Before the Spanish Conquest and well into the eighteenth century, Mesoamerican peoples believed that time and space were contained in earthly and heavenly receptacles that were visualized metaphorically. This circumscribed space contained the abodes of the dead. There, deities and ancestral spirits could be revived and the living could communicate with them. In Social Memory in Ancient and Colonial Mesoamerica, Amos Megged uncovers the missing links in Mesoamerican peoples quest for their collective past. Analyzing ancient repositories of knowledge, as well as social and religious practices, he uncovers the unique procedures and formulas by which social memory was communicated and how it operated in Mesoamerica prior to the Spanish conquest. He also explores how cherished and revived practices evolved, how they were adapted to changing circumstances, and how they helped various ethnic groups cope with the tribulations of colonization and Christianization. Megged s volume also suggests how social and cultural historians, ethnohistorians, and anthropologists can rethink indigenous representations of the past while taking into account the deep transformations in Mexican society during the colonial era."

In 1798, young French general Napoleon Bonaparte entered Egypt with a veteran army and a specialist group of savants-scientists, engineers, and artists-his aim being not just conquest, but the rediscovery of the lost Nile kingdom. A year later, in the ruins of an old fort in the small port of Rosetta, the savants made a startling discovery: a large, flat stone, inscribed in Greek, demotic Egyptian, and ancient hieroglyphics. This was the Rosetta Stone, key to the two-thousand-year mystery of hieroglyphs, and to Egypt itself. Two years later, French forces retreated before the English and Ottoman armies, but would not give up the stone. Caught between the opposing generals at the siege of Alexandria, British special agents went in to find the Rosetta Stone, rescue the French savants, and secure a fragile peace treaty. Discovery at Rosetta uses French, Egyptian, and English eyewitness accounts to tell the complete story of the discovery, decipherment, and capture of the Rosetta Stone, investigating the rivalries and politics of the time, and the fate of the stone today.

An Archaeology of Ancash is a well-illustrated synthesis of the archaeology of North Central Peru, and specifically the stone structures of the Ancash region. All the major cultures of highland Ancash built impressive monuments, with no other region of South America showing such an early and continuous commitment to stone carving. Drawing on Lau's extensive experience as an archaeologist in highland Peru, this book reveals how ancient groups of the Central Andes have used stone as both a physical and symbolic resource, uncovering the variety of experiences and meanings which marked the region's special engagement with this material. An abundant raw resource in the Andes, stone was used for monuments, sculptures and other valuables such as carved monoliths, which were crucial to the emergence of civilization in the region, and religious objects from magical charms to ancestor effigies. Detailing the ways stone has played both an everyday and an extraordinary part in ancient social life, Lau also examines how cultural dispositions towards this fundamental material have changed over time and considers how contemporary engagements with these stone remains have the potential to create and regenerate communities. With an ample selection of color photos which bring these sites and artifacts to life, An Archaeology of Ancash is an essential guide to the key monuments, places and objects that distinguish this region and its rich archaeological heritage.

Numismatic Archaeology of North America is the first book to provide an archaeological overview of the coins and tokens found in a wide range of North American archaeological sites. It begins with a comprehensive and well-illustrated review of the various coins and tokens that circulated in North America with descriptions of the uses for, and human behavior associated with, each type. The book contains practical sections on standardized nomenclature, photographing, cleaning, and curating coins, and discusses the impacts of looting and of working with collectors. This is an important tool for archaeologists working with coins. For numismatists and collectors, it explains the importance of archaeological context for complete analysis.

First published in 1986. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The Southern Levant was a thriving centre of religious and cultural exchange during the Bronze Age. 'Early Bronze Age Goods Exchange in the Southern Levant' provides an overview of the sources and distribution of commodities. The book presents a study of key production centres and the process of purchase and exchange. The book establishes a theoretical framework - based in political economy, ethnoarchaeology and economic anthropology - for understanding the exchange of commodities in a precapitalist society. 'Early Bronze Age Goods Exchange in the Southern Levant' is unique in presenting archaeological sources and prehistoric economics through modern, notably Marxist, theories of human development.

The northern borders of China - known as the Northern zone - were a key area of interaction between sedentary and nomadic people during the late second and early first millennium BCE. During this period the region's unique economy, socio-political systems, local cultures and identities took shape. 'Prehistoric Societies on the Northern Frontiers of China' analyses the archaeological record to examine the changes that took place in Northern China in the first millennium. Drawing on field work in the Chifeng area of Inner Mongolia, the book explores dramatic changes in the construction of identities alongside more gradual changes in subsistence strategies and political organization. The book is unique in integrating the archaeological data and historical records of this period with anthropological theory to examine the role of identity construction and the use of symbol in the shaping of East Asian society.

The year 2008 marks the 40th anniversary of Mabada Plains Project archaeological research in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The Madaba Plains Project is one of the longest-lived, continuously running archaeological excavation projects in the Middle East. Spanning four decades, the project, with its beginnings at Tall Hisban in the late sixties, has engaged 1,500 participants, produced scores of publications and spawned a dozen other projects. Its legacy includes being one of the first major Near Eastern archaeology projects to adopt a multi-millennial, regional approach; to incorporate ethnoarchaeology and environmental studies; to construct data around a food-systems' approach; and to computerize procedures for archaeological data acquisition and analysis, thus helping advance both the theoretical underpinnings and the field methods of archaeology in the southern Levant and beyond. Madaba Plains Project directors, wishing to celebrate this major scientific and historical milestone, have produced this anniversary volume which: highlights the value of ongoing collaborative research across the region of central Jordan, attempting to explain life and survival from the Bronze ages through the Islamic and early modern periods and features the latest results from ongoing research; enlivens the discussion by hearing from major scholars in the field who, in the process of assessing the contributions of the project to the archaeology of the southern Levant, broaden the discussion in the context of ancient Near Eastern archaeological research; and, expands the horizons of the project's research by presenting the ever enlarging number and extent of projects conducted by dig directors once on staff with the Madaba Plains Project, thereby taking readers all over Jordan and beyond.

The fifth and fourth millennia BCE saw major cultural changes in the southern Levant and Northeast Africa: the spread of agriculture; developments in animal husbandry; increased contact between cultures; and the use of alloy bronze. 'Metal, Nomads and Culture Contact' integrates archaeological data from across the Chalcolithic period to contextualise these changes. The book examines the introduction of metal to the southern Levant, Egypt and Lower Nubia and the role of pastoral nomadism in cultural interaction and exchange. 'Metal, Nomads and Culture Contact' will be valuable to scholars of archaeology and anthropology.

Animals have been used to human advantage for thousands of years. 'Animal Husbandry in Ancient Israel' presents an analysis of caprines and cattle husbandry in the Southern Levantine Bronze and Iron Age. The book employs key methodological approaches - comparative analysis, taphonomy, Geographic Information System spatial analysis, and ethnographic studies - to challenge prevalent views on the Southern Levantine ancient economy. 'Animal Husbandry in Ancient Israel' argues that the key concern of nomadic, rural and urban populations was survival - the common household maintained a self-sufficient economy - rather than profit, specialization or trade. The book will be of value to all those interested in the dynamic relationship between humans and animals in ancient Israel.

The Conquest of Assyria tells what must surely be one of the most romantic tales of archaeological endeavour. The great cities and ancient palaces of Mesopotamia had lain buried for over two millenia, and were all but forgotten, half remembered in the Hebrew Bible and Classical texts. This volume records the dramatic finds, the decipherment of the cuneiform system of writing and the rediscovery of a lost civilisation.

In this fourth edition of the CRM classic, Thomas F. King shares his expertise in dealing with laws regulating the use of cultural resources. With wry insight, he explains the various federal, state, and local laws governing the protection of resources, how they have been interpreted, how they operate in practice, and even how they are sometimes in contradiction with each other. He provides helpful advice on how to ensure regulatory compliance in dealing with archaeological sites, historic buildings, urban districts, sacred sites and objects, shipwrecks, and archives. King also offers careful guidance through the confusing array of federal, state, and tribal offices concerned with CRM. Featuring updated analysis and treatments of key topics, this new edition is a must-have for archaeologists and students, historic preservationists, tribal governments, and others working with cultural resources.

Ground stone artefacts were widely used in food production in prehistory. However, the archaeological community has widely neglected the dataset of ground stone artefacts until now. 'New Approaches to Old Stones' offers a theoretical and methodological analysis of the archaeological data pertaining to ground stone tools. The essays draw on a range of case studies - from the Levant, Egypt, Crete, Anatolia, Mexico and North America - to examine ground stone technologies. From medieval Islamic stone cooking vessels and late Minoan stone vases, to the use of stone in ritual and as a symbol of luxury, 'New Approaches to Old Stones' offers a radical reassessment of the impact of ground-stone artefacts on technological change, production and exchange.

In recent decades anthropology, especially ethnography, has supplied the prevailing models of how human beings have constructed, and been constructed by, their social arrangements. In turn, archaeologists have all too often relied on these models to reconstruct the lives of ancient peoples. In lively, engaging, and informed prose, Timothy Pauketat debunks much of this social-evolutionary theorizing about human development, as he ponders the evidence of 'chiefdoms' left behind by the Mississippian culture of the American southern heartland. This book challenges all students of history and prehistory to reexamine the actual evidence that archaeology has made available, and to do so with an open mind.

In recent years the bioarchaeology of Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands has seen enormous progress. This new and exciting research is synthesised, contextualised and expanded upon in The Routledge Handbook of Bioarchaeology in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. The volume is divided into two broad sections, one dealing with mainland and island Southeast Asia, and a second section dealing with the Pacific islands. A multi-scalar approach is employed to the bio-social dimensions of Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands with contributions alternating between region and/or site specific scales of operation to the individual or personal scale. The more personal level of osteobiographies enriches the understanding of the lived experience in past communities. Including a number of contributions from sub-disciplinary approaches tangential to bioarchaeology the book provides a broad theoretical and methodological approach. Providing new information on the globally relevant topics of farming, population mobility, subsistence and health, no other volume provides such a range of coverage on these important themes.

The Eastern Subarctic has long been portrayed as a place without history. Challenging this perspective, History in the Making: The Archaeology of the Eastern Subarctic charts the complex and dynamic history of this little known archaeological region of North America. Along the way, the book explores the social processes through which native peoples "made" history in the past and archaeologists and anthropologists later wrote about it. As such, the book offers both a critical history and historiography of the Eastern Subarctic.

This book offers a unique, critical perspective on the history of Peruvian archaeology by a native scholar. Leading Peruvian archaeologist Henry Tantalean illuminates the cultural legacy of colonialism beginning with "founding father" Max Uhle and traces key developments to the present. These include the growth of Peruvian institutions; major figures from Tello and Valcarcel to Larco, Rowe, and Murra; war, political upheaval, and Peruvian regimes; developments in archaeological and social science theory as they impacted Andean archaeology; and modern concerns such as heritage, neoliberalism, and privatization. This post-colonial perspective on research and its sociopolitical context is an essential contribution to Andean archaeology and the growing international dialogue on the history of archaeology.

In the spring of 1874 a handful of men and one woman set out for the Texas Panhandle to seek their fortunes in the great buffalo hunt. They intended to establish a trading post to serve the hunters, or "hide men, " and at a place called Adobe Walls they dug blocks from the sod and built their center of operations.

After only a few months, angry members of several Plains Indian tribes, whose survival depended on the rapidly shrinking bison herd, attacked the post. Initially defeated, the attacking Indians retreated. But the defenders also retreated, and intent on erasing all traces of the white man's presence, the Indians burned the deserted post. Nonetheless, tracings did remain, and in the ashes were buried minute details of the hide men's lives.

Adobe Walls tells us much about the dying of the Plains Indian culture and the march of white commerce across the frontier.

A glittering geographic tour of the remarkable history, peoples, climate, creatures, sights and sounds of the largest and most austere desert on earth. Ten thousand years ago, the Sahara was a temperate grassland - petrified trees mark where forests used to stand, and former riverbeds are rich in the petrified bones of hippos, elephants, zebras and gazelles. Then a slight shift in the earth's axis transformed it into the greatest desert in the world with astonishing speed. Massive sand dunes are continuously formed and dissolved by fierce winds, making the ever-shifting topography of the desert more uncertain and hazardous to navigate. The inhabitants of this desolate terrain barely eke out a living. Throughout the millennia, diverse populations have struggled to make this severe landscape home. Marq de Villiers and Sheila Hirtle chronicle the desert's nations and peoples and legacies they have left to the sand: stone circles older than Stonehenge; Roman aqueducts; remnants of Greek fields and vineyards, and the ruins of palaces and temples along the Royal Road, a once busy trading route for gold and salt, resources that fuelled the economies of the great empires of Old Africa before centuries of conquests, religious wars and tribal turf battles destroyed them. Illuminated by written testimonies of past travellers, 'Sahara' conveys the majesty, mystery and abundance of the desert's life in an evocative biography of the land and its people.

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 D-Day landings of 6 June 1944 were the culmination of months of meticulous planning and organisation. A vast army had to be trained and equipped; huge amounts of material - from tin cans to tank transporters, petrol to parachutes - had to be stockpiled, distributed and readied for transport to the beaches of Normandy; bombing missions had to reduce the enemy; fighters, minesweepers and other naval missions had to clear the English Channel; and, finally, the men had to embark and the armada had to deliver its cargo to a strict timetable under enemy fire onto a hostile shore. For understandable reasons, the emphasis on remembrance of D-Day is focused on the beaches: that's where the battles took place; that's where most of the casualties occurred; that's where the remarkable stories were written in blood, sand and shingle. We should never forget the sacrifice of those who fell, but equally we shouldn't forget the sacrifices of those who prepared the way. The hundred locations chosen for this book are a small collection of those places in Britain that were involved in the preparations for D-Day. It would have been easy to choose a hundred others: few parts of Britain were not part of the war effort. It is perhaps best to see the chosen 100 as starting points from which the reader can discover the considerable depth of involvement required to launch the great invasion.

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

People of the Earth is a narrative account of the prehistory of humankind from our origins over 3 million years ago to the first pre-industrial states, beginning about 5,000 years ago. This is a global prehistory, which covers prehistoric times in every corner of the world, in a jargon-free style for newcomers to archaeology. Many world histories begin with the first pre-industrial states. This book starts at the beginning of human history and summarizes the latest research into such major topics as human origins, the emergence and spread of modern humans, the first farming, and the origins of civilization. People of the Earth is unique in its even balance of the human past, in its readily accessible style, and its flowing narrative that carries the reader through the long sweep of our past. The book is highly illustrated, and features boxes and sidebars describing key dating methods and important archaeological sites. This classic world prehistory sets the standard for books on the subject and is the most widely used such textbook in the world. It is aimed at introductory students in archaeology and anthropology taking survey courses on the prehistoric past, as well as more advanced readers. It will also appeal to students of human responses to climatic and environmental change.

Using data from archaeological excavations, patent filings, and marketing catalogs, this book provides a broad view of the introduction, spread, and use of mass-produced coffin hardware in North America. At the book's heart is a standardized typology of coffin hardware that recognizes stylistic and functional changes and a fresh look at the meanings and uses of the various motifs and decorative elements. Within the discussion of mass-produced coffin hardware in North America is new work connecting the North American industry with its British antecedents and a fresh analysis of the prime factors that led to the introduction and spread of mass-produced coffin hardware. Extensively illustrated with examples of coffin hardware to aid scholars and professionals in identification.

Using data from archaeological excavations, patent filings, and marketing catalogs, this book provides a broad view of the introduction, spread, and use of mass-produced coffin hardware in North America. At the book's heart is a standardized typology of coffin hardware that recognizes stylistic and functional changes and a fresh look at the meanings and uses of the various motifs and decorative elements. Within the discussion of mass-produced coffin hardware in North America is new work connecting the North American industry with its British antecedents and a fresh analysis of the prime factors that led to the introduction and spread of mass-produced coffin hardware. Extensively illustrated with examples of coffin hardware to aid scholars and professionals in identification.