The Neolithic period of southern Turkmenistan, Central Asia is the primary focus of this study. During the Neolithic, southern Turkmenia was inhabited by two main groups living in two discrete ecological environmental zones: the Jeitun Culture of the southern super-zone and the Keltiminar Culture of the northern super-zone. In this study, Chapters 1-3 provide the background critical to an accurate understanding of the typological and petrographic case studies, the insight those studies can provide to our knowledge of the structure of the Jeitun and Keltiminar Neolithic adaptations, and the notion of prehistoric Turkmenia as an archaeological border zone. The ceramic assemblages for the petrographic case study are initially introduced in the context of ceramic typology (Chapter 4), and subsequently in terms of general petrography (Chapter 5) and the Kopet Dag case study (Chapter 6). Finally, Chapter 7 represents a synthesis and interpretation of the data and results from Chapters 4 and 6. This synthesis and interpretation serves as a precursor to a final discussion of contrasts, comparisons, and possibilities for future research in the region (Chapter 8).

Sustainability strives to meet the needs of the present without compromising the future, but increasingly recognizes the tradeoffs among these many needs. Who benefits? Who bears the burden? How are these difficult decisions made? Are people aware of these hard choices? This timely volume brings the perspectives of ethnography and archaeology to bear on these questions by examining case studies from around the world. Written especially for this volume, the essays by an international team of scholars offer archaeological and ethnographic examples from the southwestern United States, the Maya region of Mexico, Africa, India, and the North Atlantic, among other regions. Collectively, they explore the benefits and consequences of growth and development, the social costs of ecological sustainability, and tensions between food and military security.

This study looks at Early Mesolithic Britain, and in particular the assemblage types known as aeStar CarrAe, aeDeepcarAe, and aeHorshamAe, from the point of view of six independent areas of research: typology, technology, chronology, environment, settlement and origins. The discussions highlight what are considered to be the most relevant results of the analyses and offer one or more interpretations of their meaning for the Early Mesolithic.

This study is the first gendered study of the prehistoric rock art of Naquane National Park in Valcamonica, northern Italy. Its purpose is to identify and describe gendered representations and imagery in the rock art of Naquane, in order to reconstruct potential gender roles, gender relations and ritual activities during the Bronze and Iron Age periods. The social role of art in non-western cultures is explored, as well as recent work on gender studies in archaeology and rock art, with a view towards placing the prehistoric rock art of Naquane within a social and cultural context. Gender-specific access to and usage of the rock art sites during successive phases of prehistory is considered and analysis is presented of the possible rituals being portrayed in the rock art and their potential social implications. Discussion also focuses on the social and ritual construction of femininity and masculinity during different chronological periods, as well as upon possible gendered motifs and sexual imagery in the rock art. The study concludes with a discussion of the incidence of over-carving and the incorporation of earlier images into later rock art panels, considering potential reasons why certain earlier carvings were actively curated among the predominantly male-orientated Iron Age rock art.

8 papers from Section 16 (Asian and Oceanic Prehistory) Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liege, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001. French and English."

Are we to believe that Late Minoan Crete was over-run with dancers and bull leapers? As Senta German shows, dancing and bull-leaping were the most prevalent themes of Late Bronze Age glyptic art although, aside from their demonstration of a social and perhaps symbolic activity, they also had a much deeper function in Late Minoan society. German examines archaeological and art-historical evidence and uses it to create a typology of performance art (performativty, performative art and social drama). She questions the role of gender, class and age as social categories within this art and concludes that the seals, as vehicles of the value-laden message of performace at the palaces', were symbolic of power centred around palatial life.

Merryn Dineley's thesis is based on the premise that the biochemical laws that govern the processes of malting, mashing and fermentation remain unchanged throughout the millennia'. She therefore uses the results of scientific experimentation to search for evidence of ale and brewing amongst Neolithic residues. Following a discussing of the actual brewing process and later Viking and medieval embellishments, the study discusses the evidence for barley in Egypt and the Near East, the first evidence of grain in neolithic Europe and ceramic, environmental and structural clues for brewing in Neolithic Orkney and Grooved Ware sites in Britain.

By the late Bronze Age the Irish had become masters in metalworking anf the range of objects produced was in stark contrast to those of the earlie Bronze Age. This study presents a comprehensive analysis and reconstruction of late Bronze Age metalworking practices through artefactual evidence and also experimental work and ethnography. Simon O Faolain's research draws on evidence of raw metal/ingots, clay crucible remains, moulds, wooden templates, metalworking equipment as well as the finished objects themselves, and archaeological evience for sites associated with metal production or associated ritual activities. (A catalogue of metalworking sites is given at the back.) Particular attention is paid to the production of late Bronze Age swords. All the evidence is then summarised and placed within the context of metalworking practices, technology, the organisation of production and late Bronze Age society,

These nineteen papers form the proceedings of Section 8 of the Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress held at the University of Liege in 2001. They focus on the iconography, symbolism and ideology of Rupestrian art from the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic perids. Supported throughout by illustrated examples, the papers discuss: the anthropological information revealed by Rupestrian art; the purpose and vocabulary of cave art; the themes and mythology; comparisons with the art of Native Americans. The volume includes case studies which cover evidence from Spain, Siberia, the Alps, the Dordogne, Lake Onega in Russia, Denmark, Norway and central Europe. Ten papers in English, the remainder in French.

Based on original fieldwork, historical evidence and interviews with local inhabitants of central west Greenland, Clemens Pasda's study looks at the nature of caribou-huntuing in the past and present, and the types of sites utilised. He argues that some of the sites were used like hotels, some being re-used many times when the same routes were taken year after year. His study identifies a series of site-types from camps established at fjords, large camps at the ends of routes along lakes and rivers, typically located in the centre of caribou areas, and smaller sleeping/resting places in the hinterland, often used as processing camps.

The complex archaeological and geological legacy that North Somerset boasts often means that certain periods may be ignored. Jodie Lewis's report focuses on the sometimes neglected Neolithic evidence found all over the area, looking at well recognised sites, such as Stanton Drew and Stoney Littleton, and performing an in depth survey on the area as a whole. The study critically assesses the evidence for Neolithic activity in Northern Somerset, and includes an analysis of the monuments, cave deposits and flint scatters, as well as presenting new data and interpretations.

This work examines spatial variability within and between structures in the Neolithic Eastern Mediterranean and goes on to explore a number of equally significant theoretical issues that play an important role in the understanding of the particular topic. These were matters related to the way spatial information is approached by archaeology and the degree to which the archaeological record is sufficient to provide information about activity areas and changes in the use of domestic space. The work therefore sets information about structures and their furnishing in a wider methodological and theoretical context. Included are extensive analyses tables of data on sites and finds.

Arguing that flint tools alone reveal little about prehistoric societies, these eight papers use ethnological data to reconstruct the cultural, economic and social context of these tools. Taken from Symposium 1.4 at the XIVth UISPP Congress held at Liege in 2001, the papers consider evidence largely from sites in South America, Australia and Africa, looking at lithic material as well as associated evidence, such as worked bone, leather and grinding stones. This material is used to assess prehistoric hunting strategies, knapping procedures, the reasons for the use-wear of lithics and the opportunistic working of tools. Six papers in English, the rest are French; English abstracts.

This book provides the most up-to-date examination of the changing burial practices in Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age South Germany, a pivotal period and region in European Prehistory. Despite the richness of the archaeological evidence, only cursory discussions of the material have so far appeared in English. This major study not only provides a detailed synthetic account of mortuary practice and its related material culture but it is the first attempt to explore the relationship between material culture change and human 'subjectification', the process in which people subjectify themselves by establishing a relationship with material culture, in order to construct their own identity.

This volume, another in the series publishing the acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress held at the University of Liege in 2001, comprises fourteen papers from the field of palaeoecology. Contributors examine flora and fauna, cave sediments, nutrition and the origin of agriculture, covering the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age, at a number of sites, predominantly in western Europe. The Out of Africa' question is also discussed. Papers in French and English; all with abstracts in both languages.

To one great fact do all the most ancient epochs of history bear witness: one and all, they prove the existence in a yet more remote past of an already advanced civilization such as could only have been gradually attained to after long and arduous groping. Who were the inaugurators of this civilization? Who ware the earliest inhabitants of the earth? To what biological conditions were they subject?

This catalogue and guide to Neolithic pottery in southern Greece is geared towards those working with such material. Based on assemblages from sixteen sites, including Corinth, Nemea, Lerna and the Franchthi Cave, the catalogue and large number of illustrations trace the development of the pottery sequence through the early, middle, late and final Neolithic. Based on Bill Phelps' thesis of 1975, this present volume has taken into account much more recent scholarship and finds, although it was not possible to revise the text fully.

This volume presents 33 papers from sessions held at the XIVth UISPP Congress at the University of Liege in 1991. The focus of this Section is on the archaeological and material evidence for the Upper Palaeolithic. Divided into six sections, the contributions discuss: evidence from western Europe; the site of Abri Pataud in the Dordogne; raw materials; subsistence; central and eastern Europe and Asia; posters. Fourteen papers in English, the rest are in French with English abstracts.

These 34 papers, taken from sessions at the XIVth UISPP Congress held at the University of Liege in 2001, focus on the archaeological and material evidence for the Middle Palaeolithic. The papers, the majority of which are in French, examine lithic evidence and occupation deposits from sites across Europe. Twelve papers are in English; all have English abstracts.

It has been said of the Mesolithic that this period heralded an increase in incidents of violence and warfare. These nine papers aim to evaluate whether such a statement holds any credence through a series of wide-ranging case studes: Portugal, Switzerland, the Ukraine, Uruguay, Serbia and Romania, Morocco and China. The first three chapters look at the question more generally and assess various forensic and osteological methods of recognising and interpreting violence. The contributors look at how organised violence amd warefare are recognised in the Mesolithic, and questions whether contact with more sedentary farming communities was a catalyst or cause of violence during this time.

Acknowledging problems inherent in dating Australian rock art, Natalie Franklin approaches a group of engravings known as the Panaramitee style' in terms of its spatial variation. By assessing the diversity and distribution of this style both regionally and on an Australian-wide scale, and by setting up a typology of these non-figurative motifs, she reveals that different motifs are emphasised in certain regions. This pattern of variability between and within regions is argued to be due to the fact that these motifs are associated with parts of Dreaming tracks which are a feature of Australian cosmology. The fact that these motifs may have a variety of meanings Franklin argues may account for their continued use over a period of at least 14,000 years.

In 1976 a late Mesolithic Ertebolle settlement (c.5000 BC) and a slightly later male burial in a dug-out canoe, were discovered off the southern coast of Denmark. Small-scale investigations by the Langeland Museum and volunteer divers led to a full-scale excavation of the submerged remains in 1990-1. This volume publishes the findings of the excavations with a detailed discussion of the geology and topography of the area, the methods used and developed to record and recover material, as well as descriptions of the structures, finds and environmental remains. Reports on flint and other stone objects, bone and antler artefacts, wood, seeds, fruits, pottery are all included. The evidence from the Mollegabet II site is then placed within a regional context as the authors examine other near contemporary finds in the waters off the southern coast.

With the aim of building up a much-needed reference collection for the determination of ancient production methods for cast bronze artefacts, a series of experiments were carried out at the University of Sheffield. This volume publishes the methodology and results of these experiments where bronze flat axes were cast using three types of moulds - sand, clay and bronze - under controlled conditions and were cooled using different techniques. The microstructure, malleability and behaviour of the copper alloy elements during melting and casting were then compared. A study with important implications for ancient production methods of cast bronze artefacts.

This volume presents the proceedings of Section 18 of the Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress held at the University of Liege in 2001. Despite the title, the minority of papers relate to museums; the ten papers focus on the preservation and restoration of Palaeolithic art and the history of prehistoric and protohistoric research. Case studies include Celts in Spain, the rock art of Cantabria, Altamira and France, and the management of archaeological data from Isernia La Pineta in Italy. Six papers in English, four in French.

Section 9 of the UISPP Congress held at the Univeristy of Liege in 2001 focused on the archaeological evidence for the Neolithic in the Near East and Europe. The proceedings, printed here, comprise three case studies on Neolithic society and economy and seven lithic studies. An additional nineteen general papers discuss a range of sites across Europe, the Aegean and Near East as well as burials, ceramics, mines, textiles, cosmology, rock art and obsidian. There are a further nine posters. The proceedings of Section 10 are also presented here. This session focused on the religion of the Neolithic and Chalcolthic. Five papers discuss the evidence for ritual and the sacred in Italy and Romania, followed by nine general papers on Chalcolithic settlements and remains in Turkey, the Balkans, Italy, Romania, France and Spain. Thirty-one contributions in English, the rest in French.