Search results for ""Archaeopress""

Tutankhamun Knew the Names of the Two Great Gods offers a new interpretation of the terms Dt and nHH as fundamental concepts of Pharaonic ideology. The terms Dt and nHH have often been treated as synonyms reflecting notions related to the vastness of time. However, from the study of original source material – the texts and iconography compiled over some three millennia and authored by those who surely had complete understanding of their subject matter – it becomes clear that those modern interpretations are somewhat questionable. Clues to the connotations which may be ascribed to Dt and nHH are perhaps most clearly apparent in texts and imagery from the reign of Tutankhamun – a time of political upheaval during which it was more than usually important to express traditional mores with clarity to demonstrate a return to the well-established ideology underpinning pharaonic culture prior to the Amarna interlude. Testing those indications against the wider range of extant literary material confirms that Dt and nHH were neither synonyms, nor were they entirely temporal in nature, but rather referenced a duality of ontological conditions which together were fundamental to the fabric of pharaonic ideology. The reappraisal of this duality of conditions allows the many texts and iconographic depictions surviving from dynastic Egypt to be considered from a new perspective – one providing deeper insight into the character of pharaonic culture. Moreover, it becomes apparent that the influences of an ideology which evolved during times pre-dating the pyramid builders permeated the philosophical and theological treaties of the scholars of ancient Greece and Rome, and thence into more recent times. At least two great gods may live on.

Read more less

White Castle: The evaluation of an upstanding prehistoric enclosure in East Lothian describes the results of a four year research programme of archaeological works between 2010 and 2013, at the later prehistoric enclosure of White Castle, East Lothian, carried out under the auspices of the Rampart Scotland project. The site is a Scheduled Monument, but, despite being subject of mapping and survey for some 200 years, it has never been examined by excavation prior to the Rampart Scotland project’s interventions. White Castle was the first of the series of comparable sites to be excavated in the Lammermuir area. The programme of archaeological evaluation and sequence of radiometric dates furnished evidence for four major phases of activity at White Castle – with the main enclosure period dating to the second half of the first millennium BC. The excavations demonstrated a clear sequence of enclosure development over time, whereby the design and visual impact often appeared to be more important than defence alone. White Castle’s location on the main route through the Lammermuirs with surrounding upland pasture is also highly suggestive to its function and it seems probable that the site’s economy was concerned primarily with controlling access to grazing. The final phase of the prehistoric enclosure appears to combine two key factors: impressing visitors and stock control. While maintenance of White Castle’s enclosure system was abandoned in the closing centuries BC, it is unlikely that the area was deserted and there is also limited evidence for two later phases of activity on site around the Medieval and Early Modern Periods.

Read more less

Liburnians and Illyrian Lembs: Iron Age Ships of the Eastern Adriatic explores the origins of two types of ancient ship which appear in the written sources connected with the protohistoric eastern Adriatic area: the ‘Liburnian’ (liburna or liburnica) and the southern Adriatic (Illyrian) ‘lemb’. The relative abundance of written sources suggests that both ships played significant roles in ancient times, especially the Liburnian, which became the main type of light warship in early Roman imperial fleets and ultimately evolved into a generic name for warships in the Roman Imperial period and Late Antiquity. The book provides an extensive overview of written, iconographic and archaeological evidence on eastern Adriatic shipbuilding traditions before the Roman conquest in the late first century BC / early first century AD, questioning the existing scholarly assumption that the liburna and lemb were closely related, or even that they represent two sub-types of the same ship. The analysis shows that identification of the Liburnian liburna and Illyrian lemb as more or less the same ship originates from the stereotypical and essentially wrong assumption in older scholarship that the prehistoric indigenous population of the eastern Adriatic shared the same culture and, roughly, the same identities. The main point made in the book is that two different terms, liburna and lemb, were used in the sources depicting these as two different kinds of ship, rather than being interchangeable terms depicting the same ship type.

Read more less

Current Perspectives in Sudanese and Nubian Archaeology brings together papers presented at the 2nd Sudan Studies Research Conference, held at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge. Scholars from various institutions around the world gathered to discuss the most recent trends in the field of Sudanese and Nubian archaeology, ranging from recent fieldwork in Sudan to scientific analysis of material culture and current theoretical approaches. The papers collected here focus on early administrative and mortuary material culture in the Nile valley and adjacent areas; religious beliefs and practices at Kerma; the adoption and local use of imported objects in the New Kingdom colonial period; and the role of Sudan and East Africa in human population history. Together, all papers represent the diversity of current approaches to the archaeology of Sudan and Nubia in various periods.

Read more less

Peoples in the Black Sea Region from the Archaic to the Roman Period includes papers presented at the Third International Workshop on the Black Sea in Antiquity, which, like the two previous ones, took place at the International Hellenic University, Greece, on 21-23 September 2018. The ‘Peoples’ of the title are defined widely to include not only those that either inhabited or colonised the Black Sea area, but also those who are considered to have visited, acted in, or influenced the region. Papers draw on a mix of archaeological evidence, epigraphy and written sources, as well as maps to explore the activities and characteristics of these peoples. The contributors are scholars from ten countries, and their papers cover all shores of the Black Sea.

Read more less

Göytepe: Neolithic Excavations in the Middle Kura Valley, Azerbaijan, publishes the first round of fieldwork and research (2008-2013) at this key site for understanding the emergence and development of food-producing communities in the South Caucasus. Situated close to the Fertile Crescent of Southwest Asia, where Neolithisation processes occurred earlier, research in the South Caucasus raises intriguing research questions, including issues of diffusion from the latter and interaction with ‘incoming’ Neolithic communities as well as the possibility of independent local Neolithisation processes. In order to address these issues in the South Caucasus, a joint Azerbaijan–Japan research programme was launched in 2008 to investigate Göytepe, one of the largest known Neolithic mounds in the South Caucasus. The results of the first phase of the project (2008-2013) presented here provide rich archaeological data from multi-disciplinary perspectives: chronology, architecture, technology, social organisation, and plant and animal exploitation, to name a few. This volume is the first to present these details in a single report of the South Caucasian Neolithic site using a high-resolution chronology based on dozens of radiocarbon dates.

Read more less

The Seminar for Arabian Studies is the longest continually running academic forum for the presentation of cultural heritage research on the Arabian Peninsula. Meeting for the first time in 1968, the Seminar covers a wide range of subjects including but not limited to archaeology, epigraphy, history, ethnography, art, architecture, linguistics, and literature from prehistory to the early twentieth century. The 54th Seminar for Arabian Studies consisted of 73 papers and 6 posters presented over the course of two weekends. These papers included four special sessions: a session on the recent research in North West Arabia, two sessions on the historical and cultural relations between Iberia and Arabia, and one session on maritime practices. The special sessions on North West Arabia and Iberian-Arabian interactions will be published as supplemental volumes while many of the papers submitted on maritime practices are included in the present issue.

Read more less

La transformación del mundo rural en la isla de Mallorca durante la Antigüedad tardía presents the study of the rural landscape of the eastern part of the island of Mallorca (Balearic Islands) during Late Antiquity, providing new data that improves our understanding of one of the least well-known periods of the island. The author describes the results of the study of old archaeological surveys carried out on the island – which had not been published yet – and the results of new archaeological surveys. The conclusions from these studies detected a series of trends that help to better understand the settlement patterns of the island during the transition from the Roman period to medieval times. Furthermore, they help to obtain an overview of different transformations that occurred in the rural world in a territory that was strongly marked by its insularity. Equally discernable in this territory was the role played by the old indigenous substrate, which was reflected in the survival or re-use of pre and proto-historic settlements.

Read more less

“Los animales enseñaron el camino…”: La fauna de la Sierra Gorda queretana a través de sus representaciones cerámicas arqueológicas examines the past fauna of the Sierra Gorda region of Mexico, and its representation in archaeological ceramics. Queretaro's Sierra Gorda was declared a “Biosphere Reserve” on May 19, 1997, by presidential decree. As a natural area thus protected, there are almost 400,000 hectares of great biodiversity, in which there are at least 15 types and subtypes of different vegetation, more than 1800 species of plants, 124 of fungi and 550 species of vertebrates, among other elements that prove the natural wealth of the region. As part of the "Northern Archaeological Project of the State of Querétaro, Mexico" (PANQ), the book presents ceramic representations of the fauna of the region, relating them to the oral traditions that the inhabitants of the region have preserved until now. In so doing it demonstrates the deep interdependence of humans and animals, and analyses wider cultural interconnections across Mesoamerica. The book goes on to analyze some of these Mesoamerican cultural traits, although its main goal is to highlight the archaeological evidence that has been recovered by the project since 1990 in this still little-known region of ancient Mexico.

Read more less

Visual Culture, Heritage and Identity: Using Rock Art to Reconnect Past and Present sets out a fresh perspective on rock art by considering how ancient images function in the present. In recent decades, archaeological approaches to rock paintings and engravings have significantly advanced our understanding of rock art in regional and global terms. On the other hand, however, little research has been done on contemporary uses of rock art. How does ancient rock art heritage influence contemporary cultural phenomena? And how do past images function in the present, especially in contemporary art and other media? In the past, archaeologists usually concentrated more on reconstructing the semantic and social contexts of the ancient images. This volume, on the other hand, focuses on how this ancient heritage is recognised and reified in the modern world, and how this art stimulates contemporary processes of cultural identity-making. The authors, who are based all over the world, off er attractive and compelling case studies situated in diverse cultural and geographical contexts.

Read more less

Dr John Disney (1779-1857) was the benefactor of the first chair in archaeology at a British university. He also donated his major collection to the University of Cambridge. The sculptures continue to be displayed in the Fitzwilliam Museum. The Disney family traced its origins back to the Norman invasion of England, and the family home was at Norton Disney in Lincolnshire. Disney’s father, the Reverend John Disney DD (1746-1816) left the Church of England to become a minister at the Unitarian Essex Street Chapel in London. A major sponsor of the chapel was Thomas Brand-Hollis of The Hyde, Essex, who bequeathed the house and his Grand Tour collection (formed with Thomas Hollis) on his death in 1804 to the Reverend John Disney. Disney inherited part of the classical collection of his uncle and father-in-law Lewis Disney-Ffytche, owner of the 18th century pleasure gardens, Le Désert de Retz, outside Paris. Disney’s brother-in-law was Sir William Hillary, founder of the RNLI. Disney was instrumental in the creation of the Chelmsford Museum through the Chelmsford Philosophical Society, and the formation of the Essex Archaeological Society.

Read more less

As the name indicates, KOINON is a journal that encourages contributions to the study of classical numismatics from a wide variety of perspectives. The journal includes papers concerning iconography, die studies, provenance research, forgery analysis, translations of excerpts from antiquarian works, specialized bibliographies, corpora of rare varieties and types, ethical questions on laws and collecting, book reviews, and more. The editorial advisory board is made up of members from all over the world, with a broad range of expertise covering virtually all the major categories of classical numismatics from archaic Greek coinage to late Medieval coinage.

Read more less

The German gem-engraver, medallist, and amateur scholar Lorenz Natter (1705-1763), was so impressed by the size and quality of the collections of ancient and later engraved gems which he found in Britain that he proposed the publication of an extraordinarily ambitious catalogue – Museum Britannicum – which would present engravings and descriptions of the most important pieces. He made considerable progress to this end, producing several hundred drawings, but in time he decided to abandon the near completed project in the light of the apparent lack of interest shown in Britain. Only one of the intended plates in its final form ever appeared, in a catalogue which he published separately for Lord Bessborough’s collection. On Natter’s death the single copy of his magnum opus vanished mysteriously, presumed lost forever. All hope of recovering Natter’s unpublished papers seemed vain, and their very existence had come to be doubted. Yet they were to be found more than two hundred years after his death, in Spring 1975, when the classical scholar and renowned expert in gems, Oleg Neverov, chanced upon them at the bottom of a pile of papers in the archives of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. Neverov and his colleague Julia Kagan carried out the initial research on the Hermitage manuscripts and produced the first published account of this archival treasure. The present volume builds upon their earlier work to produce the first comprehensive publication of Museum Britannicum, offering full discussion in English and presenting Natter’s drawings and comments alongside modern information on the gems that can be identified and located through fresh research. This book is the result of a ten-year collaboration between scholars on the Beazley Archive gems research programme at Oxford’s Classical Art Research Centre and the State Hermitage Museum. It fulfills Natter’s vision for the Museum Britannicum – albeit two and a half centuries late – to the benefit of art historians, cultural historians, curators, and gem-lovers of today.

Read more less

From IndyRef and Brexit to the Refugee Crisis and Trump’s Wall, the construction and maintenance, subversion and traversing of frontiers and borderlands dominate our current affairs. Yet, while archaeologists have long participated in exploring frontiers and borderlands, their public archaeology has been starkly neglected. Incorporating the select proceedings of the 4th University of Chester Archaeology Student conference hosted by the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, on 20 March 2019, this is the first book to investigate realworld ancient and modern frontier works, the significance of graffiti, material culture, monuments and wall-building, as well as fictional representations of borders and walls in the arts, as public archaeology. Key themes include the heritage interpretation for linear monuments, public archaeology in past and contemporary frontiers and borderlands, and archaeology’s interactions with mural practices in politics, popular culture and the contemporary landscape. Together, the contributors show the necessity of developing critical public archaeologies of frontiers and borderlands.

Read more less

Handmade ceramics with painted decoration constitute one of the most outstanding archaeological materials from the Late Bronze Age and the First Iron Age in the Guadalquivir and Guadiana valleys, the context in which the Tartessian culture developed. In this work, an exhaustive study of these ceramic styles has been attempted, defining their technical characteristics, dispersion, forms, decoration, symbolism, chronology, use and meaning. To this overall study are added several unpublished pieces by Alarcos, some with archeometric and content analysis, the results of which allow questioning their traditional consideration as 'post-firing ceramics'. This characterization allows an orientation in the classification of some styles traditionally considered as a monolithic set when really, there is a much more complex panorama due to different chronological and cultural circumstances. Among the latter, the relationships and contacts established between local communities and Mediterranean populations stand out, giving rise to cultural phenomena of miscegenation or hybridization in which local tradition was combined with all exogenous contributions, a fossilized reality in these productions. This book presents the most complete and up-to-date work on these ceramics, studied from the perspective of new theoretical-methodological approaches and recent interpretations.

Read more less

The Egyptian Museum of the University of Leipzig has the largest university collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts in Germany. It includes important objects from the excavations of the most prolific excavator among the museum’s curators, Georg Steindorff, at the sites of Abusir, Aniba, and Giza, complemented by objects from Abydos, Thebes, and Kerma. The catalogue represents the results of an interdisciplinary project by Egyptologist and archaeologist Martin Odler, archaeometalurgist Jiří Kmošek and other participating researchers. A selection of 86 artefacts was analysed using a range of archaeometallurgical methods (X-ray fluorescence; metallography; neutron activation analysis; lead isotope analysis), providing a diachronic sample of Bronze Age Egyptian copper alloy metalwork from Dynasty 1 to Dynasty 19. Besides currently popular focus on the ore provenance, the selection of the applied methods aimed also at the description of practical physical properties of the objects. The question of differences between full-size functional artefacts and models is addressed, as is the problem of 'imports' and their ethnic interpretation. The analyses brought many unexpected results to light, the most surprising being a bowl (ÄMUL 2162) made of arsenical copper high in nickel, which has parallels in Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Anatolia, and was featured in an article in the Journal of Archaeological Science in 2018. The corpus presented here involves the largest analysed metalwork assemblage from the Nubian C-Group and the Egyptian New Kingdom, and it addresses the issue of the use of local Nubian ore sources versus the sources of copper from Cyprus and elsewhere.

Read more less

The major part of the Near East was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire (934-610BC) in a few centuries. If the geopolitical map of the region was altered, the concrete impact it exerted on the territories with which it came into contact is difficult to appraise. Until recently, there was a general tendency to consider that the Assyrians tightly controlled their whole periphery by maintaining a high number of soldiers and personnel while initiating a process of 'Assyrianization'. Présence et influence assyriennes dans le royaume de Hamat assesses the importance and nature of the Assyrian presence in the kingdom of Hamat (in northwest Syria) to determine whether there is a link between the presence and influence of the Assyrians. The results of an analysis of historical and archaeological sources show that the Assyrian presence in Hamat was much more subtle than what might have been imagined. On the one hand, the Assyrian provincial elite insisted on being legitimized with the natives and cooperating with the local elite rather than using force to maintain the yoke of the Empire. On the other hand, far from indicating Assyrian colonization or a change of culture, the influence of Assyrian culture in Hamat would rather translate into the local elite adopting new objects of prestige that contributed to conspicuous consumption and competitive emulation.

Read more less

Experiencing the Frontier and the Frontier of Experience deals with the Roman Empire’s responses to the threats which were caused by the new geostrategic situation brought on by the crisis of the 3rd century AD, induced by the ‘barbarians’ who – often already part of Roman military structures as mercenaries and auxiliaries – became a veritable menace for the Empire. Rome adopted different strategies: they oscillated between inclusion, warfare and other means of exerting influence. The contributions to this volume explore the archaeological evidence for Roman practice and especially the varying strategies of power and influence in the central regions on the one hand, and the south-eastern parts of the European ‘Barbaricum’ on the other. They show how ‘Divide et impera’ functioned as practical policy based on alliances, as well as consequent warfare, and diplomatic initiatives, which are traceable by prestige-goods and subsidia treasures found in the Barbaricum. The comparison of Roman imports in different parts of Iron-Age Europe can help understand better a complex process of shifting power and influence in an emerging new Europe, which transformed the Empire towards medieval ‘Herrschaft’ and social structure.

Read more less

Different Times? Archaeological and environmental data from intra-site and off-site sequences brings together seven papers from Session II-8 of the XVIII UISPP Congress (Paris, 4-9 June 2018). The session questioned temporal correlations between intra-site and off-site data in archaeology-related contexts. The word ‘site’ describes here archaeological sites or groups of sites – usually settlements – that have undergone research in recent years and produced information on the duration and timing of human presence. Comparison with evidence from geomorphological and paleoenvironmental research conducted at various distances from settlements gives some interesting results, such as ‘missing’ occupation periods, distortions in human presence intensity through space as well as time, variability in explanations concerning the abandonment of settlements, etc. Examples presented here highlight: first, discrepancies between time records within built areas used for living and the surrounding lands used for other activities (cultivation, herding, travelling, etc); second, discrepancies produced by the use of different ‘time markers’ (ie. chronostratigraphy of archaeological layers or pottery evolution on the one hand, sedimentary or pollen sequences on the other hand). Although improving the resolution of individual data is essential, the authors argue that the joint and detailed examination of evidence produced together by human and natural scientists is more important for reaching a reliable reconstruction of past people’s activities. Both the session and the volume stem from the Working Group ‘Environmental and Social Changes in the Past’ (Changements environnementaux et sociétés dans le passé) in the research framework of the Cluster of Excellence ‘Dynamite’ (Territorial and Spatial Dynamics) of the University Paris 1-Panthéon-Sorbonne (ANR-11-LABX-0046, Investissements d’Avenir).

Read more less

El cerro de Alarcos (Ciudad Real): Formación y desarrollo de un oppidum ibérico presents the results of archaeological work which has been carried out since 1997 in so-called Sector III of the Alarcos site, located on a hill next to the Guadiana river, a few kilometres from Ciudad Real. These archaeological campaigns have made it possible to obtain essential information to understand the communities that, from the end of the Bronze Age to the end of the Iron Age, inhabited this large town and its surrounding area. An interesting set of structures and other evidence of material culture have been recovered, which allow us to characterize the daily activities of people between the 10th-11th century BC and, in addition, they enable us to understand the paleoenvironment of this territory and the nature of the economy and the food transformation activities of these protohistoric populations. The use of this territory has been determined over the centuries, being originally a residential area which later, in Iberian times, assumed economic functionality, as it was intended for grain storage, grinding and cooking food. The documentation of a wide and varied repertoire of ceramic materials and an interesting set of foreign ceramics corroborates the dynamism this settlement achieved, during both the Pre-Iberian period and the full Iberian period.

Read more less

This volume presents the combined proceedings of two complementary sessions of the XVIII UISPP World Congress (4–9 June 2018, Paris, France): Sessions XXXII-2 and XXXIV-8. These sessions aimed to identify demographic variations during the Neolithic and Bronze Age and to question their causes while avoiding the potential taphonomic and chronological biases affecting the documentation. It appears that certain periods feature a large number of domestic and/or funeral sites in a given region and much fewer in the following periods. These phenomena have most often been interpreted in terms of demographics, habitat organization or land use. They are sometimes linked to climatic and environmental crises or historical events, such as population displacements. In the past few years, the increase in large-scale palaeogenetic analyses concerning late prehistory and protohistory has led to the interpretation of genomic modifications as the result of population movements leading to demographic transformations. Nevertheless, historiography demonstrates how ideas come and go and come again. Migration is one of these ideas: developed in the first part of the XX century, then abandoned for more social and economic analysis, it recently again assumed importance for the field of ancient people with the increase of isotopic and ancient DNA analysis. But these new analyses have to be discussed, as the old theories have been; their results offer new data, but not definitive answers. During the sessions, the full range of archaeological data and isotopic and genetic analysis were covered, however for this publication, mainly archaeological perspectives are presented.

Read more less

Session XXXIV-6 of the XVIII UISPP World Congress (4–9 June 2018, Paris, France): ‘Stone in Metal Ages’ was divided in two parts. The first, ‘Late stone talks: Lithic industries in Metal Ages’, was concerned with knapping. The papers dealt with lithic technology, use-wear analyses and the relation between the decline of stone and the development of metallurgy. The second, ‘Let there be rock and metal: l’outillage en pierre des métallurgistes préhistoriques de la mine à l’atelier’, was designed for papers focussing on stone tools used for metallurgy. This publication combines these two parts. Despite the fact that metal took the place of stone in many spheres, the analysis of lithic products created during the Metal Ages has seen progressive development. Objects and tools made of flint, chert and other stone materials remain important components of the archaeological record, and their study has offered new perspectives on ancient societies. Not only have many aspects of the everyday life of ancient people been better understood, but the socioeconomic and cultural systems associated with the production, circulation and use of stone tools have offered new information not available from other realms of material culture.

Read more less

Un sistema per la gestione dell’affidabilità e dell’interpretazione dei dati archeologici aims to identify the methodological problems associated with digitalized management of archaeological data and to introduce viable solutions that embrace interpretative aspects and the reliability concept. The work develops into a prototype system that manages the data regarding what are referred to as small finds dating back to the palatial periods from the Cretan sites of Phaistos and Ayia Triada which have been studied by the Italian Archaeological Mission since the early 20th century. The analysis of the data highlighted the value of this system and its ability to adapt to the needs of the archaeologist. It provides tools capable of assisting and implementing the interpretation of archaeological data well outside the findings and sites specific to this project for the management of other categories of archaeological finds and of any context. The book can furnish practical and theoretical contributions capable of feeding the methodological debate inherent in issues such as the treatment of sources, legacy data, reuse, the management of uncertainty, and of the rational and intuitive variables inherent in archaeological work, as well as the assessment of the reliability of an interpretative event.

Read more less

A total area of 3.1ha, taking in much of a settlement largely of the earlier Middle Iron Age (c.450 to c.150BC), was excavated in 1998 in advance of development. Two small pit groups, radiocarbon dated to the Middle Bronze Age, produced a bronze dagger and a small pottery assemblage. The Iron Age settlement comprised several groups of roundhouse ring ditches and associated small enclosures forming an open settlement set alongside a linear boundary ditch. Its origin lay in the 5th century BC with a single small roundhouse group. Through the 4th and 3rd centuries BC the settlement expanded with the original structures replaced by a principal roundhouse group accompanied by at least a further two groups of roundhouses and enclosures and minor outlying structures. A group of structures and enclosures set apart from the main domestic area was the focus for copper alloy casting, producing an assemblage of crucibles and fragments from investment moulds for the production of horse fittings, as well as bone, antler and horn working debris. The site also produced good assemblages of pottery and animal bone, an assemblage of saddle querns and a potin coin. The settlement had been abandoned by the middle of the 2nd century BC, although the main boundary ditch survived at least as an earthwork. By the early 1st century AD a series of ditched enclosures were created to the north of the boundary ditch, perhaps a small ladder settlement, which fell out of use soon after the Roman conquest. One enclosure contained two small roundhouses and other curvilinear gullies may have formed animal pens in the corners of two enclosures. This final phase is dated by some Late Iron Age pottery, an Iron Age and a Roman rotary quern, and a small quantity of Roman roof tile. The discussion considers the physical, social and economic structure of the settlement. The distribution of finds around the ring ditches is examined as well as the size of enclosed roundhouses. There is an overview of the Iron Age roundhouse in the Midlands, using well preserved sites as exemplars for the range of evidence that can survive. A typology and chronology for Iron Age pottery is provided, and the date of introduction of the rotary quern is discussed, and the consequent effect on the size of storage jars is examined. Middle Bronze Age pits and a small cremation cemetery, and Late Iron Age to early Roman settlement on the site of the nearby deserted medieval village of Coton are also described. With contributions by Trevor Anderson, Paul Blinkhorn, Pat Chapman, Steve Critchley, Karen Deighton, Tora Hylton, Dennis Jackson, Ivan Mack, Anthony Maull, Gerry McDonnell, Matthew Ponting and Jane Timby. Illustrations by Andy Chapman, Pat Walsh and Mark Roughley.

Read more less

This volume presents the proceedings of Session XXVIII-4 of the XVIII UISPP World Congress (4-9 June 2018, Paris, France), Caractérisation, continuités et discontinuités des manifestations graphiques des sociétés préhistoriques. Papers address the question of exchange and mobility in prehistoric societies in relation to the evolution of their environments through the prism of their graphic productions, on objects or on walls. This volume offers the opportunity to question their symbolic behaviours within very diverse temporal, chrono-cultural or geographic contexts. It also provides the framework for a discussion on cultural identity and how this was asserted in the face of environmental or social changes or constraints.

Read more less

Excavations at Chester: the northern and eastern Roman extramural settlements presents the results of fifteen archaeological investigations carried out within the canabae to the north and east of the Roman legionary fortress at Chester between 1990 and 2019. The results demonstrate that there was sparse development of the canabae to the north of the fortress during the 1st and 2nd centuries; instead, this area was predominantly used for the extraction of building materials⁠ – sandstone and clay. By the 3rd century, the final phase of usage took the form of a small cemetery, the first to be examined in this area. Subject to more constraints, the sites investigated within the eastern canabae close to the fortress produced limited evidence for urban plot divisions, whilst those further east provided evidence for the division and management of agricultural land forming the prata legionis.

Read more less

Procopius’ History of the Wars, and the Strategikon offer important aspects of Eastern Roman military tactical changes adopted against their enemies that brought the mounted archer-lancer to domineer in the synthesis of the army, along with concise descriptions of their training, panoply, and effectiveness in the battlefield during the later ProtoByzantine period. Yet, evidence in the archaeo-anthropological records of these highly specialized military members has remained elusive. A recent archaeological discovery at the strategically positioned, upland, site of Paliokastro in Thasos island, Greece, and the subsequent study of the human skeletal remains interred in four monumental funerary contexts, in a dedicated naiskos building, provide for the first time through the archaeological record of the region a unique insight of the mounted archers and their female kin during the turbulent ProtoByzantine period. The interdisciplinary study of the anthropological materials focusing on skeletal developmental, acquired skeleto-muscular manifestations and skeleto-anatomical changes recovered valuable evidentiary data on aspects of their in vivo long-term training and preparation, traumatisms and pathologies along with extraordinary traces of cranial and infra-cranial surgical interventions and medical regimens by the hands of a most experienced surgeon. In conjunction with the archaeological and anthropological evidence, historical and medical history records are integrated aiming toward a nexus with the human dynamics that transpired at Paliokastro within the context of the catastrophic consequences of the ‘barbarian’ invasions in the Aegean Thraco-Macedonia, and the ravages afforded by the Justinian plague during the later component of the ProtoByzantine period.

Read more less

Urbanism of Roman Siscia: Interpretation of historical and modern maps, drawings and plans presents a comprehensive picture of the structure of Roman Siscia. The information has been obtained from the processing of the data from every archaeological excavation, and the analysis and interpretation of all available historical and modern documents. The position of Siscia at the confluence of the rivers Sava, Kupa and Odra below the present-day town of Sisak, is documented in the antique literary sources and in cartography through the Middle Ages, to modern times, when the site became the subject of archaeological excavations beginning in the second part of the 19th century. In the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, the basic outline of Roman Siscia was identified with town walls, public buildings, shrines, water supply system, cemeteries and the main roads that connected the city with other Roman towns. An older settlement, Segestica, dating from prehistory, was identified on the right bank of the Kupa River. The excavations carried out from the 1950s to 1990s were connected with the construction of the infrastructure and development of modern Sisak. These excavations confirmed the basic elements of the perimeter and urban elements of Roman Siscia: a Roman ditch and the town wall were discovered in several places, as well as an orthogonal street network, public buildings, houses, and other elements of the Roman city. This volume provides a comprehensive starting point for all future work on the Roman city.

Read more less

Fores et Fenestrae aims to analyse Roman doors and windows and their role as an essential part of daily life. They are the structures that connect not only rooms but also houses themselves to the outside world. They relate to privacy, security, and light in domestic spaces. Until very recently, the role of doors and windows in shaping the life and structure of Roman private dwellings has been greatly underestimated. The reason for this lies primarily in the difficulties linked to their study. The low level of preservation of walls and the widespread use of perishable and recyclable materials hinder in many cases a correct assessment of these structures. To achieve greater understanding, the author followed a computational approach. The two cores of the research are the analysis of the database and the observation of results based on new 3D models. 1855 doors and windows were surveyed across eight towns of Roman imperial Italy. The information collected has been organised in a database comprised of nine tables and mined through statistical analyses. Three 3D models of different dwelling types have been generated simulating natural materials and light conditions to observe the role of doors and windows in context. The work is subdivided into three sections. The first explains the study’s methodology and analyses previous scholarship on the topic, highlighting how the issue of doors and windows has often be ignored or only superficially considered. The second section collects typologies of complementary sources to better comprehend the results of the statistical analyses and to integrate the 3D models; literary, epigraphic, and visual sources are considered. To these are added the analysis of the archaeological sources. The third part constitutes the core of the analysis. It is composed of two chapters, the fi rst of which provides a detailed overview of the statistical analyses produced from the sample collected. The latter chapter investigates the results of the renders and analyses views and natural light in the Roman house.

Read more less

The Festivals of Opet, the Valley, and the New Year: Their socio-religious functions compares the religious and social functions of these three Festivals, the first two of which were often regarded by the Egyptians as a pair; the New Year Festival stands out on account of its corpus of surviving material and importance. Until now, detailed study of the New Year Festival has only been carried out with reference to the Greco-Roman period; this study turns its attention to the New Kingdom. The book analyses the broad perspectives that encompass Egyptian religion and cult practices which provided the context not only for worship and prayer, but also for the formation of social identity and responsibility. The festivals are examined in the whole together with their settings in the religious and urban landscapes. The best example is New Kingdom Thebes where large temples and burial sites survive intact today with processional routes connecting some of them. Also presented are the abundant written sources providing deep insight into those feasts celebrated for Amun-Re, the king of the gods. The volume also includes a list of dated records which provides a concordance for the Egyptian calendars.

Read more less

EurASEAA14: Material Culture and Heritage is the second of two volumes comprising papers originally presented at the EurASEAA14 (European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists) conference in 2012, updated for publication. The aim of the EurASEAA is to facilitate communication between different disciplines, to present current work in the field, and to stimulate future research. This international initiative aims to foster international scholarly cooperation in the field of Southeast Asian archaeology, art history and philology. This volume focuses substantially on topics under the broad themes of archaeology and heritage, material culture, environmental archaeology, osteoarchaeology, historic and prehistoric archaeology, ethnoarchaeology, and long-distance contact, trade and exchange.

Read more less

Glazed bricks applied as a new form of colourful and glossy architectural decor first started to appear in the early Iron Age on monumental buildings of the Ancient Near East. It surely impressed the spectators then as it does the museum visitors today. Glazed Brick Decoration in the Ancient Near East comprises the proceedings of a workshop held at the 11th International Congress of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (ICAANE) at Munich in April 2018, organised by the editors. Over the last decade excavations have supplied new evidence from glazed bricks that once decorated the facades of the Ancient Near East’s public buildings during the Iron Age (1000–539 BC) and especially significant progress has been achieved from revived work on glazed bricks excavated more than a century ago which today are kept in various museum collections worldwide. Since the latest summarising works on Ancient Near Eastern glazed architectural décors have been published several decades ago and in the meantime considerable insight into the subject has been gained, this volume aims to provide an updated overview of the development of glazed bricks and of the scientific research on the Iron Age glazes. Furthermore, it presents the on-going research on this topic and new insights into glazed bricks from Ashur, Nimrud, Khorsabad, and Babylon.

Read more less

Approaches to the Analysis of Production Activity at Archaeological Sites presents the proceedings of an international and interdisciplinary workshop held in Berlin in 2018, which brought together scholars whose work focusses on manufacturing activities identified at archaeological sites. The various approaches presented here include new excavation techniques, ethnographic research, archaeometric approaches, GIS and experimental archaeology as well as theoretical issues associated with how researchers understand production in the past. These approaches are applied to research questions related to various technological and socio-economic aspects of production, including the organisation and setting of manufacturing activities, the access to and use of raw materials, firing structures and other production-related installations. The chapters discuss production activities in various domestic and institutional contexts throughout the ancient world, together with the production and use of tools and other items made of stone, bone, ceramics, glass and faience. Since manufacturing activities are encountered at archaeological sites on a regular basis, the wide range of materials and approaches presented in this volume provides a useful reference for scholars and students studying technologies and production activities in the past.

Read more less

What does the ‘Dark Ages’ mean in contemporary society? Tackling public engagements through archaeological fieldwork, heritage sites and museums, fictional portrayals and art, and increasingly via a broad range of digital media, this is the first-ever dedicated collection exploring the public archaeology of the Early Middle Ages (5th–11th centuries AD). Digging into the Dark Ages builds on debates which took place at the 3rd University of Chester Archaeology Student Conference hosted by the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, 13 December 2017. It comprises original perspectives from students integrated with fresh research by heritage practitioners and academics. The book also includes four interviews offering perspectives on key dimensions of early medieval archaeology’s public intersections. By critically ‘digging into’ the ‘Dark Ages’, this book provides an introduction to key concepts and debates, a rich range of case studies, and a solid platform for future research.

Read more less

This volume reflects on the unique status of the Western Mediterranean in the Bronze Age, considering the independence of its development and the existence of an indigenous maritime trade. It looks at ways to establish a chronology of the period that is not based solely on ceramic typologies, and aims to clarify the cultural exclusion to which the Lower Guadalquivir is subjected.

Read more less

By day, young Gilbert Bagnani studied archaeology in Greece, but by night he socialised with the elite of Athenian society. Secretly writing for the Morning Post in London, he witnessed both antebellum Athens in 1921 and the catastrophic collapse of Christian civilisation in western Anatolia in 1922. While there have been many accounts by refugees of the disastrous flight from Smyrna, few have been written from the perspective of the west side of the Aegean. The flood of a million refugees to Greece brought in its wake a military coup in Athens, the exile of the Greek royal family and the execution or imprisonment of politicians, whom Gilbert knew. Gilbert’s weekly letters to his mother in Rome reveal his Odyssey-like adventures on a voyage of discovery through the origins of western civilisation. As an archaeologist in Greece, he travelled through time seeing history repeat itself: Minoan Knossos, Byzantine Constantinople and Ottoman Smyrna were all violently destroyed, but the survivors escaped to the new worlds of Mycenaean Greece, Renaissance Venice and modern Greece. At Smyrna in the twentieth century, history was written not only by the victors but was also recorded by the victims. At the same time, however, the twentieth century itself was so filled with reports of ethnic cleansings on such a scale that the reports brutalized the humanity of the supposedly civilized people reading about them, and the tragedy of Smyrna disappeared from public awareness between the cataclysmic upheavals of the First and Second World Wars.

Read more less

Roman and Late Antique Wine Production in the Eastern Mediterranean is devoted to the viticulture of two settlements, Antiochia ad Cragum and Delos, using results stemming from surface survey and excavation to assess their potential integration within the now well-known agricultural boom of the 5th-7th centuries AD. Interdisciplinary and ethnographic data supplements the main archaeological catalogue and provides a rounded understanding of production and use. The publication of an excavated vinicultural vat in Rough Cilicia for the first time, along with the first complete discussion of the viticultural industry on Delos in Late Antiquity, underscores the significance of this book. The combined catalogue, analysis and discussion reinforce the noteworthy position viticulture held in Late Antiquity as an agricultural endeavour, sociocultural and economic factor engrained within eastern Mediterranean settlements.

Read more less

The Genesis of the Textile Industry from Adorned Nudity to Ritual Regalia documents and evaluates the changing role of fibre crafts and their evolving techniques of manufacture and also their ever-increasing wider application in the lives of the inhabitants of the earliest villages of the Ancient Near East. It is a broad-spectrum enquiry into fibre working in a broad swathe from Mesopotamia across Persia and Anatolia to the Nile Valley. It focuses, however, on the southern Levant from incipient sedentism in the Natufian culture, c. 13,000 cal BCE to the Ghassulian culture, c. 4500-3800/3700 cal BCE. This is the first comprehensive study addressing the fibre technologies of the southern Levant on a long chronological axis. Currently, fibre crafts play only a minor role in archaeological thinking. This research demonstrates the magnitude and also the indispensable role that fibre crafts have played in the quotidian events, activities and practices of the inhabitants of the region. It has created an awareness of the substantial, often invisible, presence of fibre-craft products which was hitherto lacking in archaeological thought.

Read more less

Bar Locks and Early Church Security in the British Isles examines the evidence for the measures taken to make church buildings secure or defensible from their earliest times until the later medieval period. In particular it examines the phenomenon of ‘bar locks’ which the author identifies in many different contexts throughout England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Bar locks take various forms and can be made of different materials, but they all provide a means of locking a door by placing a bar behind it from the inside which is then secured onto the door frame or housings on adjacent walls. The most dramatic examples are provided by thick wooden bars slotted into recesses incorporated in the adjacent door jambs. The volume describes and lists all the examples identified by the author and also publishes his photographs of the evidence for the first time. The recognition of the role of bar locks in securing churches led the author to consider further measures which may have been introduced to enhance church security; these measures could Have had major implications for structural change and design in the buildings. These supplementary protective requirements and methods for achieving them are many and various and are also considered in the volume.

Read more less

Landscapes of Human Evolution is an edited volume in honour of John Gowlett. John has a wide range of research interests primarily focused on the human genus Homo, and is a world leader in understanding the cognitive and behavioural preconditions necessary for the emergence of complex behaviours such as language and art. John is also a leader in investigating the early history of fire use and control in relation to social action and hominin communication. Landscapes of Human Evolution seeks to mirror John’s research profile and explores some of the most recent thinking regarding human evolution from the biological and cognitive development of our human ancestors, to the behavioural adaptations necessary to survive changing Pleistocene landscapes and environments. Specifically, Landscapes of Human Evolution focuses on the development of large hominin brains and bipedal locomotion; hominin interactions with landscape; and the amplification of complex hominin behaviours and social structures from the control of fire through to changing lithic technologies. Such an overview of the development of human ancestral species from a biological, cognitive, social, and behavioural perspective is particularly timely given the many recent advances in our understanding of the complexities of human evolution.

Read more less

Wonders Lost and Found: A celebration of the archaeological work of Professor Michael Vickers comprises, in all, twenty-one contributions, all on archaeological themes, written by friends and colleagues of Professor Michael Vickers, commemorating his contribution to archaeology. The contributions, reflecting the wide interests of Professor Vickers, range chronologically from the Aegean Bronze Age, to the use made of archaeology by dictators of the 19th and 20th centuries. Seven contributions are related to the archaeology of Georgia, where the Professor has worked most recently, and has made his home.

Read more less

Ephyra-Epirus: The Mycenaean Acropolis presents the results of the 1975-1986 and 2007-2008 excavations on the prehistoric-Mycenaean acropolis of Ephyra, one of the most important Bronze Age sites of Epirus. Ephyra is a small coastal fortified site in the region of the lower Acheron valley and the only one that has been systematically excavated, producing impressive and, in some cases, unique Bronze Age remains (architectural, burial, pottery, artefacts). It stands on a high hill, in an exceptional position that overlooks and commands the lower Acheron valley and provides easy access both to the nearby Glykis Limin, the Ionian sea and the hinterland. Moreover, it is surrounded by three successive perivoloi, two of which (middle and lower) belong to LH III times, with a monumental south entrance gate. Ephyra fits the criteria of a major fortified settlement, as it covers an important and strategic prehistoric citadel, cemetery, residence and port of call for those travelling to the West. Strictly based on the archaeological data presented, this study suggests that the acropolis had a permanent Mycenaean population during the entire LH III period and continued to thrive after the collapse of Mycenaean centres until (and including) the Archaic period. Finally, it is tempting to suggest a correlation of the archaeological record with the Homeric tradition (Homeric Efýra, Od.a..259,b.238).

Read more less

The Development of an Iron Age and Roman Settlement Complex at The Park and Bowsings, near Guiting Power, Gloucestershire outlines the excavation of a small Iron Age and Roman settlement complex near Guiting Power in the Cotswolds. A relatively undefended farmstead of middle Iron Age date was abandoned, to be followed by an adjacent, more substantial, ditched enclosure of the mid to later Iron Age, which appears to have been a stronghold of higher status, with less directly agrarian associations. This latter site became dilapidated or was perhaps slighted during the latest Iron Age or early Roman period, with a Romanised farmstead developing over the traditional habitation area, thus providing evidence for occupation until the late 4th century AD. The sequence of settlement indicates social, economic, and environmental changes occurring in the area from the 'proto-Dobunnic' to late Roman periods. Excavation of pits at the site has provided the basis for experimental investigation of grain storage.

Read more less

Experimental Archaeology: Making, Understanding, Story-telling is based on the proceedings of a two-day workshop on experimental archaeology at the Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies at Athens in 2017, in collaboration with UCD Centre for Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture. Scholars, artists and craftspeople explore how people in the past made things, used and discarded them, from prehistory to the Middle Ages. The papers include discussions of the experimental archaeological reconstruction and likely past experience of medieval houses, and also about how people cast medieval bronze brooches, or sharpened Bronze Age swords, made gold ornaments, or produced fresco wall paintings using their knowledge, skills and practices. The production of ceramics is explored through a description of the links between Neolithic pottery and textiles, through the building and testing of a Bronze Age Cretan pottery kiln, and through the replication and experience of Minoan figurines. The papers in this volume show that experimental archaeology can be about making, understanding, and storytelling about the past, in the present.

Read more less

The Busy Periphery: Urban Systems of the Balkan and Danube Provinces (2nd – 3rd c. AD) considers the reconstruction of the urban geography of the Balkan and Danube provinces at the time of the Severan dynasty. Four basic parameters governed the focus of research: the origin and socio-economic character of the settlements, their size, micro-location, and the size of their administrative territories. The principal goal was to map the variable developments of the urban network, both between and within the sub-regions that constituted this part of the Roman Empire. This line of inquiry helped in bridging the gap between the regional and the general. In the process of explaining the apparent gaps in the urban map of the study-region or the differential growth of the individual towns and settlements, we were inevitably faced with the question of the role of towns in Roman provincial society and in the economy in general, and with the interpretation of the basic prerequisites for their emergence and prosperity.

Read more less

Transport amphorae are one of the best archaeological indicators for evaluating the economy and trade of societies in the ancient world. Scambi e commerci in area vesuviana: i dati delle anfore dai saggi stratigrafici I.E. (Impianto Elettrico) 1980-81 nel Foro di Pompei, produced by researchers from the University of Cadiz and the Ca' Foscari University of Venice, includes the study of nearly five hundred of these commercial containers, recovered during the pioneering stratigraphic excavations carried out in 1980-1981 at the Forum of Pompeii, called conventionally "Impianto Elettrico". The work represents the first Pompeian monograph dedicated exclusively to the analysis of the amphoric evidence brought to light by archaeological excavation activities in the city buried by the eruption of Vesuvius and analyses in diachronic perspective the main productions in circulation between the VI / V BC and the year 79 AD. The chapters of the volume offer the reader data relating to archaic amphorae, Greek amphorae and Italic wine amphorae from the Republican era, which draw a commercial panorama of great vitality. The African amphorae, following Punic traditions, are then reviewed; then follow the Punic-Gaditan garum amphorae, identified for the first time in the Vesuvian area in this study; le Dressel 21-22, containers for the Italic fish-salting trade and, finally, the productions of the late Republican and Julio-Claudian period. The volume is completed by a series of complementary archaeometric studies carried out on some of the amphorae (paleocontent organic residue analysis and petrographic characterization of the fabrics). All this material, analyzed with an integrated and interdisciplinary approach, allows us to draw multiple conclusions, fundamental to understanding the rich and articulated daily history of Pompeii, its merchants and its inhabitants (the consumers to whom the amphorae were intended) but also useful to better define the Economic History of some of the circum-Mediterranean regions (from Gades to the Aegean) with which Pompeii had strong trade ties in Antiquity, as evidenced by the amphorae presented here.

Read more less

A wide-ranging exploration of Time as experienced and contemplated. Included are offerings on ancient Mesopotamian archaeology, literature and religion, Biblical texts and archaeology, Chinese literature and philosophy, and Islamic law. In addition, the majority of the papers specifically address issues of differences and similarities between cultures, with or without actual cultural contact. This volume is the publication of a conference designed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Midwest branch of the American Oriental Society, held at St. Mary’s University in Notre Dame, Indiana, in February 2017.

Read more less

This volume is a product of the 13th International Conference on Archaeological Prospection 2019, which was hosted by the Department of Environmental Science in the Faculty of Science at the Institute of Technology Sligo. The conference is held every two years under the banner of the International Society for Archaeological Prospection and this was the first time that the conference was held in Ireland. New Global Perspectives on Archaeological Prospection draws together over 90 papers addressing archaeological prospection techniques, methodologies and case studies from 33 countries across Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America, reflecting current and global trends in archaeological prospection. At this particular ICAP meeting, specific consideration was given to the development and use of archaeological prospection in Ireland, archaeological feedback for the prospector, applications of prospection technology in the urban environment and the use of legacy data. Papers include novel research areas such as magnetometry near the equator, drone-mounted radar, microgravity assessment of tombs, marine electrical resistivity tomography, convolutional neural networks, data processing, automated interpretive workflows and modelling as well as recent improvements in remote sensing, multispectral imaging and visualisation.

Read more less