The Emergent Past approaches archaeological research as an engagement within an assemblage - a particular configuration of materials, things, places, humans, animals, plants, techniques, technologies, forces, and ideas. Fowler develops a new interpretative method for that engagement, exploring how archaeological research can, and does, reconfigure each assemblage. Recognising the successive relationships that give rise to and reshaped assemblages over time, he proposes a relational realist understanding of archaeological evidence based on a reading of relational and non-representational theories, such as those presented by Karen Barad, Tim Ingold, and Bruno Latour. The volume explores this new approach through the first ever synthesis of Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in Northeast England (c.2500-1500 BC), taking into account how different concepts and practices have changed the assemblage of Early Bronze Age mortuary practices in the past 200 years. Fowler argues that it is vital to retain the most valuable archaeological tools, such as typology, while developing an approach that focuses on the contingent, specific, and historical emergence of past phenomena. His study moves from analyses of changing types of mortuary practices and associated things and places, to a vivid discussion of how past relationships unfolded over time and gave rise to specific patterns in the material remains we have today.

This book describes a novel machine-learning based approach to answer some traditional archaeological problems, relating to archaeological site detection and site locational preferences. Institutional data collected from six Swiss regions (Zurich, Aargau, Grisons, Vaud, Geneva and Fribourg) have been analyzed with an original conceptual framework based on the Random Forest algorithm. It is shown how the algorithm can assist in the modelling process in connection with heterogeneous, incomplete archaeological datasets and related cultural heritage information. Moreover, an in-depth review of past and more recent works of quantitative methods for archaeological predictive modelling is provided. The book guides the readers to set up their own protocol for: i) dealing with uncertain data, ii) predicting archaeological site location, iii) establishing environmental features importance, iv) and suggest a model validation procedure. It addresses both academics and professionals in archaeology and cultural heritage management, and offers a source of inspiration for future research directions in the field of digital humanities and computational archaeology.

From the tomb of Tutankhamun to the grave of Richard III, archaeologists have studied, displayed and debated rich and varied evidence of the burial and commemoration of the dead from past times to the present day. Mortuary data is not only a key window into the human past, it defines and resonates through 20th and 21st-century popular culture. Yet, in many regards, archaeologists' engagements with death and the dead are contentious and problematic, emotional and political. For instance, in what circumstances if at all is it ethical to dig up and display human remains? What do people learn from meeting ancient people in museums and heritage sites? How significant is mortuary archaeology in our own present-day imaginings of prehistoric and historical societies, as well as fantastical and fictional societies portrayed in literature and film? Tackling questions such as these, osteoarchaeologists and mortuary archaeologists have often found themselves at the forefront of the public engagements for interdisciplinary and archaeological research. This book identifies a series of lacunae in recent discussions of mortuary archaeology's interactions with contemporary society. It aims to re-evaluate the range and character of public mortuary archaeology critically through a range of case studies from the UK, Europe and farther afield. In particular, this book seeks to address a network of relationships between mortality, material culture and archaeological theory, method and practice through a series of themes that connect the digging, display and dissemination of mortuary contexts and remains with wider popular culture themes and media.

Humans occupy a material environment that is constantly changing. Yet in the twentieth century archaeologists studying British prehistory have overlooked this fact in their search for past systems of order and pattern. Artefacts and monuments were treated as inert materials which were the outcomes of social ideas and processes. As a result materials were variously characterized as stable entities such as artefact categories, styles or symbols in an attempt to comprehend them. In this book Jones argues that, on the contrary, materials are vital, mutable, and creative, and archaeologists need to attend to the changing character of materials if they are to understand how past people and materials intersected to produce prehistoric societies. Rather than considering materials and societies as given, he argues that we need to understand how these entities are performed. Jones analyses the various aspects of materials, including their scale, colour, fragmentation, and assembly, in a wide-ranging discussion that covers the pottery, metalwork, rock art, passage tombs, barrows, causewayed enclosures, and settlements of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain and Ireland.

Sticks, Stones, and Broken Bones: Neolithic Violence in a European Perspective presents an up-to-date overview of the evidence for violent injuries on human skeletons of the Neolithic period in Europe, ranging from 6700 to 2000 BC. Unlike other lines of evidence - weapons, fortifications, and imagery - the human skeleton preserves the actual marks of past violent encounters. The papers in this volume are written by the experts undertaking the archaeological analysis, and present evidence from eleven European countries which provide, for the first time, the basis for a comparative approach between different regions and periods. Difficulties and ambiguities in interpreting the evidence are also discussed, although many of the cases are clearly the outcome of conflict. Injuries often show healing, but others can be seen as the cause of death. In many parts of Europe, women and children appear to have been the victims of violence as often as adult men. The volume not only presents an excellent starting point for a new consideration of the prevalence and significance of violence in Neolithic Europe, but provides an invaluable baseline for comparisons with both earlier and later periods.

European first millennium BC studies have witnessed an increasing theoretical divide between the approaches adopted in different countries. Whilst topics such as ethnicity, identity, and agency have dominated many British studies, such themes have had less resonance in continental approaches. At the same time, British and Iberian first millennium BC studies have become increasingly divorced from research elsewhere in Europe. While such divergence reflects deep historical divisions in theory and methodology between European perspectives, it is an issue that has been largely ignored by scholars of the period. This volume addresses these issues by bringing together 33 papers by leading Bronze Age and Iron Age scholars from France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Ireland, North America, and the United Kingdom. Initial chapters from leading specialists introduce major themes (landscape studies, social organisation, historiography, dynamics of change, and identity), providing overviews on the history of approaches to these areas, personal perspectives on current problems, and possible future research directions. Subsequent chapters by key researchers develop these topics, presenting case studies and in-depth discussions of particular issues relating to the first millennium BC in the Atlantic realm of Western Europe.

When reconstructing the past, the archaeologist needs to take into account all kinds of relevant information. Where no written evidence is available, the natural sciences play an indispensable role. Troia is a remarkable site in this respect. The present Troia project, under the directorship of Manfred Korfmann, integrates various disciplines including geoarchaeology, archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, anthropology, geophysical prospection as well as chemical and technological studies of metal, stone and pottery. Hardly any other archaeological project is supported so intensely and on such a broad scale by archaeometric investigations as the international research group in Troia. In April 2001 an International Symposium was held in Heidelberg, Germany, with the aim of promoting scientific interaction and providing synopses of the various disciplines engaged in Troia. This volume contains most of the contributions presented at the symposium.

The world's collective archaeological heritage is threatened by war, development, poverty, climate change, and ignorance. To protect our collective past, archaeologists must involve the general public through interpersonal experiences that develop an interest in the field at a young age and foster that interest throughout a person's life. Contributors to this volume share effective approaches for engaging and educating learners of all ages about archaeology and how one can encourage them to become stewards of the past. They offer applied examples that are not bound to specific geographies or cultures, but rather, are approaches that can be implemented almost anywhere.

The chemical study of archaeological materials
Archaeological Chemistry, Second Edition is about the application of the chemical sciences to the study of ancient man and his material activities. The text of the book centers on the use of chemical methods, but also refers to the contributions of physics, biology, and genetics to archaeological research.
Subjects discussed in the book include the determination of the nature of ancient materials, their provenance and age, the technologies used for the production of man-made materials, and the analysis of ancient human and animal remains (such as bone, dried blood, and coprolites), which yields information on ancient diets, kinship, habitancy, and migratory patterns.
New developments in analytical chemistry and in related disciplines, which have contributed to archaeological research since the first edition of the book was published, are dealt with in this edition, which also includes:
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Updated information on the study of the nature, age, and provenance of ancient materials
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New sections on organic, biological and genetic studies
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Glossary
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Extensive bibliography

The book is intended primarily for archaeologists, physical anthropologists and students of archaeology and physical anthropology, but will also be of use to conservators, curators, and art historians. Natural scientists reading it will become acquainted with advances in archaeological research which were made possible only by the application of chemical, physical, and biological methods and techniques.

Historical archives of vertical photographs and satellite images acquired for other purposes (mainly declassified military reconnaissance) offer considerable potential for archaeological and historical landscape research. They provide a unique insight into the character of the landscape as it was over half a century ago, before the destructive impact of later 20th century development and intensive land use. They provide a high quality photographic record not merely of the landscape at that time, but offer the prospect of the better survival of remains reflecting its earlier history, whether manifest as earthworks, cropmarks or soilmarks. These various sources of imagery also provide an opportunity to examine from the air areas of Europe and beyond whose skies are still not open to traditional archaeological aerial reconnaissance. Tens of millions of such images are held in archives around the world, but their research potential goes very largely untapped. A primary aim of this volume is to draw to wider attention the existence, scope and potential access to historical archival aerial and satellite photographs, in order to encourage their use in a range of archaeological and landscape research. By drawing attention to this massive archival resource, providing examples of its successful application to archaeological/landscape questions, and offering advice how to access and utilise the resource, the volume seeks to bring this material to wider attention, demonstrate its huge potential for archaeology, encourage its further use and stimulate a new approach to archaeological survey and the study of landscape evolution internationally. "

There has long been a strong collaboration between geologists and archaeologists, and the sub-field of geoarchaeology is well developed as a discipline in its own right. This book now bridges the gap between those fields and the geophysical technique of ground-penetrating radar (GPR), which allows for three-dimensional analysis of the ground to visualize both geological and archaeological materials. This method has the ability to produce images of the ground that display complex packages of materials, and allows researchers to integrate sedimentary units, soils and associated archaeological features in ways not possible using standard excavation techniques. The ability of GPR to visualize all these buried units can help archaeologists place ancient people within the landscapes and environments of their time, and understand their burial and preservation phenomena in three-dimensions. Readership: Advanced students in archaeology and geoarchaeology, as well as practicing archaeologists with an interest in GPS techniques.

Every year, there are over 1.6 million violent deaths worldwide, making violence one of the leading public health issues of our time. And with the 20th century just behind us, it's hard to forget that 191 million people lost their lives directly or indirectly through conflict. This collection of engaging case studies on violence and violent deaths reveals how violence is reconstructed from skeletal and contextual information. By sharing the complex methodologies for gleaning scientific data from human remains and the context they are found in, and complementary perspectives for examining violence from both past and contemporary societies, bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology prove to be fundamentally inseparable. This book provides a model for training forensic anthropologists and bioarchaeologists, not just in the fundamentals of excavation and skeletal analysis, but in all subfields of anthropology, to broaden their theoretical and practical approach to dealing with everyday violence.

European expansion into the New World fundamentally altered Indigenous populations. The collision between East and West led to the most recent human adaptive transition that spread around the world. Paradoxically, these are some of the least scientifically understood processes of the human past. Representing a new generation of contact and colonialism studies, this volume expands on the traditional focus on the health of conquered peoples by considering how extraordinary biological and cultural transformations were incorporated into the human body and reflected in behavior, identity, and adaptation.By examining changes in diet, mortuary practices, and diseases, these globally diverse case studies demonstrate that the effects of conquest reach further than was ever thought before-to both the colonized and the colonizers. People on all sides of colonial contact became entangled in cultural and biological transformations of social identities, foodways, social structures, and gene pools at points of contact and beyond. Contributors to this volume illustrate previously unknown and variable effects of colonialism by analyzing skeletal remains and burial patterns from never-before-studied regions in the Americas to the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. The result is the first step toward a new synthesis of archaeology and bioarchaeology. Contributors: Rosabella Alvarez-Calderon, Elliot H. Blair, Maria Fernanda Boza, Michele R. Buzon, Romina Casali, Mark N. Cohen, Danielle N. Cook, Marie Elaine Danforth, J. Lynn Funkhouser, Catherine Gaither, Pamela Garcia Laborde| Ricardo A. Guichon, Rocio Guichon Fernandez, Heather Guzik, Amanda R. Harvey, Barbara T. Hester, Dale L. Hutchinson, Kristina Killgrove | Haagen D. Klaus | Clark Spencer Larsen | Alan G. Morris | Melissa S. Murphy, Alejandra Ortiz, Megan A. Perry, Emily S. Renschler, Isabelle Ribot, Melisa A. Salerno, Matthew C. Sanger, Paul W. Sciulli, Stuart Tyson Smith, Christopher M. Stojanowski, David Hurst Thomas, Victor D. Thompson, Vera Tiesler, Jason Toohey, Lauren A. Winkler, Pilar Zabala

Forensic archaeology is mostly defined as the use of archaeological methods and principles within a legal context. However, such a definition only covers one aspect of forensic archaeology and misses the full potential this discipline has to offer. This volume is unique in that it contains 57 chapters from experienced forensic archaeological practitioners working in different countries, intergovernmental organisations or NGO s. It shows that the practice of forensic archaeology varies worldwide as a result of diverse historical, educational, legal and judicial backgrounds. The chapters in this volume will be an invaluable reference to (forensic) archaeologists, forensic anthropologists, humanitarian and human rights workers, forensic scientists, police officers, professionals working in criminal justice systems and all other individuals who are interested in the potential forensic archaeology has to offer at scenes of crime or places of incident. This volume promotes the development of forensic archaeology worldwide. In addition, it proposes an interpretative framework that is grounded in archaeological theory and methodology, integrating affiliated behavioural and forensic sciences.

This volume investigates the construction of group identity in Late La Tene South-East Europe using an innovative statistical modelling method. Death and burial theory underlies the potential of mortuary practices for identity research. The sample used for this volumes's research consists of 370 graves, organized in a specially crated database that records funerary ritual; and grave-good information. In the case of grave-goods, this involved found hierarchically organized categorical variables, which serve to describe each item by combining functional and typological features. The volume also aims to show the compatibility of archaeological theory and statistical modelling. The discussions from archaeological theory rarely find methodological implementations through statistical methods. In this volume, theoretical issues form an integrative part of data preparation, method development and result interpretation.

This volume introduces the Cross-Cultural Interaction Model (CCIM), a visual tool for studying the exchanges that take place between different cultures in borderland areas or across long distances. The model helps researchers untangle complex webs of connections among people, landscapes, and artifacts, and can be used to support multiple theoretical viewpoints. Through case studies, contributors apply the CCIM to various regions and time periods, including Roman Europe, the Greek province of Thessaly in the Late Bronze Age, the ancient Egyptian-Nubian frontier, colonial Greenland in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Mississippian realm of Cahokia, ancient Costa Rica and Panama, and the Moquegua Valley of Peru in the early Middle Horizon period. They adapt the model to best represent their data, successfully plotting connections in many different dimensions, including geography, material culture, religion and spirituality, and ideology. The model enables them to expose what motivates people to participate in cultural exchange, as well as the influences that people reject in these interactions. These results demonstrate the versatility and analytical power of the CCIM. Bridging the gap between theory and data, this tool can prompt users to rethink previous interpretations of their research, leading to new ideas, new theories, and new directions for future study.

In The Archaeology of Lydia: From Gyges to Alexander, Christopher Roosevelt provides the first overview of the regional archaeology of Lydia in western Turkey, including much previously unpublished evidence as well as a fresh synthesis of the archaeology of Sardis, the ancient capital of the region. Combining data from regional surveys, stylistic analyses of artifacts in local museums, ancient texts, and environmental studies, he presents a new perspective on the archaeology of this area. To assess the importance of Lydian landscapes under Lydian and Achaemenid rule, roughly between the seventh and fourth centuries BCE, Roosevelt situates the archaeological evidence within frameworks established by evidence for ancient geography, environmental conditions, and resource availability and exploitation. Drawing on detailed and copiously illustrated evidence presented in a regionally organized catalogue, the book considers the significance of evidence of settlement and burial at Sardis and beyond for understanding Lydian society as a whole and the continuity of cultural traditions across the transition from Lydian to Achaemenid hegemony.

Auditory archaeology considers the potential contribution of everyday, mundane and unintentional sounds in the past and how these may have been significant to people. Steve Mills explores ways of examining evidence to identify intentionality with respect to the use of sound, drawing on perception psychology as well as soundscape and landscape studies of various kinds. His methodology provides a flexible and widely applicable set of elements that can be adapted for use in a broad range of archaeological and heritage contexts. The outputs of this research form the case studies of the Teleorman River Valley in Romania, Catalhoeyuk in Turkey, and West Penwith, a historical site in the UK.This fascinating volume will help archaeologists and others studying human sensory experiences in the past and present.

Many archaeologists, as primarily social scientists, do not have a background in the natural sciences. This can pose a problem because they need to obtain chemical and physical analyses on samples to perform their research. This manual is an essential source of information for those students without a background in science, but also a comprehensive overview that those with some understanding of archaeological science will find useful. The manual provides readers with the knowledge to use archaeological science methods to the best advantage. It describes and explains the analytical techniques in a manner that the average archaeologist can understand, and outlines clearly the requirements, benefits, and limitations of each possible method of analysis, so that the researcher can make informed choices. The work includes specific information about a variety of dating techniques, provenance studies, isotope analysis as well as the analysis of organic (lipid and protein) residues and ancient DNA. Case studies illustrating applications of these approaches to most types of archaeological materials are presented and the instruments used to perform the analyses are described. Available destructive and non-destructive approaches are presented to help archaeologists select the most effective technique for gaining the target information from the sample. Readers will reach for this manual whenever they need to decide how to best analyze a sample, and how the analysis is performed.

The use of computation in archaeology is a kind of magic, a way of heightening the archaeological imagination. Agent-based modelling allows archaeologists to test the 'just-so' stories they tell about the past. It requires a formalization of the story so that it can be represented as a simulation; researchers are then able to explore the unintended consequences or emergent outcomes of stories about the past. Agent-based models are one end of a spectrum that, at the opposite side, ends with video games. This volume explores this spectrum in the context of Roman archaeology, addressing the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities of a formalized approach to computation and archaeogaming.

New Developments in the Bioarchaeology of Care evaluates, refines and expands existing concepts and practices in the developing field of bioarchaeological research into health-related care provision in the past. Evidence in human remains that indicates an individual survived with, or following, a serious pathology suggests this person most likely received some form of care from others. This observation was first made half a century ago, but it is only in the last five years that health-related caregiving has been accepted as a topic for bioarchaeology research. In this time, interest has grown exponentially. A focus on care provides a dynamic framework for examining the experiences of disease and disability in the past - at the level of the individual receiving care, and that of the community providing it. When caregiving can be identified in the archaeological record, bioarchaeologists may be able to offer unique insights into aspects of past lifeways. This volume represents the work of an international, diverse, cross-disciplinary group of contributors, each bringing their own particular focus, style and expertise to analyzing past health-related care. Nineteen chapters offer content that ranges from an introduction to the basic 'bioarchaeology of care' approach, through original case studies of care provision, to new theoretical perspectives in this emerging area of scholarship. This book creates a synergy that challenges our thinking about past health-related care behaviors and about the implications of these behaviors for understanding the social environment in which they took place.

Nomads in Archaeology addresses the problem of how to study mobile peoples using archaeological techniques. It therefore deals not only with the prehistory and archaeology of nomads but also with current issues in theory and methodology, particularly the concept of 'site structure'. This is the first volume to be devoted exclusively to nomad archaeology. It includes sections on the history and origins of pastoral nomad societies, the economics of pastoralism, social organisation of pastoral communities and the 'visibility threshold' of nomad material culture. Examples and case studies are drawn from field work and published sources primarily in Turkey and Iran.

This volume is the third in the Advances in Archaeological and Museum Science series sponsored by the Society for Archaeological Sciences (SAS). The purpose of this series is to provide summaries of advances in various topics in ar chaeometry, archaeological science, environmental archaeology, preservation technology, and museum conservation. The SAS exists to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration between archaeologists and colleagues in the natural and physical sciences. SAS mem bers are drawn from many disciplinary fields. However, they all share a common belief that physical science techniques and methods constitute an essential component of contemporary archaeological field and laboratory studies. The series editors wish to thank the reviewers of each of the chapters in this volume for their excellent comments and suggestions. We also wish to thank Chriss jones for her invaluable assistance in the preparation of the texts for submission to the publisher. xi Preface As noted in the introductory chapter, this volume is the second major review of research progress in the study of archaeological obsidian. An earlier book, Advances in Obsidian Glass Studies: Archaeological and Geochemical Perspectives, appeared in 1976. A comparison of the treatment of topics reflected in this earlier work and that contained in this volume not only highlights important advances in the quality and depth of research on archaeological obsidian over more than a quarter of a century but also illustrates more generally some characteristics of developments in the archaeological science field in general."