In 1909 the Scottish archaeologist Duncan Mackenzie, Sir Arthur Evans's right-hand man on the excavations of the legendary 'Palace of Minos' at Knossos since 1900, was appointed 'Explorer' of the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF). From the spring of 1910 until December 1912 he was engaged in archaeological fieldwork in Palestine, especially directing excavation campaigns at Ain Shems (biblical Beth Shemesh) - an important site in the Shephelah of Judah at the crossroads of Canaanite, Philistine, and Israelite cultures. Mackenzie published the results of his work in various issues of the Palestine Exploration Quarterly and Palestine Exploration Fund Annual. Because of a financial dispute with the PEF, however, he never submitted a detailed publication of his very last campaign at Beth Shemesh, conducted in November-December 1912. In 1992 Nicoletta Momigliano rediscovered Mackenzie's lost manuscript on his latest discoveries at Beth Shemesh, which one of his nephews had kept for nearly 80 years at his old family home in the Scottish Highlands, in the small village of Muir of Ord. At about the same time, Shlomo Bunimovitz and Zvi Lederman initiated new excavations at Beth Shemesh which considerably changed previous interpretations of the site. This volume presents Mackenzie's detailed discussion of his last excavations at Beth Shemesh in the light of these more recent discoveries. Although written over a century ago, Mackenzie's manuscript deserves to be better known today; it not only provides significant new information on this important site but also constitutes an intriguing historical document, shedding light on the history of field archaeology and of biblical archaeology. Moreover, Mackenzie's pioneering approach to archaeological fieldwork and the significance of his finds can often be better appreciated today, from the perspective of more recent developments and discoveries.

This book shows how travellers and scholars since Roman times have put together their maps of the land east of the River Jordan. It traces the contribution of Roman armies and early Christian pilgrims and medieval European travellers, Crusading armies, learned scholars like Jacob Ziegler, sixteenth-century mapmakers like Mercator and Ortelius, eighteenth-century travellers and savants, and nineteenth-century biblical scholars and explorers like Robinson and Smith, culminating in the late-nineteenth century surveyors working for the Palestine Exploration Fund. This original and valuable book shows, with full illustrations, how maps of the Transjordan region developed through the centuries, and with its detailed tables and bibliography will aid future scholars in further research. The author took part in archaeological excavations and surveys in Jordan, was Associate Professor of Biblical Studies and Fellow at Trinity College Dublin, has published research papers and books on ancient Jordan. John Bartlett was the editor of the Palestine Exploration Quarterly, and until recently was the Chairman of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

A definitive account of Sutton Hoo, its discovery, history and famed treasure. The Sutton Hoo ship-burial is one of the most significant finds ever made in Europe. It lies in a burial ground which contains all the elements of archaeological mystery: seventeen mounds, buried treasure, and sacrificed horses. In this very accessible book, Martin Carver explains what we know of this site, at which the leaders of the Dark Age kingdom of East Anglia signalled the pagan and maritime nature of their court. This is the story not only of this dramatic place, but also of its exploration over half a century, which amounts to a potted history of British archaeology.

Alternative Iron Ages examines Iron Age social formations that sit outside traditional paradigms, developing methods for archaeological characterisation of alternative models of society. In so doing it contributes to the debates concerning the construction and resistance of inequality taking place in archaeology, anthropology and sociology. In recent years, Iron Age research on Western Europe has moved towards new forms of understanding social structures. Yet these alternative social organisations continue to be considered as basic human social formations, which frequently imply marginality and primitivism. In this context, the grand narrative of the European Iron Age continues to be defined by cultural foci, which hide the great regional variety in an artificially homogenous area. This book challenges the traditional classical evolutionist narratives by exploring concepts such as non-triangular societies, heterarchy and segmentarity across regional case studies to test and propose alternative social models for Iron Age social formations. Constructing new social theory both archaeologically based and supported by sociological and anthropological theory, the book is perfect for those looking to examine and understand life in the European Iron Age. We are so grateful to the research project titled "Paisajes rurales antiguos del Noroeste peninsular: formas de dominacion romana y explotacion de recursos" [Ancient rural landscapes in Northwestern Iberia: Roman dominion and resource exploitation] (HAR2015-64632-P; MINECO/FEDER), directed from the Instituto de Historia (CSIC) and also to the Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia [Foundation for Science and Technology] postdoctoral project: SFRH-BPD-102407-2014.

Winner of the Holyer an Gof Award 2022 (Leisure and Lifestyle) An illustrated guide to one hundred of the finest early Cornish stone crosses, dating from around AD 900 to 1300. These characteristic features of the Cornish landscape are splendid examples of their type, exhibiting a wide geographical spread and a certain weather-beaten beauty. The medieval stone crosses of Cornwall have long been objects of curiosity both for residents and visitors. This is the first ever accessible volume on the subject, combining detailed description and discussion of the crosses with information on access, colour images and suggestions for further reading. An approachable but academically rigorous work, it includes analysis of the decorative designs and sculptural techniques, accompanied by high-quality photographs which illustrate the subtleties of each cross, often hard to discern in situ. Ancient and High Crosses of Cornwall offers an ideal introduction for the general reader but will also prove essential to local historians, landscape historians, archaeologists and anyone working in the area of Cornish studies or connected with the Cornish diaspora. DOI: https://doi.org/10.47788/NKIP4746

This is the first detailed analysis of a completely excavated northern Iroquoian community, a sixteenth-century ancestral Wendat village on the north shore of Lake Ontario. The site resulted from the coalescence of multiple small villages into one well-planned and well-integrated community. Jennifer Birch and Ronald F. Williamson frame the development of this community in the context of a historical sequence of site relocations. The social processes that led to its formation, the political and economic lives of its inhabitants, and their relationships to other populations in northeastern North America are explored using multiple scales of analysis. This book is key for those interested in the history and archaeology of eastern North America, the social, political, and economic organization of Iroquoian societies, the archaeology of communities, and processes of settlement aggregation.

Until very recently Viking and Norse assembly sites were essentially unknown, apart from a few select sites, such as Thingvellir in Iceland. The Vikings are well-known for their violence and pillage, but they also had a well-organised system for political decision-making, legal cases and conflict resolution. Using archaeological evidence, written sources and place-names, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of their legal system and assembly sites, showing that this formed an integral part of Norse culture and identity, to the extent that the assembly institution was brought to all Norse settlements. Sites are analysed through surveys and case studies across Scandinavia, Scotland and the North Atlantic region. The author moves the view of assembly sites away from a functional one to an understanding of the symbolic meaning of these highly ritualised sites, and shows how they were constructed to signify power through monuments and natural features. This original and stimulating study is set not only in the context of the Viking and Norse periods, but also in the wider continental histories of place, assembly and the rhetoric of power.

China in the Early Bronze Age Shang Civilization Robert L. Thorp "Thorp has packed a massive amount of information in a concise and easily accessible way into well organized chapters. . . . This book is clearly the result of many years of intensive research but appears to the reader to be an effortless achievement."--"Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies" One of the great breakthroughs in Chinese studies in the early twentieth century was the archaeological identification of the earliest, fully historical dynasty of kings, the Shang (ca. 1300-1050 B.C.E.). The last fifty years have seen major advances in all areas of Chinese archaeology, but recent studies of the Shang, their ancestors, and their contemporaries have been especially rich. Since the last English-language overview of Shang civilization appeared in 1980, the pace of discovery has quickened. "China in the Early Bronze Age: Shang Civilization" is the first work in twenty-five years to synthesize current knowledge of the Shang for everyone interested in the origins of Chinese civilization. "China in the Early Bronze Age" traces the development of early Bronze Age cultures in North and Northwestern China from about 2000 B.C.E., including the Erlitou culture (often identified with the Xia) and the Erligang culture. Robert L. Thorp introduces major sites, their architectural remains, burials, and material culture, with special attention to jades and bronze. He reviews the many discoveries near Anyang, site of two capitals of the Shang kings. In addition to the topography of these sites, Thorp discusses elite crafts and devotes a chapter to the Shang cult, its divination practices, and its rituals. The volume concludes with a survey of the late Shang world, cultures contemporary with Anyang during the late second millennium B.C.E. Fully documented with references to Chinese archaeological sources and illustrated with more than one hundred line drawings, "China in the Early Bronze Age" also includes informative sidebars on related topics and suggested readings. Students of the history and archaeology of early civilizations will find "China in the Early Bronze Age" the most up-to-date and wide-ranging introduction to its topic now in print. Scholars in Chinese studies will use this work as a handbook and research guide. This volume makes fascinating reading for anyone interested in the formative stages of Chinese culture. Robert L. Thorp is Professor Emeritus of Chinese Art History and Archaeology at Washington University, St. Louis. He is the author of "Chinese Art and Culture." Encounters with Asia 2005 320 pages 6 x 9 133 illus. ISBN 978-0-8122-3910-2 Cloth $69.95s 45.50 ISBN 978-0-8122-0361-5 Ebook $69.95s 45.50 World Rights Archaeology, Asian Studies Short copy: Students of the history and archaeology of early civilizations will find China in the Early Bronze Age the most up-to-date and wide-ranging introduction to its topic now in print. Scholars in Chinese studies will use this work as a handbook and research guide. For all readers, this volume makes fascinating reading in the formative stages of Chinese culture accessible.

Ancient Southeast Asia provides readers with a much needed synthesis of the latest discoveries and research in the archaeology of the region, presenting the evolution of complex societies in Southeast Asia from the protohistoric period, beginning around 500BC, to the arrival of British and Dutch colonists in 1600. Well-illustrated throughout, this comprehensive account explores the factors which established Southeast Asia as an area of unique cultural fusion. Miksic and Goh explore how the local population exploited the abundant resources available, developing maritime transport routes which resulted in economic and cultural wealth, including some of the most elaborate art styles and monumental complexes ever constructed. The book's broad geographical and temporal coverage, including a chapter on the natural environment, provides readers with the context needed to understand this staggeringly diverse region. It utilizes French, Dutch, Chinese, Malay-Indonesian and Burmese sources and synthesizes interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives and data from archaeology, history and art history. Offering key opportunities for comparative research with other centres of early socio-economic complexity, Ancient Southeast Asia establishes the area's importance in world history.

Palmyra: A History examines Palmyra, the city in the Syrian oasis of Tadmur, from its beginnings in the Bronze Age, through the classical period and its discovery and excavation, to the present day. It aims at reconstructing Palmyra's past from literary accounts - classical and post-classical - as well as material evidence of all kinds: inscriptions, coins, art and of course the remains of Palmyra's monumental architecture. After exploring the earliest inhabitation of Tadmur, the volume moves through the Persian and Hellenistic periods, to the city's zenith. Under the Romans, Palmyra was unique among the cities of the empire because it became a political factor in its own right in the third century AD, when the Roman military was overpowered by Sassanian invaders and Palmyrene troops stepped in. Sommer's assessment of Palmyra under Rome therefore considers how Palmyra achieved such an exceptional role in the Roman Near East, before its demise under the Umayyad Empire. The volume also examines the century-long history of archaeological and historical research at Palmyra, from its beginnings under Ottoman rule and the French mandate in the 1920s to the recent satellite based prospection carried out by German archaeologists. A closing chapter examines the occupation of the site by ISIS during the Syrian conflict, and the implications of the destruction there on the ruins, the archaeological finds and future investigations, and heritage in Syria more broadly. Palmyra offers academics, students and the interested reader alike the first full treatment in English of this fascinating site, providing a comprehensive account of the city's origins, rise and fall.

In the 250 years before the Civil War, the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia and North Carolina was a brutal landscape-2,000 square miles of undeveloped and unforgiving wetlands, peat bogs, impenetrable foliage, and dangerous creatures. It was also a protective refuge for marginalized communities, including Native Americans, African-American maroons, free African Americans, and outcast Europeans. Here they created their own way of life, free of the exploitation and alienation they had escaped. In the first thorough examination of this vital site, Daniel Sayers examines the area's archaeological record, exposing and unraveling the complex social and economic systems developed by these defiant communities that thrived on the periphery. He develops an analytical framework based on the complex interplay between alienation, diasporic exile, uneven geographical development, and modes of production to argue that colonialism and slavery inevitably created sustained critiques of American capitalism. Published in cooperation with the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In its analysis of the archaeologies and histories of the northern fringe of Europe, this book provides a focus on animistic-shamanistic cosmologies and the associated human-environment relations from the Neolithic to modern times. The North has fascinated Europeans throughout history, as an enchanted world of natural and supernatural marvels: a land of light and dark, of northern lights and the midnight sun, of witches and magic and of riches ranging from amber to oil. Northern lands conflate fantasies and realities. Rich archaeological, historical, ethnographic and folkloric materials combine in this book with cutting-edge theoretical perspectives drawn from relational ontologies and epistemologies, producing a fresh approach to the prehistory and history of a region that is pivotal to understanding Europe-wide processes, such as Neolithization and modernization. This book examines the mythical and actual northern worlds, with northern relational modes of perceiving and engaging with the world on the one hand and the 'place' of the North in European culture on the other. This book is an indispensable read for scholars of archaeology, anthropology, cultural studies and folklore in northern Europe, as well as researchers interested in how the North is intertwined with developments in the broader European and Eurasian world. It provides a deep-time understanding of globally topical issues and conflicting interests, as expressed by debates and controversies around Arctic resources, nature preservation and indigenous rights.

A complete survey of the archaeology of the islands from prehistoric times, through the Roman and medieval periods, down to the present day. There will also be an annotated gazetteer of museums and sites to see.

The Archaeology of Native North America presents the ideas, evidence, and debates regarding the initial peopling of the continent by mobile bands of hunters and gatherers and the cultural evolution of their many lines of descent over the ensuing millennia. The emergence of farming, urban centers, and complex political organization paralleled similar developments in other world areas. With the arrival of Europeans to North America and the inevitable clashes of culture, colonizers and colonists were forever changed, which is also represented in the archaeological heritage of the continent. Unlike others, this book includes Mesoamerica and the Caribbean, thus addressing broad regional interactions and the circulation of people, things, and ideas. This edition incorporates results of new archaeological research since the publication of the first edition a decade earlier. Fifty-four new box features highlight selected archaeological sites, which are publicly accessible gateways into the study of North American archaeology. The features were authored by specialists with direct knowledge of the sites and their broad importance. Glossaries are provided at the end of every chapter to clarify specialized terminology. The book is directed to upper-level undergraduate and graduate students taking survey courses in American archaeology, as well as other advanced readers. It is extensively illustrated and includes citations to sources with their own robust bibliographies, leading diligent readers deeper into the professional literature. The Archaeology of Native North America is the ideal text for courses in North American archaeology.

Essays dealing with the question of how the theory and practice of archaeology should engage with the recent past. Heritage, memory, community archaeology and the politics of the past form the main strands running through the papers in this volume.The authors tackle these subjects from a range of different philosophical perspectives, with manydrawing on the experience of recent community, commercial and other projects. Throughout, there is a strong emphasis on both the philosophy of engagement and with its enactment in specific contexts; the essays deal with an interest in the meaning, value and contested nature of the recent past and in the theory and practice of archaeological engagements with that past. Chris Dalglish is a lecturer in archaeology at the University of Glasgow. Contributors: Julia Beaumont, David Bowsher, Terry Brown, Jo Buckberry, Chris Dalglish, James Dixon, Audrey Horning, Robert Isherwood, Robert C Janaway, Melanie Johnson, Sian Jones, Catriona Mackie, Janet Montgomery, Harold Mytum, Michael Nevell, Natasha Powers, Biddy Simpson, Matt Town, Andrew Wilson

Many dryland regions contain archaeological remains which suggest that there must have been intensive phases of settlement in what now seem to be dry and degraded environments. This book discusses successes and failures of past land use and settlement in drylands, and contributes to wider debates about desertification and the sustainability of dryland settlement.

The conventional wisdom says that the devolution of Classic Maya civilization occurred because its population grew too large and dense to be supported by primitive neotropical farming methods, resulting in debilitating famines and internecine struggles. Using research on contemporary Maya farming techniques and important new archaeological research, Ford and Nigh refute this Malthusian explanation of events in ancient Central America and posit a radical alternative theory. The authors-show that ancient Maya farmers developed ingenious, sustainable woodland techniques to cultivate numerous food plants (including the staple maize);-examine both contemporary tropical farming techniques and the archaeological record (particularly regarding climate) to reach their conclusions;-make the argument that these ancient techniques, still in use today, can support significant populations over long periods of time.

A comprehensive, authoritative account of the development Greek Art through the 1st millennium BC. * An invaluable resource for scholars dealing with the art, material culture and history of the post-classical world * Includes voices from such diverse fields as art history, classical studies, and archaeology and offers a diversity of views to the topic * Features an innovative group of chapters dealing with the reception of Greek art from the Middle Ages to the present * Includes chapters on Chronology and Topography, as well as Workshops and Technology * Includes four major sections: Forms, Times and Places; Contacts and Colonies; Images and Meanings; Greek Art: Ancient to Antique

The Sword is closely associated with all that was most significant in a man's life in the Anglo-Saxon world: family ties, loyalty to a lord, the duties of a king, the excitement of battle, the attainment of manhood, and the last funeral rites. Hilda Ellis Davidson explores the revelations of archaeology, methods of sword-making, and references in Anglo-Saxon poetry and Old Norse sagas to reveal a past where the sword was of supreme importance, as a weapon and as a symbol. She restores a vital dimension to Old English literature, and endows those few surviving swords in museums with a real glamour and magic. She shows that for a fuller understanding of Anglo-Saxon poetry it is important to have due regard to the warrior culture from which it sprang, and of the potent part played by the sword within that culture. Much can be learnt from surviving swords and from the context in which they are discovered. Careful study of the disposition of swords found in peat bogs in Denmark, and in graves, lakes and rivers in the British Isles, yields information on religious and social practices. The swords themselves, and their decoration, reveal the technical skill and cultural achievements of the people who wielded them. To read Beowolf is to be immediately aware of the aura of magical power the poet vested in the sword, and Hilda Ellis Davidson's other concern in this book is to look at literary sources for what they reveal of the quality of a good sword and its significance in Anglo-Saxon and Viking societies - for Viking raiders played as important a part as Anglo-Saxon colonists in the history of early medieval Britain. A survey of the sword in Anglo-Saxon historical records and poetry isfollowed by an exploration of descriptions of the sword, and of the parts of the sword, in Old Norse literature. The real world of the Anglo-Saxons is brought into dramatic close-focus through this thorough study of the physical remains and literary memorials of a highly-charged symbol.

An examination of how the Roman past was perceived, and used, by Victorian Britain. The authority of classical texts was challenged in the mid-Victorian era through the unearthing of a very different "Rome" in the material remains under British soil. Developments in archaeology created a new picture of Roman Britain as wealthy and civilized - an image which sat more comfortably with the Victorians' own changing view of empire as they themselves became an imperial power. Changing intellectual ideas ensured that the Roman heritage could nolonger be seen solely as the preserve of the classically educated upper class: excavating with a spade allowed a larger audience to participate and own the Roman past. This book explores the whole phenomena, using archaeological activity in four British provincial towns (Caerleon, Cirencester, Colchester and Chester) to offer an explanation of how and why it happened, and providing authoritative and fresh insights into the way in which Victorian archaeology emerged, developed and altered how the modern world understood the ancient. In the process, it brings to the fore the frequently contradictory and confused ideas about Roman Britain in the Victorian imagination. VIRGINIA HOSELITZ gained her PhD at the Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Bristol.

This book is a volume in the Penn Press Anniversary Collection. To mark its 125th anniversary in 2015, the University of Pennsylvania Press rereleased more than 1,100 titles from Penn Press's distinguished backlist from 1899-1999 that had fallen out of print. Spanning an entire century, the Anniversary Collection offers peer-reviewed scholarship in a wide range of subject areas.

How and where did our ancestors live during the 8000 years between the end of Ice Age and the arrival of the Romans in AD 43? In tracing the variety and development of prehistoric settlements from the hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic to the tribes of the Iron Age, Dr Bewley takes a fresh look at all the key sites, from Star Carr in Yorkshire and other Mesolithic settlements, the causewayed camps of the Neolithic, the great Bronze Age landscapes to the Dartmoor and other land divisions, and the hillforts and farmsteads of the Iron Age. Throughout he concentrates on the close relationship between the individual site and the wider landscape, and on the ways that archaeologists discover, interpret and constantly reinterpret prehistoric settlements.