Bücher der Reihe British Archaeological Reports International Series

This study examines the interpretative possibilities of stone tools for understanding cultural development in the Levantine Neolithic. The emphasis is on behavioural aspects of lithic industries such as core reduction and raw material use rather than on typological study of particular tool forms. Analysis of raw material procurement, core reduction and tool manufacturing processes were carried out for the material from Douara Cave II, Tell Damishliyya, Tell Nebi Mend and Tell Kashkashok II. The inter-relations between sites have been looked at and the results show that the change from Pre-Pottery to the Pottery Neolithic was characterized by the increasing use of locally available material, as well as a move from specialized blade to more expedient flake production. The suggestion is that the change in lithic technology closely reflected changing patterns in settlement system, subsistence economy and social organization.

This book proposes a model of subsistence, land use, and society for the Arveni, a powerful people in the Auvergne region of central France during the late Iron Age or 'La Tène' (c. 450-50 BC). The data derives from 10 years of field and bibliographic research, and a GIS-connected database of all sites registered in the archives of the region. The objective was to counter pervasive models grounded on the stereotypical comments of Mediterranean enemies, not archaeological evidence.

This book presents the results of a decade of studying skeletal archaeological collections from continental Croatia. Results of the analyses of 786 skeletons from 21 sites are presented by site and synthesized temporally into 5 groups (Prehistoric, Antique, Early Medieval, Late Medieval, and Historic). The aim of this research is to report on skeletal data from, in this respect, an under-represented part of the world, and to summarize information pertaining to demography and specific disease classifications. From these compilations inferences on demographic trends, disease, and the quality of life from prehistoric to historic times in continental Croatia may be drawn.

This volume is a thorough interdisciplinary study of the Paris fluvial basin, providing much new data for the interpretation of the evolution of the surrounding during the Lateglacial and Holocene periods. The work is based on the author's fieldwork and further sedimentological and palaeoecological investigations, as well as 14-C datings. The book is divided into three principal headings - general presentation of the study area; presentation of the data and results; and interpretations. Overall the work represents an important contribution and fresh interpretation of the spatial variability of fluvial sedimentation, in relation with the geomorphological and hydrogeological contexts from the end of the Pleniglacial.

This study examines demographical impacts of plague epidemics on populations. Geographically, the work is confined to les Bouches-du-Rhone (southern France) and chronologically it stretches to modern times. The original approach of this work consists of the analysis of two sources; historical and biological archives. The former looks at various documents (fiscal lists, parish registers, lists of victims, etc.). The second source looks at the osteological remains of the plague victims, as retrieved from archaological excavations. The book concentrates on the bio-demographical impacts of plague epidemics of 1720-1722 in the communities of d'Aubagne, de Martigues, and Marseille. Three cemeteries were examined - Fedons, Delos and the trench at Observance. Itwas possible to define the rates of mortality and differences and variations among victims of different age groups. It was possible to compare the impact of the demographic crisis of two different origins: between the famine and epidemics (Martigues 1709-1710, 1720-1721) and different types of epidemics. It was also possible to understand types of inhumations and the treatment of plague victims, which were then compared to the archive lists and autopsies.

This book studies the corpus of figurines recovered from the Neolithic - Chalcolithic settlement of U¿urlu Höyük on the island of Gökçeada (Imbros) in the northeastern Aegean. Bringing together different strands of investigation about how they were produced, what they were meant to depict, and where they were used, the authors question in whose image these statuettes were created and why. Drawing parallels between contemporary figurine assemblages from the Eastern Mediterranean, the results challenge some of the common assumptions regarding the role these objects played in prehistoric belief systems, and instead explore the alternative ways in which the local, regional, mundane, and the sacred were weaved together in an island community more than 7,000 years ago.

La provincia bética en época romana fue una importante región productora de trigo, aceite y vino. Este último producto se conoce por las ánforas vinarias en todo el Imperio, pero no se habían localizado lugares de producción. En el Bajo Guadalquivir se encuentra la colonia Hasta Regia, en un área que actualmente es el marco productivo del vino Jerez Xeres Sherry. En este libro se analiza a través de las fuentes literarias como el agrónomo Columela, las arqueológicas como el estudio de materiales y prospecciones superficiales, así como las técnicas de cultivo, los parámetros de producción y la distribución que tuvieron estos productos. El objeto final es plantear un modelo de análisis del territorio mediante los Sistemas de Información Geográfica para poder calcular y modelar la producción vitivinícola de esta región.In the Roman period, the Betic region was an important producer of wheat, oil and wine. Although wine amphoras have been found throughout the empire, no production sites have been located. The colony of Hasta Regia lies on the lower part of the Guadalquivir river in an area that is currently the centre of production for Xeres Sherry. This book uses various techniques to analyse this region: literary sources, such as the agronomist Columella, as well as the study of materials and surface surveys, cultivation techniques, production parameters, and how these products were distributed. Its ultimate object is to propose a model of analysis of the territory using Geographical Information Systems to calculate and model the wine production of this region.

Archaeological lithic residue analysis investigates the microscopic and chemical traces left behind by people on stone tools. These lithic residues provide detailed and compelling evidence of specific food and technological activities, and tool manufacturing choices. Interest in the study of lithic residues has grown substantially in the past decade, reflected by an increasing number of publications and a proliferation of techniques applied to their study. This monograph offers a recent and critical review of these technical advances to help archaeologists determine best practice today. The book focuses on the development of appropriate methods for improving the identification and interpretation of residues on stone tools. Over 40 techniques are reviewed, including transmitted and reflected visible light microscopy (VLM), scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), Raman microspectroscopy, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy (FTIRM).

This study is concerned with the role material culture played in transformation and/or retention of Maya authority, just prior to and after Spanish contact (A.D. 1100-1800s). As one of the last standing structures in the Maya site of Tíhoo, now buried beneath the Spanish capital city Mérida, the Ciudadela collection represents a rare glimpse into a significant, yet understudied, Type 1 archaeological site. Included in this project are a general examination of Maya studies in the Northwestern Yucatán Corridor and the resultsof a preliminary classification and discussion of materials represented in the YUC 2 assemblage. Results of the archaeological component of this study illustrated that there was little change in production of indigenouspottery after the fall of Mayapan (ca. A.D. 1441-1461), as inhabitants of precolumbian Tíhoo continued to use preexisting wares from their former capital, particularly those within the Mayapan Red Ware and Mayapan Unslipped Ware classifications, wellinto the Colonial period. In the Post-Colonial period, a significant change in wares occurred as native inhabitants incorporated foreign ceramic types into their society. Ceramics from Spain, Italy, and England, and porcelains from China and Japan,combined with colonial Mexican Majolica and preexisting Mayapan wares, illustrating the interaction of native inhabitants with European immigrants and their import goods. Although the YUC 2 collection supported the transformation of material cultureafter Spanish contact, the research in this text illustrates that Maya, through religious practices, militaristic resistance, and oral/written traditions, were able to retain significant aspects of their precolumbian power into the colonial era and beyond.This study is concerned with the role material culture played in transformation and/or retention of Maya authority, just prior to and after Spanish contact (A.D. 1100-1800s). As one of the last standing structures in the Maya site of Tíhoo, now buried beneath the Spanish capital city Mérida, the Ciudadela collection represents a rare glimpse into a significant, yet understudied, Type 1 archaeological site. Included in this project are a general examination of Maya studies in the Northwestern Yucatán Corridor and the resultsof a preliminary classification and discussion of materials represented in the YUC 2 assemblage. Results of the archaeological component of this study illustrated that there was little change in production of indigenouspottery after the fall of Mayapan (ca. A.D. 1441-1461), as inhabitants of precolumbian Tíhoo continued to use preexisting wares from their former capital, particularly those within the Mayapan Red Ware and Mayapan Unslipped Ware classifications, wellinto the Colonial period. In the Post-Colonial period, a significant change in wares occurred as native inhabitants incorporated foreign ceramic types into their society. Ceramics from Spain, Italy, and England, and porcelains from China and Japan,combined with colonial Mexican Majolica and preexisting Mayapan wares, illustrating the interaction of native inhabitants with European immigrants and their import goods. Although the YUC 2 collection supported the transformation of material cultureafter Spanish contact, the research in this text illustrates that Maya, through religious practices, militaristic resistance, and oral/written traditions, were able to retain significant aspects of their precolumbian power into the colonial era and beyond.

Gli scavi archeologici nel centro indigeno di Garaguso, nell'entroterra della Basilicata, hanno restituito una documentazione eccezionale di questa comunità nel corso del VI e V secolo a.C. Le aree sacre di Filera e delle Grotte delle Fontanelle avevano rivelato una forte componente greca nel sistema delle offerte votive. I corredi funerari della necropoli, invece, denotano un rituale funerario tipico del mondo "enotrio". I defunti, deposti supini, erano accompagnati dalla tradizionale ceramica matt-painted, considerata uno dei maggiori "emblems of identity" di una comunità indigena. L'analisi comparativa della necropoli e dell'area sacra ha mostrato, pertanto, che manufatti tradizionali e quelli estranei alla comunità venivano selezionati a seconda del contesto. Questo libro indaga l'identità, le strategie e la storia di una comunità indigena in epoca arcaica tra tradizioni locali, innovazione e contatti culturali con il mondo greco.This book investigates the identity, strategies and history of the indigenous community at Garaguso in the archaic period, studying grave goods and votive deposits to understand local traditions, innovation and cultural contacts with the Greek world. The volume includes summaries of the chapters in English.

Martin Goffriller's research presents a study in the dynamics of territorial control of the island of Mallorca from ca. 902-1300 AD, with the aim of providing the first holistic and systematic study of the known Islamic fortresses of this island and determining the reasons which account for the lack of the so-called hisn/qarya complex there. The scientific focus of this book explores the effects that island contexts may have had on the identity-forming processes of their population and how these in turn affect the socio-political makeup of these 'bounded' polities. More specifically, in the case of Mallorca, the core of this study is devoted to the relation between the hinterland fortifications of the Islamic period and the island's capital city Mad¿na May¿rqa, concluding that due to the relative isolation of Mallorca's segmentary communities from their mainland analogues they evolved a distinctive meta-identity which gradually supplanted their traditional tribal allegiances and redefined their relation with the state and political authority in general. Also detailed are the mechanisms of territorial and administrative integration of Islamic May¿rqa into the feudal structures of the Kingdom of Aragon in the aftermath of the Catalan conquest of 1229.

La variabilità comportamentale e tecnologica dell'uomo di Neandertal durante l'occupazione del suolo europeo è un argomento noto agli studiosi del Paleolitico, che nei decenni si sono adoperati per cercare un significato dietro a dinamiche complesse di mutamento e adattamento. L'approccio originale a tale questione attuato in questa ricerca è incentrato sull'analisi di una particolare categoria di manufatti, gli "strumenti a dorso", caratterizzati da un margine tagliente opposto ad un bordo spesso e smussato. Questo grande gruppo di coltelli paleolitici comprende tuttavia strumenti molto differenti, alcuni dei quali rappresentativi di gruppi umani definiti su base geografica o tecno-culturale. Lo studio tecno-funzionale qui adottato, talvolta coadiuvato da approcci sperimentali e virtuali, è stato in grado di fornire spiegazioni in termini funzionali ed ecologici in merito alla fabbricazione dei coltelli a dorso neandertaliani. Questi spaziano da innovativi strumenti di precisione utilizzati con o senza manico, a coltelli trasportabili dal forte valore strategico e simbolico.Why did late Neanderthals who inhabited Europe manufacture their knives using such diverse procedures? In this volume, the author explores the strategies of Neanderthals, who were able to modulate their production according to functional objectives and environmental constraints, and highlights some of their major technical innovations. The volume includes extended chapter summaries in English.

The present work inquires into the phyto-cultural interrelationships of two Huecoid communities that inhabited Vieques and Puerto Rico (La Hueca and Punta Candelero) around 2300 years ago. The primary objectives of this investigation were, among others: to characterize for the first time the agroeconomy of these communities and to interpret the role of plants as humanized natural objects which were consciously used during the movement of these peoples across the insular Caribbean. This investigation offers the first archaeological interpretation, supported by a systematic archaeobotanical study, of some of the socio-cultural processes that made it possible for two Huecoid communities to persist and evolve in a dynamic landscape of human and natural interactions in the northern Antilles.

This volumes presents 13 papers based on a session held at the EAA meeting in St Petersburg in 2003, and offers a 'material' perception of fire, which will be approached as an artefact, together with its material support.

This volume forms the second of four projected volumes on the results of the British excavations carried out at seven sites between September 1985 and June 1986 in the Zammar Region of the Eski Mosul Dam Salvage Project. The first volume, dealing with the first six excavated sites, has already appeared. The third volume, on the pottery, and the fourth, covering the small finds and specialist studies, are in preparation. (The background to the project and the general results are given in the Foreword, the Introduction and the Overview to the first volume.)

The 4th Symposium of the Hellenic Society for Archaeometry was held at the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens, from May 28 to 31, 2003. The 86 selected contributions presented in this volume, cover a wide spectrum of topics from novel methods in Archaeometry to applications of traditional techniques to various kinds of archaeological material. The thematic sessions of the Symposium included: Dating - Authenticity, Geophysical Prospection, Geoarchaeology, Palaeoenvironment - Palaeodiet, Palaeoanthropology, Material Characterisation Techniques, Ceramics, Glass, Stones, Mortars, Metals, Painting Media, Organics and Conservation.

Archaeologists have favoured a date of 14,000-15,000 years before present (BP) for canine domestication. However, recent studies of mutations in the mitochondrial DNA sequence by molecular geneticists have implied that dogs were domesticated over 100,000years ago, which has challenged traditional theory. Geneticists have further hypothesized that dogs originated from wolf ancestors based upon the number of substitutions observed in dog and wolf haplotypes. Although both disciplines provide substantial evidence for their theories, the origin of dog domestication remains controversial and several areas continue to be debatable. In this work the author presents an alternate theory of canine domestication utilizing data gathered from the archaeological record and molecular research. She hypothesizes that dogs diverged naturally from wolves 100,000 years ago as a result of the natural course of evolution, not human intervention, and had already evolved into a dog prior to being domesticated by humans 14,000-15,000 years ago. Evidence is presented to clearly show that this hypothesis is a more accurate scenario of canine domestication.

Given the need for systematic research into the prehistory of the southwest region of Andalucía in the south of Spain, a comprehensive research proposal has been designed, based on the concept of initial class societies. In this historical dynamic, the south of the Iberian Peninsula, the southwest and the province of Huelva, prove to be the ideal spatial context, as they allow, for the first time, an evaluation of the formation mechanisms of the first stable asymmetric forms of organization by studying the mining-metallurgical activity and the social organization that came with it. The sequential development of this work begins with the definition of its general objectives, in Chapter II, from an archaeometric and archaeometallurgical point of view, supported by the application of metallographic studies within a spatial, chronological and contextual framework and on very specific evidence - metal products and remains - specified in Chapter III. In Chapter IV the conceptual definitions of metallurgy, archaeometallurgy and metallography are discussed, as well as the role played in the development of our discipline by the specific studies here presented and whose application is evaluated in Chapter V, both in the different areas of the specific peninsular geography and, particularly, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. In Chapter VI, through the so-called "Huelva case", the main features of the archaeological practice and its scientific production in the southwest are evaluated. Chapter VII presents the compositional and metallographic analyses. The results of the tests carried out are given in Chapter VIII. Chapter IX contains a reflection on the assessment of the metallurgical activity in the third millennium B.C.E. as regards the definition of itsmodel of historical interpretation.

This Festschrift celebrates the 30th anniversary of Bill Cavanagh and Chris Mee's joint contribution to Aegean Archaeology.

A study of the 13th-century finds from the site of Cacela (Algarve, Portugal).

This volume is a study of a bend in the River Marne in the Middle Ages and Early Modern era. It looks at land-ownership along the course of the river, navigability of the river and its exploitation for fishing and water-mills, as well as medieval attepts to manage the river. French text.

The book investigates the effects on huter-gatherers of a hypothesised frontier with agriculturalists in the Caledon Valley. The frontier hypothesis was based on previous Iron Age research, whereas tha presence of hunter-gatherers was noted from historical sources. The study examines the social aspect of mixing huter-gatherers and agriculturalists, by focusing on the mechanisms involved in long-standng co-operative relationships. Exchange relationships and clientship are explored.

These nine papers are taken from a session at the EAA conference held in Esslington in 2001 which dealt with themes of interest to both the Egyptological community and to European archaeologists alike.

Prehistoric (Neolithic/Mesolithic) occupation of the Northern Alps (South East France) is known through the discovery of sites that reveal lithic and bone remains, and the study of such finds can give an accurate understanding of prehistoric seasonal exploitation and movements within a massif and alpine environment. In French Prealpes sites, the material most encountered is flint. The Geological surveys presented in this volume allow the author to map out regional flint resources and to regroup several hundreds of reference samples. Conventionally, the flints were submitted to macroscopic and petrographic analyses, however such methods do not always provide discrimination and some sources remain hard to identify in a complex lithic environment. In an attempt to solve this problem, the author brings a new insight to flint characterization through geochemistry. Flints from 30 sources (138 samples), and from two archaeological sites (27 artefacts), were investigated using ICP-AES and ICP-MS, and the resultslead to flint classification across the different geological stages. Analyses of another material widely used throughout Prehistory, obsidian, highlighted the specificity of a flint geochemical fingerprint. The petrographic approach used during this study resulted in the author's being able to define the procurement pattern and to source certain flint artefacts from eight archaeological sites by comparison with available geological samples. The archaeological material studied through geochemistry (and non-destructive approaches) revealed different attitudes toward flint procurement related to site function, geographic location, and period considered. The main contact areas and circulation patterns were also highlighted.

Lettura e studio delle cavità artificiali.

A landscape perspective

The aim of this volume is to present papers applying recent insights from the organization of technology to the interpretation of stone artefact assemblages from a range of archaeological contexts. Specific attention is paid to the techniques by which people acquired and maintained cutting edge technology, and the situational variables which encouraged them to employ those techniques.