Search results for ""archaeopress""

Gabii through its Artefacts brings together 15 papers written by as many scholars on objects from the excavations of the town of Gabii undertaken by three different international teams since 2007: The Gabii Project, which is a primarily US-based group of scholars; a team from the Musée du Louvre; and a team from the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” collaborating with the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma. The contributions aim to consider artefacts outside the ceramic report and small finds catalogue format in terms of both the wide variety of materials and the possibilities for unique individual stories. Objects ranging from the pre-Roman to Imperial periods are examined using a mix of approaches, making an effort to be sensitive to excavation context and formation processes. Approaches include archaeometric, spatial, and statistical analyses, artefact life history approaches, and archival approaches. Thus, different scales of analysis are also undertaken: in some cases individual objects are focused on, in others whole classes or assemblages. The papers ultimately share the common goal of offering new stories about the inhabitants of Gabii told through their artefacts. Together they enliven the Gabines’ behaviours: their concerns about personal and economic security and status, their productive activities and trade connections to other towns, their aesthetic and ritual concerns, their political affiliations and aspirations.

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Historiographie des préhistoriens et paléontologues d’Afrique du Nord represents the proceedings of Session 19 G of the XIXth UISPP World Congress which took place in 2021 in Meknes, Morocco. This volume traces the scientific work of some thirty prehistorians, geologists and paleontologists from the end of the 19th and 20th centuries in territories (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sahara) where prehistoric and protohistoric discoveries were numerous and fruitful.

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Despite some high-profile exceptions, the archaeology of the South Caucasus (present-day Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan) remains marginalised and often overlooked – not receiving the wider exposure it deserves. This situation is partly a consequence of decades of occupation and academic isolation, and partly because of an unfortunate (and incorrect) perception that the South Caucasus is simply peripheral to the archaeologies of Europe and Asia. The chapters collected in this volume demonstrate the diversity and vibrancy of international research collaboration in the archaeology of Georgia, while all underline the enormous potential of the country’s archaeological resource. The importance of seeing the South Caucasus in its unique context, rather than as peripheral to Europe or Asia, is evident throughout. The increasing application of scientific techniques to archaeological research and landscape archaeology features prominently in many of these chapters. However, the key element is the multidisciplinary nature of much of the work, which allows specialists drawn from a wide range of backgrounds and scholarly traditions to contribute to the better understanding and appreciation of the Georgian historic environment.

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The Rural Hinterland of Antipatris from the Hellenistic to the Byzantine Periods presents the results of extensive excavations conducted in the rural region south and east of the modern city of Rosh Ha’Ayin. The archaeological and historical data that are analysed span a period of over 1000 years. To examine the settlement pattern of the region, 22 sites were chosen, divided into five primary models, which represent a hierarchal settlement pattern: farmsteads; subsidiary villages; fortresses; monasteries and churches; towns. These five settlement types were examined throughout the periods under study. Emphasis is consistently placed on landscape archaeology – rural roads, field towers, plot boundaries, oil presses, winepresses, and terraces. A key aim is to date the creation of agricultural systems and to track the potential areas of cultivation of different agricultural products. Twelve sites dating to the Hellenistic period were found, most being farmsteads established in the Iron Age II and functioning until the 3rd Century BCE, when they were abandoned in an organized manner, possibly in the transition between Ptolemaic and Seleucid rule. During the Roman Period a dramatic decline in settlement distribution is noted, with a total of only five sites known - and among them only one large village – Migdal-Afek. Twenty more settlements from the Byzantine period were discovered, indicating a significant rise in their number from the Roman period. The settlements include large villages, manor houses and monasteries which functioned from the 5th to 8th centuries.

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The third volume of the Homines, Funera, Astra series gathers works presented at the third and fourth editions of the International Symposium on Funerary Archaeology: Death and Fire in Ancient Times (15–18 September 2013), and Time and Cause of Death from Prehistory to the Middle Ages (21–23 September 2014), both held at the ‘1 Decembrie 1918’ University in Alba Iulia, Romania. The contributions focus on two central topics regarding past funerary behaviour in Central and South-Eastern Europe: cremation, and cause and time of death. As in previous volumes, interdisciplinarity is a key feature. The study of archaeological contexts through 14C dating and Bayesian modelling, osteological studies including palaeopathologies, and epigraphic and numismatic evidence were all taken into account to establish the various causes of death and/or the moment these tragic events took place. The present volume includes 13 studies, six of which are dedicated to prehistoric funerary practices – dating to the Neolithic and Eneolithic periods (four studies), Bronze Age (one study) and Iron Age (one study). Three more papers are focused on the Roman Age, while the volume is completed with four papers on the Medieval period, overall providing a wealth of new information on funerary behaviour in this part of Europe.

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Groma stems from the Department of History and Cultures (DISCI) of the University of Bologna and focuses on the different methodologies applied to archaeology. Particular attention is paid to Mediterranean archaeology and to specific methodological aspects such as archaeological documentation and landscape archaeology.

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Growing Up in the Cis-Baikal Region of Siberia, Russia analyses the dietary life histories of prehistoric hunter-gatherers from six cemeteries in the Lake Baikal region of Siberia, Russia. The overarching goal was to better understand how they lived by examining what they ate, how they utilized the landscape, and how this changed over time. Recent archaeological advances offer new ways to gain insight into the lives of people who died many years ago. With the application of biochemistry, archaeologists can study an individual’s dietary choices from the time they were born up until the last few months of life, providing a fuller picture of how people lived, the challenges they may have faced, and the choices they made. This study tests the application of a technique known as dentine micro-sampling, in which the inner part of a tooth is sectioned into thin strips, each representing roughly nine months of development. These strips were subjected to stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis, unveiling the chemical markers of different foods. The results show that the dietary contribution of terrestrial and aquatic food sources varied within and between cemeteries and cultural periods, which can be viewed as evidence of dietary independence among groups occupying the same area. The results also show that the movement of these individuals around the Lake Baikal region is observable in the chemical markers from their teeth. In conjunction with other methods, dentine micro-sampling helps us understand the interplay of personal choice and ecological constraint that makes up the dietary behaviour of these prehistoric peoples.

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Dinámicas sociales y roles entre mujeres aims to revaluate the importance of women as active and powerful social agents in the definition of ancient cultures, their contribution to the economic and social development of the community and to the position, reputation, and prestige of their families. By engaging new theoretical and methodological frameworks from anthropological and gender studies, developed in the last decade, this book compiles an unparalleled set of papers with a well-defined common goal: to deepen the idea of women as key economic and cultural actors in the maintenance and development of ancient Oriental societies. The book derives from an international conference held on 11-12 March 2021 at the University of Alcalá (UAH), in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid, Spain), completed by further articles received from scholars from different institutions and disciplines. Overall, the contributions aim to critique previous positions and methods and to propose new avenues of research and approaches in a series of case studies. Furthermore, the theoretical and interpretative frameworks they develop will have relevance for other women's historical studies as well as for related disciplines such as anthropology, philosophy, political science and gender studies in their interdisciplinary approach.

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The Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautores is an international learned society that brings together researchers from the territory that once belonged to the Roman Empire and from far beyond, united in the goal of developing Roman ceramics studies at its most diverse categories. This volume serves as an interim collection due to the postponement of the expected congress following the COVID pandemic. Comprised of 16 contributions encompassing various pottery categories like terra sigillata, black gloss Italian ware, and more, this special collection offers multidisciplinary perspectives on trade, local production, and societal contexts. Spanning from early to late Roman periods, these contributions shed light on pottery's significance and its diverse usage across the ancient Roman world.

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Normative, Atypical or Deviant? Interpreting Prehistoric and Protohistoric Child Burial Practices, the tenth volume in the SSCIP monograph series, explores the response of the living when dealing with the death of a child. This response is strongly connected to belief systems and concern for the fate of the deceased in the afterlife. The funerary rituals for each culture generally follow a prescribed format that will both satisfy the needs of the dead and ensure there are no negative consequences for the living. But how do we interpret burials that do not adhere to the recognised formula for their society? Can we find evidence that such differences involved positive or, indeed, negative emotions? Should atypical rites for children actually be considered normal since they are typical for their age cohort, differing only from those of adults, and perhaps simply reflect adult-centric interpretations of the past? The papers within the volume discuss these issues by focusing on juvenile burial practices in Europe and the Near East during recent prehistory and protohistory. The interpretation of normative, atypical or deviant is interrogated based on the context of the burials and the intentionality of the practice.

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Desde su nacimiento en la Sierra de Cazorla hasta su desembocadura en el océano Atlántico, el río Guadalquivir ha sido a lo largo de la Historia un factor identitario de las comunidades asentadas en torno a él. Los recursos proporcionados por el propio río, sus afluentes y su extenso valle han contribuido a la supervivencia, bienestar y desarrollo de diferentes culturas. Fruto de esta relación entre el hombre y el territorio se han ido generando diversos paisajes culturales. No obstante, la situación política, económica y sanitaria de los últimos años ha provocado que la sostenibilidad de algunos de ellos se vea amenazada, al igual que sus bienes patrimoniales, condenados en muchos casos al abandono y el olvido. La presente monografía surge con el objetivo de reflexionar sobre esta compleja situación desde múltiples perspectivas, incluyendo la arqueología, el medio natural, la didáctica, las nuevas tecnologías y el turismo. Para ello hemos contado con la colaboración de reputados profesionales e investigadores procedentes de diversos ámbitos académicos. Entre todos hemos tratado de analizar diversas realidades, exponer las necesidades patrimoniales a la que nos enfrentamos hoy y sugerir propuestas para (re)activar las industrias culturales de la cuenca del Guadalquivir.

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People and Agrarian Landscapes aims to offer the reader a series of keys to understand why agrarian archaeology has become one of the most dynamic, experimental, and innovative sectors of the discipline in southern Europe, providing an overview of the driving theories, methodologies and main topics that have been addressed to date. In this way, the text is presented as an introduction for students, a critical reading guide for other scholars, and an informative instrument aimed at a wide audience. Most of the results of agrarian archaeology are to be found in highly specialized journals and venues that are not always easily accessible, and thus the volume presents the works, tools, and conceptual frameworks that have been developed by some of the main research groups active in the south of Western Europe to study rural societies throughout history, considering the materiality of agricultural activities.

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The frontiers of the Roman Empire together form the largest monument of one of the world’s greatest ancient states. They stretch for some 7,500 km through 20 countries which encircle the Mediterranean Sea. The remains of these frontiers have been studied by visitors and later by archaeologists for several centuries. Many of the inscriptions and sculptures, weapons, pottery and artefacts created and used by the soldiers and civilians who lived on the frontier can be seen in museums. Equally evocative of the lost might of Rome are the physical remains of the frontiers themselves. The aim of this series of books is not only to inform the interested visitor about the history of the frontiers but to act as a guidebook as well. Emperor Hadrian ordered the construction of the great Wall which still bears his name ‘to separate the barbarians from the Romans’ (Historia Augusta, Life of Hadrian, 11). The complex of military installations, 117 km long, but with an extension without the linear barrier for about 40 km down the west coast, contained 74 km of stone wall, 43 km of turf rampart, 200 towers, 100 fortlets, 20 forts, took years to construct and was probably still being modified when Hadrian died in July 138. This highly illustrated book offers an accessible summary of Hadrian’s Wall, and an overview of the wider context of the Roman frontiers.

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Current Research in Egyptology 2021 presents papers from the Twenty-First Annual Meeting of the international postgraduate conference Current Research in Egyptology, held online by the Department of Mediterranean Studies of the University of the Aegean (Rhodes, Greece) on 9-16 May 2021. Almost 100 participants from institutions all over the world presented their insightful research on a wide range of topics regarding all periods of ancient Egypt. Fifteen Egyptological and Papyrological papers are published here, which investigate a great variety of issues, including social and religious aspects of life in ancient Egypt, ritual and magic, language and literature, ideology of death, demonology, the iconographical tradition, and intercultural relations, ranging chronologically from the Prehistoric to the Coptic period. The wide chronological and thematic scope of the book reflects the multifaceted, interdisciplinary and innovative character of modern Egyptology.

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Presented to Stan Beckensall on his 90th birthday, this diverse and stimulating collection of papers celebrates his crucial contribution to rock art studies, and also looks to the future. It should be of value to students of prehistoric Britain and Ireland, and anyone with an interest in rock art, for many decades to come. Stan has done a phenomenal amount of work over recent decades, on an entirely amateur basis, discovering, recording and interpreting Atlantic rock art (‘cup-and-ring marks’) in his home county of Northumberland and elsewhere. Much of this work was done in the 1970s and 1980s when the subject, now increasingly regarded as mainstream within Neolithic studies, was largely shunned by professional archaeologists. Anyone with an interest in rock art is greatly indebted to Stan, not only for his work and his wisdom, so graciously shared, but also, as the contributors to this volume make clear, for the inspiration he has provided, and continues to provide, for work undertaken by others.

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Signalling and Performance: Ancient Rock Art in Britain and Ireland presents a state of the art survey of the ancient rock art of Britain and Ireland, bringing together new discoveries and new interpretations. Ancient rock art offers unique insights into the mindsets of its makers and the landscapes in which they lived. The making of rock art was not just an aesthetic practice, but an activity informed by deep social and cultural meanings held by its makers - meanings that they were compelled to express on rocks in Britain and Ireland, through mostly abstract images, for thousands of years. For a long time, ancient rock art remained a topic on the fringes of Archaeology. Since the 1960s, however, there has been sustained recording and research into ancient rock art. Increased publicity has evoked growing interest in British and Irish rock art, with professional and amateur archaeologists and the public, with the latter being responsible for many discoveries. In 2007, Aron Mazel, George Nash and Clive Waddington published the first edited volume focusing on ancient British rock art, entitled Art as Metaphor. Since then, there have been a number of publications covering this topic. Building on the increased interest in rock art, this lavishly illustrated volume constructed of thirteen thought-provoking chapters and an Introduction will do much to further enhance of understanding of this fascinating and meaningful resource. It will further establish ancient British and Irish rock art as a significant archaeological assemblage worthy of attention and additional study.

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In Pursuit of Visibility honors the distinguished career of a scholar of Canaan and ancient Israel, Beth Alpert Nakhai. In fifteen diverse essays, Professor Nakhai’s students and colleagues celebrate her important contributions to the field of Near Eastern Archaeology, including her research into gender, household, and cult in the Bronze and Iron Age southern Levant, and her tireless efforts to acknowledge and support women in the profession. These essays reflect Professor Nakhai’s commitment to combining archaeology and text to reconstruct aspects of ancient life and make those who are marginalized visible in both the past and the present.

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Perchement et Réalités Fortifiées en Mediterranee et en Europe, Vème-Xème Siècles / Fortified Hilltop Settlements in the Mediterranean and in Europe (5th-10th centuries) is the result of the International Congress held in October 2019 in Roquebrune-sur-Argens about the fortified hilltop settlements of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. The congress brought together many of the most prominent scholars in the field (principally archaeologists) to present both brand new data and syntheses on wide contexts throughout the European continent, the Mediterranean basin and beyond. The book stands as the most recent and comprehensive update on the ‘perchement’ (i.e. the fortified hilltop settlement) and it will represent a benchmark for scholars working on this topic for decades to come.

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Roman Amphora Contents: Reflecting on the Maritime Trade of Foodstuffs in Antiquity gathers together the results of the RACIIC International Congress (Roman Amphora Contents International Interactive Conference, Cádiz, 2015), dedicated to the distinguished Spanish amphorologist Miguel Beltrán Lloris. The aim is to reflect on the current state of knowledge about the palaeocontents of Roman amphorae. With over 30 specialists from different countries, the text examines four elements diachronically throughout the Roman period up to the 7th century, with some insights on pre-Roman times: 1) the intimate relationships between amphorae and their contents, from an interdisciplinary perspective (from tituli picti to the evidence from underwater sites, including the problems of reuse); 2) the contribution and current state of knowledge concerning archaeometric approaches (especially organic residue analysis); 3) the evidence at regional / provincial level (from Lusitania to Egypt); and 4) recent case studies, from Corinth, Pompeii and Arles to the Fretum Gaditanum, which allow us to illustrate the different and combined study methods, necessarily interdisciplinary (archaeological, archaeobotanical, archaeozoological, epigraphic, palynological or biomolecular), in order to advance in this transcendental theme and its significance for the economic history and maritime traffic of the Ancient World.

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Lyde Green Roman Villa, Emersons Green, South Gloucestershire was excavated between mid-2012 and mid-2013 along with its surroundings and antecedent settlement. The excavations took place as part of the Emersons Green East Development Area, funded through the mechanism of commercial archaeology by Gardiner & Theobald LLP. The results of the stratigraphic analysis are given here along with specialist reports on the human remains, pottery (including thin sections), ceramic building material, small finds, coinage and iron-working waste. Six open-area excavations allowed the archaeologists the rare opportunity to trace a substantial part of the site’s layout. Three ancillary buildings within the villa compound, including a bathhouse, were excavated. Evidence of advanced water management was uncovered in the form of lead piping, ceramic drain tiles and an enigmatic stone structure built into a canalised spring line. The villa’s economy included stock raising, crop processing and iron and textile production. The settlement appears to have originated in the mid-1st century AD, or slightly earlier.

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The Neolithic Cemetery at Tell el-Kerkh is the second volume of the final reports on the excavations at Tell el-Kerkh, northwest Syria. The 12-year field campaigns at Tell el-Kerkh yielded several unexpected archaeological findings. The existence of the oldest cultural deposits from the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period (c. 8700-8300 BC) in northwestern Syria was revealed. The investigations also revealed that several large and complex societies had existed from the late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B to the middle Pottery Neolithic periods (c. 7600–6000 BC). One of the most conspicuous findings of the excavations at Tell el-Kerkh was the discovery of a Pottery Neolithic cemetery dating between c. 6400 and 6100 BC, which makes it one of the oldest outdoor communal cemeteries in West Asia. This book focuses specifically on this cemetery. It reports the discovery of over 240 burials and discusses the process of the formation and development of the cemetery. Initially used for traditional house burials in a corner of the settlement, the cemetery eventually became a graveyard that was physically separated from the residential buildings and consisted only of graves. In other words, burials that were deeply related to each house developed into an outdoor communal cemetery of the settlement. The Kerkh Neolithic cemetery was a precursor to the wider development of communal cemeteries in West Asia, and its investigation provides us with a deeper understanding of Neolithic society in West Asia.

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The collection of pictures at Wilton has been celebrated since the seventeenth century; and its historic arrangement is uniquely well documented in a series of catalogues of which the first, issued in 1731, was the earliest such publication about any private collection in England. Of successive owners of the house, three made significant contributions: William, 4th Earl of Pembroke, who commissioned van Dyck’s monumental portrait of his family that dominates the Double Cube Room he had created; his grandson, Thomas, 8th Earl of Pembroke who assembled what was in some respects a pioneering collection of old master pictures for the house; and his grandson, Henry, 10th Earl of Pembroke, patron of Reynolds and Wilson, among others. Such masterpieces as Lucas van Leyden’s Card Players, Cesare da Sesto’s Leda – long attributed to Leonardo – and Ribera’s Democritus are matched by remarkable portrait drawings by Raphael and Holbein. These are complemented by a substantial deposit of family portraits and other pictures that attest to the tastes and interests of successive generations of the Herbert family.

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Irish Late Iron Age Equestrian Equipment in its Insular and Continental Context is the first practical archaeological study of Irish Iron Age lorinery. The volume examines the bits and bosals (Y-pieces) holistically, using practical stable-yard knowledge merged with archaeological techniques such as morphometrics, use-wear, GIS, functional comparison to European and British equipment and distribution analysis to place it within its time and place. Irish Iron Age artefacts have always been beset by issues of chronology, but by using these various analytical methods, a more precise timeframe for the objects is indicated. A complex relationship with Roman Britain and the Empire also becomes visible, with aspects of identity and belief being expressed through the sophisticated equestrian equipment. The analysis of the bridle components reveal that the Ireland of the first centuries AD shares some characteristics with other boundary zones of the Roman Empire, such as Scotland and northern Germany, but also has its own unique interpretation of introduced technology. The Ireland of the Late Iron Age, then, is a society in flux, picking and choosing which traditions it maintains. The horse and associated equipment were very much at the heart of the social changes set in motion by contact with the Roman Empire, and as such, the examination of the snaffles and bosals allows us to bring the people of the Late Iron Age in Ireland into focus.

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Excavations at Chester: Medieval and post-medieval development within the northern and eastern suburbs to c. 1900 brings together for the first time the results from archaeological investigations carried out within the suburbs to the north and east of the medieval and later City of Chester between 2002 and 2018. At sites investigated to both the north and east of the City, significant stretches of the defensive ditch cut during the Civil War of the 17th century were excavated. The results bring into question the accepted lines of these massive defensive outworks. To the northwest of the City, the findings demonstrate that the land remained agricultural until late in the 18th century and was not truly developed until the arrival of the canal network. To the north of the City, development of terraced housing had begun by the 1830s, shortly before the arrival of the railway network, in the area that would become the suburb of Newtown.To the east of the City, and north of the major route of Foregate Street, evidence for industry in the form of tanneries was uncovered on land that had otherwise been predominately agricultural. This area too witnessed an explosion in terraced housing from the beginning of the 19th century, and the remains of buildings relating to both entertainment and worship were also encountered.

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The excavations on the Koukounaries Hill, Paros, Greece, conducted under the direction of Demetrius U. Schilardi for the Archaeological Society at Athens from 1976 to 1992, revealed a 12th century B.C.E. Mycenaean building, an Iron Age settlement, and an Archaic sanctuary. Koukounaries I: Mycenaean Pottery from Selected Contexts presents the pottery from five areas inside the building: three large storerooms, the main east-west corridor, and a small shrine, as well as the pottery from a limited reoccupation after the building’s fire destruction and abandonment. The ceramics from the main occupation phase comprise the largest and best-preserved domestic assemblage from the 12th century B.C.E. in the Cyclades and offer important evidence for the continuation of Mycenaean culture after the destruction of the mainland palatial citadels. The small deposits of pottery from the reoccupation phase, provide important stratigraphic evidence for defining the Late Helladic IIIC ceramic sequence. The volume also considers the function of the individual spaces within the building, based largely on the patterns of shape distributions and quantities, with the statistics for each context presented in a series of appendices. Other issues area also explored, including the evidence for itinerant potters, the trade in antique vases, and the place of origin of the settlers who founded and inhabited the Mycenaean building on the summit of the Koukounaries Hill.

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Searching for the 17th Century on Nevis is the first of a series of monographs dedicated to the archaeological investigation of the landscape, buildings and artefacts of the Eastern Caribbean by the Nevis Heritage Project. This volume presents the results of documentary research and excavation on two sugar plantation sites on the island of Nevis. Upper Rawlins, located high on Nevis mountain, was occupied in the late 17th and early 18th century and abandoned early. Fenton Hill was occupied from the mid-17th to the mid-19th century and originated with an earthfast timber building, probably a dwelling house, later converted to a kitchen and encapsulated in stone about 1700. The adjacent main house was probably destroyed in the French raid of 1706 and rebuilt in timber. The final occupation was by Portuguese Madeiran labourers, who were introduced to fill a labour force shortage in the 1840s. Detailed reports on the finds assemblage include discussions of the handmade, bonfired Afro-Caribbean pottery made by enslaved African women, imported European ceramics and glass, clay tobacco pipes, metalwork and building materials. The dominance of imported goods from south-western England demonstrates the strong mercantile links between Nevis and Bristol, but local Nevis production of ceramics adds new insights into the estatebased ceramic production on European lines.

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Doors are more than a physical means to close off an entrance or an exit; doors can also indicate that a boundary between two worlds has been crossed. This is above all the case for the door into the chapel. Such a door constitutes a barrier between the world of the living and the world where the living and the dead can coexist, while, inside the chapel, the false door acts as a barrier between the world of the living and that of the dead. Taking into account both physical and non-physical aspects of the door, Doors, Entrances and Beyond... proposes that porticos, false doors, niches and mastaba chapel entrances are interconnected in their function as a barrier between two worlds, of which the entrance into the chapel is the most important. The different elements of the entrance have a signalling, identifying, inviting and in some cases a warning function, but once inside the entrance itself, the decoration of its corridor walls adds a guiding and an explanatory function to it. The main themes there are the tomb owner standing or seated with or without members of the family, and subsidiary figures. Over the course of time, decreasing tomb dimensions correlate with the decreasing size of the chosen decoration themes. At the same time, both on the walls of the corridor and the false door, a change of decoration themes took place which can be explained through the changing mode of supply of the k3 of the deceased.

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A system for the hierarchical Classification of Lithic Artefacts from the British Late Glacial and Holocene Periods is offered in this book. It is hoped that it may find use as a guide book for archaeology students, museum staff, non-specialist archaeologists, local archaeology groups and lay enthusiasts. To allow the individual categories of lithic objects to be classified and characterised in detail, it was necessary to first define a number of descriptive terms, which forms the first part of this guide. The main part of the book is the lithic classification section, which offers definitions of the individual formal debitage, core and tool types. The basic questions asked are: what defines Object X as a tool and not a piece of debitage or a core; what defines a microlith as a microlith and not a knife or a piercer; and what defines a specific implement as a scalene triangle and not an isosceles one? As shown in the book, there are disagreements within the lithics community as to the specific definition of some types, demonstrating the need for all lithics reports to define which typological framework they are based on. The eBook edition of this publication is available in Open Access, supported by Historic Environment Scotland.

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The absence of a specialized bilingual dictionary (or glossary) of terminology which would facilitate the work of both scholars and students of archaeology (and, to a lesser degree, history) has long been noted. Several dictionaries or compact encyclopaedias of archaeological terms have been published in both Greek and English since the 19th century (some of the latter have been translated in Greek as well). All of them however have been written in one of those languages, explaining (quite often with useful images) each term but not providing its equivalent in the other language. It is hoped that the present work will cover this lacuna in international bibliography. An adequate knowledge of English is essential to anyone professionally involved with classical archaeology and/or Greek prehistory, since English has become undoubtedly the lingua franca of our time. The dominance of the German and French “schools” in this field has given its place to Anglophone (principally British and American) studies since the Second World War and English-language bibliography is indispensable to any researcher of any topic relating to the archaeology of Greek lands. The present dictionary is intended to be a tool both for students and scholars or professional archaeologists studying, reading and publishing in both Greek and English.

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This book is not a standard coin catalogue, but it focuses on quantities and percentages of the mysterious 5950 sphere images on Roman (76BC-AD 476) coin reverses, and a few Greek coins. This research identifies which Emperors, Deities and Personifications are most frequently shown with a sphere, during reigns and eras, and determines the political, cultural, religious and propaganda trends associated with the coin sphere images, and provides a variety of new findings. The book has 257 illustrations of spheres shown on Roman and a few Greek coins, as well as 109 images of statues, reliefs, mosaics, and other ancient art. Consider that the ancient Greeks (620 BC-30 BC) had the first astronomers in Europe (influenced by Egyptian and Babylonian astronomy) who created the celestial and terrestrial sphere theories, including the popular geocentric theory (Earth is the centre of the Universe). But at that time the Greeks very rarely showed sphere images on their coins – far less than 1%! In comparison, the later Romans during 76 BCAD 476 issued coin reverse sphere types as 15% of their total coin types, and therefore millions of these important coin sphere types were minted. The author explores Constantine’s BEATA TRANQVILLITAS Sphere Reverses (AD 321 – 324) and offers a new interpretation of Christian Trinity symbolism that opposes Arianism. Starting in the late 4th century, the Roman religion began to transfer to Christianity, and coins promoted Emperors holding a Christian cross on a globe or a winged Victory/Angel also holding a globus cruciger. At the end of the book, the Epilogue shows the continuous worldwide use (from 5th to 21st century) of sphere images on coins, reliefs, sculptures, astronomical models, drawings, paintings and large monuments, and some of them suggest that Imperial Roman sphere coins created a long legacy.

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The Wilton House sculptures constituted one of the largest and most celebrated collections of ancient art in Europe. Originally comprising some 340 works, the collection was formed around the late 1710s and 1720s by Thomas Herbert, the eccentric 8th Earl of Pembroke, who stubbornly ‘re-baptized’ his busts and statues with names of his own choosing. His sources included the famous collection of Cardinal Mazarin, assembled in Paris in the 1640s and 1650s, and recent discoveries on the Via Appia outside Rome. Earl Thomas regarded the sculptures as ancient – some of them among the oldest works of art in existence – but in fact much of the collection is modern and represents the neglected talents of sixteenth-and seventeenth-century artists, restorers and copyists who were inspired by Greek and Roman sculpture. About half of the original collection remains intact today, adorning the Gothic Cloisters that were built for it two centuries ago. After a long decline, accelerated by the impact of the Second World War, the sculptures have been rehabilitated in recent years. They include masterpieces of Roman and early modern art, which cast fresh light on Graeco-Roman antiquity, the classical tradition, and the history of collecting. Illustrated with specially commissioned photographs, this catalogue offers the first comprehensive publication of the 8th Earl’s collection, including an inventory of works dispersed from Wilton. It re-presents his personal vision of the collection recorded in contemporary manuscripts. At the same time, it dismantles some of the myths about it which originated with the earl himself, and provides an authoritative archaeological and art-historical analysis of the artefacts.

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Pits and Boots derives from excavations carried out in 2007-8, in advance of an extension to the Bon Accord Centre in Aberdeen, that uncovered the backlands of an area that would have formed part of the industrial quarter of the medieval town. The site is well-dated by dendrochronology, augmented by artefactual evidence, and indicates activity from the late 12th century AD into the early modern period, with a particularly intensive period in the 13th century. Structural evidence consists primarily of the backland boundaries, hearth/ovens, several wood-lined wells and many large pits. It is the contents of these pits and wells which forms the core of this monograph. The waterlogged conditions within the pits and wells has meant that a remarkable assemblage of organic remains including leather, wooden artefacts, textiles, animal pelts, fibres, and cordage has survived. The leather assemblage is the largest ever to be found in Scotland and has revealed a range of activities associated with the use of animal hides, from hide processing to tanning and shoemaking. The wood assemblage is also extensive and includes bowls, platters, coopered vessels and tools. Metalwork, crucibles, clay mould fragments and ceramics all testify to the industrial nature of the area, while the large quantities of animal and fishbone demonstrate that butchery on an industrial scale took place in the area. The excavation charts the changing nature of this once-peripheral area of Aberdeen, from an industrial zone in the medieval period, to horticultural and domestic spaces in post-medieval times, and has thus greatly enhanced our knowledge of Scottish urban development.

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Culture and Society at Lullingstone Roman Villa paints a picture of what life might have been like for the inhabitants of the villa in the late third and fourth centuries AD. The villa today, in the Darent Valley, Kent, has an unusual amount of well-preserved evidence for its interior decoration and architecture. Seventy years on from the commencement of the excavation of the site, this study draws on the original reports but also embraces innovative approaches to examining the archaeological evidence and sheds new light on our understanding of the villa’s use. For the first time, the site of Lullingstone Roman Villa is surveyed holistically, developing a plausible argument that the inhabitants used domestic space to assert their status and cultural identity. An exploration of the landscape setting asks whether property location was as important a factor in the time of Roman Britain as it is today and probes the motives of the villa’s architects and their client. Lullingstone’s celebrated mosaics are also investigated from a fresh perspective. Why were these scenes chosen and what impact did they have on various visitors to the villa? Comparison with some contemporary Romano-British villas allows us to assess whether Lullingstone is what we would expect, or whether it is exceptional. Examples from the wider Roman world are also introduced to enquire how Lullingstone’s residents adopted Roman architecture and potentially the social customs which accompanied it.

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‘Tanbûr Long-Necked Lutes Along the Silk Road and Beyond’ explores the origin, history, construction, and playing techniques of tanbûrs, a musical instrument widely used over vast territories and over many centuries. The diffusion of the tanbûr into the musical cultures along the Silk Road resulted in a variety of tanbûrs with two or more, occasionally doubled or tripled courses, a varying number and variously tuned frets, each having its own characteristic sound, playing technique, and repertory. Since the last century, tanbûrs spread beyond the Silk Road while new versions continue to appear due to changing musical and tonal demands made on them. Similar or identical instruments are also known by other names, such as saz or bağlama, dotâr or dutâr, setâr, dömbra, and dambura.

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‘Bridging the Gap in Maritime Archaeology: Working with Professional and Public Communities’ marks the publication of a conference session held at CIfA 2014. The session was organised by the Marine Archaeology Special Interest Group which is a voluntary group of CIfA Archaeologists which exists to promote greater understanding of marine archaeology within the wider archaeological community. The session focused on ways in which it is possible, given the obvious constraints of working in the marine environment, to engage with a wider audience in the course of maritime archaeological work. The volume presents a series of case studies exhibiting best practice with regard to individual maritime projects and examples of outreach to local communities, including the creation of accessibility to remote and hard-to-reach archaeological sites.

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The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, was built by the Byzantine emperor Constantine I to commemorate the Passion of Jesus Christ. Encased within its walls are the archaeological remains of a small piece of ancient Jerusalem ranging in date from the 8th century BC through the 16th century AD, at which time the Turkish Ottoman Empire ushered Jerusalem into the modern period. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was the subject of extensive archaeological investigation between 1960 and 1981 during its restoration. With the development of non-destructive techniques of archaeological research, investigation within the church has continued, which led to the restoration and conservation of the shrine built over the Tomb of Jesus in 2017. The first part of this monograph focuses on the archaeological record of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, surveying past excavations as well as recent research carried out within the church over the past three decades. The archaeological survey provides historical context for the second part of the book—a collection of primary sources pertinent to the history of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The texts included here range in date from the 1st century AD to the mid-19th century and are presented in their original languages with English translation.

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‘Cultural Interactions during the Zhou Period (c. 1000-350 BC): A study of networks from the Suizao corridor’ examines cultural interactions during the Zhou period of China (c. 1000- 350 BCE) between the Suizao corridor (near the present-day Yangtze River region) and its contemporaries within or outside the Zhou realm. It concentrates mainly, but not exclusively, on bronze ritual vessels from the Suizao corridor, and discusses the underlying social and political relations between the dominant cultures and the regional ones in this particular area (the Zeng state for example), which are central to understanding the ways in which the dominant cultures joined their disparate territories into a whole. Newly excavated archaeological evidence show that there were at least three periods when people in the corridor learned about the current traditions employed elsewhere, which are: 1) Yejiashan period (from the 11th to the 10th century BCE); 2) post-Ritual Reform period (from the mid-9th to the mid-7th century BCE); and 3) Marquis Yi’s period (from the mid- 6th to the mid-4th century BCE). In these periods, local people were involved in networks of enormous and constantly changing complexity, in which people, objects, practices, and ideas were mixed together through inter-regional contacts. The choices of local people in adopting foreign materials and ideas from either the dominant cultures or other places depended heavily on the subjective view of their social identity, which can be constructed, maintained, or transited to adapt to different social and political environments.

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Greek myths abound in images of beauty and perfection: charming gods, attractive goddesses, and handsome heroes, all of them standards of physical and spiritual flawlessness. However, the ancient Greeks were not fond of absolutes. No god or hero is shown without blemishes in character and ethics, and some are even physically imperfect, like Hephaestus, who is ugly and lame. Another element that dominates Greek mythology is the idea of balance. Good and evil, light and darkness, hubris and punishment. What could not be missing from this world is the image of reversed beauty: monstrosity. The aim of this book is to explore the realm of the imaginary world of Greek mythology and present the reader with a categorization of monstrosity, referring to some of the most noted examples in each category.

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Coins in Rhodes: From the monetary reform of Anastasius I until the Ottoman conquest (498 – 1522) presents the Byzantine and medieval coins collected by Greek archaeologists in Rhodes over a period of more than sixty years. It includes lists of excavated land plots, stray finds, an illustrated catalogue of all the Byzantine and local coins up to 1309, and a representative sample of the Hospitaller petty coins as well as all the Western coins found. Hoard evidence helps sort various emissions and their dates between c. 1320 – c. 1420. After a chapter introducing the reader to the archaeology of Rhodes, the nature of the material and the way it has been handled, the coins are set against the reconsidered backdrop of local history from 498 to 1522, tracing fluctuations in circulation and attempting to explore their significance. Particular care is taken over the transitional 13th century, when fragmentation of power in the region has made the scanty documentary evidence very hard to assess. Different approaches have been applied, depending on the available evidence integral to the material and that available from other sources. The archaeology of Rhodes across ten centuries presents all the difficulties of disturbed stratigraphy and recycling of structures expected of an intensively used site. The work aspires to promote a way of dealing with quantities of finds from large-scale rescue excavation that will help other scholars date contexts more accurately and review or compare their own data from this or other sites.

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The archaeology of the Maltese archipelago is remarkable. Lying at the heart of the central Mediterranean, ancient lives were, at times, moulded by isolation and harsh elements and the landscape is shaped by millennia of intensive land use. Ancient finds from the islands are rare, and those held in the British Museum form an important collection. Represented is a wide cultural range, spanning the Early and Late Neolithic, the Bronze Age, Roman and more recent historic periods. From the early 1880s, Malta attracted a fascinating array of historians, collectors and travellers and, on one level, the British Museum’s holdings represent their activities, but on another, the collections reflect the complex path antiquarianism has played out in Malta as it moved steadily toward fledgling archaeological investigations. Significantly, artefacts excavated by notable Maltese archaeologist, Sir Themistocles Zammit, at the key Neolithic site of Tarxien, and those uncovered by Margaret Murray at Borġ in-Nadur form a crucial part of the collection.

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The Neolithic sites of Orkney include an impressive number of stone-built tombs, ceremonial monuments and – uniquely for northern Europe – contemporary dwellings. Many of these buildings survive in a remarkable state of preservation, allowing an understanding of the relationship between architectural space and the process of construction that is rarely achievable. Until recently, however, relatively little has been known about the decoration of these sites. This book addresses that gap to offer a groundbreaking analysis of Neolithic art and architecture in Orkney. Focussing upon the incredible collection of hundreds of decorated stones being revealed by the current excavations at the Ness of Brodgar, it details the results of the author’s original fieldwork both there and at the contemporary sites of Maeshowe and Skara Brae, all within the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site. It provides the first major discussion of Orkney’s Neolithic carvings, and uses these as a springboard to challenge many of the traditional assumptions relating to Neolithic art and architecture. By foregrounding the architectural context of mark-making, this book explores how both buildings and carvings emerge though the embodied social practice of working stone, and how this relates to the wider context of life in Neolithic Orkney.

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