The development of key methodologies for the study of battlefields in the USA in the 1980s inspired a generation of British and European archaeologists to turn their attention to sites in their own countries. The end of the Cold War and key anniversaries of the World Wars inspired others, especially in the UK, to examine the material legacy of those conflicts before they disappeared. By 2000 the study of war was again firmly on the archaeological agenda. The overall purpose of the book is to encourage proponents and practitioners of Conflict Archaeology to consider what it is for and how to develop it in the future.The central argument is that, at present , Conflict Archaeology is effectively divided into closed communities who do not interact to any large extent. These separate communities are divided by period and by nationality, so that a truly international Conflict Archaeology has yet to emerge. These divisions prevent the exchange of information and ideas across boundaries and thereby limit the scope of the field. This book discusses these issues in detail, clearly outlining how they affect the development of Conflict Archaeology as a coherent branch of archaeology.

When Archaeology Meets Communities' examines the history of nineteenth-century Sicilian archaeology through the archival documentation for the excavations - official and casual - at Tindari, Lipari and nearby minor sites in the Messina province from Italy's Unification to the end of the First World War (1861-1918). The area and historical period have been fully neglected by past scholars and need in-depth investigation. The substantial evidence includes sets of approximately six hundred new records and black and white images from Italian and UK archives. The historical reconstruction, based on analysis of these records, lays the foundations for the entire volume and forms the basis from which the book develops innovative outlines on Sicilian archaeology. The structure follows this central concept. Furthermore, the volume seeks: a) to clarify relationships between the Italian Ministry of Public Education, the Museum of Palermo and local government authorities ('3-level' structure of interaction) and to pinpoint contacts with the contemporary social context; b) to compare archaeological research during the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the post-Unification period in northern Sicily in terms of methods, history of collecting, antiquities safeguarding and legislation; and c) to contextualise this work in terms of the evolution of archaeology and social change in the wider Italian and European contexts.

The idea for this volume emerged from critical self-reflection about diverse archaeological practices in a session presented at the 13th European Association of Archaeologists Annual Meeting (Zadar, Croatia, 2007), in particular the conflicting relationship between the 'mainstream' and the 'alternative'. The field of so-called 'fringe' or 'alternative' archaeology is vast and multifaceted, ranging from pseudoarchaeology, 'bad' archaeology practices, conspiracy theories and claims about lost civilizations to extraterrestrial cultures, (neo)shamanism, religious and/or nationalist demands. All these agendas have in common the fact that, through their differentiated readings and appropriations of the past, they create solidarities amongst their supporters.

This important book reexamines old assumptions concerning the nature of group cohesion in industrial firms as it is influenced by management actions. Based upon a carefully controlled study, it offers a sound theoretical base and a replicable method, both vital to students of group processes and organizational theorists. The study indicates that high stress was positively related to intragroup conflict regardless of group sanctions encouraging cohesiveness but that when managers rewarded group behavior under high stress a climate was created in which competitive behavior could occur without inducing conflict and nonproductive behavior. Timely, thoroughly documented, the book extends and integrates prior work in an area vital to managers and theorists alike. Its research design and results should establish the book as the central authority on group cohesiveness in industry.

The concept of authoritarianism, first defined in The Authoritarian Personality published in 1950, has since been treated in a bewildering array of studies that have explored both its narrow psychological meaning and its broader social implications. In this volume, authors John P. Kirscht and Ronald C. Dillehay have provided a much-needed review of this growing subject, summarizing and evaluating about 260 studies that have appeared to date. Kirscht and Dillehay differentiate between the psychological and the sociological approach to authoritarianism, tracing the historical development of both schools of thought. They also outline three major views of authoritarianism: as antecedent to certain types of behavior (for example, ethnic prejudice), as the consequence of other variables (such as child rearing practices), or as a correlate of yet other processes(e.g. alienation); these views, in turn, suggest a variety of theoretical and methodological issues. The authors review, in addition, the multitudes of beliefs and behaviors thought to vary with authoritarianism, examining the validity of these relationships in empirical research. While the authors do not attempt to reformulate or redefine authoritarianism, they point up avenues for future research and single out significant research findings which are likely to offer the firmest ground for development.

Although folklore has been collected for centuries, its possible unconscious content and significance have been explored only since the advent of psychoanalytic theory. Freud and some of his early disciples recognized the potential of such folklorist genres as myth, folktale, and legend to illuminate the intricate workings of the human psyche. Alan Dundes is a renowned folklorist who has successfully devoted the better part of his career to applying psychoanalytic theory to the materials of folklore. From Game to War offers five of his most mature essays on this topic. Dundes begins with a comprehensive survey of the history of psychological studies of folklore in the United Slates. He then presents a striking analysis of the spectrum of behavior associated with male competitive events ranging from traditional games -- such as soccer and American football -- to warfare. He argues that all of these activities can be seen as forms of macho battle to determine which individual or team feminizes his or its opponents. This is followed by a study of the saga of William Tell, one of the most celebrated legends in the world. A novel treatment of the biblical flood myth in terms of male pregnancy is the penultimate essay, while the concluding article proposes an ingeniously imaginative interpretation of the underpinnings of anti-Semitism.

Religion, Material Culture and Archaeology offers a new understanding of the materiality of religion. By drawing on the field of archaeological theory and method, the relationship between religion and material culture is explored. It is argued that the material elements of religious life have been largely neglected by the discipline of religious studies, while at the same time religion has been traditionally seen as problematic for archaeologists. Why do we not talk of the discipline of the archaeology of religion, in the same way we do the anthropology of religion, or the sociology of religion? The volume considers the historical problems of approaching the material elements of religious life and bridges the methodological gap between religious studies and archaeology by proposing a new way of understanding the materiality of religion - as active, engaged and projecting a level of autonomous social agency. Finally, the critical examination of archaeological approaches to the materiality of religion is furthered through the consideration of non-archaeological ways of examining the social roles that material culture plays in human life.

Through her professional capacity as a Curatorial Archaeologist employed by three separate English local authorities over the last 17 years, the author has recognized the necessity for further analysis and improvement of current pre-determination Field Evaluation approaches. This book investigates the effectiveness of Field Evaluation through an assessment of its Decision-making processes.

This study discusses the results of archaeobotanical studies carried out in Bulgaria over the last five years, with a special focus on the archaeobotanical finds from 36 prehistoric sites from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. The discussion highlights the great diversity of both cultivated and wild growing and weed plants in the region and provide eveidence for the availability of Mediterannean plants such as cultivated vines, and thus of cultural contacts.

This volume derives from a session held at the 2010 Theoretical Archaeology Group conference (Bristol University). The aims of this session were to explore occurrences of compromise (or making do) and repair (mending) in the past, with a particular focus on material culture. This original scope broadened to encompass reuse - inextricably linked to the central themes, particularly when considered through a biographical approach. Contents: Introduction: Archaeologies of Compromise, Repair and Reuse (Ben Jervis and Alison Kyle); 1) What did the apocrypha know? Glued pottery vessels from Springhead and other Romano-British sites in south and eastern England (Kayt Marter Brown and Rachael Seager Smith); 2) Modifying Material: Social biographies of Roman material culture (Lousia Campbell); 3) Reuse, Repair and Reconstruction. Functioning aqueducts in post-Roman Spain (Javier Martinez Jimenez); 4) A Hole for the Soul? Possible functions of post-firing perforations and lead plugs in early Anglo-Saxon cremation urns (Gareth Perry); 5) Riveting Biographies. The theoretical implications of early Anglo-Saxon brooch repair, customisation and use adaptation (Toby Martin); 6) Making-do or Making the World? Tempering choices in Anglo-Saxon pottery manufacture (Ben Jervis); 7) More Than Just a Quick Fix? Repair Holes on Early Medieval Souterrain Ware (Alison Kyle); 8) Beyond a 'Make-do and Mend' Mentality. Repair and reuse of objects from two medieval village sites in Buckinghamshire (Carole Wheeler); 9) When is a Pot Still a Pot? (Duncan H Brown); 10) Survival and Significance: Some Concluding Remarks on Reuse as an Aspect of Cultural Biography (Mark A Hall).

title>Excavations at Tepe Yahya" describes the geographical and paleoenvironmental setting of Tepe Yahya and details the earliest architecture at the site, the production of ceramics and metallurgy, and the excavation's small finds. Interpretive essays examine settlement patterns, change and development over time, and the community's setting in the wider context of core-periphery interaction in the fifth and fourth millennia B.C.

The study of burial practices, of human attitudes and behaviour in the face of death, has been an important part of archaeological research from its very beginnings. Some funerary discoveries have achieved sensational fame. Yet beyond this the archaeological community quickly came to understand that it is possible to gain as much information about the lives of past people from studying their funerary behaviour as it is from studying their daily activities and the resultant artefacts. This volume gathers together the majority of the papers presented at the International Symposium on Funerary Anthropology, 'Homines, Funera, Astra', which took place at '1 Decembrie 1918' University of Alba Iulia, 5-8 June 2011. The theme of the conference, aimed to address the investigation of human osteological remains and burial practices specific to the prehistory and history in Central and Eastern Europe. Contents: 1) Spirituality of Palaeolithic burials: offerings of decorative items and body ornaments (Valentin-Codrin Chirica, Vasile Chirica); 2) Considerations regarding the Palaeolithic anthropological discoveries in Romania and the Republic of Moldova (Madalin-Cornel Valeanu); 3) On Palaeolithic social inequality: The funerary evidence (Mircea Anghelinu); 4) Burial practices in the Iron Gates Mesolithic (Adina Boroneant, Clive Bonsall); 5) Bioarchaeological inferences from Neolithic human remains at Alba Iulia-Lumea Noua (Transylvania, Romania) (Mihai Gligor, Mariana Rosu, Viorel Panaitescu 6) Gendered bodies and objects in a mortuary domain: Comparative analysis of Durankulak cemetery ); (Susan Stratton, Dusan Boric); 7) Adornments from the Hamangia cemetery excavated at Cernavoda - Columbia D. Contextual analysis (Raluca Kogalniceanu); 8) Shell adornments from the Hamangia cemetery excavated at Cernavoda - Columbia D. Techno-typological analysis (Monica Margarit); 9) Traditions, Rules and Exceptions in the Eneolithic Cemetery from Sultana - Malu Rosu (Southeast Romania) (Catalin Lazar, Madalina Voicu, Gabriel Vasile); 10) Anthropological research of the Komariv type (Middle Bronze Age) tumular cemetery, at Adancata (Suceava County, Romania) (Angela Simalcsik, Bogdan Petru Niculica); 11) Coins and pebbles from the Anglo-Georgian excavations at Pichvnari (Michael Vickers); 12) Funerary rite and rituals of the Early Sarmatians (second and first centuries BC) in the area between the mouths of the Don and the Danube (Funerary customs of Scythians and Thracians: a lexical analysis (Vitalie Barca); 13) Infant Burials in Roman Dobrudja. A report of work in progress: The case of Ibida (Slava Rusa) (Alexander Rubel, Andrei D. Soficaru); 14) Aspects of everyday life in Scythia Minor reflected in some funerary discoveries from Ibida (Slava Rusa, Tulcea County) (Dan Aparaschivei, Mihaela Iacob, Andrei D. Soficaru, Dorel Paraschiv); 15) Early Roman and Late Roman child graves in Dobrudja (Romania) (Irina Achim).

In this innovative work, Julia King moves nimbly among a variety of sources and disciplinary approaches-archaeological, historical, architectural, literary, and art-historical-to show how places take on, convey, and maintain meanings. Focusing on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay region of Maryland, King looks at the ways in which various groups, from patriots and politicians of the antebellum era to present-day archaeologists and preservationists, have transformed key landscapes into historical, indeed sacred, spaces. The sites King examines include the region's vanishing tobacco farms; St. Mary's City, established as Maryland's first capital by English settlers in the seventeenth century; and Point Lookout, the location of a prison for captured Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. As the author explores the historical narratives associated with such places, she uncovers some surprisingly durable myths as well as competing ones. St. Mary's City, for example, early on became the centre of Maryland's "founding narrative" of religious tolerance, a view commemorated in nineteenth-century celebrations and reflected even today in local museum exhibits and preserved buildings. And at Point Lookout, one private group has established a Confederate Memorial Park dedicated to those who died at the prison, thus nurturing the Lost Cause ideology that arose in the South in the late 1800s, while nearby the custodians of a 1,000-acre state park avoid controversy by largely ignoring the area's Civil War history, preferring instead to concentrate on recreation and tourism, an unusually popular element of which has become the recounting of ghost stories. As King shows, the narratives that now constitute the public memory in southern Maryland tend to overlook the region's more vexing legacies, particularly those involving slavery and race. Noting how even her own discipline of historical archaeology has been complicit in perpetuating old narratives, King calls for research-particularly archaeological research-that produces new stories and "counter-narratives" that challenge old perceptions and interpretations and thus convey a more nuanced grasp of a complicated past. |In this innovative work, Julia King moves nimbly among a variety of sources and disciplinary approaches-archaeological, historical, architectural, literary, and art-historical-to show how places take on, convey, and maintain meanings. Focusing on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay region of Maryland, King looks at the ways in which various groups, from patriots and politicians of the antebellum era to present-day archaeologists and preservationists, have transformed key landscapes into historical, indeed sacred, spaces. The sites King examines include the region's vanishing tobacco farms; St. Mary's City, established as Maryland's first capital by English settlers in the seventeenth century; and Point Lookout, the location of a prison for captured Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. As the author explores the historical narratives associated with such places, she uncovers some surprisingly durable myths as well as competing ones. St. Mary's City, for example, early on became the center of Maryland's "founding narrative" of religious tolerance, a view commemorated in nineteenth-century celebrations and reflected even today in local museum exhibits and preserved buildings. And at Point Lookout, one private group has established a Confederate Memorial Park dedicated to those who died at the prison, thus nurturing the Lost Cause ideology that arose in the South in the late 1800s, while nearby the custodians of a 1,000-acre state park avoid controversy by largely ignoring the area's Civil War history, preferring instead to concentrate on recreation and tourism, an unusually popular element of which has become the recounting of ghost stories. As King shows, the narratives that now constitute the public memory in southern Maryland tend to overlook the region's more vexing legacies, particularly those involving slavery and race. Noting how even her own discipline of historical archaeology has been complicit in perpetuating old narratives, King calls for research-particularly archaeological research-that produces new stories and "counter-narratives" that challenge old perceptions and interpretations and thus convey a more nuanced grasp of a complicated past. Julia A. King is an associate professor of anthropology at St. Mary's College of Maryland, where she coordinates the Museum Studies Program and directs the SlackWater Center, a consortium devoted to exploring, documenting, and interpreting the changing landscapes of Chesapeake communities. She is also coeditor, with Dennis B. Blanton, of Indian and European Contact in Context: The Mid-Atlantic Region.

This thesis seeks to address issues surrounding the growing phenomenon of the community archaeology project, and the lack of criteria and methodologies for assessing their effectiveness. It focuses on community excavations in a range of contexts, both in the UK and US. It assesses the values these projects produce for communities and evaluates what community archaeology actually does, concluding that such projects frequently fail to balance the desired outcomes of their stakeholders, with the short-term nature of funding a particular problem. Finally suggestions are made for future community archaeology research project designs.

Throughout the world, competing interest groups lay claim to the material remains of the past. Archaeologists, developers, indigenous 'first peoples' , looters, museum curators, national government officals, New Age worshippers, private collectors, tourists - all want their share. This introduction to contemporary debates surrounding their rival claims deals with defining, owning, protecting, managing, interpreting, and experiencing the archaeological heritage. Fundamental questions are considered: What is 'archaeological heritage'? Who should own and control the material culture of the past? How should these remains be protected? How should the archaeological heritage be presented to the public? Robin Skeates calls for greater communication and co-operation between archaeologists and other interest groups, urging archaeologists to increase the involvement of local people in the culturally valuable and vulnerable material remains of their past, and in archaeological research that attempts to be objective.

This study investigates the relationship between the thermal performance of building assemblages (classes of buildings) and the social life of human communities using a multi-scalar Neo-Darwinian approach to study the evolution of the built environment. The work investigates levels of thermal operational adjustability associated with building assemblages and long-term social viability, given that social and contextual change is inevitable in the long-term.

Recent symbolic and social analyses have drawn much attention to the role of material culture in human society, emphasising the representational and ideological aspects of the material world. These studies have, nonetheless, often overlooked how the very physicality of material culture and our material surroundings make them unique and distinctive from text and discourse. In this book, Boivin explores how the physicality of the material world shapes our thoughts, emotions, cosmological frameworks, social relations and even our bodies. Focusing on the agency of material culture, she draws on the work of a diverse range of thinkers, from Marx and Merleau-Ponty to Darwin, while highlighting a wide selection of studies in archaeology, cultural anthropology, history, cognitive science and evolutionary biology. She asks what is distinctive about material culture compared to other aspects of human culture and presents a comprehensive overview of material agency that has much to offer to both scholars and students.

The Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology (BABAO) held at the University of Reading in 2007. Contents: 1) A life course perspective of growing up in medieval London: evidence of sub-adult health from St Mary Spital (London) (Rebecca Redfern and Don Walker); 2) Preservation of non-adult long bones from an almshouse cemetery in the United States dating to the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries (Colleen Milligan, Jessica Zotcavage and Norman Sullivan); 3) Childhood oral health: dental palaeopathology of Kellis 2, Dakhleh, Egypt. A preliminary investigation (Stephanie Shukrum and JE Molto); 4) Skeletal manifestation of non-adult scurvy from early medieval Northumbria: the Black Gate cemetery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (Diana Mahoney-Swales and Pia Nystrom); 5) Infantile cortical hyperostosis: cases, causes and contradictions (Mary Lewis and Rebecca Gowland); 6) Biological Anthropology Tuberculosis of the hip in the Victorian Britain (Benjamin Clarke and Piers Mitchell); 7) The re-analysis of Iron Age human skeletal material from Winnall Down (Justine Tracey); 8) Can we estimate post-mortem interval from an individual body part? A field study using sus scrofa (Branka Franicevec and Robert Pastor); 9) The expression of asymmetry in hand bones from the medieval cemetery at Ecija, Spain (Lisa Cashmore and Sonia Zakrezewski); 10) Returning remains: a curator's view (Quinton Carroll); 11) Authority and decision making over British human remains: issues and challenges (Piotr Bienkowski and Malcolm Chapman); 12) Ethical dimensions of reburial, retention and repatriation of archaeological human remains: a British perspective (Simon Mays and Martin Smith); 13) The problem of provenace: inaccuracies, changes and misconceptions (Margaret Clegg); 14) Native American human remains in UK collections: implications of NAGPRA to consultation, repatriation, and policy development (Myra J Giesen); 15) Repatriation - a view from the receiving end: New Zealand (Nancy Tayles).

Papers from the session Theoretical and Methodological Issues in Evolutionary Archaeology presented at the XV UISPP World Congress (Lisbon, 4-9 September 2006). Contents: 1) The Application of Darwinian Cultural Evolutionary Theory to Ceramics: The Case of Soft Pottery from Luwu, South Sulawesi, Indonesia (David Bulbeck); 2) Temporal Trends in the Morphometric Variation of the Lithic Projectile Points during the Middle Holocene of Southern Andes (Puna Region). A Coevolutionary approach (Marcelo Cardillo); 3) Interdemic Selection and Phoenician Priesthood. Darwinian Reflections on the Archaeoastronomy of Southern Spain (Jose Luis Escacena Carrasco, Daniel Garcia Rivero); 4) An Evolutionary Theory of Cultural Differentiation (Agner Fog); 5) A Group Selection Model of Territorial War, Xenophobia and Altruism in Humans and other Primates (Agner Fog); 5) Two Faces of Darwin: On the Complementarity of Evolutionary Archaeology and Human Behavioral Ecology (Kristen J Gremillion); 6) The Study of the archaeological record of Santa Rosa de los Pastos Grandes, Puna of Salta, Argentina, from an inclusive evolutionary perspective (Gabriel Lopez); 7) Finding Concordance in Darwinian Archaeologies: and why an Unified Evolutionary Archaeology is both impossible and undesirable (Herbert D. G. Maschner, Ben Marler); 8) The Experimental Simulation of Archaeological Patterns: A Contribution to a Unified Science of Cultural Evolution (Alex Mesoudi); 9) A Synthetic Darwinian Paradigm in Evolutionary Archaeology is possible and convenient (Hernan Juan Muscio); 10) Niche Construction Applied: Triple-Inheritance Insights into the Pioneer Late Glacial Colonization of Southern Scandinavia (Felix Riede); 11) Acheulean Biface Refinement in the Hunsgi-Baichbal Valley, Karnataka, India (Shipton, C., Paddayya, K., Petraglia, M.); 12) Evolutionary Transitions and Co-Evolutionary Dynamics in Biology and in Culture (Monica Tamariz).

These papers were presented at a session of the EAA in 2006 and examine the interrelations between memory, tradition and identity. Case studies focus primarily on the prehistoric Aegean, although one looks at Norwegian rock art one at early medieval migration in the Baltic and another at modern Scandinavian identity and heritage. Topics include burial in the Middle Bronze Age on mainland Greece; the artistic depiction of the bull-leaping ritual in Neopalatial Crete; Mycenaean elements in the Eastern Aegean and western Anatolia; Arkadian identity; and Spartan education.

New Advances in the History of Archaeology presents the papers from three sessions organised by the History of Archaeology Scientific Commission at the 18th UISPP World Congress (Paris, June 2018). The first session, From stratigraphy to stratigraphic excavation in pre- and protohistoric archaeology organised by Massimo Tarantini and Alessandro Guidi, reviews the development of stratigraphical methods in archaeology in many European countries. The second session, Epistemology, History and Philosophy of Science: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the History of Archaeology, organised by Sophie A. de Beaune and Oscar Moro Abadia, is characterised by different examples of intersections between archaeology and other disciplines like history and the philosophy of science. Finally, four papers discuss the development of different types of interdisciplinarity in Europe and South America. These were presented in the third session, Archaeology and interdisciplinarity, from the 19th century to present-day research, organized by Laura Coltofean, Geraldine. Delley, Margarita Diaz-Andreu and Marc-Antoine Kaeser.

Papers from a conference on interpretations of the treatment of the past, held at the University of York in May 2005. Contents: 1) The Discourse of 'The Past' (Laurajane Smith); 2) Minding the Cracks: Archaeology, the Cross-Cultural Context, and Collaboration (Wendolin Romer); 3) Rationality, Archaeology and Government Policy (James Doeser); 4) An Institutionalised Construction of the Past in the UK (Emma Waterton); 5) Telling Tales: Folklore, Archaeology and the Discovery of the Past in the Present (Darren Glazier); 6) The Cult of Community: Defining the 'Local' in Public Archaeology and Heritage Discourses (Angela McClanahan); 7) Perceptions and Preferences vs. Pounds and Policy (Camilla Priede); 8) Outreach in Action: Towards African Centred Egyptology (Yvette Balbaligo and Kenneth John); 9) Development of the Concept of Cultural Heritage on Mount Athos: Past and Present (Georgios Alexopoulos); 10) The Case of Jazirat al-Hamra: Stereotypes, Historical Investigation and Cultural Representation in the Contemporary United Arab Emirates (Ron Hawker); 11) Working With a Colonial Legacy: The Role of Foreign Archaeologists in Modern Syria (Daniel Hull); 12) Collective Memory and its Use in Ethnic Conflicts (Barbara Curran); 13) Recognition, Identity, and History: A Case for the Inclusion of Aboriginal Cultural Histories into Canadian School Curricula (Suzanne Marcuzzi); 14) The Past, the Present and the Future of Bulgaria's Heritage Sites (Gabriela Petkova-Campbell); 15) Developing and Integrating a Conflict Management Model into the Heritage Management Process: The Case of the New Acropolis Museum in Athens (Kalliopi Fouseki); 16) Roundhouse Stories Reconstruction and Public Perceptions of the Iron Age (Michelle Collings); 17) The Euro Banknote Design Discourse, or How Not to 'Mint' a (EU)ropean Post-Modern Cultural Identity (Sven Grabow); 18) Visions of Europe: Constructions of Stereotype Europe and Common 'Heritage' Landscapes (Jon Kenny).

Mesopotamian houses excavated at Ur and Nippur represent a unique archaeological context for the analysis of the interaction of verbal and nonverbal sign systems in that archaeologists can combine archival evidence of the III-II millennium BC with well-preserved house layouts. This work provides a general framework for the interpretation of other sites where textual evidence is absent or not in context. Although the aims of the book are multiple, the main objective is theoretical: The author goes beyond the interpretation of Mesopotamian domestic sociology and offers a semiotic theory of verbal and nonverbal meanings, useful for archaeology in general. Contents: 1) Theories of meaning and archaeology; 2) Nonverbal meaning as implicit deixis in archaeology; 3) Verbal and nonverbal sign interaction in Mesopotamian domestic space; 4) Dynamic interaction of semiotic systems through the house cycle; 5) The spatial dimension of legal and technical discourse; 6) The ethnographic dimension of verbal and nonverbal semiosis; 7) The body in language: towards a theory of the relation between verbal and nonverbal meaning in archaeology.

In this book, Professor Joseph Davidovits explains the intriguing theory that made him famous. He shows how the Pyramids were built by using re-agglomerated stone (a natural limestone treated like a concrete), and not with huge carved blocks, hauled on fragile ramps. Archaeology bears him out, as well as hieroglyphic texts, scientific analysis, religious and historical facts. Here we finally have the first complete presentation on how and why the Egyptian pyramids were built. We discover its brilliant creator, the great scribe and architect, Imhotep. Joseph Davidovits sweeps aside the conventional image which cripples Egyptology and delivers a captivating and surprising view of Egyptian civilisation. He charts the rise of this technology, its apogee with the Pyramids at Giza, and the decline. Everything is logical and brilliant, everything fits into place. Chapter by chapter, the revelations are sensational, especially when Joseph Davidovits explains why the pharaohs stopped building great pyramids because of an over-exploitation of raw materials and a likely environmental disaster. We understand why Cheops and Ramses II represent two Egyptian civilisations completely different in their beliefs. On the one hand, the God Khnum mandates Cheops to build his pyramid in agglomerated stone, while on the other hand, the God Amun orders Ramses to carve stone for the temples of Luxor and Karnak. 20 years after the best seller book: The Pyramids: an enigma solved, after 20 years of new research, and new discoveries, you will understand why the theory is more alive than ever, why more and more scientists and archaeologists agree, simply because it is the truth.

In its original edition, Bruce Trigger's book was the first ever to examine the history of archaeological thought from medieval times to the present in world-wide perspective. Now, in this new edition, he both updates the original work and introduces new archaeological perspectives and concerns. At once stimulating and even-handed, it places the development of archaeological thought and theory throughout within a broad social and intellectual framework. The successive but interacting trends apparent in archaeological thought are defined and the author seeks to determine the extent to which these trends were a reflection of the personal and collective interests of archaeologists as these relate - in the West at least - to the fluctuating fortunes of the middle classes. While subjective influences have been powerful, Professor Trigger argues that the gradual accumulation of archaeological data has exercised a growing constraint on interpretation. In turn, this has increased the objectivity of archaeological research and enhanced its value for understanding the entire span of human history and the human condition in general.