Search results for ""Archaeopress""

The Seminar for Arabian Studies is the only international academic forum that meets annually for the presentation of research in the humanities on the Arabian Peninsula. It focuses on the fields of archaeology, architecture, art, epigraphy, ethnography, history, language, linguistics, literature, and numismatics from the earliest times to the present day. A wide range of original and stimulating papers presented at the Seminar is published in the Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies and reflects the dynamism and scope of the interdisciplinary event. The Proceedings present the cutting edge of new research on Arabia and include reports of new discoveries in the Peninsula. They are published each spring in time for the subsequent Seminar, which is held in July. The main foci of the Seminar in 2015, in descending order of the number of papers presented in each session were North Arabia, South Arabia and Aksum, Archaeological Survey and Field Methods, Bronze and Iron Ages in Eastern Arabia, Islamic Archaeology, and Neolithic Archaeology. In addition, there were sessions on Recent Cultural History in Arabia, and Heritage Management in Arabia, as well as a special session on the Nabataean world titled ‘Beyond the “rose-red” city: the hinterland of Petra and Nabatean rural sites’, which featured a total of six papers. This volume also includes notes in memoriam on Professor Andrzej Zaborski (1942–2014), Professor Ordinarius at the Jagellonian University of Cracow, who specialized in Afro-Asiatic linguistics, Semitic and Cushitic in particular.

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Megalithic monuments from Neolithic Europe have long been considered as rough copies of the monumental architectures built by the first civilizations of the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean. When radiocarbon dating jeopardized this diffusionist pattern, though, specialists could not but wonder why and how these Neolithic societies, usually considered as small ‘village communities’, had erected such monuments. In order to answer these questions and seek explanations in the social, political or religious contexts of recent or present megalith-building societies, the ethnological frame of references has been referred to on a regular basis. This volume comprises the papers presented by prehistorians and ethnologists at the two multi-disciplinary round tables held in Strasburg in May 2014 and May 2015. Their purpose was, with the help of both case studies and more synthetic works, to discuss how the patterns drawn from the observation of ‘living’ megalithic societies have been used to try and shed light on the functioning of European Neolithic societies, the epistemological problems raised by this transposition and the relevance of ethnology-based archeological explanations. The book is composed of three sections: the first one deals with some methodological reflections, the second and third ones with the ‘living’ or recent megalithisms of respectively the Indonesian Archipelago and Ethiopia.

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Papers from the First Iberoamerican Conference on Spatial Archaeology held in 2013 at the University of Cantabria, Spain. The subjects include theoretical contexts of spatial archaeology, relationship between archaeological and ethnographical research, micro-site studies and the interpretation of the environment from archaeo-historical contextualization.

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The overall purpose of this book is to provide a foundation for Samoan students to become the custodians of the historical narrative based on Archaeological research. Issues that are explored are; Do ancient remains matter in contemporary Samoa? What is the chronological status, and spatial relationship of archaeological monuments found in Samoa? Is the settlement pattern stable over the past 3000 years that Samoa has been populated and/or does central places emerge trough time? Previous efforts from the outside during the 1960 -70 of introducing Archaeology to Samoa that used archaeological methods, historical linguistics and ethno-history to interpret the Samoan past are assessed in regard to the development in Samoa but also in a wider West-Polynesian context. The book also contains data and discussions on our three-year program for archaeology at the large and important Pulemelei mound in Savai’i during 2002-2004, some of which has not been published before. Results and further implications of these investigations that were followed up by an eight-year program where the author introduced courses in Archaeology at The National University of Samoa are also presented and discussed. These efforts served as a foundation to create a Bachelors program for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Management. Results from our archaeological field schools, collaborations with the Museum of Samoa and interview projects on Cultural Heritage Management, education and legislation are also discussed here. They provide a foundation to understand the role of and the Historical Cultural Heritage in the past and present Samoa and how to move on to manage and protect this heritage in the future.

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This is the first memoir by an internationally known archaeological scientist, and one who has been particularly research active for over fifty years in the broad field of bioarchaeology. Written with humour and a critical concern to understand the nature of his life and that of our species. It provides a very readable and original account of a life embracing field and laboratory work from Orkney to Egypt and Mongolia to Peru. The diverse research extends from human fossils, to cemetery studies and bog bodies, to dogs, hair chemistry, bone pathology, soils and vitrification. He has similarly been concerned about the nature of culture, the impact of stress on individuals, and theoretical issues in archaeological science. He argues that we are advanced primates, and can’t be divorced from a scientific and ethological perspective. Indeed, he sees culture as derived from a complex interwoven range of thought, from the usefully adaptive to the highly maladaptive creative thinking which can grade into destructive social pathology. Our limited ability to perceive accurately has resulted in the creation of a plethora of dubious beliefs, from religions to political elitism and fanaticism. Placed in the world of today, with the perspective of our long past, the author feels that it is difficult not to feel coldly sober and doubtful about the future of our species. But we are not extinct yet! Beginning life as a traumatised baby and school failure, Don retired as emeritus professor of archaeological science in the University of York.

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Egyptians went to great lengths to protect their dead from the omnipresent threat of robbery by incorporating specially developed architectural features in their tombs. However, the architecture of tomb security has rarely been studied as a subject in its own right and is usually treated as a secondary topic in publications of a scholarly nature, which tend to regard its role as incidental to the design of the tomb rather than perhaps being the driving force behind it. This issue had been raised in the early Twentieth Century by Reisner (1908: 11), who suggested that the rapid evolution of Egyptian tomb substructures was as a result of the desire for tomb security and more ostentatious tombs, rather than a development spurred by religious or funerary practices. Taking this premise much further, this book presents an in-depth analysis of the architecture of tomb security in Egypt from the Predynastic Period (c. 5000–4000 BC) until the early Fourth Dynasty (c. 2500 BC) by extrapolating data on the security features of published tombs from the whole of Egypt and gathering it together for the first time in one accessible database. Using the information assembled it adds new information to the current body of knowledge concerning the architecture of tomb security and explains many of the underlying reasons behind their adoption. By thematically analysing these features in order to draw conclusions it also demonstrates that many aspects of the architecture of the Egyptian tomb over this period, in both royal and private contexts–whilst subject to changing tastes, needs and ideologies–had indeed originated as the result of the need to protect the tomb or improve its security.

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Although most of the animal remains recorded throughout the archaeological excavations consist usually of large assemblages of discarded and fragmented bones, it is possible to yield articulated animal skeletons in some cases. Most of them have been usually picked up from sacred and/or funerary contexts, but not all of them might fit necessarily in ritual and symbolic interpretations, and not all of the structured deposit of animal remains may be explained due to anthropic factors. In addition, zooarchaeology has traditionally focused on animal domestication, husbandry and economy, and species identification above all, shutting out further discussion about these type of findings. Moreover, the limited condition of the data is also another issue to bear in mind. Thus, the aim of this study has been to draw up a literature review of the structured deposits of animal remains during the third and second millennia BC in the Ancient Near East for its subsequent classification and detailed interpretation. In this survey it has been attested that not only most of the articulated animal remains have been found in ritual and/or funerary contexts but also that all species recorded- but some exceptions-are domestic. Hence there is a broad religious attitude towards the main domesticated animals of human economy in the Ancient Near East, based on the closeness of these animals to the human sphere. Therefore, it seems that domesticated animals were powerful constituents in the cultural landscape of these regions, never simply resources.

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This work presents an anthropological study of crania and mandibles from the osteological collection from Chinchero (Peru), currently housed at the American Archaeological and Ethnological Museum of the Complutense University of Madrid. From 1968 to 1971, a team of archaeologists of the Spanish Scientific Mission in Hispanic America excavated the site of Chinchero, a small village located in the Andean high plateau near Cusco. As the result of this mission, remains from 8 single burials and two ossuaries dated to pre-colonial times were exhumed and brought to Spain. The excavated area included an ancient palace and several administrative and religious structures built by Tupac Yupanqui, who ruled the Inca Empire between 1471 and 1493. The surroundings of the catholic church, erected over one of these buildings, were excavated as well.

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In this book Anne Teather develops a new approach to understanding the Neolithic flint mines of southern Britain. These mines include some of the earliest - and also some of the largest - monumental constructions that transformed the landscape of Britain during the period of social change that accompanied the transition from foraging to farming 6000 years ago. Yet the sophisticated architecture of these mines and the unique deposits that they contained have received relatively little attention from archaeologists. This book draws together the results of an extensive analysis of archival records and material to illustrate how these mines and the activities that took place in them can be seen as integral to Neolithic life. Previous studies of the flint mines have focused on the functional demands of flint extraction and the ways in which the raw flint material was distributed and processed into tools such as axes. Yet there is compelling evidence that the voids – shafts and galleries created through the process of flint extraction – were not merely the abandoned features of flint exploitation but instead should be seen as dynamic and monumental architectural spaces where creative and meaningful social actions took place. This interpretation is evidenced through the recognition of repeated motifs of chalk art inscribed on the walls of the mines and in the deliberate placement and deposition of artefacts. These artefacts include both naturalistic and abstract forms made of chalk, items that have not previously been recognised as a cohesive class of material. The book draws together for the first time a comprehensive typology, chronology and classification system for prehistoric chalk artefacts. The concept of artefact is broadened to include natural materials whose selection and placement in specific archaeological contexts is pivotal in understanding depositional complexity and the symbolic meaning conveyed by elements of the natural world.

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This study focuses on ceramic finds from the excavations (1996-2006) of the Episcopal Group of Sidi Jdidi, the ancient city of Aradi, in the hinterland of Hammamet in Tunisia, directed by Dr Aïcha Ben Abed-Ben Khader and Prof. Michel Fixot. The aim of these excavations was to understand the processes of the (evolution and) insertion of Christian monuments into the pre-existent town and the distribution of the liturgical and economic functions within various buildings of this ecclesiastic centre. The ceramological study contributed to attaining this aim by suggesting dates for each phase of the construction, occupation and abandonment of the Episcopal group, as well as evidence for the function of each space. Furthermore, this study has documented the (strong) rural and regional characteristics of the ceramic assemblages: these are very different from those of the large-scale excavations at Carthage and indicate a pattern of self-sufficient consumption supplied by purely intra-regional trade. The author is a Research Fellow of The National Museum of Western Art (Tokyo, Japan), and Research Associate of the Centre Camille Jullian (Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, MCC, CCJ, F-13000, Aix-en-Provence, France).

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The VIII Workshop ArcheoFOSS, Free, Libre and Open Source Software e Open Format for archeological research, was held in Catania, at The Department of Mathematics and Informatics of Catania University, on June 18-19, 2013. The workshop was attended by about 60 Italian scientists and specialists of open source technology for cultural heritage and archaeology. During the workshop, several original contributions were presented in well attended talks, followed by lively Q&A and open discussion among the attenders. The Workshop sessions were organized around general themes: Usage and application of Geographical Information Systems; 3D modeling; Data Management. The papers related to oral contribution have been expanded, revised, peer reviewed and collected here according to the same themes. The contributed talks have been also complemented by 3D modeling and digital visual effects tutorials. A lively barcamp covering the main issues related with the main topics of the conference concluded the meeting. It is hoped that the present collection of papers will provide readers and experts useful ideas and research perspectives beyond the people attending the workshop.

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This volume is the second of two reports on archaeological excavations undertaken ahead of the eastern expansion of Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) which lies in the northern watershed region of Northamptonshire at its border with Warwickshire. The excavations, covering 178 hectares, recorded one of the most extensive Iron Age farming settlements yet discovered in the British Isles. It comprised at least five individual sites of house clusters and enclosures, spread around the rim of a shallow valley overlooking around 100 hectares of open pasture. At its peak between 400 BC and 100 BC the settlement would have contained up to 100 circular buildings. Volume 2 describes the excavations of four of these individual sites, undertaken at various times by MOLA Northampton (then Northamptonshire Archaeology) at The Lodge and Long Dole, by Foundations Archaeology at Crick Hotel, and by Cotswold Archaeology at Nortoft Lane, Kilsby. The project was managed by RPS. The site reports are followed by a wide-ranging discussion, putting the discoveries here and at Covert Farm, Crick (Volume 1) into the context of Iron Age settlement patterns and dynamics in the East Midland region.

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This monograph examines one specific hoard horizon, which is connected to the Mongol invasion of Hungary (1241-42). With this catastrophic event, the historical context is both well-known and much discussed by contemporaries and modern scholars. This opportunity to examine material connected to a sole event, but across a broad spectrum of geographical space and social class, is unique for hoard horizons in Hungary, and, for that matter, in Europe. Though this study focuses on hoards connected to the Mongol invasion, it is also relevant beyond this specific context. The work addresses issues concerning hoard finds and material culture, and examines how finds are related when found in different contexts (a hoard, grave, or settlement feature), thus the questions raised and conclusions reached are important for other medieval hoard finds. By comparing hoards related to a single historical event to a contemporaneous site – containing a village, a church, and a cemetery – assessments can be made regarding how hoards reflect social issues such as stratification, wealth, status, and fashion.

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The remarkable preservation of the Early Bronze Age village of Afragola on the Campania Plain of Southern Italy is unmatched in Europe. The site was buried under nearly a meter of volcanic ash deposited by the Avellino eruption of Vesuvius ca. 3945+10 cal. BP. The site boasts a large number of well-preserved structures, built features and organic materials and thus provides a laboratory-type setting in which to investigate variability in artifact distribution and activity areas across a single village. This research utilizes micromorphological analysis of thin sections of undisturbed sediment collected at the site to understand how people used living spaces, organized daily activities and, when possible, to connect village life to broad issues related to the emergence of social complexity on the Campanian Plain. In particular, micromorphology is used to identify the type and range of human activities, the function of features and buildings, and the intensity of site occupation. The micromorphological analysis at Afragola provides a unique example of a briefly occupied agricultural village with what appears to be minimally stratified social organization during the Early Bronze Age of southern Italy.

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This is the first dedicated and comprehensive study of glass beads from Early Medieval Ireland, presenting the first national classification, typology, dating, symbology and social performance of glass beads. Glass beads are one of the most visually stunning archaeological objects and they remain as popular a part of body ornament today as in the past. This continuing fascination is explained somewhat by the versatility of glass which can be rendered opaque or transparent and produced in a variety of colours. Glass has an almost mesmerising effect in its ability to reflect light, presenting not just a surface but also dimensional depths of shade and light. In this respect the crafting of glass beads as representations of the human eye may go some way towards explaining their enduring and universal popularity. Glass beads however are much more than this and their enduring appeal is also a reflection of their aesthetic and symbolic qualities. This book explores not only the importance of beads as a tool of archaeological research but also the relevance of beads in the social arena and their significance as markers of cultural and religious identity and symbols of status and age both in Ireland and further afield.

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This monograph is devoted to small forms of engraving on stone. It summarizes the archaeological material obtained during the course of excavations at the Rauchuvagytgyn I site (dated to 2500 years ago) in northern Chukotka. The book analyzes the content and semantics of the pictorial resources, and ethnic identification is made. The interpretive part of the study raises issues of an ideological character and brings one closer to the inaccessible realm of ideas and concepts of the ancients. This well-illustrated book is directed primarily toward archaeologists, ethnographers, historians, and fine art experts but will also be of interest to a broad range of readers.

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This is an important book. Too often in the past archaeologists have ignored or underestimated sea travel in early prehistory but the evidence has been growing and now it is presented to us in full in this thought provoking study. No longer can those interested in the human achievement neglect to take into account the astonishing achievements of our palaeolithic, mesolithic and neolithic ancestors. This book gives a full account of stone age seafaring presenting the archaeological evidence in the context of the changing world environment and uses ethnographic sources to broaden the readers understanding of the worlds earliest sea craft. It is essential reading for all concerned to understand the human condition. – Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe, Oxford The book is a comprehensive study of early navigation and its place in the development of human culture from the earliest times to the late Stone Age. This subject is very timely in light of increasing archaeological and palaeoanthropological evidence that the maritime environment had been mastered in prehistory. As the author rightly points out at the beginning of his book, the maritime environment can no longer be marginalised when portraying both hunter-gatherer and early agrarian prehistoric communities. The book is a valuable and inspiring work on a subject which had hitherto not enjoyed such in-depth treatment. It greatly enhances our perception of the beginnings of human culture and enriches it with comprehensive, convincing arguments that the maritime environment had been mastered by early humans. I congratulate the author on the effect he has achieved and on unearthing so many chronologically, geographically and thematically diverse sources. – Prof. Paweł Valde-Nowak, Jagiellonian University, Krakow The title of the book intrigues the reader and promises a fascinating read about issues approached from an innovatively broad perspective. Both the global territorial scope and the chronological range covering almost two million years of human cultural development are worthy of note. What we have here is an aspect of human activity which is often neglected and marginalised in scientific research, which is that directly related to the sea. The fact that up to 90% of Pleistocene coasts, which were after all heavily populated in the Stone Age, have been flooded in modern times is not conducive to large-scale research, as underlined by the author in the Introduction. The beginnings of human activity on the high seas are the subject of research in numerous scientific disciplines, all of which are discussed here. In writing this book the author has drawn on an exceptionally wide range of literature, mostly in English, owing to which the author’s own views, as well as those of other researchers whom he cites, are credible and convincing. – Dr hab. Krzysztof Cyrek, professor of Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń

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This book explores the experiences of rural communities who lived between the seventh and ninth centuries in central and eastern England. Combining archaeology with documentary, place-name and topographic evidences, it shows the way in which the settlements in which people lived provide a unique insight into social, economic and political conditions in ‘Middle Saxon’ England. The material derived from excavations within currently-occupied rural settlements represents a particularly informative dataset, and when combined with other evidence illustrates that the seventh to ninth centuries was a period of fundamental social change that impacted rural communities in significant and lasting ways. The transformation of settlement character was part of a more widespread process of landscape investment during the ‘Middle Saxon’ period, as rapidly stratifying social institutions began to manifest power and influence through new means. Such an analysis represents a significant departure from the prevailing scholarly outlook of the early medieval landscape, which continues to posit that the countryside of England remained largely unchanged until the development of historic villages from the ninth century onward. In this regard, the evidence presented by this book from currently-occupied rural settlements provides substantial backing to the idea that many historic villages emerged as part of a two-stage process which began during the ‘Middle Saxon’ period. Whilst it was only following subsequent change that recognisable later village plans began to take shape, key developments between the seventh and ninth centuries helped articulate the form and identity of rural centres, features that in many instances persisted throughout the medieval period and into the present day.

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The ancient harbor town of Dor/Dora in modern Israel has a history that spanned from the Bronze Age until the Late Roman Era. The story of its peoples can be assembled from a variety of historical and archaeological sources derived from the nearly thirty years of research at Tel Dor — the archaeological site of the ancient city. Each primary source offers a certain kind of information with its own perspective. In the attempt to understand the city during its Graeco-Roman years — a time when Dora reached its largest physical extent and gained enough importance to mint its own coins, numismatic sources provide key information. With their politically, socio-culturally and territorially specific iconography, Dora’s coins indeed reveal that the city was self-aware of itself as a continuous culture, beginning with its Phoenician origins and continuing into its Roman present.

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This volume is the first in a series of works detailing the archaeological investigations of the ager Rusellanus, in coastal southern Etruria, undertaken by the Alberese Archaeological Project. It focuses on the Roman temple and sanctuary dedicated to Diana Umbronensis, located at Scoglietto (Alberese – GR) on the ancient Tyrrhenian coast. In so doing it adds to the study of trade and settlement networks in ancient Italy, and provides new data on the character of Roman and late antique Etruria. The book discusses the changing aspect and character of the sanctuary over approximately eight centuries – from its foundation in the mid-2nd century BC and substantial refurbishment in the Antonine period, to its destruction in the 4th century AD and the varied use and reuse of the site through the following two centuries. It includes archaeological, historical and landscape studies, as well as detailed architectural and material culture studies for a composite interpretation of the site and its history.

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What became of towns following the official end of ‘Roman Britain’ at the beginning of the 5th century AD? Did towns fail? Were these ruinous sites really neglected by early Anglo-Saxon settlers and leaders? Developed new archaeologies are starting to offer alternative pictures to the traditional images of urban decay and loss revealing diverse modes of material expression, of usage of space, and of structural change. The focus of this book is to draw together still scattered data to chart and interpret the changing nature of life in towns from the late Roman period through to the mid-Anglo-Saxon period. The research centres on towns that have received sufficient archaeological intervention so that meaningful patterns can be traced. The case studies are arranged into three regional areas: the South-East, South-West, and Midlands. Individually each town contains varying levels of archaeological data, but analysed together these illustrate more clearly patterns of evolution. Much of the data exists as accessible but largely unpublished reports, or isolated within regional discussions. Detailed analysis, review and comparisons generate significant scope for modelling ‘urban’ change in England from AD 300-600. ‘Towns in the Dark’ dispels the simplistic myth of outright urban decline and failure after Rome, and demonstrates that life in towns often did continue with variable degrees of continuity and discontinuity.

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James Theodore Bent (1852-1897) was an Oxford-educated archaeologist, historian and explorer who dedicated his short life to researches in the Levant and Africa. In the winters of 1882-84 he and his wife, Mabel Hall-Dare, made extended tours of the Cycladic islands and in 1885 Bent published what has become a classic account of their wanderings and discoveries in what is now one of the best-loved regions of Greece. His island-by-island journals are a fascinating insight into Greek community living at the turn of the 19th century, and the work established Bent as a traveller of note. As might be expected, most of the major sites and sights are detailed, as well as references to customs and costumes, hospitality and hardship, history, folklore and myth. No account in English, then or since, has come close in terms of scope and achievement. (On a scholarly level, Bent was the first English archaeologist to undertake serious excavation work in the region and his findings on the small island of Antiparos (included here) are still referred to in current bibliographies.) As far as the publishers are aware, no English language edition of Bent’s Cyclades is currently easily available. This new edition of Bent’s 1885 work is accompanied by a newly commissioned biographical introduction and a series of notes including route-planner, and historical and archaeological summaries. ‘Tozer of Oxford sends me a charming book…by Theodore Bent…all about the Cyclades. (Dearly beloved child let me announce to you that this word is pronounced ‘Sick Ladies,’ – howsomdever certain Britishers call it ‘Sigh-claides.’)…’ (Edward Lear writes to Chichester Fortescue, Lord Carlingford [30 April 1885, San Remo])

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Tios/Tieion was intended to be a publication of the proceedings of a conference held at Filyos (ancient Tios/Tieion) in 2020. The conference had to be cancelled in common with other events due to Covid 19, though with the hope that it might take place eventually, a hope undermined by the sudden and premature death of Gocha Tsetskhladze, the co-organiser. Instead, we have a volume of ‘Precedings’, written when thoughts of the conference had not yet been abandoned. Several of the papers focus on aspects of Tios itself (the Acropolis, the Lower City and Coin Finds, written by scholars involved in the excavation). Its place in ancient geography and cartography is considered before we move on to the indigenous inhabitants of the surrounding area, the immediate and greater region (Paphlagonian Hadrianopolis, Hadrian’s visit to the region, the nature of the Phrygian kingdom), then the Turkish Black Sea region (rock-cut tunnels, Roman Heraclea Pontica, St John Chrysostom’s Monastery), and outwards to the western, northern and eastern shoreb /nb /nbs of the Black Sea, their inhabitants and hinterlands (monumental architecture in the temenos of Apollonbbn/ ia Pontica; Archaic Greek transport amphorae in the Getic hinterland; early Greek pottery in settlements and burials of the northern Black Sea region; the house of Pythes at Berezan; the Sindoi; religious customs at Tarasova Balka; the Mordvinovskii Barrow; and finally Greeks and locals in Pichvnari in Colchis). Overall, there are 21 chapters and 27 authors, drawn from Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria and beyond.

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Gallaecia Gothica offers a new interpretation of the Argimundus rebellion, one of the most difficult challenges of Reccared’s reign. There are no specific details of how the conspiracy came about, but the throne was seriously threatened. The Chronicle of John of Biclaro underlined the gravity of this menace in his description of the punishment suffered by the rebel and his collaborators. His categorical condemnation of the attempted overthrow of the monarch is unlike that given to any other uprising narrated in the Chronicle, and it shows the importance that the abbot of Biclaro gave it in his narration. The fact that the Chronicle notes that Argimundus was not only a member of the Aula Regia but also a dux prouinciae (duke of a province), combined with the status of Gallaecia as a newly conquered province, suggests that this was not just a palace conspiracy, but a genuine provincial revolt which could have ruined the political settlement established by Leovigild and Reccared. However, it is difficult to prove Argimundus’ ultimate aim: to replace Reccared on the Visigothic throne or, on the contrary, to restore the old Suevic kingdom in Gallaecia. This book uses numismatic and archaeological evidence seems to suggest the latter view.

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From Concept to Monument: Time and Costs of Construction in the Ancient World celebrates Janet DeLaine’s seminal work on Roman architecture and construction. One of the foremost scholars of the last decades, her pioneering research has offered important insights not only into individual structures in central Italy but also into the processes involved in creating ancient buildings. Her approach has provided important conceptual frameworks that have allowed scholars to understand Roman buildings in their proper social and economic contexts. The volume collects papers from an international conference held in Janet’s honour at Wolfson College, Oxford, in January 2020. The various contributions focus on modelling the costs of construction over the course of 2,500 years, from Bronze Age Greece to the early Middle Ages. They discuss both broader issues of methodology and particular case studies, with particular attention to the effort needed in the different steps of architectural creation, such as the exploitation of raw materials (e.g. quarries), transport, and the construction processes on building sites. The papers not only cover a wide chronological and geographical area of the ancient world but also take up many of the themes explored by Janet throughout her career on Roman architecture, urbanism, building technologies, materials, and the principles of design. The wide range of papers reflects the scope and vibrancy of Janet’s scholarship on Roman architecture and her enormous contribution to the discipline.

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In this account, Alexandra Richardson reveals (as she says in her introduction) her quest to get to know a ‘remarkable man who wholly dedicated his later life and finances to restoring and excavating what is surely one of the finest classical Greek sites in the Western Mediterranean. I rapidly began to be drawn in to the sketchy, sometimes speculative, details surrounding the remarkable Captain Hardcastle…I thought back to his unlit villa beside the theatrically shining temples, and the more I got to know the man, the more it seemed entirely in keeping with his personality that his former home should still be not be sharing the spotlight with the great monuments he was so intimately involved with. He remained a mysterious and private person who kept his own counsel throughout life. I was to discover that he wrote very few letters home to his family from the Far East, South Africa, Italy. And when he did write to the chosen few, I had to learn to read between the lines. Luckily his own family wrote to one another making mention of him…With so little to go on, it was just the sort of challenge that a researcher relishes. The Anglo-Italian theme was yet another appeal, my instinctive habitat. No full-scale biography had ever been written about him and thus I was not stepping on any toes. I had the field all to myself, piecing together a profile from many sources, set largely in a period of modern Sicilian history, the 1920s and early ‘30s rarely “popularised” by foreign writers. That was all how the four-year journey began...’ 'This book is the labour of years of research and scholarship. In Alexandra Richardson's book, the personality of Alexander Hardcastle comes to life in all its many facets. Her detailed account of the history of Agrigento is historically correct and written in a fluid style. Her descriptions of Sicily are accurate and lyrical, her cameos of Sicilians witty and a pleasure to read. Richardson's rigorous research describes his painful and determined iter from London to Girgenti, his stubborness and his resilience.' - Simonetta Agnello Hornby, 'The Almond Picker'

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12,000 years ago the area that now forms the southern North Sea was dry land: a vast plain populated by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. By 5,500 BC the entire area had disappeared beneath the sea as a consequence of rising sea levels. Until now, this unique landscape remained hidden from view and almost entirely unknown. The North Sea Palaeolandscape Project, funded by the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund, have mapped 23,000 km2 of this “lost world” using seismic data collected for mineral exploration. "Mapping Doggerland" demonstrates that the North Sea covers one of the largest and best preserved prehistoric landscapes in Europe. In mapping this exceptional landscape the project has begun to provide an insight into the historic impact of the last great phase of global warming experienced by modern man and to assess the significance of the massive loss of European land that occurred as a consequence of climate change.

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Cultural contacts and exchange are constituents of human behavior – ancient and modern. Within archaeology, particularly in that of Western Asia, the topic and related phenomena have been intensively studied during the last decades, leading to a re-evaluation of the cultural and economic, as well as physical landscapes throughout the ancient Near East. The eleven contributions in this book were delivered at a workshop held in 2016 at NYU’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World by renowned experts in their fields. They address the history of contacts and exchanges in the Bronze and Iron Ages using case studies from different regions and based on different types of sources. The contributions illustrate that the geographical dimension of cultural contacts and exchange networks within West Asia extends far beyond the boundaries of the previously defined contact zone of the ‘Ancient Near East’ and that other systems existed in adjacent regions (Egypt, Arabia as well as Iran, Central Asia, Africa, India, and South Asia), suggesting that the West Asian networks were also part of larger ones. At the same time, it has become clear that a closer look at single case studies of specific material culture datasets is important to better understand the dynamics, scale(s), and extent of contacts and exchanges. Contributing authors: Gojko Barjamovic (Harvard University), Celia J. Bergoffen (Fashion Institute of Technology, New York), Lorenzo D’Alfonso (NYU, New York), Nancy A. Highcock (The British Museum, London), Robert W. Homsher (San Francisco), Alice M. W. Hunt (University of Georgia, Athens), Marta Luciani (University of Vienna), Maria Grazia Masetti-Rouault (École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris), Beate Pongratz-Leisten (NYU, New York), Lisa Saladino Haney (Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh), Jonathan Valk (University of Helsinki).

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MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) was commissioned by RPS Group PLC, on behalf of Morris Homes, to undertake archaeological work on land at Upton Park south of Weedon Road, Northampton. Two adjacent palaeochannels crossed the western extent of the site and are likely to have dated to the Pleistocene period. The earliest evidence of human activity consisted of a background scatter of Neolithic flint. The first feature was an isolated barrow that was established in the early Bronze Age. A later unurned cremation was cut into the backfill of the recut ditch and radiocarbon dated to the end of the early Bronze Age or the beginning of the middle Bronze Age. At least one isolated early Bronze Age pit was found in another part of the site. Parts of two late Bronze Age/early Iron Age sinuous pit alignments were recorded over nearly 0.5km within the site with c257 pits revealed. An estimated 66% of these pits by volume were examined. This is the first time in the county since Wollaston Quarry in the 1990s that pit alignments were seen over such a distance within a single planning application. The archaeological excavation of these has resulted in them being by some distance the two most examined pit alignments in the county, if not the region. Both had most likely fallen out of use by the early Iron Age, but a middle Iron Age date should not be ruled out. In the northern and southern pit alignments there were 16 and seven areas respectively where there were different variables in the pits such as circular or rectangular plan form (and some pit areas had be recut by ditches), which may suggest they had been constructed and maintained by different gangs/communities over probably hundreds of years. Relatively little detailed work has been recorded on this enigmatic feature type. The extensive work and examination of the two pit alignments at Upton has allowed a typology of the variable areas of pits (and related ditches) to be postulated. A detailed discussion has compared these features in a local, regional and national context. Future recommendations for excavation of pit alignments have been recorded. A Roman trackway lay within the western part of the development area and it was part of the routeway network located around the nearby Duston Roman town. Medieval drainage ditches and field systems relating to part of the medieval settlement of Upton lay within the eastern part of the development area.

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Contact, Circulation, Exchange collects ten articles focusing on worked hard materials of animal origin (shell, tusk, bone, antler) ranging chronologically from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages. The authors have varied academic backgrounds that enhance the archaeological analyses carried out, often at first hand, on numerous collections from the Old and New Worlds. Evidence of contact between past populations with distinct technical traditions is found in the dynamic imposed by using certain craft methods, such as stone pressure flaking (7,000 BC). Another kind of stimulus may have given rise to a tool with a specific use in the migration period, the sumak (300 BC-600 AD). Apart from the attraction of a novel technique or a new piece of equipment, it was the attraction of the raw material and the hunting sites that formed the guiding principle behind the mobility of groups within a territory, in early (35,000-12,000 BC) as in recent prehistory (up to 1500 AD). Weaponry, adornments and/or the animal species used are then powerful markers of the extent of trade routes and networks, and even of craftsmanship when related to village settlements (4,500-2,500 BC). In antiquity, the exotic rather than exogenous origin of materials was used to develop unique skills in the service of cults. In the diffusion of figurines, representation took precedence over the unique or sought-after nature of the material, whose origin remained nonetheless animal.

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The twenty-second Current Research in Egyptology conference was held at the Université Paul Valéry- Montpellier 3 on 26th–30th September 2022. From 250 attendees in person and online, young scholars in Egyptology from different institutions all over the world presented ninety-four papers and twenty-four posters. September 1822 witnessed a milestone event that marked the birth of scientific Egyptology: the young Jean-François Champollion from Figeac outlined the principles of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing in his famous Lettre à M. Dacier. 2022 also marked the centenary of another important milestone in Egyptology: the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. For these reasons, the congress celebrated the history of Egyptology and associated research with dedicated sessions, making them a focal point of the event. The present volume collects thirty-two papers on various topics from the history of Egyptology to archaeology and material culture, from the Predynastic to the Roman period, through history and epigraphy, as well as new technologies.

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The Lady Gardeners to whom the chapters of this book are devoted are those women who, from the eighteenth century to the present day, have been working in a garden, from imagining and creating it, to sowing, planting, pruning, painting and photographing plants, and moving from garden design to more urgent themes such as landscape conservation and environmental issues. However, and this is the reason why this collection differs from other excellent models that deal with women and gardens, the essays also dwell on the personal lives and experiences of women who have lived in gardens, and enjoyed landscape, jotting simple notes in their diaries or working as landscape architects, describing it in stories for children, portraying strange exotic plants in their paintings, assembling bunches of flowers to decorate their home, and defending such spaces with their strong commitment to preservation. From England, and its long well-documented garden history, they have moved to Africa, the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, the Far East: the chapters in this book thus also confirm the vocation of the English garden that can enlarge its boundaries, transform and adapt itself to modern times and distant climates without foregoing its old roots.

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Vol. 20 of Antiguo Oriente for 2022. AntOr is the annual, peer-reviewed, scholarly journal published by the Center of Studies of Ancient Near Eastern History (CEHAO). The journal publishes manuscripts related to the history of societies of the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean from the Paleolithic to the Early Islamic Period. Antiguo Oriente publishes articles and book reviews in Spanish, English and French.

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This volume presents a selection of papers given at the General Session 5 (Metal Ages / ges des métaux) of the XIX UISPP World Congress, originally planned to take place in early September 2020 in Meknes (Morocco), but postponed due to the outbreak of the worldwide Covid pandemic and eventually held as a virtual on-line event from 2 to 7 September 2021. Despite those challenging circumstances, and very much to the credit of the Meknes organizing committee, the Congress turned out to be a resounding success, with many scholars, particularly from African countries attending who would not previously have had an opportunity to participate in such a forum. The eight papers provide a vivid and representative cross section of the wide range of subjects covered in this session and range from the Chalcolithic in Northwest Africa and Iberia to the Late Bronze Age in Ireland and the Iron Age in Central Europe. They include artefact as well as landscape studies and attempt to shed light on issues as diverse as the principles of chronology building, the role of alleged ‘defensive’ enclosures, pottery studies, use-wear analysis of Iron Age weaponry and the Hallstatt/La Tène transition in the eastern Alps.

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Suburbia and Rural Landscapes in Medieval Sicily presents the results of the main ongoing archaeological and historical research focusing on medieval suburbia and rural sites in Sicily. It is thus intended to update traditional views regarding the evolution of this territory from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages by bringing into the picture new data from archaeological excavations undertaken at several sites across Sicily, new information from surveys of written sources, and new reflections based on the analysis of both material and documentary sources. The volume is divided into thematic areas: Urbanscapes, suburbia, hinterlands; Inland and mountainous landscapes; Changes in rural settlement patterns; and Defence and control of the territory. The essays underline the fundamental contribution of archaeological research in Sicily to the debate on the formation of early medieval landscapes at the crossroads between the Byzantine and Islamic worlds. A comparison with other research areas and constant dialogue with historical sources constitute essential elements for advancing our knowledge of the rural and suburban world of Sicily as a case study illustrating wider Mediterranean dynamics.

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The Human Brain in Ancient Egypt provides a medical and historical re-evaluation of the function and importance of the human brain in ancient Egypt. The study evaluates whether treatment of the brain during anthropogenic mummification was linked to medical concepts of the brain. The notion that excerebration was carried out to rid the body of the brain continues to dominate the literature, and the assumption that the functions of the brain were assigned to the heart and therefore the brain was not needed in the afterlife persists. To assess the validity of these claims the study combines three investigations: a radiological survey of 33 subjects using the IMPACT mummy database to determine treatment of the cranium; an examination of the medical papyri for references to the human brain; and an inspection of the palaeopathological records to look for evidence of cranial injuries and ensuing medical treatments. The results refute long held claims regarding the importance of the human brain in ancient Egypt. Many accepted facets of mummification can no longer hold up to scrutiny. Mummification served a religious ideology in which the deceased was transformed and preserved for eternity. Treatment of the brain was not determined to be significantly different from the visceral organs, and the notion that the brain was extracted because it served no purpose in the afterlife was found to be unsubstantiated.

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Between 2014 and 2015 in the excavations of the church of San Calocero in Albenga (Savona - Italy) two burials of young post-medieval women with particular and anomalous characteristics were brought to light. The first inhumation was prone and placed in a deep grave isolated from the cemetery; the second had partially burnt bone remains and was covered by an accumulation of large stones. The find immediately had a vast international echo, which already during the excavation led to the organization of a first in-depth scientific meeting. Sit tibi terra gravis - Anomalous burials between the medieval and modern ages publishes the proceedings of a 2016 international conference of the same name. The contributions explore the phenomenon of anomalous burials on a European scale, with an interdisciplinary reading between archaeology, history, physical and cultural anthropology. Thirty-three contributions by sixty-two scholars are divided into four sessions: “Deviant burials”: case studies from the Italian territory; “Deviant burials” from European contexts; Anthropology and Archaeology compared; The indicators in the tombs, allowing to develop a broad and articulated study path on this phenomenon.

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The Skyband Group is an impressive elite site in the urban core of Copán, Honduras, which is dominated by the palatial compounds of Maya sub-royal nobles. Such grandees often bore court titles showing that they were clients and officials of kings, but also competitors for political power, especially just before the dynastic collapse around AD 800. Penn State University excavations in 1990 and 1997 revealed large vaulted buildings, richly embellished with facade sculpture, and an elaborate carved throne in the form of a sky band, replete with celestial images of the sun, moon, and Venus. Artifacts and burials retrieved from these buildings and smaller ancillary structures are characteristic of elite residences, but the iconography of the facades and the throne also reveals connections with Copán’s royal dynasty and efforts by the last ruler to shore up his faltering kingdom. Activity at the Skyband Group and other sites in the Copán valley continued after the abrupt political debacle, an example of the ‘slow collapse’ process that is increasingly evident among the great Maya centers in the southern lowlands of Mesoamerica.

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This special issue of ARAMAZD presents a collection of papers dedicated to Ruben S. Badalyan, a leading specialist in prehistoric archaeology of the Caucasus region. Born September 23, 1957 in Yerevan, he obtained his Master of Arts in History from Yerevan State University in 1979. Upon completion of his studies, he began working at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography (IAE) of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR and in 2007 he was appointed as the Head of the Department of Early Archaeology of the IAE NAS RA, a role he continues to perform to date.

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