This volume contains the final publication of the archaeobotanical remains recovered from four sites at the village of Asvan in eastern Turkey, which were excavated between 1968 and 1973 as part of the archaeological rescue project in the Keban Dam region. An extensive programme of archaeobotanical research involved detailed study of the modern flora, the observation and recording of pre-mechanised agricultural practices and large-scale recovery of ancient botanical samples by water sieving. The report traces the evolution of cultivation in the region from the Chalcolithic to the Medieval period, charting the dominance of emmer and hulled barley in the Chalcolithic period, the emergence of free-threshing wheats in the Early Bronze Age and the introduction of irrigated summer crops, especially millet, by the Hellenistic period. Detailed attention is also given to the assemblage of weed seeds as proxy evidence for environmental conditions and climate change from around 4000 BC to the present day.

The post-palatial period - Late Helladic IIIC - is often seen as the twilight years of Mycenean civilisation, a period of economic decline with few achievements in terms of architecture, materials or technology. Excavation in the Citadel House area at Mycenae afforded unique opportunities to explore stratified remains of this period and to define and describe its character. In this fascicule, Dr. Elizabeth French presents her full report on the remains of this period, which, sheltered within the massive 13th century BC walls, allow us to chart something of Mycenae's history in the final years of the Bronze Age. This fascicule also contains a unique account of LH IIIC pottery, stratum by stratum, incorporating a major study by Dr. Susan Sherratt, together with a wealth of illustration of pottery vessels. The account of the other objects of terracotta, metal, ivory, stone and bone helps us to better understand the cultural materials of the post-palatial period, while Gordon Hillman's account of the plant remains from the "Granary" is a significant addition to the palaeo-botanical record for the Mycenean period as a whole and one of very few for the LH IIIC period. This book, which includes a DVD containing all the data from previous fascicules and an interactive index, will be an essential reference tool for the study of the period.

Ray Mears has travelled the world discovering how native people manage to live on just what nature provides. Whats always frustrated him is not knowing how our own ancestors fed themselves and what we could learn about our own diet. We know they were hunter-gatherers, but no-one has been able to tell what they ate day to day. How did they find their calories, week in week out throughout the year? What were their staple foods? Where did they get their vitamins? How did they ensure their bodies received enough variety? In this book he travels back ten thousand years to a time before farming to learn how our ancestors found, prepared and cooked their food. This extraordinary journey reveals many new possibilities many of the same food sources are still there for us if only we know where to look. Through Ray Mears' knowledge of the countryside and the research conducted specially for this book with archaeo-botanist Gordon Hillman, we learn many new, useful and often surprising things about the amazingly rich natural larder that still surrounds us.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone