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Books > Humanities > Archaeology > Archaeology by period / region > General
Originally published between 1920-70,The History of Civilization was a landmark in early twentieth century publishing. It was published at a formative time within the social sciences, and during a period of decisive historical discovery. The aim of the general editor, C.K. Ogden, was to summarize the most up-to-date findings and theories of historians, anthropologists, archaeologists and sociologists. This reprinted material is available as a set or in the following groupings, or as individual volumes: * Prehistory and Historical Ethnography Set of 12: 0-415-15611-4: GBP800.00 * Greek Civilization Set of 7: 0-415-15612-2: GBP450.00 * Roman Civilization Set of 6: 0-415-15613-0: GBP400.00 * Eastern Civilizations Set of 10: 0-415-15614-9: GBP650.00 * Judaeo-Christian Civilization Set of 4: 0-415-15615-7: GBP250.00 * European Civilization Set of 11: 0-415-15616-5: GBP700.00
Apalachicola is the origin story of the Creek Indians and how they adapted to a changing environment and shows that specific institutions, subsistence strategies, and social organizations developed as a risk management strategy and a form of resilience. It is unique in its comprehensive and long-term study of a community. It identifies and demonstrates a new way of understanding the development of political institutions and regime change. Incorporating the role of social groups that are under discussed by archaeological studies, the book offers a new and novel understanding of the development of complex societies in the southeastern United States. It is also includes a holistic view of the entire social and economic organizations rather than just an aspect of the economy or politics and shows how this culture developed a society that dealt with an unpredictable environment by distributing risks, knowledge, and authority throughout the society. The social and political organization of these Native American peoples was adapted to a particular environment that was altered when Europeans immigrated to the Americas. The book is relevant to scholars interested in Southeastern North American archaeology and history, ecological resilience, political change, colonialism, gender studies, ecology, and more.
This book provides a visual reconstruction of Palmyra, a World Heritage Site situated in Syria, which flourished in Greco-Roman times. Palmyra is situated in a desert oasis and served as a vibrant caravan station on the Silk Road connecting the Roman world with the East. It has been called 'the Queen of the Desert' and 'Venice of the Sands'.In 2015-2017 the city was conquered by ISIS who destroyed its monuments and museum, also killing several of its inhabitants. Their aim was to erase the memory and identity of the place, its people and our common heritage. However, through the use of modern technology including photogrammetry, digital imagery and 3D modelling, it has been possible to recreate the documented monuments, thus overcoming to some extent the trauma, cultural destruction and loss. The book unveils the rediscovery of the site by the West and revives and reconstructs the ancient city through images and history. The reader is taken through the spectacular city and its past by providing the information to follow the roots and development of the site, its monuments and its people through the ages, including rulers such as Queen Zenobia. The combination of visualization and written accounts interlink the environment and its people, the monuments and archaeological small finds by using ancient written sources, old photographs, new imagery, 3D models and 3D printing. Thus this ancient site and its past is revived in multiple dimensions. Monuments are visualized as digitally reconstructed ruins or as complete virtual models. This text is therefore the perfect guide for readers who wish to immerse themselves visually in the history of the area and to discover more about the archaeology and its preservation using diverse methods employing modern technology.
This book addresses the complex question of the significance of regions in the creation of Romanesque, particularly in relation to transregional and pan-European artistic styles and approaches. Individual chapters explore the generation and reception of forms, the conditions that give rise to the development of transregional styles and the agencies that cut across territorial boundaries. There are studies of regional styles in Aquitaine, Castile, Sicily, Hungary and Scandinavia, workshops in Worms and the Welsh Marches, the transregional nature of liturgical furnishings, the cultural geography of the new monastic orders, metalworking in Hildesheim and the valley of the Meuse, and the links which connect Piemonte with Conques.
The Routledge Handbook of Medieval Rural Life brings together the latest research on peasantry in medieval Europe. The aim is to place peasants - as small-scale agricultural producers - firmly at the centre of this volume, as people with agency, immense skill and resilience to shape their environments, cultures and societies. This volume examines the changes and evolutions within village societies across the medieval period, over a broad chronology and across a wide geography. Rural structures, families and hierarchies are examined alongside tool use and trade, as well as the impact of external factors such as famine and the Black Death. The contributions offer insights into multidisciplinary research, incorporating archaeological as well as landscape studies alongside traditional historical documentary approaches across widely differing local and regional contexts across medieval Europe. This book will be an essential reference for scholars and students of medieval history, as well those interested in rural, cultural and social history.
This volume considers regional approaches to social complexity from a variety of perspectives and at a global scale. John F. Cherry has been a key figure in regional-scale inquiry and broader disciplinary interfaces throughout his career, producing, mentoring, and inspiring a remarkably diverse body of work, which nevertheless remains oriented around this central theme. While Cherry's work is the inspiration for this volume and the papers within it, this should not be seen as a traditional festschrift, or piecemeal homage to the honorand's career. Rather, it aims to explore this core concern of regional approaches to society and complexity in comparative perspective, first in the Aegean, then branching out to the wider Mediterranean, New World, and finally reflecting on relevant issues of concern to all archaeologists working at levels above the site.
What visitor to Mexico City, unaware of its pre-Hispanic history, could imagine that right under a Christian Church may still lie the remains of the sinister tzompantli, the Aztecs' altar of skulls? Professor Jorge Hardoy poses this question and many more in his comprehensive summary of the ancient cities where Latin America's peoples lived before the Spaniards arrived in the sixteenth century. Because Aztec Tenochtitlan, today Mexico City, and Inca Cuzco represent the culmination of the two most advanced civilizations encountered by the Spainsh conquistadors, the author explores these cities end-to-end. He also studies such older civic memorial centers as Teotichuacan, Tula, Monte Alban, Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Tikal, Palenque, Tiahuanaco, Chan Chan, Pachacamac, Machu Picchu, and lesser know sites, most virtually, if not totally, abandoned centuries before the Conquest. Such inclusive coverage makes for a lively discussion of some fifteen hundred years of urban life as immortalized in the architecture, art, and crafts of long vanished civilizations. There is an extensive bibliography, many photographs, maps, charts and city plans showing urban layouts of temples, which tell much about the life of the inhabitants. His book shows that while new findings come to light each year, so much buried history lies waiting to be found that archaology will always be an ever unfolding drama. This book was first published in 1973.
For centuries the beguiling ancient ruins of Egypt have provided an endless source of fascination for explorers, antiquarians, treasure hunters and archaeologists. All, from the very earliest travellers, were entranced by the beauty and majesty of the landscape: the remains of tombs cut into the natural rock of hillsides and the temples and cities gently consumed by drift sand. These early adventurers were gripped by the urge to capture what they had seen in writings, sketches, paintings and photographs. While it was always the scholars – the Egyptologists – who were in charge, they depended on architects, artists, engineers and photographers. Yet when we think of Petrie, we think of Sir William Matthew Flinders, not of his wife Hilda. Only through reading their diaries and letters has it come to be realized how important she and other partners were. Similarly the role played by Egyptian workers, digging on archaeological projects and maintaining relations with the local landowners, is only just coming to be appreciated. Egyptologists’ Notebooks brings together the work – reproduced in its original form – of the many people who contributed to our understanding of ancient Egypt, offering a glimpse into a very different history of Egyptology. They evoke a rich sense of time and place, transporting us back to a great age of discovery.
The book is the first systematic archaeological monograph devoted to the Maldives. It features contributions by leading archaeologists and material culture researchers and offers an archaeological account of this island-nation from the beginnings of the Islamic period, it complements and nuances the picture presented by external historical data, which identify the Maldives as a key player in global networks. The book is aimed at students and researchers interested in the archaeology and history of the Indian Ocean, Islamic studies, island and coastal communities, maritime networks, and the medieval period, with special relevance for the 'Global Middle Ages'. It will appeal to art historians, archaeologists, museologists, and heritage and material culture studies researchers with related interests.
Originally published in 1956, the well-known archaeologist here takes on the role of philosopher. The author argues that knowledge is a social phenomenon, and that our intellectual life is the product of social heritage: reality is the product of different opinions of various societies.
The study of ancient architecture reveals much about the social constructs and culture of the planners, builders, and inhabitants of the structures, but few studies bridge the gap between architecture and archaeology. This comprehensive examination of sites in the Ohio Valley, going as far north as Ontario, integrates structural engineering and wood science technology into the toolkit of archaeologists. Presenting the most current research on structures from pre-European contact, Building the Past allows archaeologists to expand their interpretations from simply describing postmold patterns to more fully envisioning the complex construction of critical locations like Hopewell, Moorehead Circle, and Brown's Bottom. The record of perishable architecture at these sites has proven difficult to interpret because it is often merely organic residues, such as soil stains from decayed wall posts, charred timbers, or trenched wall foundations. Addressing new discoveries and presenting previously unpublished data, this volume is an invaluable resource for archaeologists investigating the diverse ways prehistoric societies manifested their social worlds in earth, wood, and stone.
Relations between Inner Asian nomads and Chinese are a continuous theme throughout Chinese history, reaching particularly dramatic dimensions with the Mongol (1279-1368) and Manchu (1644-1912) conquests. Nicola Di Cosmo's study is part of a wave of new, revisionist scholarship made possible by important recent archaeological findings in China, Mongolia, and Central Asia that can now be compared to the historical record. In Ancient China and Its Nomadic Enemies, Di Cosmo explores the origins of the cultural and political tensions along China's northern frontiers through the first millennium B.C. Di Cosmo places the rise of pastoral nomadism to the North of China within the context of a larger phenomenon rising from the steppes of Central Asia. In doing so, he analyzes the ethnic, cultural, and political frontiers between nomads and Chinese and considers the cultural perceptions of "others" within a historical context. Di Cosmo assesses the work of Ssu-ma Ch'ien, the "Grand Historian" who wrote the first narrative of the northern nomads in Chinese history, by scrutinizing his motives, methods, and interpretation. Ancient China and Its Nomadic Enemies's new interpretation of well-known historical events will intrigue ancient history scholars, China historians, and archaeologists. Nicola Di Cosmo is Lecturer of Chinese History at the University of Canterbury, in Christchurch, New Zealand. Until recently, he was Associate Professor of Chinese and Inner Asian History in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. He has published articles in a number of academic journals and is the Book Review Editor for the Inner Asia section of the Journal of Asian Studies and Editor in Charge of the Inner Asian section of the Journal of East Asian Archaeology.
Building on discussions in Contemporary Archaeology this book challenges the border between material and discursive culture, advocating for a novel conception of capitalism's artifacts. The artifacts examined within (temperatures) are instantaneous electric pulses, algorithmic outputs, and momentary fluctuations in mercury. The artifacts of the capitalized never sit still, operating at subatomic and solar scales. Temperatures, as numerical materials precariously straddling the colonially constructed nature-culture divide, exemplify the abstraction necessary to pursue the perpetually accelerating asymmetrical growth of wealth-a pursuit that engenders multiple environmental and economic calamities. This book offers indispensable contributions to science studies, urban geography, semiotics, the philosophy of materiality, the history of thermodynamics, heterodox economics, performative scholarship, and queer ecocriticism.
Two major dividing lines have formed the megastructure of Eurasia, determining the historical epochs of the continent's peoples. The first, vertical (longitudinal) line has separated East and West since the Paleolithic Age. The East was dominated by Mongol peoples speaking Sino -Tibetan, Manchu-Tungus, and Altaic languages. The Caucasoid peoples of the West spoke mostly Indo-European, Semite, and Finno-Ugric languages. The second line divided the continent horizontally (by latitude) into North and South. This division was closely connected with the Eurasian Steppe Belt. To the north of it lay the world of hunter-gatherers and fishermen. To the south, settled agriculture was dominant. The Steppe Belt itself was the domain of pastoralists, the nomadic and semi-nomadic herders. These lines converged at the entrance to the Great Silk Road. With the swift development of horse domestication and horseback riding, the nomads moved-from the Early Metal Age (500-400 BCE) to Genghis Khan's and the Genghisid's Great Empire (1200-1400 CE)-to the forefront of Eurasian history as their world became increasingly involved in dramatic and sometimes tragic relationships with their southern neighbors. This book focuses on the tangle of problems in these nomadic peoples' history.
The origin and early development of social stratification is essentially an archaeological problem. The impressive advance of archaeological research has revealed that, first and foremost, the pre-eminence of stratified or class society in today's world is the result of a long social struggle. This volume advances the archaeological study of social organisation in Prehistory, and more specifically the rise of social complexity in European Prehistory. Within the wider context of world Prehistory, in the last 30 years the subject of early social stratification and state formation has been a key subject on interest in Iberian Prehistory. This book illustrates the differing forms of resistances, the interplay between change and continuity, the multiple paths to and from social complexity, and the 'failures' of states to form in Prehistory. It also engages with broader questions, such as: when did social stratification appear in western European Prehistory? What factors contributed to its emergence and consolidation? What are the relationships between the notions of social complexity, social inequality, social stratification and statehood? And what are the archaeological indicators for the empirical analysis of these issues? Focusing on Iberia, but with a permanent connection to the wider geographical framework, this book presents, for the first time, a chronologically comprehensive, up-to-date approach to the issue of state formation in prehistoric Europe.
St(r)phen RostainOCOs book is a culmination of 25 years of research on the extensive human modification of the wetlands environment of Guiana and how it reshapes our thinking of ancient settlement in lowland South America and other tropical zones. Rostain demonstrates that populations were capable of developing intensive raised-field agriculture, which supported significant human density, and construct causeways, habitation mounds, canals, and reservoirs to meet their needs. The work is comparative in every sense, drawing on ethnology, ethnohistory, ecology, and geography; contrasting island Guiana with other wetland regions around the world; and examining millennia of pre-Columbian settlement and colonial occupation alike. RostainOCOs work demands a radical rethinking of conventional wisdom about settlement in tropical lowlands and landscape management by its inhabitants over the course of millennia.
Ancient Alterity in the Andes is the first major treatment on ancient alterity: how people in the past regarded others. At least since the 1970s, alterity has been an influential concept in different fields, from art history, psychology and philosophy, to linguistics and ethnography. Having gained steam in concert with postmodernism's emphasis on self-reflection and discourse, it is especially significant now as a framework to understand the process of 'writing' and understanding the Other: groups, cultures and cosmologies. This book showcases this concept by illustrating how people visualised others in the past, and how it coloured their engagements with them, both physically and cognitively. Alterity has yet to see sustained treatment in archaeology due in great part to the fact that the archaeological record is not always equipped to inform on the subject. Like its kindred concepts, such as identity and ethnicity, alterity is difficult to observe also because it can be expressed at different times and scales, from the individual, family and village settings, to contexts such as nations and empires. It can also be said to 'reside' just as well in objects and individuals, as it may in a technique, action or performance. One requires a relevant, holistic data set and multiple lines of evidence. Ancient Alterity in the Andes provides just that by focusing on the great achievements of the ancient Andes during the first millennium AD, centred on a Precolumbian culture, known as Recuay (AD 1-700). Using a new framework of alterity, one based on social others (e.g., kinsfolk, animals, predators, enemies, ancestral dead), the book rethinks cultural relationships with other groups, including the Moche and Nasca civilisations of Peru's coast, the Chavin cult, and the later Wari, the first Andean empire. In revealing little known patterns in Andean prehistory the book illuminates the ways that archaeologists, in general, can examine alterity through the existing record. Ancient Alterity in the Andes is a substantial boon to the analysis and writing of past cultures, social systems and cosmologies and an important book for those wishing to understand this developing concept in archaeological theory.
Mariam F. Ayad explores how five women were elevated to a position of supreme religious authority. Drawing on a variety of textual, iconographic, and archaeological evidence, and containing fifty-one black and white and colour illustrations, the volume discusses this often neglected subject, placing the women within the broader context of the politically volatile, turbulent seventh and eighth centuries BCE.
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.
Ancient Alterity in the Andes is the first major treatment on ancient alterity: how people in the past regarded others. At least since the 1970s, alterity has been an influential concept in different fields, from art history, psychology and philosophy, to linguistics and ethnography. Having gained steam in concert with postmodernism's emphasis on self-reflection and discourse, it is especially significant now as a framework to understand the process of 'writing' and understanding the Other: groups, cultures and cosmologies. This book showcases this concept by illustrating how people visualised others in the past, and how it coloured their engagements with them, both physically and cognitively. Alterity has yet to see sustained treatment in archaeology due in great part to the fact that the archaeological record is not always equipped to inform on the subject. Like its kindred concepts, such as identity and ethnicity, alterity is difficult to observe also because it can be expressed at different times and scales, from the individual, family and village settings, to contexts such as nations and empires. It can also be said to 'reside' just as well in objects and individuals, as it may in a technique, action or performance. One requires a relevant, holistic data set and multiple lines of evidence. Ancient Alterity in the Andes provides just that by focusing on the great achievements of the ancient Andes during the first millennium AD, centred on a Precolumbian culture, known as Recuay (AD 1-700). Using a new framework of alterity, one based on social others (e.g., kinsfolk, animals, predators, enemies, ancestral dead), the book rethinks cultural relationships with other groups, including the Moche and Nasca civilisations of Peru's coast, the Chavin cult, and the later Wari, the first Andean empire. In revealing little known patterns in Andean prehistory the book illuminates the ways that archaeologists, in general, can examine alterity through the existing record. Ancient Alterity in the Andes is a substantial boon to the analysis and writing of past cultures, social systems and cosmologies and an important book for those wishing to understand this developing concept in archaeological theory.
An Archaeology of the Cosmos seeks answers to two fundamental questions of humanity and human history. The first question concerns that which some use as a defining element of humanity: religious beliefs. Why do so many people believe in supreme beings and holy spirits? The second question concerns changes in those beliefs. What causes beliefs to change? Using archaeological evidence gathered from ancient America, especially case material from the Great Plains and the pre-Columbian American Indian city of Cahokia, Timothy Pauketat explores the logical consequences of these two fundamental questions. Religious beliefs are not more resilient than other aspects of culture and society, and people are not the only causes of historical change. An Archaeology of the Cosmos examines the intimate association of agency and religion by studying how relationships between people, places, and things were bundled together and positioned in ways that constituted the fields of human experience. This rethinking theories of agency and religion provides readers with challenging and thought provoking conclusions that will lead them to reassess the way they approach the past.
The Sumerian World explores the archaeology, history and art of southern Mesopotamia and its relationships with its neighbours from c.3,000 - 2,000BC. Including material hitherto unpublished from recent excavations, the articles are organised thematically using evidence from archaeology, texts and the natural sciences. This broad treatment will also make the volume of interest to students looking for comparative data in allied subjects such as ancient literature and early religions. Providing an authoritative, comprehensive and up to date overview of the Sumerian period written by some of the best qualified scholars in the field, The Sumerian World will satisfy students, researchers, academics, and the knowledgeable layperson wishing to understand the world of southern Mesopotamia in the third millennium.
Marit K. Munson explores ancient artwork with standard archaeological approaches to material culture, framed by theoretical insights of disciplines such as art history, visual studies, and psychology. She demonstrates how archaeological methods, combined with theoretical insights from other disciplines, open up new avenues for understanding of past peoples.
For many archaeologists, Iberia is the last great unknown region in Europe. Although it occupies a crucial position between South-Western Europe and North Africa, academic attention has traditionally been focused on areas like Greece or Italy. However Iberia has an equally rich cultural heritage and archaeological tradition. This ground-breaking volume presents a sample of the ways in which archaeologists have applied theoretical frameworks to the interpretation of archaeological evidence, offering new insights into the archaeology of both Iberia and Europe from prehistoric time through to the tenth century. The contributors to this book are leading archaeologists drawn from both countries. They offer innovative and challenging models for the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Copper Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman, Early Medieval and Islamic periods. A diverse range of subjects are covered including urban transformation, the Iron Age peoples of Spain, observations on historiography and the origins of the Arab domains of Al-Andalus. It is essential reading for advanced undergraduates and those researching the archaeology of the Iberian Peninsula.
The study of the prehistory of East Asia is developing very rapidly. In uncovering the story of the flows of human migration that constituted the peopling of East Asia there exists widespread debate about the nature of evidence and the tools for correlating results from different disciplines. Drawing upon the latest evidence in genetics, linguistics and archaeology, this exciting new book examines the history of the peopling of East Asia, and investigates the ways in which we can detect migration, and its different markers in these fields of inquiry. Results from different academic disciplines are compared and reinterpreted in the light of evidence from others to attempt to try and generate consensus on methodology. Taking a broad geographical focus, the book also draws attention to the roles of minority peoples - hitherto underplayed in accounts of the region's prehistory - such as the Austronesian, Tai-Kadai and Altaic speakers, whose contribution to the regional culture is now becoming accepted. Past Human Migrations in East Asia presents a full picture of the latest research on the peopling of East Asia, and will be of interest to scholars of all disciplines working on the reconstruction of the peopling of East and North East Asia. |
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