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New to this Edition * Updated treatment of postcolonial approaches
and indigenous archaeology, with coverage of the ontological turn
in archaeology, and new examples of community archaeology in
southern Africa and Australia. * New discoveries and research
across the globe, such as archaeological evidence of social
hierarchies at the ancient city of Liangzhu, China, and recent
evidence of Neanderthal art in France and Spain. * A more inclusive
picture of archaeology, raising the profile of women in the
discipline's history, and describing the development of archaeology
in China and Japan. * In Chapter Five, updated treatment of social
organization, with critical evaluations of Service's model, and new
coverage of heterarchies. * New box features include: forensic
archaeology; change in the Amazon; ancient microbes;
paleoproteomics; Must Farm; evidence of feasting at Stonehenge;
Neanderthal art; and ceramic styles and learning. * New book
design, including, for each chapter, distinct introductions that
offer a general overview of each topic covered.
From two of the best-known archaeological writers in the trade,
this outstanding resource provides a thorough survey of the key
ideas in archaeology, and how they impact on archaeological
thinking and method. Clearly written, and easy to follow,
Archaeology: The Key Concepts collates entries written specifically
by field specialists, and each entry offers a definition of the
term, its origins and development, and all the major figures
involved in the area. The entries include: thinking about landscape
archaeology of cult and religion cultural evolution concepts of
time urban societies the antiquity of humankind archaeology of
gender feminist archaeology experimental archaeology multiregional
evolution. With guides to further reading, extensive
cross-referencing, and accessibly written for even beginner
students, this book is a superb guide for anyone studying,
teaching, or with any interest in this fascinating subject.
The site of Dhaskalio Kavos, on the remote Cycladic island of
Keros, was extensively looted in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Investigations starting in1963 then revealed large quantities of
fractured marble bowls, broken marble figures and smashed pottery
of the Early Cycladic period from around 2500 BC. This report of
the subsequent survey and rescue excavations of 1987-88 reveals the
extraordinary richness of the site, now confirmed as one of the
most prolific in lite goods of the entire Aegean early bronze age.
Was it an unprecedentedly rich Early Cycladic cemetery, recently
wrecked by looters? Or was the damage deliberately produced during
early bronze age times in some procedure of ritual breakage and
ceremonial deposition? Here the survey of the site and the rescue
excavations undertaken within the looted area are documented in
detail, with a full account of the finds. Alternative explanations
for this extraordinary deposit are explored. What has been termed
'the Keros Enigma', in the light of the finds at the site, can now
be reconsidered with the full documentation which this volume
offers.
The Cambridge World Prehistory provides a systematic and
authoritative examination of the prehistory of every region around
the world from the early days of human origins in Africa two
million years ago to the beginnings of written history, which in
some areas started only two centuries ago. Written by a team of
leading international scholars, the volumes include both
traditional topics and cutting-edge approaches, such as
archaeolinguistics and molecular genetics, and examine the
essential questions of human development around the world. The
volumes are organized geographically, exploring the evolution of
hominins and their expansion from Africa, as well as the formation
of states and development in each region of different technologies
such as seafaring, metallurgy, and food production. The Cambridge
World Prehistory reveals a rich and complex history of the world.
It will be an invaluable resource for any student or scholar of
archaeology and related disciplines looking to research a
particular topic, tradition, region, or period within prehistory.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the
disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other
monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh
insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the
afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the
rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the
world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from
the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered
scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by
leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the
emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a
contributing factor to the formation of communities and social
hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
The origins of religion and ritual in humans have been the focus of
centuries of thought in archaeology, anthropology, theology,
evolutionary psychology and more. Play and ritual have many aspects
in common, and ritual is a key component of the early cult
practices that underlie the religious systems of the first complex
societies in all parts of the world. This book examines the
formative cults and the roots of religious practice from the
earliest times until the development of early religion in the Near
East, in China, in Peru, in Mesoamerica and beyond. Here, leading
prehistorians and other specialists bring a fresh approach to the
early practices that underlie the faiths and religions of the
world. They demonstrate the profound role of play ritual and belief
systems and offer powerful new insights into the emergence of early
civilization.
Modern archaeology has amassed considerable evidence for the
disposal of the dead through burials, cemeteries and other
monuments. Drawing on this body of evidence, this book offers fresh
insight into how early human societies conceived of death and the
afterlife. The twenty-seven essays in this volume consider the
rituals and responses to death in prehistoric societies across the
world, from eastern Asia through Europe to the Americas, and from
the very earliest times before developed religious beliefs offered
scriptural answers to these questions. Compiled and written by
leading prehistorians and archaeologists, this volume traces the
emergence of death as a concept in early times, as well as a
contributing factor to the formation of communities and social
hierarchies, and sometimes the creation of divinities.
The construction of formal measurement systems underlies the
development of science and technology, economy, and new ways of
understanding and explaining the world. Human societies have
developed such systems in different ways in different places and at
different times, and recent archaeological investigations highlight
the importance of these activities for fundamental aspects of human
life. The construction of measurement systems constituted new means
for recognising and engaging with the material world, and their
implications, and the motivations behind them, also extend beyond
the material world. Developments such as the precise reckoning of
the passage of time highlighted patterns and causal relationships
in nature. Measurement systems have provided the structure for
addressing key concerns of cosmological belief systems, as well as
the means for articulating relationships between the human form,
human action, and the world - and new understandings of
relationships between events in the terrestrial world and beyond.
The Archaeology of Measurement explores the archaeological evidence
for the development of measuring activities in numerous ancient
societies, as well as the implications of these discoveries for an
understanding of their worlds and beliefs. Featuring contributions
from a cast of internationally renowned scholars, it analyzes the
relationships between measurement, economy, architecture,
symbolism, time, cosmology, ritual, and religion among prehistoric
and early historic societies throughout the world.
Thirteen leading archaeologists have contributed to this innovative
study of the socio-political processes - notably imitation,
competition, warfare, and the exchange of material goods and
information - that can be observed within early complex societies,
particularly those just emerging into statehood. The common aim is
to explain the remarkable formal similarities that exist between
institutions, ideologies and material remains in a variety of
cultures characterised by independent political centres yet to be
brought under the control of a single, unified jurisdiction. A
major statement of the conceptual approach is followed by ten case
studies from a wide variety of times and places, including Minoan
Crete, early historic Greece and Japan, the classic Maya, the
American Mid - west in the Hopewellian period, Europe in the Early
Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, and the British Isles in the late
Neolithic.
Ranked societies are characterized by disparities in personal
status that are often accompanied by the concentration of power and
authority in the hands of a few dominant individuals. They stand
between the sophistication of developed, states and the relative
simplicity of most hunter-gatherer groups and early
agriculturalists. In some places and times they represented
relatively brief phases of transition to more complex forms of
organization; in others they existed as stable forms of adaptation
for thousands of years. They are thus of great interest for
archaeologists seeking to understand the dynamics of cultural
evolution.
The Greek island of Melos in the Cyclades has been inhabited for at
least five thousand years. Two periods of its history are well
documented: the late Bronze Age, when it supported an important
urban centre at Phylakopi and the late fifth century BC, when as an
independent city-state it briefly defied and was then destroyed by
the expansionist power of Athens. The case of Melos is thus
relevant to the understanding of the processes of early
state-formation and of the integration of small-scale societies
into larger political units. As the contributors to this volume
show, a small island provides a very suitable area - clearly
defined, self-contained - in which to examine the processes of
social, cultural and economic change and the forces - sometimes
gradual and almost imperceptible in their effect, sometimes sudden
and dramatic - by which changes are initiated.
Data from molecular genetics have changed our views on the origin,
spread and timescale of our species across this planet. But how can
we reveal more detail about the demography of ancient human
populations? For example, is it possible to determine when and how
many people arrived at a certain continent, and which route they
took from a choice of geographically plausible options? One of the
most promising tools for such investigation is computer simulation
incorporating various demographic scenarios. The simulation
outcomes must be evaluated by teams with archaeological expertise,
since archaeological evidence is generally the best evidence
currently available on the population histories of geographical
regions. This book is a summary of the landmark conference held in
Cambridge in 2005, where specialists in simulations and molecular
genetics as well as archaeologists came together to present and
evaluate the state of the art, and to discuss future possibilities.
The dawn of art is sometimes equated with the birth of the human
spirit. But when and how did figuration - sculpture, painting,
drawing - actually begin? And did these first figurative creations
coincide with the emergence of our own species, Homo sapiens ? Is
figuration a general and fundamental feature of the human
condition? In this challenging volume leading experts review the
evidence now available from the worldwide practice of prehistoric
archaeology, and go on to formulate some important conclusions. The
scope of this work is global. It sets out to explore the first
stirrings of artistic endeavour and of figurative imagery on each
continent, and to consider the social context in which they arose.
It will be a fundamental resource for all those seeking to
understand the origins of art and the beginnings of human
spirituality.
The Cycladic Islands of Greece played a central role in Aegean
prehistory, and many new discoveries have been made in recent years
at sites ranging in date from the Mesolithic period to the end of
the Bronze Age. In the well-illustrated chapters of this book,
based on the recent conference held at the McDonald Institute for
Archaeological Research in Cambridge, international scholars
including leading Greek archaeologists offer new information about
recent developments, many arising from hitherto unpublished
excavations. The book contains novel theoretical insights into the
workings of culture process in the prehistoric cultures of the
islands. It will be an indispensable resource for students and
scholars interested in the prehistory of the Aegean and in the
contributions made to its development by the prehistoric
inhabitants of the Cyclades.
Evolutionary ('phylogenetic') trees were first used to infer lost
histories nearly two centuries ago by manuscript scholars
reconstructing original texts. Today, computer methods are enabling
phylogenetic trees to transform genetics, historical linguistics
and even the archaeological study of artefact shapes and styles.
But which phylogenetic methods are best suited to retracing the
evolution of languages? And which types of language data are most
informative about deep prehistory? In this book, leading
specialists engage with these key questions. Essential reading for
linguists, geneticists, and archaeologists, these studies
demonstrate how phylogenetic tools are illuminating previously
intractable questions about language prehistory. This innovative
volume arose from a conference of linguists, geneticists, and
archaeologists held at Cambridge in 2004.
The Upper Palaeolithic era of Europe has left an abundance of
evidence for symbolic activities, such as direct representations of
animals and other features of the natural world, personal
adornments, and elaborate burials, as well as other vestiges that
are more abstract and cryptic. These behaviours are also exhibited
by populations throughout the world, from the prehistoric period
through to the present day. How can we interpret these activities?
What do they tell us about the beliefs and priorities of the people
who carried them out? How do these behaviours relate to ideologies,
cosmology, and understanding of the world? What can they tell us
about the emergence of ritual and religious thought? And how do the
activities of humans in prehistoric Europe compare with those of
their predecessors there and elsewhere? In this volume, fifteen
internationally renowned scholars contribute essays that explore
the relationship between symbolism, spirituality, and humanity in
the prehistoric societies of Europe and traditional societies
elsewhere. The volume is richly illustrated with 50 halftones and
24 colour plates.
One of the most troubling problems in archaeology is to determine the manner and content of prehistoric thought. A fundamental challenge is to develop the theory, methodology and tools to understand human cognition. Cognitive archaeology as a subject is still in its infancy, and archaeologists are adopting a variety of approaches--literary, linguistic, and scientific. The contributors to The Ancient Mind develop a new direction in prehistoric cognitive research that is rooted in the scientific tradition and in an empirical methodology. Together, they begin to develop a science of cognitive archaeology.
Fully updated with a wealth of exciting new interviews and
inspiring images, the 2nd edition of "Developing a Fashion
Collection" is a must-read for every aspiring fashion designer, and
covers everything the fashion student needs to know before
designing their own collections."Developing a Fashion Collection
"focuses on the process of designing a collection, and explores
different types of research, fabric sourcing, the key roles within
a design team and the many sources of inspiration available to
designers. Different market levels from ready-to-wear to online
shopping are covered in-depth, and are given real-world context
through insightful interviews with practising contemporary
designers. Collections for niche markets, including knitwear,
childrenswear and footwear are also discussed. This fully updated
2nd edition of "Developing a Fashion Collection" features a vast
range of exciting new interviews with high-profile international
contemporary fashion designers, including Sister by Sibling, Holly
Fulton, Todd Lynn, thefuturelaboratory, People Tree, Leutton Postle
and Insley & Nash.
The origins of religion and ritual in humans have been the focus of
centuries of thought in archaeology, anthropology, theology,
evolutionary psychology and more. Play and ritual have many aspects
in common, and ritual is a key component of the early cult
practices that underlie the religious systems of the first complex
societies in all parts of the world. This book examines the
formative cults and the roots of religious practice from the
earliest times until the development of early religion in the Near
East, in China, in Peru, in Mesoamerica and beyond. Here, leading
prehistorians and other specialists bring a fresh approach to the
early practices that underlie the faiths and religions of the
world. They demonstrate the profound role of play ritual and belief
systems and offer powerful new insights into the emergence of early
civilization.
This second volume on Early Cycladic (and Cycladicising) sculptures
found in the Aegean, examines finds from mainland Greece, along
with the rarer items from the north and east Aegean, with the
exception of those discovered in the Cyclades (covered in the
preceding volume), and of those found in Crete. The significance of
these finds is that these are the principal testimonies of the
influence of the Early Bronze Age Cycladic cultures in the wider
Aegean. This influence is shown both by the export of sculptures
produced in the Cyclades (and made of Cycladic marble), and of
their imitations, produced elsewhere in the Aegean, usually of
local marble. They hold the key, therefore, to the cultural
interactions developing at this time, the so-called 'international
spirit' manifest particularly during the Aegean Early Bronze II
period.This was the time when the foundations of early Aegean
civilisation were being laid, and the material documented is thus
of considerable significance. The volume is divided into sections
wherein contributions examine finds and their archaeological,
social, and economic contexts from specific regions. It concludes
with an overview of the significance and role of these objects in
Early Bronze Age societies of the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean
region. This will be the first time that this material has been
systematically gathered together. Highly illustrated, it follows
and builds on the successful preceding volume, Early Cycladic
Sculpture in Context (Oxbow 2016).
The Settlement at Dhaskalio is the first volume in the series The
Sanctuary on Keros: Excavations at Dhaskalio and Dhaskalio Kavos,
2006-2008, edited by Colin Renfrew, Olga Philaniotou, Neil Brodie,
Giorgos Gavalas and Michael Boyd. Here the findings are presented
from the well-stratified settlement of Dhaskalio, today an islet
near the Cycladic island of Keros, Greece. A series of radiocarbon
dates situates the duration of the settlement from around 2750 to
2300 BC. The volume begins with a discussion of the geological
setting of Keros and of sea-level change, concluding that Dhaskalio
was in the third millennium BC linked to Keros by a narrow
causeway. The excavation and finds (excluding the pottery,
discussed in later volumes) are fully documented, with
consideration of stratigraphy, geomorphology, organic remains, and
the evidence for metallurgy. It is concluded that there was a small
permanent population of around 20, increased periodically by up to
400 visitors who would have participated in the rituals of
deposition occurring at the Sanctuary at Kavos, situated opposite,
on Keros itself, for which the detailed evidence (including
abundant fragmented pottery, marble vessels and sculptures) will be
presented in Volumes II and III.
Linguistic diversity is one of the most puzzling and challenging
features of humankind. Why are there some six thousand different
languages spoken in the world today? Why are some, like Chinese or
English, spoken by millions over vast territories, while others are
restricted to just a few thousand speakers in a limited area? The
farming/language dispersal hypothesis makes the radical and
controversial proposal that the present-day distributions of many
of the world's languages and language families can be traced back
to the early developments and dispersals of farming from the
several nuclear areas where animal and plant domestication emerged.
For instance, the Indo-European and Austronesian language families
may owe their current vast distributions to the spread of food
plants and of farmers (speaking the relevant proto-language)
following the Neolithic revolutions which took place in the Near
East and in Eastern Asia respectively, thousands of years ago. In
this challenging book, international experts in historical
linguistics, prehistoric archaeology, molecular genetics and human
ecology bring their specialisms to bear upon this intractable
problem, using a range of interdisciplinary approaches. There are
signs that a new synthesis between these fields may now be
emerging. This path-breaking volume opens new perspectives and
indicates some of the directions which future research is likely to
follow.
This volume of essays examines the claim that a linguistic
macrofamily can be identified which includes not only the
Indo-European and Afroasiatic language families but also the
Kartvelian, Uralic,Altaic and Dravidian families. The Nostratic
case was put by Aharon Dolgopolsky in his The Nostratic Macrofamily
and Linguitic Palaeontology , and it is here evaluated critically
by linguists specialising in the language families concerned.
Contents include: The Nostratic Macrofamily (A. Bomhard); Nostratic
Languages: Internal and External Relationship (V. Shevoroshkin);
Beyond Nostratic in Time and Space (G. Decsy); Nostratic and
Linguistic Palaeontology in Methodological Perspective (L.
Campbell); Family Trees and Favourite Daughters (A. McMahon, M.
Lohr & R. McMahon); Linguistis Palaeontology: For and Against
(I. Hegedus); Afroasiatic and the Nostratic Hypothesis (D.
Appleyard); The Dravidian Perspective (K. Zvelebil); Altaic
Evidence for Nostratic (A. Vovin); On Semitohamitic Comparison (R.
Voight); Toward a Future History of Macrofamily Research (D.
Sinor).
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