This excellent introductory textbook describes and explains the origins of modern culture the dawn of agriculture in the Neolithic area.

Written in an easy-to-read style, this lively and engaging book familiarises the reader with essential archaeological and genetic terms and concepts, explores the latest evidence from scientific analyses as varied as deep sea coring, pollen identification, radiometric dating and DNA research, condensing them into an up-to-date academic account, specifically written to be clear even the novice reader.

Focusing primarily on sites in southwest Asia, Neolithic addresses questions such as:

• Which plants and animals were the first to be domesticated, and how?
• How did life change when people began farming?
• What were the first villages like?
• What do we know about the social, political and religious life of these newly founded societies?
• What happened to human health as a result of the Neolithic Revolution?

Lavishly illustrated with almost a hundred images, this enjoyable book is an ideal introduction both for students of archaeology and for general readers interested in our past.

The Andean region is among the most fascinating and well-known centers of civilization. While understanding the Andes in local terms is crucial, Andean prehistory is also relevant to the comparative study of complex societies worldwide. This book addresses the need to explore the rich history of this region in a manner that is illuminating not only to Andean scholars, but also to those readers who may be less familiar with Andean prehistory and its non-Western principles of organization. "Andean Archaeology "has been designed explicitly for students, archaeologists, and general readers looking for an innovative and contemporary overview of this important area of archaeological study.

"Andean Archaeology" explores the rise of civilization in the Central Andes from the time of the region's earliest inhabitants to the emergence of the Inca state many thousands of years later. The volume progresses chronologically and culturally to reveal the processes by which multiple Andean societies became increasingly complex. Comprising thirteen newly commissioned chapters written by leading archaeologists, "Andean Archaeology" presents the central debates in contemporary Inca and Andean archaeology. By drawing together the work of various researchers, this volume provides a multi-vocal perspective, informed by diverse theoretical frameworks and representing current thinking in the field.

Theory in the Pacific, the Pacific in Theory explores the role of theory in Pacific archaeology and its interplay with archaeological theory worldwide. The contributors assess how the practice of archaeology in Pacific contexts has led to particular types of theoretical enquiry and interest, and, more broadly, how the Pacific is conceptualised in the archaeological imagination. Long seen as a laboratory environment for the testing and refinement of social theory, the Pacific islands occupy a central place in global theoretical discourse. This volume highlights this role through an exploration of how Pacific models and exemplars have shaped, and continue to shape, approaches to the archaeological past. The authors evaluate key theoretical perspectives and explore current and future directions in Pacific archaeology. In doing so, attention is paid to the influence of Pacific people and environments in motivating and shaping theory-building. Theory in the Pacific, the Pacific in Theory makes a significant contribution to our understanding of how theory develops attuned to the affordances and needs of specific contexts, and how those contexts promote reformulation and development of theory elsewhere. It will be fascinating to scholars and archaeologists interested in the Pacific region, as well as students of wider archaeological theory.

Theory in the Pacific, the Pacific in Theory explores the role of theory in Pacific archaeology and its interplay with archaeological theory worldwide. The contributors assess how the practice of archaeology in Pacific contexts has led to particular types of theoretical enquiry and interest, and, more broadly, how the Pacific is conceptualised in the archaeological imagination. Long seen as a laboratory environment for the testing and refinement of social theory, the Pacific islands occupy a central place in global theoretical discourse. This volume highlights this role through an exploration of how Pacific models and exemplars have shaped, and continue to shape, approaches to the archaeological past. The authors evaluate key theoretical perspectives and explore current and future directions in Pacific archaeology. In doing so, attention is paid to the influence of Pacific people and environments in motivating and shaping theory-building. Theory in the Pacific, the Pacific in Theory makes a significant contribution to our understanding of how theory develops attuned to the affordances and needs of specific contexts, and how those contexts promote reformulation and development of theory elsewhere. It will be fascinating to scholars and archaeologists interested in the Pacific region, as well as students of wider archaeological theory.

This excellent introductory textbook describes and explains the origins of modern culture- the dawn of agriculture in the Neolithic area. Written in an easy-to-read style, this lively and engaging book familiarizes the reader with essential archaeological and genetic terms and concepts, explores the latest evidence from scientific analyses as varied as deep sea coring, pollen identification, radiometric dating and DNA research, condensing them into an up-to-date academic account, specifically written to be clear even the novice reader. Focusing primarily on sites in southwest Asia, Neolithic addresses questions such as: Which plants and animals were the first to be domesticated, and how? How did life change when people began farming? What were the first villages like? What do we know about the social, political and religious life of these newly founded societies? What happened to human health as a result of the Neolithic Revolution? Lavishly illustrated with almost a hundred images, this enjoyable book is an ideal introduction both for students of archaeology and for general readers interested in our past.

This book focuses on a forgotten place-the Khami World Heritage site in Zimbabwe. It examines how professionally ascribed values and conservation priorities affect the cultural landscape when there is a disjuncture between local community and national interests, and explores the epistemic violence that often accompanied colonial heritage management and archaeology in southern Africa. The central premise is that the history of the modern Zimbabwe nation, in terms of what is officially remembered and celebrated, inevitably determines how that past is managed. It is about how places are experienced and remembered through narratives and how the loss of this heritage memory may mark the un-inheriting of place. Memory and Cultural Landscape at the Khami World Heritage Site, Zimbabwe is informed by the author's experience of living near and working at Great Zimbabwe and Khami as an archaeologist, and uses archives and traditional narratives to build a biography for this lost cultural landscape. Whereas Great Zimbabwe is a resource for the state's contentious narrative of unity, and a tool for cultural activism among communities whose cultural rights are denied through the nationalisation and globalisation heritage, at Khami, which has lost its historical gravity, there is only silence. Researchers and students of cultural heritage will find this book a much-needed case study on heritage, identity, community and landscape from an African perspective.

Chromatius of Aquileia and the Making of a Christian City examines how the increasing authority of institutionalized churches changed late antique urban environments. Aquileia, the third largest city in Italy during late antiquity, presents a case study in the transformation of elite Roman practices in relation to the urban environment. Through the archaeological remains, the sermons of the city's bishop, Chromatius, and the artwork and epigraphic evidence in the sacred buildings, the city and its inhabitants leave insights into a reshaping of the urban environment and its institutions which occurred at the beginning of the 5th century. The words of the bishop attacking heretics and Jews presaged a shift in patronage by rich donors from the city as a whole to only the Christian church. The city, both as an ideal and a physical reality, changed with the growing dominance of the Church, creating a Christian city.

Due to political pressures, prior to the 1990s little was known about the nature of human foraging adaptations in the deserts, grasslands, and mountains of north western China during the last glacial period. Even less was known about the transition to agriculture that followed. Now open to foreign visitation, there is now an increasing understanding of the foraging strategies which led both to the development of millet agriculture and to the utilization of the extreme environments of the Tibetan Plateau. This text explores the transition from the foraging societies of the Late Paleolithic to the emergence of settled farming societies and the emergent pastoralism of the middle Neolithic striving to help answer the diverse and numerous questions of this critical transitional period.
* Examines the transition from foraging societies of the Late Paleolithic to the emergence of settled farming societies and the emergent pastoralism of the middle Neolithic
* Explores explanatory models for the links between climate change and cultural change that may have influenced the development of millet agriculture
* Reviews the relationship between climate change and population expansions and contraditions during the late Quaternary

Old Lands takes readers on an epic journey through the legion spaces and times of the Eastern Peloponnese, trailing in the footsteps of a Roman periegete, an Ottoman traveler, antiquarians, and anonymous agrarians. Following waters in search of rest through the lens of Lucretian poetics, Christopher Witmore reconstitutes an untimely mode of ambulatory writing, chorography, mindful of the challenges we all face in these precarious times. Turning on pressing concerns that arise out of object-oriented encounters, Old Lands ponders the disappearance of an agrarian world rooted in the Neolithic, the transition to urban-styles of living, and changes in communication, movement, and metabolism, while opening fresh perspectives on long-term inhabitation, changing mobilities, and appropriation through pollution. Carefully composed with those objects encountered along its varied paths, this book offers an original and wonderous account of a region in twenty-seven segments, and fulfills a longstanding ambition within archaeology to generate a polychronic narrative that stands as a complement and alternative to diachronic history. Old Lands will be of interest to historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, and scholars of the Eastern Peloponnese. Those interested in the long-term changes in society, technology, and culture in this region will find this book captivating.

Please note: This product is a map. It was more than just a wall: it was a whole military zone designed to control movement across the northern frontier of the Roman province of Britannia. Great earthwork barriers survive, along with the remains of forts and temporary camps; watch-towers and fortified gates; civilian settlements, temples, cemeteries, bath-houses, roads and bridges. Stretching across the spine of England from the North-East coast to the Irish Sea, the line of the frontier extends for over 100 miles through every type of landscape: from the streets of urban Tyneside, through arable fields; along the crags of the wild Whin Sill; to the sands of the Solway, and down the coast of Cumbria. Drawing upon the extensive expertise and unrivalled archives of English Heritage, and those of its partners, this map depicts the fruits of modern archaeological research: in field survey, geophysics, excavation, and the analysis of aerial photographs. Using Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 data - the ideal scale for walkers - this revised new map shows with great clarity all the elements of Hadrian's Wall, and distinguishes between those features that are visible and those that have been levelled through time. A brief text explains the remains on the ground, and how to use the map to find them - including the museums and the best places to visit. This World Heritage Site is now more accessible than ever before, so see the landscape through new eyes.

Examining stone vessels in the Levant during the 2nd millennium BC, the author explores the links between material culture and society through a comprehensive study of production and distribution. Extensively illustrated with 100 drawings, maps and charts, this volume includes a full object catalogue. This study represents the first comprehensive overview of the stone vessel assemblagesof the Levant in this period, a time which, fed by an increase of wealth and interregional trade, saw a growth in the popularity and variety of such vessels. Previously, our understanding of the varied functions and forms of these diverse vessels has been relatively underdeveloped. In this volume the author attempts to address this problem by creating a typological framework though which we can analyse variability and define essential characteristics of local stone vessel workshops. Only once this has been achieved is it possible to look at stone vessel production in its wider cultural context. Subsequent chapters explore broader themes, beginning within the workshops themselves, examining the links between craftsmen, their sources of raw materials, and the authorities that controlled and distributed their output. Considerations of the geographical and chronological distribution of such goods are then used to provide a regional perspective for the operation of these workshops, connections between them, and further insights into the nature of local and international trade. Finally, the objects themselves can be used to assess the impact of trends such as the growing Egyptianization of the ruling classes of the Levant at this time.

In this fully revised and updated edition of Roman Pompeii, Dr. Laurence looks at the latest archaeological and literary evidence relating to the city of Pompeii from the viewpoint of architect, geographer and social scientist.

Enhancing our general understanding of the Roman world, this new edition includes new chapters that reveal how the young learnt the culture of the city and to investigate the role of property development and real estate in Pompeii 's growth.

Showing how Pompeii has undergone considerable urban development, Dr. Laurence emphasizes the relationship between the fabric of the city and the society that produced it. Local activities are located in both time and space and Pompeii 's cultural identity is defined.

This book is invaluable for students and scholars in the fields of archaeology and ancient history, as well as being rewarding reading for the many people who visit Pompeii.

"The Legend of Alexander the Great on Greek and Roman Coins" will for the first time collect, present and examine the portraits and representations of Alexander the Great on ancient coins of the Greek and Roman periods (c.320 BC to AD 400). It offers a firsthand insight into the posthumous appreciation of his legend by Hellenistic kings, Greek cities, and Roman Emperors. Dahmen combines an introduction to the historical background and basic information on the coins with a comprehensive study of Alexander's numismatic iconography. He also discusses in detail examples of coins with Alexander's portrait. Which are part of a selective presentation of representative coin types in the second part of the study (in which an image and discussion is combined with a characteristic quotation of a source from ancient historiography and a short bibliographical reference).
The numismatic material presented, although representative, will exceed any previously published work on the subject. This book will be useful for classicists, archaeologists, historians and art historians and students.

Un-Roman Sex explores how gender and sex were perceived and represented outside the Mediterranean core of the Roman Empire. The volume critically explores the gender constructs and sexual behaviours in the provinces and frontiers in light of recent studies of Roman erotic experience and flux gender identities. At its core, it challenges the unproblematised extension of the traditional Romano-Hellenistic model to the provinces and frontiers. Did sexual relations and gender identities undergo processes of "provincialisation" or "barbarisation" similar to other well-known aspects of cultural negotiation and syncretism in provincial and border regions, for example in art and religion? The 11 chapters that make up the volume explore these issues from a variety of angles, providing a balanced and rounded view through use of literary, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence. Accordingly, the contributions represent new and emerging ideas on the subject of sex, gender, and sexuality in the Roman provinces. As such, Un-Roman Sex will be of interest to higher-level undergraduates and graduates/academics studying the Roman empire, gender, and sexuality in the ancient world and at the Roman frontiers.

Archaeology is a social practice that is thoroughly embedded in the contemporary world. This is nowhere clearer than in the Middle East, a region that is today an epicenter of political and economic tensions and ongoing conflicts. "Archaeologies of the Middle East: Critical Perspectives" provides an innovative introduction to the archaeology of this fascinating region, spanning 100,000 years from the Paleolithic to Hellenistic times, and a window on both its past and present.

"Archaeologies of the Middle East" explores the connections between modern-day politics and the social context of archaeological practice and underutilized approaches to archaeological interpretation, such as: examining the ways in which scholars write about the past, the portrayal of archaeology in the news media, and the impacts of and on archaeology in volatile political situations. Written by some of the top archaeologists of the Middle East, this volume integrates scholars from diverse backgrounds with a wide range of interests and intellectual approaches to their research. "Archaeologies of the Middle East" is carefully designed for student use and focuses on key themes and time periods rather than offering a static overview of the history of the region.

The first and only monograph available on the subject, "Roman Suburbia "offers a full and detailed treatment of the little-investigated aspect of Roman urbanism the phenomenon of suburban development.
Presenting archaeological and literary evidence alongside sixty-three plans of cities, building plans, and photographs, Penelope Goodman examines how and why Roman suburbs grew up outside Roman cities, what was distinctive about the nature of suburban development, and what contributions buildings and activities in the suburbs might make to the character and function of the city as a whole.
Goodman provides a broad investigation of the place of suburbs, and an in-depth study of the four provinces of Gaul, comparing the actions of the elite; the placing of buildings and the development of the suburb, to that of Rome, and in doing so she helps the reader discover and understand the links between the present day and the ancient world.
With full bibliography and annotated throughout this will not only provide a coherent treatment of an essential theme for students of Roman urbanism, but archaeologists, urban planners and geographers also, will have an excellent comparative tool in the study of modern urbanism.

"All women, because of their innate weakness, should be under the control of guardians" writes Cicero, curtly summarizing the status of women in Ancient Rome. Yet Roman women had more control than many believe. Stories of female artists, teachers, doctors, and even gladiators are scattered through the history of Imperial Rome; a Roman woman did not change her name when she married, her husband could not control her property or dowry, and she was free to divorce.
Royal women in particular - the wives, daughters, sisters and mothers of emperors - have made a profound impression on Roman history, long overlooked. This lively and attractive book vividly characterizes eleven such women, spanning the period from the death of Julius Caesar in 44BC to the third century AD and with an epilogue surveying empresses of later eras. The author's compelling biographies reveal their remarkable contributions towards the legacy of Imperial Rome, often tinged with tragedy, courage, and injustice.
- a pregnant Roman princess saves a Roman army through an act of personal heroism
- three 3rd century empresses rule the most powerful state on Earth, presiding over unprecedented social and political reform
- though revered by her husband, an empress is immortalized in history for infidelity and corruption by students of her greatest enemy.
Drawing from a broad range of documentation, Jasper Burns has painted portraits of these exceptional women that are colorful, sympathetic, and above all profoundly human. The women and their worlds are brought visually to life through photographs of over 300 ancient coins and through the author's own illustrations.
This book will behighly valuable to numismatists, students and scholars of Roman history or women's studies, and enjoyable to any reader.

"All women, because of their innate weakness, should be under the control of guardians" writes Cicero, curtly summarizing the status of women in Ancient Rome. Yet Roman women had more control than many believe. Stories of female artists, teachers, doctors, and even gladiators are scattered through the history of Imperial Rome; a Roman woman did not change her name when she married, her husband could not control her property or dowry, and she was free to divorce.
Royal women in particular - the wives, daughters, sisters and mothers of emperors - have made a profound impression on Roman history, long overlooked. This lively and attractive book vividly characterizes eleven such women, spanning the period from the death of Julius Caesar in 44BC to the third century AD and with an epilogue surveying empresses of later eras. The author's compelling biographies reveal their remarkable contributions towards the legacy of Imperial Rome, often tinged with tragedy, courage, and injustice.
- a pregnant Roman princess saves a Roman army through an act of personal heroism
- three 3rd century empresses rule the most powerful state on Earth, presiding over unprecedented social and political reform
- though revered by her husband, an empress is immortalized in history for infidelity and corruption by students of her greatest enemy.
Drawing from a broad range of documentation, Jasper Burns has painted portraits of these exceptional women that are colorful, sympathetic, and above all profoundly human. The women and their worlds are brought visually to life through photographs of over 300 ancient coins and through the author's own illustrations.
This book will be highly valuable tonumismatists, students and scholars of Roman history or women's studies, and enjoyable to any reader.

This edited collection considers representations of ancient Egypt in the literature of the nineteenth-century. It addresses themes such as reanimated mummies, ancient Egyptian mythology and contemporary consumer culture across literary modes ranging from burlesque satire to historical novels, stage performances to Gothic fiction and popular culture to the highbrow. The book illuminates unknown sources of historical significance - including the first illustration of an ambulatory mummy - revising current understandings of the works of canonical writers and grounding its analysis firmly in a contemporary context. The contributors demonstrate the extensive range of cultural interest in ancient Egypt that flourished during Victoria's reign. At the same time, they use ancient Egypt to interrogate 'selfhood' and 'otherness', notions of race, imperialism, religion, gender and sexuality. -- .

Museums and the Ancient Middle East is the first book to focus on contemporary exhibit practice in museums that present the ancient Middle East. Bringing together the latest thinking from a diverse and international group of leading curators, the book presents the views of those working in one particular community of practice: the art, archaeology, and history of the ancient Middle East. Drawing upon a remarkable group of case studies from many of the world's leading museums, including the British Museum, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ashmolean Museum, and the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin, this volume describes the tangible actions curators have taken to present a previously unseen side of the Middle East region and its history. Highlighting overlaps and distinctions between the practices of national, art, and university museums around the globe, the contributors to the volume are also able to offer a unique insight into the types of challenges and opportunities facing the twenty-first century curator. Museums and the Ancient Middle East should be of interest to academics and students engaged in the study of museums and heritage, archaeology, the ancient Near East, Middle Eastern studies, and ancient history. The unique insights provided by curators active in the field ensure that the book should also be of great interest to museum practitioners around the globe.

This book presents essays that exemplify key themes including the interdependence of conservation, research and access; the need for a 21st-century inventory of the medieval sculpture; the breadth and value of the wide range of the research tools; and conservation issue.

Ancient Nasca culture of the south coast of Peru is famous for its magnificent polychrome ceramics, textiles, and other works of art, as well as the enigmatic ground markings on the desert plain at Nasca. In the past two decades much has become known about the people who produced these fascinating works. This scholarly yet accessible book provides a penetrating examination of this important civilization. It traces the history of archaeological research on the south coast and reveals the misconceptions that became canonized in the scholarly literature. Based on years of fieldwork by the authors in the region, it provides a comprehensive and readable analysis of ancient Nasca society, examining Nasca social and political organization, religion, and art. The highlight for many readers will be the chapter on the Nazca Lines which debunks Erich von D'niken's contention that the desert markings were made by extraterrestrials.

This well-illustrated, concise text will serve as a benchmark study of the Nasca people and culture for years to come.

With Wayne Bennett From the silky wax qualities of the surfaces of some quartz menhirs to the wood-grain textures of others, to the golden honeycombed limestones of Malta, to the icy frozen waves of the Cambrian sandstone of south-east Sweden, this book investigates the sensuous material qualities of stone. Tactile sensations, sonorous qualities, colour, and visual impressions are all shown to play a vital part in our understanding of the power and significance of prehistoric monuments in relation to their landscapes. In The Materiality of Stone, Christopher Tilley presents a radically new way of analyzing the significance of both 'cultural' and 'natural' stone in prehistoric European landscapes. Tilley's groundbreaking approach is to interpret human experience in a multidimensional and sensuous human way, rather than through an abstract analytical gaze. The studies range widely from the menhirs of prehistoric Brittany to Maltese Neolithic temples to Bronze Age rock carvings and cairns in southern Sweden. Tilley leaves no stone unturned as he also considers how the internal spaces and landscape settings are interpreted in relation to artifacts, substances, and related places that were deeply meaningful to the people who inhabited them and remain no less evocative today. In its innovative approach to understanding human experience through the tangible rocks and stone of our past, The Materiality of Stone is both a major theoretical and substantive contribution to the field of material culture studies and the study of European prehistory.

The Oxford Handbook on Early China brings 30 scholars together to cover early China from the Neolithic through Warring States periods (ca 5000-500BCE). The study is chronological and incorporates a multidisciplinary approach, covering topics from archaeology, anthropology, art history, architecture, music, and metallurgy, to literature, religion, paleography, cosmology, religion, prehistory, and history.

This book tackles the topic of religion, a broad subject exciting renewed interest across the social and historical sciences. The volume is tightly focused on the early farming village of Catalhoeyuk, which has generated much interest both within and outside of archaeology, especially for its contributions to the understanding of early religion. The volume discusses contemporary themes such as materiality, animism, object vitality, and material dimensions of spirituality while at the same time exploring broad evolutionary changes in the ways in which religion has influenced society. The volume results from a unique collaboration between an archaeological team and a range of specialists in ritual and religion.