Bücher veröffentlicht von BAR Publishing

Byzantium cannot be reconstructed, but its art provides an intensely vivid picture of its official and everyday life. The author of this volume has chosen two great works to illustrate this. The illuminated manuscript of the Skylitzes Chronicle in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid is unique. It is the most important preserved document illustrating particular historical events in a secular framework, and a study of this manuscript transports us to a mid-Byzantine historical context, with all its drama, triumphs, and ceremonial life, as well as its darker side, disasters and persecutions. The other great work chosen by the author to illustrate the artistic legacy of Byzantium is the famous church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, the principal monument of Christian architecture of Justinian times and fundamental to the history of architecture.

Report from a Marie Curie Project 2009-2012 with Concluding Conference at Aarhus University, Moesgaard 2012: Volume 1With a strong emphasis on data, the two volumes of this book demonstrate that mobility was essential to the European Bronze Age by exploring the shared cultural expression of Bronze Age societies in contrast to their simultaneous development of new local and regional characteristics. During this seminal époque, cultural and social formations of an entirely new kind and magnitude came to characterize Europe. The intense and dynamic relations between local and large-scale change processes coincided with increased mobility in different domains and forms, forging new identities and shaping the emergence of Europe as a distinct cultural zone. Through over fifty essays by leading Bronze Age scholars, the reader engages with cultural mobility and connectivity and the ways in which these forces affected and transformed human behaviour. The two volume set includes four parts; this volume contains parts 1 (Materiality and Construction of Identities) and 2 (Economic and Political Foundations of Interaction and Mobility).

This study re-evaluates the previous understanding of the Later Village Period in Greater Susiana (southwestern Iran) by focusing mostly on settlement and landscape. This is addressed from the perspective of the small and previously least explored plain known in this study as the Eastern Plain. By providing a picture of the previously unknown prehistoric human occupations in the Eastern plain through an examination and assessment of recent survey and excavation results and contextualizing this information with the results of previous research carried out in the Greater Susiana plains, it is hoped that this study will contribute to our understanding of human occupation and settlement pattern between ca. 5000 and 3500 B.C. in southwestern Iran. After the Introduction, Chapter 2 consists of a general review of the available evidence on the Later Village period (Middle Susiana to the Uruk period), its characteristics and interpretation. Chapter 3 looks at the geographical and geomorphological characteristicsof the Eastern Plain. Chapter 4 reviews the new evidence of human occupation in the Eastern Plain from LMS to the Islamic era. Chapter 5 focuses on Tall-e Abu Chizan, an extensive settlement in the Eastern Plain and its place in the wider context of the Naft Sefid alluvial fan system. Chapter 6 presents the summary and conclusions. Appendices: 1. Excavation Pottery Collection; 2. Archaeobotanical Analysis at Tall-e Abu Chizan (Margareta Tengberg); 3. Observations on the Faunal Remains of Tall-e Abu Chizan (Marhjane Mashkour and Azadeh Mohaseb); 4. Chipped Stone from Tall-e Abu Chizan; 5. Radiocarbon Dates from Tall-e Abu Chizan.

This monograph is concerned with understanding the behaviours and land use practices associated with earlier Palaeolithic hominins in Syria, through consideration of key archaeological assemblages from two important regions: the Orontes and Euphrates Valleys. The focus here is on three temporal bands - Earliest occupations (1.50 mya - 0.80 mya); the Lower Palaeolithic (800 kya - 350 kya); the Middle Palaeolithic (350 kya - 50 kya. The areas of the Orontes and Euphrates Valleys possess some of the most significant artefact collections from Syria, and indeed, the wider Near East. This is due to the fact that fluvial archives - such as those represented by the terrace staircases of the Rivers Orontes and Euphrates - are major repositories for earlier Palaeolithic material, and have historically been a primary research resource. They therefore provide a combination of an abundance of archaeological evidence and a significant archive of research activity.

Molise, southern Italy, formerly linked with the region of Abruzzo, has recently attracted further archaeological interest since becoming the newest Italian region in 1963. The history of the discoveries and studies of Late-Antique Molise is a recent one. The history of Roman discoveries in the large Samnitic hinterland begins from the second half of the 19th century. In this period a network of local researchers linked to the Archaeological Institute of Correspondence in Rome (founded in 1829) recorded ad hoc information about ruins and inscriptions that proved most helpful for the newly founded administrative institutions of the new Kingdom of Italy. In the second half of the 20th century the archaeological data concerned not only inscriptions, but also monuments and the urban and rural topography of the Roman-Hellenistic period. Recently, the stratigraphic excavations of the Soprintendenza of Molise, and some university projects, have provided a significant amount of archaeological data about the Late Antique and Early Medieval history of this regional territory (Molise), as presented by the historical and archaeological data. Focusing on Late Antiquity, the author in this study looks specifically at the Roman towns of Larinum, Buca, Terventum, Fagifulae, Aesernia, Bovianum, Venafrum, and Saepinum.

Although the earliest known literary evidence for a dual-sexed divinity on Cyprus dates to the fifth century BCE, archaeological evidence indicates there was a tradition on the island of sexually ambiguous imagery which predates the literary sources. This information prompted the present research, which traces the tradition back to the earliest known examples on Late Neolithic Cyprus, and tracks its evolution through to the Cypro-Archaic period. Rather than rely upon descriptions, photographs and drawings presented in consulted publications, the various international museums that house the figures were visited by the writer in order to physically examine the images. A catalogue of the sexually ambiguous imagery for Cyprus from the Neolithic to the Cypro-Archaic period has been compiled and is included in this work. It is proposed that the imagery is of Cypriot innovation, and consists of proto-anthropomorphic, anthropomorphic and half-animal, half-human representations. The genre is influenced from its earliest period by the figurative art of the Syro-Anatolian mainland, but from the Late Bronze Age onwards, influences from the western Mediterranean and Aegean are also evident. Despite the periods in which there is little evidence for figurine production, sexually ambivalent imagery re-emerges when figurative evidence is once more apparent in the archaeological records. Furthermore, stylistic continuity of the genre from one period to the next is also apparent. This continuity is regardless of the cultural changes which occur intermittently during the seven millennia period relevant to this study. Although it is not until the Cypro-Geometric period that there is firm evidence to support a religious interpretation of sexually equivocal imagery, it is suggested that the genre from the earliest period was at least associated with fertility, and perhaps religious cult.

This research deals with the coin circulation in Hispania in the 2nd century AD, and is based on the numismatic findings compiled in many and varied works and researches. Chronologically, it covers the period between the government of Nerva and the death of Commodus, from AD 96 to 192. Geographically, it spans the Roman territories of the Iberian Peninsula, which includes the modern countries of Spain and Portugal.

This book investigates the practical and ritual dimensions of trees and timber in the Bronze Age and Iron Age of Scandinavia. The arguments are developed through the study of a broad range of materials including rock-art images depicting trees, charcoal from archaeological contexts identified to species, and prehistoric long-houses. The archaeological remains are related to a wider discussion in anthropology and historical ecology concerning the multifaceted relationship between humans and trees.

Focusing on the Middle East, this book presents a collection of recent research on dolmens and standing stones.

Proceedings of the international meeting held in Siena, Italy, from May 25-27, 2007.

The object of this research is to register, analyse, understand and interpret the presence of Portuguese faience in the British Isles. The search for such purpose went through an archaeological, historical and anthropological interdisciplinarity. The production, consumption and the exportation of faience involved several processes, for which all of them the archaeological record fails in providing all the answers, although it is essential in a work where trade and economic relation patterns translated in material culture are sought. The purpose was to understand how occasional those exportations were, or if they could well be part of all the regular and immense trade between Portugal, England and Ireland. A full catalogue of the locations and the materials are presented so that future investigators can indirectly access those materials, thus complementing or forwarding new theories regarding the presence of Portuguese tin glazed ware in the British Isles.

This volume is a synthesis of the results obtained by the researchers in the oriental region of Galicia from the paleontological, zooarchaeological, geomorphological and archaeological point of view. Its aim is to show the great potentiality of the Quaternary research of the NW Iberian in an area poorly known by the scholars but which may provide essential information to the understanding of the Palaeolithic: the eastern mountains of Galicia and the hinterland Tertiary depressions. Their geographical situation, as a crossroads among the Meseta and the Atlantic and Cantabrian regions; their geological features, karstic systems and evidences of glacial landscape; as well as the quality of their archaeo-palaeontological records, turn them into an exceptional area for the study of the Quaternary.

Black-gloss ware is a fine ware produced from the 4th to the 1st centuries BC - in some areas until the early Empire - and used as table ware, for funerary vessels and for ritual purposes. This ware developed in part from later Attic production, spread widely in the Mediterranean, and in part from local traditions. This work focuses on two main topics: A reconstruction of the geography of black-gloss ware workshops in ancient Italy, including aspects of the organization and management of production; and a proposal for a new approach to the study of black-gloss ware with the aim of compiling local and regional histories of ancient Italy in relation to the growth and development of Roman power. Whoever studies the Republican period will inevitably come across black-gloss ware and all its complexities. This class of vessels represents one of the main chronological and cultural indicators of this period and can reflect, in the development of its shapes, decorations and its quantitative distribution, the process of meetings between Rome and the various cultures of ancient Italy. In some parts of Italy the appearance of black-gloss ware takes place at the same time as Roman expansion, with the foundation of colonies and the spread of Roman cults. The study of black-gloss ware, therefore, also necessitates studying the course of the Roman military conquest and consequent integration of the peoples of ancient Italy, as well as trading patterns and the movements of the craftsmen, who carried the techniques, styles and methods of decorating pottery typical of their original region, to the new colonies to which they moved.

When the author first visited Santa María of Melque some years ago, probably the most significant early medieval Hispanic abbey, she realized the need for a fresh look at monastic architecture before the reception of Romanesque traditions. Considering this, the main question of this book deals with the reconstruction of the physical image of monasteries built before the arrival of Augustinian reforms at the end of the eleventh century. The study includes a catalogue of 190 examples with selected bibliographical references, and a critical argument in order to confirm (or reject) the coenobitic function of the sites analysed. This data has enabled the author to conclude that there were many variables that made it impossible to identify the existence of a unique monastic type for all this period, and that one should reject the idea of a homogeneous monastic architecture in the Late Antique world. The conclusions offer both a methodology and those main features that help to identify monastic sites. The analysis of the logical use of space, mainly based on documentary information, makes it possible to conclude that architectonic components are common to all monastic sites, no matter their geography or chronology. This method thus enables us to distinguish between inhabited domestic sites and monastic ones (featured by structures such as churches, refectories, schools and cemeteries, etc, that are absent in secular sites) and also provide a means to identify precisely any monastic site during investigation and thus interpret it.

Analytical survey of visible evidence has been undertaken on twelve areas of prehistoric fields in southern Britain. In all cases at least two phases were noted, one directly overlying the other; in ten areas the earlier phase comprised an extensive rectilinear grid and the later, smaller areas of aggregated fields. It is suggested that the earliest of these fields date to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, on both sides of the Channel, and that they were symbolic of status within a period of visibly ostentatious possessions. The later fields represent a contraction of enclosed land; their design is suited to stock production.

The goal of this study is to examine the potential for the understanding and recognition of the processes and occurrence of prehistoric warfare through the development of a series of correlates, resulting in testable models that can be applied to the archaeological record. Such models need to be flexible and applicable across different periods and in a variety of geographical areas. To this purpose, examples of evidence are included from a wide spectrum of sources. After offering definitions of warfare and considering the nature of its archaeological evidence, the correlates and models will, for comparative purposes, be applied to a number of case studies which are located in later prehistoric societies. This study, therefore, provides models (from the UK, France and the US), for investigation, suggests some areas for research and data-gathering, and highlight potentials and problems for the interpretation of evidence, providing some frameworks for future appreciations of the concept of prehistoric war. If evidence can be sought and recognised for warfare on more extended scales, it may be possible to approach the questions of the prevalence, scale and influence of conflict on the development of societies with a little more certainty. The aim is to encourage further debate on the range of potential evidence and its value in this sphere of archaeological research.

Archaeological investigations in response to the expansion of Pode Hole sand and gravel quarry (Cambridgeshire, east England), exposed a well-preserved prehistoric Fen-edge landscape covering an area of approximately 24 hectares. Pottery dates and a series of radiocarbon determinations reveal that the site was occupied throughout the second millennium BC, with activity apparently intensifying later in that period. A substantial assemblage of locally made Bronze Age pottery and other artefacts was gathered during the excavations.Principal Specialist Contributions from Paul Buckland, Kate Brayne, Catherine Langdon, Gemma Martin, Elaine Morris, James Rackham, Rob Scaife, Maisie Taylor, Jane Wheeler and Tania WilsonIllustrations by Steven J. Allen, Charlotte Bentley, Jacqueline Harding, Chloe Watson and David Watt 0

This investigation is concerned with the accuracy of Hadrian's reputation as a prolific builder in the western provincial cities. The pursuit of this not only reveals more of Hadrian's personal building, but also that all construction work during this period is shown to have contributed to a general perception of intense and continuous building during Hadrian's reign. The study takes in all the available Hadrianic evidence for the western provinces, not only of civic building, but also of road building and military building. In addition this study offers a comparison between building during the reigns of Hadrian, Trajan and Antoninus Pius allowing a clearer perspective of Hadrianic building. All the available epigraphic, archaeological and numismatic evidence has been sought, especially of building initiated by provincial and local administrative officials, in an endeavour to understand the effect of the implementation of Hadrian's military and urbanisation policies. As urbanisation was in its infancy in many of these western provinces, an examination was conducted of the availability of building supplies and its ability to support civic building programmes. Hadrian's personal contribution in this regard has been a major consideration and all building, including road building, generated by imperial military policy has been detailed. Since a satisfactory conclusion of Hadrianic building could not be reached in isolation, a comparison was made of similar building and public works during the reigns of Hadrian's predecessor and successor, Trajan and Antoninus Pius. In the final analysis, even though the type and extent of building varied considerably between the various provinces, it is clear that the volume of civic Hadrianic building works exceeded Trajanic by more than thirty percent and Antonine building by fifty percent. The author concludes that Hadrian fully deserved his reputation as a builder and benefactor given by the ancient sources, if not of every city, certainly of many cities in the western provinces.

Two extended papers investigating two contemporary areas of experimental archaeology. Paper 1: Simulation of prehistoric cremation: experimental pyres, and their use for interpretation of archaeological structures. Excavation in 1990-1992 of the round barrow at Guiting Power 3, located in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds (England), produced burnt surfaces, scatters of fire-debris, and deposits of cremated human bone in primary locations. All of these elements were critical for interpretation of the sequenceof ritual at the site, and for discussion of its general function as a monument. Analysis of a series of fully-monitored experimental cremation pyres is used to supplement the interpretation of burnt pyre-bases, and other associated archaeological features, of the type found under Bronze Age round barrows in Britain, and to add detail to the process of ancient cremation. Paper 2: Methods of grain storage during the Iron Age in southern Britain: further investigation by experiment. Discovery of unusually large, rock-cut 'silo-pits' at certain Iron Age enclosures in the Cotswolds (Gloucestershire, UK), with parallels elsewhere, prompted examination of their potential as unsealed but roofed granaries, in view of practical difficulties inherent in sealing them at ground level and other structural evidence. A series of fully-monitored experiments allows their performance during over-winter storage of grain to be assessed, and compared with operation of smaller sealed pits.

The city of Nicopolis (Epirus, northern Greece) was founded by Augustus to mark his victory over Mark Antony and Cleopatra in 31 BC at the nearby Battle of Actium. The city flourished during the period of the Roman empire and its civic coinage was one ofthe most important and most interesting of the empire. It continued in production for over 250 years from the reign of Augustus to that of Gallienus. It has many unusual features, such as the very rare silver coins produced for the emperor Antoninus Piusand his wife Faustina, and, more particularly, the long series of coins with the name and portrait of Augustus. It was originally thought that they were all produced during Augustus' reign, but it is now known that, even though their exact chronology is difficult, they were minted for most of the time that the mint was active. This new study builds on existing scholarship but establishes a new level of understanding of the mint. The author has been able to find many new specimens of the coinage, often with previously unknown designs, and has found much new important material which was previously unknown in both Italian and Greek museums. The new collection of material is incorporated in a new and well-illustrated catalogue. The catalogue is accompanied by a series of analytical chapters that place the coinage very securely in the context of our literary and archaeological knowledge of Nicopolis, and which analyse how it can contribute to our understanding of Roman provincial coinage - its rhythm of production, its extent of circulation, its pattern of denominations and its iconography. The discussion is based on a very full understanding of the coinage and of the literature concerning other provincial coinages and will make a very lasting contribution, not just to the understanding of the coinage of Nicopolis and of ancient Achaea, but also of the problems and issues of the Roman provincial coinage more generally. [Taken from the Preface by Andrew Burnett, British Museum]

Contents: Introduction (Alex Gibson); Earthen Enclosures in Britain & Ireland: An Introduction to the study of henges: time for a change? (Alex Gibson); Henging, mounding and blocking: the Forteviot henge group (Kenneth Brophy & Gordon Noble); Henges in Ireland: new discoveries and emerging issues (Muiris O'Sullivan, Stephen Davies & Geraldine ...

Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liège, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001SECTION 6 : PALÉOLITHIQUE SUPÉRIEUR / UPPER PALAEOLITHICColloques / Symposia 6.2 & 6.5Upper Palaeolithic living sites and their associated buildings have seen an increase in studies over the last few years. The focuses of these studies have been on topics such as use-wear analyses, spatial analyses of the distribution of lithic fragments and associated bone remains, as well as hearth paving. There are also geoarchaeological studies of living floors and hearths, and particular attention has been paid to the ethnoarchaeological studies of hunter-gatherer habitation sites, with many different and elaborate models of Palaeolithic cultural behaviour and ritual being put forward. The main problem with the majority of these studies in the past has been that these analyses have been restricted only upon particular sites and the immediate areas around them. Therefore the bigger picture of Palaeolithic landscape archaeology in terms of their settlement patterns is an area of study which is at best cloudy. Previous European conferences on this subject were as far back as 1982 and 1983, therefore this symposium is of particular interest as it is able to shed new light on a neglected area of research. The importance of habitation sites in Palaeolithic archaeology is used to address a number of behavioural ideas and theories, including social and cultural life in this period, and subsistence strategies. The 16 papers in this BAR investigate the way spatial distributions of remains allow the functions of particular sites to be theorised, for instance whether these were seasonal hunting camps or permanent settlements. The first part of this study covers basic contributing factors to the study of Upper Palaeolithic Dwellings, with the second part focusing on the analyses of groups of sites at a local regional level.

In the Levant and Western Arabia some 270 prehistoric cemeteries have been registered, representing approximately 25000 burials with lithic superstructures. These stone monuments are little known and their remains are at risk in the modern territories that contain them. A first look at the documentation available indicates that these burials appeared in the fourth millennium and vanished at the end of the third millennium BC. The burials are localized mainly in interior steppe areas, mostly on rocky headlands. The author discusses the similarities evident between the funerary structures discovered in the Levant and in Arabia - in terms of construction techniques, design, distribution and topographical situation - and suggests that these burials with lithic superstructures, although distributed on a vast geographical area, belong to populations of semi-nomad or nomads pastors with a shared cultural background.

J.D. Beazley's The Lewes House Collection of Ancient Gems (1920) was the first publication of engraved gems in what might be called the modern manner; indeed in many respects it remains a model few have even approached since and it is of an academic quality which is hard to match today. It is re-published here, with Beazley's descriptions and commentary, with updated references, and with enlarged photographs of impressions to demonstrate their quality. The two main categories of gems are (very broadly) cameos and intaglios of Greek, Cretan, Phoenician, Roman and Etruscan provenance. The additional material includes Mary B. Comstock's compilation of lists of additional references, and Cornelius C. Vermeule has added an appreciation of the collector.

Lithic analyses of all kinds have a long history in archaeological studies. For many years, morphological studies of tool-types and elaborate discussions of relative chronologies were a primary focus, but this has changed and the past few decades have witnessed a steadily growing interest in many other aspects of lithic studies. The 12 papers in the present volume provide a variety of perspectives on lithic exploitation patterns in late glacial and early postglacial Western Europe (from Poland to Portugal). The book grew from a symposium held at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology held in Anaheim in 1994, and the editors hope that the volume will stimulate more inter-regional discussions of data and ideas, as well as general interpretive problems regarding lithic raw material economy in late glacial and early postglacial.

Aspasia Papanastasiou's thesis presents an illustrated catalogue, arranged by type, of 4th-century Athenian red-figured and black-glazed vessels in museum collections across Europe. The author focuses on a sample of vessels which were of the same shape but executed with both types of decoration.

First discovered in the 19th century, the remains of a Roman settlement at the site of Kueçuek Burnaz in the eastern area of ancient Cilicia, were investigated more fully in 1991 by the Özgen/Gates survey.

This book sets out the evidence for burial practices in the southern and western Peloponnese of Greece during the middle Helladic and early Mycenaean periods (c. 2000-1400 BC), and to interpret the evidence in terms of human action. In the first section,the book details the scope of the research, whereas the remaining chapters present an analysis of the evidence to answer a range of generic questions on mortuary practices. The conclusions are interpreted in terms of the use of burial practices in the study of 'Mycenaean civilisation', confirming that variations in time and space suggest that a closer study of local and regional archaeologies should be a priority in future research aims. The Appendices contain detailed information on the sites that form the basis of the study. (This book will also appeal to those non-specialists with a serious interest in the region as a fascinating, archaeological reference work or 'guide'.)

In recent years zooarchaeology has started to move beyond the purely economic towards social interpretations. In particular, these 'social' interpretations have often concentrated upon complete or partial animal burials rather than upon the disarticulated and fragmented faunal remains more commonly recovered from archaeological sites. This book presents a study of these associated bone groups from the Neolithic to late Medieval periods of southern England and Yorkshire. Not only does it present data on over 2000 deposits, it also discusses their interpretation, arguing that most are based on generalised period-based assumptions. It is proposed that a biographical approach to these types of deposit, allows the investigation of the specific above ground actions behind their creation, moving away from generalisations towards individual interpretations. The study shows the value of not only utilising specialist data, but integrating such knowledge with other archaeological evidence and theoretical approaches. The book is divided into three main sections. The first two chapters discuss the history of associated bone groups in the archaeological record and how they are created by human and natural actions. The second section consists of detailed chapters (three to nine) discussing the evidence from each region and period. The third section discusses trends in the data and the problems with how they are interpreted. It outlines and tests the use of a biographical approach and discusses the implications of these findings for wider research.