Over the last thirty years, new scientific techniques have revolutionised our understanding of prehistoric economies. They enable a sound comprehension of human diet and subsistence in different environments, which is an essential framework for appreciating the rich tapestry of past human cultural variation. This volume first considers the origins of economic approaches in archaeology and the theoretical debates surrounding issues such as 'environmental determinism'. Using globally diverse examples, Alan K. Outram and Amy Bogaard critically investigate the best way to integrate newer lines of evidence such as ancient genetics, stable isotope analysis, organic residue chemistry and starch and phytolith studies with long-established forms of archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological data. Two case study chapters, on early Neolithic farming in Europe, and the origins of domestic horses and pastoralism in Central Asia, illustrate the benefit of a multi-proxy approach and how economic considerations feed into broader social and cultural questions.

Brings together two academic fields that have been infrequently in full conversation: papyrology and the study of religion. Offers the latest research on the topic, focusing on a diverse range of case studies from different religious groups and documents written in numerous contemporary languages.

Social Ghosts and the Dead of World History looks at the global phenomena of the dead in world history, examining the phantasms and spirits of classical social science and philosophy. From Hegel’s ‘World-Spirit’ to Max Weber’s ‘Verstehen’ and Marx’s phantasms, there is a recurring obsession with the ‘spirits’ of modernity. This book explores the relationships and interactions between those spirits and materiality in five broad areas: the nature of the dead in modernity, shape-shifting and mobile souls, the spirit in accounts of prehistory and archaeology, the phenomenology of spirits and the relation to statues and stone, and the nature of spirit as it is manifested in wooden artefacts and folklore. It offers a counter-modernity to that of classical social science and philosophy and new ways of thinking about our crises and catastrophes in social theory and the world and the worlds beyond this world. Building on the author’s previous work on the sociology of haunted houses and landscapes, it examines the body and the individual as the locus of haunting. The book will appeal to academics in philosophy, history, social theory, anthropology and cultural studies in its omni-disciplinarity and in its import for rethinking the histories of social thought.

This informed and richly illustrated guidebook brings the ancient city of Akhetaten alive with a keen archaeological eye, drawing on ongoing archaeological research and the knowledge and insight of Amarna's modern-day communities and caretakers to explain key monuments and events, while offering invaluable practical advice for visiting the site. With over 140 illustrations, maps, and plans, Amarna is both an ideal introduction for visitors to Amarna and a window onto the extraordinary reign of Akhenaten. Huge open-air temples served the cult of Aten, while palaces were decorated with painted pavements and inlaid wall reliefs. Akhenaten created a new royal burial ground deep in a desert valley, and his officials built elaborate tombs decorated with scenes of the king and his city. As thousands of people moved to Akhetaten, it became the most important city in Egypt. But it was not to last. Akhenaten's death brought the abandonment of his city and an end to one of the most startling episodes in Egyptian history. Today, Akhetaten is known as Amarna, a sprawling archaeological site in the province of Minya, halfway between Cairo and Luxor. With its beautifully decorated tombs and vast mud-brick ruins, it is the best-preserved pharaonic city in Egypt.

This book comprises a significant contribution to our understanding of Graeco-Egyptian relations during the seventh and sixth centuries BC and also demonstrates that Polanyian economic theory can play an invaluable role in the ongoing debate about the concepts best employed to analyse the ancient Greek economy. Dr Moeller employs different approaches from archaeology, history, epigraphy, Egyptology, and comparative economic theory to create the first thorough account of the archaeology and archaic history of Naukratis.

Chichen Itza, the legendary capital and trading hub of the late Maya civilization, continues to fascinate visitors and researchers with unanswered questions about its people, rulers, rituals, and politics. Addressing many of these current debates, Landscapes of the Itza asks when the city's construction was completed, what the purposes of its famous pyramid and other buildings were, how the city's influence was felt in smaller neighboring settlements, and whether the city maintained strict territorial borders. Special attention is given to the site's visual culture, including its architecture, ceramics, sculptures, and murals. This volume is a much-needed update on recent archaeological and art historical work being done at Chichen Itza, offering new ways of understanding the site and its role in the Yucatan landscape.

This book brings together our present-day knowledge about textile terminology in the Akkadian language of the first-millennium BC. In fact, the progress in the study of the Assyrian dialect and its grammar and lexicon has shown the increasing importance of studying the language as well as cataloging and analysing the terminology of material culture in the documentation of the first world empire. The book analyses the terms for raw materials, textile procedures, and textile end products consumed in first-millennium BC Assyria. In addition, a new edition of a number of written records from Neo-Assyrian administrative archives completes the work. The book also contains a number of tables, a glossary with all the discussed terms, and a catalogue of illustrations. In light of the recent development of textile research in ancient languages, the book is aimed at providing scholars of Ancient Near Eastern studies and ancient textile studies with a comprehensive work on the Assyrian textiles.

This book studies N�tha samprad�ya through archaeological evidence for the first time. Drawing on a pioneering approach to the study of ascetic traditions, it investigates not only the nature of the N�tha samprad�ya’s religious architecture but also examines the extent to which they shared space with other religious groups such as the devotees of Siva and Sakti, Buddhism, and Islam, especially with the Sufi tradition. Focusing on western India, the book sifts through a variety of archaeological evidence and documentation of their temples, caves, and maṭhas. It critically analyses iconographic representations of ascetics on temple walls and sculptural representations of yogic postures or �sanas. Further, these representations are discussed within a pan-South Asian framework to highlight both the commonalities of the tradition across the subcontinent and the regional specificities, along with their chronological spread. Breaking new ground, this volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of religion, especially Hinduism, history, archaeology, and South Asian studies.

This is the first historical study of the whole body of late Viking runic inscription stones in Scandinavia. The 2300 inscriptions which are more or less complete yield unexpected information on a wide range of topics, including the conversion of Scandinavia to Christianity, the growth of royal power, and, most important of all, the inheritance customs of the period.

Describing the natural state of eight important lakes in Asia and the human impact on these lake ecosystems, this book offers a valuable reference guide. Over the past several decades the Aral Sea, Dead Sea, Lake Balkhash and other major lakes in Asia have undergone significant changes with regard to their size, water level, chemical composition, and flora and fauna. Most of these changes resulted from the loss of water from tributaries (now used for irrigation farming) or increasing consumption in local industries and households. However, significant human impacts may have begun as early as 2000 years ago. In addition to the three lakes mentioned above, Lake Sevan (Armenia), the Caspian Sea (Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan), Lake Issyk-Kul (Kyrgyzstan), and Lake Lop Nur (China) are discussed as the most prominent examples of changing lake ecosystems. In contrast, an example of an almost pristine lake ecosystem is included with the report on Lake Uvs Nuur (Mongolia). For each lake, the book summarizes its origin and early geological history, and reconstructs its natural state and variability on the basis of proxy records from drilled or exposed lake sediments that have accumulated since the last ice age. The frequently observed reductions in lake level and size during most recent decades led often to significant environmental impacts in the respective lake catchments including vegetation deterioration, soil erosion and badland formation, soil salinization or the formation of sinkholes.

Using archaeological evidence, the author investigates the prehistories of Austronesian migrants to Taiwan and their connections to contemporary peoples in Taiwan. Due to its unique geographic location, Taiwan has played a significant role in various peoples' maritime migrations and the process of cultural interactions for tens of thousands of years. Within the history of humankind, Taiwan has also evidenced a high degree of cultural continuity. Paleolithic people had already settled on the island at least 30,000 years ago, but Taiwan only entered the historical period as recently as the 17th century. Before this, there was a long and continuous development over the prehistoric period. To this day there are at least 20 different indigenous ethnic groups on the island, totalling over half a million people, all of whom speak Austronesian languages. Investigating the archaeology of abandoned villages, Kuo takes the Paiwan and Sanhe cultures as key case studies of these groups. This book provides valuable insight for historians and archaeologists of Taiwan, and scholars of prehistoric Austronesian migration.

This book is an inquiry into the relationships between archaeology, colonialism and ecotourism at the famous standing stones of Hintang, Laos. It investigates the conditions under which archaeological knowledge has been produced, appropriated, contested, commodified, and consumed by colonialism from the 1930s until today and what it shows about the power dynamics of heritage and ecotourism. The volume-explores how the discourses of colonialism and ecotourism affect tourists, archaeologists, heritage managers, and the local community;-is written as a set of overlapping creative essays, each giving an overlapping perspective on Hintang;-is a multidisciplinary research project based on ethnographic fieldwork, archival research, interviews with community members, biography, material culture studies, and text analysis.

The evolution and proliferation of plain and predominantly wheel-made pottery presents a characteristic feature of the societies of the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean since the fourth millennium B.C. This plain pottery has received little detailed archaeological attention in comparison to aesthetically more pleasing and chronologically sensitive decorated traditions. Yet, their simplicity and standardization suggest they are products of craft specialists, the result of high-volume production, and therefore important in understanding the social systems in early complex societies. This volume-reevaluates the role and significance of plain pottery traditions from both historically specific perspectives and from a comparative point of view;-examines the uses and functions of this pottery in relation to social negotiation and group identity formation;-helps scholars understand cross-regional similarities in development and use.

This book examines the influence of architectural design in the conservation of historic buildings by discussing in detail an important building complex in Rome: the Temple of Venus and Rome, the monastery of Santa Maria Nova and the church of Santa Francesca Romana. As the most complete site in the Roman Forum that has reached our times with a rich architectural stratification almost intact, it is a clear product of continuous preservation and transformation and it has not been studied in its complexity until now. The Temple of Venus and Rome and Santa Francesca Romana at the Roman Forum unravels the original designs and the subsequent interventions, including Giacomo Boni's pioneering conservation of the monastery, carried out while excavating the Roman Forum in the early twentieth century. The projects are discussed in context to show their significance and the relationships between architects and patrons. Through its interdisciplinary focus on architectural design, conservation, archaeology, history and construction, this study is an ideal example for scholars, students and architects of how to carry out research in architectural conservation.

A landmark study of Spain's fortified settlements in West Florida from a lifelong specialist on the periodPresidios of Spanish West Florida provides the first comprehensive synthesis of historical and archaeological investigations conducted at the fortified settlements built by Spain in the Florida panhandle from 1698 to 1763. Combining intensive research by author Judith Bense, a lifelong specialist on the Spanish West Florida period, with a century's worth of additional data, this landmark study brings to light four presidio locations that have long been overshadowed by the presidio at St. Augustine to the east, revealing the rest of the story of early Spanish Florida. Bense details a history fraught with catastrophe-hurricanes, war against France and England, and treaties that forced the Spanish base in West Florida to be uprooted and rebuilt four times. Examining each presidio, including associated military outposts, shipwrecks, and refugee mission villages of the Apalachee and Yamasee Indians, this book provides four discrete, sequential windows into the Spanish presence in the region. Bense compares the population to that of Presidio San Agustin, established 133 years later, revealing very different communities, people, and local customs. Interwoven with these historical findings is an account of how the general public has participated in investigations in the region, providing readers with an understanding of eighteenth-century West Florida and the development of public archaeology in the state from the person who initiated and directed much of the research.

This book elaborates on the distinctive characteristics as well as the archaeological, historical and artistic value of Liangzhu pottery, welcoming readers to the wonderful world of Liangzhu by introducing them to its origin, type, design, decoration, evolution and processing technology. It also presents the types of pottery that people in Liangzhu used daily to eat, drink, and bury their dead. Thanks to a wealth of photos taken at the archaeological site, readers can admire the color, decorative patterns, types and shapes of unearthed pottery. The book vividly reveals the lifestyle, aesthetics and level of scientific-technical development in Liangzhu society 5000 years ago.

This book provides an overview of medieval monasticism in Iceland, from its dawn to its downfall during the Reformation. Blends the evidence from material remains and written documents to highlight the realities of everyday life in the monasteries and nunneries operated in Iceland. describes the incorporation of monasticism in to the Icelandic society, the land of the Vikings, and thus how the monasteries coexisted with the natural and social environments on the island while keeping their general aims and objectives. shows that large social systems, such as monasticism, can cross social and natural borders without necessitating fundamental changes apart from those triggered by the constant coexistence of nature and culture inside the environment they exist within. debunks the myth that Icelandic monasteries, male or female were isolated, silent places or simple cells functioning principally as retirement homes for aristocrats. To be a member of an ecclesiastical institution did not mean a quiet, secluded life without any outside interaction, but rather active participation in the surrounding community. Is of interest for researchers in archaeology, osteology, and medieval history, in addition to all those interested in monasticism and the medieval history of Northern Europe.

Includes evidence from Soviet scholarship that is often not accessible to scholars working on this period.

This book Explores how the practice of nineteenth-century sex work involved a careful construction of fantasy for brothel customers. This fantasy had the potential to provide financial stability and security for the madam of the establishment, if not for the women working for them. By employing theories of embodiment, sexuality, and an archaeology of the senses, this study of the Endicott Street collection contributes a new methodological and theoretical framework for studying the archaeology of prostitution across time, space, and culture. Explores both the semi-private, "behind the scenes" narrative of sex work, as well as the semi-public, eroticized "performance space" where patrons were entertained. is for student and scholars of historical archaeology, nineteenth-century urban America, and gender studies. Students studying feminist theory and archaeology of the senses will also be interested in the contents.

This volume examines the power relationships between the rulers of the Late Bronze and Iron Age and their subjects in the Levant through the lens of "cultural hegemony". It explores the impact of these foreign powers on all social classes and reconstructs the public presence of cultural control. The book serves to determine the impact of foreign control on the daily lives of those living in the ancient Levant, and offers a means by which to attempt to discuss non-elites in the ancient Near East. It examines expressions of foreign ideology within public performance such as religious expressions and in public places, observable by all social classes, which assert control or dominance over local identity markers. In utilizing textual, epigraphic, and archaeological records, it paints a more complete picture of Levantine society during this time while also drawing upon evidence from neighbouring Anatolia, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. This is a fascinating resource for students and scholars of the ancient Near East, particularly the Levant but also Anatolia, Egypt, and Mesopotamia in the Late Bronze and Iron Age periods. It is also useful for scholars working on power and imperialism across history.

This volume follows the development of Greek gem engraving from Alexander to Augustus. Hellenistic gems are studied in their archaeological context with an assessment of the evidence of their use, significance, and value. The book focuses on subject-matter, technique, and style, as well as problems of chronology and distribution.

A reappraisal of Bede's writings, focusing on his use of genre and rhetoric. The church history of the Anglo-Saxons can only be approached through the lens of a few writers, arguably the greatest of whom is Bede; his works illuminate an otherwise impoverished landscape of ecclesial development from conversion to established Christian church amongst the Anglo-Saxons. Bede, however, had his own agendas - monastic, political, and rhetorical. In her reappraisal of Bede's Ecclesiastical History, Lives of the Saints, History of the Abbots, the Lesser and Greater Chronicles and the Martyrology and the audience for these texts, the author draws out the role played by classical forms of genre and rhetoric in the crafting of his work.Shealso explores the underlying political influences that caused Bede to write historia as he did. In particular, she notes the role of historia in monastic affairs, especially through the generation of a rhetoric of orthodoxy and the power of the cultural capital afforded by this within the relatively newly constituted Christian community in Northumbria. Dr VICKY GUNN is Senior Lecturer, Learning and Teaching Centre, University of Glasgow.

A detailed archaeological study of life in Egypt's Eastern desert during the Roman period by a leading scholar Rome in Egypt's Eastern Desert is a two-volume set collecting Helene Cuvigny's most important articles on Egypt's Eastern desert during the Roman period. The excavations that she has directed have uncovered a wealth of material, including tens of thousands of texts written on pottery fragments (ostraca). Some of these are administrative texts, but many more are correspondence, both official and private, written by and to the people (mostly but not all men) who lived and worked in these remote and harsh environments, supported by an elaborate network of defense, administration and supply that tied the entire region together. The contents of Rome in Egypt's Eastern Desert have all been published earlier in peer-reviewed venues, but almost entirely in French. All of the contributions have been translated by the editor and brought up to date with respect to bibliography and in some cases significantly rewritten by the author, in order to take account of the enormous amount of new material discovered in the intervening time and subsequent publications. A full index makes this body of work far more accessible than it was before. This book brings together thirty years of detailed study of this material, conjuring in vivid detail the lived experience of those who inhabited these forts--often through their own expressive language--and the realia of desert geography, military life, sex, religion, quarry operations, and imperial administration in the Roman world.

Since its first publication in 1971, Barry Cunliffe's monumental survey has established itself as a classic of British archaeology. This fully revised fourth edition maintains the qualities of the earlier editions, whilst taking into account the significant developments that have moulded the discipline in recent years. Barry Cunliffe here incorporates new theoretical approaches, technological advances and a range of new sites and finds, ensuring that Iron Age Communities in Britain remains the definitive guide to the subject.

Spectacular archaeological discoveries were made during the 1970s and 1980s in Bulgaria and North Aegean Greece which sparked international interest in the forgotten Odrysian kingdom of Thrace. Here, for the first time, these and earlier discoveries are presented in their archaeological and historical context. The Thracians were the fabulously wealthy and populous neighbours of the ancient Greeks, whose golden age began in the fifth century BC when an inter-tribal state was created by the ruling dynasty of the tribe - the Odrysians. A vogue in the Greek world for Orpheus the Thracian coincided with the period of the Odrysians's greatest prominence. Not only does this book analyse the fascinating cultural amalgam of native, Persian, and Greek elements by the Odrysian governing elite, it also provides new data on the external relations of Athens, Thasos, and Macedon in the classical and early Hellenistic periods.