Bücher der Reihe British Archaeological Reports International Series

A comprehensive study of a wide range of Andalusian ivory artefacts from the Middle Ages.

This study focuses on the local Iron Age culture of the region Molina de Aragon in northeast Guadalajara.

This study looks at the concepts of society, space, urbanism, expansion and organisation in the transition from Late Antiquity to the medieval period in Castile, Spain.

The author presents a report on Canaanite animal husbandry practices, diet, butchery methods, and animal sacrificial rituals. This information comes primarily from faunal remains that were retrieved from Middle Bronze IIB/C (1800/1750-1550 B.C.) strata at the site of Tel Haror, 20 km northwest of Beer Sheva in Israel. The work includes discussions on the origins of Canaanite civilization (and the continuing similarities between the cultures of Canaan, the Phoenician coast, and Syria), as well as a detailed analysis of the site itself (including faunal remains).

Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liège, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001. Section 1Publication of the General Sessions and Posters from the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liège, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001.

This book grew out of a symposium session entitled "Continuity and Change: The Role of Analytical Scale in European Archaeology" for the Society for American Archaeology Annual Meetings in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in April 2000. The basic premise behind this work is that the scale at which we pursue our research, the analytical scale, effects our interpretations of the archaeological record. The purpose of this volume is to encourage an explicit discussion of this relationship in order to develop a clearer understanding of its impact on research. This is done by highlighting some aspects of the role played by analytical scale in the analysis and interpretation of the archaeology of Europe. The papers include: Exploring the Role of Analytical Scale in Archaeological Interpretation (James R. Mathieu and Rachel E. Scott); Scale Factors in Early European Farming (Peter Bogucki); Analytical Scale, Populations, and the Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in the Far North-west of Europe (Timothy Darvill); Scale and its Discontents (D. Blair Gibson); The Four Scales of Technical Analysis; or, How to Make Archaeometry More Useful (Elizabeth Hamilton); Faces in a Crowd or a Crowd of Faces? Archaeological Evidence for Individual and Group Identity in Early Anglo-Saxon East Anglia (Genevieve Fisher); The City and Complexity: Change and Continuity in Late Antique Volterra (Rae Ostman); Distinguishing the Local from the Regional: Irish Perspectives on Urbanization in Early Medieval Europe (John Soderberg); Patterns in Time and the Tempo of Change: A North Atlantic Perspective on the Evolution of Complex Societies (Kevin P. Smith).

Presents finds of Roman oil lamps from North East Spain. Spanish text.

This book aims at synthesizing the available archaeological evidence for the Bell Beaker phenomenon, a large archaeological culture which extends from Ireland to Poland and from southern Scandinavia to northern Maghreb, mostly during the second part of the 3rd millennium BC. An up-to-date general framework for the Bell Beaker phenomenon is welcome as the last single-authored synthesis on the topic is now 25 years old. The core of the work consists of chapters which respectively offer synthetic regional accounts of the Bell Beaker material expressions. These chapters first deal with north-western and central Europe (Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland), second with western Europe (France, Italy, Iberian Peninsula) and last with the British Isles. For the sake of comparison, which remains the ultimate goal of this research, all chapters are organized along the same lines and start with an examination of the various local substrata.

In contrast to traditional stereotypes of the prehispanic culture of the Chontals of Oaxaca, architectural sites and artifacts along the Pacific coast indicate that there were more complex societies, well integrated into southeastern Mesoamerican networks of socio-cultural, economic and political interaction. This research presents the results of surface surveys and test excavations at the Río Huamelula, District of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca (southeastern Mexico), conducted by the author in 2001. The pottery classification aims at reconstructing the settlement chronology of the area from the Classic to the early Colonial periods, c. A.D. 300-1600. Stylistic traits of ball-game-related artifacts, sculptural art, pottery, and architecture, as well as obsidian composition analysis all point to an intensive socio-cultural and economic exchange between the prehispanic communities along the southeastern Oaxaca coast and other Mesoamerican societies. The ethno-linguistic identity of the Classic-period occupants of the Río Huamelula valley remains enigmatic. The archaeological remains of two Postclassic Chontal villages, Huamelula and Astata, however, exhibit a socio-economic complexity contradicting the colonial characterization of Chontal culture. They further demonstrate a settlement continuity that, overall, reaches back into the Classic period and has lasted up to the present day.

with French abstract

This extensive study examines bronze coin supplies to Western provinces of the Roman Empire: Britain, Gaul, the Germanies, Raetia, Italy and Pannonia in the period 81-192 AD. Examined coins are from various collections and excavations and all are listed. The resulting interpretation of bronze coin distribution is quite surprising.

This detailed study compares the results of previously published excavations in what is termed the North Pontic region (Southern Russia and the Ukraine). It explores the question of whether a 'Scythian' ethnic grouping can be identified and its culture defined.

South American Archaeology Series No. 10

Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 55The focus of this study (number 55 in the Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology) is the impact of developments from the 13th-19th centuries on the Ìlàrè District of Central Yorubaland, SW Nigeria. The author's goal is to explain how the pan-regional interaction networks and historical processes shaped the settlement history, socio-political development, and transformations in the material aspects of cultural institutions in Ìlàrè District during the period studied. Although Ìlàrè District is recognized as a periphery in the interacting networks that linked several regional metropolises in Yorubaland, this study demonstrates that a regional history of these networks can be reconstructed by using the archaeological and oral historical data from Ìlàrè District. As the first archaeological investigation in this interesting area, this work extends the frontiers of academic research in Yorubaland, and contributes to the pool of data needed to construct a comprehensive cultural history for the region.

An exploration of the figure of Orpheus in Graeco-Roman art and culture with special reference to its expression in the medium of mosaic in late antiquity.

Western Mediterranean Series 1Analysis of Bell Beaker Culture of the Balearic Islands, based on years of excavations on various sites. Apart from detailed analysis of artefacts and sites discovered, this study points to the strong evidence of growth of the population, through architectural, artefact and other data, social complexity and economic growth through the exploitation of natural resources. All these aspects have been well defined by radio carbon analyses.

Western Mediterranean Series 3This study examines all pottery groups found on Mallorca between the sixth century BC and the the first century BC. All the pottery derives from archaeological contexts and has been well dated. The provenance of many pieces was from underwater sites suchas El Sec, Cabrera II, Conegera, Na Guardis etc and they have provided excellent possibilities for typological analysis and identification. The majority of the pottery is from Punic Carthage, but is also from Sicily, Magna Graecia, the Levant, the Iberian peninsula etc.

South Asian Archaeology Series No 6

This book includes papers from the seventh annual conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology (BABAO), held at the Museum of London in 2005.

This volume publishes the contributions to a research project involving 37 authors to examine the evolution of the idea of the precious stone looking at the role of objects considered to have aesthetic value in a wide range of cultures and time periods although focusing on the emergence of the concept in the palaeolithic. French text.

The spectacular physical presence of the rock engravings of the International Tagus raised, in the 1970s, the need to explain the symbolic expressions of a population that until then had been described as virtually inexistent and, as a matter of course, of little importance to the cultural panorama of Iberian Late Prehistory. This volume gathers together the research effort of the teams that over the past 25 years have developed archaeological interventions in the central area of the International Tagus.

Using northeast Thailand as a model, this work uses stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen to infer paleodietary change in subtropical monsoon Asia. It is hypothesized that in northeast Thailand during the pre-state Metal Age (2000 B.C. to A.D. 500) there are distinct differences among the populations during this time period which coincide with human induced environmental changes and developments of alternative subsistence technologies. It is further hypothesized that female and male diets differed, possibly from social circumstances, such as sex related food accessibility. The archaeological skeletal series is from Ban Chiang, Ban Na Di, Ban Lum Khao, and Noen U-Loke. Stable isotope analysis of local flora and fauna provide a baseline for interpreting stable isotope data from human samples for this and future studies of paleodiet. This work makes a significant contribution to studies of subsistence changes from extensive to intensive agriculture in subtropical monsoon Asia. This research is relevant to debates of agricultural change as well as the effect of cultural changes on subsistence patterns and the evolution of human diet.

This book presents the results of archaeological research in the extreme south of Madagascar between 1991 and 2003, and provides a synthesis of the region's archaeology. Madagascar is an island with many unique species of fauna and flora; its extreme south is a semi-arid region with remarkable vegetational adaptations. Before the arrival of humans, there were many species of megafauna of which the most extraordinary were the flightless elephant birds, the largest avian species in the world. Today the inhabitants of the south have adapted to this aridity with a vibrant culture and strong traditions. The dating of the first colonisation of Madagascar is not certain, but certain sites in the southwest have provided radiocarbon dates towards the end of the first millennium BC. From the tenth to thirteenth century, there was a well-developed civilisation in the south. During the fourteenth century, population numbers fell in the far south and the majority of settlements from this period are found in locations chosen for their defensive aspects. The way of life that evolved in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is similar to that of recent times and today. Europeans arrived at the beginning of the sixteenth century and, by the mid-seventeenth century, the French had established a colony at Fort-Dauphin on the southeast coast. The people of the south are well known today for their large and elaborate stone tombs and standing stones. However, this is not a particularly ancient tradition. Before the appearance of these monumental funerary constructions, burials were marked by arrangements of small stone uprights or by wooden palisades. The large stone tombs that are such a dominant feature of today's landscape have their origins in standing-stone monuments around the end of the eighteenth century.Mike Parker Pearson with Karen Godden, Ramilisonina, Retsihisatse, Jean-Luc Schwenninger, Georges Heurtebize, Chantal Radimilahy and Helen Smith.With contributions by Irene de Luis, David Barker, Seth Priestman, Lucien Rakotozafy, Bako Rasoarifetra, Alan Vince, Zoë Crossland and Brian Boyd.

Edited by Suzanne M. M. Young, A. Mark Pollard, Paul Budd and Robert A. IxerThe book includes 43 papers which deal with various aspects of metals, metallurgy and metalworking in antiquity. Areas covered stretch from China, Americas to Europe. The general goal was to explore the distribution of metals in the natural environment, extractive metallurgy and fabrication processes, as well as social context, use and deposition of artefacts, and combine anthropology, archaeology and the earth sciences.

Collection of thirteen papers which furnish a comprehensive view of the prehistoric archaeology of Jordan. There are seven overviews of the major periods stretching from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Late Neolithic, followed by summaries of areal investigations and views of Jordanian prehistory from the perspectives of neighbouring regions.

The dry stone structures that are the subject of this book are located in the Mandara mountains of the Extreme North province of Cameroon and are known to the Mafa who live among them as diy-ged-bay, best glossed as "ruins of chiefly residence". From this the term "DGB site" is derived, having the advantages of brevity and of lacking implications regarding function. Following the introduction, chapter 2 presents basic information on all known DGB sites and suggests a typology. Chapter 3 is an account of the excavation and dating of DGB-2 emphasizing its complex sequence of construction and reconstruction. Chapter 4 similarly presents the excavation of DGB-8. In chapter 5 there is an analysis of the artifacts and ecofacts from the excavated sites and the light they throw upon the cultural sequences. Chapter 6 begins by extending the discussion of cultural sequence to the full set of sites. It then briefly evaluates and discards a number of the functional interpretations that were suggested prior to extensive fieldwork and excavation. Finally, by considering the archaeological evidence in the context of regional ethnology and the environmental record, a case is built for their having been centers of community ritual and performance related to water and reproduction. In chapter 7 Gerhard Müller-Kosack investigates concepts and traditions held by the Mafa regarding the population of the region and the builders of the sites. While these traditions throw little or no light on DGB culture, Judy Sterner shows that the DGB sites have had the more recent, turbulent, history of the region projected upon them. Finally, chapter 8 returns to the theoretical questions raised above and, after considering the energetics of DGB site construction, reassesses the sites in terms of the agential processes that brought them into being and the influence that they in turn exerted on their builders. A final section places the DGB culture in its broader archaeological and cultural context.With contributions by Judy Klassen, Scott MacEachern, Jean Maley, Gerhard Müller-Kosack, Andrea Richardson and Judy Sterner

This study aims to reconsider current reconstructions of the Iron Age Northern Levant and the role that ceramics studies have played in these interpretations. The author presents a regional ceramic typology for the Iron Age (including the Persian period) and undertakes an analysis of the distribution patterns of this typology across the Northern Levant. An alternative interpretation of the ceramic data is offered, before being compared with the conventional historical model. This alternative reconstruction focuses on theories of practice, and foodways, whilst appreciating the dynamic manner by which material culture is used to constantly negotiate and consolidate social structures. In the end, the study offers one perspective on the compatibility of archaeological data and the historical text, and makes some final recommendations for their correlation.

This is the publication of the late Avner Raban's wide-ranging work on the harbour of Sebastos (Caesarea Maritima), completed and edited by his colleagues under the aegis of Michal Artzy.Edited by M. Artzy, B. Goodman and Z. Gal

This volume discusses the role of organic residue analysis in identifying economic activities and subsistence practices associated with the first uses of pottery in the Middle East, and presents the results of analysis of 280 potsherds recovered from 22 Neolithic and early Chalcolithic settlements dating between 7300 and 4300 cal BC.

This volume, edited by John Bintliff and Hanna Stöger, consists of 24 papers and an introduction covering recent developments in the Medieval and Post-Medieval Archaeology of Greece. These are revised and updated articles from a conference organized at the University of Corfu. The contributions are grouped under the following themes: Landscape Studies, Individual Site Studies, Medieval and Ottoman Mytilene, Vernacular Architecture, Ceramics and Material Culture, Early Modern Ethnoarchaeology and Heritage and Perception. The collection provides an excellent introduction into current research in till-recently neglected eras of Aegean Archaeology.