0
Your cart

Your cart is empty

Browse All Departments
Price
  • R50 - R100 (2)
  • R100 - R250 (16)
  • R250 - R500 (111)
  • R500+ (3,437)
  • -
Status
Format
Author / Contributor
Publisher

Books > Humanities > Archaeology > Archaeology by period / region > General

Beowulf and the North before the Vikings (Paperback, New edition): Tom Shippey Beowulf and the North before the Vikings (Paperback, New edition)
Tom Shippey
R631 Discovery Miles 6 310 Ships in 9 - 17 working days
Romanesque Patrons and Processes - Design and Instrumentality in the Art and Architecture of Romanesque Europe (Hardcover):... Romanesque Patrons and Processes - Design and Instrumentality in the Art and Architecture of Romanesque Europe (Hardcover)
Jordi Camps, Manuel Castineiras, John McNeill, Richard Plant
R4,283 Discovery Miles 42 830 Ships in 12 - 19 working days

The twenty-five papers in this volume arise from a conference jointly organised by the British Archaeological Association and the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona. They explore the making of art and architecture in Latin Europe and the Mediterranean between c. 1000 and c. 1250, with a particular focus on questions of patronage, design and instrumentality. No previous studies of patterns of artistic production during the Romanesque period rival the breadth of coverage encompassed by this volume - both in terms of geographical origin and media, and in terms of historical approach. Topics range from case studies on Santiago de Compostela, the Armenian Cathedral in Jerusalem and the Winchester Bible to reflections on textuality and donor literacy, the culture of abbatial patronage at Saint-Michel de Cuxa and the re-invention of slab relief sculpture around 1100. The volume also includes papers that attempt to recover the procedures that coloured interaction between artists and patrons - a serious theme in a collection that opens with 'Function, condition and process in eleventh-century Anglo-Norman church architecture' and ends with a consideration of 'The death of the patron'.

The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England - Its Archaeology and Literature (Paperback, New edition): Hilda R. Ellis Davidson The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England - Its Archaeology and Literature (Paperback, New edition)
Hilda R. Ellis Davidson
R640 Discovery Miles 6 400 Ships in 12 - 19 working days

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.

Colour and Light in Ancient and Medieval Art (Hardcover): Chloe N. Duckworth, Anne E. Sassin Colour and Light in Ancient and Medieval Art (Hardcover)
Chloe N. Duckworth, Anne E. Sassin
R4,878 Discovery Miles 48 780 Ships in 12 - 19 working days

The myriad ways in which colour and light have been adapted and applied in the art, architecture, and material culture of past societies is the focus of this interdisciplinary volume. Light and colour's iconographic, economic, and socio-cultural implications are considered by established and emerging scholars including art historians, archaeologists, and conservators, who address the variety of human experience of these sensory phenomena. In today's world it is the norm for humans to be surrounded by strong, artificial colours, and even to see colour as perhaps an inessential or surface property of the objects around us. Similarly, electric lighting has provided the power and ability to illuminate and manipulate environments in increasingly unprecedented ways. In the context of such a saturated experience, it becomes difficult to identify what is universal, and what is culturally specific about the human experience of light and colour. Failing to do so, however, hinders the capacity to approach how they were experienced by people of centuries past. By means of case studies spanning a broad historical and geographical context and covering such diverse themes as architecture, cave art, the invention of metallurgy, and medieval manuscript illumination, the contributors to this volume provide an up-to-date discussion of these themes from a uniquely interdisciplinary perspective. The papers range in scope from the meaning of colour in European prehistoric art to the technical art of the glazed tiles of the Shah mosque in Isfahan. Their aim is to explore a multifarious range of evidence and to evaluate and illuminate what is a truly enigmatic topic in the history of art and visual culture.

Inca Apocalypse - The Spanish Conquest and the Transformation of the Andean World (Hardcover): R. Alan Covey Inca Apocalypse - The Spanish Conquest and the Transformation of the Andean World (Hardcover)
R. Alan Covey
R1,124 R973 Discovery Miles 9 730 Save R151 (13%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Inca Apocalypse develops a new perspective on the European invasions of the Inca realm, and the way that the Spanish transformation of the Andes relates to broader changes occurring in the transition from medieval to early modern Europe. The book is structured to foreground some of the parallels in the imperial origins of the Incas and Spain, as well as some of the global processes affecting both societies during the first century of their interaction. The Spanish conquest of the Inca empire was more than a decisive victory at Cajamarca in 1532-it was an uneven process that failed to bring to pass the millenarian vision that set it in motion, yet it succeeded profoundly in some respects. The Incas and their Andean subjects were not passive victims of colonization, and indigenous complicity and resistance actively shaped Spanish colonial rule. As it describes the transformation of the Inca world, Inca Apocalypse attempts to build a more global context than previous accounts of the Spanish Conquest, and it seeks not to lose sight of the parallel changes occurring in Europe as Spain pursued state projects that complemented the colonial endeavors in the Americas. New archaeological and archival research makes it possible to frame a familiar story from a larger historical and geographical scale than has typically been considered. The new text will have solid scholarly foundations but a narrative intended to be accessible to non-academic readers.

The Archaeology of the Spanish Civil War (Paperback): Alfredo Gonzalez-Ruibal The Archaeology of the Spanish Civil War (Paperback)
Alfredo Gonzalez-Ruibal
R1,248 Discovery Miles 12 480 Ships in 9 - 17 working days

The Archaeology of the Spanish Civil War offers the first comprehensive account of the Spanish Civil War from an archaeological perspective, providing an alternative narrative on one of the most important conflicts of the twentieth century, widely seen as a prelude to the Second World War. Between 1936 and 1939, totalitarianism and democracy, fascism and revolution clashed in Spain, while the latest military technologies were being tested, including strategic bombing and combined arms warfare, and violence against civilians became widespread. Archaeology, however, complicates the picture as it brings forgotten actors into play: obsolete weapons, vernacular architecture, ancient structures (from Iron Age hillforts to sheepfolds), peasant traditions, and makeshift arms. By looking at these things, another story of the war unfolds, one that pays more attention to intimate experiences and anonymous individuals. Archaeology also helps to clarify battles, which were often chaotic and only partially documented, and to understand better the patterns of political violence, whose effects were literally buried for over 70 years. The narrative starts with the coup against the Second Spanish Republic on 18 July 1936, follows the massacres and battles that marked the path of the war, and ends in the early 1950s, when the last forced labor camps were closed and the anti-Francoist guerrillas suppressed. The book draws on 20 years of research to bring together perspectives from battlefield archaeology, archaeologies of internment, and forensics. It will be of interest to anybody interested in historical and contemporary archaeology, human rights violations, modern military history, and negative heritage.

The Maya - Lost Civilizations (Hardcover): Megan E O'Neil The Maya - Lost Civilizations (Hardcover)
Megan E O'Neil
R584 R528 Discovery Miles 5 280 Save R56 (10%) Ships in 9 - 17 working days

This book reveals how the ancient Maya - and their buildings, ideas, objects and identities - have been perceived, portrayed and exploited over 500 years in the Americas, Europe and beyond. Engaging in interdisciplinary analysis, the book summarizes ancient Maya art and history from the Preclassic period to the Spanish invasion, as well as the history of engagement with the ancient Maya, from Spanish invaders in the sixteenth century, to later explorers and archaeologists, taking in scientific literature, visual arts, architecture, world's fairs and Indigenous activism. It also looks at the decipherment of Maya inscriptions, Maya museum exhibitions and artists' responses, and contemporary Maya people's engagements with their ancestral past. Featuring the latest research, this book will interest scholars as well as general readers who wish to know more about this ancient, fascinating culture.

Representing Beasts in Early Medieval England and Scandinavia (Paperback): Michael Bintley, Thomas J.T. Williams Representing Beasts in Early Medieval England and Scandinavia (Paperback)
Michael Bintley, Thomas J.T. Williams; Contributions by Della Hooke, Eric Lacey, John Baker, …
R916 Discovery Miles 9 160 Ships in 9 - 17 working days

Essays on the depiction of animals, birds and insects in early medieval material culture, from texts to carvings to the landscape itself. For people in the early Middle Ages, the earth, air, water and ether teemed with other beings. Some of these were sentient creatures that swam, flew, slithered or stalked through the same environments inhabited by their human contemporaries. Others were objects that a modern beholder would be unlikely to think of as living things, but could yet be considered to possess a vitality that rendered them potent. Still others were things half glimpsed on a dark night or seen only in the mind's eye; strange beasts that haunted dreams and visions or inhabited exotic lands beyond the compass of everyday knowledge. This book discusses the various ways in which the early English and Scandinavians thought about and represented these other inhabitants of their world, and considers the multi-faceted nature of the relationship between people and beasts. Drawing on the evidence of material culture, art, language, literature, place-names and landscapes, the studies presented here reveal a world where the boundaries between humans, animals, monsters and objects were blurred and often permeable, and where to represent the bestial could be to holda mirror to the self. MICHAEL D.J. BINTLEY is Lecturer in Early Medieval Literature and Culture at Birkbeck, University of London; THOMAS WILLIAMS is a former curator of Early Medieval Coins at the British Museum. Contributors: Noël Adams, John Baker, Michael D. J. Bintley, Sue Brunning, László Sándor Chardonnens, Della Hooke, Eric Lacey, Richard North, Marijane Osborn, Victoria Symons, Thomas J. Williams

African Re-Genesis - Confronting Social Issues in the Diaspora (Paperback): Jay B. Haviser, Kevin C. MacDonald African Re-Genesis - Confronting Social Issues in the Diaspora (Paperback)
Jay B. Haviser, Kevin C. MacDonald
R1,341 Discovery Miles 13 410 Ships in 12 - 19 working days

Ripped from motherland and family, ethnically mixed to quell the potential of uprisings, and brutalized by regimes of hard labor, the heart - the spirit - of Africa did not stop beating in the New World. Rather, it survived and has re-emerged; changed by contacts with new cultures and environments, but still part of the continuum of African tradition: an African Re-Genesis. This is the first volume in its field to emphasize the interdisciplinary temporal and geographic comparative research of Archaeology, Anthropology, History and Linguistics to allow us to form unique perspectives on broader trends in the transformation and (re-) emergence of African Diaspora cultures. African Re-Genesis confirms that regardless of discipline, from continental Africa to Europe, the Western Hemisphere and Indian Ocean, all Diaspora research requires a relevance to modern communities and sensitivity to the interplay with contemporary cultural identities. Matters concerning race and cultural diversity, though ostensibly de-fused by the vocabulary of political correctness, remain contentious. Indeed, the topic of racial relations has become to the twenty-first century what sex was to the nineteenth century - something best not discussed in public, and better talked around than confronted directly. African Re-Genesis strikes at the nerve of urgency that the past, present and future globalization of African cultures, is a cornerstone of the entire human experience, and it thus deserves recognition as such.

The Political Economy of Craft Production - Crafting Empire in South India, c.1350-1650 (Hardcover): Carla M. Sinopoli The Political Economy of Craft Production - Crafting Empire in South India, c.1350-1650 (Hardcover)
Carla M. Sinopoli
R3,221 Discovery Miles 32 210 Ships in 12 - 19 working days

Carla Sinopoli examines a diverse range of crafts to explore the role and significance of craft production in the political economy of the fourteenth through seventeenth-century South Indian Vijayanagara empire. Ranging from poetry to pottery, Sinopoli utilizes evidence from twenty years of fieldwork at the Vijayanagara capital, one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world in its time. This book is a broad-ranging study of craft production in South Asia, as well as other early state empires.

The Life of Trade - Events and Happenings in the Niumi's Atlantic Center (Hardcover): Liza Gijanto The Life of Trade - Events and Happenings in the Niumi's Atlantic Center (Hardcover)
Liza Gijanto
R4,876 Discovery Miles 48 760 Ships in 12 - 19 working days

The Life of Trade utilizes archaeological and historical sources to address the dynamic nature of the Atlantic trade on the Gambia River. Taking a fresh multi-disciplinary approach, the book highlights the region's atypical position as a commercial crossroads and access point for both interior and Atlantic markets. This engagement with a diversified commodities trade brought about the formation of a multi-ethnic, multi-religious community which was supported by, and reliant on, economic exchange. Gijanto situates the Niumi Kingdom within the emerging capitalist world-system through the analysis of data collected from archaeological excavations at four sites: the central multi-ethnic trading village of Juffure, the associated British merchant company factory there, and the two nearby settlements of San Domingo and Lamin Conco. As part of the Atlantic world, residents were in a continual process of negotiation between their local socio-economic structures and the commodities and ideas introduced by foreign traders. Gijanto sheds light on these interactions, exploring the impact of increased access to wealth by examining a number of excavated objects associated with public display, including European glass trading beads, faunal and botanical remains and locally produced ceramics. Presenting new perspectives on the complex nature of the Atlantic trade in the region The Life of Trade enriches our understanding of this period of great change in West Africa.

Sacrifice, Violence, and Ideology Among the Moche - The Rise of Social Complexity in Ancient Peru (Hardcover): Steve Bourget Sacrifice, Violence, and Ideology Among the Moche - The Rise of Social Complexity in Ancient Peru (Hardcover)
Steve Bourget
R2,030 R1,882 Discovery Miles 18 820 Save R148 (7%) Ships in 12 - 19 working days

In a special precinct dedicated to ritual sacrifice at Huaca de la Luna on the north coast of Peru, about seventy-five men were killed and dismembered, their remains and body parts then carefully rearranged and left on the ground with numerous offerings. The discovery of this large sacrificial site-one of the most important sites of this type in the Americas-raises fundamental questions. Why was human sacrifice so central to Moche ideology and religion? And why is sacrifice so intimately related to the notions of warfare and capture? In this pioneering book, Steve Bourget marshals all the currently available information from the archaeology and visual culture of Huaca de la Luna as he seeks to understand the centrality of human sacrifice in Moche ideology and, more broadly, the role(s) of violence in the development of social complexity. He begins by providing a fully documented account of the archaeological contexts, demonstrating how closely interrelated these contexts are to the rest of Moche material culture, including its iconography, the regalia of its elite, and its monumental architecture. Bourget then probes the possible meanings of ritual violence and human sacrifice and their intimate connections with concepts of divinity, ancestry, and foreignness. He builds a convincing case that the iconography of ritual violence and the practice of human sacrifice at all the principal Moche ceremonial centers were the main devices used in the establishment and development of the Moche state.

At Home with the Aztecs - An Archaeologist Uncovers Their Daily Life (Paperback): Michael Smith At Home with the Aztecs - An Archaeologist Uncovers Their Daily Life (Paperback)
Michael Smith
R1,482 Discovery Miles 14 820 Ships in 12 - 19 working days

At Home with the Aztecs provides a fresh view of Aztec society, focusing on households and communities instead of kings, pyramids, and human sacrifice. This new approach offers an opportunity to humanize the Aztecs, moving past the popular stereotype of sacrificial maniacs to demonstrate that these were successful and prosperous communities. Michael Smith also engagingly describes the scientific, logistic and personal dimensions of archaeological fieldwork, drawing on decades of excavating experience and considering how his research was affected by his interaction with contemporary Mexican communities. Through first-hand accounts of the ways archaeologists interpret sites and artifacts, the book illuminates how the archaeological process can provide information about ancient families. Facilitating a richer understanding of the Aztec world, Smith's research also redefines success, prosperity and resilience in ancient societies, making this book suitable not only for those interested in the Aztecs but in the examination of complex societies in general.

The Adventurous Life of Amelia B. Edwards - Egyptologist, Novelist, Activist (Paperback): Margaret C. Jones The Adventurous Life of Amelia B. Edwards - Egyptologist, Novelist, Activist (Paperback)
Margaret C. Jones
R533 Discovery Miles 5 330 Ships in 9 - 17 working days

In Victorian England, Amelia B. Edwards was an iconic cultural figure, admired by Trollope and Browning for her best-selling fiction and by the wider public for her witty, thought-provoking travel writing. In later life, she became a celebrated historian, bringing fresh understanding of the world of Ancient Egypt to a fascinated public and founding the Egyptian Exploration Fund (Society). This new biography uses previously overlooked sources to tell the story of her fascinating and unconventional life - her travels, travails and feminist activism - as well as touching on her occasionally problematic views on race. In appreciation of a figure ahead of her time, it examines her involvement in suffrage and animal rights societies as well as revealing new insights into Edwards’ loving same-sex relationships with Ellen Rice Byrne and Lucy Renshaw. In doing so, it reveals a versatile, creative, witty, independent woman, and a true pioneer of her time.

Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England (Paperback, Revised): Barbara Yorke Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England (Paperback, Revised)
Barbara Yorke
R1,552 Discovery Miles 15 520 Ships in 12 - 19 working days


Author Biography:
Barbara Yorke is a Senior Lecturer in History and Archaeology, King Alfred's College, Winchester.

Harpole - The landscape of a Roman villa at Panattoni Park, Northamptonshire (Paperback): Andrew Simmonds Harpole - The landscape of a Roman villa at Panattoni Park, Northamptonshire (Paperback)
Andrew Simmonds; Edited by Steve Lawrence
R699 Discovery Miles 6 990 Ships in 9 - 17 working days

Excavations at Panattoni Park, at Harpole within the Nene Valley west of Northampton, uncovered part of a Roman villa and evidence for preceding prehistoric and early Roman settlement. The earliest evidence was a Mesolithic flint-knapping site. During the early Iron Age or at the start of the middle Iron Age, a pit alignment was constructed running down the valley side. A middle Iron Age settlement of at least seven roundhouses lay 450m to the east of the pit alignment. It is likely that both the boundary and the settlement were associated with cattle grazing on the valley floor, and the settlement may have been seasonally occupied. An enclosure complex was constructed against the pit alignment during the late Iron Age and occupied until c AD 50/70, after which there was an apparent hiatus of about a century before the establishment of the villa during the mid-2nd century. The villa was first discovered in the 1840s when a mosaic was accidentally uncovered. It was believed to have been largely destroyed during widening of the adjacent A4500 road in 1966 when excavation of only a small area was possible. However, the new excavation has demonstrated the survival of part of the main villa complex, including a substantial aisled building that may have formed the southern range. An extensive part of the agricultural landscape surrounding the villa was investigated, including an area devoted to malting and an enclosure complex used as a stockyard for processing livestock. A further notable find was a small hoard of mower's tools, perhaps the toolkit of an individual agricultural worker. A building interpreted as a temple-mausoleum of Romano-Celtic form situated beside a spring channel was also investigated. Pollen from the channel indicating the presence of a walnut grove may be the earliest definite evidence for the cultivation of walnut trees in Britain.

Treasures from Native California - The Legacy of Russian Exploration (Paperback): Travis Hudson Treasures from Native California - The Legacy of Russian Exploration (Paperback)
Travis Hudson; Edited by Thomas Blackburn; Craig D Bates; Edited by John R. Johnson
R1,278 Discovery Miles 12 780 Ships in 12 - 19 working days

The brief Russian presence in California yielded some of the earliest ethnography of Native Californians and some of the best collections of their material culture. Unstudied by western scholars because of their being housed in Russian museums, they are presented here for the first time in an English language volume. Descriptions of early nineteenth-century travelers such as von Wrangel and Voznesenskii are followed by a catalog of objects ranging from hunting weapons to household objects to ritual dress to musical instruments, games, and gift objects. This catalog of objects includes over 150 images, many in full color. An essential volume for those interested in the ethnology, archaeology, art, and cultures of Native Californians.

The Peopling of East Asia - Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics (Paperback): Roger Blench, Laurent Sagart,... The Peopling of East Asia - Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics (Paperback)
Roger Blench, Laurent Sagart, Alicia Sanchez-Mazas
R1,542 Discovery Miles 15 420 Ships in 12 - 19 working days

One of the most dynamic research areas in the prehistory of East Asian regions is the synthesis of the findings of archaeology, linguistics and genetics. Several countries have only recently opened to field research and highly active local groups have made possible a raft of collaborative studies that would have been impossible even a decade ago. This book presents an overview of the most recent findings in all these fields. It will be of great interest to scholars of all disciplines working on the reconstruction of the East Asian past.

The Rise of Early Rome - Transportation Networks and Domination in Central Italy, 1050–500 BC (Hardcover): Francesca... The Rise of Early Rome - Transportation Networks and Domination in Central Italy, 1050–500 BC (Hardcover)
Francesca Fulminante
R2,613 Discovery Miles 26 130 Ships in 12 - 19 working days

The trajectory of Rome from a small village in Latium vetus, to an emerging power in Italy during the first millennium BC, and finally, the heart of an Empire that sprawled throughout the Mediterranean and much of Europe until the 5th century CE, is well known. Its rise is often presented as inevitable and unstoppable. Yet the factors that contributed to Rome's rise to power are not well understood. Why Rome and not Veii? In this book, Francesca Fulminante offers a fresh approach to this question through the use of a range of methods. Adopting quantitative analyses and a novel network perspective, she focuses on transportation systems in Etruria and Latium Italy from ca. 1000–500 BC. Fulminante reveals the multiple factors that contributed to the emergence and dominance of Rome within these regional networks, and the critical role they in the rise of the city and, ultimately, Roman imperialism.

Roman and Medieval Carlisle - The Northern Lanes Volume Two: The medieval and post-medieval periods (Paperback): John Zant,... Roman and Medieval Carlisle - The Northern Lanes Volume Two: The medieval and post-medieval periods (Paperback)
John Zant, Christine Howard-Davis
R890 Discovery Miles 8 900 Ships in 9 - 17 working days

Carlisle City Council redeveloped the Lanes from the mid-1970s, a densely built-up area in the north-east corner of the city's historic core, crossed by 19 narrow 'vennels'. These, together with most of the adjacent buildings, were swept away by the construction of the Lanes shopping centre. Previous archaeological work had confirmed complex Roman and medieval deposits on the site, most of which would be destroyed by the development, and many of the buildings were of historical and architectural interest. A programme of archaeological and historical investigation, including building recording, was therefore undertaken, principally funded by Carlisle City Council, the Department of the Environment (now Historic England), and the Manpower Services Commission, completed between 1978 and 1982. Historic England also funded the post-excavation analysis and this publication. The Lanes remains one of the largest and most significant archaeological projects ever undertaken in northern England. The project was split into the northern and southern Lanes, the results of the latter being published in 2000, though it only included a summary of the standing-building survey. This volume, the companion to the 2019 publication of the Roman remains at the northern site, presents the evidence for post-Roman activity. The site appears to have been abandoned by the fifth century, layers of 'dark earth' accumulating over the latest Roman levels. Several decades after Carlisle was re-established by William II, narrow burgage plots were created, extending from Scotch Street to the recently constructed city wall. These were intensively occupied from then on and yielded a wealth of evidence for the everyday lives of the inhabitants. Around the mid-thirteenth century, the lanes themselves were created between these plots, probably to improve access, and this distinctive pattern of land-use persisted until the modern redevelopment.

Mesopotamia - Writing, Reasoning And The Gods (Paperback, New edition): Jean Bottero Mesopotamia - Writing, Reasoning And The Gods (Paperback, New edition)
Jean Bottero
R1,099 Discovery Miles 10 990 Ships in 12 - 19 working days

Our ancestors, the Mesopotamians, invented writing and with it a new way of looking at the world. In this collection of essays, the French scholar Jean Bottero attempts to go back to the moment which marks the very beginning of history.
To give the reader some sense of how Mesopotamian civilization has been mediated and interpreted in its transmission through time, Bottero begins with an account of Assyriology, the discipline devoted to the ancient culture. This transmission, compounded with countless discoveries, would not have been possible without the surprising decipherment of the cuneiform writing system. Bottero also focuses on divination in the ancient world, contending that certain modes of worship in Mesopotamia, in their application of causality and proof, prefigure the "scientific mind."

Ruins of Desert Cathay - Personal Narrative of Explorations in Central Asia and Westernmost China (Paperback): 'M. Aurel... Ruins of Desert Cathay - Personal Narrative of Explorations in Central Asia and Westernmost China (Paperback)
'M. Aurel Stein
R2,004 Discovery Miles 20 040 Ships in 12 - 19 working days

In this two-volume work, published in 1912, the Hungarian-born archaeologist Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943) describes his second expedition to the deserts of Chinese Turkestan in 1906-8. (His account of his first expedition, Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan (1903), is also reissued in this series.) Stein intended this account to be read by non-specialists, and, like his previous book, it is highly illustrated and full of interesting details about his journey and the people he met en route, as well as of the important archaeological discoveries which still link his name with the civilisation of this remote and dangerous area. In Volume 1, Stein describes the problems of setting up the expedition and the excitement and perils of the route, which took him through the tribal areas of the North-West Frontier and the kingdom of Afghanistan, ending with his arrival at the western extremity of the Great Wall of China.

The Palace of Minos - A Comparative Account of the Successive Stages of the Early Cretan Civilization as Illustrated by the... The Palace of Minos - A Comparative Account of the Successive Stages of the Early Cretan Civilization as Illustrated by the Discoveries at Knossos (Paperback)
Arthur Evans
R1,790 Discovery Miles 17 900 Ships in 12 - 19 working days

Inspired by Schliemann's discoveries at Mycenae and Troy, Sir Arthur John Evans (1851-1941), keeper of Oxford's Ashmolean Museum from 1884 to 1908, trustee of the British Museum and fellow of the Royal Society, used his inherited wealth to purchase land in Crete at Knossos. From 1900 he commenced excavations there in co-operation with the British School at Athens. Work continued for eight full seasons, uncovering a Bronze Age palace and bringing to light further architectural and artefactual remains of Minoan civilisation, including numerous texts in Linear A and Linear B. Evans' speculative reconstruction of the site in reinforced concrete remains controversial, and some of his interpretations are disputed, but his pioneering work is painstakingly detailed in this highly illustrated multi-volume work, published between 1921 and 1935, with an index volume appearing in 1936. Part 2 of Volume 2 first appeared in 1928.

Art and Archaeology of Ancient India - Earliest Times to the Sixth Century (Hardcover): Naman P Ahuja Art and Archaeology of Ancient India - Earliest Times to the Sixth Century (Hardcover)
Naman P Ahuja
R1,343 R1,081 Discovery Miles 10 810 Save R262 (20%) Ships in 12 - 19 working days

The Ashmolean Museum is fortunate in having the most comprehensive British collection of the art of the Indian subcontinent outside London. Especially strong in sculpture, this rich representation of Indian art from prehistory to the twentieth century has come about through the generosity of our benefactors over more than three centuries. The Museum's first major Indian sculpture acquisition, a stone Pala-style Vishnu image of the eleventh century, was given in 1686 by Sir William Hedges, a governor of the East India Company in Bengal. From the late nineteenth century, a substantial core of the present collection was assembled at the University's former Indian Institute Museum (1897-1962), precursor of the Department of Eastern Art, which opened within the Ashmolean in 1963. Since that date many more Indian objects of all periods have been acquired by gift, bequest or purchase.

Sepphoris I - The Pottery from Ancient Sepphoris (Hardcover): Eric M. Meyers, Carol L. Meyers Sepphoris I - The Pottery from Ancient Sepphoris (Hardcover)
Eric M. Meyers, Carol L. Meyers; Contributions by Marva Balouka, Anna De Vincenz
R1,804 Discovery Miles 18 040 Ships in 12 - 19 working days

Sepphoris, “the ornament of all Galilee” according to Josephus, was an important Galilean site during the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods and into early Islamic times. It served as Herod Antipas’s capital of Galilee in the late first century B.C.E. and the early first century C.E., and the Sanhedrin (the supreme Jewish judicial authority) was located there for a time in the third century C.E. Extensive excavations on the western acropolis—probably the location of many of the Jewish occupants of this multicultural city—by the Duke University-Hebrew University project in the mid- to late 1980s and the Duke excavations of the 1990s produced a remarkable assemblage of ceramic wares. This book provides an overview of the history and chronology of the site. It then presents a detailed examination of the pottery. Featuring 55 plates with line-drawings as well as some photos of the various ceramic types, this important publication will be essential for all studies of the archaeology of early Judaism and Christianity in the Holy Land.

Free Delivery
Pinterest Twitter Facebook Google+
You may like...
The Temple Revealed - The True Location…
Christian Widener Hardcover R894 Discovery Miles 8 940
The Archaeology of the Cold War
Todd A Hanson Hardcover R2,106 Discovery Miles 21 060
Ajanta Paintings - A compilation of 84…
Rajesh Kumar Singh Hardcover R1,017 R867 Discovery Miles 8 670
Handbook of Research on Emerging…
Alfonso Ippolito Hardcover R7,370 Discovery Miles 73 700
Stones of Contention
Timothy Ives Hardcover R918 R796 Discovery Miles 7 960
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia…
Sharon R. Steadman, Gregory McMahon Hardcover R6,748 Discovery Miles 67 480
Archaeology of Iran in the Historical…
Kamal Aldin Niknami, Ali Hozhabri Hardcover R3,902 Discovery Miles 39 020
Numismatic Archaeology of North America…
Marjorie H Akin, James C Bard, … Paperback R2,052 Discovery Miles 20 520
Secret Britain - Unearthing our…
Mary-Ann Ochota Paperback R488 Discovery Miles 4 880
Dogs in the Athenian Agora
Colin Whiting Paperback R282 R250 Discovery Miles 2 500

 

Partners