The Global History of Paleopathology is the first comprehensive global compendium on the history of paleopathology, an interdisciplinary scientific discipline that focuses on the study of ancient disease. Offering perspectives from regions that have traditionally had long histories of paleopathology, such as the United States and parts of Europe, this volume also presents important work by an international roster of scholars who are writing their own regional and cultural histories in the field. The book identifies major thinkers and figures who have contributed to paleopathology, as well as significant organizations and courses that have sponsored scientific research and communication, most notably the Paleopathology Association. The volume concludes with an eye towards the future of the discipline, discussing methods and research at the leading edge of paleopathology, particularly those that employ the analysis of ancient DNA and isotopes.

Archaeologists now face a myriad of digital ways of engaging with the public - social media, online TV channels, games, etc. It is critical that this potential and its limitations are closely assessed and utilised to make archaeology a genuinely public activity. Archaeology and Digital Communication examines how archaeology engages the public in the rapidly changing world of communication. This volume proposes digital strategies of public engagement that will be of interest to archaeologists working in various contexts, particularly in collaboration with media professionals and institutions. It identifies some of the most promising uses of digital media in different domains of archaeological communication and the benefits they can generate for participants. Each use is presented through case studies highlighting how media experiences are designed and consumed. While providing specific operational recommendations, Archaeology and Digital Communication also attempts to chart potential new directions for research.

Rock Art of the Waterberg: Rites and Transformation is a landmark archaeological study that unveils the nuanced world view and rituals practised by local Bushman groups living in the Waterberg area of
northern South Africa millennia ago. Through unprecedented documentation of 130 rock art sites – many photographed for the fi rst time – Lyn Wadley and Ghilraen Laue reveal a complex narrative of
human creativity and cultural interaction.

Strategically located along river corridors leading to the Limpopo River, these sites off er an extraordinary glimpse into the lives of Bushman hunter-gatherers, Iron Age farmers and Khoekhoe herders.

Their intricate visual languages span three distinct painting traditions:

delicate Bushman fi ne-line art, robust Iron Age fi nger paintings and enigmatic geometric works that speak to millennia of cultural exchange.

Beyond mere documentation, the book explores profound themes of human experience – hunting, initiation, healing and spiritual transformation. Archaeological evidence illuminates how these diverse
groups coexisted and influenced one another’s cultural practices over two thousand years, challenging simplistic narratives of cultural isolation.

Richly illustrated with archival photographs, enhanced views of the rock sites using cutting-edge photographic technology and original artworks by local artists, Rock Art of the Waterberg is a powerful
testament to early human creativity and off ers a crucial argument for preserving these fragile cultural archives. This ground-breaking study redefi nes our understanding of South African rock art and cultural
heritage, off ering scholars and enthusiasts an unprecedented journey into a forgotten world.

Archaeologists, historians, chemists, and physicists have employed a variety of chemical and physical approaches to study artifacts and historical objects since at least the late 18th century. During the past 50 years, the chemistry of archaeological materials has increasingly been used to address a broad spectrum of anthropological topics, including preservation, dating, nativity, exchange, provenance, and manufacturing technology. This book brings together 28 papers that address how various analytical techniques can be used to address specific archaeological questions. Chemists, archaeologists, geologists, graduate students, and others in related disciplines who are investigating the use of archaeometric techniques will find this book of interest.

First hand anecdotal snap shots offer a taste of daily life during the author's fifteen-year period at the High Down and Woomera rocket test sites. The preparation of eight Black Knight and four Black Arrow rockets up to their liftoff are recounted in detail with relevant diagrams and a few photos. So-called "rocket-science" jargon is deliberately sidestepped throughout. Delays that dogged Black Arrow's birth are touched along with a full explanation for terminating RO's maiden flight. Peripheral issues met during the final two proving flights are also discussed. The launch team's bittersweet feelings as R3 was readied and lifted off to deliver Prospero into earth orbit are chronicled alongside their dismay at the projects unfitting end. Black Arrow was Britain's only home grown rocket to stage an orbital insertion and may also be the only rocket to achieve this using peroxide oxidiser.

This practical introductory guide explains what archaeoastronomy is and gives advice for the beginner in the subject about how to check the astronomy of a prehistoric site. * Contains evidence for archaeoastronomy from around the world * Explains the role of archaeologists * Gives a simple introduction to solar and lunar astronomy * Lists the key dates to visit ancient sites * Explains why alignments have slightly altered over the centuries * Emphasises the links with ancient sea-faring and navigation * Encourages readers to adopt their own site for further research

This guidance is designed to help those intending to use airborne laser scanning (ALS), also known as lidar, for archaeological survey. The aim is to help archaeologists, researchers and those who manage the historic environment to decide first, whether using lidar data will actually be beneficial in terms of their research aims, and second, how the data can be used effectively. The guidance will be most useful to those who have access to data that have already been commissioned, or are planning to commission lidar for a specific purpose. They also provide an introduction to data interpretation in order to separate archaeological and non-archaeological features. Although important themes are introduced, this guidance are not intended as a definitive explanation of the technique or the complexities of acquiring and processing the raw data, particularly as this is a still developing technology. This document is intended to complement 3D Laser Scanning for Heritage, which covers a wider range of uses of laser scanning for heritage purposes (Historic England 2018). This Guidance is a revision of The Light Fantastic: Using Airborne Lidar in Archaeological Survey published by English Heritage in 2010. The text has largely been maintained except for certain areas where major changes have occurred in the ensuing years. This is particularly true with regard to increased access to data and the wide range of visualisation techniques now available. The case studies have also been updated to reflect more recent survey activity and to include examples from outside Historic England.

This guidance provides practical advice on the recording, analysis and understanding of earthworks and other historic landscape features using non-intrusive archaeological field survey and investigation techniques. It describes and illustrates approaches to archaeological field survey, drawing conventions and Levels of Survey for record creators and users. The guidance also draws from the experience of Historic England field teams, exploring different aspects of landscape investigation and analysis through a series of case studies. This revised version of the 2007 edition is one of several pieces of Historic England guidance available from the Historic England website. This guidance builds on those documents and stands alongside Understanding Historic Buildings: a guide to good recording practice.

This guidance note has been prepared to assist planning authorities and archaeological officers, developers and their consultants to make clear and informed decisions about piling schemes and their potential impact upon archaeological remains. It provides information on piling types, impacts, and solutions for sustainable foundation design and is illustrated by case studies. Originally published in 2007, it has been revised by a team of archaeologists and engineers, to place a greater emphasis on the planning process and current planning guidance (NPPF). This new edition also includes a risk assessment methodology to provide a framework in which clients and their contractors can identify, avoid or otherwise manage the key construction risks to archaeological remains arising from their schemes.

This guidance document covers the use of geoarchaeology to assist in understanding the archaeological record. Geoarchaeological techniques may range in scale from landscape studies to microscopic analysis, and are carried out by practitioners with specialist knowledge about the physical environment in which archaeological stratigraphy is preserved, and excavations take place. The main aim is usually to understand site formation processes, but there may also be issues concerning site preservation, refining field interpretations of archaeological contexts and identifying changes in the physical landscape through time.

This document provides practical guidance on how to investigate sites where pottery production has taken place. It describes how to anticipate and locate pottery production sites and the types of evidence that may be found. This document also provides advice on the available methods and strategies for examining, recording and sampling features and finds of various types at each stage of the work. The different techniques for establishing the date of pottery production, and for characterising the products of a site, are given particular emphasis. This document was compiled by Harriet White, Sarah Paynter and Duncan Brown with contributions by Joanne Best, Chris Cumberpatch, David Dawson, Peter Ellis, Jane Evans, Laurence Jones, Oliver Kent, Gareth Perry, The Prince's Regeneration Trust, Ian Roberts, Kerry Tyler and Ann Woodward.

This guidance document provides an introduction to the ways that the archaeological evidence for metalworking is studied. Archaeometallurgical evidence can include whole landscapes, buildings, features, artefacts and waste materials (eg slag and crucibles). Archaeometallurgy includes fieldwork investigations (survey and excavation) and the subsequent study of these data as well as any artefacts and residues recovered. Scientific approaches provide insights into the techniques used to produce different metals and how these were fabricated into artefacts.

The present book takes up the long-debated subject of the presence of amber around the Adriatic during the Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC). It offers an exhaustive review of the current state of knowledge about the use of amber by prehistoric communities living on the opposite sides of the sea. The author focuses primarily on the spatial and chronological aspects of amber’s acquisition in Italy and the Balkans, form and function of the artefacts made of it, issues connected to their processing and ways of circulation of these products within the study area. Furthermore, attention is paid to material and symbolic statuses of amber among the local societies. Finally, the role of the circum-Adriatic zone in the long-range transfer of amber from Northern to Southern Europe is assessed.

Archaeological Geophysics for Ephemeral Human Occupations: Focusing on the Small-Scale combines technological advances in near-surface geophysics with recent archaeological scholarship and underlying archaeological premises to provide a practical manual for guiding archaeo-geophysical research design. By proposing the amelioration of communication gaps between traditional and geophysical archaeologists, this book will foment dialogue and participate in bringing about new ways of thinking anthropologically about archaeological geophysics, especially in relation to prehistoric open-air ephemeral sites. Offering a way to begin a dialogue between archaeology and geophysics, Archaeological Geophysics for Ephemeral Human Occupations is an important reference for practicing professionals, instructors, and students in geophysics and anthropology/archaeology, as well as geology.

In the past few decades, sustained and overwhelming research attention has been given to EAL (English as an Additional Language) scholars’ English writing and publishing. While this line of research has shed important light on the scene of global knowledge production and dissemination, it tends to overlook the less Anglicized and more locally bound disciplines located at the academic periphery. This book aimed to fill the gap by examining the academic enculturation experiences of Chinese archaeologists through the lens of their disciplinary writing. Consisting of a situated genre analysis and a multi-case study, the textographic study disclosed the immense complexity of archaeologists’ texts, practices and identities. Important implications were generated for writing researchers and teachers as well as archaeologists and other HSS (the humanities and social sciences) scholars. This book would make a valuable reading for researchers and students of disciplinary/academic writing, second language writing and literacy studies.

Osteobiographies: The Discovery, Interpretation and Repatriation of Human Remains contextualizes repatriation, or the transfer of authority for human skeletal remains from the perspective of bioarchaelogists and evolutionary biologists. It approaches repatriation from a global perspective, touching upon the most well-known Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) legislation of the United States, while also covering Canada and African countries. The book focuses on the stories behind human skeletons, analyzing their biological factors to determine evolution patterns. Sections present an overview of anatomy, genomics, and stable isotopes from dietary and environmental factors, and how to identify these in skeletal remains. The book then goes on to discuss European-origin, North American, and African paleopathology, ancient DNA links, and cultural issues and implications around repatriation. It concludes with case studies to show how information from archaeologically derived skeletons is vital to understanding human evolution and provide respectful histories behind the remains.

The Neolithic of the Near East is a period of human development which saw fundamental changes in the nature of human society. It is traditionally studied for its development of domestication, agriculture, and growing social complexity. In this book Karina Croucher takes a new approach, focusing on the human body and investigating mortuary practices - the treatment and burial of the dead - to discover what these can reveal about the people of the Neolithic Near East. The remarkable evidence relating to mortuary practices and ritual behaviour from the Near Eastern Neolithic provides some of the most breath-taking archaeological evidence excavated from Neolithic contexts. The most enigmatic mortuary practices of the period produced the striking 'plastered skulls', faces modelled onto the crania of the deceased. Archaeological sites also contain evidence for many intriguing mortuary treatments, including decapitated burials and the fragmentation, circulation, curation, and reburial of human and animal remains and material culture. Drawing on recent excavations and earlier archive and published fieldwork, Croucher provides an overview and introduction to the period, presenting new interpretations of the archaeological evidence and in-depth analyses of case studies. The book explores themes such as ancestors, human-animal relationships, food, consumption and cannibalism, personhood, and gender. Offering a unique insight into changing attitudes towards the human body - both in life and during death - this book reveals the identities and experiences of the people of the Neolithic Near East through their interactions with their dead, with animals, and their new material worlds.

Zooarchaeology, or the study of ancient animal remains, is a vital but frequently side-lined subject in archaeology. Many disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, and geography, recognise human-animal interactions as a key source of information for understanding cultural ideology. Archaeological records are also composed largely of debris from human-animal relationships, be they in the form of animal bones, individual artefacts or entire landscapes. By integrating knowledge from archaeological remains with evidence from texts, iconography, social anthropology and cultural geography, Beastly Questions: Animal Answers to Archaeological Issues provides an intellectual tool-kit to enable archaeological students, researchers and those working in the commercial sector to offer more engaging interpretations of the evidence at their disposal. Going beyond the simple confines of 'what people ate', this accessible but in-depth study covers a variety of high-profile topics in European archaeology and provides novel insights into mainstream archaeological questions.This includes cultural responses to wild animals, the domestication of animals and its implications on human daily practice, experience and ideology, the transportation of species and the value of incorporating animals into landscape research, the importance of the study of foodways for understanding past societies and how animal studies can help us to comprehend issues of human identity and ideology: past, present and future.

Estimation of the Time Since Death is a current comprehensive work on the methods and research advances into the time since death and human decomposition. This work provides practitioners a starting point for research and practice to assist with the identification and analysis of human remains. It contains a collection of the latest scientific research, various estimation methods, and includes case studies, to highlight methodological application to real cases. This reference first provides an introduction, including the early postmortem period, biochemical methods, and the value of entomology in estimating the time since death, along with other factors affecting the decomposition process. Further coverage explores importance of microbial communities in estimating time since death. Separate chapters on aquatic environments, carbon 14 dating and amino acid racemization, and total body scoring will round out the reference. The final chapter ties together the various themes in the context of the longest running human decomposition facility in the world and outlines future research directions.

Soils, invaluable indicators of the nature and history of the physical and human landscape, have strongly influenced the cultural record left to archaeologists. Not only are they primary reservoirs for artifacts, they often encase entire sites. And soil-forming processes in themselves are an important component of site formation, influencing which artifacts, features, and environmental indicators (floral, faunal, and geological) will be destroyed and to what extent and which will be preserved and how well. In this book, Holliday will address each of these issues in terms of fundamentals as well as in field case histories from all over the world. The focus will be on principles of soil geomorphology, soil stratigraphy, and soil chemistry and their applications in archaeological research.

Written by the world's leading expert, this is an accessible introduction to optical dating for earth scientists who rely on the results given without needing to understand the technicalities of the technique. The basic notions and procedures are outlined through illustrative case histories. In addition the book provides active practitioners with a full understanding of the theory, through a series of technical notes, and brings together the various strands of ongoing research.

Osteoarchaeology: A Guide to the Macroscopic Study of Human Skeletal Remains covers the identification of bones and teeth, taphonomy, sex, ancestry assessment, age estimation, the analysis of biodistances, growth patterns and activity markers, and paleopathology. The book aims to familiarize the reader with the main applications of osteoarchaeology and provide the necessary knowledge required for the implementation of a broad range of osteological methods. It is ideal as a complement to existing textbooks used in upper level undergraduate and graduate courses on osteoarchaeology, human osteology, and, to some extent, forensic anthropology. Pedagogical features include ample illustrations, case study material, revision exercises, and a glossary. Additional features comprise macros that facilitate data processing and analysis, as well as an extensive chapter on applied statistics.