Bücher der Reihe British Archaeological Reports International Series

Paris Monographs in American Archaeology 13The site of Caseta in the Sayula Basin (Jalisco, Mexico) was discovered in 1992 and immediately became the focus for a rescue project because of its archaeological importance. Over the following seasons, the funerary assemblages took on an increased significance, representing as they did, finds from the Usmajac phase (300/400 BC) to the Amacueca (1100-1500 AD), and by way of their differences from the usual characteristic features of the vicinity. Analysis of this funerary material revealed socio-cultural as well as archaeo-biological insights into the populations over a relatively long period before the hispanicisation of the Sayula Basin. Chapters 1 & 2 are devoted to a general overview of the region and the site. Chapters 3-5 detail the finds. The cultural and biological nature of the finds are discussed in Chapters 6 & 7, while Chapters 8 & 9 concentrate on comparative studies and synthesis.

Artefacts are meaningless until viewed in their chronological, spatial and functional context. Archaeological interpretation relies unequivocally on the integrity of these affiliations. The archaeological record, however, is not static. It is part of a dynamic natural system that is constantly being changed and reworked. The importance of this fact is that these natural systems can affect the inferences that archaeologists make. Natural site formation processes must be understood before using the archaeological record for interpretations. There are many natural processes that can affect the record, including biological factors and physical agencies. The potential processes available for study are vast and as a result, within this work a selected set of site formation processes are considered in detail. Of the extensive array of natural processes at work in site formation, a predominant part of the equation is the action of sedimentation. Various past studies in site formation are based on sedimentation in a fluvial environment and have dealt with lake margins only in a cursory manner. It is this geomorphological process in a near shore environment that will be examined for its effect upon archaeological sites and the material artefact record. The archaeological remains examined in this work are possibly Plio-Pleistocene occurrences from East and Central Africa. Chapter One sets out to describe the importance of understanding lake margin processes as well as to describe the scope of this work. Chapter Two includes a discussion of the methodology and background for this research. It will provide the necessary information for an understanding of some of the pertinent geomorphological processes at work at a lake margin. Chapter Three is a presentation of the methodology and results of each site formation experiment conducted. It includes a description of each experiment, summary and descriptive statistics, a discussion of the findings and a summary of results as indicators of archaeological site transformation. Since a single model analogue used exclusively in taphonomic and site formation analysis may be a simplistic approach to a complex situation, actualistic studies outlining alternative models are examined in Chapter Four. It is a comparative study of the effects of a lacustrine incursion with all other known agencies that have potential for transforming an archaeological site. Chapter Five is an application of the results to Naiyena Engol from Lake Turkana, Kenya and Senga 5A from Zaire, the first being a Plio-Pleistocene archaeological site and the second being an occurrence that has variously been interpreted as Pliocene to Holocene in age. Chapter Six is a conclusion and summary of the findings.

NAS Monograph Series No.2Gerhard Kapitän, born in Meissen (Dresden, Germany) on the 23rd April 1924, is a scholar whose main field of study is maritime archaeology and ethnography. This book is Gerhard Kapitän's inventory of traditional Sri Lankan watercraft and his great achievement. Prepared for publication by Gerald Grainge, in association with Somasiri Devendra, the volume represents Kapitän's collection of scale drawings and photographs of traditional watercraft from west and south Sri Lanka. The material submitted consisted of Kapitän's drawings, photographs and captions - still the centrepiece of the book - together with a brief introductory overview by the author (Chapter 2) and an early draft of his classification of the watercraft of Sri Lanka (Chapter 4) along with brief notes on each of the drawings. The editor has written up a brief introductory comment to each of the chapters, based on what Gerhard Kapitän had previously published. Kapitän passionately believed in the importance of the traditional watercraft of Sri Lanka in terms of heritage, not only for Sri Lanka, but for the world. His vision of a maritime museum to preserve these craft was realized in 1992 in the old Dutch warehouse, situated near the Old Gate of Galle Fort, but unfortunately it was devastated by the 2004 tsunami. This volume, an important contribution to nautical archaeology, presents a unique record of the traditional craft that plied, and in many cases still plies, around the coastal waters of Sri Lanka.

Society for South Asian Studies Monograph No 2

Report of the 1995 and 1996 excavations at the site of Lao Pako, situated c. 40 km from Vientiane at the bank of Nâm Ngum River in Laos. The artefacts and other material give evidence of many different kinds of activities going on about 1600 years ago. The importance of the site in manufacturing of or trading with pottery is indicated by the 45 complete buried jars and 270 kilos of pottery sherds. Further finds include slag, iron artefacts etc. The inhabitants belonged to the same large cultural group as those occupying sites such as Ban Na Di, Ban Chiang and Ban Chiang Han. This culture is distinctively different to groups living at the same time in southern China.

Intrigued by this mundane, ubiquitous vessel, the author of this study began to collect data from amphora related burials with the intention of drawing parallels between Roman lifestyles and changing funerary practices in Gaul. As the data collection grew, it became apparent that not all of the burial contexts that contained amphorae qualified as élite burials. Some contained sherds rather than complete amphorae, together with potsherds and fragmentary goods. Convinced that sherd burials hinted at a localised tradition, details were added to the growing database of evidence. This study therefore aims to understand this relationship through interrogation of the reasons for the selection of amphorae and their treatment in the light of mortuary practice. While amphorae are still the key to this study, it is recognised that the significance of the vessels must be relative to cultural and social contexts; therefore the focus of this study widens from being a study of amphora in burials to a study of funerary behaviour and attitudes in which amphorae are incidental. The work is divided into three parts. The first section explores the development of feasting rituals in Iron Age Europe using the evidence of mythic literature, classical texts and iconography. Chapters 2 and 3 identify, describe, differentiate and analyse the feasting customs of Greek and Roman societies in order to lay a foundation for a comparative interpretation of Celtic or Gallic feasting ritual in Chapter 4. Chapter 4, as well as reviewing the classical observation of authors such as Tacitus and Strabo who describe the Gauls through Roman eyes, also introduces the corroboration of later Irish mythic in which 'Celtic' feasting plays a part. In Chapter 5 the textual sources are supported by the artefactual evidence of feasting vessels, furnishings and accommodation which were particular to feasting. Chapter 6 comments on the rise of powerful individuals and the social changes which may have culminated in a series of Gallic burials containing wine-related vessels. In part II three chapters are concerned with the disposal of both human and non-human material. Chapter 7 lists 265 Late Iron Age burials of Gallic Europe which contain amphorae, either in complete or sherd form. Though the initial recording of interments may have been included in a cemetery record, in this instance each burial is treated as a unique ceremony and is accorded an individual account. The amphora burials of the Champagne region are considered in full detail in Chapter 8. A body of evidence presenting similar ideology to that of amphorae burials is that of 'funerary' pits, which contain artefactual deposits associated with wine. These are considered in Chapter 9. Part III, the concluding Chapter 10, provides an interpretation of the assembled evidence, and attempts to justify conclusions.

Hypogean Archaeology No 1Written by Roberto Basilico, Luigi Bavagnoli, Stefano Del Lungo, Gianluca Padovan and Klaus Peter WilkeTranslation by Ivana Micheli

Translated from Russian by N.S. Makhortykh

A unique study of 26 rare wooden mosques from Samsun, in the Central Black Sea Region, and as much a travel account of the author's personal ambition to record these vanishing structures as it is a detailed study of these charming monuments themselves. "I began this study with travelling and finished it in the same way. During the journeys I took along the Istanbul-Samsun, Istanbul-Melbourne and Istanbul-Amasya routes, my heavy bag filled up with an ever increasing number of documents that took up the most important corner of the places where I stayed. Even during the times I was not able to work for a number of weeks due to health problems and other reasons, they were always on my mind and before my eyes." (from the author's Foreword)

Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 75During 1992/3 nine Later Stone Age (LSA) coastal midden sites ranging in age from 6960 BP to 290 BP, and representing 28 depositional units were excavated in the Blombosfontein Nature Reserve and in the directly adjacent Blombos Estates, situated 20 km to the west of Still Bay, southern Cape, South Africa. This monograph is based on the results derived from the author's research of these sites, including more recent data. In this monograph the term Blombosfontein is used to cover both the Blombosfontein Nature Reserve and the Blombos Estates. The original excavations of 1992 revealed Middle Stone Age deposits but excavation in these levels was limited and the age of the deposits could not be determined. Subsequent excavations of the MSA levels show that the BBC deposits range in age from over 140 000 years to less than 300 years. Excavation of these MSA levels is continuing . The primary objectives of the initial research at Blombosfontein were to examine the economic and cultural diversity present within and across these nine coastal middens. The core of the project revolved around the excavation of the 9 sites and the subsequent analysis and interpretation of the recovered data.

Written records of knowledge in the pre-Columbian New World are virtually non-existent (in contrast to an abundance of such records for ancient China and the Near East). Consequently chemical knowledge in the Americas, prior to the arrival of Europeans, is poorly documented. The arts and technologies discussed in this volume are those known to have existed in pre-Columbian times, as well as those thought to have been developed by native peoples (independently of foreign influence) during the five centuries since the European conquest of the Americas began.

South Asian Archaeology Series No. 10

La necropoli di Capestrano (AQ), celebre per la famosa statua di guerriero, rappresenta il sito archeologico più noto dell'età preromana dell'Italia medio-adriatica. Fin dal 1934 gli scavi archeologici hanno scoperto una complessa area funeraria databile al periodo tra VIII sec. a.C. e gli inizi del II sec. d.C. per un totale di circa 500 tombe. Nel primo volume gli autori offrono un catalogo completo degli scavi condotti nell'area di Fossascopana, il settore centrale della necropoli, tra il 2003 e il 2009. La completa documentazione delle indagini archeologiche qui condotte include: storia delle ricerche, aspetti del rituale funerario, tipologia degli oggetti di corredo, indicatori dell'organizzazione sociale, analisi tafonomica, dati antropologici e paleopatologici.The necropolis of Capestrano (AQ, Abruzzo), well-known for its warrior statue, is the most famous archaeological site of the pre-Roman middle-Adriatic area of Italy. From 1934 onwards, archaeological investigations have uncovered a complex funerary area dating to the period between the 8th century BC and the 2nd century AD, with a total of about 500 burials. In this first volume, the authors offer a complete catalogue of the excavation in the Fossascopana, a central sector of the necropolis, investigated between 2003 and 2009. They present a documented review of the history of research on the site, archaeological artefact typologies, funerary aspects, burial rituals and social organization, alongside taphonomic, anthropological and palaeopathological data.With contributions by Silvia D'Alessandro, Francesca Delle Grazie, Serafino Lorenzo Ferreri, Francesca Mancini, Stefania Montanaro, Federica Properzio, Elena Rossi, Laura Sagripanti and Serena Torello Di Nino

Proceedings of the International Congress Verona (Italy) 20-23 April 2005This book includes papers from the congress: Prehistoric Technology 40 Years Later: Functional Studies and the Russian Legacy held in Verona (Italy), 20-23 April 2005. Sessions: Methodology (seven contributions); Hunter-Gatherers (nine contributions); Food Producers (eight contributions); Complex Polities (six contributions); Burial Context (six contributions); Posters (thirty-two contributions); Round Table (eight contributions).Edited by Laura Longo and Natalia Skakun with the assistance of Massimo Saracino and Martina Dalla Riva.

The building process of the Egyptian pyramids has been the subject of many publications. However, a thorough review of this literature reveals that only certain aspects of this process have been studied in isolation, without taking into account the interaction between various activities involved, such as quarrying, transportation and building and without a sound quantitative basis. The present study aims at filling this gap by means of an integrated mathematical model. Attention is focussed on the largest pyramid, the one built by Cheops. The model simulates an efficient project co-ordination by balancing supply and demand of the building material, with all the activities related to the growth of the pyramid and by assuming a constant total workforce. It enables the reader to determine the effects of different building methods and of the productivity of the workers. Three building methods have been studied, successively making use of a linear ramp, of a spiral ramp and of levers. These methods are compared in terms of the number of men and man-years required. Calculations have been carried out for two sets of input data, indicated as base case and maximum case. In addition to the development of a comprehensive model for the construction of the pyramids,this work also contains a comparative analysis of other publications dealing with this subject.

The book analyses exchange and trade in their social contexts, during the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, with a professed interest in long-term changes occurring over a vast area of central and eastern Europe. Different areas of central Europe were united by symbolic and commercial systems.

The main indicator for the presence of an ancient settlement at a certain location is the find of pottery fragments. With regard previously to the sites of continental Croatia, it has been the practice to date fragments to a broad period of 'medieval times'. This volume marks the first full-scale attempt to closely examine 10th to 13th Croatian pottery typologically and chronologically. As well as pottery analysis, data obtained from cemeteries and Romanesque architectural remains, as well as other types of finds such as coin hoards and swords, were included in the study. This, and information taken from historical sources, has considerably increased the available knowledge on the organization of settlements in the Sava-Drava interfluves during the period of 10th to 13th centuries.

Four skeletal samples comprising a total of 500 skeletons, dated to the Bronze and Iron Ages, were examined. Investigated were health, morbidity and mortality. Parameters included measures of mortality, growth, growth disturbances, joint disease, trauma and dental health. The information was integrated with archaeological and ethnographic evidence. The results indicated a general improvement in health through the time periods studies.

with contributions by Anthony Johnson and David WilliamsThis work details one of the 6th-century Byzantine wrecks located at Dor, off the Carmel coast, Israel. The anchorages of Dor have attracted much recent interest and the discoveries form part of a vast and highly informative body of maritime heritage. Wreck D provides significant insights, especially as regards amphorae finds, into the trade in wine of the period.

with contributions by C.S. Lightfoot, E.A. Ivison and M.T. WypyskiThe site of Amorium is located in western Turkey, some 168 km southwest of Ankara, and some 70 km to the northeast of the modern provincial capital of Afyon. Its strategic position explains in part its prominence in Byzantine times, when Amorium served as the provincial capital and military headquarters. This first volume in the series of excavation monographs details the glass finds from this important site. After a detailed introduction, the author describes in two sections the finds made between 1987-1992 and 1993-1997. In each section the glass is presented according to category and type, and is followed by context concordances. A short section of concluding remarks completes the volume. The Amorium monograph series will present the definitive final results of the Amorium excavations, which have been the subject of detailed preliminary reports since 1988. In planning the series, the editors decided to adopt the model set by other excavations by designating volumes for categories of excavated materials and for trench histories. These volumes will also contain technical reports on distinct groups of materials, such as textiles, pigments, human remains, flora and fauna. This first volume marks a substantial contribution to the study of Roman and Byzantine glass in Anatolia.

The Aeolian Islands, though a small archipelago, figured prominently in ancient civilisation. Their centrality in the south Tyrrhenian sea attracted the attention of outsiders, from the neighbouring regions in the eastern Mediterranean world in the proto-history period, to the Cnidians and Rhodians in the Archaic period and to the Romans afterwards; these groups controlled the islands as a whole or merely used them to exploit their strategic position together with the natural resources. When the proto-historic peoples or the Greeks or the Romans settled in the islands or even sailed off the islands they left highly distinctive remains of ancient maritime activity that came to light in the extensive excavations by Bernabò Brea and Cavalier. These archaeological remains either from land or underwater research have provided a wealth of maritime data, which has been exposed to partial analysis. Systematic work on Mediterranean seafaring society has greatly improved our knowledge of the maritime world that left such valuable data. These advances have occasioned a fresh context in which to plot the maritime activity data provided by the Aeolian Islands, and the time seems ripe for a re-examination of these data. This book intends to provide a detailed account of the Mediterranean maritime routes crossing the south Tyrrhenian through the Aeolian Islands from prehistory to Roman period. Within a chronological approach it presents a systematic study of archaeological sites found on the seabed around the Aeolian Islands and their relationship with historical events, as well as a view of the economy of the societies involved. In view of the variety of types of sites now lying below the sea's surface, a study of maritime archaeology requires a research strategy combining archaeological, geological, and marine meteorological data in order to identify the ancient coastlines and link the various finds to them. The archaeological sites involved in this work consist predominantly of wrecks of ancient ships and their cargoes. These are indisputable witnesses to the precise movements of the commercial activity of the times. Furthermore, they represent an important and unique sample of Mediterranean underwater heritage, which document almost four millennia of history. This book takes as its focus not only the wrecks of ancient ships and their cargoes, but also, wherever possible, the topography of maritime landing places, areas of anchorage and of shelter from prevailing winds, and thus of those sites related to ancient shipping and to the most heavily travelled routes of the Lower Tyrrhenian sea. The research strategy adopted is the result of a combination of archaeological, geological, and marine meteorological data, seeking to evaluate the interaction between two main maritime components, either in terms of the ancient economy or of the maritime landing places involved in the ancient seafaring world.

This research is a study of the development of weapon technologies in Early Egypt (the interval from earliest times until the end of the 2nd Dynasty of the Egyptian state) through the examination and interpretation of material remains. This includes a detailed assessment of the relevant artefacts from prehistoric and Early Dynastic sites. Weapons are evaluated to determine whether they had a military, hunting or ritual function or indeed combinations of these. The earliest depictions of warriors and warfare are then assessed to determine the influence of military aspects upon Early Egyptian society. Cross-cultural research is used to identify possible anthropological parallels that may lead to a better understanding of the Egyptian evidence. The contribution of warfare during the formation of the Egyptian state is discussed and the possibility of a peaceful origin is assessed. For the purposes of this study the territory occupied by the Egyptian Nile valley culture(s) defines Egypt. Throughout the periods examined the Egyptian culture essentially occupied the Nile valley, extending from the First Cataract in the south to the mouth of each branch of the Nile as it disgorged into the Mediterranean Sea in the north. The author develops a model for warfare in Egypt from its earliest times to the end of the 2nd Dynasty, by reviewing current trends in the archaeology, anthropology and history of warfare. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of warfare during the rise of the Egyptian state. Aspects of warfare in Early Egypt are examined through interpretation of pictorial narratives, fortifications and settlement patterns, cultural expansion and predynastic invasions, and wars from Dynasty 0 to Dynasty 2.

This volume represents the final product of a three-day conference organized by the editors and sponsored by the American Academy in Rome and the École Française de Rome. Archaeological Methods and Approaches: Ancient Industry and Commerce in Italy, April 18-20, 2002, involved 29 papers authored or co-authored by 43 scholars from 24 institutions.

The opportunity to systematically study the prehistoric buildings of Cyprus was presented in the 1970s with the emergence of the Lemba Experimental Project.

A study of the pluralistic community at Cerro Baul, Peru, offers the opportunity to explore the complex factors that effect the composition of social groups. The observations contribute to understanding of the socio-economic dynamics between the Wari and Tiwanaku cultural groups in the Middle Horizon (c.600 - 1000 AD).

South Asian Archaeology Series No. 3

This work defines Neolithic Near East 'Dark Faced Burnished Ware (DFBW)', on the basis of new data, taking into account areas of production, analyses of architectural, economic and environmental information, and the verification of the existence of a specific DFBW region and its characteristics. The distribution of DFBW to external areas is also investigated, with the goal of explaining relations between these regions during this Neolithic phase. This research was prompted by the renewed excavations at Yumuktepe-Mersin, one of the central sites of the so-called 'Syro-Cilician' culture, and by the possibility of analyzing two of the main contexts of DFBW - Judaidah, in the Amuq and Ain el-Kerkh, in the Rouj Basin. The study is presented in three main phases: the technical and typological definition of the DFBW; its distribution and characteristics within the horizon of DFBW producers; and its 'external' distribution. A chapter is devoted to a chronological summary of the analyzed developments, as reconstructed from comparisons in the ceramic assemblages from all the sites, and in correlation with available radiocarbon dates.

This book addresses the issue of the temporal origins of transhumant pastoralism in temperate southeastern Europe (northern half of the Balkan Peninsula). In recent years, several hypotheses have been suggested to explain when and why transhumant pastoralism with domestic animals appeared across the southern Mediterranean. Each hypothesis proposes a different point in time when transhumance would appear, ranging from the appearance of the earliest domestic animals (advent of the Early Neolithic), to the appearance of secondary product exploitation (advent of the Post Neolithic), and to the appearance of complex societies (advent of the Iron Age). The hypotheses are tested by examining the tooth remains from three domestic animal taxa (Ovis/Capra, Bos taurus and Sus scrofa) from archaeological sites in the central part of the northern Balkans (also known as the Central Balkans). Data from eleven sites in the region, with statistically sufficient samples and spanning the period from the Early Neolithic through to the Early Iron Age, were tabulated to test the hypotheses.

The purpose of this book is to help the archaeologists in obtaining proper information on shells and their utilisation. The subject has been divided into chapters on history of malacological research, on shells as archaeological material and as part of the palaeoenvironment, as well as on different uses of molluscs (fishing, nutrition, tools, ornaments, etc). The last chapter summarises various interpretations of shells found in the Aegean area from the Palaeolithic to the Late Bronze Age.