviations ; Index of Places

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThis short introduction aims to provide archaeologists of all backgrounds with a grounding in the principles, materials, and methods of geology. Sections include coverage of main rock-forming minerals and classes of rocks. Geological maps and structures are introduced, and the elements of geological stratigraphy and dating are explained and related to archaeological experience. Fluvial and coastal environments are important archaeological landscapes and their formation processes, sediments and topography are outlined. Stone for building, implement-making, tool-making, and making mortar are all discussed, followed by an introduction to clays and ceramics. A final chapter introduces metallurgical landscapes: metalliferous ores, mining and smelting, and metal-making industries. Each chapter ends with a short reading list, and many have selected case-histories in illustration of the points made. Included is a glossary of technical terms.Table of Contents1. Why Geology Matters ; 2. Minerals ; 3. Rocks and Sediments ; 4. Geological Maps ; 5. Geological Stratigraphy ; 6. Geology and Landscape ; 7. Rivers and Water Management ; 8. Sea-Level and Coasts ; 9. Stone for Building ; 10. Stone for Tools and Implements ; 11. Pottery and Brick ; 12. Metallurgical Landscapes ; Glossary ; Index

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