‘Beautifully written, sumptuously illustrated, constantly fascinating‘ The Times On 26 November 1922 Howard Carter first peered into the newly opened tomb of an ancient Egyptian boy-king. When asked if he could see anything, he replied: ‘Yes, yes, wonderful things.’ In Tutankhamun’s Trumpet, acclaimed Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson takes a unique approach to that tomb and its contents. Instead of concentrating on the oft-told story of the discovery, or speculating on the brief life and politically fractious reign of the boy king, Wilkinson takes the objects buried with him as the source material for a wide-ranging, detailed portrait of ancient Egypt – its geography, history, culture and legacy. One hundred artefacts from the tomb, arranged in ten thematic groups, are allowed to speak again – not only for themselves, but as witnesses of the civilization that created them. Never before have the treasures of Tutankhamun been analysed and presented for what they can tell us about ancient Egyptian culture, its development, its remarkable flourishing, and its lasting impact. Filled with surprising insights, unusual details, vivid descriptions and, above all, remarkable objects, Tutankhamun’s Trumpet will appeal to all lovers of history, archaeology, art and culture, as well as all those fascinated by the Egypt of the pharaohs. ‘I’ve read many books on ancient Egypt, but I’ve never felt closer to its people‘ The Sunday Times

From bioarchaeologist and bestselling author of River Kings, a gripping new history of the making of England as a nation, told through six bone chests, stored for over a thousand years in Winchester Cathedral. In December 1642, during the Civil War, Parliamentarian troops stormed the magnificent Winchester Cathedral, intent on destruction. Reaching the choir, its beating heart, the soldiers searched out ten beautifully decorated wooden chests resting high up on the stone screens. Those chests contained some of England’s most venerated, ancient remains: The bones of eight kings, including William Rufus and Cnut the Great – the only Scandinavian king to rule England and a North Sea Empire; three bishops; and a formidable queen, Emma of Normandy. These were the very people who witnessed and orchestrated the creation of the kingdom of Wessex in the 7th century; who lived through the creation of England as a unified country in response to the Viking threat; and who were part and parcel of the Norman conquest. On that day, the soldiers smashed several chests to the ground, using the bones as missiles to shatter the cathedral’s stained glass windows. Afterwards, the clergy scrambled to collect the scattered remains. In 2014, the six remaining chests were reopened. A team of forensic archaeologists, using the latest scientific methods, attempted to identify the contents: They discovered an elaborate jumble of bones, including the remains of two forgotten princes. In The Bone Chests, Cat Jarman builds on this evidence to untangle the stories of the people within. It is an extraordinary and sometimes tragic tale, and a story of transformation. Why these bones? Why there? Can we ever really identify them? In a palimpsest narrative that runs through more than a millennium of British history, it tells the story of both the seekers and the sought, of those who protected the bones and those who spurned them; and of the methods used to investigate.

Numismatic Archaeology of North America is the first book to provide an archaeological overview of the coins and tokens found in a wide range of North American archaeological sites. It begins with a comprehensive and well-illustrated review of the various coins and tokens that circulated in North America with descriptions of the uses for, and human behavior associated with, each type. The book contains practical sections on standardized nomenclature, photographing, cleaning, and curating coins, and discusses the impacts of looting and of working with collectors. This is an important tool for archaeologists working with coins. For numismatists and collectors, it explains the importance of archaeological context for complete analysis.

This volume is the first text to focus specifically on the archaeology of domestic architecture. Covering major theoretical and methodological developments over recent decades in areas like social institutions, settlement types, gender, status, and power, this book addresses the developing understanding of where and how people in the past created and used domestic space. It will be a useful synthesis for scholars and an ideal text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in archaeology and architecture. The book-covers the relationship of architectural decisions of ancient peoples with our understanding of social and cultural institutions;-includes cases from every continent and all time periods-- from the Paleolithic of Europe to present-day African villages;-is ideal for the growing number of courses on household archaeology, social archaeology, and historical and vernacular architecture.

The Chewa are the largest ethnic group in Malawi, representing a third of the population of approximately 19 million, and their language, Chichewa, is Malawi's national language. Yet the last book on the history of this group was published in 1944, and was based on oral history, or tradition. As with much African history, it started to be recorded only in the late 19th century. This is the first book to use not only oral history, but also documents written by early Portuguese explorers, traders and government officials, as well as archaeology, to piece together the early history of the Chewa. The author is an archaeologist, who discovered the first major Chewa settlement, Mankhamba, near the southern part of Lake Malawi. His excavations have enabled a more scientific chronology of the migrations of the Chewa into what is today Malawi and have provided physical proof of their early history as well as their material and spiritual culture and way of life. There are several historians and archaeologists working in the area of early Malawian history, but their work remains largely in the domain of academia and is inaccessible to the general public. Professor Yusuf Juwayeyi has written and documented a very readable history of the Chewa as revealed by archaeology, and demonstrates the value of combining oral tradition together with archaeology to arrive at a more accurate picture of the history of a pre-literate society. With many illustrations, this book will be appealing not only to historians, archaeologists and anthropologists, but also the general reader interested in African history and in Malawi's history in particular.

This is a story of human survival over the last one million years in the Namib Desert – one of the most hostile environments on Earth.

The resilience and ingenuity of desert communities provides a vivid picture of our species’ response to climate change, and ancient strategies to counter ever-present risk. Dusty fragments of stone, pottery and bone tell a history of perpetual transition, of shifting and temporary states of balance.

Namib digs beneath the usual evidence of archaeology to uncover a world of arcane rituals, of travelling rain-makers, and of intricate social networks which maintained vital systems of negotiated access to scarce resources. It covers a million years of human history in the Namib Desert, including the Earlier, Middle and Later Stone Ages, colonial occupation and genocide, to the invasion of the desert by South African troops during World War I.

This is more than a work of scientific research; it is a love-song to the desert and its people.

Chemistry is intimately involved in the development of the oldest known civilizations, resulting in a range of chemical technologies that not only continue to be part of modern civilized societies, but are so commonplace that it would be hard to imagine life without them. Such chemical technology has a very long and rich history, in some cases dating back to as early as 20,000 BCE. Chemistry Technology in Antiquity aims to present the discovery, development, and early history of a range of such chemical technologies, with the added goal of including a number of smaller subjects often ignored in the presentation of early chemical technology. While the book does not aim to be a comprehensive coverage of the full range of chemical technologies practiced during antiquity, it provides a feel and appreciation for both the deep history involved with these topics, as well as the complexity of the chemical processes that were being utilized at such a very early time period.

The Affair of Rennes is a nest of enigmas that has baffled and enthralled readers in equal measure for more than fifty years. From a minor riddle of local history about a tiny village in the south of France, it has become a global phenomenon, inspiring countless articles, books, documentaries and even movies. Yet the core questions at the heart of the story have remained unsolved. Until now. In The Map and the Manuscript: Journeys in the Mysteries of the Two Rennes, author Simon M. Miles retraces his steps on a twenty-year investigation into the Affair and describes a series of breakthroughs which have broken the seals on this intriguing puzzle. For the first time, knowledge that has been carefully hidden from view for decades, and even longer, is revealed. The anonymous author of a strange surrealist poem is unmasked, and his identity proves to be the key to unlocking the riddles which have remained resolutely sealed. From the mysterious parchments, to the enigmatic book written by a local priest in the nineteenth century, to the persistent claims of alignments between significant sites in the landscape, the Affair of Rennes gives up its secrets in this book. Richly illustrated with 140 maps, charts, photographs and diagrams, The Map and the Manuscript marks a new era in understanding one of the great unsolved, mysteries of the twentieth century.

The Affair of Rennes is a nest of enigmas that has baffled and enthralled readers in equal measure for more than fifty years. From a minor riddle of local history about a tiny village in the south of France, it has become a global phenomenon, inspiring countless articles, books, documentaries and even movies. Yet the core questions at the heart of the story have remained unsolved. Until now. In The Map and the Manuscript: Journeys in the Mysteries of the Two Rennes, author Simon M. Miles retraces his steps on a twenty-year investigation into the Affair and describes a series of breakthroughs which have broken the seals on this intriguing puzzle. For the first time, knowledge that has been carefully hidden from view for decades, and even longer, is revealed. The anonymous author of a strange surrealist poem is unmasked, and his identity proves to be the key to unlocking the riddles which have remained resolutely sealed. From the mysterious parchments, to the enigmatic book written by a local priest in the nineteenth century, to the persistent claims of alignments between significant sites in the landscape, the Affair of Rennes gives up its secrets in this book. Richly illustrated with 140 maps, charts, photographs and diagrams, The Map and the Manuscript marks a new era in understanding one of the great unsolved, mysteries of the twentieth century.

Archaeologists, historians, chemists, and physicists have employed a variety of chemical and physical approaches to study artifacts and historical objects since at least the late 18th century. During the past 50 years, the chemistry of archaeological materials has increasingly been used to address a broad spectrum of anthropological topics, including preservation, dating, nativity, exchange, provenance, and manufacturing technology. This book brings together 28 papers that address how various analytical techniques can be used to address specific archaeological questions. Chemists, archaeologists, geologists, graduate students, and others in related disciplines who are investigating the use of archaeometric techniques will find this book of interest.

Peter Jewell and Juliet Clutton-Brock had a shared passion for animals and Africa, and as brilliant young zoologists in the 1960s they were pioneers of the new movements in ecology, archaeozoology and animal conservation. This fascinating account of their extraordinary lives follows them as they travel, and live, in and out of Africa accompanied by their three daughters and a medley of pets, including dogs, cats, tortoises, chameleons and a chimpanzee.