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Books > Humanities > Archaeology > Archaeological theory
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 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.
On the Borders of World-Systems: Contact Zones in Ancient and Modern Times draws on a diverse set of disciplines to explore historical, archaeological, and political interpretations of world-systems theory and geocivilizational analysis. The monograph has a prospective character, the main goal of which is the solution of a major problem – the study of worldwide practice, oriented towards the problems of the modern social world as a system. The principal focus is on the borderland - limes, which has been perceived variously as an impenetrable cordon, and as an open, interactive environment. In this locus of inter-world encounters, different civilizations developed, and an exchange of goods and ideas took place. Macrosociological issues of ancient and modern history are analyzed through five case studies of the Taurus-Caucasus region and its role as a contact zone in different periods.
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.
Like Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan thought that Europeans could reach the Far East by sailing West. He aspired to dominion, displaying military prowess, navigational skill, powers of persuasion and unwavering determination. Bettering Columbus, his venture led to the circumnavigation of the world by European seamen, the most audacious in maritime history. He proved his theory possible, dying in the process. 500 years have now passed since Magellan's voyage. Allen Mawer closely examines the historical sources, charts and eyewitness records and considers afresh what we can know of Magellan and the details of his voyage.
Writing is not just a set of systems for transcribing language and communicating meaning, but an important element of human practice, deeply embedded in the cultures where it is present and fundamentally interconnected with all other aspects of human life. The Social and Cultural Contexts of Historic Writing Practices explores these relationships in a number of different cultural contexts and from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including archaeological, anthropological and linguistic. It offers new ways of approaching the study of writing and integrating it into wider debates and discussions about culture, history and archaeology.
This colouring book offers a short introduction to the world of the contemporary archaeologist, exploring new approaches and theories of investigation. With text by professional archaeologist Cornelius Holtorf and beautiful, highly detailed illustrations by archaeologically trained professional illustrator Daniel Lindskog, each page is full of information to explore, and designs to colour.
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.
Why publish a Reader? Today, it is relatively easy and convenient to switch on your computer and download an academic paper. However, as many scholars have experienced, historic references are difficult to access. Moreover, some are now lost and are merely references in later papers. This can be frustrating. This book provides a series of papers from all over the world that extend as far back as the 1970s when rock art research was in its infancy. The papers presented in the Reader reflect the development in the various approaches that have influenced advancing scholarly research.
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.
The papers gathered in this volume explore the economic and social roles of exchange systems in past societies from a variety of different perspectives. Based on a broad range of individual case studies, the authors tackle problems surrounding the identification of (pre-monetary) currencies in the archaeological record. These concern the part played by weight measurement systems in their development, the changing role of objects as they shift between different spheres of exchange, e.g. from gifts to commodities, as well as wider issues regarding the role of exchange networks as agents of social and economic change. Among the specific questions the papers address is what happens when new objects of value are introduced into a system, or when existing objects go out of use, as well as how exchange systems react to events such as crises or the emergence of new polities and social constellations. One theme that unites most of the papers is the tension between what is introduced from the outside and changes that are driven by social transformations within a given group.
Buildings in Society: International Studies in the Historic Era presents a series of papers reflecting the latest approaches to the study of buildings from the historic period. This volume does not examine buildings as architecture, but adopts an archaeological perspective to consider them as artefacts, reflecting the needs of those who commissioned them. Studies have often failed to consider the historical contexts in which the buildings were constructed and how they were subsequently used and interpreted. The papers in this volume situate their interpretation in their social context. Buildings can inform us about past cultures as they are responsive and evolve to meet people's needs over time. The buildings examined in this volume range from the twelfth to the twenty-first century and cross continents including case-studies from America, Australia and Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Scandinavia and the Mediterranean. Themes include: Approaches to the study of buildings, Buildings of Power, Buildings in Identity, Domestic Space and Urban and Village Spaces. The essays consider building design, role, and how the buildings were altered as their function changed to coincide with the needs and aspirations of those who owned or used the buildings. This collection of papers emphasizes the need for further international multidisciplinary approaches including archaeology, architectural history and art history in order to understand how ideas, styles, approaches and designs spread over time and space. Together, these papers generate valuable new insights into the study of buildings in the historic period.
From Hydrology to Hydroarchaeology in the Ancient Mediterranean: An interdisciplinary approach is devoted to the study of water management in ancient cities. It compares the approaches and methods adopted by researchers from different disciplinary sectors to identify the water conditions of past societies and to highlight the measures they have taken to adapt to their water resources. Deriving from an interdisciplinary meeting held in Aix-en-Provence (Mediterranean House of Human Sciences) in 2019, it brings together seven articles that present the innovative results of collaborations between archaeologists and environmental scientists, geologists, geomorphologists, and climatologists in particular. After an introduction that situates the discussions conducted in Aix-en-Provence within the framework of the Watertraces project, funded by the A*Midex foundation (Aix-Marseille University), most of the articles focus on the Sicilian situation. An initial synthesis covers all aspects of the question, followed by four case studies ranging from the 4th century BC to the 1st century AD. Case studies on Agrigento, Termini Imerese/Thermai Himerenses, Alesa/Halaesa, Solunte and Tyndaris are presented. The focus then moves to southern Italy (the Terme di Baia), and to Aegean Greece (the sanctuary at Delphi).
The Iron Age copper smelting site situated near the Cypriot village Agia Varvara is of particular importance among the ancient copper processing places in the Near East because it has revealed spatial as well as technological aspects of copper production in a hitherto rarely-seen depth of detail. Agia Varvara-Almyras: an Iron Age Copper Smelting Site in Cyprus presents the results of a comprehensive post-excavation analysis of the stratigraphy (part I), also of the geology, metallurgical materials (furnaces, tuyeres), finds (pottery, furnace lining, stone tools), as well as a synthesis of the copper smelting technology at Agia Varvara-Almyras (part II). The excavation analysis not only focuses on pyrotechnical information from individual furnaces, but also provides a detailed study of the spatial organisation as well as of the living conditions on the smelting site. An elaborate reconstruction of the features in a 3D model allows the visualisation of formerly-dispersed loci of copper production. Based on this virtual rebuilding of the hillock named Almyras, it becomes clear that archaeometallurgy must be unchained, and the idea of an 'operational chain' must be replaced by a more multidimensional research strategy labelled as an 'operational web'. The present volume aims to stimulate future excavations which pay attention to the reasons behind the exploitation of the riches of the island, as well as to the needs of the markets where the final product was very likely to have been appreciated as a strategic commodity, by power players operating on the island as well as by ordinary people in need of a repair to an everyday commodity which had broken.
The most famous conspiracy of silence in the history of antiquity is examined here by one of the three archaeologists entrusted by the Archaeological Society of Athens with the final excavations of the Sanctuary. He traces the history of the cult in the archaeological remains, from the first traces of habitation at the site in the Middle Bronze Age (around 1900 B.C.) to its final grandeur and decay in Imperial Roman times. A guided tour of the Museum at Eleusis, illustrated with photographs of objects in the Museum, as well as air views, plans, and detailed photographs of the ruins closely correlated with the text, takes into account the needs of the visitor at the site as well as the reader at home. Originally published in 1961. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Through the Lens of Anthropology is a concise introduction to anthropology that uses the twin themes of food and sustainability to connect evolution, biology, archaeology, history, language, and culture. The third edition remains a highly readable text that encourages students to think about current events and issues through an anthropological lens. Beautifully illustrated with over 100 full-color images and maps, along with detailed figures and boxes, this is an anthropology book with a fresh perspective and a lively narrative that is filled with popular topics. The new edition has been updated to reflect the most recent developments in anthropology and the contributions of marginalized scholars, while the use of gender-neutral language makes for a more inclusive text. New content offers anthropological insight into contemporary issues such as COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, and #MeToo. Through the Lens of Anthropology continues to be an essential text for those interested in learning more about the relevance and value of anthropology. The third edition is supplemented by a full suite of updated instructor and student resources. For more information visit www.lensofanthropology.com.
This book is the first comprehensive work focusing on lived ancient religious communication in Roman Dacia. Testing for the first time the 'Lived Ancient Religion' approach in terms of a peripheral province from the Danubian area, this work looks at the role of 'sacralised' spaces, known commonly as sanctuaries in the religious communication of the province. The author analyses the role of space sacralisation, religious appropriation, embodiment and the social impact of religious communication in urban contexts (Apulum), military contexts (Porolissum and Mehadia), and numerous examples from rural (non-urban) environments (Ampelum, Germisara, Ad Mediam, and many others). The book concentrates not only on the creation and maintenance of sacralised spaces in public and secondary locations, but also on their role at the micro-level of objects, semi-micro level of spaces (settlements), and the macro-level of the province and the Danubian region as a whole. Innovatively as regards provincial archaeological research, this book emphasises the spatial aspects of lived ancient religion by analysing for the first time the sanctuaries as spaces of religious communication in Dacia. The work also contains a significant chapter on the so-called 'small-group' religions (the Bacchic, Mithraic and Dolichenian groups of the province), which are approached for the first time in detail. The study also gives the first comprehensive list of archaeologicallyepigraphically- attested, and presumed sacralised spaces within Dacia.
This book provides an up to date introduction to the exciting, but complex, new scientific methodologies that are increasingly used in archaeological study. Written by an international team of specialists, it provides clear and engaging overviews of a wide array of approaches, including DNA and proteomics, dating methods, materials analysis, stable isotope analysis, and the scientific study of human, plant, and animal remains, among other topics. Each technique is explored through the use of actual archaeological examples, which both explain the methods and highlight their potential applications. The work is carefully illustrated with useful charts, graphs and other images, which complement the detail in the text, and help to articulate the case studies explored as well as the underlying principles of the techniques involved. Feature tables in many of the chapters highlight selected research on each topic, providing useful summaries of the current state and scope of the field for the reader. This volume will serve as a handy reference tool for scholars, as well as a key textbook for courses on archaeological science.
Conversations in Human Evolution is an ongoing science communication initiative seeking to explore the breadth and interdisciplinarity of human evolution studies. This volume reports another twenty interviews (referred to as 'conversations' as they are informal in style) with scholars at the forefront of human evolution research, covering the broad scientific themes of Palaeolithic archaeology, palaeoanthropology and biological anthropology, earth science and palaeoclimatic change, evolutionary anthropology and primatology, and human disease co-evolution. This project features academics at various different stages in their careers and from all over the world; in this volume alone, researchers are based at institutions in eleven different countries (namely Iran, India, the United Kingdom, Greece, Australia, South Africa, the United States of America, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Israel), covering five continents. Having arisen at the start of the COVID19 pandemic, Conversations in Human Evolution aims to encourage engagement with both human evolutionary studies and the broader socio-political issues that persist within academia, the latter of which is particularly pertinent during this time of global uncertainty. The conversations delve deeply into the study of our species' evolutionary history through the lens of each sub-discipline, as well as detailing some of the most current advances in research, theory and methods. Overall, Conversations in Human Evolution seeks to bridge the gap between the research and researcher through contextualisation of the science with personal experience and historical reflection.
Going Underground: The Meanings of Death and Burial for Minority Groups in Israel is about the attitudes towards death and burial in contemporary society. It provides information on the attitudes of several minority groups living in Israel today, including four communities of Russian Jews, an ultra-religious Jewish community and a Palestinian-Christian community. ‘Going Underground’ has a double meaning: it refers to the actions taken by archaeologists to inquire about the past and present and involves digging and recording. Second, it considers the challenges and protests launched by the groups of immigrants and minorities mentioned in the book, against state-control over death.
Conversations in Human Evolution is an ongoing science communication initiative seeking to explore the breadth and interdisciplinarity of human evolution studies. This volume reports twenty interviews (referred to as ‘conversations’ as they are informal in style) with scholars at the forefront of human evolution research, covering the broad scientific themes of quaternary and archaeological science, Palaeolithic archaeology, biological anthropology and palaeoanthropology, primatology and evolutionary anthropology and evolutionary genetics. This project features academics at various different stages in their careers and from all over the world; in this volume alone, researchers are based at institutions in seven different countries (namely the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States of America, Germany, Denmark, India, and China), covering four continents. Having arisen at the start of the COVID19 pandemic, Conversations in Human Evolution aims to encourage engagement with both human evolutionary studies and the broader socio-political issues that persist within academia, the latter of which is particularly pertinent during this time of global uncertainty. The conversations delve deeply into the study of our species’ evolutionary history through the lens of each sub-discipline, as well as detailing some of the most current advances in research, theory and methods. Overall, Conversations in Human Evolution seeks to bridge the gap between the research and researcher through contextualisation of the science with personal experience and historical reflection.
From IndyRef and Brexit to the Refugee Crisis and Trump’s Wall, the construction and maintenance, subversion and traversing of frontiers and borderlands dominate our current affairs. Yet, while archaeologists have long participated in exploring frontiers and borderlands, their public archaeology has been starkly neglected. Incorporating the select proceedings of the 4th University of Chester Archaeology Student conference hosted by the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, on 20 March 2019, this is the first book to investigate realworld ancient and modern frontier works, the significance of graffiti, material culture, monuments and wall-building, as well as fictional representations of borders and walls in the arts, as public archaeology. Key themes include the heritage interpretation for linear monuments, public archaeology in past and contemporary frontiers and borderlands, and archaeology’s interactions with mural practices in politics, popular culture and the contemporary landscape. Together, the contributors show the necessity of developing critical public archaeologies of frontiers and borderlands.
The rock art of the Americas was produced at very different times and by different cultures, both by hunter-gatherers, fishermen and by farmers from village or state societies. Each group can be characterised by diverse styles and techniques. The function of rock art depended on religious, political or social concerns that referred to a particular context and time. Peintures et gravures rupestres des Amériques: Empreintes culturelles et territoriales presents the proceedings from Session XXV-3 of the XVIII UISPP World Congress (4-9 June 2018, Paris, France). Papers address the following questions: How does the study of rock art make it possible to culturally characterize its authors? What does it tell us about the function of sites? How and under what circumstances does it make it possible to delimit a cultural territory? The six articles in this volume provide case studies from Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, French Guiana and Chile. |
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