In 2011 Michel Aberson, Maria Cristina Biella, Massimiliano Di Fazio and Manuela Wullschleger (two Italians and two Swiss, two archaeologists and two historians of antiquity) met in Geneva at the Fondation Hardt pour l'étude de l'Antiquite classique and decided to undertake a challenging project together: to organize three conferences on the peoples of central Italy, taking into consideration the key milestones in their history, from their independence, through their relations with Rome and ending with the (re)construction of their identities within the Roman world. Underpinning the project, which immediately found the support of many colleagues and institutions, was the idea of bringing historians, archaeologists, linguists and specialists of Latin literature together to collaboratively create a comprehensive picture of these significantly multifaceted and sometimes even conflicting topics. The present volume is the outcome of the third conference of the series E pluribus unum? Italy from the Pre-Roman fragmentation to the Augustan Unity, held at the University of Oxford in October 2016; it deals with the specific moments of conscious rediscovery of conquered peoples’ contribution to Roman culture from the late Republic and during the Empire. These influences can be recognized particularly during the Late Republic and Augustan period, and the final outcome is the formation of a connective tissue, which can be described as the cement of the "unaccomplished identity" of ancient Italy. The volume investigates the issue from different perspectives in order to avoid the adoption of a Romanocentric perspective.

Bringing together high-profile cultural heritage sites from around the world, this volume shows how the term heritage has been used or understood by different groups of people over time. For some, the term has meant a celebration of a particular culture and history or the promotion of accessibility, tolerance, and inclusivity. But for others it has been connected with cultural privilege, social exclusion, or exploitation via the tourism industry. These case studies are taken from America, Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, India, China, and the Caribbean. The varied approaches to heritage seen here range from the Nazi regime's vision of German national history to the present-day push to recover Native American culture from outdated Hollywood portrayals. Featuring a tribute to Sir Gregory Ashworth, whose influential work drew attention to the contested meanings of heritage, this volume illuminates a fascinating international debate.

Historical archeology studies once relied upon a binary view of colonialism: colonizers and colonized, the colonial period and the postcolonial period. The international contributors to this volume scrutinize imperialism and expansionism through an alternative lens that looks beyond simple dualities to explore the variously gendered, racialized, and occupied peoples of a multitude of faiths, desires, associations, and constraints. Colonialism is not a phase in the chronology of a people but a continuous phenomenon that spans the Old and New Worlds. Most important, the contributors argue that its impacts - and, in some instances, even the same processes set in place by the likes of Columbus - are ongoing. Inciting a critical study of the lasting consequences of ancient and modern colonialism on descendant communities, this wideranging volume includes essays on Roman Britain, slavery in Brazil, and contemporary Native Americans. In its efforts to define the scope of colonialism and the comparability of its features, this collection challenges the field to go beyond familiar geographical and historical boundaries and draws attention to unfolding colonialfutures.

Pilgrimage to ritually significant places is a part of daily life in the Maya world. These journeys involve important social and practical concerns, such as the maintenance of food sources and world order. Frequent pilgrimages to ceremonial hills to pay offerings to spiritual forces for good harvests, for instance, are just as necessary for farming as planting fields. Why has Maya pilgrimage to ritual landscapes prevailed from the distant past and why are journeys to ritual landscapes important in Maya religion? How can archaeologists recognize Maya pilgrimage, and how does it compare to similar behavior at ritual landscapes around the world? The author addresses these questions and others through cross-cultural comparisons, archaeological data, and ethnographic insights.

Moundville, near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is one of the largest pre-Columbian mound sites in North America. Comprising twenty-nine earthen mounds that were once platforms for chiefly residences and temples, Moundville was a major political and religious center for the people living in its region and for the wider Mississippian world. A much-needed synthesis of the rapidly expanding archaeological work that has taken place in the region over the past two decades, this volume presents the results of multifaceted research and new excavations. Using models deeply rooted in local ethnohistory, it ties Moundville and its people more closely than before to the ethnography of native southerners and emphasizes the role of social memory and ritual practices both at the mound center and in the hinterland, providing an up-to-date and refreshingly nuanced interpretation of Mississippian culture.

Environment and human habitation have become principal topics of research with the growing interest in the Black Sea region in antiquity. This book highlights their interaction around all the coasts of the region, from different perspectives and disciplines. Here, archaeological excavation and survey combine with studies of classical texts, cults, medicine, and more, to explore ancient experiences of the region. Accordingly, the region is examined from external viewpoints, centred in the Mediterranean (Herodotus, the Hippocratics, ancient geographers, and poets), and through local lenses, particularly supplied by archaeology. While familiar disconnects emerge, there is also a striking coherence in the results of these different pathways into the study of local environments, which embrace not only Graeco-Roman settlement, but also a broader range of agricultural and pastoralist activities across a huge landscape which stretches as far afield as ancient Hungary. Throughout, there are methodological implications for research elsewhere in the ancient world. This book shows people in landscapes across a huge expanse, in local reality and in external conceptions, complete with their own agency, ideas, and lifestyles.

This book explores the sociopolitical contexts of heritage landscapes, paying special attention to sites with deep indigenous histories - Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and the Burrup Peninsula along the Pilbara Coast in Australia, the Altai Mountains of northwestern Mongolia, and Prince William Sound in Alaska. For many communities, landscapes such as these have long been associated with cultural identity and memories of important and difficult events, as well as political struggles related to nation-state boundaries, sovereignty, and knowledge claims. ,br> Drawing on the emerging field of critical heritage theory and the concept of "resource frontiers," Melissa Baird shows how these landscapes are sites of power and control and are increasingly used in development and extractive projects. As a result, heritage landscapes face social and ecological crises such as environmental degradation, ecological disasters, and structural violence. She describes how heritage experts, industries, government representatives, and descendant groups negotiate the contours and boundaries of these contested sites, and recommends ways such conversations can better incorporate a critical engagement with indigenous knowledge and agency.