Search results for ""Archaeopress""

These proceedings include eight presentations. Two of them focus on the role played by the river axes and the geography of river basins as factors of circulation and settlement of Palaeolithic hunter gatherers on the European scale (Francois Djindjian) and in the surroundings of the Jura Mountains (Gérald Bereiziat and Harald Floss). José Javier Piña Abellán describes how the central valley of the River Jabalón (Ciudad Real, Spain) was peopled in the course of the second millennium B.C., and how the inhabitants still maintain a close link to the hydrography. Frederic Cruz and Christophe Petit provide new insights into the organization of the princely residences’ territories of the late Hallstatt era in the North-Western region of the Alps, taking into account their relationship to the environment, and especially the distance from the valleys. Ana Lucia Herberts documents how river crossings and related drainage structures played a crucial role in setting cattle trails in Brazil to drive the cattle from their pasture lands to the major market places in remote cities. A 3-D modelling using LiDAR altimetry has been used by Sabine Schellberg, Benoît Sittler, and Werner Konold to reconstruct water meadows that were used in historical times in the upper Rhine Valley. In their paper, Sandrine Robert and Hélène Noizet develop, as an example illustrating resilience, how an ancient meander of the River Seine, which was filled in Antiquity, still dictates the layout of the network of the streets of Paris. Lastly, Martin Orgaz and Norma Ratto addressed the social construction of landscapes by relating Inca sites to the Tinogasta region (Catamarca, Argentina) rivers whose visual features (the colour red) may be regarded as a factor that governed the selection of sites.

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This volume presents the proceedings of the session ‘Intellectual and Spiritual Expression of Non-literate Peoples’ part of the XVII World UISPP Congress, held in Burgos (Spain), the 4th September 2014. The session brought together experts from various disciplines to share experience and scientific approaches for a better understanding of human creativity and behaviour in prehistory.

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This book collects the contributions to the symposium "The current state of evolutionary archeology in Argentina" that was held in Buenos Aires, for celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of "On the Origin of Species". The meeting was sponsored by the IMHICIHU-CONICET (Instituto Multidisciplinario de Historia y Ciencias Humanas-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas). Contents: PREFACE (Hernan J. Muscio and Marcelo Cardillo); INTRODUCTION (Hernan J. Muscio and Marcelo Cardillo); CULTURAL ADAPTATIONS: IS IT CONCEPTUALLY COHERENT TO APPLY NATURAL SELECTION TO CULTURAL EVOLUTION? (Santiago Ginnobili); THEORY OF CLASSIFICATION AND TAXONOMICAL SCHOOLS: A SYNTHESIS FOR ARCHAEOLOGY (Daniel Garcia Rivero); ENVIRONMENT, SPACE, HISTORY, AND TECHNOLOGICAL EVOLUTION. THE CASE OF THE PATAGONIAN COAST (Marcelo Cardillo); ON THE PROBLEM OF IDENTIFYING HOMOLOGIES IN LITHIC ARTIFACTS (Gustavo Barrientos); LOCAL EXTINTION, POPULATION DYNAMICS AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL PATTERNS OF CULTURAL EVOLUTION: A CASE STUDY IN THE NORTH PUNA OF ARGENTINA (Hernan Muscio); HUMAN HOLOCENE COLONIZATION, DIET BREADTH AND NICHE CONSTRUCTION IN SIERRAS OF CORDOBA [ARGENTINA] (Diego Rivero and Matias Medina); THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LEGACY: EVOLUTION, BIOGEOGRAPHY AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES (Juan Bautista Belardi, Ramiro Barberena, Rafael Goni and Anahi Re)

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Papers from the 17th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology, SOMA 2013 held in Moscow, 25-27 April 2013. Contents: A project proposal for the construction of underwater archaeological nature routes into the Protected Marine Area of Santa Maria di Castellabate (Salvatore Agizza); A Recently Discovered Thirteenth Century Church at Myra (T. Engin Akyurek); Archaeological Findings of Thracian / Phrygian Tribes' Crossing of Bosporus (ITA) Istanbul Prehistoric Research Project (Haldun Aydingun); Routes And Harbour Archaeology: An Attempt to Identify Some Ancient Toponyms on the Eastern Adriatic Coast (Mattia Vitelli Casella); The Bath Buildings throughout the Cilician shoreline. The cases of Akkale (Tirtar) and Mylai (Manastir) and the problems of their preservation and fruition. Can the archaeological relevance help in preserving the ancient remains? (Emanuele Casagrande Cicci); Byzantine Small Finds From 'Church B' at Andriake (Myra / Antalya): First Results on the Ceramics (Ozgu Comezoglu); Management of Cultural Heritage in the Coastal Zone 'An investigation on the conservation of wooden house in Istanbul through the eyes of the population' (Pierre Emanuel Decombe); XII Scripta And Two Excavated Game Boards From Kibyra (Unal Demirer); Dionysus and Ariadne in Antiocheia and Zeugma Mosaics: a Contrastive Evaluation (Sehnaz Erarslan); Studying aspects of Pre-Roman History, Religion, Political Organization andTrading Contacts of some Ionian Colonies of 'Thracia Pontica': the case of Dionysopolis & Odessos (Maria Girtzi); 'The Time-traveler meets Emperor Justinian in Byzantine Era': an innovative museological project (Maria Girtzi and Athanasia Bountidou); Hun Originated/Influenced Objects Found In China: Ordos Bronze (Feyza Gorez); Attic Imports to the Black Sea area: the Construction of the Reference Framework (Filippo Giudice with the contribution of Elvia & Giada Giudice, Paolo Madella, Francesco Muscolino, Giuseppe Sanfilippo Chiarello, Rossano Scicolone and Sebastiano Luca Tata); Stoa Philosophy and Its Development Stages in Ancient Era (Ilker Isik); 18th and 19th Century Wall Paintings Featuring Views of Istanbul (Bilge Karaoz); Stazione Neapolis: A journey into the history of Naples from the Neolithic to the Modern Age (Alessandro Luciano); Fish sauces trade and consumption in the ager Mutinensis (Manuela Mongardi); Reconstruction of the Settlement Layout at Salat Tepe: An Interpretation of the Archaeological Evidence (A. Tuba Okse and Ahmet Gormus); Denizli - The Ilbadi Cemetery Namazgah (Kadir Pektas); The Role of the Corinthian Relief Ware in Sardinia as a Socio-Economic and Cultural Indicator of a 'Commissioned' Trade (Paola Puppo and Fabio Mosca); Underwater Archaeological Project at the Ancient City of Akra (Eastern Crimea) 2011-2012 188 (Sergey Solovyev and Viktor Vakhoneev); Management of Underwater Archaeological Heritage: An Environmental Approach to the Protection and Preservation of the Harbour Complex of Aegina (Ioannis Triantafillidis and Vassilis Tselentis); The Byzantine Castle in Akbas on Thracian Chersonessos (Ayse C. Turker); Agoras, Theaters, Baths and Gymnasia: A Case Study on the Urban Redevelopment Choices of Carian Benefactors in the Roman Age (Guray Unver); A Byzantine Monastery South-East of Jerusalem (Yehiel Zelinger); Local and Imported Art in the Byzantine Monastery Newly Discovered Near Jerusalem, Israel (Lihi Habas)

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This research explores the development of the Maya writing system in Middle–Late Formative and Early Classic period (700 BC–AD 450) Mesoamerica. It seeks to correlate script development with interregional interaction and diachronic changes in material culture, and proposes a new methodological template for examining script development via material remains. In doing so, it contributes to anthropological debate regarding the role and effects of interregional interaction in processes of development and change of material and symbolic culture. This investigation posits that Maya writing developed in late Middle Formative through Early Classic period Mesoamerica as a correlate of interregional sociopolitical and economic interaction. Scholars working in many areas of the world have long claimed that interaction is central to cultural innovation, especially in relation to the development of writing. If the emergence of the Mayan script is a correlate of systemic interaction, then its developmental process should be traceable archaeologically through artifactual evidence. This hypothesis is tested by exploring archaeological indicators of interaction against a backdrop of previously-documented transformations in the emerging Mayan script. The methodological model proposed here builds on current models of the development of Mesoamerican writing systems and models of interregional interaction and cultural development to associate archaeological remains with the development of the Mayan script.

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The appearance and revival of handmade grog-tempered ware producing pottery industries during the late 3rd and 4th centuries using technology more appropriate to the Late Iron Age in the south and south-east of Britain is something of an enigma. This revival in the popularity of such primitive pottery took place on the Isle of Wight and in the Hampshire Basin, East Sussex and Kent at a time when the production of Romanised wheel-turned grey and fine colour-coated wares was still on a large scale in the south of Britain and elsewhere in the British provinces. This publication is the result of 25 years research into these grog-tempered wares: it presents corpora of forms associated with the various industries and discusses the distributions of their products at different periods. It also discusses the possible reasons for the revival of such wares, increasing popularity during the 4th century and disappearance during the 5th century AD.

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Professor Rodrigo de Balbín has played a major role in advancing our knowledge of Palaeolithic art, and the occasion of his retirement provides an excellent opportunity to assess the value of prehistoric art studies as a factor in the study of the culture of those human groups which produced this imagery. The diverse papers in this volume, published in Professor de Balbín’s honour, cover a wide variety of the decorated caves which traditionally defined Palaeolithic art, as well as the open-air art of the period, a subject in which he has done pioneering work at Siega Verde and elsewhere. The result is a new and more realistic assessment of the social and symbolic framework of human groups from 40,000 BP onwards.

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In the 1960s a great new barrier dam was built across the Peneios Valley in Elis in the N.W. Peloponnese to create an artificial lake for irrigation purposes. In 1967 the Greek Archaeological Service organised a preliminary survey of the areas to be affected and also asked all the Foreign Archaeological Schools to assist and allocated specific sections to each. The British School at Athens sent a small team in late 1967 to survey part of the south-west fringes of the area to be flooded; this team identified many sites and opened test-trenches at six of them. In 1969 further work was undertaken in that area for the British School: a small team from Birmingham University and from Bangor undertook excavations at two of the identified sites, ‘Kostoureika’ and ‘Keramidia’. This account describes the results in detail. ‘Kostoureika’, identified as a likely Hellenistic ‘villa’ proved structurally disappointing (the 1967 test-trench had located the only surviving wall), but revealed a deposit of Early Helladic pottery, which supplements very usefully evidence for early occupation in the north-west Peloponnese. ‘Keramidia’ proved to be a site occupied, at least at times, from the Hellenistic to the late Roman imperial period.

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Colour defines our material world, operates as a communication tool and creates meaning. But despite the wealth of colour present in British Iron Age archaeology, interpretative studies have concentrated mostly on the shape of material objects and their decoration, with at best fleeting references to colour. This book revisits well known and well documented sites or artefacts and explores their colours and colour connotations – whether hue or luminosity, whether natural or man-made, whether innate or deliberately applied - by looking at various contexts such as processes, landscape, iconography, body decoration or the colour connotations of death. The importance of changes in colour caused by passing of time, processing, handling or exposure, as well as the deliberate concealment or defacing of colour is looked at . Finally and most importantly, using methodologies ranging from examination of written sources, comparisons from the fields of anthropology and ethnology to experimental archaeology the author attempts to shed light on the symbolic meaning behind such colours or colour contexts and contribute to our understanding of Iron Age cosmologies.

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The honorand of this volume, Matti Egon, has been a great benefactor to museums, schools, universities and hospitals in the UK and also in Greece: all areas that her background and life’s interests have made dear to her. One of these is the Greek Archaeological Committee UK, that she helped found in 1992: an organization dedicated to informing academe and the public in Britain of archaeological work carried out in Greece, and of enabling the ‘brightest minds’ of Greece and Cyprus to pursue post-graduate research at British institutions, to the mutual enrichment of both. Some fifty-five graduates have so benefited. This volume offers essays by a good half of those so assisted: roughly split between the sexes, they range between post-graduates still completing their studies in the UK, up to those with doctorates, almost half the group, now successfully in employment at Universities and similar Institutions in the UK, Greece, Cyprus and the USA, with rather fewer working in Museums, within the Greek Ephorates and even at a Foreign School in Athens. The hugely varied topics they offer cover the entire range of prehistory and history down to the modern day on Greek and Cypriot soil. Neolithic animal butchery rubs shoulders with regional assessments of the end of the Mycenaean era, investigations into Hellenistic sculptors and lamps, life in Byzantine monasteries and the politics behind modern exhibitions; the Phoenicians and even an Islamic general make cameo appearances. This startling range of subjects accurately reflects the depth of scholarship Matti Egon has nurtured into being; the affection and gratitude expressed by the graduates equally mirrors the deep appreciation they acknowledge for the opportunities so given.

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Literary sources suggest that Mt. Carmel was a sacred site for the pagans, for the veneration and worship of Ba’al, as practiced there since the 9th century BCE through the erection of altars and temples/shrines in his honour. According to Iamblichus, the Greek philosopher Pythagoras, on his way to Egypt, visited the mountain in the second half of the 6th century BCE and sought solitude in a temple, or perhaps in a temenos. In the days of the Achaemenid king of Persia Darius I (521-486 BCE), the mountain seems to have been sacred to Zeus. Artistic and epigraphic evidence suggest that Elijah’s Cave, on the western slope of Mt. Carmel, had been used as a pagan cultic place, possibly a shrine, devoted to Ba’al Carmel (identified with Zeus/Jupiter) as well as to Pan and Eros as secondary deities. The visual representation of the cult statue (idol) of Ba’al Carmel, a libation vessel (kylix?) and the presumed figure of the priest or, alternatively, the altar within the aedicula, strengthen the assumption that the Cave was used in the Roman period, and perhaps even earlier. In addition, one of the Greek inscriptions, dated to the Roman period, indicates the sacred nature of the Cave and the prohibition of its profanation. When Elijah’s Cave ceased to be used for pagan worship it continued to be regarded as a holy site and was dedicated to Prophet Elijah, presumably in the Early Byzantine period. Following the tradition linking Elijah (so-called el-Khader) with Mt. Carmel, it became sacred to the Prophet and was used by supplicants (Jews, Christians, Muslims and Druze) to Elijah for aid, healing and salvation, a tradition that still persists to this day. There are no literary or historical sources which are recording the existence of Elijah’s Cave on Mt. Carmel prior to the 12th century. The earliest written testimony is that of the laconic description of the Russian Abbot Daniel, who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1106-1107, followed by Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, who visited the Land of Israel in 1165. Any earlier written material must have been lost over time, since it is unlikely that the Cave and its surroundings were entirely ignored before the 12th century.

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Gnathia ware is a painted Hellenistic type of ware with yellow, red and white decorations on the black surface of the vessels. Due to a decoration technique simpler than that on the previous Red-figure vases, Gnathia ware became the most widespread type of Hellenistic ware, and also the first type of south Italian ware that was exported in large quantities outside of the main area of production. Gnathia ware takes its name from ancient Gnathia, today Egnazia (a town on the Adriatic coast between Bari and Brindisi) in south-east Italy, where it was first discovered in 1845. The aims of this study are fourfold: to present Gnathia ware on the East Adriatic coast, to define local Issaean Gnathia production from manufacturing to distribution (including the typology of shapes and decorations), to identify other pottery workshops along the East Adriatic coast and, finally to understand the trade and contacts in the Adriatic during the Hellensitic period. Although the aims of the study may seem ambitious, once all of the material was gathered into a single study, it provided sufficient information to set the objective. It is noteworthy that the study presents the current state of research, so additional work needs to be done. However, work on the default task and the information obtained by the analysis of Gnathia and related ware facilitated greater insight into the history of the Adriatic area in the Hellenistic period. Further, the provenance of the material allowed for the reconstruction of contacts in the Adriatic and neighbouring regions. The questions of contacts and trade may seem peripheral to the main objective of the study, i.e., Gnathia and related ware, but they are vital to an understanding of the historical context of this area. So an additional aim of the study is to open up the East Adriatic region to scholars who are studying the history and economy of the Mediterranean basin in the Hellenistic period.

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New geoinformatic technologies have recently had a transformative effect on landscape archaeology, particularly by facilitating the high resolution acquisition and analysis of data over large areas. These techniques have fundamentally changed the nature and scope of questions that can be addressed regarding the archaeological record. Despite this stimulating potential, many practising archaeologists were not trained in these methods and so are not fully aware of their capabilities or the most appropriate ways to apply them. This volume collates state of the art research in the fields of geophysics, geochemistry, aerial imaging, dating, digital archaeology, GIS and marine archaeology to present a comprehensive overview of the specialised techniques which can contribute to landscape scale archaeological investigations. It is hoped that it will serve as a “best practice” guide for their use and encourage their widespread adoption by the archaeological community.

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The Seminar for Arabian Studies is the only international academic forum which 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 are published in the Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies and reflect the dynamism and scope of the interdisciplinary event. The main foci of the Seminar in 2014, in chronological order were the Palaeolithic and Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages, Early Historical and Classical periods, Heritage Management, Islamic Archaeology and History. In addition there were sessions on Ethnography, on Language, and with a session dedicated to the Archaeology and History of ancient Yemen. In addition, on the evening of Saturday, 26 July 2014, Professor Lloyd Weeks, Head of the School of Humanities, the University of University of New England, New South Wales, Australia, a long supporter of the Seminar and Foundation, presented the MBI Lecture entitled ‘The Quest for the Copper of Magan: how early metallurgy shaped Arabia and set the horizons of the Bronze Age world’ and as always provided an informative, interesting and lucid lecture. This volume also includes notes in memoriam on Nigel Groom (1924–2014), ‘Arabist, historian, spy-catcher, and writer on perfume’; and on Professor Tony Wilkinson (1948–2014), Professor of Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh (2005–2006) and Professor of Archaeology at Durham University (2006–2014) who specialised in landscape archaeology.

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In this book Philip Bes summarises the results of his PhD thesis (Catholic University of Leuven) on the analysis of production trends and complex, quantified distribution patterns of the principal traded sigillatas and slipped table wares in the Roman East, from the early Empire to Late Antiquity (e.g. Italian Sigillata, Eastern Sigillata A, B and C, Çandarli ware, Phocean Red Slip Ware/LRC, Cypriot Red Slip Ware/LRD and African Red Slip Wares). He draws on his own work in Sagalassos and Boeotia, as well as an exhaustive review of archaeological publications of ceramic data. The analysis compares major regional blocks, documenting coastal as well as inland sites, and offers an interpretation of these complex data in terms of the economy and possible distribution mechanisms.

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This book is based on several years of author’s fieldwork in the valleys of the Black Mountains in South East Wales. Hodges had personal knowledge of the area having worked there in his professional capacity as a drystone waller. The aim of the fieldwork was to locate all the sites of derelict stone buildings within the designated upland study area of approximately 140 square kilometres. Initial research indicated that the area had not been previously surveyed to any great extent and the presence of derelict stone buildings that existed in the valleys was not a characteristic of the surrounding lower terrain. Using a combination of documentary evidence and fieldwork, a total of 549 potential sites were identified comprising houses, barns, other ancillary buildings and sheepfolds; 499 separate structures were located on the ground. Following a specially devised protocol at each site, information regarding masonry, modes of construction and extant features was recorded in both tabular and photographic forms.

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Although world-renowned, Pompeii, the first Roman site to be excavated and one of the most visited and best-studied archaeological sites in the world, still has unanswered questions to yield, especially in terms of its long-term development from pre-Roman times. The extensive excavations (1995–2006) by the Anglo-American Project in Pompeii (AAPP) has provided a rare insight into chronological change within the city of Pompeii. This research was significant as an insula block within the city of Pompeii had never previously been excavated in its entirety. The analysis of all the recovered seeds, fruits and cereal remains has provided a unique research opportunity to undertake a diachronic study of urban Roman plant food consumption and discards. Over the past two centuries of excavations at Pompeii only a handful of published works dealing with botanical evidence have been published. The results from this study demonstrate a standard Mediterranean archaeobotanical assemblage recovered from Insula VI.1 which included wheat, barley, legumes, olives, grapes and figs. A wider diversity of fruits, pulses, and additional cereals, especially broomcorn millet were also found. These results support the established view that Pompeii was a fully urbanised city in the 1st century B.C.

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The number and density of megalithic chambered cairns in the Isles of Scilly, a tiny archipelago that forms the most south-westerly part of the British Isles, has been remarked upon since the 18th century. Isles of the Dead? examines these sites, generally known as entrance graves, and the associated cist graves. Their physical structure and contents, as well as their landscape setting, orientation and inter-visibility, are discussed. The origins and functions of the monuments and their significance to the communities that built and used them are also considered. The findings indicate that the entrance graves were indeed used for burial and that a wide range of grave goods, including prestige items, were placed in them. The pottery, in particular, shows the development of a specific island identity. The first radiocarbon determinations from the graves suggest a period of use between c2000 and 1250 cal BC. This coincides with the inundation of large areas of low-lying land in the islands and suggests that the construction of entrance graves may have been regarded as a way of ‘holding the line’ against the depredations of the sea.

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The theme of this study is the large-scale exploitation of different stone products that took place in Norway during the Viking Age and the Middle Ages (c. AD 800–1500). The research is based on analyses of two different quarry landscapes in Western Norway: the quernstone quarries in Hyllestad, Sogn og Fjordane, and the bakestone quarries in Ølve and Hatlestrand, Hordaland. The centre of attention is the production of utility artefacts: quernstones, millstones and bakestones, and more symbolic products such as stone crosses. The production landscapes are also assessed within wider socio-economic perspectives related to organisation, control and landownership. Following the different products, from production in the quarries to their distribution and use in both urban and rural contexts in Northern Europe, questions regarding trade and networks are addressed. The material is also discussed and assessed in wider methodological and theoretical contexts, and an aim is to illuminate the control and right of use related to the quarrying, also to examine the groups of actors behind production as well as distribution and trade.

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The history of Ancient Egypt has been studied in the region of Southeast Europe since the end of the nineteenth century. In some of the countries this was not the case for various reasons, but mainly because of the undeveloped scholarly capabilities and institutions, insufficient funds for archaeological research in Egypt, and the lack of cooperation with scholars from other countries. From the 1960s, however, this situation has changed for the better, firstly with the numerous publications of the diffusion of the Ancient Egyptian cults during Graeco-Roman period, and then with publications (articles, catalogues, books) on Ancient Egyptian collections in various museum institutions located in Southeast Europe. From the early 1990s one can trace the increased production of various scholarly papers in which researchers from Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Romania, and Bulgaria not only researched the Egyptian cults in the Roman Empire, but also on the various aspects of history, religion and literature of Ancient Egypt. Their work, however, was mostly unknown to the scholars outside the region primarily because the results were written in the native languages. This book will try to give a review of the history of the studies of Ancient Egypt done in Southeast Europe, and present some of the latest research. A History of Research Into Ancient Egyptian Culture in Southeast Europe comprises a selection of papers in which scholars from various institutions of the region reviewed the different aspects of past studies and the development of the research of the Ancient Egypt in some countries, along with recent research in the field. We hope that this publication will be useful for all scholars who are unfamiliar with the historiography of this region.

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The causes and consequences of violence and warfare have long interested social scientists, historians, and philosophers. While economic motivations for conflict are among the most commonly discussed drivers of human violence, prehistorians have often downplayed economic factors when studying non-state society. This volume explores linkages between conflict and socioeconomic organization during the early Neolithic of eastern Belgium (c. 5200-5000 BC), using compositional analysis of ceramics from Linienbandkeramik villages to assess production organization and map intercommunity connections against the backdrop of increasing evidence for conflict.

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This volume presents the proceedings of the workshop ‘Archeologia a Firenze: Città e territorio’, organized by CAMNES, Centre for Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies, in collaboration with the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana, in April 2013. This event experienced an extraordinary participation by experts in the field, and resulted also in a significant success in terms of public archaeological awareness. Almost twenty years after the exhibition ‘Alle origini di Firenze’ and the publication of its Catalogo, which is considered a signal point in Florentine archaeology, the workshop provided an opportunity for discussion between all those who conducted research, protection and enhancement of the archaeological heritage of Florence thanks to the presentation of the most recent excavations. Moreover, the origins of the city that took the leading role during the Renaissance were discussed, finding in its roots the very reasons for its glorious destiny. The sessions, organized in chronological order – from prehistoric to medieval topics – were supplemented by contributions concerned with conservation and enhancement of the historic landscape whose reconstruction through research and excavation activities constantly requires new discussions and often additional reflections.

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Few regions possess so many and mainly complete Roman bridles as do the Vesuvian sites. Singular find conditions permit both comprehensive antiquarian-historian analyses of their production, functionality, and everyday use and new approaches to their typology and chronology. The 103 catalogued specimens belong to four types of bronze headstalls, namely metallic noseband, bitless metal bridle (“hackamore”), multipartite metallic bridle (“metallic halter”), and muzzle as well as two types of bits, namely snaffle bit with circular cheekpieces and curb bit. All of them occurred in more or less numerous variants of local or provincial origin. Special attention is paid to the reconstruction of application methods and combinations of types as well as the replica of a snaffle bit with circular cheekpieces. Bitless metal bridles followed Greek models, multipartite metallic bridles Celtiberian ones and, in combination with Thracian or Italian curb bits, formed typical military bridles. All Campanian finds came from civilian contexts such as luxury villae, villae rusticae, urban houses, and workshops. Thanks to find circumstances they can be attributed to draught animals, beasts of burden or mounts (horse, donkey, mule) which also showed up in stables and skeletal remains.

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The “Begram ivories” are widely considered to be miniature masterpieces of Indian art and are one of the largest archaeological collections of ancient ivories. They were excavated at the site of Begram, in northern Afghanistan, in 1937 and 1939 and belong to a period when Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India were united under rulers of the Kushan dynasty. Divided soon afterwards between the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul and the Musée national des arts asiatiques–Guimet in Paris, the collection in Kabul suffered a disaster during the civil war which ravaged the country during the early 1990s. Some of the pieces were successfully concealed by museum staff but most were stolen, hundreds have since been reported in different collections and very few have yet been recovered. In 2011 a group of twenty bone and ivory plaques was generously acquired for the National Museum of Afghanistan by a private individual. These were scientifically analysed, conserved and exhibited at the British Museum and returned to Kabul in 2012. This book describes their story from excavation to display and return, with individual object biographies and detailed scientific analyses and conservation treatments. It also discusses how these objects have attracted very different interpretations over the decades since their discovery, and how the new analyses shed a completely fresh light on the collection. It is lavishly illustrated in full colour, and includes many previously unpublished views of the objects when they were originally exhibited in Kabul. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the archaeology of Afghanistan, Indian art, polychromy, museum studies, object biographies or the history of conservation.

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This volume was conceived to provide a forum for Mexican and foreign scholars to publish new data and interpretations on the archaeology of the northern Maya lowlands, specifically the State of Yucatán. Increased communication among scholars has become increasingly important for grasping a better understanding of the great amount of data emerging from the State of Yucatán. There has been more salvage work conducted in this state than in any of the others throughout Mexico and the data is overwhelming. Because of this large amount of salvage work, archaeologists in the INAH office in Yucatán have had little time to publish the great majority of the new information. Further, many of the forums that are easily accessible to scholars in the northern lowlands have constrictive space restraints not conducive to publishing data. With these points in mind, this volume seeks to gather papers that did not necessarily have to have a theoretical focus, and that could be data laden so that the raw data from many of these projects would not be confined to difficult to access reports in the Mérida and Mexico City offices. The result is a series of manuscripts on the northern lowlands, most of which focus on the State of Yucatán. Some of the papers are very data heavy, while others have a much more interpretive emphasis. Yet all of them contribute to a more complete picture of the northern lowland Maya.

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This volume, edited by Rogério Sousa, is part of the scholarly ferment which has wheeled around the subject of ‘coffin’ during the last twenty years. Its magic and religious evaluation identifies it from time to time as body container, but at the same time substitute body for the deceased, a maternal womb in which the regeneration will occur, a microcosm, tomb, funerary temple, as well as a conduit to the dead, a powerful tool activated by means of the Opening of the Mouth ritual. -From the Foreword, by Alessia Amenta In February 2013, the Symposium Body, Cosmos and Eternity: the Symbolism of Coffins in Ancient Egypt convened at the historical building of the University of Porto to debate conceptual frameworks underlying the contemporary study of Egyptian coffins. Rising from the close association with the depiction of the mummified body, the anthropoid coffins soon absorbed a rich mythological imaginary related to the constellation of Nut, the mother goddess of the sky supposed to give birth to Osiris, and evolved continuously, integrating larger and more complex sets of beliefs, mirroring the increasingly bolder use of coffins in the funerary rituals. It was this complex set of beliefs involving the coffin that we proposed to explore in this series of symposia. Following our original purpose, the studies presented in this volume display an excellent overview on the new trends of research on coffin studies, with diverse contributions concerned either with symbolism or social significance of coffins, museums´ collections or archaeological finds. These studies superbly showcase the richness of coffins as documental sources for the study of Egyptian religion, economy and society.

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A Map of the Body, a Map of the Mind is a study about the relationship between geography and power in the ancient Roman world, and most particularly about the visualisation of geographical knowledge in myriad forms of geography products, including geographical treatises, histories, poems, personifications, landscape representations, images of barbarian peoples, maps, itineraries, and imported foodstuffs. As Rome broke its political bounds and headed towards empire the whole city became the centre and the Roman world-view changed with it. The Roman state then needed to present to the Roman people an easily-digestible narrative about its imperial ambition and imperial possessions, in a way that went beyond the fact that servitude, enslavement, and misery for many underpinned this expansion. There needed to be a publicly-guided discourse centred around the smoothing out of difference, rather than its obliteration or elimination, and the presentation of many different lifeworld

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Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) carried out a programme of archaeological investigations at Magna Park, Lutterworth, Leicestershire between June 2020 and March 2021. A total of just over 12ha was examined as part of the archaeological works, which were separated into eight mitigation areas.The archaeological works revealed the second largest middle Bronze Age cemetery yet found in the county, comprising a group of 30 cremation burials. A further two contemporary cremation burials located 500m away were likely part of the extended funerary landscape.The area of investigation is located along the present A5 which follows the Roman road of Watling Street. This major routeway was hugely influential to the development of the settlements at the site from the middle/ late Iron Age throughout the Roman period and into the medieval period. The site saw four separate farmsteads established in the 1st century BC, and two additional settlement sites established in t

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City of culture, 2600 BC presents the city which lies beneath the surface of the archaeological site of Abu Salabikh in south Iraq, first investigated in the 1960s and excavated in the 1970s and 1980s. It starts from the facts on the ground, and shows how the material remains can resurrect the city, illuminated by its library of literary and lexical texts, and documents from institutional administration. The archaeology and the textual data reinforce each other and together convey a picture of the city and its architecture, agricultural and industrial enterprises, and social structure. These are all integrated with our wider knowledge of south Mesopotamia at this time, and with the world view given us by the rich body of Sumerian literature myths, epics and religious texts, but also homespun secular philosophy to create a vivid image of city life in 2600 BC.This is an account of one city and what it tells us. Cities were the defining components of early Mesopotamia, acting as the bas

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A summary of archaeological teamwork along the Dhofar plateau and its backslope into the Nejd of Southern Oman, this book documents survey and excavation of small-scale stone monuments and pastoral settlements. Whether used as burial places, as landmarks, as mnemonic devices, or for other purposes, monuments are the enduring and prominent traces of desert pastoralists. In Dhofar, pastoralists constructed monuments in discrete pulses over 7500 years. Recognizing the dynamic ecosystems and climate regimes of Arabian prehistory, the author suggests that mobile pastoralists used monuments to link dispersed households into broader social communities. Furthermore, the range of practical adjustments to monuments as a consistent means of messaging among mobile people showcases the adaptive strength of Dhofar’s prehistoric inhabitants over time. A singular episode of settlement during a particularly arid period highlights the longer tradition of pastoral people on the move. With fictional vignettes to imagine the people who used these monuments, the chapters introduce archaeological analysis of the social identities, patterns of resource access, contacts, aversions, and exchanges with neighboring groups. Finally, the book underscores the rich heritage of persistent pastoralism within contemporary Oman.

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Prehistoric Flint Mines in Europe presents the results of the UISPP Commission, Flint Mining in Pre- and Protohistoric Europe. It offers a review of major flint mines dating from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. The eighteen articles were contributed by archaeologists from ten countries – Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden – using the same framework in order to propose a uniform view of the mining phenomenon. At the same time the book reflects various research methods and traditions. Each article deals successively with the geographical and geological context, mining zone topography, research history, methods of exploitation of raw material, dating of archaeological features and structures, characteristics of lithic production, organization of labour, miners' settlements, distribution of products and symbolic aspects of mining activity. Part I includes the well-known flint mines at Spiennes in Belgium, Grime’s Graves in England and Rijckholt-Sint Geertruid in the Netherlands, as well as the equally fascinating Defensola mine from Italy. Part II contains presentations of other European flint mines. The book is abundantly illustrated with large, colour photographs and drawings, and is aimed not only at archaeologists, who will find valuable data and further literature, but also at any reader seeking up-to-date information on prehistoric flint mining communities in Europe.

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The saz or bağlama, a generic name for long-necked lutes in Turkey, plays an important role in the Turkish musical culture. It forms the core of all folk musical ensembles and orchestras and is a popular instrument in the arabesque, entertainment, and pop music. It is the instrument par excellence in Turkish music education and in the religious rituals of the levi and Bektaşi. The saz or bağlama can also be heard as a solo instrument on international concert stages. Acknowledging the instrument’s unique place in Turkey, The Turkish Long-Necked Lute Saz or Bağlama, an updated and revised edition of the Dutch book Turkse Langhalsluit of bağlama, mainly focusses on its cultural and historical background while briefly discussing various saz or bağlama types and their construction, tuning, and playing techniques.

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Manetho’s obscure reference to a race of invaders has been a constant source of debate and controversy. But who are these invaders? They are named the ‘Hyksos’ – a Greek modification of the Egyptian expression HqA xAs.wt ‘ruler of foreign lands’. The Hyksos are correlated with the Fifteenth Dynasty of the Second Intermediate Period, a time characterised by the destabilisation and regionalisation of the Egyptian state. Several scholars have pondered over their victory and rule in Egypt, from the manner in which they entered Egypt and the means with which they claimed the throne to their final expulsion from the land. This book assesses their rise to power, exploring the preliminary stages that enabled the Hyksos to gain control over a portion of Egyptian territory and thus to merit a small mention in Manetho’s history.

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This concise dictionary is intended to be helpful in the reading of archaeological books and publications, and in the writing of papers and articles in both English and German. The aim of this work is to help, in particular, students and on-site archaeologists to find quickly a word relating to a specific period, a specific area or a research field, in a book easy to carry everywhere; but this dictionary is also intended for those with a general interest in archaeology wishing to broaden their vocabulary!

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This concise dictionary is intended to be helpful in the reading of archaeological books and publications, and in the writing of papers and articles in both English and Italian. The aim of this work is to help, in particular, students and on-site archaeologists to find quickly a word relating to a specific period, a specific area or a research field, in a book easy to carry everywhere; but this dictionary is also intended for those with a general interest in archaeology wishing to broaden their vocabulary!

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Medieval Settlement Research is the journal of the Medieval Settlement Research Group (MSRG), a long-established, widely recognised and open multi-disciplinary research group that facilitates collaboration between archaeologists, geographers, historians and other interested parties. The Group is dedicated to developing understanding of rural settlements and their associated landscapes between the 5th and 16th centuries AD. To achieve these aims, the MSRG organises Spring and Winter Seminars each year, offers research and travel grants, awards the annual John Hurst Memorial Prize for the best postgraduate paper, and publishes an annual journal, Medieval Settlement Research. The journal is an internationally recognised publication containing research papers, scholarly articles, fieldwork reports, news and reviews. Although the MSRG’s interests are concentrated primarily on British and Irish medieval landscapes between the 5th and 16th centuries AD, it actively encourages wider chronological and pan-European perspectives. Medieval Settlement Research therefore welcomes papers relating to Britain, Ireland and the rest of Europe that help us to improve our understanding of medieval settlements and landscapes from the level of individual sites to the international scale.

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Do I Really Want to Be an Archaeologist? is an edited collection of letters that Karen D. Vitelli wrote from pre-EU Greece and Turkey to family during her later years of graduate school and early field work (at Franchthi Cave, Gordion, and a training session at Corinth) through to the completion of writing her dissertation in Athens during a coup (1968-1974). An introductory chapter provides background information to clarify references in the letters, additional new comments within the letters amplify points and events, and a final chapter sums up her post-dissertation years. The letters were written during lively times politically and socially, as well as archaeologically, in Greece and around the world. The author was often torn between immersing herself in the past and being involved in the upheavals of that present. The letters show her frequent questioning about whether to remain in archaeology or become an ‘activist,’ and how she eventually found ways to do both.

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Robert Koehl has long considered processions to have played an integral role in Aegean Bronze Age societies. Therefore, when assembling a volume to honor his retirement from Hunter College, contributing authors were asked to focus attention on this subject. Processions are a unique social phenomenon in that they engage large groups with a singular purpose or outcome, acting as a cohesive force in societies. Yet they are elusive both in Aegean art and texts, which has challenged the participants in this volume to approach the subject from various viewpoints, providing evidence of ritual and ceremonial places, pathways and practices, based on archaeological and, in one instance, textual evidence. Artistic depictions in a variety of media provide a means of identifying settings, participants and the possible roles they play, while specific ritual objects are the subject of some contributions, their context and imagery offering another means of enhancing our picture of processions. Papers concentrate mainly on evidence from Crete, the Cyclades and the Greek mainland, with additional perspectives from abroad, these geographic divisions forming the basic outline of the volume.  Download the following paper in Open Access: The Pylos Ta Series and the Process of Inventorying Ritual Objects for a Funerary Banquet - Thomas G. Palaima: Download

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These vibrant Mélanges bring together texts by colleagues and friends to celebrate the life and work of an exceptional scientist, Jean-Loïc Le Quellec. Through the diversity of its contributions, this book bears witness to the transdisciplinarity, rigour and benevolence that characterise this great scientist. From epistemological reflections to scientific studies, memories, drawings and poems, each author makes his or her own contribution to this passionate and fascinating figure. This collection is an ode to curiosity, open-mindedness and scientific rigour, values that Jean-Loïc Le Quellec has passionately defended throughout his career.

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The Roman fort of Trimontium, near the village of Newstead in the Scottish Borders, is renowned internationally thanks to the work of James Curle (1862–1944), a solicitor in nearby Melrose. He led the excavations of 1905–1910, with their spectacular discoveries, and produced an exemplary publication. This volume brings together key sets of his correspondence which illuminate his intellectual networks and connections. They reveal a web of local, national and international contacts and travels that equipped him with an impressively broad knowledge of Roman provincial archaeology and turned him into a sought-after advisor for his expertise and knowledge of a range of topics, especially Roman pottery. Yet his interests went beyond the Roman military. His early interests in Swedish archaeology were rekindled after the Trimontium excavations, with a series of papers on aspects of Viking brooches, while a long-running interest in finds of Roman material beyond the frontiers of the empire shows his concern to understand the Iron Age societies of Scotland and Scandinavia. The letters are provided with a critical apparatus to explain their context, while introductory chapters consider Curle’s background, his local links, his connections with the great Romano-British archaeologist Francis Haverfield, and his wider antiquarian networks. The letters cast fresh light on the intellectual networks of the early 20th century, when professional archaeology was still in its infancy and gifted amateurs such as James Curle played a key role in laying the foundations on which scholarship still builds today.

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Les représentations de Mars Ultor sur les pierres gravées is principally devoted to engraved stones representing the Mars Ultor type and aims to restore them to their rightful place. When Adolf Furtwängler, in his study of the Somzée collection, determined the Mars Ultor type from a statuette in the same collection, he chose to use only two artefacts for comparison: the engraved gem from the Marlborough collection and a sesterce of Antoninus Pius. Monumental sculpture and reliefs did not provide reliable anchors for the type. Even the famous statue from the Capitoline Museum did not find favour with him. Paradoxically, the studies that followed Furtwängler's focused on the ‘high arts’, intentionally leaving aside the intaglios and the glass pastes, which are the only contemporary examples of the original statue, now lost. Gems representing the Mars Ultor type were produced between the 1st and 4th centuries. They attest to the longevity and impact of the Augustan image in Roman iconography and allow us to follow the variations in meaning of the motif. Scattered around the world and without documented contexts, the 240-odd engraved stones gathered here prove – if it were still necessary to do so – that the great masterpieces of art history have had a much more important survival on these small objects than on the great monuments traditionally at the centre of iconographic studies. Comparison with statuettes and coins representing the Mars Ultor type also offers a historical and religious view of the cult of the god, promoted by Octavian after the Battle of Philippi.

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