Fierce warriors and skilled craftsmen, the Celts were famous throughout the Ancient Mediterranean World. They were the archetypal barbarians from the north and were feared by both Greeks and Romans. For two and a half thousand years they have continued to fascinate those who have come into contact with them, yet their origins have remained a mystery and even today are the subject of heated debate among historians and archaeologists. Barry Cunliffe's classic study of the ancient Celtic world was first published in 1997. Since then huge advances have taken place in our knowledge: new finds, new ways of using DNA records to understand Celtic origins, new ideas about the proto-urban nature of early chieftains' strongholds, All these developments are part of this fully updated , and completely redesigned edition. Cunliffe explores the archaeological reality of these bold warriors and skilled craftsmen of barbarian Europe who inspired fear in both the Greeks and the Romans. He investigates the texts of the classical writers and contrasts their view of the Celts with current archaeological findings. Tracing the emergence of chiefdoms and the fifth- to third-century migrations as far as Bosnia and the Czech Republic, he assesses the disparity between the traditional story and the most recent historical and archaeological evidence on the Celts. Other aspects of Celtic identity such as the cultural diversity of the tribes, their social and religious systems, art, language and law, are also examined. From the picture that emerges, we are - crucially - able to distinguish between the original Celts, and those tribes which were 'Celtized', giving us an invaluable insight into the true identity of this ancient people.

Lacking the grand-scale, pre-Columbian alterations to landscapes brought about by the repeated rise and fall of states and empires, the focus of North American archaeologists has been on native foragers and villagers. Since the quincentennial of Columbus's voyage, North America has also become a hotbed for studies of culture contact, transculturation, and ethnogenesis. These recent developments have reshaped North American archaeology--bridging the divide between history and prehistory and between the practices of everyday life and global cultural change.

"North American Archaeology" offers readers a rich and informative text organized around central topics and debates within the discipline that are illustrated by case studies from different regions and time periods. Based on the lives of real people and the historical changes that they experienced in the past, these case studies emphasize human agency, cultural practice, the body, issues of inequality, and the politics of archaeological practice. By highlighting current understandings of cultural and historical processes in North America and situating these understandings within a global perspective, this volume will inspire not only students and scholars of North American archaeology but will undoubtedly spark the imaginations of the many individuals interested in the rich history and cultures of North American peoples.

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.

Archaeological investigations were carried out by Oxford Archaeology between 2008 and 2016 within DP World London Gateway Port and Logistics Park near Stanford-le-Hope in Essex and on the site of a compensatory wildlife habitat on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent. Some 40 sites were the subject of some form of archaeological assessment, and of these, 16 contained significant archaeological remains or were otherwise important to the understanding of the area. The combined evidence paints a picture of life on the edge of the Thames Estuary from early prehistory to the 20th century. The discoveries show how the area has attracted settlers, farmers and traders since prehistory. People came to the marshes in Mesolithic and Neolithic times, perhaps on a seasonal basis, to hunt, and gather plants and seafood. In the late Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman periods, people trapped seawater to extract salt, a valuable commodity used for food preservation. In the medieval period, the marshland offered unrivalled pasture for the sheep and cattle belonging to upland farms on the gravel terraces. Over time, the marshes were drained to increase the pasture and the value of the farming estates. The creeks that snaked through the marshes were a means of communication and trade. A timber wharf, built in the 16th century, was recorded on the edge of one such creek. In modern times, the sparsely populated area proved an ideal location for the establishment of oil refineries and other industries, positioning London Gateway at the heart of British trade. The area has also inspired artists, writers and filmmakers. This volume joins two others - London Gateway: Maritime Archaeology in the Thames Estuary and London Gateway: Iron Age and Roman Salt Making in the Thames Estuary - that explore the archaeology and heritage of the London Gateway site.

This book presents archaeological research conducted within the Highlands of Sicily. Results of an archaeological survey in the Madonie mountain range, in northern Sicily, supported by a chronological and cultural grid, drawn by the excavation of Vallone Inferno, deal with complex and fascinating problems of uplands and mountainous landscape. Settlement patterns, between the Late Pleistocene and the Medieval era, are investigated through the support of spatial analyses. A diversified use of the mountain is currently attested by this research, according to the different prehistoric and historical times. This work is innovative for the Mediterranean area, where there are no similar examples of such extensive territorial research in a mountainous context. The research has been focused on particular aspects of ancient peopling: economic and social issues, human-environment interactions and the long term interest in the mountain range.

The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas, Volume II: Mesoamerica, gives a comprehensive and authoritative overview of all the important native civilizations of the Mesoamerican area, beginning with archaeological discussions of paleoindian, archaic and preclassic societies and continuing to the present. Fully illustrated and engagingly written, the book is divided into sections that discuss the native cultures of Mesoamerica before and after their first contact with the Europeans. The various chapters balance theoretical points of view as they trace the cultural history and evolutionary development of such groups as the Olmec, the Maya, the Aztec, the Zapotec, and the Tarascan.

The current paradigm-changing ancient DNA revolution is offering unparalleled insights into central problems within archaeology relating to the movement of populations and individuals, patterns of descent, relationships and aspects of identity – at many scales and of many different kinds. The impact of recent ancient DNA results can be seen particularly clearly in studies of the European Neolithic, the subject of contributions presented in this volume. We now have new evidence for the movement and mixture of people at the start of the Neolithic, as farming spread from the east, and at its end, when the first metals as well as novel styles of pottery and burial practices arrived in the Chalcolithic. In addition, there has been a wealth of new data to inform complex questions of identities and relationships. The terms of archaeological debate for this period have been permanently altered, leaving us with many issues. This volume stems from the online day conference of the Neolithic Studies Group held in November 2021, which aimed to bring geneticists and archaeologists together in the same forum, and to enable critical but constructive inter-disciplinary debate about key themes arising from the application of advanced ancient DNA analysis to the study of the European Neolithic. The resulting papers gathered here are by both geneticists and archaeologists. Individually, they form a series of significant, up-to-date, period and regional syntheses of various manifestations of the Neolithic across the Near East and Europe, including particularly Britain and Ireland. Together, they offer wide-ranging reflections on the progress of ancient DNA studies, and on their future reach and character.

Ancient Nasca culture of the south coast of Peru is famous for its magnificent polychrome ceramics, textiles, and other works of art, as well as the enigmatic ground markings on the desert plain at Nasca. In the past two decades much has become known about the people who produced these fascinating works. This scholarly yet accessible book provides a penetrating examination of this important civilization. It traces the history of archaeological research on the south coast and reveals the misconceptions that became canonized in the scholarly literature. Based on years of fieldwork by the authors in the region, it provides a comprehensive and readable analysis of ancient Nasca society, examining Nasca social and political organization, religion, and art. The highlight for many readers will be the chapter on the Nazca Lines which debunks Erich von D'niken's contention that the desert markings were made by extraterrestrials.

This well-illustrated, concise text will serve as a benchmark study of the Nasca people and culture for years to come.

This is an in-depth treatment of the antecedents and first flourescence of early state and urban societies in lowland Mesopotamia over nearly three millennia, from approximately 5000 to 2100 BC. The approach is explicitly anthropological, drawing on contemporary theoretical perspectives to enrich our understanding of the ancient Mesopotamian past. It explores the ways people of different genders and classes contributed and responded to political, economic, and ideological changes. The interpretations are based on studies of regional settlement patterns, faunal remains, artifact distributions and activity patterning, iconography, texts and burials.

The extraordinary array of images included in this volume reveals the full and rich history of the Middle Ages. Exploring material objects from the European, Byzantine and Islamic worlds, the book casts a new light on the cultures that formed them, each culture illuminated by its treasures. The objects are divided among four topics: The Holy and the Faithful; The Sinful and the Spectral; Daily Life and Its Fictions, and Death and Its Aftermath. Each section is organized chronologically, and every object is accompanied by a penetrating essay that focuses on its visual and cultural significance within the wider context in which the object was made and used. Spot maps add yet another way to visualize and consider the significance of the objects and the history that they reveal. Lavishly illustrated, this is an appealing and original guide to the cultural history of the Middle Ages.

This volume contains 12 studies on political, social, economic, and religious aspects of the history of Central Asia and Iran in the period from the fourth century B.C.E. to the fifth century C.E. by leading specialists in the field. They interpret and reconstructing the region's past based on various kinds of evidence, including literary, archaeological, linguistic, and numismatic. Some papers present the findings of recent archaeological excavations in Old Nisa and Uzbekistan for the first time.

In 2006, the American School of Classical Studies at Athens celebrates seventy five years of archaeological work in the Athenian Agora, the civic center of classical Athens. Since the first trench was dug on May 25th 1931, excavations have continued in a series of yearly campaigns, only briefly interrupted by the Second World War. The impact of the discoveries made on our understanding of Athenian history and topography is well-documented, but relatively little has been published about the fascinating history of the Agora excavations from the clearing of one of the most densely settled areas of Ottoman Athens at the start of the enterprise to the reconstruction of the Stoa of Attalos twenty five years later to house the finds. This book fills that gap, presenting a pictorial history of the project illustrated with many archival photographs. Rather than taking a simple chronological approach, the authors focus on some of the greatest contributions of the American School's work, such as the reconstruction of the Church of the Holy Apostles from 1954-1956 and the painstaking work involved in re-building the Stoa. are a number of maps and diagrams placing the images in context.

"The Egyptians" is a vibrant, accessible introduction to the people who lived along the Nile for almost thirty-five centuries. In this collection of essays, eleven internationally renowned Egyptologists present studies of ancient Egyptians arranged by social type--slaves, craftsmen, priests, bureaucrats, the pharaoh, peasants, and women, among others. These individual essays are filled with a wealth of historical detail that both informs and fascinates: we learn, for example, that Egyptian peasants could not afford burial (their corpses were abandoned on the desert fringe), and that it was the bureaucrats who made the Egyptian system tick (the pyramids could not have been built without them).
Read consecutively, the portraits merge to create a larger picture of Egyptian culture, state, and society. The framework of the Egyptian state, in particular, is touched upon in each essay, describing the meticulous administration and well-organized hierarchical system that fostered centuries of stability and prosperity.

Placing Bruno--both advanced philosopher and magician burned at the stake--in the Hermetic tradition, Yates's acclaimed study gives an overview not only of Renaissance humanism but of its interplay--and conflict--with magic and occult practices.
"Among those who have explored the intellectual world of the sixteenth century no one in England can rival Miss Yates. Wherever she looks, she illuminates. Now she has looked on Bruno. This brilliant book takes time to digest, but it is an intellectual adventure to read it. Historians of ideas, of religion, and of science will study it. Some of them, after reading it, will have to think again. . . . For Miss Yates has put Bruno, for the first time, in his tradition, and has shown what that tradition was."--Hugh Trevor-Roper, "New Statesman"
"A decisive contribution to the understanding of Giordano Bruno, this book will probably remove a great number of misrepresentations that still plague the tormented figure of the Nolan prophet."--Giorgio de Santillana, "American Historical Review"
"Yates's book is an important addition to our knowledge of Giordano Bruno. But it is even more important, I think, as a step toward understanding the unity of the sixteenth century."--J. Bronowski, "New York Review of Books"

In the tenth century AD, a remarkable cultural development took place in the harsh and forbidding San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico. From small-scale, simply organised, prehistoric Pueblo societies, a complex and socially differentiated political system emerged which has become known as the Chaco Phenomenon. The origins, evolution, and decline of this system have long been the subject of intense archaeological debate. Lynne Sebastian examines the transition of the Chaco system from an acephalous society, in which leadership was situational and most decision making carried out within kinship structures, to a hierarchically organised political structure with institutional roles of leadership. She argues that harsh environmental factors were not the catalyst for the transition, as has previously been thought. Rather, the increasing political complexity was a consequence of improved rainfall in the region which permitted surplus production, thus allowing those farming the best land to capitalise on the material success. By combining information on political evolution with archaeological data and the results of a computer simulation, she is able to produce a sociopolitically based model of the rise, florescence, and decline of the Chaco Phenomenon.

This lavishly illustrated volume presents a comprehensive architectural study of 87 individual temples and sanctuaries built in the Roman East between the end of the 1st century BCE and the end of the 3rd century CE, within a broad region encompassing the modern states of Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan. Religious architecture gave faithful expression to the complexity of the Roman East and to its multiplicity of traditions pertaining to ethnic and religious aspects as well as to the powerful influence of Imperial Rome. The source of this power lay in the uniformity of the architectural language, the inventory of forms, the choice of styles and the spatial layout of the buildings. Thus, while temples have an eclectic character, there is an underlying unity of form comprising the podium, the stairway between the terminating walls (antae) and the columns along the entrance front - in other words, the axiality, frontality and symmetry of the temple as viewed from outside. The temples and sanctuaries studied in this volume demonstrate individual nuances of plan, spatial design, location in the sanctuary and interrelations with the immediate vicinity but can be divided into two main categories: Vitruvian temples (derived from Hellenistic-Roman architecture) and Non-Vitruvian temples (those with plans and spatial designs that cannot be analysed according to architectural criteria such as those defined by Vitruvius). The individual descriptions presented focus solely upon the analysis of the external and internal space of the temples of all types and do not involve any cultural or ethnic discussion.

This volume provides an entirely fresh, comprehensive treatment of the Battle of Qadesh and all the other wars and campaigns of Ramesses II. It develops the reader's understanding of both events and records and is enhanced by a full set of new maps of campaigns.

The author provides new analyses of the relations between the Egyptian and Hittite empires, incorporating the cuneiform evidence. He reviews the monumental remains of the great Delta cities with the use of "virtual maps," and assigns them to particular temples. The volume also reassesses the king's works throughout Nubia, closely defines the careers of various members of his royal family and reveals the significance of many lesser sites and remains for the first time.

This volume is the indispensable companion to the "Ramesside Inscriptions Translations, Volume II." Used together, the two volumes provide an essential source for the study of the reign of Egypt's most spectacular pharaoh.

Twenty-three of the most influential essays by leading scholars are brought together in this "Reader," revealing the rich variety of cultures and societies that existed in ancient Mesoamerica. Expert editorial introductions explain the context and significance of the contributions, and extensive bibliographies facilitate further research.

This illustrated volume includes the results of the most up-to-date research on a wide range of social practices, cultures, and time periods. Among the subjects addressed are social, economic, and political organization, as well as religion and ideology. The readings are arranged thematically rather than by region in order to compare the main characteristics of Mesoamerican city and rural life, and to bring out both the unity and diversity of these ancient peoples.

The Moche civilization was created by the people who lived in the arid coastal regions of Northern Peru from around AD 100 to AD 700. This civilization had long been known for the great mud-brick pyramids that tower over the river valleys, for the splendor of its art and for its agricultural prowess. However, the social organization and political history that underlay these achievements remained generally obscure. At the end of the 1980s our vision of Moche society was suddenly and irrevocably altered. A series of discoveries on the North coast of Peru revealed stunning artistic and technological achievements and caused a dramatic revision of the sophistication and power of Moche society. This is the first book to describe this ancient civilization in the light of the new evidence. In the first part of the book the author examines the integral relationship between the Moche people and their physical world, their economy, and everyday life at all levels of society. He describes the symbols of religion and myth and shows how these were vital participants in rituals, often involving human sacrifice, that served to maintain balance with the unpredictable forces of nature while at the same time reinforcing the power of the rulers. In the second part of the book the author investigates the origins of Moche society in the first two millennia BC, the emergence of Moche society and the evolution of its cultural and political pre-eminence. The picture that emerges is of a brilliant manifestation of Andean culture within whose society diversity and tension were as evident as unity and whose development and decline were shaped by the attributes of its own peculiar history and by the region in which it flourished. This vivid evocation of an ancient civilization is both enlivened and deepened by the author's sympathetic understanding of customs, rituals and myths which to modern eyes may seem both strange and terrible. It will be widely welcomed by scholars and students of South American archaeology and history, and by those curious to know more about a civilization that for thirteen centuries was largely forgotten.

In the fall of 1863, Knoxville came under Union occupation, and troops went immediately to work to strengthen existing defenses and construct new ones. The most important of these was the earthwork atop a hill west of the city that came to be known as Fort Sanders. The fort would be the site of a critical battle on November 29, in which General James Longstreet's Southern forces mounted a bold but ill-conceived assault that lasted only twenty minutes yet resulted in over eight hundred Rebel casualties. The completion of the fort under General Davis Tilson would safeguard Knoxville from further attack for the rest of the war. Rediscovering Fort Sanders is a unique book that combines a narrative history of pre-Civil War Knoxville, the war years and continuing construction of Fort Sanders, the failed attempts to preserve the postwar fort, and the events which led to its almost total destruction. Research by Terry and Charles Faulkner resulted in two major discoveries: the fort was actually located a block farther to the west then previously recognized, and there are still identifiable remnants of the fortification where none were believed to exist. More than just a chronicle of a significant chapter in Civil War and postwar history, this book will inspire others to continue the effort to ensure that the site and remains of Fort Sanders are preserved and properly commemorated for future generations.

How and why did the Greek city-states come into being? The study of Greece in the Archaic period is changing due to new discoveries and interpretations. The 14 essays presented here explore many aspects of this rapidly changing world. The essays detail re-interpretations of archaeological material, emphasize the diversity in patterns of settlement, sancturies and burial practices of the Greek-speaking world and trace the complex trends and motivations underlying the expanding exchange of goods and the settlement of new communities. Local studies of archaeology and iconography revise our image of the peculiarity of Spartan society, and texts, from Homer and Hesiod to a newly discovered poem of Simonides, are given fresh interpretations, as are significant developments in maritime warfare, the roles of literacy and law-making in Crete, the emergence of a less violent lifestyle and the articulation of rational political thought.

The Etruscans, a revenant and unusual people, had an Italian empire before the Greeks and Romans did. By the start of the Christian era their wooden temples and writings had vanished, the Romans and the early church had melted their bronze statues, and the people had assimilated. After the last Etruscan augur served the Romans as they fought back the Visigoths in 408 CE, the civilization disappeared but for ruins, tombs, art, and vases. No other lost culture disappeared as completely and then returned to the same extent as the Etruscans. Indeed, no other ancient Mediterranean people was as controversial both in its time and in posterity. Though the Greeks and Romans tarred them as superstitious and decadent, D.H. Lawrence praised their way of life as offering an alternative to modernity. In The Etruscans in the Modern Imagination Sam Solecki chronicles their unexpected return to intellectual and cultural history, beginning with eighteenth-century scholars, collectors, and archaeologists. The resurrection of this vanished kingdom occurred with remarkable vigour in philosophy, literature, music, history, mythology, and the plastic arts. From Wedgwood to Picasso, Proust to Lawrence, Emily Dickinson to Anne Carson, Solecki reads the disembodied traces of Etruscan culture for what they tell us about cultural knowledge and mindsets in different times and places, for the way that ideas about the Etruscans can serve as a reflection or foil to a particular cultural moment, and for the creative alchemy whereby artists turn to the past for the raw materials of contemporary creation. The Etruscans are a cultural curiosity because of their disputed origin, unique language, and distinctive religion and customs, but their destination is no less worthy of our curiosity. The Etruscans in the Modern Imagination provides a fascinating meditation on cultural transmission between ancient and modern civilizations.

This book examines migration and colonialism in the ancient Near East in the late second millennium BCE, with a focus on the Levant. It explores how the area was shaped by these movements of people, especially in forming the new Iron Age societies. The book utilises recent sociological studies on group identity, violence, migration, colonialism and settler colonialism in its reconstruction of related social and political changes. Prime examples of migrations that are addressed include those involving the Sea Peoples and Philistines, ancient Israelites and ancient Arameans. The final chapter sets the developments in the ancient Near East in the context of recent world history from a typological perspective and in terms of the legacy of the ancient world for Judaism and Christianity. Altogether, the book contributes towards an enhanced understanding of migration, colonialism and violence in human history. In addition to academics, this book will be of particular interest to students of this period in the Ancient Near East, as well anyone working on migration and colonialism in the ancient world. The book is also suitable to the general public interested in world history.

This book analyzes the agricultural and pastoral infrastructure of the Mature and Late Harappan cultures (ca. 2500-1700 BC) of northwest India. The economic role of drought-resistant millet crops is reconstructed using ethnographic studies of crop processing, palaeoethnobotany, and carbon isotope analysis. Reddy reveals that simply recovering crop seeds from archaeological contexts does not confirm local crop cultivation, and she suggests that agricultural production of millet crops for human food and for animal fodder may have been economically interwoven in the Harappan civilization. New directions are provided for discerning archaeologically how pastoralism and agriculture may be integrated in complex economic systems.

Discerning Palates of the Past analyzes the agricultural and pastoral infrastructure of the Mature (ca. 2500 2000 B.C.) and Late Harappan (ca. 2000 1700 B.C.) cultures of Gujarat, Northwest India, the southernmost extension of the South Asian Harappan Civilization. The economic role of drought-resistant millet crops was reconstructed at Harappan sites using a three-pronged behavioral ecological approach which integrated ethnographic studies of crop processing, paleobotany, and carbon isotope analysis. The results reveal that simply recovering crop seeds from archaeological contexts does not prove local crop cultivation. Instead, this study establishes the interpretive strength of developing ethnographic models that distinguish signatures of local cultivation versus the consumption of grain from crops grown elsewhere. The implications of these results are further explored with respect to how agricultural production of millets for human food and for animal fodder may have been economically interwoven during the Harappan Civilization. The interpretive strength of developing ethnographic models to distinguish local cultivation from the consumption of grain grown elsewhere is demonstrated in this study, and new directions are provided for discerning archaeologically how pastoralism and agriculture may be integrated in complex economic systems."