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Books > Humanities > Archaeology > Archaeology by period / region > European archaeology
This volume draws on two pieces of evidence which offer insights into life in Byzantium: the illuminated manuscript Skylitzes Matritensis and the great Christian monument turned mosque, Hagia Sophia. The main part of the discussion focuses on Skylitzes Natritensis which is a dramatic portrayal of the historical events of the period from Michael I Rangabe (811-813) to the accession of Isaac Comnenos (1057-1059), described as a videotape in action style'. The manuscript depicts a great many themes, including coronations, marriages, ceremonial life, disasters, persecutions, war, violence and so on, with accompanying legends. The rather shorter discussion of the Hagia Sophia looks at the transformation of the Christian monument into an Ottoman mosquem at its role as a prototype and antitype' of the mosque, its influence on Ottoman mosque architecture of Istanbul and Edirne, and at iconoclasm. Literary references to Hagia Sophia are also discussed, with extracts.
This book attempts to bring an anthropological perspective to the historical archaeology of a complex period in the Greek past. Traditionally, discussion of the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Byzantine period in the Aegean region has focused on the fate of Classical urban culture. Scholarly opinion is divided as to whether the Classical polis and its constituent institutions emerged intact from the disruptive events of the third to sixth centuries A.D. Over the past two decades a consensus has emerged that argues that the break between Classical and Byzantine occurred in the seventh, not the fourth or fifth centuries A.D., and that it was a more gradual process than previously believed. The present study examines the Byzantine Fortress at Isthmia in the Peloponnese with an eye to understanding social change in this critical period, at the level of the site and then the region, in terms of an evolutionary perspective . This study focuses on three problems at different levels of abstraction: (1) A descriptive problem; (2) A methodological problem; (3) A broader historical problem. The methodological element becomes the link between the gathering of site-specific data and the wider historical implications for that information.
In Incidental Archaeologists, Bonnie Effros examines the archaeological contributions of nineteenth-century French military officers, who, raised on classical accounts of warfare and often trained as cartographers, developed an interest in the Roman remains they encountered when commissioned in the colony of Algeria. By linking the study of the Roman past to French triumphant narratives of the conquest and occupation of the Maghreb, Effros demonstrates how Roman archaeology in the forty years following the conquest of the Ottoman Regencies of Algiers and Constantine in the 1830s helped lay the groundwork for the creation of a new identity for French military and civilian settlers. Effros uses France's violent colonial war, its efforts to document the ancient Roman past, and its brutal treatment of the region's Arab and Berber inhabitants to underline the close entanglement of knowledge production with European imperialism. Significantly, Incidental Archaeologists shows how the French experience in Algeria contributed to the professionalization of archaeology in metropolitan France. Effros demonstrates how the archaeological expeditions undertaken by the French in Algeria and the documentation they collected of ancient Roman military accomplishments reflected French confidence that they would learn from Rome's technological accomplishments and succeed, where the Romans had failed, in mastering the region.
The goddess Hera is associated with pregnancy, childbirth, marriage, the home and family, agriculture and vegetation, and military matters. A number of sanctuaries, heraia, were built to honour the goddess and to house the cult activities associated with her. This study looks at votive offerings from six heraia, at Perachora, Argos, Tiryns, two at Poseidonia-Paestum and the Samian heraion in Ionia, to determine the nature of these cult activities. Each sanctuary is examined individually and then the evidence is compared providing a discussion of Hera's cult on a panhellenic, polis, and private level'. The study of votive offerings period-by-period also allows some speculation on the development of the cult through time.
This volume charts the changing human-animal relationship at one particular location, Dudley Castle, West Midlands, over several centuries. The temporal span considered (the 11th-18th centuries) is, arguably, one of the most formative in the evolving relationship between humans and animals. The period was one of profound economic, social and demographic change, witnessing not only the evolution of modern breeds of domestic animals, but also a change in the way animals were perceived and treated. In this study, the animal bones recovered from archaeological excavations at Dudley Castle have been integrated with historical documentation to provide a basis from which to explore these issues. Site-specific questions, as well as broader trends within the social and economic landscape of the medieval and post-medieval periods in England are considered. This study also attempts to explore dietary patterns on site, and the way in which the acquisition and consumption of food was used in the negotiation of social relationships.
This book investigates the lives of servile dependants and their role in the large households of the elite Romans. An uneasy proximity created by the cohabitation of the two opposite status groups (aristocratic masters and slaves) brought conflicts and contradiction. In attempting a new inquiry into such historically anonymous individuals and their res publica, the domus, this present work confines itself to analysis of a particular group of inscriptions from Rome (1st/2nd centuries AD), commonly referred to as the columbaria inscriptions. The 'columbarium', a dovecote-like burial structure, was designed to accommodate a number of epitaphs and urns of ashes and became particularly popular during the Julio-Claudian period. Such a communal burial structure appears to have been shared by people with a common background, in many cases the slaves and freedmen staff of a noble family. In other words, the set of epitaphs from a given columbarium is arguably representative of the familia urbana of a certain noble family. Once the group of individuals is thus given an identity, it opens the way to systematic examination of their lives and status from multiple angles. These inscriptions, relatively unexplored until recent decades, offer researchers unique insights into otherwise anonymous people.
Arguably, Britain's valuable and abundant supplies of iron were one of the principal attractions to its Roman invaders. This detailed investigation of the social technology of Roman iron production is based on an analysis of archaeometallurgical sites in the eastern Midlands (form the Humber to Oxford), which was one of the principal centres for ironworking during the Roman period. These sites are then considered within the wider picture of social and landscape development. Combining scientific and technological analysis with social history, the study initially explores the principles behind Roman iron production and the types of slag which are studied here. The author then compares the industry of iron production with others in Britain and how this industry was affected by the Roman occupation. Finally, Schruefer-Kolb explores the social implications of iron production for the east Midlands. Includes a gazetteer of sites.
Evidence for Neolithic graves and cemeteries in Greece is scant and not without its problems, although this study shows that the data can still be rendered meaningful. Thirteen sites from across Greece, dating to the early, middle, late and final Neolithic are examined in terms of the information they contain on people's reactions to the dead and their motives in disposing of them. Kent Fowler analyses the degree of visibility of the dead, the complexity of the disposal practices, and asks what this may reveal about issues such as ideology, social differentation and ritual practices.
This volume presents nine papers and one poster from general sessions at the XIVth UISPP Congress held at the University of Liege in 2001. These contributions focus on recent developments in Roman archaeology across Europe. Specific subjects include: the native aristocracy of Roman Pannonia; a Roman camp in Belgium; linguistics; three Etruscan trephinned skulls; the Gaulish Coligny calendar; Roman bronze ware in eastern Slavonia; Portuguese amphorae; Cilicia. Six papers in English, the remainder in French.
Aby Thomas F Tartaron Drawing on environmental and artefactual data from the Nikopolis Project carried out in south-west Epirus from 1991 to 1995, this revised thesis focuses on Bronze Age settlement in the lower valley of the river Acheron. Using this evidence, as well as survey data and study of assemblages from previously excavated sites in the area, Thomas Tartaron argues that the climate and resources of the river valley would have provided a good environment for year-round settlement, especially when practising a diverse subsistence strategy. The importance of interaction with other areas, particularly the Mycenaean worldm and the impact of the foundation of a Mycenaean trading colony close by, are also discussed.
Permanent settlements were founded by Greek marine traders as early as the mid 7th century in and around the Black Sea region. This revised thesis seeks to describe and examine the nature of these permanent emporia from this period until 590/580BC, as well as well as determine the conditions under which they appeared and how they compared to other settlements traditionally labelled as colonies.
Based on the author's PhD thesis, this volume examines the possibility of a cult of the dead among the Mycenaean civilisations. Focusing on the period 1425/1390-1190/1180 BC, and drawing largely on archaeological evidence from tholos and chamber tombs from the regions of the Argolid and Corinthia, Attica and Samalis, Boeotia and Euboea, Gallou puts her theoretical ideas about the recognition of acts of ancestor veneration into action. Highlighting certain diagnostic traits among the evidence, she assesses the presence of notions of an afterlife, respect shown for the deceased, changes to tomb design and the funerary landscape as a whole, and differentiation among the burial facilities, offerings and acts associated with the dead.
First discovered in the 19th century, the remains of a Roman settlement at the site of Kuecuek Burnaz in the eastern area of ancient Cilicia, were investigated more fully in 1991 by the Ozgen/Gates survey. This volume presents an overview of this region of ancient Cilicia from the 1st century BC to the 14th century AD, providing the background to Tobin's discussion of the architecture, ceramics and small finds recovered from the site in the 1994 and 1995 seasons. The evidence suggests that the Roman settlement was most likely founded in the 1st century BC and was thought orignally to have lain on the coast, providing an important port for goods and troops entering and leaving the region.
This piece of research, based on the author's dissertation, is where the study of historical woodlands meets botanical and ecological analysis. In using the approach based on the historical ecology of the English landscape and applying it to the Carpathian Basin, Peter Szabo presents an investigation into the woodland and forests of medieval Hungary. Although this is not a straightforward comparison between the English and Hungarian situation, Szabo does draw some parallels between the two whilst also highlighting Hungarian peculiarities. Themes such as the destruction og woodland, tree types, manage, ment of woodland and forests, coppicing, and the relationship between the Church and woodland, and the designation of Royal forests, are discussed and examples cited
This catalogue and guide to Neolithic pottery in southern Greece is geared towards those working with such material. Based on assemblages from sixteen sites, including Corinth, Nemea, Lerna and the Franchthi Cave, the catalogue and large number of illustrations trace the development of the pottery sequence through the early, middle, late and final Neolithic. Based on Bill Phelps' thesis of 1975, this present volume has taken into account much more recent scholarship and finds, although it was not possible to revise the text fully.
Subsistence practices are frequently argued to have been important factors in the Neolithic-Bronze Age transition, although all too often very little systematic research has provided any empirical data on which to base such arguments. The research on which this volume is based analysed archaeobotanical evidence retrieved from five sites in Macedonia and Thrace covering the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age period. Valamoti aims to provide a better understanding of the nature of settlements, settlement expansion and the development of hierarchies during this period through the interrogation of plant remains. In so doing, she provides valuable insights into aspects of land use, plant exploitation (wild versus cultivated), husbandry methods, seasonality, grazing patterns, animal feeding and so on and is able to make some preliminary arguments for the role of agricultural practices in socio-economic organisation and settlement patterns, leading the way for future research.
In this study Rae Ostman examines and contrasts Etruscan and Roman ceramic evidence from two distinct periods in Volterra to identify changes in social complexity. The first period, which covers the 3rd to 1st centuries BC, represents Volterra at its height while the second (2nd to 6th centuries AD) witnessed the city's first significant period of decline. The bulk of the study comprises a catalogue followed by analyses of techniques of pottery production, including clay and soil types, and a consideration of imported vessels. A final discussion draws conclusions about Volterra's relationships with other urban centres and the countryside during the two periods and considers how economic changes reflected changes in social complexity.
Bronzeworking was an important industry in the late Bronze Age Aegean and this thesis draws on a large database of material related to Late Minoan bronze objects, raw materials, evidence for workshops and so on. Lena Hakulin not only presents an overview of the bronzeworking industry on Late Minoan Crete but she also tackles some of the fundamental questions associated with identifying the sources used, where the skills and technology originated and how they developed, and seeks to account for changes in object types, find contexts, technology and copper sources over time. The text is short (36 pages) with much of the volume taken up by appendices presenting tables of data.
This substantial volume presents the proceedings of the LRCW I, the first international conference on Roman pottery other than tablewares held in Barcelona in 2002. The aim of the study is to demonstrate that studies of terra sigillata alone are not sufficient for reconstructing trade patterns in the Mediterranean and the food tastes of the empire. Arranged geographically the 48 papers examine evidence from the Iberian peninsula, the western Mediterranean islands, Gaule, Italy and the central Mediterranean islands, Africa, the eastern Adriatic and the eastern Mediterranean. A number of approaches are adopted, comprising archaeological papers, studies of transportation, trade and supply, and archaeometric analysis of fabrics. Papers in English, Spanish, Italian, French and German.
This study evaluates and critiques the traditionally held view that Late Bronze Age society was highly centralised on the Mycenaean palaces, especially in a political and economic sense. In seeking to test whether this is really true of the Late Helladic economy in the Argolid, Birgitta Sjoberg examines evidence for settlement patterns at Asine and the Argive Plain, economic activities and socio-economic information that can be gleaned from tombs. Her conclusion suggests that the picture of Mycenaean palaces as dominant, centralising, redistribution centres can not be confirmed for the Argolid and that a more diverse, decentralised, market-based economic system was more likely.
This dissertation focuses on the use and significance of gemstones in Greece during the Mycenaean period, drawing largely on material from sites in the Argolid, Messenia and Attica. Stamatatou's large catalogue includes information on object type, material, technique of production, provenance and context which helps to build a picture of the function and use of gemstones and their place in late Bronze Age society and belief systems.
In 1827, a local collector of antiquities encountered a vehicle carrying stones from the site of Kermenchik/Simferopol on the Black Sea near Chersonesos. The director of the Odessa Museum immediately recognized the importance of these finds and rushed to the site. In the first publication on the site, the author claimed to have discovered the Neapolis built by the Scythian, King Skiluros. Thus began the archaeological discoveries at a site that has fascinated excavators to this day. The author of this present monograph summarizes the decades of research and theories connected with this important site and its environs: features, architecture, rites, material cultural, trade, and cult objects. A uniform chronological and cultural model for Scythian Neapolis is proposed and phased characteristics show its historical evolution (c. 300 BC to 300 AD). A group of farmsteads developed into a settlement, then into a royal fortress with a palace/temple complex, then into a significant fortified settlement of some scale, then once more into a royal (?) fortress before becoming the unfortified centre of an agrarian territory as the headquarters of a Bosphorean deputy. One Appendix concentrates specifically on the Mausoleum of King Skiluros, while the other details the inscriptions and sculptures from the 'Southern Palace' site.
This volume represents the papers given at a session of the 8th EAA Conference held in Thessalonike in 2002. The session was based around four themes: The links between populations of Egypt and Europe (especially Hellas) in ancient times; the impact of the advent of Alexander the Great, and the current excavations in Alexandria; the political, economic and cultural contacts between Europe, Hellas and Egypt especially during the LP, Helleno-Roman and Early Christian (Coptic) Periods; and aspects of the history of European Egyptology and those European museums holding Egyptian antiquities today. The 9 papers are: (1) The Cretans in Egypt Galina A. Belova; (2) Among the Hidden Treasures of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens: Searching for Forgotten Mummies Amanda-Alice Maravelia and Eleni Cladaki-Manoli; (3) The Egyptian Collection of the Archaeological Museum in Bologna: Past and Future Daniela Picchi; (4) Ancient Egyptian Collections in Ukrainian Museums: The Case of B.I. & V.N. Khanenko's Museum in Kiev Sergej V. Ivanov; (5) La Musique Copte Ashraf-Alexandre Sadek; (6) Late Antique Textiles of the Benaki Museum with Bucolic and Mythological Iconography Sophia Tsourinaki; (7) Fantastic Discoveries in Archaeology: The Case of the Tomb of Alexander the Great Harry E. Tzalas; (8) Egypt and the Great Silk Road Tatjana A. Sherkova; (9) The Ancient Egyptian Roots of the Phoenix Myth: On the History of the Problem Helena G. Tolmatcheva.
This Oxford-centric' book explores the history of classical reception by focusing on objects in the Ashmolean Museum and assessing the development of classical art studies at Oxford University. The seven papers are based on a series of lectures given at the University in 2003 to complement the Master of Studies in Classical Archaeology course. Contents: The study of art at Oxford befroe 1955 (Donna Kurtz); An introduction to the reception of classical art (Donna Kurtz); Nudity in art (John Boardman); Medals and the reception of antiquity (Henry Kim); Renaissance istoriato maiolica (Kate Nichols); The reception of classsical art - neoclassical gems (Gertrud Seidmann); The Sackler Library (Robert Adam). Fully illustrated throughout with some of Oxford's treasures. |
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