NEW: The Roman Pottery Manufacturing Site in Highgate Wood: Excavations 1966-78 by A E Brown and H L Sheldon. Paperback; 205x290mm; xii+392 pages; illustrated throughout in colour and black & white (70 plates in colour). (Print RRP £60.00). 456 2018 Archaeopress Roman Archaeology 43. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784919788. £60.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784919795.
Excavations over a period of eight years uncovered at least ten pottery kilns, waster heaps, ditches and pits, but only a few definite structures. The pottery from the site indicates a period of operation extending from the first half of the 1st century AD to the later 2nd century. The pottery made at the site included initially a vegetable tempered handmade ware, but subsequently the bulk of it consisted of a grog tempered ware and then pottery in a sandy fabric which is well known from assemblages in London. The type of kiln varied with the pottery fabric; there was possible evidence for a pre-Roman pit firing, and later kilns set in ditches were of the twin flued type, eventually replaced by the more familiar above ground kilns with raised floors. Changes in pottery fabric were reflected in different methods of clay preparation, which led to changes in the function of the various ditches, the stratigraphy of which, along with the variation in the fabrics, was significant in enabling the four broad phases into which the site has been divided, to be proposed.
The report includes a very detailed analysis of the forms and fabrics of the pottery made at Highgate. Finds of prehistoric flintwork and pottery during the excavation, and of material of later date, together with the observation of earthworks and historical research, have been used to show the place of the pottery kilns as an element in the exploitation of the woodland of northern London over the last eight thousand years.
About the Authors
TONY BROWN was a member of the academic staff of the University of Leicester for over thirty years, moving there in 1964 as an Assistant Staff Tutor (Organising Tutor for Leicestershire). In 1966 he became Organising Tutor for Northamptonshire and in 1968 Staff Tutor in Archaeology. From 1990 he held a joint appointment with the School of Archaeological Studies, retiring in 2001 as an Emeritus Reader. During the earlier part of this period he engaged in rescue excavations for the Department of the Environment (Roman pottery kilns at Harrold in Bedfordshire and the Roman small town of Towcester in Northamptonshire), thereafter coNEW: Indonesian Megaliths: A Forgotten Cultural Heritage by Tara Steimer-Herbet. Paperback; 205x290mm; viii+104 pages; illustrated throughout in colour and black & white (94 plates in colour). (Print RRP £30.00). 413 2018. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784918439. £30.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784918446.
Indonesian Megaliths: A forgotten cultural heritage highlights aspects of Indonesian culture which are currently misunderstood and sometimes threatened by destruction. Although they are relatively recent in origin, the Indonesian megaliths offer similarities to their counterparts in the Middle East and Arabia: they reflect the rise to prominence of local chiefs in a context of acculturation which prompted the need to build megalithic monuments to bury the dead, and to honour, commemorate and communicate with ancestors. In societies of oral tradition, these stones punctuate the landscape to transmit the memory of men and social structure from one generation to the next.
Based on scientific documents (articles, archaeological reports) and field visits, this new exploration clarifies various elements of the Indonesian megaliths, including their function in the daily life of the tribes and the use of certain stones for musical purposes (lithophony). In Nias, Sumba and Toraya, the megalith tradition is still alive and ethno-anthropological studies of these three regions provide a unique chance to complement the archaeological perspectives on megalithic monuments abandoned for several centuries in the rest of the Archipelago. The book includes numerous photographs documenting the monuments which were taken during the author’s stay in Indonesia (2010-2013).
About the Author
TARA STEIMER-HERBET is a graduate of Paris 1 - Panthéon La Sorbonne where she carried out her doctoral research on developing a methodological approach to Middle Eastern archaeology. Her research led her to become particularly interested in megalithism, and the way this phenomenon is expressed in the cultural and funerary practices of the Levant and western Arabia during the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. In 2005 she excavated a sanctuary in Hadramawt (Yemen) and since 2010 has focussed on the megalithic phenomenon in Indonesia. Her research efforts currently concentrate on the preservation of megalithic monuments in the Akkar region of Lebanon as well as on characterising the megalithic phenomenon of the 3rd and 2d millennium BC in the Kuwait region of al-Subiya, Dr Steimer currently teaches ‘archaeological methodology’ and ‘megalithism in the world’ at the Laboratory of Prehistoric Archaeology and Anthropology of the University of Geneva, Switzerland.NEW: Giving the Past a Future: Essays in Archaeology and Rock Art Studies in Honour of Dr. Phil. h.c. Gerhard Milstreu edited by James Dodd and Ellen Meijer. Paperback; 203x276mm; iv+300 pages; illustrated throughout in colour and black & white (96 plates in colour). 61 2018. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784919702. £45.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784919719.
This volume celebrates the work of Dr. Phil. h.c. Gerhard Milstreu in his 40th year as director of Tanum Museum of Rock Carving and Rock Art Research Centre, Underslös, Sweden. Here, a feast of scholarly contributions from across Europe, at all levels of study have been collected. Each and every one of the chapters addresses aspects connected to the work Gerhard has done over the last 40 years. Through their words and images, these pay respect to and acknowledge Gerhard’s achievements in the fields of rock art documentation, research, international collaboration and outreach. Gerhard has striven from the outset to: promote the importance of the image within archaeology, increase public interest and involvement with prehistoric art, and to encourage the next generation to continue the work. Thus, many authors think very deeply about the images, how we interpret them and how we record them, particularly in light of recent advances in technology. Others explore how Gerhard has fostered dissemination and public involvement. The range of countries and subjects represented; France, Italy, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the UK; reflects the success of Gerhard’s focus on international collaboration and dialogue. Given Gerhard’s emphasis on giving the past a future, it is appropriate that leading up and coming scholars, from all levels of higher education, are also present and have the opportunity to present their latest research.
About the Editors
JAMES DODD is currently a PhD scholar at the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Aarhus University, Denmark. Originally educated at Durham University, James is a specialist in the study, analysis and documentation of the prehistoric rock art of Scandinavia. During the past few years, he has worked extensively in the field, becoming versed in the archaeology of the areas with various museums and institutions in the Scandinavian countries, in particular Bornholms Museum, Denmark. His current PhD project investigates the extent of homogeneity or diversity within Southern Tradition rock art. In addition to high-level statistical analyses and GIS, James is undertaking the largest programme of surface-based rock art documentation ever conducted in Denmark, on the island of Bornholm. Advances in technology are brought into the field with processing of image-based models occurring on site using remote access to cluster processing on the Danish e-Infrastructure Collaboration’s High Performance Computer: Abacus 2.0.
ELLEN MEIJER has been working with the documentation of rock carvings for the past 22 years. She has learned the ins and outs of documentation at Tanums Hällristningsmuseum Underslös. Since 2011, she has worked for projects on rock art documentation at the Swedish Rock Art Research Archives and the University of Gothenburg, as a research assistant, as well as a field supervisor teaching courses in rock art documentation organized by University of Gothenburg in collaboration with Swedish Rock Art Research Archives and The Scandinavian Society for Prehistoric Art. She has been jointly responsible for the development and implementation of digital documentation of rock art through Structure from Motion and optical laser scanning within the Tanum World Heritage Area and published in Adoranten, the peer reviewed Rock Art Magazine of The Scandinavian Society for Prehistoric Art.
Both James and Ellen are members of the Board of The Scandinavian Society for Prehistoric Art.NEW: Treinta años de Arqueología Medieval en España edited by Juan Antonio Quirós Castillo. Paperback; 203x276mm; xii+418 pages; illustrated throughout in colour and black & white. Spanish text with English preface and introduction (Print RRP £64.00). 58 2018. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784919238. £64.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784919245.
This book presents, in sixteen papers, recent developments and some of the main topics seen in academic Medieval Archaeology studies in Spain. The papers explore some of the emergent and consolidated topics of the discipline, such as landscapes, cities, rural spaces, bio-archaeological records, archaeology of architectures, agrarian archaeology, post-Roman archaeology, colonial archaeology in the Canary Islands and the archaeology of religious minorities, opening new lines of enquiries and providing new theoretical and methodological approaches. An overview of Medieval Archaeology studies in Spain is offered, proposing a wide range of topics for discussion. Finally, the book explores the connections between Spanish Medieval Archaeology and other European traditions, specifically, English, Italian and Portuguese Medieval Archaeology.
About the Editor
Juan Antonio Quirós is a Professor of Medieval Archaeology at the University of the Basque Country, Honorary Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Archaeology (University College London), and Visiting Fellow at All Souls College (University of Oxford). He is the director of the ‘Heritage and Cultural Landscapes Research Group’ of the University of the Basque Country and the 'Rural Medieval Research Group', CSIC-UPV/EHU. His principal interests lie in the study of the archaeology of landscapes, the archaeology of rural communities, Mediterranean Archaeology, Archaeology of Architectures, and the study of Social Complexity. Besides, he is very interested in a multi-proxy and multidisciplinary approach to cultural resources. Some of his recent works include ‘Arqueología de una comunidad campesina medieval: Zornoztegi’ (Bilbao, 2018); ‘Longhouses, house biography and social complexity in Early Medieval Northwestern Iberia’ (Arqueología de la Arquitectura 2017); ‘Local identities and desertions in Late Medieval period’ (Reti Medievali, 2017); ‘Social complexity in Early Medieval rural communities’ (Oxford, 2016); and ‘Agrarian Archaeology in Early Medieval Europe’ (Quaternary International 346, 2014). Currently, he is preparing a book about the Archaeology of Medieval Peasantry.Magnetometer survey of a Hafit monumental complex, al-Khashbah, Sultanate of Oman (poster) Taken from Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies Volume 48 2018 edited by Julian Jansen van Rensburg, Harry Munt, Tim Power, and Janet Starkey. Pages 119-124.
By Jason T. Herrmann, Jörg W.E. Fassbinder, Marion Scheiblecker, Philippe Kluge, Stephanie Döpper & Conrad Schmidt
Magnetometer surveys carried out as part of the al-Khashbah Archaeological Project have revealed the plan of two monumental buildings dating to the third millennium BC as well as the surrounding landscape. Evidence from excavations confirms that this complex can be dated to the Hafit period, marking it as an important site for the development of social complexity in the interior of northern Oman. The results of two seasons of magnetometer surveys, conducted in 2015 and 2017, are instructive in two major ways. The fused magnetograms are a record of the prehistoric cultural landscape immediately surrounding Building I and Building XI. The two surveys provide a direct comparison of two different geophysical methods of magnetometer survey: fluxgate gradiometry (2015 survey) and total field magnetometry (2017 survey), which can aid analysis of survey results. The surveys took place near the geomagnetic equator where the shallow inclination of the Earth’s magnetic field can make archaeological interpretation of magnetic anomalies rather complex.The development of complexity at third-millennium BC al-Khashbah, Sultanate of Oman: results of the first two seasons, 2015 and 2016 Taken from Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies Volume 47 2017 edited by Julian Jansen van Rensburg, Harry Munt, and Janet Starkey. Pages 215–226.
By Conrad Schmidt & Stephanie Döpper
The transition from the Hafit to the Umm an-Nar period on the Oman peninsula in the third millennium BC is regarded as a period of substantial social and economic change. Although many thousands of tombs from the Hafit period remain, other archaeological evidence, such as settlements, is scarce. In 2015 therefore, a new archaeological research project conducted by the University of Tübingen and funded by the German Research Foundation was launched at al-Khashbah to investigate its Hafit and Umm an-Nar period remains. During the first two seasons research consisted of an intensive field survey, aerial survey, two geophysical surveys, as well as archaeological excavations in selected areas within the site. Among other archaeological remains, al-Khashbah features three Hafit-period stone towers and six towers from the Umm an-Nar period, including the famous rectangular building. The most important discoveries are a Hafit-period settlement with monumental mud-brick architecture and a stone-built tower dating to the end of the fourth millennium BC, associated with the oldest evidence of copper processing in Oman. Both findings testify to the importance of al-Khashbah for the investigation of the development of complexity at the end of the fourth and the beginning of the third millennium BC.The reuse of tombs in the necropolis of Bat, Sultanate of Oman Taken from Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies Volume 45 2015 edited by Orhan Elmaz. Pages 83–92.
By Stephanie Döpper
The reuse of Umm an-Nar tombs in later periods on the Oman peninsula is an often neglected phenomenon. Within the scope of this paper, the results from the excavation conducted by the University of Tübingen of two Umm an-Nar tombs in the necropolis of Bat, Sultanate of Oman — Tomb 155 and Tomb 156 — will be presented. In these two tombs, we find clear evidence for their reuse in the Iron Age. In addition, indications for the reuse of other tombs within the necropolis, excavated by the German Mining Museum Bochum and by the Danish expedition in the 1970s — Tombs 154, 401, 402, 403, 1142, and 1143 — will also be discussed. Together they give a broad picture of the different kinds of Iron Age reuse in the necropolis of Bat, consisting of individual inhumations within the Umm an-Nar tombs, the creation of new Iron Age tombs in the direct vicinity of the Umm an-Nar tombs and the reuse of their building materials, and scattered stray finds dating to later periods in the debris of the Umm an-Nar tombs. Finally, I will attempt to link the reuse of Umm an-Nar tombs to practices connected to collective memory.Umm an-Nar pottery assemblages from Bāt and al-Zībā and their functional contexts Taken from Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies Volume 46 2016 edited by Janet Starkey and Orhan Elmaz. Pages 247–262.
By Conrad Schmidt & Stephanie Döpper
The sites of Bāt and al-Zībā (Zebah) in the Sultanate of Oman offer a range of different archaeological features dating to the Umm an-Nar period. In this paper we present the pottery assemblages from two burial pits detected just outside a group of Umm an-Nar tombs in the necropolis of Bāt, from the monumental Building II in Area B at Bāt, and from two house complexes in al-Zībā, which were all excavated by the University of Tübingen between 2010 and 2015. By comparing the assemblages with each other, it will be demonstrated that there is a clear distinction in shapes, wares, and decorations between the burial pits, on the one hand, and Building II and al-Zībā, on the other. We argue, therefore, for a functional difference between grave and non-grave pottery in the Umm an-Nar period. Furthermore, we show that the Umm an-Nar pottery is astonishingly homogeneous in the whole of the northern Oman peninsula and discuss its implications for the understanding of the social structure at that time.NEW: Rockshelter Excavations in the East Hamersley Range, Pilbara Region, Western Australia edited by Dawn Cropper and W. Boone Law, foreword by Maitland Parker and Slim Parker, Martidja Banyjima Elders. Paperback; 205x290mm; iv+454 pages; illustrated throughout in colour and black & white. (Print RRP £90.00). 458 2018. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784919764. £90.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784919771.
Rockshelter Excavations in the East Hamersley Range offers a detailed study of six exceptional rockshelter sites from the inland Pilbara Region of Western Australia. It provides highly descriptive, chapter-length accounts of archaeological investigations at Jundaru, Djadjiling, HS-A1, HD073APAD13, PAD 3, and HD073A03 rockshelters, which were excavated as part of a mitigative salvage program conducted at the Hope Downs 1 mine between 2007 and 2010. The research findings show that early Aboriginal peoples initially occupied the area ca. 45,000 years ago, demonstrating that the east Hamersley Range contains some of the oldest known Aboriginal archaeological sites in the Australian arid zone. The story of the Pleistocene and Holocene Aboriginal occupation at Hope Downs 1 is long and complex. Using an extensive radiocarbon and OSL chronology that spans from >47,000 years ago to the recent past, the story of the Aboriginal archaeological record is explored via prominent changes in lithic technology, artefact use-wear/residues, combustion features, faunal remains, rockshelter geomorphology, archaeomagnetism, and pollen/phytolith analysis. The work investigates the early occupation of the region and examines the archaeological evidence for occupation during the last glacial maximum. It chronicles significant changes in Aboriginal stone artefact technology over time with its analysis of more than 35,000 chipped stone artefacts.
Consisting of 18 chapters, the volume is rich with colour photographs, illustrations, and figures, including high-resolution images of the rockshelter sites, excavations, stratigraphic sections, cultural features, and artefacts. It includes a foreword by the Martidja Banyjima elders, who contextualise the cultural importance of this work to Banyjima Peoples and Traditional Owners of the region. The monograph also includes comprehensive synthesis of the regional archaeological record by the editors and a chapter on Banyjima culture and traditions by consulting anthropologists Dr Nadia Butler, Dr Neale Draper, and Fiona Sutherland. Many specialist studies were commissioned for the Hope Downs work, including an archaeomagnetism report by Dr Andy Herries (LaTrobe University), a faunal analysis study by Dr. Matthew McDowell (University of Tasmania), a phytolith analysis by Dr Lynley Wallis (University of Notre Dame Australia), a palynological study by Dr Simon Haberle, Feli Hopf, and Dr Phil Roberts (Australian National University), artefact usewear/residue analysis by Dr Richard Fullagar (University of Wollongong), optically stimulated luminescence dating by Frances Williams (University of Adelaide), and a rockshelter geomorphological study by Prof Martin Williams (University of Adelaide).
About the Editors
DAWN CROPPER is the Director of Archaeology at leading consulting company, New Zealand Heritage Properties, which has branches in Dunedin, Christchurch, and Invercargill. As Director, Dawn’s responsibilities include the management of all archaeology teams across the branches, development of process and training, as well as the development of proprietary methodology for archaeological risk management across large areas. She also specialises in heritage impact assessments and is a leading expert in the management of large-scale archaeological projects throughout New Zealand. Dawn holds a PhD in Archaeology from the University of Sydney (Australia) and a Master’s in Archaeology from the University of Saskatchewan (Canada), with a focus on technological analysis of flaked stone tools. From 2007 to 2013 she worked as a senior archaeologist and lithic specialist for Australian Cultural Heritage Management Pty Ltd, co-managing and supervising the Hope Downs 1 rockshelter excavations with W. Boone Law.
W. BOONE LAW is a scientist and heritage professional that specialises in the Aboriginal archaeology of the Australian Arid Zone. His qualifications include a BA in AnthrNEW: Archaeological Explorations in Syria 2000-2011 Proceedings of ISCACH-Beirut 2015 edited by Jeanine Abdul Massih and Shinichi Nishiyama in collaboration with Hanan Charaf and Ahmad Deb. Paperback; 205x290mm; iv+452 pages; illustrated throughout in colour and black & white (124 colour plates). (Print RRP £65.00). 452 2018. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784919474. £65.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784919481.
Syria has been a major crossroads of civilizations in the ancient Near East since the dawn of human kind. Until the current crisis began in 2011, Syria was one of the foremost pioneers in the investigation of past human knowledge, diversity, and identity. However, due to the ongoing war, archaeological excavations came to an abrupt halt. Since then, there have been countless alarming reports of damage or destruction inflicted on archaeological, historical, and museum sites.
The International Syrian Congress on Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (ISCACH), held December 3-5, 2015 in Beirut, Lebanon, was designed to bring together international scholars who have directed or participated in archaeological expeditions in Syria, and colleagues from Syria. By doing so, not only could the results of years of archaeological investigations and cultural heritage management in Syria be shared and discussed, but also a spirit of friendship and collaboration could be fostered and strengthened during this turbulent period.
The Congress focussed on the scientific aspects of each explored site and region allowing researchers to examine in detail each heritage site, its characteristics and identity. Archaeological Explorations in Syria 2000-2011: Proceedings of ISCACH-Beirut 2015 consists of two parts. The first part presents the results of archaeological investigations conducted between 2000 and 2010. The second part comprises abstracts of papers and posters presented during the Congress. It is hoped that this book will represent an important contribution to the scientific dialogue between international and Syrian scholars, and will appeal to the general public interested in the culture and history of Syria.
About the Editors
JEANINE ABDUL MASSIH is professor in art and archaeology at the Lebanese University. She specializes in Hellenistic and Roman settlements, town planning, and architecture. She co-directed the excavations of Cyrrhus (Aleppo, Syria) on behalf of the Lebanese University and the DGAMS and coordinated many field and research projects in Syria and Lebanon. Since 2014, she has been in charge of the excavations and management of the Quarries of Baalbek (Lebanon) and of a survey project on the Southern Beqaa (Lebanon).
SHINICHI NISHIYAMA is associate professor at Chubu University, Japan. He specializes in the Iron Age culture of the ancient Near East, especially in the northern Levant. He has participated in various archaeological projects in the Near East and Central Asia including Syria, Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. He was also involved in the UNESCO-led cultural heritage projects in Afghanistan and Tajikistan. He currently co-directs archaeological projects in Iraqi Kurdistan (Yasin Tepe) and in Lebanon (Southern Beqaa).
HANAN CHARAF is assistant professor in art and archaeology at the Lebanese University. She specializes in Near Eastern history and archaeology during the Bronze and Iron Ages in the central Levant. Her research interests include Bronze Age ceramic production and distribution, Bronze Age Cypriot pottery imported to Lebanon, supra and intraregional trade (exchange commodities and routes) in the Levant during the Bronze Age, and cultural characteristics of the transitional period Late Bronze Age-Iron Age in the central Levant.
AHMAD DEB holds a PhD in archaeology and is currently Head of the Department of the Historical Buildings and Archaeological Documentation at the Directorate General of Antiquities of Syria. He directed the Syrian excavations of Tell Nahr El-Arab (Tell Al-Shamiyeh) between 2011 and 2018. He specializes in Bronze Age settlements and burials in the Near East. Today, he dedicates his time to saving and documenting Syrian endangered cultural heritage.NEW: Reindeer hunters at Howburn Farm, South Lanarkshire A Late Hamburgian settlement in southern Scotland – its lithic artefacts and natural environment by Torben Bjarke Ballin with contributions by Alan Saville, Richard Tipping, Tam Ward, Rupert Housley, Lucy Verrill, Matthew Bradley, Clare Wilson, Paul Lincoln and Alison MacLeod. Hardback; 205x290mm; xx+124 pages; 47 illustrations, 25 tables (13 plates in colour). 433 2018. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784919016. £25.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784919023.
This volume presents the lithic assemblage from Howburn in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, which at present is the oldest prehistoric settlement in Scotland (12,700-12,000 BC), and the only Hamburgian settlement in Britain. The site also included a scatter from the Late Upper Palaeolithic Federmesser- Gruppen period (12,000-10,800 BC), as well as lithics from the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. The book focuses on the Hamburgian finds, which are mainly based on the exploitation of flint from Doggerland, the then dry bed of the North Sea. The Hamburgian tools include tanged arrowheads, scrapers, piercers, burins, and other implement forms which show similarities with tools of the same age on the European continent. The shape of one scatter suggests that the Palaeolithic settlers lived in tent-like structures. The Palaeolithic finds from Howburn shed light on several important general trends, such as the ‘acclimatization’ of pioneer settlers, as well as the development of regional differences following the initial Late Glacial recolonization of Scotland. Palaeo-environmental work focused on whether there was a small lake (‘Loch Howburn’) in front of the terrace on which the camp was situated, and it was concluded that there was indeed a lake there, but it was neither contemporary with the Hamburgian, nor the Federmesser-Gruppen settlement. Most likely, ‘Loch Howburn’ dates to the Loch Lomond stadial.
About the Author
After having worked as a specialist and Project Manager in Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Norway, Torben Ballin relocated to Scotland in 1998. Since that year, he has worked as an independent lithics specialist in Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Ireland, and he is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Bradford. Torben’s special interests have been lithic terminology and typology, lithic technology, chronological frameworks, raw material studies, intra-site spatial analyses, prehistoric territories and exchange networks, and – not least – Scotland’s Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP) and Early Mesolithic industries. While still active in Denmark, he briefly worked with Jørgen Holm at the Hamburgian/Federmesser-Gruppen site of Slotseng in Southern Jutland, and one of his academic theses was on the refitting and spatial analysis of the LUP Brommian settlement of Højgård on Zealand. While in Norway, he led the Farsund Project and the Oslofjord Crossing Project, where he analysed a large number of Norwegian Early, Middle and Late Mesolithic sites and assemblages. Since 1998, Torben has dealt with numerous Mesolithic sites and assemblages from all parts of Scotland, and lately he has focused on the discovery of Scottish LUP sites, assemblages, and individual finds and, with the late Alan Saville of National Museums Scotland he published the Federmesser-Gruppen site of Kilmelfort Cave, Argyll; with Hein Bjerck, University of Trondheim, the unique LUP Fosna-Hensbacka point from Brodgar on Orkney; and with Headland Archaeology Ltd. the LUP site of Milltimber, Aberdeenshire. Torben has recently published a number of papers in which he discussed how to recognize individual LUP finds and assemblages on the basis of their technological attributes, when no diagnostic types are present.
The following co-authors took part in the production of the Howburn monograph: The late Alan Saville, National Museums Scotland; Richard Tipping, University of Stirling; Tam Ward, Biggar Archaeology Group; Rupert Housley, Royal Holloway, University of London; Lucy Verrill, University of Stirling; Matthew Bradley, University of Stirling; Clare Wilson, University of Stirling; Paul Lincoln, University of Portsmouth; and Alison MacLeod, University of Reading.NEW: La ocupación cazadora-recolectora durante la transición Pleistoceno-Holoceno en el oeste de Rio Grande do Sul - Brasil: geoarqueología de los sitios en la formación sedimentaria Touro Passo by Viviane Pouey Vidal. Paperback; 203x276mm; xviii+238 pages; illustrated throughout in colour and black & white. Spanish text (Print RRP £55.00). 57 2018. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784919139. £55.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784919146.
This book presents the results obtained during geoarchaeological studies carried out in the locality of Touro Passo, municipality of Uruguaiana, Brazil. There, the Paleoindian sites studied by the team of the PRONAPA-National Archaeological Research Program in the 1960s and 1970s were relocated and others with excellent study potential have been recognized. The archaeological sites are located in the alluvial plains of the Uruguay River and the Touro Passo Stream and correspond to the late Pleistocene-early Holocene transition.
The geoarchaeological approach allowed the understanding of the stratigraphic sequence and the processes of formation and post-depositional disturbance of the archaeological sites in a fluvial environment. Archaeological excavations, soundings, stratigraphic profile surveys, sequence correlations and numerical dates were carried out. The dispersion of artifacts on the surface and cave erosion was recorded, and a lithic taphonomy study was carried out. Four Paleoindian sites located in the Touro Passo Formation were analyzed: Barranca Grande, RS-I-66: Milton Almeida, RS-I-69: Laranjito and Casualidade. The new chronologies obtained for the initial period of human occupation in the region represent a scientific advance for the study of hunter-gatherer occupations during the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene in the triple border of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.
About the Author
Viviane Pouey Vidal has a PhD in Archaeology (Faculty of Social Sciences, UNICEN-National University of the Center of the Province of Buenos Aires-Olavarría). She is a researcher at the GEGAL - Group of Geoarchaeological Studies of Latin America. She was a PhD Fellow abroad by the CAPES - Coordination of Improvement of Higher Level Personnel. She acted as University teacher in the Interdisciplinary Degree Course in Human Sciences at UNIPAMPA - Federal University of Pampa, São Borja Campus / Rio Grande do Sul (2015/2017). She is a member of the Frontier Relations Research Group: History, Politics and Culture in the Triple Frontier Brazil and Uruguay (CNPq-Federal University of Pampa). She is the author of the PPC- Pedagogical Project of the Bachelor's Degree Course in Archaeology that aims to be implemented in the UNIPAMPA. She acts as a consultant in archaeological and patrimonial research in environmental licensing, with experience in Precolonial research and Patrimonial Education.
Spanish Description: Este libro presenta los resultados obtenidos durante los estudios geoarqueológicos realizados en la localidad Touro Passo, municipio de Uruguaiana, Brasil. Alli se reubicaron los sitios paleoindios estudiados por el equipo del PRONAPA-Programa Nacional de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en las décadas de 1960 y 1970 y han sido reconocidos otros con excelente potencial de estudio. Los sitios arqueológicos están situados en las planicies aluviales del Río Uruguay y del Arroyo Touro Passo y corresponden a la transición Pleistoceno tardío-Holoceno temprano.
El enfoque geoarqueológico permitió la comprensión de la secuencia estratigráfica y los procesos de formación y perturbación postdepositacional de los sitios arqueológicos en ambiente fluvial. Fueron realizadas excavaciones arqueológicas, sondeos, relevamiento de perfiles-estratigráficos, correlaciones de secuencias y fechados numéricos. Se registró la dispersión de los artefactos en superficie y en las cárvavas de erosión, y se realizó, un estudio de tafonomía lítica. Se analizaron 4 sitios paleoindios situados en la Formación Touro Passo: Barranca Grande, RS-I-66:Milton Almeida, RS-I-69: Laranjito y Casualidade. Las nuevas cronologías obtenidas para el período inicial de ocupación humana en la región, representan un avance científico para el estudio de las ocupaciones cazadoras-recolectoras durante el Pleistoceno tardío-Holoceno temprano en la triple frontera Brasil, Argentina y Uruguay.
Biografía da autora: Viviane PNEW: La industria lítica bifacial del sitio en cantera Chipana-1 Conocimiento y técnica de los grupos humanos del Desierto de Atacama, norte de Chile al final del Pleistoceno by Katherine A. Herrera. Paperback; 203x276mm; viii+106 pages; 60 illustrations; 8 tables (55 colour plates). Spanish text with English Abstract (Print RRP £34.00). 55 2018 Paris Monographs in American Archaeology 51. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784919115. £34.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784919122.
The site of Chipana-1 is located in the middle of the Atacama Desert, in the Pampa del Tamarugal (PdT), 1200 m asl. The site is a good example of past societies adaptation to hyper-arid environments, and provides new insights into the early human occupations of South America. The well-preserved stratigraphic record, together with 13 radiocarbon dates, show that the site was occupied around 11,480 cal BP. Chipana-1 is a lithic raw-material extraction and workshop site, of a silicified rock of good quality, mainly related to the production of bifacial tools (façonnage), and to a lesser extent, of flakes (débitage) on surface. This is the first site in northern Chile that provides information on the first stages of lithic production, such as raw-material selection and reduction (dégrossissage). In addition, flakes resulting from façonnage (shaping method) suggest the local elaboration of large bifacial pieces that have not been recovered on site, indicating that part of the production was probably exported elsewhere, within and outside the borders of the PdT. Some smaller flakes also suggest a local production of “Tuina” type projectile points, a morphotype well-known in the regions south of the Atacama Desert. One can highlight the presence of flakes of allochthonous raw-materials, imported from other areas, which have been flaked at Chipana-1 in order to produce bifacial tools. Chipana-1 was an important location for Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherer groups, poorly known until now, for the gathering of raw-materials and lithic production in the Atacama Desert. The site was integrated within a broader network of mobility that we are just starting to discover.
Spanish description: El sitio Chipana-1, situado en pleno corazón del Desierto de Atacama en la Pampa del Tamarugal (PdT) a 1200 msnm, refleja la adaptación de antiguas sociedades humanas a un ambiente hiper-árido, y aporta nuevos datos al debate sobre las primeras ocupaciones humanas en América del Sur. La buena conservación estratigráfica y 13 dataciones 14C muestran que el sitio fué frecuentado alrededor de los 11.480 cal BP. Chipana-1 es un sitio de producción lítica esencialmente de façonnage (modelado) bifacial, con un mínimo de débitage (desbaste) de lascas, observables en la superficie de esta gran cantera-taller de roca sílicificada de buena calidad. Este tipo de sitio es inédito dentro del norte de Chile, debido a que permite observar las etapas iniciales de elaboración como la selección cualitativa de la materia prima y su preparación (dégrossissage). Además, lascas del façonnage indican la elaboración de grandes piezas bifaciales no encontradas en el sitio, probablemente fueron exportadas a otras áreas dentro y fuera de la PdT. Algunas lascas más pequeñas señalan la producción de una punta de proyectil tipo “Tuina”, conocida en tierras altas hacia el sur del Atacama. Destacamos también la presencia de lascas de façonnage bifacial de materias primas alóctonas, que fueron importadas a la cantera como productos ya trabajados en otros sitios. Así Chipana-1 fue, para grupos de cazadores recolectores aún desconocidos al final del Pleistoceno, un punto importante de adquisición de roca tallable y de producción lítica en el Desierto de Atacama, insertado en un circuito de movilidad que recién comenzamos a develar.NEW: Navigation et installations lacustres dans les hautes terres du Mexique les cas mexica et tarasque by Alexandra Biar. Paperback; 203x276mm; xvi+292 pages; 217 illustrations; 33 tables (119 colour plates). French text with English summary and foreword (Print RRP £60.00). 54 2018 Paris Monographs in American Archaeology 50. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784919092. £60.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784919108.
In a cultural area where geography conspires against ease of exchange, Mesoamerican societies discovered technical answers adapted to their needs. At a time when the exchange of merchandise and goods relied mainly on human transport, some civilizations turned to a mystical aquatic environment: lakes. This research focuses on the practice of lake navigation and specific facilities that are associated with it. Due to the need for a wholistic approach, this research is situated in a multidisciplinary framework that combines archaeology, ethnology and ethnohistory. Its primary objective is to elaborate the framework of a new research field from the analytical and systematic study of a corpus of eclectic data, about the exploitation of water as a means of transport.
In Mesoamerica, the greatest concentration of lake systems lies in the Mexican highlands. However, only the Mexico and Pátzcuaro Basin were converted into real political economic and cultural centres, with the emergence of the Mexica Empire and Tarascan State in the Late Postclassic period (1350-1521). Why then do archaeologists, ethnologists and historians persist in ignoring the true importance of navigation in their study of the formation and organization of these two civilizations? To what extent can we extract, from the study of boats and lake installations, data that can open new research perspectives?
French description: Dans une aire culturelle où la géographie conspire contre la fluidité des échanges, les sociétés mésoaméricaines ont su trouver des réponses techniques adaptées à leurs besoins. À une époque où l’acheminement de marchandises et de biens s’effectue principalement à dos d’homme, certaines civilisations vont se tourner vers un milieu aquatique mythique : les lacs. Ce travail de recherche s’intéresse donc à la pratique de la navigation lacustre et aux installations spécifiques qui lui sont associées. De par la nécessité d’une approche transversale, ce sujet se positionne dans un cadre pluridisciplinaire, entremêlant archéologie, ethnohistoire et ethnologie. Son objectif premier est de délimiter le cadre d’un nouveau champ de recherche à partir d’une étude analytique et systématique d’un corpus de données éclectiques, autour de l’exploitation d’un mode de transport aquatique.
En Mésoamérique, c’est dans les hautes terres mexicaines que seuls les lacs des Bassins de Mexico et de Pátzcuaro ont été convertis en de véritables centres politiques, économiques et culturels à l’origine de l’émergence de l’Empire mexica et du Royaume tarasque à la période Postclassique (1350-1521). Pourquoi archéologues, historiens et ethnologues continuent donc d’ignorer la véritable importance de la navigation dans l’étude de la formation et de l’organisation de ces deux civilisations ? Dans quelle mesure les données que nous pourrons extraire de l’étude des embarcations et des installations lacustres peuvent-elles ouvrir de nouvelles perspectives de recherches ?NEW: The Population of Tikal: Implications for Maya Demography by David Webster. Paperback; 203x276mm; vi+152 pages; 22 illustrations, 13 tables (Print edition RRP £34.00). 48 2018 Paris Monographs in American Archaeology 49. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784918453. £34.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784918460.
The Classic Maya (AD 250-900) of central and southern Yucatan were long seen as exceptional in many ways. We now know that they did not invent Mesoamerican writing or calendars, that they were just as warlike as other ancient peoples, that many innovations in art and architecture attributed to them had diverse origins, and that their celebrated “collapse” is not what it seems. One exceptionalist claim stubbornly persists: the Maya were canny tropical ecologists who managed their fragile tropical environments in ways that supported extremely large and dense populations and still guaranteed resilience and sustainability. Archaeologists commonly assert that Maya populations far exceeded those of other ancient civilizations in the Old and New Worlds. The great center of Tikal, Guatemala, has been central to our conceptions of Maya demography since the 1960s. Re-evaluation of Tikal’s original settlement data and its implications, supplemented by much new research there and elsewhere, allows a more modest and realistic demographic evaluation. The peak Classic population probably was on the order of 1,000,000 people. This population scale helps resolve debates about how the Maya made a living, the nature of their sociopolitical systems, how they created an impressive built environment, and places them in plausible comparative context with what we know about other ancient complex societies.
About the Author
DAVID WEBSTER received his doctoral degree in anthropology from the University of Minnesota in 1972. He originally intended to become a Near Eastern archaeologist, but he was deflected into Mesoamerican archaeology by the opportunity to work at the fortified site of Becan, Campeche, Mexico. This experience stimulated a long interest in warfare among the Classic Maya and other complex societies. His field work and research included projects in Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala, and heavily focused on settlement survey, household archaeology, demographic reconstruction, and human ecology. Webster joined the faculty of the Anthropology Department at Penn State University in 1972 and spent his career there until his retirement in 2014. He is now emeritus professor at Penn State, where he continues an active program of writing and research.
Table of Contents
Introduction; A Short History of Maya Demographic Estimates and their Implications; Comparative Demographic Estimates for Other Civilizations; University of Pennsylvania Tikal Project Population Estimates; The “Managed Forest” Model for the Lowland Maya: Implications for Tikal; Biases and Limitations of the Tikal Research and some Comparisons with Copan; How Many Maya Lived in the Central and Southern Lowlands during Late and Terminal Classic Times? ; Discussion and Conclusions; Appendix A: Population Density Calculations; Appendix B: The Big Stuff; Appendix C: Agricultural Intensification; Appendix D: Maya Food Shortfalls and Their Consequences; Appendix E: Agrarian Capital, Land Tenure, Inheritance, Entitlements, and Agency; Appendix F: Classic Maya Political Organization and Institutions; Appendix G: Malthus, Boserup, and the Maya References citedCurrent Research in Egyptology 2017 Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Symposium: University of Naples, “L’Orientale” 3–6 May 2017 edited by Ilaria Incordino, Stefania Mainieri, Elena D’Itria, Maria Diletta Pubblico, Francesco Michele Rega, Anna Salsano. Paperback; 203x276mm; 238 pages; illustrated throughout in colour and black & white (75 colour plates). 56 2018. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784919054. £45.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784919061.
Current Research in Egyptology 2017 presents papers delivered during the eighteenth meeting of this international conference, held at the University of Naples “L’Orientale”, 3–6 May, 2017. Some 122 scholars from all over the world gathered in Naples to attend three simultaneous sessions of papers and posters, focussed on a large variety of subjects: Graeco-Roman and Byzantine Egypt, Nubian Studies, Language and Texts, Art and Architecture, Religion and Cult, Field Projects, Museums and Archives, Material Culture, Mummies and Coffins, Society, Technologies applied to Egyptology, Environment. The participants attended seven keynote presentations given by Rosanna Pirelli (Egyptologist), Irene Bragantini (Roman Archaeologist) and Andrea Manzo (Nubian Archaeologist) from the University of Naples “L’Orientale”; Marilina Betrò (Egyptologist) from Pisa University; Patrizia Piacentini (Egyptologist) from Milan University; Christian Greco (Director of Turin Egyptian Museum) and Daniela Picchi (Archaeological Museum of Bologna). Delegates were able to take advantage of a guided tour of the Oriental Museum Umberto Scerrato (University of Naples “L’Orientale”), access to the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN) and guided tours of the archaeological site of Pompeii and the Gaiola Underwater Park. The editors dedicate this volume to the late Prof. Claudio Barocas who inaugurated the teaching of Egyptology and Coptic Language and Literature in Naples.From tentscape to landscape: a multi-scale analysis of long-term patterns of occupation in north-west Qatar Taken from Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies Volume 48 2018 edited by Julian Jansen van Rensburg, Harry Munt, Tim Power, and Janet Starkey. Pages 31-45.
By Jose C. Carvajal López et al
This paper presents the main results of The Crowded Desert Project (TCD) survey during the 2017 season concerning the distribution, orientation, and strategic location of campsites in the area under study. After explaining the evidence recorded in the field, the article proposes an archaeological interpretation based on ethnographic models provided by Ferdinand (1993) and Montigny (1979; 1983; 1985), and on archaeological models advanced by Macumber (2016) and McPhillips, Rosendahl and Morgan (2015). Although ethnoarchaeology is criticized nowadays, it is suggested in this paper that a careful methodology built on the correlation of material evidence and relevant ethnographical data (e.g. Guérin 1994) can provide significant results to interpret the archaeological record of the area of study. The results provide interesting insights regarding the long-term continuity of the structural principles that guide the strategies of the design and location of nomadic campsites at least between AD 400–300 and the twentieth century.
Keywords: Qatar, desert archaeology, archaeology of the nomads, landscape archaeology, ethnoarchaeologyGardens of Istanbul in Persian hajj travelogues Taken from Travellers in Ottoman Lands edited by Ines Aščerić-Todd, Sabina Knees, Janet Starkey and Paul Starkey. Pages 57-68.
By Güllü Yıldız
Writing travelogues, safarnāmahs, about general expeditions and for hajj journeys, became popular among Persian intellectuals and statesmen in the Qajar era (1795–1925). This chapter, dealing with various hajj travelogues from that period, will focus on conveying the impressions of Persian pilgrims who chose the Istanbul route, on the city’s gardens, including palace, house, and public gardens and promenades. In general, pilgrims narrated their visits to these gardens with detailed descriptions of their architecture, flora, and social and cultural uses.
This chapter also aims to reach some conclusions about how they saw and perceived Istanbul and the Ottoman Empire through the medium of their narratives about gardens, by taking into consideration the relationship between place and culture as one of the elements in which individual and collective identities were constructed. It will aim to demonstrate that Ottoman gardens were seen by Persian pilgrims as a sign of ‘progress’ during the second half of the nineteenth and at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Keywords: Istanbul, Ottoman gardens, hajj travelogues, Qajar era, pilgrimsEntangled Relations over Geographical and Gendered Space: Multi-Component Personal Ornaments at Hasanlu Taken from Composite Artefacts in the Ancient Near East edited by Silvana Di Paolo. Pages 51-61.
By Megan Cifarelli
Hasanlu, in Northwestern Iran, is best known for its catastrophic destruction ca. 800 BC, likely at the hands of the Urartian army. Excavations of the site revealed more than 100 burials from the period leading up to the destruction, Hasanlu Period IVb (1050–800 BC). Among these burials are five adult women decorated with multicomponent personal ornaments consisting of repurposed copper alloy or iron armour scales with attached garment pins, stone, shell and composite beads, and copper alloy tubes of various lengths. If worn on the body during life, these objects would have been both visually and aurally conspicuous. Bead and tube elements are typical of the material culture of Hasanlu, used in mortuary jewellery from the Middle Bronze Age forward. The armour scales, however, are found only in these few female burials at Hasanlu. In the broader ancient Near East, scale armour is associated with representations of male bodies in military contexts, and is found archaeologically in military, palatial, cultic and mortuary contexts. These particular scales are characteristic of regions to Hasanlu’s north (the South Caucasus) and east (the Caspian littoral). This paper proposes that the creation of composite objects from these parts— fragments of masculine armour, components of personal adornment, and sound making tubes—entangled people and things across gendered and geographical boundaries.Visualizing cityscapes of Classical antiquity: from early modern reconstruction drawings to digital 3D models With a case study from the ancient town of Koroneia in Boeotia, Greece by Chiara Piccoli. Paperback; 203x276mm; xiv+314 pages; illustrated throughout in colour and black & white (100 colour plates). 53 2018. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784918897. £59.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784918903.
The amount of 3D modelling applications in archaeology has increased enormously over the last decade. 3D recording techniques allow researchers to quickly and accurately document archaeological evidence, and 3D reconstructions have created new possibilities to communicate the results to a larger public. In this latter case, however, numerous scholars have expressed their concern regarding the ethics of such digital representations, since they give prominence to a crystallized image of the past and do not account for the complexity of the archaeological record. The study presented here aims to make a practical contribution to a new understanding and use of 3D reconstructions, namely as ‘laboratories’ to test hypotheses and visualize, evaluate and discuss alternative interpretations.
In order to do so, an analysis of visual reconstructions of the early and late modern period is presented first, followed by a discussion of current applications of 3D digital reconstructions, with a special focus on cityscapes. Lastly, a practical implementation of a research-driven, intellectually transparent and GIS-based 3D reconstruction is proposed for the urban site of Koroneia, in Boeotia, Central Greece. Specifically, the methodology developed in this work uses tools that are employed in geo-design and modern urban planning in an innovative way, integrating GIS with a rule-based modelling approach. With a strong focus on the automation and iteration of the reconstruction process, our 3D visualization provides an intuitive insight into hidden relationships and associations among data, and allows the creation and evaluation of alternative reconstruction hypotheses.
About the Author
CHIARA PICCOLI is an Italian archaeologist currently employed as a staff member of the Digital Archaeology Research group at the Faculty of Archaeology in Leiden, The Netherlands. Her expertise lies in the applications of 3D modelling techniques and 2D-3D GIS to visualize and analyse archaeological evidence. Her research interests include urban studies, visual studies, and the exploitation of digital tools and new technologies for documentation, visualization, analysis and dissemination. She has participated in several excavations and surveys in Italy, Greece and Morocco. Chiara holds a BA in Cultural Heritage (University of Trento), an MA in Greek and Roman Archaeology (University of Siena) and an MA in Book and Digital Media Studies (Leiden University). She received the Tiele-Stichting Thesis Prize 2011 for the best MA dissertation in the field of Book History in the Netherlands.New Proposal for the Location of Ancient Turanu (URU tu-ra-nu) Taken from Ash-sharq: Bulletin of the Ancient Near East Vol 2 No 1 edited by Laura Battini. Pages 83-84.
By Adonice-Ackad Baaklini
The city Turanu (URU tu-ra-nu) is one of the cities conquered by Tiglath-pileser III during his repression of the rebellion leaded by Azriau (king of Hamath?) in the northern part of Hamath and some northern Phoenician states in 738 BCE (RINAP 1: Tiglath-pileser III, 43, ii 16-24; the city is quoted l. 23). Based on the geographical context and the phonological rapprochement, Turmanin (scientific transcription from arabic: turmānīn) was proposed as a candidate for locating the ancient city (Lipinski 2000: 296; quoted also in Bagg 2007: 262).Creativity versus Taboo in Late Bronze Age Central and Southeast Europe Taken from Considering Creativity: Creativity, Knowledge and Practice in Bronze Age Europe edited by Joanna Sofaer. Pages 39-54.
By Carola Metzner-Nebelsick
Creativity is clearly a strong force affecting material culture in general. Nonetheless, when one considers Bronze Age artefacts, it is surprising that over a long course of time certain artefact types in fact change very little. They are thus easily identified as belonging to the Bronze Age - a period lasting nearly for 1500 years. In this contribution I focus on two aspects of creativity: the aesthetic and the technical. I also try to address the phenomenon of traditionalism, which in my view is a prominent feature of the Bronze Age. Tradition is marked by a group of artefact types which, in contrast to creativity and innovation, retain their form and function over centuries within the otherwise changing aesthetic concepts of Bronze Age cultures in Europe. These traditional aspects can, in part, be seen as deliberate and therefore as a taboo concerning creative approaches towards materials and artefacts. I try to explore why these patterns and this obvious dichotomy exist. In order to better understand what is special about creativity in Late Bronze Age Central and Southeast Europe I want to begin by reviewing developments in the Early and Middle Bronze Age.Creativity and Knowledge Taken from Considering Creativity: Creativity, Knowledge and Practice in Bronze Age Europe edited by Joanna Sofaer. Pages 5-17.
By Bengt Molander
The most dominant modern epistemologies focus on human beliefs and theories about the world and take texts as the ultimate expressions of knowledge. I will sketch an alternative epistemological framework, suited for understanding skill and insight (‘knowledge’) in human creative practices. In this framework human actions and made objects are seen as a basic expression of knowledge, not reducible to, or inferior to, linguistic expressions. Skill and insight in human practices, I will argue, are to be understood as forms of attentiveness in practice, and ‘good knowledge’ is what leads to the best for human beings. Attentiveness lives by differences, seeing differences and producing differences, for example in the form of art or craft objects. I will explore this as an epistemological framework for understanding both creative practices in a (pre)historic setting and contemporary creative answers to, or continuations of, old practices.Guilty or Innocent? The Buckingham vs. Bankes Libel Trial of 1826 Taken from Lost and Now Found: Explorers, Diplomats and Artists in Egypt and the Near East edited by Neil Cooke and Vanessa Daubney. Pages 183-203.
By Don Boyer
The early 19th-century English traveller and adventurer William John Bankes spent almost five years visiting and recording ancient sites in the Levant. He was in Egypt and Nubia for much of this time, but he also visited Palestine and Syria. While in Palestine, in early 1816, he made a short side trip to Jerash (Jarash) and Umm Qais (Gadara) east of the Jordan, in the company of James Silk Buckingham. The trip proved to be historically interesting but was otherwise unremarkable in the context of his other travels; however, there were unexpected ramifications.London’s Waterfront 1100–1666: excavations in Thames Street, London, 1974–84 by John Schofield, Lyn Blackmore and Jacqui Pearce, with Tony Dyson. Hardback; 210x297mm; xxiv+514 pages; illustrated throughout in colour and black & white (132 colour plates). English text with summaries in French and German. 422 2018. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784918378. £90.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784918385.
London’s Waterfront 1100–1666: excavations in Thames Street, London, 1974–84 presents and celebrates the mile-long Thames Street in the City of London and the land south of it to the River Thames as an archaeological asset. The argument is based on the reporting of four excavations of 1974–84 by the Museum of London near the north end of London Bridge: Swan Lane, Seal House, New Fresh Wharf and Billingsgate Lorry Park. Here the findings of the period 1100–1666 are presented.
Buildings and property development on sixteen properties south of Thames Street, on land reclaimed in many stages since the opening of the 12th century, include part of the parish church of St Botolph Billingsgate. The many units of land reclamation are dated by dendrochronology, coins and documents. They have produced thousands of artefacts and several hundred kilos of native and foreign pottery. Much of this artefactual material has been published, but in catalogue form (shoes, knives, horse fittings, dress accessories, textiles, household equipment). Now the context of these finds, their deposition in groups, is laid out for the first time. Highlights of the publication include the first academic analysis and assessment of a 13th- or 14th-century trumpet from Billingsgate, the earliest surviving straight trumpet in Europe; many pilgrim souvenirs; analysis of two drains of the 17th century from which suggestions can be made about use of rooms and spaces within documented buildings; and the proposal that one of the skeletons excavated from St Botolph’s church is John Reynewell, mayor of London in 1426–7 and a notable figure in London’s medieval history.
The whole publication encourages students and other researchers of all kinds to conduct further research on any aspect of the sites and their very rich artefactual material, which is held at the Museum of London’s Archaeological Archive. This is a significantly large and varied dataset for the archaeology and history of London in the period 1100 to 1666 which can be continuously interrogated for generations to come.
About the Authors
JOHN SCHOFIELD was an archaeologist at the Museum of London from 1974 to 2008. He has written several well-received books on the archaeology of London and of British medieval towns; and as Cathedral Archaeologist for St Paul’s Cathedral, archaeological accounts of the medieval and Wren buildings.
LYN BLACKMORE is a Senior Ceramics and Finds Specialist who has worked for MOLA and its predecessors since 1986. During this time she has established the Anglo-Saxon fabric type series for London, has contributed to the Type-Series of London Medieval Pottery and has published widely on aspects of post- Roman pottery. Her special research interests are the development of London and the role of local, regional and imported pottery and finds in trade and exchange. In 2009–14 she was Assistant Treasurer of the Medieval Pottery Research Group and in 2017 was elected co-editor of its journal Medieval Ceramics, a role she first held in 1989–94.
JACQUI PEARCE is a Senior Ceramics Specialist with MOLA, focusing especially on medieval and later pottery, on which she has published widely. She joined the Museum of London’s Department of Urban Archaeology in 1977 and has played a major role in the development and publication of the Type-Series of London Medieval Pottery. She has served as Joint Editor of Medieval Ceramics, as well as of Post-Medieval Archaeology and is currently Joint Editor of English Ceramic Circle Transactions. In 2017 she was elected President of the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology.
TONY DYSON was the principal documentary historian and general editor at the Department of Urban Archaeology of the Museum of London from 1974 to 1998.
Special Place, Interesting Times: The island of Palagruža and transitional periods in Adriatic prehistory by Stašo Forenbaher with contributions by Zlatko Perhoč and Robert H. Tykot. x+194 pages; illustrated throughout in colour and black & white (60 colour plates). 421 2018. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784918491. £34.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784918507.
While one might say that the prehistory of the Adriatic was always in transition, the rhythm of change was not always the same. On several occasions, a series of changes over a relatively short time period resulted in dramatic transformations. Three crucial episodes of change marked the later Adriatic prehistory. The first one, which took place around year 6000 BC, was a transformation of subsistence strategy, transition from hunting and gathering to farming. The second one was a social transformation that played out in the third millennium BC, when for the first time the power of individuals was clearly expressed by material culture. The third episode, inclusion into the classic Mediterranean civilization, coincided with the end of prehistory in the Adriatic region.
During all of those episodes, travel and connectivity with distant lands played an exceptionally important role, and certain places gained particular importance due to their unique geographic location. Palagruža is among the most prominent such places, its importance being out of all proportion to its physical size. Adriatic prehistory cannot be told without mentioning Palagruža, and prehistory of Palagruža cannot be understood without knowing Adriatic prehistory. Due to its strategic position in the very center of the Adriatic Sea, due to the mystery born of distance and isolation, due to its wild and spectacular landscape, Palagruža indeed is a special place. A reflection of its specialty is an unexpected abundance of high-grade archaeological evidence, dating precisely from the three aforementioned periods marked by radical change.
About the Author
STAŠO FORENBAHER is Senior Research Advisor at the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb, Croatia. He studied archaeology at the University of Zagreb (Croatia), and received his PhD from the Southern Methodist University in Dallas (TX). His research interests cover Mediterranean Prehistory with a focus on the Adriatic, and include transition to farming, formation of early elites, archaeology of caves, and lithic analysis. He has excavated at many prehistoric stratified cave sites in the eastern Adriatic, including Pupićina Cave in Istria, Vaganačka Cave in Velebit Mountain, Grapčeva Cave on the island of Hvar, and Nakovana Cave on Pelješac Peninsula. His current fieldwork is focussed on the excavation of Vela Cave on the island of Korčula.Colecciones, arqueólogos, instituciones y yacimientos en la España de los siglos XVIII al XX edited by Sergio España-Chamorro, Rebeca Arranz Santos, Alberto Romero Molero. xii+246 pages; illustrated throughout in color and black & white (71 colour plates). 50 2018. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784918637. £50.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784918644.
The History of archaeological research has only recently become a research topic of interest within Spain. A congress, Colecciones, arqueólogos, instituciones y yacimientos en la España de los Siglos XVIII al XX, was held at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 2016 designed to bring this topic to the fore. Eleven papers are presented in this proceedings volume. They address several aspects from different perspectives that collectively enrich the historiography of Spanish archaeological research.
La Historia de las investigaciones arqueológicas es un campo de estudio muy reciente en el caso español. No obstante, las últimas décadas han sido muy fructíferas en esta línea de investigación. Colecciones, arqueólogos, instituciones y yacimientos en la España de los Siglos XVIII al XX es un volumen que recoge ese testigo con once trabajos originales que traen a la primera línea la historiografía de la Arqueología española. Estos trabajos, fruto de un congreso homónimo realizado en la Universidad Complutense de Madrid en 2016, abordan diferentes temas y perspectivas que abarcan importantes aspectos de la temática tratada con una variedad geográfica que atiende la diversidad y riqueza de la historiografía arqueológica española.
EDITORES
SERGIO ESPAÑA-CHAMORRO es doctor en Estudios del Mundo Antiguo por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Actualmente es investigador posdoctoral en la Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología en Roma (CSIC) y profesor adjunto en la Universidad Isabel I. Sus líneas de investigación versan sobre Arqueología del Paisaje centrándose en la Bética y en Italia, además de su participación en proyectos de investigación sobre el espacio doméstico en Pompeya y la escultura romana en Cartago. Ha realizado estancias de investigación en el Departamento de Arqueología de la University of Southampton, en el centro CIL de la Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, en la Università degli Studi di Bari ‘Aldo Moro’ y en el Musei dei Fori Imperiali-Mercati di Traiano (Roma).
Rebeca Arranz Santos es graduada en Historia del Arte por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, y posee un máster en Arqueología del Mediterráneo en la Antigüedad clásica por la misma universidad. Compagina su doctorando en Historia y Arqueología con su colaboración como profesora en el Centro de Estudios Artísticos Elba, donde imparte cursos de Arqueología de Grecia, Arqueología de Roma y Arte de Mesopotamia y del Mediterráneo Oriental. Es miembro del grupo de trabajo del Proyecto I+D+I de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. Además, ha realizado una estancia de doctorado en Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología en Roma.
Alberto Romero Molero es doctor en Prehistoria, Arqueología y Patrimonio por la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Actualmente es director del Grado en Historia y Geografía de la Universidad Isabel I. Ha formado parte de numerosos proyectos de investigación, tanto nacionales como en el extranjero, lo que le ha permitido asistir y organizar numerosos seminarios, congresos, cursos y eventos de difusión científica. Sus líneas de investigación se centran en la arquitectura romana, el estudio de las técnicas constructivas, el análisis arqueológico de los espacios domésticos y la historia de las investigaciones arqueológicas. Ha desarrollado trabajos de campo, tanto de excavación como de documentación, en Carteia (San Roque, Cádiz), Baelo Claudia (Tarifa, Cádiz), Banasa (Marruecos), Veio y Pompeya (Italia).SOMA 2015: Time, Space and People Proceedings of the 19th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology edited by Murat Arslan. iv+190 pages; illustrated throughout in colour and black & white (69 colour plates). 49 2018. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784918514. £44.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784918521.
The 19th annual meeting of the Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology (SOMA) was held in Kemer/Antalya (Turkey) from the 12th to the 14th of November, 2015. As has been the case in the past, this symposium continues to provide an important opportunity for scholars and researchers to come together and discuss their academic studies in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. The proceedings of SOMA 2015 contain eighteen interdisciplinary articles on themes from underwater archaeology to history, archaeometry and art history, and chronologically, the subjects of these articles range from the Bronze Age to the 20th century.
About the Editor
Murat Arslan is the editor of SOMA 2015. He is professor of Ancient History at Akdeniz University in Antalya (Turkey). He is interested in Ancient Greek and Ancient History, especially the Classical and Hellenistic periods, and historiography. In addition to his monographs (Galatians, Mithradates VI Eupator, Classical and Hellenistic History of Byzantion), his translations and commentaries on periplus (Arrianus, Ps. Scylax), and Memnon of Heracleia Pontica, he is the current editor in chief of several international journals (Cedrus, MJH, Phaselis, Libri).Who Owns the Past? Archaeological Heritage between Idealism and Destruction edited by Maja Gori (editor-in-chief). 123 pages; full colour throughout. 2 2017. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784917630. £25.00 (No VAT). Institutional Price £30.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 2531-8810-2-2017.
The second issue of Ex Novo hosts papers exploring the various ways in which the past is remembered, recovered, created and used. In particular, contributions discuss the role of archaeology in present-day conflict areas and its function as peacekeeping tool or as trigger point for military action.Le classi ceramiche della “tradizione mista” a Kos nel Tardo Bronzo IA by Salvatore Vitale. 208 pages; illustrations in colour and black & white. Italian text.. 51 2018. ISBN 9781784918859.
This volume focuses on the pottery classes of the “Entangled Tradition” recovered at the settlement of the “Serraglio” on Kos during the late Bronze Age and into the Iron Age. The results reveal new information on the chronology, typology, and decoration of Koan Painted Fine (PF) and Koan Painted Medium-Coarse to Coarse (PMC-C), ceramics. Moreover, the fresh analysis of the chaîne opératoire used to manufacture these classes and the assessment of consumption patterns contribute to a wider understanding of the socio-cultural and political implications of the Koan pottery assemblage during the early part of the late Bronze Age.
The data presented in this volume indicate that PF and PMC-C ceramics represent a unique case of fully entangled classes in the Aegean, which merged features of the Koan “Local Tradition” with characteristics of the Minoan and Minoanizing potting traditions of Crete and the Cyclades into a new technological and stylistic language. Contacts between these different cultures are explained based on the theoretical model provided by “human mobility”. The specific Koan cultural synthesis, however, was endorsed and promoted by the local elites at the settlement of the “Serraglio”, which aimed to participate in the “new environment” determined by the economic and cultural expansion of Neopalatial Crete.
In this respect, the manufacture of Koan Entangled classes served a dual scope. On the one hand, using transport containers made in the PMC-C class, Koan products were exported and exchanged throughout the Aegean. In addition, the finer vessels of the Koan “Entangled Tradition” were utilized for promoting Minoan-type social practices at the “Serraglio”. Through these practices, Koan elites aimed to redefine their identity and portray an image of higher status within the local social arena.
About the Author
Dr. Salvatore Vitale completed his MA in Classical Literatures and PhD in Classical Archaeology at the University of Pisa in 2001 and 2007 respectively, under the supervision of Professors M. Benzi and Giampaolo Graziadio. After completion of his PhD, Dr. Vitale held post-doctoral and research fellowships at the Universities of Calabria, Cincinnati, and Pisa and at the Italian Archaeological School at Athens.
Since 2009, he has been the director of the “Serraglio, Eleona, and Langada Archaeological Project” (SELAP), a research endeavor carried out under the auspices of the Italian Archaeological School at Athens. The main goal of SELAP is to provide new information on the island of Kos from the Final Neolithic until the Late Protogeometric period.Problems of Chronology in Gandhāran Art Proceedings of the First International Workshop of the Gandhāra Connections Project, University of Oxford, 23rd-24th March, 2017 edited by Wannaporn Rienjang and Peter Stewart. iv+166 pages; illustrated throughout in colour and black & white (56 colour plates). 419 2018. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784918552. £32.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784918569.
Since the beginning of Gandhāran studies in the nineteenth century, chronology has been one of the most significant challenges to the understanding of Gandhāran art. Many other ancient societies, including those of Greece and Rome, have left a wealth of textual sources which have put their fundamental chronological frameworks beyond doubt. In the absence of such sources on a similar scale, even the historical eras cited on inscribed Gandhāran works of art have been hard to place. Few sculptures have such inscriptions and the majority lack any record of find-spot or even general provenance. Those known to have been found at particular sites were sometimes moved and reused in antiquity. Consequently, the provisional dates assigned to extant Gandhāran sculptures have sometimes differed by centuries, while the narrative of artistic development remains doubtful and inconsistent.
Building upon the most recent, cross-disciplinary research, debate and excavation, this volume reinforces a new consensus about the chronology of Gandhāra, bringing the history of Gandhāran art into sharper focus than ever. By considering this tradition in its wider context, alongside contemporary Indian art and subsequent developments in Central Asia, the authors also open up fresh questions and problems which a new phase of research will need to address.
Problems of Chronology in Gandhāran Art is the first publication of the Gandhāra Connections project at the University of Oxford’s Classical Art Research Centre, which has been supported by the Bagri Foundation and the Neil Kreitman Foundation. It presents the proceedings of the first of three international workshops on fundamental questions in the study of Gandhāran art, held at Oxford in March 2017.
About the Editors
WANNAPORN RIENJANG is Project Assistant of the Gandhāra Connections Project at the Classical Art Research Centre, Oxford. She completed her doctoral degree in Archaeology at the University of Cambridge on Buddhist relic cult in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Before starting her PhD, she worked as a research assistant for the Masson Project at the Department of Coins and Medals, the British Museum. Her research interests include the art and archaeology of Greater Gandhāra, Buddhist studies, and working technologies of stone containers and beads.
PETER STEWART is Director of the Classical Art Research Centre and Associate Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology at the University of Oxford. He has worked widely in the field of ancient sculpture. His publications include Statues in Roman Society: Representation and Response (2003) and The Social History of Roman Art (2008). Much of his research concerns the relationship between Gandhāran art and Roman sculpture.Marcadores gráficos y territorios megalíticos en la Cuenca interior del Tajo: Toledo, Madrid y Guadalajara by Mª Ángeles Lancharro Gutiérrez. 346 pages; illustrated throughout in colour and black & white (222 plates in colour). 46 2018. Available both in print and Open Access. Printed ISBN 9781784917975. £80.00 (No VAT). Epublication ISBN 9781784917982.
The aim of this work is to analyze Late Prehistoric graphical markers, comprising paintings, engravings, Megalithic elements, and other portable objects. All of them can be described as post-paleolithic or Schematic Art over various surfaces. The chosen area, the inland region of the Tajo inner basin (Spain), was especially appealing for several reasons, such as the lack of scholarship on the subject, the lack of information on the geographical location of the archaeological sites, and the extended ignorance about the sites’ materials and relationships.
The methodology is based on systematic registration of all archaeological sites. This is studied from an Archaeology Landscape perspective through Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis. It tests geographical markers according to their strategic location (pre-eminence and visibility) and their relationship with other funerary, habitable and resources sites. This has allowed parietal surfaces (megaliths, caves, shelters) and mobile pieces to be given coordinate position for the first time in the region, which has demonstrated abundant and complex prehistoric graphical markers. The results achieved allow the extrapolation of settlement models, explained in chapter VI. Generally, shelters divide the territory by geographical units where the settlers have access to a variety of economic resources and transit networks.
About the Author
Dr. María Ángeles Lancharro has a BA in History from the University of Alcalá (Spain) and received her PhD in Prehistory from the same university. Her research interests include landscape archaeology, megalithic territories and their symbolism, Prehistoric Rock Art in the Iberian Peninsula and Late Prehistory in the inner basin of the Tajo river. Additionally, she specialises in databases, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial analysis. Her work is focused on territorial analysis from rock shelters, habitats, necropoli, areas of exploitation and resources. Dr. Lancharro has an extensive teaching experience and has participated in several excavations in Spain and southern France aimed at the compared study of Megalithic and Schematic Art. Her findings have been published in different peer-reviewed journals and books, and she has participated in a number of archaeological conferences.
Spanish description:
El objetivo de este trabajo es el estudio de los marcadores gráficos de la Prehistoria Reciente, entre los que se incluyen pinturas, grabados, elementos megalíticos y elementos mobiliares que responden a la descripción de Arte Esquemático o Postpaleolítico sobre diferentes soportes. Se eligió como zona de estudio la cuenca interior del Tajo a su paso por las provincias interiores (España), de especial interés por su carencia de valoraciones conjuntas y desde luego, por la escasa información acerca del posicionamiento geográfico de estos yacimientos y el desconocimiento bastante generalizado de sus contenidos y relaciones contextuales. El método de trabajo se ha fundamentado en la recogida sistemática de todos los yacimientos registrados. El estudio se ha llevado a cabo con nuevas tecnologías como los Sistemas de Información Geográfica (SIG), desde una perspectiva de la Arqueología del Paisaje. Se han efectuado diversos análisis establecidos sobre su posición estratégica (preeminencia y visibilidad) y su relación con otros yacimientos de carácter funerario, habitacional y recursos de explotación. Esto ha permitido que los soportes parietales (abrigos, cuevas y megalitos), así como piezas mobiliares, se hayan georreferenciado por primera vez en la región, dando muestras de la abundancia y complejidad de estas grafías prehistóricas.
Los resultados nos han permitido extrapolar modelos de implantación en el territorio, expuestos en el capítulo VI. En general, existe una tendencia a delimitar el territorio en unidades geográficas caracterizadas, en las que las sociedadeA Roman aqueduct through the Cretan highlands – securing the water supply for elevated Lyttos Taken from Great Waterworks in Roman Greece edited by Georgia A. Aristodemou and Theodosios P. Tassios. Pages 147-169.
By Amanda Kelly
Monday, August 13, 2018
Recently Published Open Access Books and Articles at Archaeopress
Recently Published Open Access Books and Articles at Archaeopress
Gifts, Goods and Money: Comparing currency and circulation systems in past societies edited by Dirk Brandherm, Elon Heymans and Daniela Hofmann. vi+228 pages; 73 figures (30 colour plates). 416 2018. 
Life on the Edge: The Neolithic and Bronze Age of Iain Crawford’s Udal, North Uist edited by Beverley Ballin Smith. Hardback; xxxii+270 pages; highly illustrated in full colour throughout. 408 2018. 
KYMISSALA: Archaeology – Education – Sustainability
by Manolis I. Stefanakis. xii+192 pages; illustrated throughout in
colour and black & white. Papers in English and Greek.. 52 2018.
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