This volume deals with knives and harvesting equipment in Central Europe from their first appearance until the first century of the Common Era. Knives have accompanied human beings since the Paleolithic and became useful tools, weapons, and status symbols over the course of the millennia. An epoch-transcending overview of all common types of knives is provided here for the first time.Harvesting equipment appeared with the new economy of the Neolithic period-first made of silex, then bronze, and finally sickles and scythes of iron. Cutting devices also include scissors, an innovative type of tool that revolutionized textile craft. Each type is described in detail, supplemented with information on dating and propagation as well as further literature.

First published in 2012, this catalogue presents fifty-six Etruscan, Greek, and Italic carved ambers from the Getty Museum's collection-the second largest body of this material in the United States and one of the most important in the world. The ambers date from about 650 to 300 BC. The catalogue offers full description of the pieces, including typology, style, chronology, condition, and iconography. Each piece is illustrated. The catalogue is preceded by a general introduction to ancient amber (which was also published in 2012 as a stand-alone print volume titled Amber and the Ancient World). Through exquisite visual examples and vivid classical texts, this book examines the myths and legends woven around amber-its employment in magic and medicine, its transport and carving, and its incorporation into jewelry, amulets, and other objects of prestige. This publication highlights a group of remarkable amber carvings at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

This book presents a wealth of information on the rock art of the dales that straddle the ridge of the Northern Pennines and Cumbria fells, the authors present details of their new discoveries together with an up to date account of the known archaeology of the area in a comprehensive gazetteer of sites and locations. Hand drawn three-dimensional illustrations highlight the major panels of rock art in the key Northern valleys and Dales that span the three counties of North Yorkshire, Durham and Cumbria including Swaledale, Wensleydale and Great Langdale. Rock art, its situation within the prehistoric landscape and relationship to other archaeological features is clearly discussed broadening perceptions of our predecessors' life within these celebrated northern dales. Independent archaeologists Paul and Barbara Brown have been researching and studying British rock art over three decades and contributed a considerable number of new sites to the archaeological record. The landscape of the Northern Dales and Cumbria is familiar home territory, their dedication and commitment to the subject has been acknowledged in the world of amateur and professional archaeology.

With the exception of early Egypt and Minoan Crete, no early culture had such a vigorous stone vase-making industry as the Cyclades. Figures and vessels of stone, overwhelmingly of marble, are the most distinctive and appealing products of the Early Cycladic culture. The vessels, like the better-known figures, formed a special class of object that conformed to a strict traditional typology. Ranging from charming miniatures to works of impressive size, they often show a striking purity of form, beauty of material, and excellence in their workmanship. Stone Vessels of the Cyclades in the Early Bronze Age is the first comprehensive study of these vessels.

For each vessel type, Pat Getz-Gentle considers the material used, the size range, and the formal characteristics and the extent of their variation. She also discusses manufacturing methods, the incidence of repairs occasioned by accidental damage, and the possible function or functions, as well as the development, frequency, dating, and distribution of each vessel type within the Cyclades and beyond. She stresses the human element--how the vessels were used, held, and carried; how much they weigh; and how much they hold. She examines the sculptors who made them--how they might have designed and executed their works, how on occasion they seem to have modified their original plans, and how they stand out as individual artists working within a traditional craft. The 114 plates, with more than 500 separate photographs, illustrate works that show both the homogeneity and the diversity within each type.

The many hundreds of books and thousands of academic papers on the topic of Pleistocene (Ice Age) art are limited in their approach because they deal only with the early art of southwestern Europe. This is the first book to offer a comprehensive synthesis of the known Pleistocene palaeoart of six continents, a phenomenon that is in fact more numerous and older in other continents. It contemplates the origins of art in a balanced manner, based on reality rather than fantasies about cultural primacy. Its key findings challenge most previous perceptions in this field and literally re-write the discipline. Despite the eclectic format and its high academic standards, the book addresses the non-specialist as well as the specialist reader. It presents a panorama of the rich history of palaeoart, stretching back more than twenty times as long in time as the cave art of France and Spain. This abundance of evidence is harnessed in presenting a new hypothesis of how early humans began to form and express constructs of reality and thus created the ideational world in which they existed. It explains how art-producing behaviour began and the origins of how humans relate to the world consciously.