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Books > Humanities > Archaeology > Archaeological theory
The importance of the Law of Treasure is largely the result of the spectacular growth in the activity of metal detecting which, starting in the 1960's, has grown so much in popularity that it now brings to our knowledge each year more than a thousand objects of historical, cultural or archaeological interest. The nature and volume of these finds has in turn led to a greater public concern to ensure that measures exist which will be conducive to the retention and effective preservation of the more important of those objects. It is, of course, essential that facilities exist for the physical examination and conservation of finds and that those facilities should be accessible and adequate. But the law has an important part to play in this process by ensuring that finds of substantial value or importance should be preserved for the nation and made available to the public in museums. For many hundreds of years, the Law of Treasure was the common law of treasure trove. Today it is essentially based on the Treasure Act 1996. Although the Act is a great improvement on the common law it is nevertheless not always rational and the meaning of some of its provisions is sometimes obscure. This book aims to provide a reliable guide to the Law of Treasure in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and also to explain the role played by legal institutions, such as the Coroner, in that process. This book will be of interest to archaeologists, museums, coroner's offices, finds liaison officers, farmers and landlords' associations. It will also be of interest and utility to metal detectorists since, in addition to explaining what objects are considered to be treasure by the law, it explains the legal restrictions on searching for artefacts, the duty to report finds of treasure and the structure of the valuation process and rewards.
ArcheoFOSS XIV 2020: Open software, hardware, processes, data and formats in archaeological research collects the proceedings of the fourteenth ArcheoFOSS international conference, held online due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The book gathers seventeen papers on three principal topics, the main sessions of the conference: use and application of free/libre and open-source (FLOS) tools in archaeology; creation, use and promotion of open data and open formats in archaeology; and development and customization of FLOS software and hardware solutions for cultural heritage. Forty-one scholars of very diverse age, academic affiliation and geographic location, but all actively involved in the promotion of FLOS culture, open data and open science in digital archaeology and humanities, contribute. The volume is completed by a critical analysis of the contribution of these important annual meetings to the scientific and cultural activity of the ArcheoFOSS community. The opportunity offered by the pandemic-related difficulties to widen the geographical scope of the conference has been further boosted by the decision to adopt the English language for most of the papers, with the hope that this will extend the work of the ArcheoFOSS community far beyond the Italian national borders.
How can we find alternative, sensorially rich and affective ways of engaging with the material past in the present? How can photography play a central role in archaeological narratives, beyond representation and documentation? This photo-book engages with these questions, not through conventional academic discourse but through evocative creative practice. The book is, at the same time, a site guide of sorts: a photographic guide to the archaeological site of the Sanctuary of Poseidon in Kalaureia, on the island of Poros, in Greece. Ancient and not-so-ancient stones, pine trees that were “wounded” for their resin, people who lived amongst the classical ruins, and the tensions and the clashes with the archaeological apparatus and its regulations, all become palpable, affectively close and immediate. Furthermore, the book constitutes an indirect but concrete proposal for the adoption of archaeological photo-ethnography as a research as well as public communication tool for critical heritage studies, today.
The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Death and Burial reviews the current state of mortuary archaeology and its practice, highlighting its often contentious place in the modern socio-politics of archaeology. It contains forty-four chapters which focus on the history of the discipline and its current scientific techniques and methods. Written by leading, international scholars in the field, it derives its examples and case studies from a wide range of time periods, such as the middle palaeolithic to the twentieth century, and geographical areas which include Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Asia. Combining up-to-date knowledge of relevant archaeological research with critical assessments of the theme and an evaluation of future research trajectories, it draws attention to the social, symbolic, and theoretical aspects of interpreting mortuary archaeology. The volume is well-illustrated with maps, plans, photographs, and illustrations and is ideally suited for students and researchers.
With the right methods, studying the ancient world can be as engaging as it is informative. Many K-12 teachers, university instructors, and museum educators use hands-on, project-based, and experiential activities in their classes to increase student engagement and learning. This book aims to bring together such pedagogical methods and teaching activities about the ancient world for any educator to use. The teaching activities in this book are designed in a cookbook format so that educators can replicate these teaching "recipes" (which include materials, budget, preparation time, levels of students) in their ancient art, archaeology, social studies, and history classes. They can be implemented online or in-person, in schools, universities, libraries, museums, or at home. Find out more about the book and the contributors at: https://pinardurgunpd.wixsite.com/teachancient
Archaeology: What It Is, Where It Is, and How to Do It has been written as a practical introduction on the investigation of the material remains of the past which can be interpreted with contemporary historical and literary evidence. The book also explains where to find this evidence and what to do next. Many aspects of archaeological investigation are discussed, including aerial and ground survey, excavation and fieldwork, recording methods, soil sampling and small finds.
This volume proposes a supplemental approach to interdisciplinary historical reconstructions that draw on archaeological and linguistic data. The introduction lays out the supplemental approach, situating it in the broader context of similar interdisciplinary research methods in other world regions. Reflecting the arguments of the volume and its goal to document the process rather than the outcome of interdisciplinary collaboration, the volume is organized into two two-chapter case studies. Within each case study, the non-specialist develops an historical interpretation using their own research findings and published data from the other discipline.This chapter is followed by critical commentary from the specialist, a dialogue clarifying the commentary and specialists' methods, and a second short historical interpretation that deploys insights from the supplemental approach. The conclusion reflects on the challenges of disciplinary conventions to interdisciplinary research and the contribution of the supplemental approach to efforts to know the history of oral societies in Africa and beyond
This volume is the result of the Cambridge Annual Student Archaeology Conference (CASA), held at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research from September 13–15, 2019. CASA developed out of the Annual Student Archaeology Conference, first held in 2013, which was formed by students at Cambridge, Oxford, Durham and York. In 2017, Cambridge became the home of the conference and the name was changed accordingly. The conference was developed to give students (from undergraduate to PhD candidates) in archaeology and related fields the chance to present their research to a broad audience. The theme for the 2019 conference was New Frontiers in Archaeology and this volume presents papers from a wide range of topics such as new geographical areas of research, using museum collections and legacy data, new ways to teach archaeology and new scientific or theoretic paradigms. From hunting and gathering in the Neolithic to the return of artefacts to Turkey, the papers contained within show a great variety in both geography and chronology. Discussions revolve around access to data, the role of excavation in today’s archaeology, the role of local communities in archaeological interpretation and how we can ask new questions of old data. This volume presents 18 papers arranged in the six sessions with the two posters in their thematic sessions.
This concise dictionary is intended to be helpful in the reading of archaeological books and publications from the Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages, and in the writing of papers and articles in both English and Spanish. The aim of this work is to help, in particular, students and on-site archaeologists to find quickly a word relating to a specific period, a specific area or a research field, in a book easy to carry everywhere. But this dictionary is also intended for everyone fond of archaeology, from prehistory to the Middle Ages.
THE PERFECT READ FOR TROUBLED TIMES From the bestselling author of The Story of the British Isles in 100 Places comes this inspiring and beautifully written meditation on the wisdom inherited from our ancestors. For all we have gained in the modern world, simple peace of mind is hard to find. In a time that is increasingly fraught with complexity and conflict, we are told that our wellbeing relies on remaining as present as possible. But what if the key to being present lies in the past? In Wisdom of the Ancients, Neil Oliver takes us back in time, to grab hold of the ideas buried in forgotten cultures and early civilizations. From Laetoli footprints in Tanzania to Keralan rituals, stone circles and cave paintings, Oliver takes us on a global journey through antiquity. A master storyteller, drawing on immense knowledge of our ancient past, he distils this wisdom into twelve messages that have endured the test of time, and invites us to consider how these might apply to our lives today. The result is powerful and inspirational, moving and profound.
How did past communities view, understand and communicate their pasts? And how can we, as archaeologists, understand this? In recent years these questions have been approached through studies of the extended occupation and use of landscapes, monuments and artefacts to explore concepts of time and memory. But what of objects that were already old in the past? Interpretations for these items have ranged from the discard of scrap to objects of veneration. Evidence from a range of periods would suggest objects of the past were an important part of many later societies that encountered them, either as heirlooms with remembered histories or rediscovered curiosities from a more distant past. For the first time, this volume brings together a range of case studies in which objects of the past were encountered and reappropriated. It follows a conference session at the Theoretical Archaeological Group in Cardiff 2017, in which historians, archaeologists, heritage professionals and commercial archaeologists gathered to discuss this topic on a broad (pre)historical scale, highlighting similarities and contrast in depositional practices and reactions to relics of the past in different periods. Through case studies spanning the Bronze Age through to the 18th century AD, this volume presents new research demonstrating that the reappropriation of these already old objects was not anomalous, but instead represents a practice that recurs throughout (pre)history.
"The Secrets Vaults of Time is a fascinating look at the best psychics and remote viewers of the 20th century, including Edgar Cayce and George McMullen, and their impressive contributions to science, in particular the advancement of archaeology. Schwartz uncovers never-before-detailed background on some of the most important digs of the past 100 years, including the recovery of Glastonbury Abbey--known as both the legendary Avalon of King Arthur and the birthplace of Christianity in England. The 12th title in Hampton Roads' Studies in Consciousness line," The Secrets Vaults of Time was originally published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1978 and hailed by "Publishers Weekly as "compelling and cogent. . .new evidence that the thinking and writing on things psychic has attained a maturity that commands the most serious attention." Stephan Schwartz is the former research director of the Mobius Society, as well as a founder and past president of the Society of the Anthropology of Consciousness.
Contemporary Archaeology and the City foregrounds the archaeological study of post-industrial and other urban transformations through a diverse, international collection of case studies. Over the past decade contemporary archaeology has emerged as a dynamic force for dissecting and contextualizing the material complexities of present-day societies. Contemporary archaeology challenges conventional anthropological and archaeological conceptions of the past by pushing temporal boundaries closer to, if not into, the present. The volume is organized around three themes that highlight the multifaceted character of urban transitions in present-day cities - creativity, ruination, and political action. The case studies offer comparative perspectives on transformative global urban processes in local contexts through research conducted in the struggling, post-industrial cities of Detroit, Belfast, Indianapolis, Berlin, Liverpool, Belem, and post-Apartheid Cape Town, as well as the thriving urban centres of Melbourne, New York City, London, Chicago, and Istanbul. Together, the volume contributions demonstrate how the contemporary city is an urban palimpsest comprised by archaeological assemblages - of the built environment, the surface, and buried sub-surface - that are traces of the various pasts entangled with one another in the present. This volume aims to position the city as one of the most important and dynamic arenas for archaeological studies of the contemporary by presenting a range of theoretically-engaged case studies that highlight some of the major issues that the study of contemporary cities pose for archaeologists.
Archaeologists have long acknowledged the absence of a regular and recurrent burial rite in the British Iron Age, and have looked to rites such as cremation and scattering of remains to explain the minimal impact of funerary practices on the archaeological record. Pit-burials or the deposit of disarticulated bones in settlements have been dismissed as casual disposal or the remains of social outcasts. In Death and Burial in Iron Age Britain, Harding examines the deposition of human and animal remains from the period - from whole skeletons to disarticulated fragments - and challenges the assumption that there should have been any regular form of cemetery in prehistory, arguing that the dead were more commonly integrated into settlements of the living than segregated into dedicated cemeteries. Even where cemeteries are known, they may yet represent no more than a minority of the total population, so that other forms of disposal must still have been practised. A further example of this can be found in hillforts which, in addition to domestic and agricultural settlements, evidently played an important role in funerary ritual, as secure community centres where excarnation and display of the dead may have made them a potent symbol of identity. The volume evaluates the evidence for violent death, sacrifice, and cannibalism, as well as age and gender distinctions, and associations with animal burials, and reveals that 'formal' cemetery burial or cremation was for most regions a minority practice in Britain until the eve of the Roman conquest.
Archaeology with Art is the result of a 2013 Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) conference session that aimed to merge the perspectives of artists and archaeologists on making art. It explores the relationship between archaeology and art practice, the interactions between materials and practitioners, and the processes that result in the objects and images we call 'art'. The book offers new approaches to the study of creative practices in archaeology, ranging from experimental investigations to philosophical explorations and contains a diverse set of papers that use insights from contemporary art practice to examine the making of past artworks.
A recent trend concerning archaeological research has focused on producing a real-time methodology for 3D digital models as archaeological documentation within the excavation setting. While such methodologies have now firmly been established, what remains is to examine how 3D models can be integrated more fully alongside other forms of archaeological documentation. This work explored one avenue by developing a method that combines the interpretative power of traditional archaeological drawings and the realistic visualisation capacity of 3D digital models. An experiment was initiated during archaeological excavations at Uppakra, Sweden where photographic data was captured to produce 3D digital models through Photoscan. These models were geospatially located within ESRI's 3D GIS ArcScene where shapefile editing tools were used to draw overtop of their surfaces in three-dimensions. All drawings closely followed the single context method of drawing, were allotted context numbers, and given descriptive geodatabase attributes. This methodology resulted in the further integration of 3D models alongside other forms of archaeological documentation. The drawings increased the communicative powers of archaeological interpretation by enabling the information to be disseminated in a 3D environment alongside other formats of data that would have otherwise been disconnected in 2D space. Finally, the database attributes permitted the drawings complete integration within the geodatabase, thereby making them available for query and other analytical procedures. Archaeological information is three-dimensional; therefore, archaeologists must begin to approach documentation bearing this in mind. This technique has demonstrated that 3D models are a fluidic form of documentation allowing for accurate preservation of archaeology while enabling new forms of data to be derived all within a limited amount of time. Archaeologists must begin to affect change towards embracing 3D models and their associated applications as a standard tool within the excavator's toolbox.
Paleozoology and Paleoenvironments outlines the reconstruction of ancient climates, floras, and habitats on the basis of animal fossil remains recovered from archaeological and paleontological sites. In addition to outlining the ecological fundamentals and analytical assumptions attending such analyzes, J. Tyler Faith and R. Lee Lyman describe and critically evaluate many of the varied analytical techniques that have been applied to paleozoological remains for the purpose of paleoenvironmental reconstruction. These techniques range from analyses based on the presence or abundance of species in a fossil assemblage to those based on taxon-free ecological characterizations. All techniques are illustrated using faunal data from archaeological or paleontological contexts. Aimed at students and professionals, this volume will serve as fundamental resource for courses in zooarchaeology, paleontology, and paleoecology.
Colour defines our material world, operates as a communication tool and creates meaning. But despite the wealth of colour present in British Iron Age archaeology, interpretative studies have concentrated mostly on the shape of material objects and their decoration, with at best fleeting references to colour. This book revisits well known and well documented sites or artefacts and explores their colours and colour connotations - whether hue or luminosity, whether natural or man-made, whether innate or deliberately applied - by looking at various contexts such as processes, landscape, iconography, body decoration or the colour connotations of death. The importance of changes in colour caused by passing of time, processing, handling or exposure, as well as the deliberate concealment or defacing of colour is looked at . Finally and most importantly, using methodologies ranging from examination of written sources, comparisons from the fields of anthropology and ethnology to experimental archaeology the author attempts to shed light on the symbolic meaning behind such colours or colour contexts and contribute to our understanding of Iron Age cosmologies.
Written expressly for amateur archaeologists and archaeological volunteers to help them discover how they can become part of this increasingly popular field. Covers subjects ranging from excavation techniques, tools, site locations, archaeological methods, archaeology and the law to conducting your own dig. Besides providing extensive data on gaining experience as volunteers of professionally organized digs, it offers an extensive resource section that includes archaeology organizations, field schools and sites, archaeological musems and a bibliography of reading matter which deals with archaeology. A large variety of line-drawings and photographs also assist the would-be archaeologist.
Just six miles from the center of Belfast, County Down, on the plateau of Ballynahatty above the River Lagan, is one of Ireland’s great Neolithic henge monuments: the 200 m wide Giant’s Ring. For over a thousand years, this area was the focus of intense funerary ritual seemingly designed to send the dead to their ancestors and secure the land for the living. Scattered through the fields to the north and west of the Ring are flat cemeteries, standing stones, tombs, cists, and ring barrows – ancient monuments that were leveled by the plough when the land was enclosed in the 18th and 19th centuries. A great 90 m long timber enclosure with an elaborate entrance and inner ‘temple’ was first observed through crop marks in aerial photos. Excavation of the site between 1990–1999 revealed a complex structure composed of over 400 postholes, many over 2 m deep. This was a building in the grand style, elegantly designed to control space, views, and access to an inner sanctum containing a platform for exposure of the dead. By 2550 BC, the timber ‘temple’ had been swept away in a massive conflagration and the remains dismantled. Ballynahatty was one of the last great public ceremonial enterprises known to have been constructed by the Neolithic farmers in Northern Ireland, an enterprise proclaiming their enigmatic religion, ancestral rights and territorial aspirations. This report reconstructs the remarkable building complex and explains the sophistication and organization of its construction and use. The report sets the site and excavation in the wider development of the Ballynahatty landscape and its study to the present day.
Between History and Archaeology: Papers in honour of Jacek Lech is a collection of forty-six papers papers in honour of Professor Jacek Lech, compiled in recognition of his research and academic career as well as his inquiry into the study of prehistoric flint mining, Neolithic flint tools (and beyond), and the history of archaeology. The papers explore topics on archaeology and history, and are organised into three sections. The first contains texts on flint mining dealing with well-known mining sites as well as previously unpublished new material. The reader will find here a wide spectrum of approaches to flint mining, ways of identifying raw materials used by prehistoric communities, and an impressive overview of the history of research, methodology and approaches to flint mining in Europe, North America and Asia. The following group of papers deals with the use of flint by Neolithic and younger communities, including typological studies on trace evidence analyses as well as theoretical papers on prehistoric periods in Europe and the New World. The final section consists of papers on the history of archaeology in the 19th and 20th centuries. Some deal with the beginnings of archaeology as a scholarly discipline, while others present significant research from different countries. Readers will also find papers on the development of archaeology in the second half of the 20th century, both in political and institutional contexts. The book ends with the memories, which bring the Jubilarian closer to the reader by viewing him through the eyes of his co-workers and friends.
This concise dictionary is intended to be helpful in the reading of archaeological books and publications, and in the writing of papers and articles in both English and Italian. The aim of this work is to help, in particular, students and on-site archaeologists to find quickly a word relating to a specific period, a specific area or a research field, in a book easy to carry everywhere; but this dictionary is also intended for those with a general interest in archaeology wishing to broaden their vocabulary
The royal necropolis of New Kingdom Egypt, known as the Valley of the Kings (KV), is one of the most important-and celebrated-archaeological sites in the world. Located on the west bank of the Nile river, about three miles west of modern Luxor, the valley is home to more than sixty tombs, all dating to the second millennium BCE. The most famous of these is the tomb of Tutankhamun, first discovered by Howard Carter in 1922. Other famous pharaoh's interred here include Hatshepsut, the only queen found in the valley, and Ramesses II, ancient Egypt's greatest ruler. Much has transpired in the study and exploration of the Valley of the Kings over the last few years. Several major discoveries have been made, notably the many-chambered KV5 (tomb of the sons of Ramesses II) and KV 63, a previously unknown tomb found in the heart of the valley. Many areas of the royal valley have been explored for the first time using new technologies, revealing ancient huts, shrines, and stelae. New studies of the DNA, filiation, cranio-facial reconstructions, and other aspects of the royal mummies have produced important and sometimes controversial results. The Oxford Handbook of the Valley of the Kings provides an up-to-date and thorough reference designed to fill a very real gap in the literature of Egyptology. It will be an invaluable resource for scholars, teachers, and researchers with an interest in this key area of Egyptian archaeology. First, introductory chapters locate the Valley of the Kings in space and time. Subsequent chapters offer focused examinations of individual tombs: their construction, content, development, and significance. Finally, the book discusses the current status of ongoing issues of preservation and archaeology, such as conservation, tourism, and site management. In addition to recent work mentioned above, aerial imaging, remote sensing, studies of the tombs' architectural and decorative symbolism, problems of conservation management, and studies of KV-related temples are just some of the aspects not covered in any other work on the Valley of the Kings. This volume promises to become the primary scholarly reference work on this important World Heritage Site.
The fifth volume of Ex Novo has the pleasure to host Flaminia Bartolini as guest editor for the special issue titled Heritage in the Making: Dealing with Legacies of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. This collection of peer-reviewed papers stems in part from the successful workshop held at McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge in December 2018 under the aegis of the DAAD-Cambridge Hub. The event gathered several international heritage experts and professionals from both Germany and Italy to explore the complexities of handling Heritage related to Fascism and National Socialism. The selection of papers contribute much to the debate on the shifting conditions of the reception of dictatorial regimes, and more specifically the fate of fascist material legacies from the aftermath of WWII to the present day. The second part of this volume includes an additional contribution by Aydin Abar which keeps in with the broad theme of political reappropriation of the past lying at the core of Bartolini’s collection of papers but strays away from their geographical focus by extending the analysis to the exploitation of Achaemenian material legacies in reinforcing nationalist narratives in nineteenth and twentieth century Iran.
Archaeoastronomy and archaeology are two distinct fields of study which examine the cultural aspect of societies, but from different perspectives. Archaeoastronomy seeks to discover how the impact of the skyscape is materialised in culture, by alignments to celestial events or sky-based symbolism; yet by contrast, archaeology's approach examines all aspects of culture, but rarely considers the sky. Despite this omission, archaeology is the dominant discipline while archaeoastronomy is relegated to the sidelines. The reasons for archaeoastronomy's marginalised status may be found by assessing its history. For such an exploration to be useful, archaeoastronomy cannot just be investigated in a vacuum but must be contextualised by exploring other contemporaneous developments, particularly in archaeology. On the periphery of both, there are various strands of esoteric thought and pseudoscientific theories which paint an alternative view of monumental remains and these also play a part in the background. The discipline of archaeology has had an unbroken lineage from the late 19th-century to the present. On the other hand, archaeoastronomy has not been consistently titled, having adopted various different names such as alignment studies, orientation theory, astro-archaeology, megalithic science, archaeotopography, archaeoastronomy and cultural astronomy: names which depict variants of its methods and theory, sometimes in tandem with those of archaeology and sometimes in opposition. Similarly, its academic status has always been unclear, so to bring it closer to archaeology there was a proposal in 2015 to integrate archaeoastronomy research with that of archaeology and call it skyscape archaeology. This volume examines how all these different variants came about and consider archaeoastronomy's often troubled relationship with archaeology and its appropriation by esotericism, to shed light on its position today. |
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