Plants are fundamental to life; they are used by all human groups and most animals. They provide raw materials, vitamins and essential nutrients and we could not survive without them. Yet access to plant use before the Neolithic can be challenging. In some places, plant remains rarely survive and reconstructing plant use in pre-agrarian contexts needs to be conducted using a range of different techniques. This lack of visible evidence has led to plants being undervalued, both in terms of their contribution to diet and as raw materials. This book outlines why the role of plants is required for a better understanding of hominin and pre-agrarian human life, and offers a variety of ways in which this can be achieved. Wild Harvest is divided into three sections. In section 1 each chapter focuses on a specific feature of plant use by humans; this covers the role of carbohydrates, the need for and effects of processing methods, the role of plants in self-medication among apes, plants as raw materials and the extent of evidence for plant use prior to the development of agriculture in the Near East. Section 2 comprises seven chapters which cover different methods available to obtain information on plants, and the third section has five chapters, each covering a topic related to ethnography, ethnohistory or ethnoarchaeology, and how these can be used to improve our understanding of the role of plants in the pre-agrarian past.

Shell middens are ubiquitous archaeological features on coastlines throughout the world that have been variously analysed and interpreted as mounds of food, burial places, or simply as convenient receptacles for the preservation of stratified remains. This volume brings together information about little known, or recently discovered, concentrations of shell mounds in areas including Africa, the near East, South-east Asia and the Americas as well as new work on mounds in the classic areas including Denmark, the Pacific NW coast and Japan. Discussions are presented on new approaches to interpretation involving the use of ethnographic studies, analysis of molluscs, the use of shell as a raw material for making artefacts and in construction, and the variable formation processes associated with mound formation.

These papers aim to explore ways of investigating those social and cultural aspects which do not show up in the material record, largely through the use of ethnoarchaeological studies to "generate new ideas and theories which focus on wider underlying trends linked to cultural relativism and/or universals rather than direct analogy." Topics include social organization, ritual behaviour, subsistence, shamanism, and the history and development of ethnoarchaeology.

Book 3 in the reports series on the Upper Tisza Project, north-eastern Hungary. This volume investigates the settlement patterns in the Zemplen Block. Contents: 1) Introduction to the Upper Tisza Project (John Chapman); 2) The environment of the Zemplen Block (Robert Shiel & Eniko Magyari); 3) Land use potential of the Zemplen Block (Robert Shiel); 4) The Gazetteer (John Chapman, Mark Gillings, Denise Telford & Steve Cousins); 5) Interpretation of prehistoric field survey data (John Chapman, Mark Gillings, Katalin Biro & Karen Hardy); 6) Interpretation of Early Modern forest prospection (John Chapman & Mark Gillings); 7) Summary of main results, Zemplen Block (John Chapman & Mark Gillings).

If you are looking for another self-help book with a marketing spin, this isn't it! But one thing you will find is the incentive to change the way you think about your life and your circumstances. "Destiny, Dreams & Decisions" is a candid look at how you can take any setback in your life and turn it into a positive experience. Filled with practical exercises, this book is designed to take you through a logical sequence of steps to help you reach your ultimate destination.