Bücher veröffentlicht von BAR Publishing

Sanjan Excavation Report Volume 3Written by Sharad Rajaguru, Sushama Deo, Pramod Joglekar, Padmakar Prabhune, Vijay Sathe, Shivendra Kadgaonkar and Arati Deshpande-MukherjeeThe authors examine medieval period of Sanjan, situated on the western coast of India, to the south of the river Tapi. The volume includes reports on geo-morphology of the area, animal bones, shells, coins and iconography. The area has a special importance in the commerce of the Indian Ocean.

This book presents the results of research on the Inca site of Hualfín Inka, located in the northwest of the province of Catamarca, Argentina. The research focused on the methods used for the study of landscape archaeology, through which the chronology of the site, its functionality within the Inca Empire and their relationship to local-regional level was established. Another objective was to explain the way that the Incas used the architecture to dominate local communities. Analysed are architectural characteristics, the functionality of the structures within the site and the use of the surrounding landscape, emphasizing the changes as a way for the interpretation of the Tawantinsuyu problems in the Northwest of Argentina.

This research focuses on the British Iron Age and challenging the current hypotheses of exposing the dead on five Iron Age sites in Hampshire and one from Dorset, England. Current theories are based on anthropological analogies and classical texts to understand and interpret the burial record. However, this research focused on understanding the formation of the burial record employing a new science-based methodology. This new approach is both integrated and multidisciplinary, combining the osteological and context taphonomic physical or material evidence to discern cultural behaviour from natural processes. The approach utilises a wide range of forensic anthropology and taphonomy, including l'anthropologie de terrain or archaeothanatology, to identify archaeological signatures from three key and interrelated areas: the remains, the deposition context, and the relationship between the corpse and its deposition circumstance. A new system of categorising Iron Age remains was developed to differentiate funerary and depositional behaviour between sites.

The book systematically examines and compares a large sample of burials from the same region, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire, in the Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. A very detailed examination of skeletal material provides specific evidence about this region in the Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods, but also contributes to wider questions of osteological interpretation and political change; specifically the Roman/Anglo-Saxon transition. It explores large issues such as what can be learned from human bones to understand lifestyle and migration. This book will hopefully provide a clear picture of aspects of life in the Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods, which are typically unobservable from other scholarly approaches.

The book traces archaeological history of the Picene area from the 5th to the 1st centuries BC. The problem of romanization is accessed from the perspective of human occupation of the landscape and the administrative organization of that occupation. Examined are settlements, sacred and funerary contexts as well as sporadic finds from the area.

In this study the author discusses the typo-chronological correlation of ceramic production of a conventional 'Late Copper Age' 'Boleraz/Baden'-type settlement excavated at Balatonoszod-Temetoi dulo (Zala region, western Hungary). By assessing the ceramic vessels and sherds, which came to light in large numbers, the excavator establishes a typological system for the settlement and correlates it with known Boleraz and Baden classification systems. Overall the study reassesses the relative and absolute chronological problems of the Late Copper Age and the Early Bronze Age in modern-day Hungary and suggest a new typo-chronological system based on the excavation at Balatonoszod-Temetoi dulo. In addition, the research also supplements the typological and settlement historical results already known from the site with other dating methods, such as thermoluminscence/optical luminescence.

By examining a small corpus of varied material (metalwork, ceramics and glass) this work presents a study of the Danube area in the middle and late Imperial age. The region is characterized by remarkable social, political and administrative transformations and the Danube itself is a natural 'limes' between Rome and the North. In the study the author highlights the relationships between the social environment and the commission, execution and destination of high-status artefacts found in the region.

This research is focused on the Medieval human skeletal series recovered from Sanjan (Valsad District, Gujarat, India). Horizontal excavations were undertaken at the archaeological site of Sanjan for three field seasons during 2002-05 jointly by the World Zarathushti Cultural Foundation and the Indian Archaeological Society. Studies on human skeletal remains recovered from the excavations were undertaken at the Anthropology laboratory of Archaeology Department of Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute, Pune in 2006-07. The skeletal series of Sanjan is promising for more than one reason. The Parsis are Zoroastrian refugees from Iran, who made their landing near the present town of Sanjan on the coast of western India around 750 A.D. The Parsis represented in the skeletal series are the 16th century representatives of the ancestral migrant population. The broader aim of this study is to provide anthropological data for the skeletal population, an intermediate stage, which could be effectively used to evaluate the evolutionary changes seen from the ancestral population residing in Iran and the contemporary Indian Parsis.

In this work the cult of the Capitoline Triad is examined from a viewpoint that varies from the traditionally public and official one. A review of its archaeological and epigraphic sources shows how the devotion to the three divinities also permeated the private sphere of individuals in addition to the public or collective events. Although the Capitoline cult lost its pre-eminence during the Imperial age, it remained a clear symbol of tradition, adopted to reassert identity or to display self-satisfaction and power.

Focusing on Bronze Age societies in Central Eurasia and North China, this book presents a new scenario of early social evolution. Essentially it integrates the Marxist production-relation concept and the community concept into the Band-Tribe-Chiefdom-State scheme, and formulates the following three hypotheses: 1) The community is an autonomous agent in political, economic, and cultural spheres; 2) The nature of the early social evolution is that the inter-community differentiation at the tribal stage transforms into the inter-community stratification at the chiefdom and state stages; 3) Metal production as a form of economy is a major force that instigates the inter-community differentiation. In testing the three hypotheses, Bronze Age archaeological data from Central Eurasia and North China are subjected to detailed examination. The Central Eurasian societies and the Late Shang kingdom are all engaged in metal production yet they represent two disparate stages of social development, the tribal and state stages respectively. This contrast gives us an excellent opportunity to reflect upon the trajectory of early social evolution and the role of metal production in this process. Virtually the two bodies of materials supply a desirable testing ground for the three hypotheses raised above.

South American Archaeology Series No 15The research presented in this volume seeks to build a series of qualitative and quantitative multi-scale paleoenvironmental models of the past conditions in the Dry Puna of Argentina setting out the conditions under which human adaptation occurred.

Archaeological excavation, salvage recording and watching briefs were undertaken at Metchley Roman fort, Birmingham in 1999-2001 and 2004-2005. The areas investigated were located mainly to the west of the Roman military complex. The earliest features may have belonged to a construction camp (Phase A/ Phase 1A), preparatory to the layout of the first fort (Phase 1B), around AD 48. The western defences of this fort comprised double-ditches and a turf rampart. A new discovery was a palisade trench forming a western annexe or enclosure (Phase 1C) which may have been associated with the on-site manufacture of pottery, specifically mortaria. Most importantly, the excavations provided the first structural evidence for a civilian settlement at the site (Phase B). This comprised a total of six timber-framed structures, including three open-sided strip buildings, interpreted as shops, laid out along a gravelled trackway leading out of the fort. The western annexe or enclosure and the settlement were contemporary with the first fort. This short-lived settlement was succeeded by a complex of ditched livestock compounds (Phase C). A livestock 'funnel' leading to the fort's west gate was an integral part of this arrangement, confirming the nexus between the external livestock enclosures and the livestock enclosures previously recorded within the fort interior. Both the external and internal livestock enclosures belonged to the Neronian military stores depot (Phase 2B). The location of Metchley at an important road junction, and at, or adjoining, several tribal boundaries, could have proved important for the collection of livestock from the surrounding countryside. Assuming it was concerned with the supply of auxiliary rather than legionary units, Metchley is likely to have supplied forts within the local or regional area. The western livestock complex was abandoned by the early Flavian period. This zone to the west of the military complex was not brought back into use during subsequent occupations of the military complex, which continued up to the end of the 2nd century (Phases 3-4).With contributions from Lynne Bevan, Marina Ciaraldi, Hilary Cool, C. Jane Evans, Annette Hancocks, Kay Hartley, Rob Ixer, Erica Macey-Bracken, Wendy Smith, Jane Timby, Roger Tomlin, Roger White, Felicity Wild, David Williams, and Steven WillisIllustrations by Nigel Dodds and Bryony Ryder

Proceedings of the XV World Congress UISPP, Lisbon, 4-9 September 2006. Volume 47Additional papers representing miscellaneous papers from the XV UISPP World Congress (Lisbon, 4-9 September 2006).

This book traces interest in Egyptology in Manchester (England) and the surrounding towns from the early nineteenth century, when interest in Egypt first developed, through travel and business links, to the benefactions and dedicated work of cotton men and women who helped to build up and to display the remarkable collections which can be seen to this day. The second half of the book starts in the middle of the twentieth century when the focus became more scientific. The Manchester Mummy Project was pioneering in its day and the Manchester Protocol which laid down a tested methodology for mummy studies became accepted world-wide. Since its inception, mummy studies in Manchester have gone from strength to strength and the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology is now pursuing ground-breaking research. The last section explores a selection of notable contributors to the Egyptological scene in Manchester.

Paris Monographs in American Archaeology 26The results of a comprehensive new survey between 1996-2006 of the B'aakal region (Palenque), Chiapas, Mexico. Includes appendices of flora and fauna, gazetteer sites and mapping.With contributions from Keiko Teranishi Castillo, Atasta Flores Esquivel, Flavio G. Silva de la Mora, Joshua Abenamar Balcells González, Javier López Mejía and Esteban Mirón Marván

Until the 1960s, early medieval religious architecture suffered from a general lack of interest by the field of archaeology resulting in a real need for the improvement in knowledge of this often-misinterpreted art. Initially considered as outmoded or backward, early medieval architecture is actually dynamic, particularly the transition period between the 9th and the 11th centuries marked by its themes of transference and novelty. One of the features of this architecture is the use of ceramic building materials in the masonry, a technique from the Antiquity that can be observed continuing into the 11th and 12th centuries. This architectural characteristic is visible in areas touched by Roman traditions and particularly in north-western France and south-eastern England, which also benefit from a substantial concentration of early medieval buildings. One of the aims of this work is, therefore, to identify similar architectural tendencies and examine the technological choices made in the construction of the buildings under analysis. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to accurately position key-buildings in the architectural chronology. Amongst methods for this, luminescence dating applied to ceramic building materials is particularly attractive. Not only does it contribute to building archaeology through more precise dating, but its use in this specific aim also presents an opportunity to thoroughly test the method and essentially improve its potential. The first part of the study examines aspects of the political and religious contexts of the period between the 9th and the 11th century, as well as the associated architecture and its components. The second part is devoted to the presentation and the definition of the luminescence dating method. Bringing together these elements enables the twelve case studies from French and English sites selected for this chronology research work to be addressed in detail. Finally, a detailed study of the mode of use of ceramic building materials is presented and an interpretation of this architectural choice will be attempted.

The original idea for developing this book as Proceedings from the Symposium on Obsidian Source Studies in Northeast Asia, held at the 70th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (2005), was conceived in the summer of 2004.

Wadi Araba is a unique landform of great historical importance. As a part of the Great Rift Valley, Wadi Araba extends southward from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba and covers vast stretches of mostly arid land. Until recently our understanding of the history (and prehistory) of Wadi Araba has been negligible, due largely to the fact that few have explored the valley in any systematic fashion. In fact, most of the valley remained unexplored until the 1990s, and the few investigations that had been conducted either remained unpublished or were too purposive in nature and narrow in scope to shed light on broader historical developments. Nevertheless, there is a growing body of data from Wadi Araba. Archaeological fieldwork conducted over the past twenty years, for example, has significantly increased the number of known sites in the valley. As a result, our knowledge of the history of Wadi Araba has improved, though it remains somewhat fragmented geographically and qualitatively. Also, despite this improvement in our knowledge of known sites in the valley, there have been no attempts to synthesize any of the data. If we are to gain any sort of broader understanding of the historical geography of Wadi Araba, the need for such a synthesis is clear. The present monograph, accordingly, is one attempt to provide a more comprehensive overview of the antiquities of Wadi Araba and a general outline of the rich history of the valley. Chronologically, the scope of this study focuses on the Hellenistic through to the Byzantine period. The purposes of this initial chapter are 1) to provide a general sketch of the geographical and ecological setting, 2) to summarize previous explorations and research conducted in Wadi Araba, including excavation and survey conducted by the author, and 3) to discuss briefly the classical and late antique sources pertinent to a historical geography of Wadi Araba. Following this introduction, Chapter 2 of this study provides a detailed summary of the larger settlements in Wadi Araba, mostly focusing on the cities, villages, and hamlets, as well as the various forts and caravanserais. Chapter 3, in turn, summarizes the evidence of other sites of historical significance in the periphery of the larger settlements. A comprehensive discussion of the communication networks in the valley is the focus of Chapter 4, with the expressed goal of understanding how the various sites interrelate with one another. Finally, Chapter 5 provides a broad historical sketch of the history of Wadi Araba in Classical and Late Antiquity.

This study explains the social development of archaeological settlements and artefacts related to the first sedentary societies (1400 BC- AD 350) of the Northern Titicaca Basin, Peru. Such societies passed through a very wide event horizon, but a major influence was the qualitative and quantitative changes in the way these archaeological settlements and objects evolved. This deep change in historical trajectory is related to the existence of a society that produced an unusual complex of buildings and artifacts that are distinguished from others of the Andean area and known under the name of Pukara (400 BC-AD 350). The research is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 analyzes recent archaeological discourses focused on an objective knowledge of social reality, recognizing the impact of ideologies on the interpretations of archaeologists. Chapter 2 looks at the relationship between dominant ideologies and archaeologies in Peru in the 20th century in Peru. Chapter 3 explores the archaeological discourses on the North Titicaca Basin and it relationship with different ideologies. Chapter 4 is focused on the archaeological settlements and objects of the first sedentary societies of the North Titicaca Basin which help define more appropriate archaeological representations through an objective knowledge of the prehistoric reality. The chapter helps explain the archaeological settlements and objects known from the researches conducted in the 20th century so as to allow an overview of the archaeological objects within contexts of production and use. Chapter 5 describes the author's programme of archaeological researches into the settlements and artefacts of the first sedentary societies (1400 BC - AD 350) in the area of study (Quilcamayo-Tintiri valley, Puno).

The study of Greek ritual practice throughout the LH III B to Protogeometric periods is the central theme of this research. Chapter Two acknowledges the work of previous Aegean archaeologists and their methods for classification of the features which should be present in order for a site to be categorised as cultic in nature. The chapter goes one step further with the creation of new criteria specifically adapted to be relevant to all types of sanctuaries, be they palatial cult centres, settlement shrines, or isolated open-air shrines throughout the period. Chapter Three is a Site Gazetteer and begins firstly by introducing a scoring system which allows each site to be placed in one of the categories of 'possible', 'probable' or 'proposed' cult sites. Chapter Four considers both the allocation of space immediately within and outside the shrine buildings, as well as taking into account the location and setting of the shrine within its wider surroundings and environment. Chapter Five examines the type of votive offerings that are dedicated at shrines throughout the period in question. In addition, the areas at which the offerings are found along with their built features are identified and discussed. Chapter six is reserved for Ritual Actions throughout the period of study. The closing chapter is initially separated into three sections to clearly highlight the main findings of the research; these fall into the categories of A Systematic Methodology, Shrine Surroundings through time, and Ritual Practice through time. After which a short section is dedicated to the Characteristics of Society through time, to compare the sacred and secular spheres alongside, and attempt to understand what changes may have occurred in society, by the analysis of the shrine areas.

Proceedings of the International Conference, 21st-26th April 2008, KrakówForty-seven papers concerning the northern and eastern Black Sea in ancient times. Papers cover a wide range of topics, including Ancient Greek poleis, numismatics, amphorae, pottery and Greek-'Barbarian' relations. Edited by Ewdoksia Papuci-Wadyka, Michael Vickers, Jaroslaw Bodzek and David Braund

A representational survey of sites of religious architecture in the present Czech Republic using geophysics and non-destructive archaeological methods.

Society for Arabian Studies Monographs No. 10This volume represents the proceedings of the conference entitled 'Death, Burial and the Transition to the Afterlife in Arabia and Adjacent Regions' that was held at the British Museum from November 27th to 29th, 2008.

Military monuments in Lincolnshire (eastern England) have hitherto received little attention, with only four being the subject of published studies. No attempt has previously been made to produce a corpus of surviving examples. There are 62 military effigies in Lincolnshire, including some of national importance as well as many others of great interest. In the former category are the effigies at Careby, Halton-Holegate, Holbeach, Kirkstead Abbey, Stoke Rochford and Surfleet. The main object of the critical catalogue in this volume is to provide an accurate analytical description of these figures as they appear today; a project that has been long overdue, for what is some of England's finest extant medieval monumental sculpture. The catalogue is arranged chronologically, with the monuments being divided into four main groups. Every effigy is illustrated and the accompanying catalogue entry gives a description of the effigy and the armour shown and an account as to the person thought to be commemorated by the figure.

The focus of this research is on the later prehistoric period, from the earliest constructional origins of western Scotland crannogs in the late Bronze Age through to their apparent emergence as status dwellings in the Early Historic period after the midfirst millennium AD. The aim is to investigate the ways in which crannogs functioned as settlements, both on a practical, economic as well as a symbolic and socio-cultural level. Throughout, the primary concern is with contextualisation, considering crannogs within their correct chronological and cultural context through the critical analysis of dating evidence as well as the identification of the relevant ritual and symbolic themes- i.e. the Iron Age veneration of water. It is argued in this book that the stereotypical view of a crannog that has largely been derived from the results of work carried out on Irish crannogs has been misleading in the case of the Scottish sites, tending towards a view of crannogs as high-status strongholds, often as royal seats. Though crannogs were certainly a significant feature of the Early Historic period in Scotland, there is as yet no evidence of direct connections to royalty in this period and, based on the currently available evidence, the characterisation of crannogsas high status sites is misguided in the context of their late Bronze and Iron Age origins.

This work takes a fresh look at the phenomenon of 'regional variation' and at the ways in which it has been depicted and characterised. It looks in particular detail at the exercise undertaken by Roberts and Wrathmell to map regional variation and at the Central Province that has been widely adopted as one of the main outcomes of their work. It then analyses the many and varied factors, both environmental and cultural, that have been held to contribute to regional variation, and then applies this theoretical analysis to a study area in southern England. The English landscape is extremely varied, due to geology, topography and climate, but also to the activities of human communities over several millennia. Scholars have long recognised patterns within this variation, such as the upland and lowland zones and the contrasting patterns of human settlement. The purpose of this research is to investigate the incidence of this patterning and then to suggest possible reasons for it. The study starts with a general introduction, in which some themes are identified and a number of conventions established. Regional variation is then discussed in theoretical terms, and the familiar geographical and cultural subdivisions of the historic landscape reviewed at the national level, leading to the identification of a distinct swathe of countryside which is called the 'Central Zone' for the purposes of this work. The various possible causal factors are addressed in the context of a carefully chosen study area, and a number of conclusions are put forward. The existence of a Central Zone is supported, although no definitive delineation is suggested, and its orientation is shown to vary, depending on the period and criteria in question. Conventional explanations for regional variation are examined, and the conventional opposition between environmental and cultural factors is found wanting. Instead a new dynamic is suggested, in which these broad groups of factors are seen to be operating together to create circumstances to which local communities respond by making calculations as to the best strategies to adopt, given their knowledge, resources and traditions. Their decisions determine the detailed development of the landscape, but these are circumscribed in turn by the predisposition of the community itself and of the landscape around it.

This study analyzes the gradual "acculturation" of the Celtic peoples in southern Gaul, taking as central themes 'Hellenisation', 'Romanisation', and 'Gallic identity'.

This book is concerned with social stability and change. Despite continuing interest in both aspects by various disciplines of the social sciences they are still not fully understood. Unlike the natural sciences, where Darwin's principles of random variation and selection are commonly accepted as mechanisms of change, the social sciences still lack a paradigm of cultural evolution and the explanation of social change remains a crucial question. This is not an ordinary archaeological case study based on expertise in one area, but rather an attempt at truly interdisciplinary research. It tries to bridge the gap between quantitative and discursive methods as well as the boundaries of modern disciplines because it is felt that social change affects all aspects of human society and cannot be fully investigated from any one-sided perspective. Specifically, the research: 1) Finds a definition of innovation that can be applied with equal facility in different branches of the social sciences namely: archaeology, social geography, economics and policy-research; 2) Explores the process of innovation in the archaeological record of Europe especially on the Romanization of the North-Western Provinces and its attendant social changes. The application of the conceptual model of innovation to the archaeological record provides new insights into pre-historical processes as well as testing the definition's applicability for all four scientific domains mentioned above; 3) Extends techniques from Time Geography that have been developed in an EU funded project on time geography to the study of innovation in the historical and archaeological record.

This book derives from a seminar series held at the Oxford University Institute of Archaeology in 2003-2004 and a second brief series in spring 2005. The idea was to bring the students together with academic and professional archaeologists engaged in doing interesting work in landscape archaeology, who could present recent thinking about ancient landscapes from a variety of perspectives, using various approaches, and with a number of different aims.

Modern ecological studies are unable to examine long-term processes operating on the order of hundreds of years. Because of the limited length of modern and historic records, questions about long-term interactions between people and the environment can only be answered using paleoecological and archaeological information. This volume presents prehistoric records that span over a millennium to examine issues of human paleoecology on the Columbia Plateau of Washington State, USA. Unlike many previous studies, this study (1) quantifies past human population, (2) compares relative inputs of humans, climate, fire, and vegetation using multivariate statistics, (3) examines relationships between variables when leads and lags of different lengths are introduced, and (4) identifies multicollinearity, allowing variables of no unique explanatory value to be eliminated. This study indicates that research on human impacts that focuses on bivariate patterns, such as simple comparisons of coeval human population and fire, can suffer from the problem of equifinality. The multivariate statistical procedures employed in this work avoid these problems, however, and can be used in any study that employs observations taken at equally-spaced time intervals. Additionally, the protocols developed and used in this volume can be easily adapted and applied in new geographical areas -the methods and research design used need not be tied to this particular location.