When the Umayyads, the first Islamic dynasty, rose to power shortly after the death of the Prophet Muhammad (d. 632), the polity of which they assumed control had only recently expanded out of Arabia into the Roman eastern Mediterranean, Iraq and Iran. A century later, by the time of their downfall in 750, the last Umayyad caliphs governed the largest empire that the world had seen, stretching from Spain in the West to the Indus valley and Central Asia in the East. By then, their dynasty and the ruling circles around it had articulated with increasing clarity the public face of the new monotheistic religion of Islam, created major masterpieces of world art and architecture, some of which still stand today, and built a state apparatus that was crucial to ensuring the continuity of the Islamic polity. Within the vast lands under their control, the Umayyads and their allies ruled over a mosaic of peoples, languages and faiths, first among them Christianity, Judaism and the Ancient religion of Iran, Zoroastrianism. The Umayyad period is profoundly different from ours, yet it also resonates with modern concerns, from the origins of Islam to dynamics of cultural exchange. Editors Alain George and Andrew Marsham bring together a collection of essays that shed new light on this crucial period. Power, Patronage, and Memory in Early Islam elucidates the ways in which Umayyad elites fashioned and projected their self-image, and how these articulations, in turn, mirrored their own times. The authors, combining perspectives from different disciplines, present new material evidence, introduce fresh perspectives about key themes and monuments, and revisit the nature of the historical writing that shaped our knowledge of this period.

This book focuses on those features of the Roman economy that are less traceable in text and archaeology, and as a consequence remain largely underexplored in contemporary scholarship. By reincorporating, for the first time, these long-obscured practices in mainstream scholarly discourses, this book offers a more complete and balanced view of an economic system that for too long has mostly been studied through its macro-economic and large-scale - and thus archaeologically and textually omnipresent - aspects. The topic is approached in five thematic sections, covering unusual actors and perspectives, unusual places of production, exigent landscapes of exploitation, less-visible products and artefacts, and divergent views on emblematic economic spheres. To this purpose, the book brings together a select group of leading scholars and promising early career researchers in archaeology and ancient economic history, well positioned to steer this ill-developed but fundamental field of the Roman economy in promising new directions.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203041070

First published in 1988. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The ancient Greeks established the very blueprint of Western civilization—our societies, institutions, art, and culture—and thanks to remarkable new findings, we know more about them than ever, and it's all here in this up-to-date introductory volume. Ancient Greece chronicles the rise, decline, resurgence, and ultimate collapse of the Greek empire from its earliest stirrings in the Bronze Age, through the Dark Ages and Classical period, to the death of Cleopatra and the conquests by Macedon and Rome (roughly 3000 B.C.E. to 30 B.C.E.). Drawing on the latest interpretations of artifacts, texts, and other evidence, this handbook takes both newcomers and long-time Hellenophiles inside the process of discovery, revealing not only what we know about ancient Greece but how we know it and how these cultures continue to influence us. There is no more authoritative or accessible introduction to the culture that gave us the Acropolis, Iliad and Odyssey, Herodotus and Thucydides, Sophocles and Aeschylus, Plato and Aristotle, and so much more.

“This is the most important of my books, and the one by which I most hope to be remembered – if I may hope to be remembered at all!� Amelia B Edwards, 1877. A chance visit to Egypt in 1873 by Amelia Edwards changed the future of British Egyptology forever. Her travelogue, A Thousand Miles up the Nile, would inspire generations to take up her cause to support and promote Egyptian cultural heritage. This modern reprint is accompanied by a new introduction by Carl Graves (the Egypt Exploration Society) and Anna Garnett (The Petrie Museum, UCL) reflecting on Amelia’s life and its legacy in Egyptology today. The original text is complimented by colour images of Amelia’s artwork made during or shortly after her travels, which have only previously been reproduced as black and white engravings. This is no ordinary reprint, but an essential companion to the best-seller.

"A cornucopia of our weirdest and most wonderful archaeological sites and artefacts. They make you feel proud to be a citizen of these gloriously intriguing isles." Sir Tony Robinson An Ice Age cannibal’s skull cup, a hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold, a seventeenth century witch bottle… anthropologist Mary-Ann Ochota unearths more than 70 of Britain's most intriguing ancient places and artefacts and explores the mysteries behind them. Britain is full of ancient wonders: not grand like the Egyptian pyramids, but small, strange places and objects that hint at a deep and enduring relationship with the mystic. Secret Britain offers an expertly guided tour of Britain’s most fascinating mysteries: archaeological sites and artefacts that take us deep into the lives of the many different peoples who have inhabited the island over the millennia. Illustrated with beautiful photographs, the wonders include buried treasure, stone circles and geoglyphs, outdoor places of worship, caves filled with medieval carvings, and enigmatic tools to divine the future. Explore famous sites such as Stonehenge and Glastonbury, but also discover: The Lindow Man bog body, showing neatly trimmed hair and manicured fingernails despite having been killed 2,000 years ago The Uffington White Horse, a horse-shaped geoglyph maintained by an unbroken chain of people for 3,000 years A roman baby’s bronze cockerel, an underworld companion for a two-year-old who died sometime between AD 100–200 St Leonard’s Ossuary, home to 1,200 skulls and a vast stack of human bones made up of around 2,000 people who died from the 1200s to the 1500s The Wenhaston Doom painting, an extraordinary medieval depiction of the Last Judgement painted on a chancel arch Explore Britain’s secret history and discover why these places still resonate today.

Representations of Antiquity in Film offers an introduction to how the ancient world is represented in film and especially Hollywood cinema. McGeough considers the potential that movies have for helping us think about antiquity and their relationship to more traditional academic historical work. The book shows how contemporary issues are drawn out through the cinematic presentations of the past and how modern values are naturalized through their presentation in ancient settings. Through discussion of films from the silent film era to the present, McGeough traces the formative role that films of various genres have had in shaping our perceptions of Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Holy Land, Greece, Rome, barbarian Europe, and the Maya. Not ignoring the traditional historical epic film, the book also presents detailed analyses of comedies, action films, art house fare, exploitation flicks and any type of movie in which audiences experience depictions of the past. By considering cinematic narrative as well as various elements of film design, McGeough presents a comprehensive overview of the topic designed for students and scholars with varying backgrounds in media studies, archaeology, religious studies, and ancient history.

This book examines the archaeological implications of Islam as a force which can act upon all areas of life. Islam leaves distinctive material culture remains and distinctive categories of evidence which can be detected and described.

The subject and the geographical area of Islam is vast. The author provides an assessment of the means and the methods of uncovering Islamic material records in the context of a wide range of times and places. Separate chapters examine the mosque, the domestic environment, the Islamic city, death and burial, art, manufacturing and trade. The author draws evidence from the perceived heartlands of the Islamic world (Arabia, the Near East), and from those regions traditionally regarded as the periphery (Africa and the Far East). Coverage extends from the origins of Islam in the seventh century AD up until the present.

This is the first book in English about the earliest historical civilization in the western Mediterranean, known as "Tartessos." Endowed with extraordinary wealth in metals and strategically positioned between the Atlantic and Mediterranean trading routes at the time of Greek and Phoenician colonial expansion, Tartessos flourished in the eight-seventh centuries BCE. Tartessos became a literate, sophisticated, urban culture in southwestern Iberia (today's Spain and Portugal), enriched by commercial contacts with the Aegean and the Levant since at least the ninth century. In its material culture (architecture, grave goods, sanctuaries, plastic arts), we see how native elements combined with imported "orientalizing" innovations introduced by the Phoenicians. Historians of the rank of Herodotos and Livy, geographers such as Strabo and Pliny, Greek and Punic periploi and perhaps even Phoenician and Hebrew texts, testify to the power, wealth, and prominence of this westernmost Mediterranean civilization. Archaeologists, in turn, have demonstrated the existence of a fascinating complex society with both strong local roots and international flare. Yet for still-mysterious reasons, Tartessos did not attain a "Classical" period like its peer emerging cultures did at the same time (Etruscans, Romans, Greeks). This book combines the expertise of its two authors in archaeology, philology, and cultural history to present a comprehensive, coherent, theoretically up-to-date, and informative overview of the discovery, sources, and debates surrounding this puzzling culture of ancient Iberia and its complex hybrid identity vis-a-vis the western Phoenicians. This book will be of great interest to students of the classics, archaeology and ancient history, Phoenician-Punic studies, colonization and cultural contact.

This book examines the possibility and role of a Cahokian diaspora to understand cultural influence, complexity, historicity, and movements in the Mississippian Southeast. Collectively the chapters trace how the movements of Cahokian and American Bottom materials, substances, persons, and non-human bodies converged in the creation of Cahokian identities both within and outside of the Cahokia homeland through archaeological case studies that demonstrate the ways in which population movements foment social change. Drawing initial inspiration from theories of diaspora, the book explores the dynamic movements of human populations by critically engaging with the ways people materially construct or deconstruct their social identities in relation to others within the context of physical movement. This book is of interest to students and researchers of archaeology, anthropology, sociology of migration and diaspora studies. Previously published in Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory Volume 27, issue 1, March 2020

Religious Architecture in Latium and Etruria c. 900-500 BC presents the first comprehensive treatment of cult buildings in western central Italy from the Iron Age to the Archaic Period. By analysing the archaeological evidence for the form of early religious buildings and their role in ancient communities, it reconstructs a detailed history of early Latial and Etruscan religious architecture that brings together the buildings and the people who used them. The first part of the study examines the processes by which religious buildings changed from huts and shrines to monumental temples, and explores apparent differences between these processes in Latium and Etruria. The second part analyses the broader architectural, religious, and topographical contexts of the first Etrusco-Italic temples alongside possible rationales for their introduction. The result is a new and extensive account of when, where, and why monumental cult buildings became features of early central Italic society and set precedents for the great temples of republican Rome.

Dunhuang studies refer to a discipline focusing on Dunhuang Manuscripts, Dunhuang grotto art, the theory of Dunhuang studies, and Dunhuang history and geography. It is a broad subject of studying, excavating, sorting, and protecting the cultural relics and documents in the Dunhuang area of China. The General Theory of Dunhuang Studies explores the basic concept of Dunhuang studies. It presents a more comprehensive and systematic study of six aspects of Dunhuang, covering the background of Dunhuang studies in orientalism, the history of Dunhuang, Dunhuang grotto art, the scattering of Dunhuang cultural relics, Dunhuang manuscripts, and the history of Dunhuang studies, and discussing and summarizing the relevant national and international research. The General Theory of Dunhuang Studies has extensively absorbed the research achievements of domestic and foreign academic circles and the author's decades of academic research experience. As a comprehensive and systematic academic monograph with both academic depth and extensive readability, the book provides descriptions, theory and objective comments written in a clear and straightforward style; the book is intended for professional scholars, graduates and general readers. It is an excellent teaching and learning resource for those interested in understanding and learning about Dunhuang studies. However, it is also a helpful reference book for readers interested in Dunhuang culture.

Britain's pagan past, with its mysterious monuments, atmospheric sites, enigmatic artifacts, bloodthirsty legends, and cryptic inscriptions, is both enthralling and perplexing to a resident of the twenty-first century. In this ambitious and thoroughly up-to-date book, Ronald Hutton reveals the long development, rapid suppression, and enduring cultural significance of paganism, from the Paleolithic Era to the coming of Christianity. He draws on an array of recently discovered evidence and shows how new findings have radically transformed understandings of belief and ritual in Britain before the arrival of organized religion. Setting forth a chronological narrative, Hutton along the way makes side visits to explore specific locations of ancient pagan activity. He includes the well-known sacred sites-Stonehenge, Avebury, Seahenge, Maiden Castle, Anglesey-as well as more obscure locations across the mainland and coastal islands. In tireless pursuit of the elusive "why" of pagan behavior, Hutton astonishes with the breadth of his understanding of Britain's deep past and inspires with the originality of his insights.

Urbanization and Religion in Ancient Central Mexico examines the ways in which urbanization and religion intersected in pre-Columbian central Mexico, with a primary focus on the later Formative period and the transition to the Classic period. The major societal transformations of this interval occurred approximately two-thousand years ago and over a millennium before Mexico's best known early civilization, the Aztecs. David M. Carballo presents a synthesis of data from regional archaeological projects and key sites such as Teotihuacan and Cuicuilco, while relying on the author's own excavations at the site of La Laguna as the central case study. A principal argument is that cities and states developed hand in hand with elements of a religious tradition of remarkable endurance and that these processes were fundamentally entangled. Prevalent religious beliefs and ritual practices created a cultural logic for urbanism, and as populations urbanized they became socially integrated and differentiated following this logic. Nevertheless, religion was used differently over time and by groups and individuals across the spectra of urbanity and social status. This book calls for a materially informed history of religion, with the temporal depth that archaeology can provide, and an archaeology of cities that considers religion seriously as a generative force in societal change.

The bestselling author of The King in the North turns his attention to the obscure era of British history known as 'the age of Arthur'. Somewhere in the shadow time between the departure of the Roman legions in the early fifth century and the arrival in Kent of Augustine's Christian mission at the end of the sixth, the kingdoms of Early Medieval Britain were formed. But by whom? And out of what? In The First Kingdom, Max Adams scrutinizes the narrative of this period handed down to us by later historians and chroniclers. Stripping away the more lurid claims made for a warrior-hero named Arthur, he synthesises the research carried out over the last forty years to tease out the strands of reality from the myth. He reveals how archaeology has delivered evidence of a diverse and dynamic response to Britain's new-found independence, of material and intellectual trade between the Atlantic islands and the rest of Europe, and of the environmental context of those centuries. A skilfully wrought and intellectually probing investigation of the most mysterious epoch in our history, The First Kingdom presents an image of post-Roman Britain whose resolution is high enough to show the emergence of distinct political structures in the sixth century - polities that survive long enough to be embedded in the medieval landscape, recorded in the lines of river, road and watershed, and memorialised in place names. PRAISE FOR MAX ADAMS: 'A triumph. The most gripping portrait of seventh-century Britain that I have read ... A Game of Thrones in the Dark Ages' Tom Holland in The Times on The King in the North 'Gripping, hugely enjoyable and deeply scholarly' History Today, Books of the Year, on The King in the North 'Brilliantly combines history and archaeological research ... A compelling read' The Lady on AElfred's Britain

Pompeii is the best known and probably the most important archaeological site in the world. This book, now available in paperback, is the most up-to-date, authoritative and comprehensive account for the general reader of its rise, splendour and fall. The drama of Pompeii’s end has been handed down by Roman writers, its paintings and mosaics have astonished visitors since their discovery, and its houses and public buildings still present a vivid picture of life, disaster and death in a Roman town.

From gods, heroes, and monsters to Druids, sorcerers, and talking animals, Celtic Myths explores every aspect of Irish and Welsh myths in this appealing and authoritative guide. Besides vividly retelling the tales, Miranda Aldhouse-Green brings her expertise in the archaeology of the Iron Age and particularly shamanism to bear on the mythical world she describes, with evidence as diverse as the Gundestrup Cauldron and the famous bog bodies. Starting with a discussion of how myths are transmitted and by whom, Aldhouse-Green continues with an account of Irish and Welsh myths, their key actors and motifs, and themes such as heroes, animals, women, environment, and the Otherworld. The book concludes with a look at the influence of monastic chroniclers on the tales, which they preserved and adapted. Boxed features, quotes from primary texts and contemporary sources, two-color illustrations, photographs, and drawings all come together to create a comprehensive guide for anyone interested in Celtic history or the history of myth as well as anyone who simply loves a good story.

The Oxford Handbook on Early China brings 30 scholars together to cover early China from the Neolithic through Warring States periods (ca 5000-500BCE). The study is chronological and incorporates a multidisciplinary approach, covering topics from archaeology, anthropology, art history, architecture, music, and metallurgy, to literature, religion, paleography, cosmology, religion, prehistory, and history.

This book outlines the latest research in Fanshan by the archaeologist, a man-made hathpace cemetery, on which is located the inner city of Liangzhu historical site at northwest area. There are 11 tomb locations discovered in Fanshan as built based on mutual dependency while and after excavation and were found continuously more than 1200 pieces (assemblages) of burial accessories, while at least 1100 pieces of jades were among the unearthed items. In view of the above-mentioned background, Fanshan as royal cemetery is well known for the largest number and variety of exquisite highly polished jades. In addition to prehistoric art, the work also explores the traces of Fanshan royal cemetery in conjunction with a substantial number of photos taken by expert of the historical site, restores the crucial burial objects and funeral rite as well as interprets burial accessories in different ways to discover the identity of the tomb's occupants such as social class and status and moreover the interlocking system of an organization.

Current approaches to the archaeological understanding of permanence and transience in the early modern period, Can we approach European expansion to the Americas and elsewhere without colonial triumphalism? A research strategy which automatically treats early establishments overseas as embryonic colonies produces predictable results: in retrospect, some were, some were not. The approach reflected in the essays collected here does not exclude an interest in colonialism as an enduring practice, but the focus of the volume is population mobility and stability. Post-medieval archaeology has much to contribute to our understanding of the gradual drift of ordinary people - the cast of thousands, anonymous or almost-forgotten behind the famous names of history. The main concern of the articles here is the post-medieval expansion of the English-speaking world to North America, particularly Newfoundland and the Chesapeake, but the volume includes perspectives on Ireland and New France also. While most attend to the movement of Europeans, interactions with Native peoples, using the Labrador Inuit as a case study, are not neglected. PETER E. POPE was University Research Professor and former Head of the Department of Archaeology at Memorial University in St John's, Newfoundland; SHANNON LEWIS-SIMPSON researches aspects of cultural identity and interaction in the Viking-Age North Atlantic. She lectures part-time at Memorial University. Contributors: Eliza Brandy, Mark Brisbane, Amanda Crompton, Bruno Fajal, Amelia Fay, David Gaimster, Mark Gardiner, Barry Gaulton, William Gilbert, Audrey Horning, Carter C. Hudgins, Silas Hurry, Evan Jones, Neil Kennedy, Eric Klingelhofer, Hannah E.C. Koon, Brad Loewen, Nicholas Luccketti, James Lyttleton, Tania Manuel Casimiro, Paula Marcoux, Natascha Mehler, Greg Mitchell, Sarah Newstead, Stephane Noel, Jeff Oliver, Steven E. Pendery, Peter E. Pope, Peter Ramsden, Lisa Rankin, Amy St John, Beverley Straube, Eric Tourigny, James A. Tuck, Giovanni Vitelli,

This book studies N�tha samprad�ya through archaeological evidence for the first time. Drawing on a pioneering approach to the study of ascetic traditions, it investigates not only the nature of the N�tha samprad�ya’s religious architecture but also examines the extent to which they shared space with other religious groups such as the devotees of Siva and Sakti, Buddhism, and Islam, especially with the Sufi tradition. Focusing on western India, the book sifts through a variety of archaeological evidence and documentation of their temples, caves, and maṭhas. It critically analyses iconographic representations of ascetics on temple walls and sculptural representations of yogic postures or �sanas. Further, these representations are discussed within a pan-South Asian framework to highlight both the commonalities of the tradition across the subcontinent and the regional specificities, along with their chronological spread. Breaking new ground, this volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of religion, especially Hinduism, history, archaeology, and South Asian studies.

A Story of YHWH investigates the ancient Israelite expression of their deity, and tracks why variation occurred in that expression, from the early Iron Age to the Persian period. Through this text, readers will gain a better appreciation for the complexities and contexts in the development of YHWH, from its earliest origins to the Persian period. Two interpretive frameworks-cultural translation and subversive reception-are offered for filtering through the textual data and contexts. Comparative study with ancient Near Eastern deities and select biblical texts lead readers through early YHWHism, YHWH's original outsider status, and the eventual impact of urbanization on the expression. Perceived and real pressures then challenge urbanite YHWHism and invite new directions for forming a unique expression of divinity in the ancient world. This book is intended for those interested in the study of ancient divinity broadly as well as those who study ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible. The work provides generalists with a better appreciation for the particular challenges in working in the ancient Near East and with the bible specifically, while it provides specialists with a broad theory that can be continually tested. For both, the study provides two reading lenses to work through similar questions and an accounting of why the many contextually driven and varied constructions of YHWH may have occurred.

The Archaeology of Imperial Landscapes examines the transformation of rural landscapes and societies that formed the backbone of ancient empires in the Near East and Mediterranean. Through a comparative approach to archaeological data, it analyses the patterns of transformation in widely differing imperial contexts in the ancient world. Bringing together a range of studies by an international team of scholars, the volume shows that empires were dynamic, diverse, and experimental polities, and that their success or failure was determined by a combination of forceful interventions, as well as the new possibilities for those dominated by empires to collaborate and profit from doing so. By highlighting the processes that occur in rural and peripheral landscapes, the volume demonstrates that the archaeology of these non-urban and literally eccentric spheres can provide an important contribution to our understanding of ancient empires. The 'bottom up' approach to the study of ancient empires is crucial to understanding how these remarkable socio-political organisms could exist and persist.