Search results for ""archaeopress""

Hillforts are among the most dramatic and visually striking of prehistoric monuments in the British Isles. Dorset, in southern England, is particularly rich in these Iron Age earthwork enclosures, with over 30 examples being so far recorded, including the internationally famous sites of Maiden Castle, Hod Hill, Badbury Rings and Hambledon Hill. Many have been the subject of archaeological investigation, such as the excavations conducted at Maiden Castle in the 1930s by Tessa and Mortimer Wheeler, but few have, to date, been intensively examined. This volume sets out the results of a detailed programme of non-intrusive geophysical survey conducted across the Dorset hillforts, generating detailed subsurface maps of archaeological features, in the hope of better resolving the phasing, form and internal structure of these iconic sites. The dataset presented here not only helps to change our perception of what hillforts were, how they functioned and what went on within them, but also provides a way of assessing their longevity, reconsidering how they were perceived and reused in subsequent periods. Given the oft-cited association between the Dorset enclosures and the Durotriges tribe, who are thought to have occupied the area in the Later Iron Age, serious consideration is also for the first time given to the belief that hillforts formed the focus of conflict between the native tribes and the armies of imperial Rome in the first century AD.

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This book centres on the anthropological study of two late 8th century BC monumental graves, designated as T144 and T105, at the ancient necropolis of Paroikia at Paros. The study investigates inter-island features of the human record, observable as ingrained traces in the skeletal record. These have particular significance as they may relate to Parian endeavours in the northern Aegean to colonise Thasos. Through the ‘Paros Polyandreia Anthropological Project,’ it was possible to gain insights into aspects of the human environment and experience in the Parian context. A considerable population sample of cremated male individuals was available, shedding light on trends that would have involved Thasos; and discerning further facets of the human condition during the Late Geometric to the Early Archaic periods in the ancient Hellenic world. The report integrates the basic anthropological data, evaluations and assessments derived from the study of the human skeletal record of Polyandreia T144, and T105. Bioarchaeological and forensic anthropological research results include the morphometric analyses of biological developmental growth and variability in relation to manifestations of acquired skeleto-anatomic changes, along with inquiries into the demographic dynamics, and the palaeopathologic profile of the individuals involved. Such intra-site juxtaposition afforded the possibility to deliberate on issues of the intended purpose, function, and symbolic meaning of the two funerary activity areas, and to reflect on the organizational abilities and capacities of the Parians in political and military affairs. Moreover, inter-site evaluations of the burial grounds of Orthi Petra of Eleutherna-Crete, Plithos of Naxos, Athenian Demosion Sema, Pythagoreion of Samos, and Rhodes make possible comparisons of taphonomic conditions, with cremated materials’ metric analyses, and reflections on aspects of the funerary customs and practices of the interring of cremated war dead.

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This book addresses the rock engravings on the wonderstone hills just outside Ottosdal, North West province, South Africa. Wonderstone is remarkable rock that is smooth, shiny and very easy to mark. The wonderstone occurs only on two adjacent farms, Gestoptefontein and Driekuil, and thus the rock art on the wonderstone outcrops is referred to as the Gestoptefontein- Driekuil complex (GDC). This rock art is now the only remaining trace of what must once have been a much larger complex of engravings. Sadly, much of the rock art has been destroyed in the course of mining activities, with very few records. The largest remaining outcrop is still threatened by potential mining activities. The study attempts to bring this disastrous and unacceptable situation to the attention of the public and the heritage authorities, who have so far failed to respond to applications to grant the sites protection. It therefore has two main aims: to locate and record as much of the rock art as possible and to understand the significance of the outcrops in the lives of the people who made them. Based on the rock art itself, as well as what little historical evidence is available, it is argued that the rock art was made by Khoe-San people during the performance of important ceremonies and other activities. The rock art has two main components: engravings of referential motifs and a gestural, or performative, element. The referential motifs depict a range of things: anthropomorphs and zoomorphs, decorative designs, items of clothing, as well as ornaments and decorations. The gestural markings were made by rubbing, cutting and hammering the soft wonderstone, probably in the course of a range of activities that people carried out on the outcrops.

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This volume is a product of the International Conference of Archaeological Prospection 2017 which was hosted by the School of Archaeological and Forensic Sciences at the University of Bradford. This event marked a return to the location of the inaugural conference of archaeological prospection which was held in Bradford in 1995. The conference is held every two years under the banner of the International Society for Archaeological Prospection. The Proceedings of 12th International Conference of Archaeological Prospection draws together over 100 papers addressing archaeological prospection techniques, methodologies and case studies from around the world. Including studies from over 30 countries distributed across Africa, North America, South America, Asia and Europe; the collection of articles covers a diverse range of research backgrounds and situations. At this particular ICAP meeting, specific consideration has been given to emerging techniques and technologies in the fields of inter-tidal and marine archaeological prospection, and low altitude archaeological prospection. The papers within this volume represent the conference themes of: Techniques and new technological developments; Applications and reconstructing landscapes and urban environments; Integration of techniques and inter-disciplinary studies, with focus on visualisation and interpretation; Marine, inter-tidal and wetland prospection techniques and applications; Low altitude prospection techniques and applications; Commercial archaeological prospection in the contemporary world.

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At the Unai Bapot Site of the Mariana Islands, new excavation has clarified the oldest known instance of a residential habitation prior to 1500 B.C. in the Remote Pacific, previously difficult to document in deeply buried layers that originally had comprised near-tidal to shallow subtidal zones. The initial habitation at this site, as well as at others in the Mariana Islands, pre-dated the next Remote Oceanic archaeological evidence by about four centuries and in an entirely different part of the Pacific than previously had been claimed. The newest excavation at Unai Bapot in 2016 has revealed the precise location of an ancient seashore habitation, containing dense red-slipped pottery, other artefacts, food midden, and arrangements of hearths, pits, and post moulds in three distinguishable archaeological layers all pre-dating 1100 B.C. and extending just prior to 1500 B.C. The new discoveries are presented here in detail, as a substantive basis for learning about a rarely preserved event of the initial cultural inhabitation of a region, in this case in the Remote Oceanic environment of the world with its own set of unique challenges.

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The aim of this book is to study forms of territorial patterning and resource management in the middle Neolithic I and II, between 4500 and 3800 BC in the Paris basin. Using a database of middle Neolithic occupation, integrated in a geographic information system, a multiscalar spatial analysis was undertaken. First, a macro-regional and diachronic approach to territorial patterning was conducted through hierarchical ordering of all the occupation evidence. A micro-regional approach was then applied to two study zones, the Vaudreuil bend (at the Seine-Eure confluence) and the Aisne valley. Predictive modelling of preferred environmental contexts of sites, together with mapping of the reliability and confidence of the archaeological evidence, enabled site distribution to be considered in a critical manner. It seems that even in sectors which are relatively well documented through archaeological fieldwork, our vision of settlement is still biased. The models of occupation that have been produced show diversity in forms of territorial patterning, derived from regional development processes, between the middle of the 5th and the beginning of the 4th millennium. The diversification and densification of enclosures in some territories, around 4000 BC, reflect complexity in the organisation of communities. Yet other territories seem less highly structured and more sparsely occupied. The explanatory factors for these regional phenomena are linked to flint procurement systems, with their varying degrees of complexity, to control of communication routes, to demographic pressure and to competition between communities. Furthermore, there may be some logic behind the forms of site location in the highly-structured territories, based on the management of arable land. French description: Territoires et ressources des sociétés néolithiques du Bassin parisien a pour objectif d’étudier les modalités de structuration des territoires et de gestion des ressources au Néolithique moyen I et II, entre 4500 et 3800 av. J-.C., dans le Bassin parisien. À partir d’une base de données des occupations du Néolithique moyen, intégrée dans un système d’information géographique, une analyse spatiale multiscalaire a été menée. Dans un premier temps, une approche macrorégionale et diachronique de la structuration des territoires, est basée sur la hiérarchisation de l’ensemble des occupations. Dans un deuxième temps, une approche micro-régionale est menée au sein de deux fenêtres d’analyse, dans la boucle du Vaudreuil (à la confluence de la Seine et de l’Eure) et dans la vallée de l’Aisne. La modélisation prédictive des contextes environnementaux préférentiels des sites, et l’élaboration des cartes de fiabilité et de confiance dans la documentation archéologique, permettent de développer une réflexion critique sur la distribution des sites. Il apparaît que même dans des secteurs relativement bien évalués archéologiquement, la vision que l’on a du peuplement reste biaisée. L’élaboration des modèles d’occupation, montrent une diversité des formes de structuration des territoires, issues de processus de développement régionaux, entre le milieu du Ve et le début du IVe millénaire.

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Archaeologist and award-winning photographer Gavin McGuire's involvement with the Sissi Archaeological Project, where he conducted a seven year photographic study of the Bronze Age Minoan excavations under the auspices of the Belgian School in Athens, Universite Catholique de Louvain, offered an extraordinary opportunity to capture moments of human interaction during excavations as they interconnected with an ancient Minoan culture, stretching back millennia (2600-1200 BC). With the Sissi Photography Project, at a unique coastal landscape four kilometres from Malia Palace in Crete, McGuire follows a proud photographic tradition that is now facing yet another major technological change - from digital to virtual, from handheld cameras to drones and to live excavation access. It is also the age of the smartphone - easy for anyone to use, producing high quality images that regularly engages a global general audience. McGuire's approach revolves around being at the right place and at the right fleeting moment, making images that highlight motion and emotion from the more than 80 `players' on the archaeological stage for the excavation season during each July-August. There are images of scientists at work - archaeologists, anthropologists, technical specialists, local workmen digging (many proudly following in the wake of their forefathers) and restorers and conservators dealing with the thousands of finds housed at the apothiki or workshop. Yet the Sissi Project encompasses not only the dig period but includes images of the site throughout the year, showing, in part, the impact of the environment. 137 black and white photographs are accompanied by a series of short essays presented in English and Greek providing an overview of the project's photographic approach and an introduction to the long and complex relationship between archaeology and photography from their 19th century beginnings. The outcome shows that archaeological sites are not just created overnight but are the result of years of discovery, restoration and preservation. They are not just for now, but hopefully for the future. The ancient past deserves nothing less.

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

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Long distance travel and mass tourism are not recent phenomena. This collection of papers from the 2015 ASTENE Conference in Exeter demonstrates that over the centuries many individuals and groups of people have left the safety of their family home and travelled huge distances both for adventure and to learn more about other peoples and places. Some travels were to help establish trade routes, while others were for personal pleasure and knowledge. Many of those who travelled have left little or no record but in a few cases their travels can be determined from the brief encounters they had with other travellers who noted these chance meetings in their journals and diaries, which they later used to inform and write for publication accounts of their own travels and impressions. The 18 papers in this rich and varied collection include: finding the lost diary of a member of the Prussian scientific expedition to Egypt of 1842-45 that was hiding in ‘plain sight’ among other books; the illustrated journal of a Croatian travelling through Egypt, Nubia and Sudan in 1853-4 and the hardships endured; the competition between Officers of the East India Company to find the fastest trade routes through Syria between India and the Red Sea; and identifying the Dutch artist who made paintings of Constantinople and later travelled to India before joining the Bombay Artillery as a Lieutenant-fireworker. All 18 papers are the product of hours of careful research by their authors among original manuscripts and books tracked down in archives, libraries and private collections around the world.

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This investigation exhaustively gathers the archaeological evidence of the Palaeolithic human settlement in the Guadalteba river region (Malaga, Spain) during the Pleistocene. The main objective is to show the direct relationship between the reservoirs and the sources of raw materials, located in the fluvial terraces, in the geological outcrops and in the surface deposits. An important part of the work has been the geoarchaeological and archeometric surveys and the analysis of new lithic collections from surface archaeological surveys and recent systematic archaeological excavations in the Ardales Cave and Las Palomas de Teba Sima. In this sense, the methodological tools of other disciplines were used. Geoarchaeology enabled an understanding of the sedimentary and Post -depositional processes affecting the deposits and consequently its lithic industry. Archaeometry helped to see the petrographic features of lithic assemblies of deposits. These disciplines have been fundamental to propose a settlement pattern and mobility of these groups of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers during the Pleistocene period in the interior of the province of Malaga, laying down a basic structure for future prehistoric investigations in the area. Spanish Description: Una investigación que recoge de manera exhaustiva las evidencias arqueológicas del poblamiento humano Paleolítico en la comarca del río Guadalteba (Málaga, España) durante el Pleistoceno. El objetivo principal es mostrar la relación directa entre los yacimientos y las fuentes de materias primas, localizadas en las terrazas fluviales, en los afloramientos geológicos y en los propios yacimientos. Destacar la importancia del análisis del registro arqueológico de superficie, donde la prospección se convierte en la herramienta más efectiva para detectar yacimientos que han permanecido al aire libre, sobre todo del Paleolítico inferior y medio. De igual forma cobra especial relevancia el reconocimiento y la caracterización espacial y territorial, donde el artefacto se convierte en la unidad básica de investigación. Parte importante del trabajo han sido los muestreos geoarqueológicos y arqueométricos y el análisis de los nuevos conjuntos líticos procedentes de las prospecciones arqueológicas superficiales y de las recientes excavaciones arqueológicas sistemáticas, realizadas en la Cueva de Ardales y en la Sima de Las Palomas de Teba. En este sentido, hemos utilizado herramientas metodológicas de otras disciplinas, como la Geoarqueología, para comprender los procesos sedimentarios y postdeposicionales que afectan a los yacimientos y en consecuencia a su industria lítica, y la Arqueometría, para ver las características petrográficas de los conjuntos líticos, disciplinas fundamentales para proponer un patrón de asentamiento y movilidad de estos grupos de cazadores-recolectores del Pleistoceno. Este trabajo constituye un hito en la investigación del Paleolítico en el interior de la provincia de Málaga, convirtiéndose en una estructura básica para futuras investigaciones prehistóricas en la zona.

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This work is part of a line of action proposed by the Institute of Anthropology of Córdoba (IDACOR), doubly dependent executing unit of the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and the National University of Cordoba (UNC). This action requires the intervention of professional archaeologists in order to evaluate the impact produced by subsurface excavation in cases related to the development of real estate projects. Within this framework, in February 2014, there was the need to implement an archeological impact study on land under cadastral nomenclature 04-04-020-023 in the city of Cordoba, Argentina. The study was conducted in two instances. The first took place between the months of April and June 2014, consisting of various actions related to the systematic archaeological excavation, registration, conservation and interpretation of material culture recovered in depths between the surface and about 2.5 / 3m deep. The second stage, implemented between February and August 2015, consisted of the monitoring of the excavation while using heavy machinery allowed archaeologists to reach greater depths. The results of these tasks were submitted to the local authorities in five partial reports presented collectively here in order to have all the information available in one volume. As a result of the excavations it was possible to retrieve information about land use in the last two hundred years. Previous occupations have been masked or destroyed mostly by architectural interventions in the mid-nineteenth century and early twentieth century. However more than 30,000 objects recovered during the archaeological project help us to interpret the life of the people who inhabited these spaces, as well as local and international production and trade networks where they were integrated. Along with this, it was possible to recover significant portions of architectural structures that probably correspond to the eighteenth century, being the oldest constructive feature found on the parcel. This action, perhaps the most difficult due to the sheer scale of the objects, allowed the implementation of a novel technique for the recovery of archaeological objects in the city of Córdoba.

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The human-animal relationship is one that has been pondered by scholars for ages. It has been used to define both what it means to be human and what it means to be animal. Birds, Beasts and Burials examines human-animal relationships as found in the mortuary record within the area of Verulamium that is now situated in the modern town of St. Albans. Once considered a major centre, the mortuary rites given to its people suggest high variabilities in the approach to the personhood of certain classes of both people and animals. While 480 human individuals were examined, only a small percentage was found to have been afforded the rite of a human-animal co-burial. It is this small percentage that is examined in greater detail. Of major concern are the treatments to both the human and animal pre- and post- burial and the point at which the animal enters into the funerary practice.

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For centuries inventors have been dreaming up schemes to allow people to submerge beneath the waves, stay a while then return again unharmed. The Resurgam was designed for this purpose, as a stealthy underwater weapon which was the brainchild of an eccentric inventor realised in iron, timber, coal and steam. The inventor was George William Garrett, a curate from Manchester who designed and built the Resurgam submarine in 1879 using the limited technology available to a Victorian engineer on a small budget. This is not the story of Garrett himself as this story has already been told, instead this book tells the story how the Resurgam was built, how she may have worked and what happened to her. The book introduces Garrett the inventor then puts the creation of Resurgam in context by considering similar submarines being developed at the end of the 19th century. Garrett’s relationship with the Royal Navy is related here as they were his intended client and the tale continues with a description of how the submarine was built and how it may have worked. The end of the story relates how the Resurgam came to be lost in 1880 pieced together from documents and newspaper reports. Curiously, aspects of the tale do not fit with what was found by underwater archaeologists recording the wreck so other ideas are explored about how and why the submarine was lost.

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One of the most fascinating topics in the study of ancient art concerns artistic practices and models and the means of transmission of iconographic designs and decorative compositions. This phenomenon, although well known, has not drawn much attention of scholars of the ancient art. Apart from copies of originals, the practice dates back to the first civilizations and may be even older. The media used could be painted vignettes on papyri, paint on leather, or sketches painted on ostraca, used as pattern books. This issue is practically unheard of regarding ancient Greece, although a few media have been found which may have facilitated the transmission of iconographic designs and decorative compositions. In this study we present some examples that suggest the existence of pattern books in the Greek world. If the media used in the Greek world are insofar unknown, the same cannot be said of the Roman world. Written sources mention the existence of manuals in the form of papyrus scrolls (stemmata, imagines) which served as models as well as inspiration for the artists.

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As part of the Property Development Programme for Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire, English Heritage created an ambitious reconstruction of the Elizabethan garden which formerly stood on the north side of the castle keep. In order to achieve a reliable representation of the original garden, a programme of archaeological trenching, open area excavation and watching brief was carried out by Northamptonshire Archaeology (now MOLA) from 2004 to 2008. This report discusses the results of the excavations which uncovered for the first time the foundation and culverts of an octagonal fountain basin, described by Robert Langham in a contemporary letter relating to Queen Elizabeth I’s visit in 1575. The results of the excavation also clarified to some extent the original dimensions of the garden and the foundation level upon which the fine surfacing detail would have been applied. Contributions to understanding the geometry of the garden’s architectural features are made by the identification of a series of rubble-and-mortar-filled pits, which probably formed bases for plinths for structures or other structural elements. The terrace which formed a viewing promenade over the garden was shown to have undergone substantial alteration. The impact of Civil War defences and slighting on the north of the keep and outer bailey wall were investigated. Following this, the area was subsequently cultivated as a kitchen garden and orchard from at least the beginning of the eighteenth century. Twentieth-century activity included consolidation of the castle fabric, the construction of paths and the remodelling of the terrace, and the remains of an ornamental knotwork garden created in 1975. The archaeology of the garden and its surroundings are discussed from the remnants of medieval features through to the present day.

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Hill Street, Upper Well Street and Far Gosford Street comprise three suburban streets which stood directly outside the city gates of Coventry for much of the medieval period. As a result of the 2003-2007 excavations an extensive body of archaeological, environmental and documentary evidence has been brought together to allow comparison in terms of land planning, construction methodologies, character and relative fluctuations in the long-term economy of two of the city’s medieval and post-medieval suburbs. As well as evidence for street frontage occupation, the sites contain substantial portions of the city’s defences, never before looked at in such detail. The new data is of great value in comparing the results with those previously gained from a variety of smaller sites in Coventry and comparable sites elsewhere in the country. The work has, in some detail, married up excavated data and documentary sources for the working of the defences over a period of 250 years. In addition the immediate suburban environment has come under scrutiny and an unprecedented level of botanical data has come to light in a programme of sampling for both seeds and pollens as a guide to the changing character of the suburbs. At Hill Street, excavation uncovered two medieval and post-medieval frontage properties 50m wide and their rear yards adjacent to the city ditch. While upstanding structural remains were scant, analysis of contemporary pits has highlighted mainly domestic but also some industrial aspects of the properties and given an insight into the diet, economy and changing face of suburban Hill Street from the 13th to 19th centuries. Excavation also uncovered some 55m of the city ditch adjacent to Bond Street, into which four large sections were cut, three close to Hill Street and one at the junction with Upper Well Street. The excavations highlight the huge investment made in digging and maintaining the ditch as a defensive line for the first half of the 15th century before it was gradually misused for fly-tipping and eventually lost beneath a welter of dumping by the later 17th century. It was probably indefensible long before the Civil War. A varied and rich environmental profile of the site has been constructed, which paints a picture of a suburban, semi-rural habitat which was increasingly spoiled in the 16th and 17th centuries by unrestricted dumping of refuse and cess. A wide variety of finds was recovered, indicative of both domestic and industrial occupation and use. This range was dominated by a large group of well-preserved late medieval leather shoes. The Far Gosford Street excavations revealed evidence for some 800 years of human activity. The earliest remains comprised a solid timber post, possibly related to a bridge over the River Sherbourne, for which tree-ring dating established a felling date of 1162-1212. A frontage was first occupied in the early 14th century when buildings were laid out along the street. A hoard of silver pennies found buried beneath the floor of one of the buildings probably represents the savings of one of the street’s earliest residents. These structures were replaced in the first half of the 15th century, probably at the same time as the city wall was built a short distance to the west. A second medieval frontage lasted until 1643 when it was again dismantled during the Civil War. Entrenchments dating to this period were also excavated. In the 18th century a third frontage was built, replaced in the 19th century and finally demolished to make way for Singer Motors car showroom after they acquired the site in 1926.

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Why publish a Reader? Today, it is relatively easy and convenient to switch on your computer and download an academic paper. However, as many scholars have experienced, historic references are difficult to access. Moreover, some are now lost and are merely references in later papers. This can be frustrating. This book provides a series of papers from all over the world that extend as far back as the 1970s when rock art research was in its infancy. The papers presented in the Reader reflect the development in the various approaches that have influenced advancing scholarly research.

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This book focuses on the characteristics and the development of the stone vessel industry in the Near East during the Iron Age and the Persian period (c. 1200 – 330 BCE). Three main aspects of this industry are investigated. First, the technology behind the manufacture of stone vessels, the tools and techniques, and how these changed across time. Second, the mechanisms of exchange of stone vessels and how these were affected by the changing political landscape through time. Third, the consumption patterns of stone vessels in both elite and non-elite contexts, and how these patterns changed through time. The aim is to evaluate how the formation of new regional states, occurred in the Iron Age I-II, and their subsequent inclusion within large-scale empires, in the Iron Age III and Persian period, transformed the Near Eastern societies by exploring how the stone vessel industry was affected by these transformations. For the period and area under analysis, such a comprehensive study of stone vessels, covering a wide area and connecting this industry to the broader socioeconomic and political landscapes, has never been attempted before.

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Proceedings of the 20th symposium: Suyanggae and Her Neighbours. The 20th symposium took place across two meetings, the first in Haifa, Israel and the second in Danyang, Republic of Korea. This proceedings volume gathers papers, abstracts and posters from the meeting in Haifa, which took place from 21–28 June 2015.

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The scholarship assembled in this volume was first presented at the 79th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) in Austin, Texas, in April 2014. Some of the authors have chosen to publish their conference papers while others have expanded their topics. As a collection, the papers demonstrate a myriad of approaches to understanding the history of the Puuc region, incorporating archaeological, architectural, epigraphic, and iconographic studies. The geographic scope is also broad. Many of the recent and ongoing archaeological projects in the eastern Puuc region and its periphery are represented, including Dzehkabtún, H’wasil, Kabah, Kiuic, Labná, Sayil, Uxmal, and Xcoch, as well as the Chocholá ceramic tradition from the western Puuc. The projects are at various stages—some preliminary, others a portion of a larger investigation, while still others are revisiting older data—all with the aim to advance our field of study. It has been more than 10 years since a volume dedicated solely to the Puuc region has been published. While Puuc research frequently appears in collected volumes on the Yucatán peninsula or the Terminal Classic period, we are pleased to offer this representative example of ongoing work.

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Croatia has a unique geographical and historical position within Europe, bridging central and south-east Europe. From the Pannonian Plain to the southern Adriatic maritime landscape, interconnectedness flows through Croatia’s history. This dynamic past is increasingly being reflected upon by a new and exciting generation of Croatian scholars who are firmly embedded within a strong national tradition of archaeology but who also look outward to draw insights into the nature of material culture they encounter in Croatia and Croatian identity itself. Croatia at the Crossroads (24-25 June, Europe House, London) provided the opportunity to reflect upon such interconnectedness and Croatia’s historic place within Europe. This event typified the desire of Croatian archaeologists to engage with such matters on an international level and to situate their scholarship within broader regional dynamics. Following the foundation of the new Croatian state, the opportunities for new forms of engagement have grown. This has stimulated thinking regarding both approaches to archaeology and the potential cultural cross-fertilisation that has resulted in Croatia’s rich archaeological and historical record. This has led to in new, exciting understandings of archaeological material, and this was revealed in contributions to the Croatia at the Crossroads conference. The papers published here arise from the exceptionally interesting presentations and discussions held in London at the conference. Each of them takes Croatia’s particular interconnectedness in terms of social and cultural relationships with the wider region as the starting point for exploring issues across a broad chronological range, from human origins to modernity. Within this, contributors pick up on a variety of different fields of interconnectedness and forms of interaction including biological, cultural, religious, military, trade, craft and maritime relationships. In many ways, these papers represent opening conversations that explore ways of thinking about new and established data sets that are entering Croatian scholarship for the first time. They also act as a set of complementary discussions that transcend traditional period and national boundaries. We hope that by bringing them together the volume will provide an insight into current trends in Croatian archaeology and stimulate fruitful discussions regarding future directions.

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More than fifteen sites of either confirmed or conjectured urban status existed between the 6th and 19th centuries in the particular region of northeastern Mesopotamia, bounded by the rivers Great Zāb, Little Zāb and Tigris. This present study concentrates on the investigation of this urban network. The archaeological substance of the deserted sites is mostly very well preserved in the relief of the arid steppe environment and can be excellently identified in satellite images of several types. The archaeological investigation of these settlements, augmented by a revised historical topography, offers a unique opportunity for the holistic study of the diversity, temporal dynamics and mutual relationships within the urban network that developed in the hinterland of Baghdad and Samarra, the two largest super-centres of the Old World. This collective monograph puts together archaeological and historical data available for the individual sites, including analyses of pottery obtained by surface survey. The materially rich final report of the three-year project is supplemented by an interpretative chapter that focuses on detailed topographical comparisons of the sites, their landscape contexts, and the dynamics of the urban system within the framework of studies on Near-Eastern Islamic-period cities.

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The Nature and Origin of the Cult of Silvanus in the Roman Provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia deals with the cult of Silvanus and presents the evidence and current state of research of the cult in Dalmatia and Pannonia to the wider scholarly community. New perceptions on the subject are proposed and a fresh standpoint from which certain problems may be (re)addressed is presented.

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Ancient Greek vase-paintings offer broad-ranging and unprecedented early perspectives on the often intricate interplay of images and texts. By bringing together—for the first time in English-language scholarship—an international group of leading scholars in classical art and archaeology who have worked on vase-inscriptions, this book investigates epigraphic technicalities of Attic and non-Attic inscriptions on pottery as well as their broader iconographic and sociocultural significance. The ten chapters in this book propose original and expert methodological approaches to the study of vase-inscriptions and vasepaintings, while also foregrounding the outstanding but not fully examined importance of the area of vase-inscriptions for current research on ancient Greek visual representations. Epigraphy of Art: Ancient Greek Vase-Inscriptions and Vase-Paintings constitutes a major contribution to the fields of Greek epigraphy and classical art and archaeology and will prove significant for epigraphists, archaeologists, and art-historians interested in the complexities of the interaction of art and text.

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The iconic eighteenth-century architect Robert Adam was based in London for more than half of his life and made more designs for this one city than anywhere else in the world. This book reviews a wide variety of his designs for London, highlighting lesser-known buildings as well as familiar ones. Each of Adam’s projects explored in this book is plotted on Horwood’s map of London (1792-99), enabling the reader to recognise Adam’s work as they move around the city, as well as to envisage London as if more of his ingenious designs had been executed or survived demolition.

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More than a century of archaeological investigation in Portugal has helped to discover, excavate and study many Lusitanian amphorae kiln sites, with their amphorae being widely distributed in Lusitania. These containers were identified in Ostia and Rome from the 1970s and thereafter in many sites around the Mediterranean, but their numbers have always seemed scarce. Were they not being recognized and therefore underestimated? Were they all fish-product amphorae? Did they ever reach a significant market share in the other provinces of Hispania? And what was their contribution to the supply of the city of Rome or to other cities in the centre of the Empire? This collective volume is a contribution to the discussion of these and other questions, and to a better understanding of the production and distribution of Lusitanian amphorae.

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Jebel Moya (south-central Sudan) is the largest known pastoral cemetery in sub- Saharan Africa with more than 3100 excavated human burials. This research revises our understanding of Jebel Moya and its context. After reviewing previous applications of social complexity theory to mortuary data, new questions are posed for the applicability of such theory to pastoral cemeteries. Reliable radiometric dating of Jebel Moya for the first time by luminescence dates is tied in to an attribute-based approach to discern three distinctive pottery assemblages. Three distinct phases of occupation are recognised: the first two (early fifth millennium BC, and the mid-second to early first millennium BC) from pottery sherds, and the third (first century BC - sixth century AD) with habitation and the vast majority of the mortuary remains. Analytically, new statistical and spatial analyses such as cross-pair correlation function and multi-dimensional scaling provide information on zones of interaction across the mortuary assemblages. Finally, an analysis of mortuary locales contemporary with phase three (Meroitic and post-Meroitic periods) from the central Sudan and Upper and Lower Nubia are examined to show how changing social, economic and power relations were conceptualised, and to highlight Jebel Moya’s potential to serve as a chronological and cultural reference point for future studies in south-central and southern Sudan.

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How can we find alternative, sensorially rich and affective ways of engaging with the material past in the present? How can photography play a central role in archaeological narratives, beyond representation and documentation? This photo-book engages with these questions, not through conventional academic discourse but through evocative creative practice. The book is, at the same time, a site guide of sorts: a photographic guide to the archaeological site of the Sanctuary of Poseidon in Kalaureia, on the island of Poros, in Greece. Ancient and not-so-ancient stones, pine trees that were “wounded” for their resin, people who lived amongst the classical ruins, and the tensions and the clashes with the archaeological apparatus and its regulations, all become palpable, affectively close and immediate. Furthermore, the book constitutes an indirect but concrete proposal for the adoption of archaeological photo-ethnography as a research as well as public communication tool for critical heritage studies, today.

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The burgeoning of archaeological research in the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq is one of the great success stories of world archaeology today. For twenty years it was impossible for western archaeologists to work in Iraq, and for most of this time there were also heavy restrictions on the activity of Iraqi archaeologists. In addition to this Kurdistan remains a region never systematically explored. The conference presented the first opportunity for the leading figures in this renaissance of research in the area to gather and present all the key new projects which are revolutionising our understanding of the region. The following papers are available to download in Open Access: Current Investigations into the Early Neolithic of the Zagros Foothills of Iraqi Kurdistan - Roger Matthews, Wendy Matthews, Kamal Rasheed Raheem and Kamal Rauf Aziz: Download About Bakr Awa - Peter A. Miglus: Download

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This study traces and analyses the evolution of domestic space in Maltese vernacular and ‘polite’ houses from medieval to contemporary times. The houses under review range from humble buildings of modest size, materials and design, like farmhouses or those for the less affluent towndwellers, to buildings of grand design, like townhouses and palazzi. Owing to the complex nature of the Maltese houses a combination of enquires and a variety of sources was necessary to achieve a holistic picture. This included fieldwork in different parts of the islands, extensive research work in local archives, libraries and museums, an analysis of a sample of literary sources, national censuses and works-of-art, as well as methods of spatial analysis (Space Syntax). One of the major achievements obtained in this research concerns the development of the native dwelling. The field surveys and archival research have demonstrated that the evolution of the native dwelling was very much influenced by the political, social and economic changes that occurred locally during the period under review. In particular, it was observed that architectural and stylistic changes in the elite houses occurred at a faster rate to suit fashion, in line with what occurred in other European countries, while changes in peasant houses were slower and more sporadic as these adhered to their vernacular idiom for a longer time. Houses often served as a symbol of class and social status. The dwelling’s size and architectural style, the configuration of domestic space as well as the house furniture and contents were among the main indicators which, between the late Medieval Period and the first half of the 20th century, distinguished a wealthy from a poor dwelling. Class distinction did not occur only between houses, but also within the same building, especially in the elite dwellings. Gender was also another important aspect which directly affected the upper middle and elite Maltese houses, particularly at a time when men and women had fixed roles in society. However, the restricted space by which the lower class houses were normally characterized permitted instead the mixing of genders in work and leisure. A major shift in the relationship between the family and the house occurred in the second half of the 20th century, when the social and demographic changes of this period brought more balance between the social classes. Through the available evidence, particularly the national censuses, works-of-art, literary sources and travelogues, it was also possible to acquire knowledge about various aspects related to dining fashions, dress code, health and education in the Maltese houses. The results obtained from our Space Syntax investigations have been instrumental to acquire new knowledge and to understand better the social logic of space underpinning Maltese dwellings and settlements.

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For the Gods are the opening words or incipit of the first inscribed votive artefacts dedicated to the principal deities of the Sumerian pantheon. They commemorate the construction or renovation of cities, temples, rural sanctuaries, border steles, in sum all the symbolically charged features of archaic states belonging thus metaphorically to supernatural tutelary overlords. Girsu (present-day Tello) is one of the earliest known cities of the world together with Uruk, Eridu, and Ur, and was considered to be in the 3rd Millennium the sanctuary of the Sumerian heroic god Ningirsu who fought with the demons of the Kur (Mountain) and thus made possible the introduction of irrigation and agriculture in Sumer. Girsu was the sacred metropolis and central pole of a city-state that lay in the Southeasternmost part of the Mesopotamian floodplain. The pioneering explorations carried out between 1877 and 1933 at Tello and the early decipherment of the Girsu cuneiform tablets were ground-breaking because they revealed the principal catalytic elements of the Sumerian takeoff – that is, a multiplicity and coalescence of major innovations, such as the appearance of a city– countryside continuum, the emergence of literacy, of bronze manufacture, and the development of monumental art and architecture. Because of the richness of information related in particular to the city’s spatial organization and geographical setting, and thanks to the availability of recently declassified Cold War space imagery and especially the possibility to launch new explorations in Southern Iraq, Girsu stands out as a primary locale for re-analyzing through an interdisciplinary approach combining archaeological and textual evidence the origins of the Sumerian city-state.

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This publication presents the results of the archaeological studies relative to the settlement pattern, realized between 1983 and 1996 within the framework of the Michoacán Projects I and III led by the researchers of the Centre of Mexican and Centro-American studies (CEMCA). The Michoacán project (1983-1987) aimed at the realization of a study of all the perceptible demonstrations of the prehispanic occupations in the region. After the first three field’s seasons of the year 1983, dedicated essentially to survey and test pits, we directed all our efforts to the resolution of more specific objectives, the main objective being the settlement patterns study of the very numerous postclassical sites of the south region of the Project, located in the Tarascan Sierra and Malpais of Zacapu. The excavations directly connected to this subject were made in 1984 and 1985, but various test pits and surveys realized between 1983 and 1986 brought very useful data for the study. The author presented a doctoral thesis sustained in January 1991, in Paris I University on “The sites and residential and civic-ceremonial structures of the region of Zacapu, during the Postclassic”. This thesis constituted the first synthesis in French on this subject. As a consequence of the criticisms emitted during the defense of this thesis, and of insufficient data concerning the Early Postclassic occupation of the Zacapu Region, the Michoacán III (1993-1996) project was established. Both main purposes of this Project were the study of the transition between the Palacio phase (900-1200) and the Milpillas phase (1200-1450) as well as the systematic recording of sites and various structures of these sites localized in the Zacapu Malpais and dated from the Milpillas phase. This publication will present mainly the results of the surveys, surface collections and test-pits and allow inferences on the settlement patterns of the region of Zacapu and particularly the rapid growth in the Malpais of Zacapu of large sites at the beginning of Postclassic.

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The island of Sant’ Andrea, situated on the road that since ancient times has linked the Adige Valley with the Lake Garda, once rose impressively from the green expanse of water, but now is a small hump on the edge of a vast marshy basin. Fifteen centuries ago it was the fortified seat of a contingent of soldiers and their families. In 1998, after a long series of sporadic discoveries that started way back in the 19th century, the Archeaology Section of the Rovereto Civic Museum began a research and study project that involved a series of summer excavations, that brought to light a multi-layered archeological site with finds ranging from the prehistoric age to late antiquity, medieval times and right through to even the First World War. Along the northeastern side and the southern edge of the island the remains have been found of some buildings that can be traced to a fortified settlement and on the top part of the hump the remains of a Romanesque church have been investigated. The buildings that made up the settlement illustrate a complex series of construction periods; so far these have been dated between the 5th and 7th centuries. Numerous examples of armoury and military clothing have been found in the settlement area and this clearly suggests the military function of the site. The volume is devoted to the results of the research in the castrum: A general overview of the site is followed by a part devoted to periodization and stratigraphic analysis of the dig; then there is a large section that includes contributions on the small finds; the fourth part contains some concluding remarks.

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This well illustrated volume presents in its introduction a personal history of Daniel Schávelzon’s experience of Easter Island during his youth before collecting all the papers and work he produced in 2014 leading up to his retirement.

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In a career spanning more than forty years Prof. Thanasis I. Papadopoulos exhibited his intensive devotion to the Bronze Age of Greece, and especially to Mycenaean Achaea (his native land), through his excavations, publications and lessons to innumerable students in Greece and abroad. The origins, as well as the interconnections of the Mycenaeans with other civilizations, were always of great interest to Prof. Papadopoulos. This honorary volume expands to diverse eras, from Neolithic to Byzantine times, following Mycenaean paths that lead even to the distant East: to Egypt, whose culture Prof. Papadopoulos taught for many years at Ioannina University, and to Jordan, where he excavated for more than 10 years. In Achaios, thirty-five scholars from six different countries have contributed with thirty-one papers, as a small token of appreciation, gratitude and affection to a true scholar, who devoted his life studying and revealing the long journeys of the Mycenaeans and their culture, but also, to a passionate professor who, by transmitting his scientific knowledge, left an invaluable legacy for future generations.

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This report aims to offer glimpses of the human condition on Naxos island, Greece, focusing on the archaeoanthropologic study of the human skeletal remains along with associated contexts of faunal materials recovered from the Geometric (9th -7th c BC) component of the burial ground site of Plithos in Chora at Naxos island.

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The Bell Beaker phenomenon is one of the most fascinating horizons in European Later Prehistory, due to its vast geographical distribution, the intrinsic value of some of the artefacts comprising the Beaker package, or its supposed links to certain kinds of ritual ceremonies as shown by the frequent deposition of Beaker items in burial contexts. At present, the idea that the Beaker package is best interpreted as a symbol of power common to socially-prominent individuals by the mid-to-late third millennium BC is widely acknowledged by scholars in this field. From this point of view, the Beaker phenomenon is seen as the archaeological evidence representing an ideology which was shared by a number of prehistoric societies geographically scattered throughout much of Western and Central Europe, or, more specifically, was only shared by elite individuals within these territories. The strategies employed by these individuals to attain such privileged statuses, however, are poorly known. Therefore, in the framework of the XVII World UISPP Congress, held in September 2014 in Burgos (Spain), a session entitled ‘Analysis of the economic foundations supporting the social supremacy of the Beaker groups’ (B36) was organised by this volume’s two editors. The session focused mostly on examining this issue at a European level, and less on the study of the Beaker package itself, as a way of looking at the economic foundations that helped these individuals attain their higher social statuses. The proximity of Beaker sites to natural routes of communication highlights the importance of exchange networks through which people, objects and ideas may have circulated through Europe during this time. The Amesbury Archer in southern England is one of the best examples of interaction within Beaker territories. Having said this, considering that Beaker pots themselves were not exchanged over long distances, attention must be paid to other mechanisms of diffusion. The present volume comprises the papers presented at this session suggesting that Beaker groups may have controlled certain products and technologies.

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A recent trend concerning archaeological research has focused on producing a real-time methodology for 3D digital models as archaeological documentation within the excavation setting. While such methodologies have now firmly been established, what remains is to examine how 3D models can be integrated more fully alongside other forms of archaeological documentation. This work explored one avenue by developing a method that combines the interpretative power of traditional archaeological drawings and the realistic visualisation capacity of 3D digital models. An experiment was initiated during archaeological excavations at Uppåkra, Sweden where photographic data was captured to produce 3D digital models through Photoscan. These models were geospatially located within ESRI’s 3D GIS ArcScene where shapefile editing tools were used to draw overtop of their surfaces in three-dimensions. All drawings closely followed the single context method of drawing, were allotted context numbers, and given descriptive geodatabase attributes. This methodology resulted in the further integration of 3D models alongside other forms of archaeological documentation. The drawings increased the communicative powers of archaeological interpretation by enabling the information to be disseminated in a 3D environment alongside other formats of data that would have otherwise been disconnected in 2D space. Finally, the database attributes permitted the drawings complete integration within the geodatabase, thereby making them available for query and other analytical procedures. Archaeological information is three-dimensional; therefore, archaeologists must begin to approach documentation bearing this in mind. This technique has demonstrated that 3D models are a fluidic form of documentation allowing for accurate preservation of archaeology while enabling new forms of data to be derived all within a limited amount of time. Archaeologists must begin to affect change towards embracing 3D models and their associated applications as a standard tool within the excavator’s toolbox.

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1. The Emergence of warrior societies and its economic, social and environmental consequences. Proceedings of the XVII UISPP World Congress (1–7 September 2014, Burgos, Spain) Session A3c edited by Fernando Coimbra and Davide Delfino: Several works have been dedicated to the aim of warfare in European Bronze Age, by a point of view of bronze technology and archaeometallurgy. The present volume wants to be a short and actualized contribution to the study and interpretation of warrior societies, through a point of view of the marks of the first warfare in Europe, its causes and its consequences in all the intelligible evidences, both from a point of view of material culture, of landscape, of human behavior and artistic manifestations. 2. Aegean – Mediterranean imports and influences in the graves from continental Europe – Bronze and Iron Ages. Proceedings of the XVII UISPP World Congress (1–7 September 2014, Burgos, Spain) Session A16a edited by Valeriu Sîrbu and Cristian Schuster: There is already a ‘history’ with not only different, but sometimes contradictory opinions regarding the role played by the Aegean-Mediterranean area in the evolution of the peoples who lived in continental Europe during the age of Bronze and Iron, including burial customs. The organizers of this session proposed, through ongoing communication and the discussions that followed, to obtain new data on the influences and Aegean-Mediterranean imports found in the graves, and the possible movements of groups of people who carried them. The main area of interest focused on the ‘roads’ and the stages of their penetration, but also considered feedback from peripheral areas. The session aims to highlight the role of the southern imports in the evolution of local communities’ elites and their impact on the general development of the populations of continental Europe, the possible meanings of their deposit in the burials. Analysis of these phenomena over wide geographical areas (from the Urals to the Atlantic) and large chronological periods (the third-. first millennia BC) allow the identification of certain traits as general (eg., the continuity and discontinuity), or particular (eg., the impact of imports and southern influences on communities of different geographical areas).

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This book provides a holistic and longitudinal study of war memorialisation in the UK, France and the USA from 1860 to 2014. Moving beyond the social-political circumstances of a memorial’s construction, this study examines memorialisation as a continuing and transformative process. It explores the many ways in which war memorials are repeatedly appropriated, and re-appropriated, undergoing both physical and symbolic transformations. In order to study this full range of transformations, this book presents a unique analytical model that conceptualises objects of memory within three intersecting timescales: the chronological timescale, the conflict timescale and the object timescale. This new methodology facilitates an innovative, holistic approach of understanding engagement with a monument at any given moment in time, allowing meaningful comparisons to be made across both spatial and cultural boundaries. In doing so, it enables an approach to the cultural heritage conflict that moves beyond the socio-political to conceptualise war memorials within a shared cultural experience.

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Information regarding epigraphy, both early Christian and medieval, in the province of Burgos was scarce and spread around in inaccessible publications. This Corpus contains and analyses all entries between IV and XIII centuries, located in the province of Burgos in various monuments like Quintanilla de las Viñas, San Pedro de Arlanza, Santo Domingo de Silos, The Real Huelgas, Burgos Cathedral, etc. To this end, starting from a review of the bibliography which has been published, a detailed fieldwork was performed resulting in the collection of 326 entries, 45 of which have never been published before, providing new and corrected readings to many of them. Indeed, the description of each item; its edition, both epigraphic and paleographic; its translation; the metric study of the inscriptions; its historical context; the paleographic study of its characters and analysis of the literary texts, All of that gives the ability to specify many dates in history of the creation of the corresponding monuments the inscriptions are part of, and the recognition of numerous analogies among several of these constructions. Therefore, this work stands as a valuable landmark and touchstone for the fields of History, Art and Medieval Studies.

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Dan Monah (11 February 1943 – 21 September 2013) was a specialist in the Neo-Eneolithic of Romania and, in particular, of the Precucuteni-Cucuteni-Tripolye cultural complex, last affiliated with the Iași Institute of Archaeology of the Romanian Academy. His core body of work, consisting of seven books and more than one hundred articles published, primarily deals with coroplastic analysis as a mean of insight into the religion and art of the Neo-Eneolithic communities. With a unique approach to the study of what he formally named ‘the religious life of Cucuteni-Tripolye communities’, Dan Monah was a staunch critic of the dominant cultural-historic paradigm and its natural interpretative consequences: the supremacy of typological description, the Cartesian ranking of religious systems from simple to complex, and the avoidance of ‘unclassable’ occurrences. The present volume embodies his vision applied to the analysis of the Cucuteni-Tripolye anthropomorphic representations, resting on two structural pillars: an in-depth knowledge of a large body of history of religion literature, and an almost exhaustive inventory of the Cucuteni- Tripolye anthropomorphic representations, the result of over three decades of personal, patient and meticulous examination of the archaeological data. For those in his wake, Dan Monah’s open and unprejudiced approach to the prehistoric imagery enclosed in this book constitutes a solid cornerstone on which further work can be built. Its pages should be turned, if not on account of the wealth of information inside, but for the author’s pleasant and refreshing style at least.

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The Herxheim enclosure, located in the German region of Palatinate, is one of the major discoveries of the last two decades regarding the Linear Pottery Culture, and probably one of the most significant in advancing understanding of how this culture ended. The spectacular deposits, mostly composed of human remains, recovered on the occasion of the two excavation campaigns carried out on the site, grabbed people’s attention and at the same time raised several questions regarding their interpretation, which had so far mostly hesitated between peculiar funerary practices, war and cannibalism. The authors provide here the first extensive study of the human remains found at Herxheim, focusing mainly on those recovered during the 2005–2010 excavation campaign. They first examine the field data in order to reconstruct at best the modalities of deposition of these remains. Next, from the quantitative analyses and those of the bone modifications, they describe the treatments of the dead, showing that they actually were the victims of cannibalistic practices. The nature of this cannibalism is then discussed on the basis of biological, palaeodemographic and isotopic studies, and concludes that an exocannibalism existed linked to armed violence. Finally, the human remains are placed in both their local and chronocultural contexts, and a general interpretation is proposed of the events that unfolded in Herxheim and of the reasons for the social crisis at the end of the Linear Pottery culture in which they took place.

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In 1812 the architect Sir John Soane (1753-1837) wrote a strange and perplexing manuscript, Crude Hints towards an History of my House in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, in which, in the guise of an Antiquary, he imagines his home as a future ruin, inspected by visitors speculating on its origins and function. Never published in his lifetime, the manuscript has been meticulously transcribed and provided with an explanatory Introduction and footnotes by Helen Dorey, Deputy Director and Inspectress of Sir John Soane’s Museum. Originally published as part of an exhibition catalogue sixteen years ago, this new edition has been extensively revised and updated. The text is accompanied by nineteen illustrations, seventeen of them in full colour.

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Rivers have often been the gateway to natural wilderness and the first element of a natural landscape that humans made their own. Some rivers have become the symbol of whole civilisations, such as the Nile or the Tiber to Egyptians and Romans respectively. More recently, pioneers exploring the continent of America have explored the new land from within rivers, whose names have become by extension the name of the land: 15 of the 50 states composing the United States of America are borrowed from rivers. No other natural feature has become embedded into human narratives as the river. Rivers are frequently featured prominently in natural landscapes by writers and artists, but they also turn up in unexpected places, such as the mythical Greek underworld or Dante’s Inferno. Rivers made of stars (the Milky Way) have been recognised in the sky by the Inca, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese (the “Peaceful River of Heaven”), Hindu, Maori, Aboriginal Australians as well as other cultures. The flow of a river has prompted many reflexions of its similarity to time as well as human life and consciousness, becoming a recurring theme in culture and philosophical thought. In recent archaeological literature, rivers are often ignored from narratives, or seen as part of the natural landscape. Yet, rivers and streams have shaped most cities in the world and they should be inserted more frequently, if not systematically, in archaeological interpretations and narratives. The sea is very much in the minds of scholars, especially in Europe, but rivers are denied the same interest. It is hoped that this volume will generate some fresh interest.

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This volume is primarily concerned with the re-analysis of the wall paintings from the Jordanian Chalcolithic period (ca. 4700-3700 BC) settlement site of Teleilat Ghassul, first excavated in 1929 by scholars from the Pontifical Biblical Institute Rome and latterly by Australians from the University of Sydney. The seven major paintings were re-analysed using a methodology based on contextualisation, digital reconstruction, experimental replication and subject analysis. A comprehensive theoretical framework was constructed from published and unpublished materials from the site, consisting of geographical and environmental datasets, topographic, settlement-location and structural contexts. These included material/artefactual associations, technological issues and a comprehensive symbolic regional comparative analysis of the artworks themselves. The interpretive structure, reconstructed and re-evaluated scenes, and replication studies, have revealed numerous insights into the artistic traditions and cultic practices of South Levantine Ghassulian Chalcolithic culture, with considerable relevance to the ongoing debate on such matters as prehistoric societal makeup and art historical scholarship. This study has provided intriguing glimpses into the lives of a brilliantly artistic and deeply ritualised society, shedding new light on this little-known and still mysterious people.

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Ritual landscapes and borders are recurring themes running through Professor Kalle Sognnes' long research career. This anthology contains 13 articles written by colleagues from his broad network in appreciation of his many contributions to the field of rock art research. The contributions discuss many different kinds of borders: those between landscapes, cultures, traditions, settlements, power relations, symbolism, research traditions, theory and methods. We are grateful to the Department of Historical studies, NTNU; the Faculty of Humanities; NTNU, The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters and The Norwegian Archaeological Society (Norsk arkeologisk selskap) for funding this volume that will add new knowledge to the field and will be of importance to researchers and students of rock art in Scandinavia and abroad.

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The investigation of the Roman villa and its economic structures in the western provinces of the Roman Empire has clearly shown that rural settlement developed at different paces and intensities that largely depended on the specific region in which a villa landscape was intended and created. The progress of Romanisation was strongly linked to the existence of pre- Roman infrastructure in a given region (e.g. Tres Galliae: Celtic; Narbonensis: Greek; Northern Africa: Punic). This existing infrastructure was at first acquired and successively intensified by the Romans. In its sum, the Roman villa economy was a complex and dynamic system that in its configuration vastly differed, according to the specific province. Still, the system essentially served clear functional purposes such as self-subsistence and, ideally, surplus production for the supply of the Roman military in newly conquered provinces. Besides that, the implementation of a villa landscape in a province, often carried by veterans and other groups of Italic origin, the Roman villa network took the role as a carrier of processes that evolve around the term Romanisation during the phase of Roman conquest and authority. German text with English summary.

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