Bücher der Reihe British Archaeological Reports International Series

This research focuses on prehistoric metallurgy and the key role it played for the human communities of the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula (the present-day area of the Autonomous Region of Catalonia and the Principality of Andorra). The study covers the period from the first use of gold and copper during the Late Neolithic to the structured production of the Bronze Age. The role played by metallurgy in each prehistoric community and its relationship with the other elements involved in social life is explained. Questions such as the origin of this technology, its social value in relation to the other productions or the importance traditionally given to it in the development and consolidation of social asymmetries are dealt with in depth in the context of each archaeological group.

During the first to the fifth centuries AD the Danube-Balkan region formed a buffer zone between the Latin speaking world of the west and the Greek speaking lands of the east. This book deals with the development and influence of the architectural plan of the late Roman villa in the Danube-Balkan region. It combines an archaeological and an architectural historical approach to the examination of the plans which form the primary focus of the research. At the same time, the functional and decorative elements of the buildings are considered in detail where appropriate. The research is based on extensive fieldwork and draws together the existing literature to elucidate the architecture of the late Roman villa in the Danube-Balkan region and to establish its broader significance. A systematic study of this nature has not previously been carried out.

A unique study of infancy and infant death that is wide-ranging and diverse in its approach. Eleanor Scott looks at theoretical issues, gender, women's power, childbirth, burial practices, infanticide and much more besides.

The concepts of 'territory' and 'territoriality' are analysed on the basis of anthropological and archaeological data. It is assumed that 'territory' and 'territoriality' are more complex concepts than simple space occupation. For the case of Egypt in the Old Kingdom, the author of this volume considers different variables related to the ideology and to the socio-political and economic systems of the Egyptian state. Its consolidation, the royal power legitimisation and that of the elite, and the socio-political and economic system are here considered from their unification in the Early Dynastic period, to the Old Kingdom, when the state expanded and its political and ideological maturity was achieved. 'Part One: Territory, occupation of space and legitimisation; Part Two: Royal necropolises and Pyramid towns during the Old Kingdom; Part Three: The territorial appropriation in Egypt - an alternative explanation for the Old Kingdom.

This work focuses on the persistence of the 'Gates of Hades' iconographic theme among the peoples of the ancient Mediterranean. The analysis considers both the written tradition and the iconographic evidence surviving in funerary contexts, showing how the idea of the nether world among the eastern civilizations constituted a background for Greek and Etruscan imagary. The chronological period considered begins with Egyptian tombs of the Ancient Kingdom and moves on to concentrate on the period between the 7th and 5th centuries B. C., when the 'Gates of Hades' theme appears in Etruscan and Lydian necropoleis and on Attic vase painting.

Between 1968 and 1972, ten archaeological sites were excavated in Prince Rupert Harbour on the northern coast of British Columbia. This volume focuses on the finds from nine sites, over 9,000 of which were found, dating from 3,500 BC to the modern period.

This book is an investigation of the towns of Palestine under Muslim rule from AD 600 to AD 1600. The primary form of evidence is archaeological reports though historical sources are also used. Three questions are addressed: 1) Did the towns of Palestine decline under Muslim rule? 2) Did the towns become Islamic? 3) Does archaeology provide useful answers? To answer these questions the archaeology of twenty-six towns is investigated. The towns selected are in regional groups (the Negev, Eastern Galilee and the Mediterranean coast) to illustrate different aspects of urban development from the Muslim conquest to the first century of Ottoman rule. The study also includes a detailed investigation of Ramla which was founded by the Umayyads within the first century of Muslim rule.

To determine the role that foreign immigrants held in Egyptian society, the author looks in this study at what it meant to be Egyptian and how foreign immigrants differed. Her analysis covers a discussion on ethnicity, nationalism and citizenship, particularly in relation to Asiatics, Syrians, Libyans, Nubians, Minoans, and Indians. Selected catalogues of finds and other material illustrate to these 7 groups of 'foreigners'.

This work investigates the contribution of economic activity to Chinese early urbanization, through a case study of the lithic production at the Neolithic Taosi site in Shanxi, China (c. 2500-1900BCE). The analysis is based on information collected from fieldwork experiments with replicating stone tool manufacture. Lithic production played an important role in the urbanization at Taosi, which developed into the primary political, economic and ceremonial centre in the Linfen Basin. Due to its central position in the region, a high level of social complexity, and its spatial layout with a rammed-earth enclosure, Taosi represents a milestone in the process of early urbanism in ancient China.

The results of research over a period of ten years into the question of the origins of the Early Bronze Age in south-eastern France. The study includes investigations into ceramic production using typological, semiotic and petrographic methodologies. The CD includes analyses of a wide range of documentary material.

What is the status of the human remains from the Level 2 of the Abri Pataud? This is the question that a multidisciplinary team has tried to answer with a threefold approach: new excavations, detailed review of the collections and detailed historiographical analysis of the former excavations (HL Movius). The Level 2 of the Abri Pataud, which is a reference site for the French Upper Palaeolithic, is dated to -22 000 years. It is attributed to the final Gravettian. This book, through the contributions of 18 authors, presents the results gathered during the first five years of excavation and study (2005-2009) placing it in a the broader context of the final Gravettian in France. It brings new elements of interpretation concerning the human occupation and examines the original burial behavior observed in the Level 2.

This work is a survey of 'individual' Beaker culture and Early Bronze Age burial methods in the French section of the Rhône basin, and its sphere of influence. It classifies the various forms and assesses the relevance of the distinct return to individual graves. Indeed, the presence of so-called individual graves in late Neolithic cultures and the continuation of the use of collective graves during the early Bronze Age is, in itself, an indication of the complexity of the phenomenon. The study area corresponds roughly to south-eastern France, essentially covering the Rhône-Alpes, Provence-Alpes-Cote d 'Azur, and eastern Languedoc administrative regions. The research examines issues relating to the development of an early Bronze Age identity in this area and applies scenarios derived from knowledge of the material culture.

This work examines the development of votive offerings at Athens during the fourth century B.C., as well as the social and artistic changes this accompanied. It provides a valuable catalogue of the Attic votive inscriptions to Athena Ergane and the increasingly popular healing deities, in particular Asklepius. It not only provides a detailed epigraphic and linguistic analysis of the votive texts, but also contextualises them into the archaeological sites, artistic scene, religious landscape and society they belong to. Through this combination of detailed study and broad contextualisation, the affinities between 4th century votive habits and those of the preceding period are examined, as is the emergence of new motifs that became increasingly prevalent throughout the Hellenistic period. As a result this book provides a new insight into the dynamic and important subject of social change in late Classical and early Hellenistic Greece, through the lens of votive healing offerings, a highly evocative and insightful class of object.

Though the Silk Road has long fascinated writers and archaeologists, its northern-most branch has been comparatively neglected in ancient and modern times. This timely volume about the route between the Volga and Kama Rivers Regions and the classical world, rectifies this imbalance. It provides a reader of literary sources regarding trade between these two regions, written by Greek and Roman authors, but also a catalogue of the archaeological remains of transit trade in the Volga and Kama Rivers Regions. As such, it contains a more rounded view than all previous accounts, as it does not only rely on Classical, literary perspectives on this trade network, but is able to examine its effects on both groups of traders. It also carefully traces how these trade relations changed over time as the societies at both ends of it constantly evolved, treating this subject over the course of thirteen hundred years, from the sixth century B.C. to the seventh century A.D. The value of this book lies in the fact that the comprehensive and thorough archaeological, and textual, analysis will allow a more precise and complete examination of the main mechanisms of trade and economic relationships between societies which occupied different levels of socio-economic and political development.

This volume presents the findings of the Michoacan III project, which aimed to investigate and illuminate the mysterious early post classic occupation phase in the Michoacan region, Mexico. It focuses on the settlements of the Milpillas region, particularly on group B, providing an extremely detailed and thorough catalogue of the structures here, as well as investigating what activities would have taken place there, to provide a thorough overview of the site. Accompanying it will be another volume to place this site in the wider context of the settlement patterns of the Tarascan empire more generally.

The main aim of this project was to document as many existing structures as possible due to the rapid development of rural areas, and a fear that these important historical features of the landscape would soon disappear. The book contains a detailed and illustrated catalogue of the water mills of Jordan, Cyprus and parts of Syria, and a concise one of those in Palestine. It also provides a useful summary of the historical and contemporary documentary evidence about the use of water technology for many socially and economically important functions, such as grain, water and sugar milling. What has emerged from a study of architecture, history, landscape and society is an intriguing picture of socio-economic interdependencies in both rural and urban societies, where the water mill had a defined and often vital role.

The two small-scale and hyper-intensive surface artifact surveys presented in this study were the first glimpse of the type and distribution of settlement on a parish level and in a rural context, in the regions along the Vardar Valley. Not attempting to offer a representative coverage of the region as a whole or of certain types of micro-geographic entities, the surveys were rather concentrated on 1) reconstructing the long-term history of individual settlements (by means of highly intensive and systematic survey coverage and careful study of the ceramic fabrics); 2) understanding the integral set of habitation practices (by adopting a site-less approach in the interpretation of the surface artifact scatters) and 3) exploring the type of micro-topographic elements preferred by the local farming communities (the concept of settlement niche). The study and interpretation of the field data faced us with the problem of understanding the settlement dynamic on a micro-level, but it also brought up a series of interpretative and methodological problems inherent to all studies of surface archaeological material.

This work investigates the development of social complexity and the changes of modes of pottery production from the Neolithic to early Bronze Age in the Yuanqu Basin, north-central China. The research focuses on the development of specialised pottery production in different societies. Through settlement pattern studies, the author examines the social changes during eight cultural periods from the Neolithic to the early Bronze Age (ca. 6200-1300 B.C.). The settlement analyses address 46 sites, including seven excavated sites in the Yuanqu Basin. This study argues that the initial and low-level specialisation might occur in the simple and non-stratified society, and the dramatic change in the mode of pottery production or the degree of specialisation is not necessarily related to the emergence and development of chiefdom-level societies, but rather associated with the formation of state-level societies, as demonstrated by the Yuanqu case.

Studies in Classical Archaeology VThis study examines Greek archaeological and literary evidence between 600 and 300 BC, to discover how ancient Greeks regarded, interacted with, used, and treated tame and domestic animals. Also included are some of the more frequently encountered wild pest species, selected on the basis of their appearance in art and literature. Of primary interest are relationships between human and animal well-being. One of the significant problems in studying ancient Greece is that surviving literary and artistic evidence strongly emphasises élite values and activities, leaving the commonplace relatively untreated. The purpose of this work is to attempt recovery of ordinary, everyday human-animal relationships, to enhance our understanding of animals' fundamental social and practical roles in ancient Greece. Thus the focus is not the depiction of animals as art, or narratives about them, but literary evidence, artefacts, and animal remains as historical records, revealing a Greek social history of human-animal relationships. To discuss the entirety of human-animal interactions in the ancient Greek world would require numerous volumes. Some limitation is necessary. This has been achieved by investigating only chosen themes, and by biological class and species exclusions. It is hoped that this will allow the presentation of an adequately representative analysis, taking into account a sufficient sample of creatures.

Limina/Limites: Archaeologies, histories, islands and borders in the Mediterranean (365-1556) 1Volume 1 of a new BAR series entitled 'Limina/Limites: Archaeologies, histories, islands and borders in the Mediterranean (365-1556)' which seeks to invite editors of proceedings of conferences and workshops, authors of individual monographs and collective studies which, regardless of their discipline, are targeted at the integration of diverse data sources and systems oriented at a global reconstruction, and geared to long-term trends and to Mediterranean-wide spatial dimensions. This first volume in the 'Limina/Limites' presents the proceedings of the conference 'Transjordan in 12-13th Centuries and the Frontiers of the Medieval Mediterranean', held in Florence between 6-8 November 2008.

This book focuses on the Bronze Age population of an area that corresponds to the modern administrative Province of Parma, Italy. In the plain near the River Taro, during the second half of the XIX century, Pigorini (the godfather of Italian palethnology) found the first sites of the so-called Terramare Culture. Since his pioneering work, many sites have been discovered and good regional studies have been published. This book starts from this heritage and applies a landscape archaeology approach. Due to the position of the study area, at the western side of the Terramare Culture region, it has focused heavily on exogenous material culture. For a better definition of the dynamics of the population both on the plain and in the mountains, different methodological approaches have been followed: spatial analyses of the plain sites and viewshed analyses of the mountain sites. Another area of focus is the borderland dynamics between the Terramare Culture and the so-called "western facies of the Italian Bronze Age", which runs in the mountains of the study area, and a rather original interpretation of events has been proposed. Finally, a comprehensive framework for the population dynamics in this key area is given.

With contributions by Sergio Cascella, Emiliano Arena and Benedetto Carroccio.Nonostante il suo nome non ricorra frequentemente nelle fonti letterarie antiche, la città greco-romana di Kalè Akté - Calacte, nel sito dell'odierna Caronia in provincia di Messina, offre innumerevoli spunti di studio che la rendono non meno importante di altri centri antichi più noti e fin qui esplorati in maniera sistematica, quanto a manifestazioni di cultura materiale, tecniche urbanistiche, espressioni artistiche e culturali, produzioni artigianali e attestazioni di occupazione umana diversificata. Nato come probabile "emporion" di Zancle all'epoca della vicenda coloniale di quella città verso ovest a fondare Himera, Kalè Akté lega il suo nome soprattutto a Ducezio, che la fondò a metà del V secolo a.C. Vissuta la fase di maggiore prosperità nella media e tarda età ellenistica, in concomitanza con la nascita della Provincia romana, fu uno dei centri principali sulla costa tirrenica. Le ricerche condotte dall'autore, ad integrazione e completamento di quelle svolte dai pochi altri studiosi che si sono interessati al sito, intendono accrescere la conoscenza non solo di Kalè Akté, ma anche delle vicende e ruoli nella Storia di una qualsiasi città greco-romana "minore" di Sicilia. La presente monografia è la prima di una serie dedicata a Kalè Akté - Calacte e agli altri centri antichi ricadenti nella parte centro-settentrionale della Sicilia (Monti Nebrodi).Despite being mentioned only infrequently in the ancient literary sources, Kale Akte - Calacte, on the site of modern-day Caronia in the province of Messina, offers several hints that it is just as important as other, better known, ancient centres with regard to material culture, urban planning techniques, artistic and cultural expressions, handicrafts and attestations of diversified human occupation. Born as a probable "emporion" (trading post) of Zancle (Messina) at the time of that city's colonial thrust west to found Himera, Kale Akte links its name primarily to Ducetius, who founded the city in the mid-fifth century BC. Through the prosperous middle and late Hellenistic period, coinciding with the birth of the Roman Province, Calacte became a major trade centre of the Tyrrhenian. The research conducted by the author, integrating and completing those conducted by the few other scholars to have studied the city, aims to increase the knowledge not only of Kale Akte, but also of the events and roles in the history of a typical "minor" Greek-Roman city of Sicily. This monograph is the first of a series dedicated to Kale Akte - Calacte and to the other ancient sites existing in north-central Sicily (Nebrodi Mountains).

The aurochs (Bos primigenius) is generally agreed to be the wild ancestor of domestic cattle (Bos taurus) and therefore an in-depth knowledge of this animal is key to research exploring human-cattle interactions, and the origins and spread of cattle domestication. Domestic cattle are smaller than their wild ancestors, but there is also a degree of overlap between the two species, which means that distinguishing them can be problematic. However, previous analyses of aurochs morphology have generally been patchy, and do not provide a picture of aurochs variation across Europe according to environment, climate and geography. As a consequence, zooarchaeologists have had limited resources to assist in identifying remains from their study area. This book provides the widest ranging review of aurochs archaeological material in Europe to date, bringing together bone and tooth biometrical information from a number of European geographical areas and time periods. A number of patterns of body size and shape variation have been identified and discussed.

El siguiente estudio se focaliza en las modalidades de uso de las tecnologías líticas manufacturadas por diferentes grupos cazadores-recolectores, que habitaron la Meseta Central de Santa Cruz (Argentina), desde la transición Pleistoceno-Holoceno al Holoceno Tardío (ca. 13.000 años C14 AP hasta tiempos históricos). Este trabajo se desarrolló a partir del análisis tecno-morfológico y funcional de base microscópica, de los conjuntos artefactuales procedentes de los sitios Cueva Maripe y Alero El Puesto 1 (AEP1), de la localidad arqueológica Piedra Museo. La metodología aplicada, mediante diferentes medios ópticos y en base a una intensa labor experimental, ha permitido determinar la recurrencia y variabilidad en usos y diseños en diferentes bloques temporales de ocupación. Esto permitió constatar aspectos económicos y simbólicos de las prácticas tecnológicas; al igual que, formular supuestos acerca de la importancia del contexto de uso del instrumental lítico en la organización social de grupos que habitaron desde épocas tempranas este sector de la Patagonia Argentina.This work includes the study of use traces of lithic technologies manufactured by different hunter-gatherer societies from the Central Plateau of Santa Cruz (Argentina). The time period studied is from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition to the Late Holocene (ca. 13,000 years AP C14 to historical times). Techno-morphological studies, microwear analysis and experimental archaeology were applied to lithic materials of the Cueva Maripe and Piedra Museo sites. Similarities in the design and use of lithics during the different periods of occupation of the study sites were identified. This allowed us to determine the economic and symbolic aspects of the technological practices, and to formulate assumptions about the importance of the context of use of lithic technologies in the social organization of the groups that inhabited at the Central Plateau of Santa Cruz (Patagonia, Argentina).

The subject of this work is the 'vici' settlements of Gaul, or more precisely of the Three Gauls; Aquitania, Lugdunensis, and Belgica; ten areas in all are covered, taking in the north-west, south-west, central, and eastern Gaul. The time span covered is approximately from the conquest culminating in the victory of Caesar at Alesia in 52 BC, to the loss of Roman control at the beginning of the fifth century. The initial objectives are to catalogue the 'vici' and provide an overview of the origins and development, structural complexity and character, and the functions of these settlements. The 'vici' made a special contribution to the life of Roman Gaul, through their workshop industry, their involvement in trade and transport, their cult centres, and the culture of their inhabitants. Contains maps, site plans and extensive gazetteer.

A catalogue and analysis of over 1000 Roman-period oil lamps from the Holy Land within the collection of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The Roman period in Palestine begins with the conquest of the East by Pompey in 63 BCE - essentially the period representing the continuation of the partial political and cultural annexation of the country to Western civilisation following the earlier arrival of Greek and Hellenistic culture. By the same author, see also BAR S1598 2007: Oil-Lamps in the Holy Land: Saucer Lamps and BAR S2015 2009: Greek and Hellenistic Wheel and Mould Made Closed Oil Lamps in the Holy Land.

Proceedings of the XV UISPP World Congress (Lisbon 4-9 September 2006) / Actes du XV Congrès Mondial (Lisbonne 4-9 Septembre 2006) Vol. 27 Session C26This book includes papers from Session C26, 'Prehistoric Art: Signs, Symbols, Myth, Ideology', from the XV UISPP World Congress (Lisbon, 4-9 September 2006).Edited by Dario Seglie, Marcel Otte, Luiz Oosterbeek and Laurence Remacle

Isturitz cave (Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France) is a famous prehistoric reference site. Offering one of the most important stratigraphic sequences of Western Europe dating from the Middle Palaeolithic to the end of the Upper Palaeolithic. Gravettian holds a central place, both by its central stratigraphic position in the heart of the Upper Paleolithic and by the unequalled density of archaeological artefacts. Between 1996 and 1998, an operation of archaeological survey was launched at the request of the regional Service of Archaeology from Aquitaine in order to evaluate the archaeological potential of the cave and this book surveys the Gravettian lithic industry from Isturitz in its entirety in the form of a typological classification of lithic points.

The main objective of this investigation is to obtain basic data that will allow the generation of cultural, geoarchaeological, paleoenvironmental and paleoecological knowledge about the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. In turn, this will facilitate the discussion of different topics about the peopling of Uruguay within the context of the peopling of America. The study presents a detailed investigation carried out at the Pay Paso locality, which contains a total of nine sites of archaeological, paleontological and paleoecological interest on the plains of the Cuareim River in northwestern Uruguay.

South Asian Archaeology Series 14Despite the early beginnings of agriculture in the Ganga plains and the Belan valley, the hunting-gathering way of life has not completely disappeared from the region. Communities like the Musahars live almost entirely by small-game hunting and gathering, whereas others like the Kols combine hunting-gathering with some agriculture, and the Mallah with fishing and agriculture. All three of these communities live a partly nomadic and partly sedentary life and raise several kinds of settlements ranging from temporary ones lasting only a few weeks to permanent ones lasting for many years. In the present study the author reconstructs the lifeways of the past inhabitants of this region though the study of the settlements of the three contemporary simple communities. The author places a particular emphasis on the relationship between subsistence practices, economic activities and mode of the disposal of the dead. The inhabited and abandoned residences and other structures of these three communities have been studied in detail; topics such as form, function, construction materials and techniques, disposal of cultural refuse, and location of burial and cremation grounds, are investigated. The author compares the contemporary settlements with the excavated settlements of Mesolithic and Neolithic-Chalcolithic cultures of the Ganga valley and identifies considerable similarities. The author argues that the settlements of the living communities provide useful insights for reconstructing past settlements.