• Combines material culture, environmental history and history of science for the first time to look at living things rather than non-living and human-made things/objects enabling students and museum professionals alike to see the importance of including living things within the history of material culture and the early modern world to understand the full scope. • Provides a deeper understand of global exchange and the history of commodities/collecting for early modern students and museum professionals to understand the development of trade in the early modern period and the creation of a system of trade based on moving things from their geography of origin to another area that valued them more highly. • Enables students and scientist to see the theoretical and empirical interventions with the living objects which reveal connected histories that link Europe to other regions of the globe, by way of naturalists, natural philosophers, collectors, merchants, apothecaries, physicians, agriculturalists, and professional scientists, to inform their own studies and research.

Politics of the past: The Representation of the Ancient Empires by Iran's Modern States' examines the highly problematic politics of the past surrounding the archaeology of ancient empires in Iran. Being indigenous, the authors regard the relations between archaeological remains, (negative) heritage, and modern strategies of suppression. The chapters provide a detailed analysis of how the practice of archaeology could be biased and ideologically charged. Discussing their own personal and professional experiences, the authors exemplify the real (ethical) dilemmas that archaeologists confront in the Middle East, calling for reflectivity and awareness among the archaeologists of the region. The text is accompanied by visual deconstruction of ancient rock reliefs to indicate the possibility of alternative histories.

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHORS OF FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS AND THE ORION MYSTERY 'An exciting book . . . deservedly a bestseller' SPECTATOR ___________________________________________ In Keeper of Genesis, Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval present a tour de force of historical and scientific detective work: * When and where did history begin? * When was the genesis of civilisation in Egypt? * How and why were the Great Sphinx and the three pyramids of Giza designed to serve as parts of an immense three-dimensional model of the sky of 'First Time'? * What is contained in the rectangular chamber that seismic surveys have located in the bedrock far below the paws of the sphinx? * What lies behind the mysterious doors recently discovered at the end of a previously unexplored shaft inside the Great Pyramid? * Does mankind have a rendezvous with destiny - a rendezvous not in the future, but in the distant past - at a precise place and time? Using sophisticated computer simulations of the ancient skies to crack the millennial code that the monuments transcribe, Bauval and Hancock set out a startling new theory of the Pyramid Texts and other archaic Egyptian scriptures. ___________________________________________ 'Reads like a detective story, with the reader enthusiastically trying to outguess the writers' Literary Review 'Start the book in the early evening and continue uninterrupted till you complete it in the small house. The effect is wonderful . . . Your entire world view has been shifted a hundred yards . . . You fall asleep thinking that nothing will ever be the same again' Sunday Telegraph

Nato dall'esigenza di fornire a giovani ricercatori e professionisti un'opportunita di mettersi alla prova e mostrare i propri lavori, Spring Archaeology e un viaggio attraverso le molte sfaccettature dell'archeologia in Italia, un paese ricco di storia e innovazione. L'evento, promosso da un gruppo di studenti e archeologi provenienti dall'Universita degli Studi di Siena (IT) e ri-organizzato online a causa delle restrizioni imposte dall'emergere della pandemia da Covid-19, ha visto la partecipazione di studenti con vari livelli di formazione, dalla laurea triennale al titolo di dottorato, liberi professionisti, istituzioni museali e associazioni culturali. Papers e posters presentati si articolano attorno a cinque temi principali: l'applicazione di nuove tecnologie all'archeologia, lo studio della cultura materiale, progetti di archeologia pubblica, progressi nelle ricerche e riflessioni metodologiche. Gli autori, sia italiani impegnati all'estero che stranieri impegnati in Italia, hanno presentato casi studio dalla preistoria al medioevo, principalmente dall'area mediterranea. Questi atti di convegno includono 29 papers, 22 presentazioni di posters e una sintesi della tavola rotonda conclusiva, centrata sullo stato attuale dell'archeologia in Italia e sui suoi possibili futuri sviluppi.

Pottery is one of humankind's most important inventions. It is thousands of years old, and it is fair to say that without it the development of civilization as we know it would not have been possible. Food preparation and storage, religion and ritual, wine-making, trade, art, and architecture, among many other human achievements, were all aided by pottery, an artificial material that lent itself to the elaboration of all kinds of objects: vessels, figurines, roof tiles, water pipes, fishnet weights, and tablets inscribed with the earliest forms of writing, to name but a few; a veritable litany of human creativity. This book examines a contemporary pottery tradition in Mesoamerica, but also looks back to the earliest examples of cultural development in this area. By means of ethnographic analogy and ceramic ecology, this study seeks to shed light on a modern indigenous community and on the theory, method and practice of ethnoarchaeology; undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of archaeological research in Mexico today.

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.

How did our current society come into being and how is it similar to as well as different from its predecessors? These key questions have transfixed archaeologists, anthropologists and historians for decades and strike at the very heart of intellectual debate across a wide range of disciplines. Yet scant attention has been given to the key thinkers and theoretical traditions that have shaped these debates and the conclusions to which they have given rise.This pioneering book explores the profound influence of one such thinker - Karl Marx - on the course of twentieth-century archaeology. Patterson reveals how Australian archaeologist V. Gordon Childe in the late 1920s was the first to synthesize discourses from archaeologists, sociologists, and Marxists to produce a corpus of provocative ideas. He analyzes how these ideas were received and rejected, and moves on to consider such important developments as the emergence of a new archaeology in the 1960s and an explicitly Marxist strand of archaeology in the 1970s. Specific attention is given to the discussion arenas of the 1990s, where archaeologists of differing theoretical perspectives debated issues of historic specificity, social transformation, and inter-regional interaction. How did the debates in the 1990s pave the way for historical archaeologists to investigate the interconnections of class, gender, ethnicity, and race? In what ways did archaeologists make use of Marxist concepts such as contradiction and exploitation, and how did they apply Marxist analytical categories to their work? How did varying theoretical groups critique one another and how did they overturn or build upon past generational theories?"Marx's Ghost: Conversations with Archaeologists" provides an accessible guide to the theoretical arguments that have influenced the development of Anglophone archaeology from the 1930s onwards. It will prove to be indispensable for archaeologists, historians, anthropologists, and social and cultural theorists alike.

Now in a revised and updated second edition, this volume provides an authoritative account of the current status of archaeological theory, as presented by some of its major exponents and innovators over recent decades. It summarizes the latest developments in the field and looks to its future, exploring some of the cutting-edge ideas at the forefront of the discipline. The volume captures the diversity of contemporary archaeological theory. Some authors argue for an approach close to the natural sciences, others for an engagement with cultural debate about representation of the past. Some minimize the relevance of culture to societal change, while others see it as central; some focus on the contingent and the local, others on long-term evolution. While few practitioners in theoretical archaeology would today argue for a unified disciplinary approach, the authors in this volume increasingly see links and convergences between their perspectives. The volume also reflects archaeology's new openness to external influences, as well as the desire to contribute to wider debates. The contributors examine ways in which archaeological evidence contributes to theories of evolutionary psychology, as well as to the social sciences in general, where theories of social relationships, agency, landscape and identity are informed by the long-term perspective of archaeology. The new edition of Archaeological Theory Today will continue to be essential reading for students and scholars in archaeology and in the social sciences more generally.

This book develops a theory and framework to describe how archaeology can contribute to a more humane world. Recognizing that archaeology is an inherently political activity, Randall H. McGuire builds on the history of archaeological theory and Marxist dialectical theory to point out how archaeologists can use their craft to evaluate interpretations of the real world, construct meaningful histories for communities, and challenge the persistent legacies of colonialism and class struggle. McGuire bases his discussion on his own extensive fieldwork in the United States and Mexico, citing fascinating case studies to develop the idea of archaeology as a class-based endeavor.

Many consider Lewis Binford to be the single most influential figure in archaeology in the last half-century. His contributions to the "New Archaeology" changed the course of the field as he argued for the development of a scientifically rigorous framework to guide the excavation and interpretation of the archaeological record. In this book, first published nearly two decades ago, Binford provided students and general readers with an introduction to his challenging and provocative ideas about understanding the human past. Now available again, this important component of Binford's intellectual legacy will convey the drama and intellectual excitement of contemporary archaeology to a new generation of archaeologists and others interested in the field. Throughout the book, Binford questions old ideas and proposes new theories based on his comparative archaeological and ethnographic research in North America, Europe, South Africa, and Australia. A new afterword by Binford surveys the direction archaeology has taken since the publication of this book and shares his hopes for the future of the discipline.

Many consider Lewis Binford to be the single most influential figure in archaeology in the last half-century. His contributions to the "New Archaeology" changed the course of the field, as he argued for the development of a scientifically rigorous framework to guide the excavation and interpretation of the archaeological record. This book, the culmination of Binford's intellectual legacy thus far, presents a detailed description of his methodology and its significance for understanding hunter-gatherer cultures on a global basis. This landmark publication will be an important step in understanding the great process of cultural evolution and will change the way archaeology proceeds as a scientific enterprise.
This work provides a major synthesis of an enormous body of cultural and environmental information and offers many original insights into the past. Binford helped pioneer what is now called "ethnoarchaeology"--the study of living societies to help explain cultural patterns in the archaeological record--and this book is grounded on a detailed analysis of ethnographic data from about 340 historically known hunter-gatherer populations. The methodological framework based on this data will reshape the paradigms through which we understand human culture for years to come.

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.

Places of Memory takes a new look at spatialised practices of remembrance and its role in reshaping societies from prehistory to today, gathering researchers representing diverse but complementary fields of expertise. This diachronic outlook provides important insights into the great variety of human and social reactions examining memory, encompassing aspects of remembering, the loss of memory, reclaiming memories, and remembering things that may not have happened. The contributions to this volume expand upon Pierre Nora’s concept of lieux des memoire (places of memory) and the notion that memory is not just stored in these places but activated through human engagement. The volume presents a reflection on the creation of memories through the organisation and use of landscapes and spaces that explicitly considers the multiplicity of meanings of the past. Thus, social identities were created, reaffirmed, strengthened, and transformed through the founding, change, and reorganization of places and spaces of memory in the cultural landscape.

This volume is in honor of the American scholar Rev. H. Richard Rutherford, C.S.C, Ph.D (University of Portland). It contains the papers presented at the Archaeometry Symposium in the 74th Northwest Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society (NORM) which took place in Portland (Oregon), June 18th 2019, covering a wide range of topics. The volume includes papers about the application of different techniques in archaeology in order to comprehend some aspects during and after the excavation, for instance, physics, chemical analysis, remote sensing, LiDAR, etc. This work compiles papers about sites from different places around of the world, Spain, Canada, Thailand, Lithuania or Russia. The aim of the symposium was to facilitate communication between scholars from different places, to present current work in the field, and to stimulate future research.

Video games are an example of material objects, resources and spaces that people use to define their culture. They also serve as archaeological sites in their traditional sense of place. Places where evidence of past activity is preserved and archaeological methodology can be applied. This book serves as a general introduction to archaeogaming: it describes the intersection between archaeology and video games, and applies archaeological theory and method to understand video games as sites as well as artifacts. It is also history, sociology and ontology; and everything that is necessary to define a culture, that of videogames, that is no longer emerging, but has been completely established in the humanity of the Anthropocene and late capitalism. What makes its valuation and cataloging more necessary as digital heritage.

Un sistema per la gestione dell'affidabilita e dell'interpretazione dei dati archeologici aims to identify the methodological problems associated with digitalized management of archaeological data and to introduce viable solutions that embrace interpretative aspects and the reliability concept. The work develops into a prototype system that manages the data regarding what are referred to as small finds dating back to the palatial periods from the Cretan sites of Phaistos and Ayia Triada which have been studied by the Italian Archaeological Mission since the early 20th century. The analysis of the data highlighted the value of this system and its ability to adapt to the needs of the archaeologist. It provides tools capable of assisting and implementing the interpretation of archaeological data well outside the findings and sites specific to this project for the management of other categories of archaeological finds and of any context. The book can furnish practical and theoretical contributions capable of feeding the methodological debate inherent in issues such as the treatment of sources, legacy data, reuse, the management of uncertainty, and of the rational and intuitive variables inherent in archaeological work, as well as the assessment of the reliability of an interpretative event.

Funerary Archaeology and Changing Identities: Community Practices in Roman-Period Sardinia examines three inter-woven research questions. The first one concerns a theoretical issue of how identities can be inferred from archaeology; the second asks what were the material relationships between communities of Sardinia and the Roman world’s power and culture when based on the burial evidence on the ground; third question asked was how can the interpretive frameworks of today’s world and symbolic structures affect our understanding of the past. These questions are approached through the detailed analysis of the funerary evidence from mostly unpublished burial sites from southern and central Sardinia that can become a key to an alternative interpretation of the island and of other Roman Provinces. The questions are answered throughout the book by drawing on social studies, particularly post-colonial approaches to the history of the past, interpretive frameworks on the Roman world, and semiotic theories. By in-depth look at the archaeological evidence from Sardinia’s burials, the book retrieves the active and creative role played by the local communities in shaping of the Roman world within the specific material and historical conditions they lived in.

It has been abundantly demonstrated that theories and paradigms in the humanities are influenced by historical, economic and socio-cultural conditions, which have profoundly influenced archaeology's representation of migration. This was mostly conceived as the study of the movement of large and homogenous population groups, whose identity was often represented as ethnically characterized. The present-day shift of attention from collective to individual agency and the countless facets of migration goes hand in hand with new socio-political and cultural scenarios such as the extraordinary migratory flows into Europe, shifting boundaries, alternative forms of citizenship and identity, and the emergence of emotive reactionism. The third volume of Ex Novo gathers multidisciplinary contributions addressing mobility to understand patterns of change and continuity in past worlds; reconsider the movement of people, objects, and ideas alongside mobile epistemologies, such as intellectual, scholarly or educative traditions, rituals, practices, religions and theologies; and provide insights into the multifaceted relationship between mobile practices and their shared meanings and how they are represented socially and politically.

Los textos de este libro son auto-biograficos. A diferencia de tantos escritos academicos no ocultan, sino mas bien visibilizan todo lo que sucede entre el trabajo de campo y la escritura, ese espacio tan productivo pero tan contencioso que usualmente se elimina, se niega, se alteriza.

Clothing was crucial in human evolution, and having to cope with climate change was as true in prehistory as it is today. In Climate, Clothing, and Agriculture in Prehistory, Ian Gilligan offers the first complete account of the development of clothing as a response to cold exposure during the ice ages. He explores how and when clothes were invented, noting that the thermal motive alone is tenable in view of the naked condition of humans. His account shows that there is considerably more archaeological evidence for palaeolithic clothes than is generally appreciated. Moreover, Gilligan posits, clothing played a leading role in major technological innovations. He demonstrates that fibre production and the advent of woven fabrics, developed in response to global warming, were pivotal to the origins of agriculture. Drawing together evidence from many disciplines, Climate Clothing, and Agriculture in Prehistory is written in a clear and engaging style, and is illustrated with nearly 100 images.

The site of medieval Euchaita, on the northern edge of the central Anatolian plateau, was the centre of the cult of St Theodore Tiro ('the Recruit'). Unlike most excavated or surveyed urban centres of the Byzantine period, Euchaita was never a major metropolis, cultural centre or extensive urban site, although it had a military function from the seventh to ninth centuries. Its significance lies precisely in the fact that as a small provincial town, something of a backwater, it was probably more typical of the 'average' provincial Anatolian urban settlement, yet almost nothing is known about such sites. This volume represents the results of a collaborative project that integrates archaeological survey work with other disciplines in a unified approach to the region both to enhance understanding of the history of Byzantine provincial society and to illustrate the application of innovative approaches to field survey.

The present volume gathers the communications of the three sessions organized under the auspices of the Commission 'History of Archaeology' at the XVII UISPP World Congress Burgos 2014. The first part deals precisely with 'International relations in the history of archaeology'. The eleven contributions tackle a particularly productive topic in the field today. In actual fact, this seminal research field currently echoes in a way the strong trend of scholarship about the influence of nationalism on the discipline, which since the end of the 1980s, has greatly contributed to the takeoff and overall recognition of the history of archaeology. The second part, entitled 'The Revolution of the Sixties in prehistory and protohistory', is the outcome of a partnership with the Commission 'Archaeological Methods and Theory'. The seven contributions strive to document and analyse a recent past, which is still often burdened with the weight of teleological and presentist appraisals. The inclusion in this volume of this session significantly dedicated to the genealogy of schools of thought and to the study of complex methodological and technical issues illustrates the editors' commitment to tackling historical issues as well, which are closely linked to current theoretical debates within archaeology. Such is also the aim of the third part, which addresses 'Lobbying for Archaeology'. As shown by the five contributions of this session, archaeology has not only been instrumentalised by political powers and ideological interests. It has also found fruitful alliances with economic agents or bodies, where mutual advantages were gained on practical, technical bases. This volume suggests a reflexive, critical approach to these various forms of lobbying should ensure a useful awareness regarding the structural problems archaeology faces today, regarding its funding methods.

As a discipline, archaeology often provides amazing insights into the past. But it can also illuminate the present, especially when investigations are undertaken to better examine the history of institutions such as colleges and universities. In Beneath the Ivory Tower, contributors offer a series of case studies to reveal the ways archaeology can offer a more objective view of changes and transformations that have taken place on America's college campuses. From the tennis courts of William and Mary to the ""iconic paths, lawns, and well-ordered brick buildings"" of Harvard, this volume will change the ways readers look at their alma maters--and at archaeology. Also included are studies of Michigan State, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Illinois, North Carolina, Washington & Lee, Santa Clara, California, and Stanford.

This research explores the development of the Maya writing system in Middle-Late Formative and Early Classic period (700 BC-AD 450) Mesoamerica. It seeks to correlate script development with interregional interaction and diachronic changes in material culture, and proposes a new methodological template for examining script development via material remains. In doing so, it contributes to anthropological debate regarding the role and effects of interregional interaction in processes of development and change of material and symbolic culture. This investigation posits that Maya writing developed in late Middle Formative through Early Classic period Mesoamerica as a correlate of interregional sociopolitical and economic interaction. Scholars working in many areas of the world have long claimed that interaction is central to cultural innovation, especially in relation to the development of writing. If the emergence of the Mayan script is a correlate of systemic interaction, then its developmental process should be traceable archaeologically through artifactual evidence. This hypothesis is tested by exploring archaeological indicators of interaction against a backdrop of previously-documented transformations in the emerging Mayan script. The methodological model proposed here builds on current models of the development of Mesoamerican writing systems and models of interregional interaction and cultural development to associate archaeological remains with the development of the Mayan script.

Reliable sex and age estimate on human bone remains is a fundamental aspect in bioarchaeological investigation since such estimates represent the basis on which supplementary studies aiming at contributing to the knowledge of biological and cultural aspects of prehistoric populations are structured. However, since many features, both metrical and morphological ones are specific for each population, and knowing that growth and development patterns as well as sexual dimorphism vary among groups, this work aims at understanding sex and age biological markers on archaeological osteological collections from the Northwest of Argentina. These collections are made up of different sets of skeletons belonging to native populations and fitting different time periods. The fundamental objective of this work has been to study the behavior of sex and age variability general pattern inside and among the collections observed, and, therefore, basic information concerning age and sex patterns of the whole population set they belong to can be provided.