Search results for ""Archaeopress""

La callaïs désigne les pierres vertes dont sont faites les remarquables parures découvertes dans plusieurs sites néolithiques d’Europe occidentale. Terme utilisé au début de notre ère par Pline l’Ancien et repris par les premiers archéologues du début du XXème siècle lors des premières fouilles des grands tumulus de la région de Carnac (Morbihan), la callaïs regroupe plusieurs espèces minérales, surtout la variscite et la turquoise, tous deux des phosphates d’aluminium hydratés de couleur verte à bleue. Les perles et pendeloques en cette matière précieuse, associées à d’autres objets tels que haches en jade alpin, en fibrolite, perles en ambre ou en jais, provenant de sources parfois très éloignées, étaient déposés auprès des défunts, témoignant de leur haut rang au sein des premières sociétés agropastorales, ou « sacrifiées » sous forme de dépôts. La question de la nature et de l’origine de ces perles et pendeloques en callaïs a été maintes fois abordée durant le siècle dernier par les minéralogistes et les préhistoriens. Depuis les premières découvertes sur cette gemme, de nombreuses recherches ont été menées tant sur le terrain qu’en laboratoire afin d’élucider ce que certains avaient baptisé « les mystères de la callaïs ». Ce volume, préfacé par Yves Coppens, Professeur honoraire du Collège de France, regroupe les contributions des meilleurs spécialistes européens de la callaïs, variscite et turquoise, qui sont intervenus lors d’un colloque consacré à cette gemme ancienne qui s’est tenu en avril 2015 à Carnac. L’objectif de cet ouvrage est de divulguer le fruit des dernières recherches relatives à ces bijoux en balayant de multiples domaines : géologie de la variscite, gemmologie, exploitations néolithiques mais aussi romaines, caractérisation chimique, production des objets et leur diffusion, inventaire, datation, place de ces bijoux au sein de sociétés agropastorales qui occupaient une partie de l’Europe du 5ème au 3ème millénaire.

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MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) undertook extensive excavations during the construction of two separate, but adjacent road schemes, some 4.5km apart near Houghton Regis and Toddington, in south Central Bedfordshire. Taken as a whole, the excavations provide a detailed multi-period dataset for regional and national comparison. The first evidence for occupation occurred in the middle/late Bronze Age comprising pits and clusters of postholes, including four-post and six-post structures. Two pit alignments, more than 2km apart, also indicate that land divisions were being established, and in the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age a significant new settlement emerged in the valley bottom. Parts of a further contemporary earlier-middle Iron Age settlement lay at the top of the valley but neither settlement extended into the Roman period. In the late Iron Age or early Roman period three or four new settlements emerged with occupation continuing into the late Roman period in at least one of these. Of particular interest was the recovery of two significant Aylesford-Swarling type cemeteries as well as a third cemetery which largely comprised unurned burials, including some busta, but with few accompanying grave goods. In the late 7th-century a small probable Christian conversion open-ground inhumation cemetery was established with burials accompanied by a range of objects, including a rare work box, knives, brooches, chatelaine keys and a spearhead. Parts of three medieval settlements were uncovered including one with a potters' working area.

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After 75 years, this story presents archaeological evidence, archival records, and respected elders’ accounts from WWII and the most catastrophic period in Pacific Basin history, and then into modern times on Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. On June 15, 1944, Afetna Point was called ‘Yellow Beach 2’ by the U.S. Marines and Army infantry braving Japanese resistance to establish a beachhead before capturing As Lito airfield the following days. The beachhead then served as a resupply landing for the next two weeks or more as U.S. forces slowly cleared the island of enemy strongpoints, and removed wounded Americans and battle weary civilians to off-shore medical treatment. At the end of the battle Chamorro, Carolinian, Okinawan, and Korean residents were relocated into stockades for their separation from Japanese soldiers until liberation on July 4, 1946. American military and eventual civilian administration of the San Antonio area transformed the agrarian landscape into a busy corridor of residential, industrial, and then tourist development. Once again in the 21st century, competition for regional tourism and investment makes Saipan a nexus of geopolitical intrigue and economic speculation where the past is not forgotten.

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This book explores the Mesolithic period in the central-eastern area of Cantabria (Spain) as a manifestation of sociocultural evolution and change of the societies that lived in the area between the ninth and sixth millennia cal BC, until the introduction of farming. It analyses the subsistence and sociocultural transformations made by hunter-gatherer societies in their adaptation to the environment that emerged from the climate change seen during the Holocene. It also considers the evolutionary processes undergone by social groups based on their experiences and cognitive processes.

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The Lost Abbey of Eynsham will be of interest not just to local historians but to those with an interest in the development of monasticism and medieval art and architecture, particularly the Romanesque. Eynsham was one of the few religious foundations in England in continuous use from the late Saxon period to the Dissolution. Its first Benedictine Abbot was the internationally renowned scholar and teacher, Aelfric, and it was frequently visited by medieval kings given its close proximity to the royal hunting lodge of Woodstock. Hugh of Avalon, later canonised, was appointed Bishop of Lincoln at a royal council at Eynsham in 1186. Shortly afterwards the abbey achieved fame with the Vision of the Monk of Eynsham which is said to have influenced Dante. Its reputation was further enhanced when Eynsham acquired an important relic, the arm of St Andrew in 1240. In the later Middle Ages, the abbey went into decline and was beset by scandal. It surrendered to the Crown in 1538 and the huge structure was gradually demolished and pillaged for its building materials. Now, nothing remains in situ above ground. This book aims to rescue this important abbey from obscurity by summarising its history and examining the material remains of Eynsham Abbey, most of which have never been published before.

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Stamps on Terra Sigillata Found in Excavations of the Theatre of Aptera, Crete presents a group of stamped fragments of Italian and eastern sigillata found in excavations of the theatre of Aptera (Crete). A total of 258 stamped sherds have been discovered and identified: 28 already published by the author and another 230 included here. Aptera now yields more stamped fragments of terra sigillata than any other Cretan city to date, including Knossos. The sigillata stamps from the theatre of Aptera can be analysed so as to address a series of fundamental questions. Three of these constitute traditional uses of the evidence available from an analysis of terra sigillata: which potters supplied the theatre of Aptera and its environs; where these potters were active; when these potters were active and therefore what production centres supplied the theatre and its area over time. Two questions go further, in an effort to take advantage of this kind of material’s ability to testify to patterns of contact and exchange, as well as to details of life within the Roman imperial system: what distribution patterns might have brought terra sigillata to the theatre and its vicinity; and whether we can suggest how terra sigillata was consumed in Aptera’s theatre and its environs. Aptera’s theatre was a venue not only for performances but also for drinking, eating, and serving by the theatre-goers, spectators, actors and other performers. These activities took place during a period of prosperity for Roman Aptera in the first and second centuries, a period that coincides nicely with the production and distribution of terra sigillata. The people of Aptera and the surrounding area took full advantage of Crete’s strategic position amid crossroads of transit and exchange as well as integration into the Roman economy, to display their prosperity and status in public and in private.

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Searching through interdisciplinary research to recover echoes of the human condition ingrained as they may be in the skeletal record of the ancients, there have been few cases in the forty year experience of the author which in defiance to the relentless passage of Chrόnos and even the chthonic potency of the waters of Léthe to dissolve all strings relating to Mnenosỳne could offer compelling evidentiary data, critical for generating meaningful interpretive answers as a nexus to life pathways and experiences in antiquity, reflective of dynamics and circumstances, that were not always possible to be recorded or spoken of by the attendants of Cléo. And yet in rare cases, millennia later, ostensibly through the works of Láchesis, a synergy between the fields of Archaeological Anthropology and Bioarchaeology may offer a unique portal whereby the dictum mortui vivos docent may be reiterated. Sharing in the objectives of an ongoing archaeo-anthropological endeavor, aiming to better decipher and elucidate facets of the human condition while carrying out funerary archaeological research of Hellenistic to Roman periods family graves at the extensive ancient necropolis of Thasos, the most northern Aegean island, this essay addresses a case of unique forensic / bioarchaeological interest involving an older male individual, a member of one of the clusters of burials, who had been placed as a single interment in a most conspicuous limestone cyst grave of the Hellenistic period. While odontological, cranio-infracranial skeleto-anatomic manifestations and palaeopathologies revealed a detailed rostrum on aspects of his developmental growth, of acquired and degenerative somatic changes, reflective of his life experiences which involved long term most active participations in physically demanding yet specialized activities, a staggering ‘through and through’ sternal trauma of astonishing preservation, provided for a distinct opportunity to conduct a unique cross-disciplinary investigation on the nature of the weapon reconstructed in bronze, the archaeometry on the trajectory and factors of speed and force at the deliverance of the strike, along with the diagnostic assessments of the thoracic tissues pierced consecutively and their moribund consequences. A review of historical references on the implementation of capital punishment either through the decision of a dicastic or ephetic court, and/or execution carried out as a result of outlawry are evaluated in relevance to funerary practices as these pertained to the interment of the Thasian male within the context of the burial ground, offering in retrospect assessments on the probable cause of his violent death.

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This publication presents the defense of the city of Valencia during the years 1936-1939 under two premises; whether Valencia was strategically bombed and which were the targets. The second premise is whether the city was efficiently organized to protect its civilians. The methodological proposal is based on the use of the classical parameters of the archaeological intervention, with the possibility of elaborating catalogs of goods, thematic, temporary, etc. Those derived in tools for urban planning, archaeological charts, and other documents. It also carries out a comparative analysis of the current legislative framework at national and regional level (Murcia, Valencia and Catalonia). A classification is made of the elements that make up the different heritages and their main characteristics. It Analyzes the documentation from 1936 to 1939 collected in the different archives: the Municipal of Valencia, the Diputación, the Historical Military of Ávila, the Intermediate Military of Valencia, the Military Library "Center of Cultures", the Hemeroteca Municipal and The Library of the City of Valencia. All this is done through extensive prospecting and GPS, with planimetric surveys of the localized remains and the digitalization of the entire planimetry of the time. A planimetric map of all shelters in the city is elaborated and the village of Puig. Moreover, a glossary of military terminology is added with the purpose of helping the reader, in addition to a daily list of the bombings that the city suffered during the years 1937 to 1939.

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In a period when, particularly in the West, the study of archaeological remains is enriched through new methods derived from the natural sciences and when there is general agreement on the need for more investment in the study, restoration and conservation of the tangible cultural heritage, this book presents contributions to these fields from South-Eastern Europe. This region is characterised by a contrast between the rather limited development of the above scientific methods and the particularly rich and diverse material remains of its past societies, as well as by an obvious need to bring closer together traditionally-trained archaeologists with specialists in natural sciences interested in the research and conservation of ancient material remains. The title ‘Bridging Science and Heritage in the Balkans’ intends to show that the volume is part of this effort. The departing point of this volume is the 5th Balkan Symposium of Archaeometry (25–29 September 2016, Sinaia, Romania), where most of the papers published here were presented in preliminary form. The contributors are specialists from South-Eastern Europe as well as from other European countries working there. Some chapters focus on methods (in the research of glass, restoration of stone monuments affected by contemporary graffiti, conservation by irradiation of organic materials such as wood and human and animal body remains); most chapters present case studies (analyses of ceramics, metals, soils, wood anatomy, isotope-based reconstruction of human diet, ancient DNA, radiocarbon dating, technology assisted field survey, as well as restoration of paper and pigments); sometimes several methods are combined. The volume covers nearly all aspects of heritage sciences employed in this part of Europe.

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What is the Tekenu? What was its function? What are its origins? These are questions upon which Egyptologists have long pondered. However, Egyptologists, until now, have avoided any major work on the topic. Previous treatments of the Tekenu largely adopt a selective approach focusing on a specific form. Rarely has the Tekenu been examined profoundly in all of its forms or contexts with its possible origins commented upon merely in passing. The aim of The Tekenu and Ancient Egyptian Funerary Ritual is to provide a provocative examination and interpretation of the Tekenu in an endeavour to proffer plausible answers hitherto eluding scholars. Attested from the Fifth Dynasty until, and including the Saite Period, the Tekenu is a puzzling icon which is depicted within the funerary scenes in the tombs of some ancient Egyptian nobles. In this work four distinct types of Tekenu are identified and classified and then a Corpus Catalogue is formed. The Tekenu is appraised within the context of the wall scene. Two tombs are dealt with in greater detail.

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Brass from the Past is not only a history of the use and production of brass, but more broadly an insight into the journey of this important metal in the context of a changing and modernising world. The book follows the evolution of brass from its earliest forms around 2500 BC through to industrialised production in the eighteenth century. The story is told in the context of the people, economies, cultures, trade and technologies that have themselves defined the alloy and its spread around the world. It explores innovations, such as the distillation of zinc, that have improved the quality and ease of production. From national or religious priorities to exhaustion of raw material supplies, the themes from the past are echoed in our own world today. In the later centuries, the book shines a light on some of the more personal aspects of people, businesses and relationships that have influenced industry and its progress. Above all the book reflects the enthusiasm, not just of the author, but of all brass enthusiasts across the world. The search for information has involved scrambling down Bohemian ravines, stumbling over brass-works debris under trees, and studying pre-civil-war artefacts in Virginia. Academics and experts from across the world have provided information, from China to Qatar and the USA to the Czech Republic. Brass is a strong and attractive metal, which has been used to create items of great beauty and utility. It is hoped that the reader will come to value the qualities of this material which has become a passion for so many people around the world.

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La raccolta e la distribuzione dell’acqua a Ventotene in età romana is presented in two parts. The first examines the topographical and technical problem of the water supply on the island of Ventotene, where there is an absence of natural springs. The second, consisting of separate entries, analyses the individual components of the water supply system built by the Romans on the island. The Roman installation developed in two phases alongside changes in life at the villa located at Ventotene: the first connected to a residence used for otium, the second to an official site of relegatio ad insulam. The Roman architect exploited the island’s natural slope to collect rainwater in a large initial reservoir, later known as the ‘Cistern of the Prisoners’, surmounted by a vast catchment basin: from here a conduit departed which, through various branches, reached the ‘heart’ of the villa extending over the promontory of Punta Eolo and the port facilities. The water was channelled from the cistern by an extensive network of tunnels, dug, depending on the height, either wholly or partially into the tufa or built on the surface. Even during the second phase, when the villa was turned into a large and elaborate residential complex used throughout the year, it could rely only on rainwater as a resource. The Roman architect was thus forced to increase the collection areas, attempting to capture as much water as possible. This was achieved by increasing the number of large initial collection tanks, dislocating them strategically around the island to ensure that each of the sectors with the highest residential density and main infrastructure installations had its own independent resource alongside the standard existing resources. The number of catchment basins also multiplied considerably along the route of the main conduit and its branches.

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Glass and Glass Production in the Near East during the Iron Age: Evidence from objects, texts and chemical analysis examines the history of glass in Iron Age Mesopotamia and neighbouring regions (1000–539 BCE). This is the first monograph to cover this region and period comprehensively and in detail and thus fills a significant gap in glass research. It focusses on identification of the different types of glass objects and their respective manufacturing techniques from the the Iron Age period. Both glass as material and individual glass objects are investigated to answer questions such as as how raw glass (primary production) and glass objects (secondary production) were manufactured, how both these industries were organised, and how widespread glass objects were in Mesopotamian society in the Iron Age period. Such a comprehensive picture of glass and its production in the Iron Age can only be achieved by setting archaeological data in relation to cuneiform texts, archaeometric analyses and experimental-archaeological investigations. With regard to the different disciplines incorporated into this study, an attempt was made to view them together and to establish connections between these areas.

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Tentsmuir has been a scene of human activity for over 10,000 years. It witnessed one of the earliest known occurrences in Scotland of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and has supported human activities throughout the Neolithic and Iron Age. In medieval times it was a home for the Norman nobility, and then a royal hunting forest with highly-valued fishing rights for Scottish Kings. Tentsmuir is prone to flooding in winter due to the front line of dunes blocking drainage to the sea. It provides a natural refuge for a wide range of plants, as well as resident and migrating birds, and other animals, including outstanding populations of butterflies and moths. Consequently, this led to the creation in 1954 of a National Nature Reserve at the north-eastern end of the Tentsmuir Peninsula. Initially, an active period of coastal accretion more than trebled the size of the reserve. Now, however, Tentsmuir is eroding in places. The probability of rising sea levels and increasing exposure to storms may cause a level of destruction such that the physical existence and biological future of Tentsmuir cannot be guaranteed. This book is an attempt to record how even within a limited geographical area, such as this peninsula on the east coast of Scotland, plant and animal communities are constantly reacting to environmental change. Frequently, it is difficult to decide whether or not these changes should be resisted, encouraged, or ignored. Examples are provided of instances where human intervention to counteract change has resulted in negative as well as positive consequences for biodiversity.

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Archaeological heritage conservation is all too often highly conflicted and fraught with pitfalls in part due to a poor understanding of the historical and current underpinnings that guide best practice. When heritage places are managed with international principles in mind the sites stand out as evidencing superior outcomes. The International Scientific Committee on Archaeological Heritage Management expresses concern in the Salalah Guidelines of 2017 with the persistent problems facing archaeological sites that are open to the public. National heritage icons face overwhelming pressure to provide the mainstay of local, national and international tourism economies while in some instances being situated in locations destined for major development or military conflict. Leaders in the field of archaeological heritage conservation, particularly with respect to World Heritage listed properties, assert that economic interests often are at the forefront of management decision making while heritage values are given lesser, if any, consideration. Continuing and future zones of discomfort such as the impact of war, theft of national cultural property, over-development, unconstrained excavation, extreme nationalism, uncontrolled visitation and professionalisation need to be addressed if future generations are to be afforded the same heritage values as are available today.

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This book is the first comprehensive work focusing on lived ancient religious communication in Roman Dacia. Testing for the first time the ‘Lived Ancient Religion’ approach in terms of a peripheral province from the Danubian area, this work looks at the role of ‘sacralised’ spaces, known commonly as sanctuaries in the religious communication of the province. The author analyses the role of space sacralisation, religious appropriation, embodiment and the social impact of religious communication in urban contexts (Apulum), military contexts (Porolissum and Mehadia), and numerous examples from rural (non-urban) environments (Ampelum, Germisara, Ad Mediam, and many others). The book concentrates not only on the creation and maintenance of sacralised spaces in public and secondary locations, but also on their role at the micro-level of objects, semi-micro level of spaces (settlements), and the macro-level of the province and the Danubian region as a whole. Innovatively as regards provincial archaeological research, this book emphasises the spatial aspects of lived ancient religion by analysing for the first time the sanctuaries as spaces of religious communication in Dacia. The work also contains a significant chapter on the so-called ‘small-group’ religions (the Bacchic, Mithraic and Dolichenian groups of the province), which are approached for the first time in detail. The study also gives the first comprehensive list of archaeologicallyepigraphically- attested, and presumed sacralised spaces within Dacia.

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True to its initial aims, the latest volume of the Journal of Greek Archaeology runs the whole chronological range of Greek Archaeology, while including every kind of material culture. Papers include an overview of a major project investigating Palaeolithic environments, human settlement and other activities in the Ionian Islands. Neolithic industries in large stone artefacts link two papers on the human palaeobiology of populations in the Mycenaean and then Iron Age eras. Two papers on Greeks abroad enlighten us on the nature of Greek presence and impact on indigenous society (and vice versa) in Archaic and Classical Egypt and Southern France. In a totally contrasted fashion, a long article on the fate of Southern Greek cities under Rome offers a very negative but definitively researched analysis on their radical decline. Architecture makes two appearances for the periods that follow, firstly for the towns of Crete under Venetian then Ottoman rule, secondly in the form of Landscape Architecture – the physical infrastructure of rural land use in the unusual landscape of the Mani. Finally, to show that Greek Archaeology knows no boundaries when it comes to material culture, there is a piece on a 21st century fashion designer who has used ancient art to enrich his designs. Alongside these papers, there are articles challenging the accepted view of the Late Bronze ‘Sea Peoples’, shedding welcome light on the neglected later prehistory and protohistory of Epiros, on Greek terracotta figurines and their links to sacrificial offerings, and finally providing a long-term study of the walls of Athens over almost two-and-a-half millennia. The full complement of reviews for almost every period of the Greek Past are also full of fascinating insights and updates.

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This volume brings together new lines of research across a range of disciplines from participants in a workshop held at Wolfson College, Oxford, on 23rd May 2017. In light of rapid technological developments in digital imaging, the aim in gathering these contributions together is to inform specialist and general readers about some of the ways in which imaging technologies are transforming the study and presentation of archaeological and cultural artefacts. The periods, materials, geography, and research questions under discussion therefore are varied, but the contributions are united in shared interests surrounding the aims of these techniques for imaging objects: what advantages do they offer, whether in research or museum contexts, what limitations are still faced, and how can technological development encourage new types of research and public engagement?

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The Omo-Turkana area is unlike any place on earth. Spanning parts of Ethiopia, South Sudan and Kenya, the area is today home to a unique diversity of peoples and cultures. Extraordinary fossil finds from the locale have illuminated the evolutionary origins of our species and archaeological and historical evidence has demonstrated it has been a dynamic crossroads of peoples, languages and identities for millennia. Over the past two decades, development interventions have transformed the environment and presented a threat to local forms of material and intangible heritage. Many local groups now face challenges to the long-term sustainability of their traditional ways of life. This sumptuously illustrated book brings together a remarkable collection of the world’s leading archaeologists, ecologists, historians and ethnographers who specialise in the locale. Recognising the Omo-Turkana area as a crucial resource of global heritage, the authors also acknowledge its current vulnerability.

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A pioneer of the French Islamic archaeology in the Middle East, Monik Kervran (CNRS, lab The Orient & The Mediterranean) was first renowned for her excavations at Susa in Iran and the discovery of the Darius’ statue at the start of her career in 1972. She then directed in the 70’s and 80’s excavations on the Arabian coasts of the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, at the main pre-Islamic and Islamic maritime centers of Qal’at al-Bahrain and Sohar. She also led researches in Central Asia and Eastern Iran, excavating Nishapur, and, since the 90’s, in the Indus delta where she opened excavations at Sehwan Sharif and Banbhore. Through the nineteen international contributions of this volume, the editors and contributors wish to highlight the variety of Monik Kervran’s scientific interests. In this way, they express their admiration and gratitude for her many achievements, in the archaeology, history, architecture, iconography and material culture of the Middle East and Western Indian Ocean during the late pre-Islamic and Islamic periods. | Pionnière de l’archéologie islamique française au Moyen-Orient, Monik Kervran (Cnrs, laboratoire Orient & Méditerranée) s’est illustrée dès le début de sa carrière par ses fouilles à Suse en Iran et la découverte de la statue de Darius en 1972. Elle a dirigé dans les années 70 et 80 la fouille d’importants sites portuaires de la côte arabe du golfe Persique et de la mer d’Oman, à Qal’at al-Bahrain et Sohar. Elle a également mené des recherches en Asie centrale et en Iran oriental, notamment à Nishapour, puis, depuis les années 90, dans le delta de l’Indus où elle a ouvert des fouilles à Sehwan Sharif et Banbhore. A travers les dix-neuf contributions internationales présentées dans cet ouvrage, les éditeurs et les contributeurs ont désiré mettre en lumière la diversité des intérêts scientifiques de Monik Kervran. Ils souhaitent ainsi exprimer leur admiration et leur gratitude pour ses apports majeurs aux champs de l’archéologie, de l’histoire, de l’architecture, de l’iconographie et de la culture matérielle du Moyen-Orient et de l’océan Indien occidental aux périodes pré-islamique tardive et islamique.

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Rockshelter Excavations in the East Hamersley Range' offers a detailed study of six exceptional rockshelter sites from the inland Pilbara Region of Western Australia. It provides highly descriptive, chapter-length accounts of archaeological investigations at Jundaru, Djadjiling, HS-A1, HD073APAD13, PAD 3, and HD073A03 rockshelters, which were excavated as part of a mitigative salvage program conducted at the Hope Downs 1 mine between 2007 and 2010. The research findings show that early Aboriginal peoples initially occupied the area ca. 45,000 years ago, demonstrating that the east Hamersley Range contains some of the oldest known Aboriginal archaeological sites in the Australian arid zone. The story of the Pleistocene and Holocene Aboriginal occupation at Hope Downs 1 is long and complex. Using an extensive radiocarbon and OSL chronology that spans from >47,000 years ago to the recent past, the story of the Aboriginal archaeological record is explored via prominent changes in lithic technology, artefact use-wear/residues, combustion features, faunal remains, rockshelter geomorphology, archaeomagnetism, and pollen/phytolith analysis. The work investigates the early occupation of the region and examines the archaeological evidence for occupation during the last glacial maximum. It chronicles significant changes in Aboriginal stone artefact technology over time with its analysis of more than 35,000 chipped stone artefacts. Consisting of 18 chapters, the volume is rich with colour photographs, illustrations, and figures, including highresolution images of the rockshelter sites, excavations, stratigraphic sections, cultural features, and artefacts. It includes a foreword by the Martidja Banyjima elders, who contextualise the cultural importance of this work to Banyjima Peoples and Traditional Owners of the region. The monograph also includes comprehensive synthesis of the regional archaeological record by the editors and a chapter on Banyjima culture and traditions by consulting anthropologists Dr Nadia Butler, Dr Neale Draper, and Fiona Sutherland. Many specialist studies were commissioned for the Hope Downs work, including an archaeomagnetism report by Dr Andy Herries (LaTrobe University), a faunal analysis study by Dr. Matthew McDowell (University of Tasmania), a phytolith analysis by Dr Lynley Wallis (University of Notre Dame Australia), a palynological study by Dr Simon Haberle, Feli Hopf, and Dr Phil Roberts (Australian National University), artefact usewear/residue analysis by Dr Richard Fullagar (University of Wollongong), optically stimulated luminescence dating by Frances Williams (University of Adelaide), and a rockshelter geomorphological study by Prof Martin Williams (University of Adelaide).

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Excavations over a period of eight years uncovered at least ten pottery kilns, waster heaps, ditches and pits, but only a few definite structures. The pottery from the site indicates a period of operation extending from the first half of the 1st century AD to the later 2nd century. The pottery made at the site included initially a vegetable tempered handmade ware, but subsequently the bulk of it consisted of a grog tempered ware and then pottery in a sandy fabric which is well known from assemblages in London. The type of kiln varied with the pottery fabric; there was possible evidence for a pre-Roman pit firing, and later kilns set in ditches were of the twin flued type, eventually replaced by the more familiar above ground kilns with raised floors. Changes in pottery fabric were reflected in different methods of clay preparation, which led to changes in the function of the various ditches, the stratigraphy of which, along with the variation in the fabrics, was significant in enabling the four broad phases into which the site has been divided, to be proposed. The report includes a very detailed analysis of the forms and fabrics of the pottery made at Highgate. Finds of prehistoric flintwork and pottery during the excavation, and of material of later date, together with the observation of earthworks and historical research, have been used to show the place of the pottery kilns as an element in the exploitation of the woodland of northern London over the last eight thousand years.

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Of all the great kingdoms that flourished in Africa, the Kongo is one of the most famous. It remains an important historical and cultural reference for Africans and their diaspora. The KongoKing inter-university project (2012-2016), funded by the European Research Council, aimed, through an interdisciplinary approach, to understand the origin of the kingdom and to shed light on the phenomena of political centralization, economic integration and linguistic evolution that took place there. This book presents in detail the results of archaeological research carried out by the KongoKing project in the former northern provinces of the Kongo Kingdom, currently located in the Democratic Republic of Congo. | De tous les grands royaumes qui fleurirent en Afrique, le royaume Kongo est l’un des plus célèbres. Il reste une référence historique et culturelle importante pour les Africains et leur diaspora. Entraînés très tôt dans le commerce de traite, les esclaves originaires de la région font que du Brésil à New York, en passant par les Caraïbes, la culture Kongo a laissé de nombreuses traces. Le projet interuniversitaire KongoKing (2012-2016), financé par le Conseil Européen de la Recherche a été coordonné par Koen Bostoen, tandis que Bernard Clist et Pierre de Maret en ont dirigé le volet archéologique. Ce projet visait par une approche interdisciplinaire à comprendre l’origine du royaume et à éclairer les phénomènes de la centralisation politique, d’intégration économique et d’évolution linguistique qui s’y sont déroulés . Cet ouvrage présente de façon détaillée les résultats des recherches archéologiques menées par le projet KongoKing dans les anciennes provinces septentrionales du royaume Kongo, situées actuellement en République Démocratique du Congo. Dans une première partie on présente le contexte général, l’évolution du milieu, l’histoire du groupe linguistique kikongo et ce que l'on sait des périodes qui précèdent le royaume, ainsi que des informations récoltées dans diverses sources historiques sur ces provinces. Les prospections et fouilles des différents sites étudiés sont ensuite présentées. Puis vient le bilan des recherches archéologiques avec une synthèse des datations, une esquisse de la séquence chrono-culturelle de la poterie kongo et les études systématiques des différents types de vestiges récoltés. Pour conclure, on présente la synthèse de l'ensemble de ces découvertes et la façon dont celles-ci viennent compléter les données issues des autres disciplines pour éclairer d'un jour nouveau l'histoire du royaume Kongo.

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The publication of ‘Over the Mountains and Far Away: Studies in Near Eastern history and archaeology presented to Mirjo Salvini on the occasion of his 80th birthday’ was initiated by the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, the International Association of Mediterranean and Oriental Studies (Rome, Italy) and the Association for Near Eastern and Caucasian Studies (Yerevan, Armenia) as a tribute to the career of Professor Mirjo Salvini on the occasion his 80th birthday. It is composed of 62 papers written by his colleagues and students from Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Great Britain, Russian Federation, Israel, Turkey, Islamic Republic of Iran, Georgia, United States and Armenia. The contributions presented here cover numerous topics, a wide geographical area and a long chronological period. However, most of the contributions deal with research in the fields of Urartian and Hittite Studies, the topics that attracted Prof. Salvini during his long and fruitful career most.

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Over the last decades, discussions about the functions of the Roman army in frontier areas have contributed to a complex understanding of the military and its interactions with local geographies and peoples throughout the Empire. Nevertheless, in the region of Arabia, there is still little consensus about the purpose of the Roman military presence, its fluctuating functions, or the role of hundreds of fortified buildings scattered across the landscape. So far, these questions have remained unanswered due to a lack of excavation data and the scarcity of ancient accounts directly involving the military in Arabia Petraea. This study aims to provide a fresh perspective on these issues by employing a landscape approach, paralleling it with the ancient sources which describe the roles of the Roman military in the East. Using a variety of digital resources to contextually map and model the ancient system of fortifications, settlements, and trade routes, we can now better understand the evolving and diverse functions of the Roman army in Arabia from the creation of the province to the end of the Byzantine period.

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This volume discusses the evolution of oikema, which is the most common type of commercial facility in ancient Greece. The study covers a large area including Continental Greece, the Aegean islands, the Ionian islands and the west coast of Asia Minor. The author, after a thorough analysis, proposes a new terminology for commercial and industrial facilities. The book also presents the architectural characteristics and the equipment of oikemata and discusses their location and relationship with other buildings. The ownership, use and maintenance of oikemata are also discussed. It is argued that oikemata provided merchants and craftsmen with a suitable working space and contributed to the gradual abandonment of houses as working places, especially in cities that developed in the Hellenistic period. Their characteristics corresponded perfectly well to the needs of Greek commerce.

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Perspectives on materiality in ancient Egypt – agency, cultural reproduction and change expresses the authors’ broad theoretical interest on materiality and how it helps us to understand the crucial role of material culture in ancient Egyptian society in a more complex way. In the volume, mainly young scholars in Brazil, France, Germany and the UK approach the potential of materiality based on several case studies covering a wide range of topics such as Egyptian art, recent perspectives on sex and gender, hierarchies, and the materiality of textual sources and images. The idea of gathering young scholars to discuss ‘materiality’ first took place in the form of a colloquium organised in São Paulo, but soon after became a more encompassing project aspiring to produce a publication. The editors’ aimed to include researchers from various places, which makes the volume a materialisation of fruitful collaborations between individuals coming from different scholarly traditions. The combination of different ways of looking at the ancient material culture can hopefully contribute to the renovation of theory and practice in Egyptology. The editors believe that the emphasis on diversity— of background histories, national traditions and mind-sets—is one the main elements that can be used to boost new perspectives in a connected, globalised and hopefully less unequal world.

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This book presents the results obtained during geoarchaeological studies carried out in the locality of Touro Passo, municipality of Uruguaiana, Brazil. There, the Paleoindian sites studied by the team of the PRONAPA-National Archaeological Research Program in the 1960s and 1970s were relocated and others with excellent study potential have been recognized. The archaeological sites are located in the alluvial plains of the Uruguay River and the Touro Passo Stream and correspond to the late Pleistocene-early Holocene transition. The geoarchaeological approach allowed the understanding of the stratigraphic sequence and the processes of formation and post-depositional disturbance of the archaeological sites in a fluvial environment. Archaeological excavations, soundings, stratigraphic profile surveys, sequence correlations and numerical dates were carried out. The dispersion of artifacts on the surface and cave erosion was recorded, and a lithic taphonomy study was carried out. Four Paleoindian sites located in the Touro Passo Formation were analyzed: Barranca Grande, RS-I-66: Milton Almeida, RS-I-69: Laranjito and Casualidade. The new chronologies obtained for the initial period of human occupation in the region represent a scientific advance for the study of hunter-gatherer occupations during the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene in the triple border of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. | Este libro presenta los resultados obtenidos durante los estudios geoarqueológicos realizados en la localidad Touro Passo, municipio de Uruguaiana, Brasil. Alli se reubicaron los sitios paleoindios estudiados por el equipo del PRONAPA-Programa Nacional de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en las décadas de 1960 y 1970 y han sido reconocidos otros con excelente potencial de estudio. Los sitios arqueológicos están situados en las planicies aluviales del Río Uruguay y del Arroyo Touro Passo y corresponden a la transición Pleistoceno tardío-Holoceno temprano. El enfoque geoarqueológico permitió la comprensión de la secuencia estratigráfica y los procesos de formación y perturbación postdepositacional de los sitios arqueológicos en ambiente fluvial. Fueron realizadas excavaciones arqueológicas, sondeos, relevamiento de perfiles-estratigráficos, correlaciones de secuencias y fechados numéricos. Se registró la dispersión de los artefactos en superficie y en las cárvavas de erosión, y se realizó, un estudio de tafonomía lítica. Se analizaron 4 sitios paleoindios situados en la Formación Touro Passo: Barranca Grande, RS-I-66:Milton Almeida, RS-I-69: Laranjito y Casualidade. Las nuevas cronologías obtenidas para el período inicial de ocupación humana en la región, representan un avance científico para el estudio de las ocupaciones cazadoras-recolectoras durante el Pleistoceno tardío-Holoceno temprano en la triple frontera Brasil, Argentina y Uruguay.

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The site of Chipana-1 is located in the middle of the Atacama Desert, in the Pampa del Tamarugal (PdT), 1200 m asl. The site is a good example of past societies adaptation to hyper-arid environments, and provides new insights into the early human occupations of South America. The well-preserved stratigraphic record, together with 13 radiocarbon dates, show that the site was occupied around 11,480 cal BP. Chipana-1 is a lithic raw-material extraction and workshop site, of a silicified rock of good quality, mainly related to the production of bifacial tools (façonnage), and to a lesser extent, of flakes (débitage) on surface. This is the first site in northern Chile that provides information on the first stages of lithic production, such as raw-material selection and reduction (dégrossissage). In addition, flakes resulting from façonnage (shaping method) suggest the local elaboration of large bifacial pieces that have not been recovered on site, indicating that part of the production was probably exported elsewhere, within and outside the borders of the PdT. Some smaller flakes also suggest a local production of “Tuina” type projectile points, a morphotype well-known in the regions south of the Atacama Desert. One can highlight the presence of flakes of allochthonous raw-materials, imported from other areas, which have been flaked at Chipana-1 in order to produce bifacial tools. Chipana-1 was an important location for Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherer groups, poorly known until now, for the gathering of raw-materials and lithic production in the Atacama Desert. The site was integrated within a broader network of mobility that we are just starting to discover. | El sitio Chipana-1, situado en pleno corazón del Desierto de Atacama en la Pampa del Tamarugal (PdT) a 1200 msnm, refleja la adaptación de antiguas sociedades humanas a un ambiente hiper-árido, y aporta nuevos datos al debate sobre las primeras ocupaciones humanas en América del Sur. La buena conservación estratigráfica y 13 dataciones 14C muestran que el sitio fué frecuentado alrededor de los 11.480 cal BP. Chipana-1 es un sitio de producción lítica esencialmente de façonnage (modelado) bifacial, con un mínimo de débitage (desbaste) de lascas, observables en la superficie de esta gran cantera-taller de roca sílicificada de buena calidad. Este tipo de sitio es inédito dentro del norte de Chile, debido a que permite observar las etapas iniciales de elaboración como la selección cualitativa de la materia prima y su preparación (dégrossissage). Además, lascas del façonnage indican la elaboración de grandes piezas bifaciales no encontradas en el sitio, probablemente fueron exportadas a otras áreas dentro y fuera de la PdT. Algunas lascas más pequeñas señalan la producción de una punta de proyectil tipo “Tuina”, conocida en tierras altas hacia el sur del Atacama. Destacamos también la presencia de lascas de façonnage bifacial de materias primas alóctonas, que fueron importadas a la cantera como productos ya trabajados en otros sitios. Así Chipana-1 fue, para grupos de cazadores recolectores aún desconocidos al final del Pleistoceno, un punto importante de adquisición de roca tallable y de producción lítica en el Desierto de Atacama, insertado en un circuito de movilidad que recién comenzamos a develar.

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This collective work, carried out by both senior and beginning researchers, is for those scholars who have their gaze fixed on the fascinating mosaic of cultures that was the North-African world from the moment Rome appeared in the region. Even before this date, the arrival of Phoenicians on the continent and their subsequent spread throughout the north of it, initiated a rich process of contacts, interchanges and relations with the Libyan-Berber populations that inhabited the zone from time immemorial. To this scene of ancient cultural diversity –which also included an Egyptian component– Rome brought its own riches, generating in the region new episodes of cultural and religious syncretism. All these subjects are treated in the present book through some specific scientific contributions whose geopolitical frame is the whole Proconsular Africa. Most of the articles in this volume are dedicated to the world of images, but others also treat many other issues as Historiography, Archaeology of Architecture, Libyan-Berber ethnicities and even cultural parallels between North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.

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MOLA (formerly Northamptonshire Archaeology), has undertaken intermittent archaeological work within Bozeat Quarry over a twenty-year period from 1995-2016 covering an area of 59ha. The earliest archaeological features lay in the extreme northern area where a Bronze Age to Iron Age cremation burial was possibly contemporary with an adjacent late Bronze Age/early Iron Age pit alignment. In the middle to late Iron Age a settlement was established at the southern part of the site over a c170m by 150m area. It was a well organised farmstead, mostly open in plan with two roundhouses, routeway, enclosures, boundary ditches and pits. In the early 1st century AD, cAD 30, two separate settlements lay c0.5km apart. The former southern Iron Age farmstead had perhaps shifted location c150m to the north-west and a there was new farmstead to the north. Both settlements were located on a west facing slope of a valley side and were sited on sands and gravels at between 64m and 66m aOD. The Northern Settlement was only occupied for about 150 years and was involved in pastoral farming, but local coarseware pottery production was of some importance with a group of 12 pottery kilns dated to the middle to late 1st century AD. This is seemingly the largest number of pottery kilns from a single settlement of this period yet found in the regionally important Upper Nene Valley pottery producing area. The Southern Settlement was larger and continued to the end of the Roman period. In this area there was a notable scatter of 12 Iron Age and 1st century AD Roman coins as well as 24 contemporary brooches found over an area measuring c170m by c130m. This collection of finds may suggest the presence of a shrine or temple located in the area. It is perhaps significant that in 1964 directly to the west of the excavation, a middle Roman round stone building was found, perhaps an associated shrine. Within the excavation area in the latest Iron Age to early Roman period there was a possible roundhouse, a large oval enclosure and a field system. The latter largely related to pastoral farming including areas where paddocks were linked to routeways suggesting significant separation of livestock had occurred. Four cremation burials, including one deposited in a box, and an inhumation lay in three locations. Pastoral farming was a significant activity throughout the Roman period with enclosures, paddocks and linked routeways uncovered. In the late 2nd to 4th century there were two stone buildings and a stone malt oven at the extreme western extent of the site, within 50m to the east of the probably contemporary shrine recorded in 1964. There was minor evidence of early to middle Saxon occupation within the area of the former middle to late Iron Age settlement. No structures were found, although a few pits may date to this period and mark short stay visits. A small cemetery of five individuals respected the former Roman field system and probably dated to the late 6th to 7th centuries. The burials included a decapitation and a burial with a knife and a buckle. The site was then not re-occupied and became part of the fields of Bozeat medieval and post-medieval settlements.

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The Seminar for Arabian Studies has come a long way since 1968 when it was first convened, yet it remains the principal international academic forum for research on the Arabian Peninsula. This is clearly reflected in the ever-increasing number of researchers from all over the world who come each year to the three-day Seminar to present and discuss their latest research and fieldwork. Most of the papers published in this volume were presented at a Special Session of the fifty-first Seminar for Arabian Studies, held at the British Museum on 5 August 2017. Its subject was ‘Languages, scripts, and their uses in ancient North Arabia’ and it was held to celebrate the completion in the previous March of Phase 2 of the ‘Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia’ (OCIANA).

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The son of a watercolour artist, William Gershom Collingwood (1854-1932) studied at University College, Oxford where he met John Ruskin, whose secretary he later became and with whom he shared a wide range of interests. Collingwood travelled extensively, sketching as he went, and after studying at the Slade School of Art, moved to the Lake District where he wrote extensively about the Lakes, Icelandic sagas and Norse mythology, as well as publishing a biography on Ruskin in 1893. He was an accomplished artist, founding the Lake Artists Society in 1904 and serving as Professor of Fine Art at the University of Reading from 1905-11. His interest in art and Scandinavia prompted his research into the Pre-Norman Crosses of Cumbria and the North of England. In 1927 he published ‘Northumbrian Crosses of the Pre-Norman Age’, illustrated with his own drawings. He was also an accomplished musician, climber, swimmer and walker. His son was the noted archaeologist (a leading authority on Roman Britain), philosopher and historian R. G. Collingwood. This well researched biography provides a comprehensive account of the life and works of a nineteenth century polymath whose story should be better known.

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Atlas Of Ceramic Fabrics 1. Italy: North-East, Adriatic, Ionian. Bronze Age: Impasto presents and interprets the petrographic composition of Bronze Age Impasto pottery (23rd-10th centuries BCE) found in the eastern part of Italy. This is the first of a series of Atlases organised according to geographical areas, chronology and types of wares. In this book 935 samples from 63 sites are included, which comprise material obtained as a result of almost 30 years of interdisciplinary archaeological, technological and archaeometric research by the authors’ team. 73 petrographic fabrics (the potters’ ‘recipes’) are defined and presented, on their lithological character – a tool that can be used to compare the different components of the ceramic pastes and to check provenance of non-local pots. The volume is organised in chapters focused on methodology, fabric description and distribution, followed by the archaeological implications and the database, with contributions by Daniele Brunelli and Andrea Di Renzoni. Illustrations and descriptions of the fabrics and a complete list of the samples are included in order to provide a rigorous and transparent presentation of the data. The archaeological implications are discussed within the topics such as technology, variability, standardisation, chronology, function, social organisation, circulation, style, typology and cultural identity. It is hoped that this work will be considered as another stepping-stone in demostrating that, in archaeology, technological variability is as important as morphological and stylistic distinctions.

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This study is concerned with how the Greek peoples, of primarily the classical period, collectively commemorated the Persian Wars. The data presented here are public monuments, which include both physical and behavioural commemorations. The aim of this work is to reveal and present the methods by which Greeks of the fifth century BC commemorated the Persian Wars. Several trends have drawn attention away from studies presenting commemorative practices in their entirety: the focus on singular monument types, individual commemorative places, a particular commemorating group or specific battle, and an overemphasis on Athenian commemorations. This project works towards rectifying this issue by highlighting the variations in commemorative traditions. This holistic approach to the data, which is inclusive in its remit of commemorative objects, places, and groups, allows for a more complete representation of the commemorative tradition. What emerges from this study is the compilation of all known ancient Greek monuments to commemorate the battles of Marathon, Salamis, Artemisium, Thermopylae and Plataea.

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The Classic Maya (AD 250-900) of central and southern Yucatan were long seen as exceptional in many ways. We now know that they did not invent Mesoamerican writing or calendars, that they were just as warlike as other ancient peoples, that many innovations in art and architecture attributed to them had diverse origins, and that their celebrated “collapse” is not what it seems. One exceptionalist claim stubbornly persists: the Maya were canny tropical ecologists who managed their fragile tropical environments in ways that supported extremely large and dense populations and still guaranteed resilience and sustainability. Archaeologists commonly assert that Maya populations far exceeded those of other ancient civilizations in the Old and New Worlds. The great center of Tikal, Guatemala, has been central to our conceptions of Maya demography since the 1960s. Re-evaluation of Tikal’s original settlement data and its implications, supplemented by much new research there and elsewhere, allows a more modest and realistic demographic evaluation. The peak Classic population probably was on the order of 1,000,000 people. This population scale helps resolve debates about how the Maya made a living, the nature of their sociopolitical systems, how they created an impressive built environment, and places them in plausible comparative context with what we know about other ancient complex societies.

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This volume gathers a series of selected contributions about settlement patterns in the Italian countryside between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. It provides a critical overview of the most recent research carried out on late antique and early medieval Italy (Friuli Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Lazio, Apulia and Calabria) and uses innovative interpretative frameworks to gain a better understanding of rural settlement dynamics.

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‘Isaac went out to the field (Genesis 24:63)’ is a collection of 28 articles by 47 authors from research institutions in Israel and around the world honoring Professor Isaac Gilead on the occasion of his 71st birthday. The authors include the honoree’s mentors, colleagues, and students. Most of the articles deal with archaeological subjects, especially prehistoric and proto-historic archaeology, which are the focus of the honoree’s teaching and research. Reflecting the broad horizons of Gilead’s interests, the volume also includes studies in other subjects including the Bible and the ancient Near East, Second Temple literature, the history of biblical exegesis, and the influence of the Bible on contemporary Hebrew Literature.

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Mountain landscapes were first exploited by farming populations at the very beginning of the Neolithic. However, there are controversies regarding when and where these specific types of human behaviour developed as a result of adaptation processes to these special environments. The aim of People in the Mountains: Current Approaches to the Archaeology of Mountainous Landscapes is to present research results from different scientific contexts. To discuss these issues, and to study different aspects of human activity in the mountains and adjacent regions we incorporate archaeological, botanical, zooarchaeological and ethnological information. The chapters explore, among many other themes, several principal areas of research: environmental history and human impact in mountain environments; specificities of different mountain landscape zones; long-term changes of human activity in different mountain regions, and the origins of such changes; seasonal herding, and short and long-distance transhumance; exploitation of different raw materials e.g. siliceous raw material, salt etc.; mountains as borders, roads and zones of contact; creation of new customs, rights and social relations; symbolic and ritual locations in the mountains; dialogue between different methodological perspectives and analytical methods. The book consists of 15 chapters prepared by 27 authors from 10 countries. The chapter topics cover mountains located in Europe, America and Asia.

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The Hippodrome of Gerasa: A Provincial Roman Circus publishes the unique draft manuscript by the late architect and restorer Antoni Ostrasz, the study of Roman circuses and the complex fieldwork for the restoration of the Jarash Hippodrome, a work in progress abruptly ended both in writing and in the field by his untimely death in October 1996. The manuscript is presented as it is in order to retain the authenticity of his work. It is, therefore, an unusual publication providing the researcher as well as restorer of ancient monuments with unparalleled insights of architectural studies for anastyloses. Compendia A and B have been added to supplement the incomplete segments of the manuscript with regard to his studies as well as archaeological data. This concerns the excavation and preparation for the restorations and the archaeological history or stratigraphic history of the site from the foundations to primary use as a circus to subsequent occupancies of the circus complex. The study of the architectural and archaeological remains at the hippodrome encapsulates the sequence of the urban history of the town from its early beginnings to Roman Gerasa and Byzantine and Islamic Jarash, including vestiges of the seventh century plague and still visible earthquake destructions, as well as Ottoman settlements.

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Estudios para la configuración de las facies cerámicas altoimperiales en el Sur de la Península Ibérica explores economy and trade in the south of the Iberian peninsula during the High Roman Empire. Different methodologies, techniques and approaches to archaeological research are applied in the analysis and study of ceramic contexts in several marketplaces or consumption centres in the area. Special attention is given to ceramic facies predominantly characterised by the presence of fine pottery. In addition, the examination of local ceramics points towards a complexity whose interpretation has been biased until a few decades ago by the presence of wares imported from other Mediterranean regions as a result of the intensity of Roman trade. Furthermore, exploration beyond traditional analytical parameters highlights, for example, the relevance of the phenomenon of pottery vessel imitation.

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Gwithian, on the north coast of Cornwall, is a multiperiod archaeological site. Excavations by Charles Thomas in the mid-twentieth century provided evidence of human activity from the Mesolithic to the post-medieval period. The present work explores the palaeoenvironment of the area around the settlement sites, from the Neolithic, when sand dunes initially developed in the Red River valley, to the present post-industrial landscape. Multiproxy analyses on sediments from coring, a test pit and mollusc columns provide a view of the changing landscape and how it may have influenced, or been influenced by, human presence and settlement. Mollusc studies are used as the principal analytical method. Multiple radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminesce dates permit these changes to be studied on a tighter time frame than was previously possible. Mining activity from the Bronze Age to the present is explored using fine-resolution geochemistry. Dating allows the timing of the extinction and introduction of some mollusc species to be refined.

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When Archaeology Meets Communities' examines the history of nineteenth-century Sicilian archaeology through the archival documentation for the excavations – official and casual – at Tindari, Lipari and nearby minor sites in the Messina province from Italy’s Unification to the end of the First World War (1861-1918). The area and historical period have been fully neglected by past scholars and need in-depth investigation. The substantial evidence includes sets of approximately six hundred new records and black and white images from Italian and UK archives. The historical reconstruction, based on analysis of these records, lays the foundations for the entire volume and forms the basis from which the book develops innovative outlines on Sicilian archaeology. The structure follows this central concept. Furthermore, the volume seeks: a) to clarify relationships between the Italian Ministry of Public Education, the Museum of Palermo and local government authorities (‘3-level’ structure of interaction) and to pinpoint contacts with the contemporary social context; b) to compare archaeological research during the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the post-Unification period in northern Sicily in terms of methods, history of collecting, antiquities safeguarding and legislation; and c) to contextualise this work in terms of the evolution of archaeology and social change in the wider Italian and European contexts.

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MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) undertook excavations over 2003-4 at the former St Martin’s churchyard, Wallingford, Oxfordshire. St Martin’s, one of perhaps eight churches of late Saxon Wallingford, was located in a prominent position in the centre of the burh. No middle Saxon activity was found and the earliest remains consisted of a layer sealing the natural subsoil which contained a probable late Saxon lead cross. Earliest use of the churchyard has been dated to the late 10th to early 11th century by radiocarbon dating, and burials continued until the end of the 14th century, serving a dwindling parish population, before the cemetery rapidly fell out of use thereafter. No burials post-date 1412. Part of the cemetery has not been disturbed by the present development. The unexcavated areas and previous post-medieval and modern disturbances has meant the original size of the cemetery remains unknown. A late Saxon mortar mixer found on the site has added to a growing number of this distinctive early constructional feature. While its presence indicates the vicinity of the late Saxon church, no foundations of St Martin’s church appear to have survived cellar digging and quarrying for gravel that occurred in the early 18th century. Osteological analysis of 187 of the 211 excavated skeletons of the cemetery has depicted a lay population which was almost equally split between males and females, with only a slight bias towards males. Their distribution showed no observable cluster within the churchyard by age or gender. A high proportion of children is notable but newborns and very young children were comparatively rare. The significance of this is unclear since so many disarticulated remains were also present due to later disturbance. Both degenerative pathologies and inherited conditions affecting bone were noted, as were a high frequency of trauma, some of it violent. Generally the population could be shown to have led healthy early lives compared to other urban assemblages, although evidence of tuberculosis and iron deficiency suggest that living conditions and diet at the heart of medieval Wallingford were far from ideal. Within the excavated area of the cemetery, a number of the burials demonstrated known pre-Conquest burial rites and there are some aspects which may be peculiar to the area, suggesting local variations to common rites. Eight pre-Conquest burials had their heads supported mostly by stones, but one had his head supported by two disarticulated skulls. One 30-40 year old male was buried wearing a pierce scallop-shell, presumably a pilgrim badge from Santiago de Compostella. Four burials were interred in stone-built cists and these ranged from a c1 year old to adults of both sexes. A further six burials lay in stone-built cists without a cover. All post-Conquest burials were earth-cut examples.

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

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A second revised and updated edition of Carlos Gracia Zamacona’s Manual de Egipcio Medio [Handbook of Middle Egyptian]. The book is designed as a primer, written in Spanish, to learn Middle Egyptian (2000-1500 BC), which was considered by the Egyptians the ‘classic’ stage of their language, and a guide to read hieroglyphs. The grammatical explanation is accompanied by a full list of hieroglyphic signs (Gardiner’s plus recent refinements), basic vocabulary, gradual exercises (with translation), and a short, updated bibliography. The book’s main aim is didactic, but it also addresses the latest theoretical and methodological issues in Egyptology and Linguistics/Este libro es circunstancial. Se podrá decir que todos lo son, pero éste me llegó por pura casualidad a raíz de unos cursos de lengua y escritura egipcia organizados por la Asociación de Amigos del Museo Arqueológico Nacional de Madrid en 2007. Mi intención inicial fue la de preparar un material para los participantes de los cursos, siendo consciente de lo difícil que es empezar a leer jeroglíficos y comprender una lengua muy distinta de la nuestra o de las que nos son familiares. Debido a la misma complejidad del egipcio, que en esto no difiere de cualquier otra lengua natural, así como a mi tendencia a acabar lo que empiezo, me encontré un par de meses después de finalizados los cursos con un manual de iniciación al egipcio medio, el estado de la lengua considerado «clásico» por los propios egipcios y en el que están escritos, sobre todo, los textos del llamado Reino o Imperio Medio, que se extendió, de manera aproximada, desde el año 2000 hasta el 1500 antes de Cristo.

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In recent years an increasing worldwide awareness of the importance of water management in the ancient civilizations has generated much new discussion on water archaeology in ancient Greece. The present volume, Great Waterworks in Roman Greece, consists the very first presentation of large scale waterworks in the Greek provinces of the Roman Empire. As a collective work, it brings together a wide body of experts from the newly emerged and expanding field of water technology and water archaeology in Roman Greece, and it fills an essential gap in archaeological research and relative bibliography regarding water management and monumental water structures in Greece during the Roman period. Among the main goals that this multi-author volume attempts to succeed is to show that great waterworks (namely aqueducts and nymphaea) not only were novelties in the Greek provinces, both in form and function, but they also changed the architectural landscape of their surrounding environments, and they introduced the concept of luxury in the urban landscapes of Roman Greece. The discussed papers deploy along a wide geographical area, covering the roman provinces of Macedonia and Thrace, Epirus, Achaia, the Aegean islands and Crete, between the 1st century BC and the 4th century AD. Collective studies such as this, not only will enlighten and promote the multifaceted significance of the archaeological remains regarding water management technology of the Roman period in the Greek regions, but they will also reveal the significant impact of the Roman technological heritage in the Greek territories.

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In 2016, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, some forty scholars from around the world attended the People of the Ancient World conference. This was organized within the framework of the Romans 1 by 1 project, and its main focus was on improving knowledge on ancient populations, employing a variety of methodologies, tools and research techniques. The presentations provided the editors with ten papers to be further developed and reunited under these covers. They encompass diverse approaches to Roman provincial populations and the corresponding case-studies highlight the multi-faceted character of Roman society. The volume takes four main directions: prosopography (from Italy to Spain); ancient professions and professionals (merchants in Noricum, Lower Moesia, general nomenclature and encoding of professions, associations and family life); onomastics and origins, and finally, the military (iconography of funerary monunments and centurions’ social life). The publication is intended, on one hand, to enhance knowledge of the diversity of Roman social standings, of the exhibited social markers and – perhaps most important – stress the variety of forms which express status and place within the community, and on the other, to reiterate a series of fresh, modern views on these matters, resulting from a gathering of mostly junior researchers.

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