Böcker i British Archaeological Reports International Series-serien

Beirut, Sidon and Tyre have been occupied by human societies since the third millennium BC. The sites grew up around easily defendable promontories, for Beirut and Sidon, and an offshore island, as in the case of Tyre. All three possessed natural low energy basins that could be exploited as anchorage havens with little or no need for human artificialisation. In spite of their former maritime glories, however, the evolution of these three important Phoenician citystates has remained largely enigmatic. Chapter 1: Although innumerable studies have addressed the various aspects of ancient harbour geoarchaeology, there is no single monograph that treats the subject in its entirety. The aim of this first chapter is therefore to comprehensively review the present literature, and set ancient harbour geoscience within the wider context of Mediterranean coastal archaeology Chapter 2: The most pronounced coastal changes of all three sites have been observed at Tyre and this chapter analyses the role of various natural and anthropogenic forcings to reconstruct the Holocene accretion and progradation of Tyre's 'tombolo', a peculiar sand isthmus linking the former offshore bastion to the continent. Chapter 3: The exact location of Tyre's ancient anchorages has been a source of archaeological speculation since the sixteenth century and this chapter reviews this earlier literature before moving on to precisely relocate the ancient northern harbour, the city's principal transport hub during antiquity, and its phases of evolution. Chapter 4: At Sidon, coastal stratigraphy has been used to reconstruct where, when and how the city's ancient anchorages evolved. During the Bronze Age, the city's southern bay, or 'Crique Ronde'. Chapter 5: At Beirut, redevelopment of the central business district during the 1990s exposed great tracts of the city's archaeology. Often dubbed as the 'largest archaeological dig in the world' the author and his team were called upon to link the historical data with the coastal stratigraphy and reconstruct the ancient harbour's history. Chapter 6 draws together the data from all three sites to propose a general model of Phoenician harbour evolution since the Bronze Age.

A biostratinomic study of the cadaver association scattered the Donana Biological Reserve (Huelva, SW Spain) to learn more of the general conservation dynamics and to deduce possible patterns that might be applied to the taphonomic study of archaeological sites. The work presents a methodology to analyse organic deposits in a natural ecosystem, studying formation dynamics of osseous assemblages in both natural and human cultural conditions.

Richard Pococke, Robert Pashley and Thomas Spratt, and their contribution to the island's Bronze Age archaeological heritageThis work focuses on three important British travellers to Crete during the 18th and 19th centuries to establish whether or not they made any significant contribution to the field of research with regard to the archaeological heritage of Bronze Age Crete. It brings these 'lost pioneers' of antiquity to the fore and to recognize their efforts as part of the foundation of the discovery of the island's Bronze Age archaeology prior to the groundbreaking excavations of Sir Arthur Evans. They are Richard Pococke (1704-65), Robert Pashley (1805-59) and Thomas Spratt (1811-88). Having dealt with the terms that these travellers used in describing ancient remains, the work looks briefly at the background to Bronze Age Crete itself. Thereafter the development from antiquarianism into archaeology is followed to establish the motives behind these travellers' wanderings in Crete. Consideration is given to whether any sites they described might have been of the Bronze Age and, in addition, various views of the mythical Labyrinth are looked at in an attempt to compound the theory that there may have been a certain belief in a period prior to the known Classical era (of the 5th century BC Greece). Questions answered include: How do the travellers' 'field surveys' and discoveries compare with what is now known today from excavation? Were some of their references to 'Cyclopean' stonework an identification of Bronze Age architecture? Do they deserve recognition for the identification of a prehistory of Crete? Why are their names missing from so many books on the history of archaeology and the discovery of Cretan archaeology? This work brings together, for the first time, an understanding of the views and comparative discoveries of three 18th and 19th century travellers of the, then, unknown ancient pre-history of Bronze Age Crete.

The scientific objectives of this research are to study the technological processes during the Middle and initial Upper Pleistocene in the northeastern Iberian Peninsular and southwestern France, and their implications for the behaviour of prehistoric human societies. The research studies of the lithotechnical records of archaeological sites located in different ecosystems (the Corbières Massif, the river basins of Roussillon, the river Ter terrace system, la Selva depression, and lacustrine basin of Banyoles), and their industries found in the sedimentary deposits preserved in caves (G level of the Caune de l'Arago), rock-shelters (lower levels of Mollet I), or in ancient paleosoils (Puig d'Esclats, Casa Nova d'en Feliu and Can Burgés), fluvial flood plains (Domeny Industrial), the deposits dismantled by erosional action on slopes (Costa Roja, Mas d'en Galí and Puig d'en Roca III), and in ancient fossil fluvial terraces/open-air sites (Mas Ferréol, Plane d'en Bourgat and Butte du Four-Llabanère). The results of the lithotechnical analyses allow for the documentation of the differentiated adaptive patterns of mesopleistocene hominids, reflected in the industries' level of technological variability between the geographical areas. The data obtained is assessed within three parameters: the areas where the necessary raw materials for knapping were obtained; the study of the technical production systems characteristic of each regional unit; and the diachronic interval of these settlements obtained both by relative chronology as well as through the application of absolute dating techniques.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A selection of 17 papers from the first Symposium of "Current Research in Egyptology", held in Oxford in 2000. The Symposium was held to foster communication and exchange of ideas among students of Egyptology at UK institutions. The UK enjoys a wealth of Egyptological resources, but it is sometimes difficult for graduate students from different universities to interact. In many cases, the very diverse papers presented, constitute ongoing research, offering authors the opportunity to formulate the current state of their work, and to present it to a wider audience. Topics covered range from "Hysteria Revisited: Women's Public Health in Ancient Egypt" to "Papyrological Evidence of Travelling in Byzantine Egypt".

Proceedings of the 28th Conference, Ljubljana, April 2000This volume contains the proceedings of the first conference ever of the two professional organizations, Computer Applications and Quantitive Methods in Archaeology (CAA), and the Union International des Sciences Préhistorique et Protohistorique (UISPP),Commission IV. The conference was held (April 2000) in Ljubljana, and brought together experts and members of two of the largest professional organizations in computer and quantitative methods in archaeology. Fifty-six papers from the conference are presented in the collected proceedings.

Proceedings of a conference held in Williamsburg, VA, Nov 7-11th 1999The thirty-four papers published in this volume represent the proceedings of a conference on Human Remains held in Williamsburg, VA in November 1999. The conference was divided into six themes: Excavation and Fieldwork, Conservation, Soft Tissues and Mummies, Curation, Analysis and Ethics, and Law and Public Perception. The excavated material discussed comes from all continents and significant time periods. One of the principal aims of the conference was to address the current issues in the archaeology of human remains and encourage dialogue between the various specialists involved in conservation, curating, analysis, etc. The topical ethical and repatriation questions are also examined. Illustrated throughout with photographs, drawings, tables and figures.

This monograph represents 15 years of research by the author and concentrates on the so-called South Scandinavian or Bronze Age petroglyphs from the municipality of Stjørdal (Trøndelag, central Norway, east of Trondheim). The book's final section presents a catalogue of 130 or sites, with tracings and short descriptions of each of the rock panels. In all, the work reports on the detection, mapping, and description of the spatial and temporal patterns found within the Stjørdal rock-art record. There is also an attempt to explain these patterns and to discover why they occur. The rock-art is seen as part of the total archaeological record, both locally and in a wider perspective.

with English abstract

In this volume's 18 chapters, diverse authors utilizing a variety of techniques explore elements of seigneurial domestic buildings (AD c.800-1600) on both sides of the English Channel. Among the contributors are scholars from as far afield as Germany, south-west France, Ireland, Scotland and the Channel Islands. They have provided a collection of papers which provides considerable insight into recent studies on the seigneurial domestic buildings of north-western Europe. Locations covered specifically include Norwich Castle, Boothby Pagnell, the Imperial Hall at Frankfurt am Main, Muenzenberg, and the turris famosa of Ivry-la-Bataille. Notwithstanding differences of emphasis and the considerable range of techniques demonstrated, this work may be divided into two main categories: thematic and regional studies; and monographs. The approach, broadly, of the authors has been to combine archaeology with a proper use of documentary sources. In a limited number of cases it has been posible also to make use of dendrochronology, thereby adding precision to the altogether more subjective stylistic dating so beloved by the art historian.

This volume represents a detailed study of the important town of Argos in the Peloponnese during Byzantine phases (4th-7th centuries AD). An introduction covers landscape and contextual history. Chapter one explores the major sites of the town (Agora, monuments, fortifications, aqueducts). Chapter two deals with ecclesiastical architecture. Chapter three investigates the cemeteries, while chapter four reviews their ceramic finds (and includes a catalogue) and chapter five details the inscriptions. Chapter six focuses on civil infrasture, domestic, and trade features.

In this work the author examines the Medieval and Post-Medieval Greek house as a container of material culture, and of functional and social activity, within the context of a changing socio-economic environment. The first three introductory chapters review a series of previous vernacular studies mainly from the Late Ottoman and early Modern eras, covering a relatively broad methodological spectrum, and presented concisely socio-economic developments during Ottoman and Early Modern times. The study continues with an in-depth assessment of the methodologies and objectives of the authors in relation to contemporary developments and preconceptions. Most importantly, however, it became possible to attempt a quantitative and qualitative reinterpretation of the data provided by the previous studies in relation to the socio-economic changes briefly summarised. Five different levels of interpretation were chosen, that when interrelated provided a more complete picture of the processes that affected the housing patterns in Greece during the Middle and Late Ottoman, as well as the Early Modern eras. Chronological distributions and different settlement patterns were discussed in association with the general domestic types and internal arrangements. The stylistic considerations within the rural and urban context provided a further narrative closely related to social identities, fashions and nation-building processes. The houses were set into a dynamic chronological, settlement and social environment. Within this context the domestic structures were reclassified according to the use of space within them and their immediate surroundings.

Studies in Classical Archaeology IIIThis volume is the third in the Beazley Archive (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) series of "Studies in Classical Archaeology". It is based on a group of lectures given in 2003, and now intended as a "handbook" for the undergraduate degree course in the History of Art. The seven chapters include: The Study of art at Oxford before 1955 (Donna Kurtz); An introduction to the reception of classical art (Donna Kurtz); Nudity in Art (John Boardman); Medals and the reception of antiquity (Henry Kim); Renaissance "istoriato" maiolica (Kate Nichols); The reception of classical art - neoclassical gems (Gertrud Seidmann); The Sackler Library: ancient and modern (Robert Adam).

This study aims to examine all aspects of Moroccan rock art and place it in an archaeological and environmental context. Almost 300 sites are now known but few have been studied fully. This work is the first overall analysis to be attempted. The author sets herself 9 specific objectives: 1) To present an up-to-date account of the history of research into Moroccan rock art from its beginnings in the 19th century. 2) To treat rock art as a part of integrated archaeological research. 3) To place rock art manifestations in a climatic and ecological framework. 4) To establish the distribution of rock art sites, by surveying - as far as the published material allowed - the position and contents of all known sites. 5) To find out if all sites contained the same type of engraved material. 6) To propose a tentative chronology of Moroccan rock art and provide possible dates for the sites. 7) To interpret the engraved images as a "medium of communication". One line of research in this direction was the localisation of this art in the landscape and its relationship to the local topography as a form of sign-posting. 8) To investigate the possible symbolic content of the images. 9) To insert rock art into the tissue of Neolithic and later life, in so far as it is known, in order to ascertain its place in the "production process" of the Neolithic and later populations of Morocco.

An archaeological investigation of prehistoric settlement in East MicronesiaThis work documents two seasons of archaeological fieldwork (1999, 2001) at the site of Safonfok, a prehistoric monumental site on the southwest coast of Kosrae Island, Kosrae State, Federated States of Micronesia. Here, for the first time in the history of archaeological work on the island, a monumental site that was probably one of the few regional power brokers of its time has been recognized, documented and examined in detail. Safonfok, as it turns out, is one of a very few number of sites that contains a deep and extensive cultural deposit representing the daily activities of a high status administrative site. Its material culture assemblage has further disassociated the site from all others on-island, turning what is an already significant site into a singularly unique site and elevating it to the status of type site. Above the ground, the foundations of the walls and buildings described a fortified compound, complete with canoe landings, formal and informal entries, a market or distribution center, guest housing, and even the quarters of a specialist in medicine. Dates from the excavations suggest that the compound was continuously occupied from at least A.D. 1200 to 1600, a formative period in the history of Kosrae where social, economic and political forces around the island were negotiating for status, position and power, especially power. Enshrouded in the cultural deposits is an entirely new artifact type -coral fishhooks -new to the island, to the region and to the archaeological record of the Pacific generally.

This is the first detailed study in English of the Greek settlement of Pharos (Stari Grad) on the Croatian island of Hvar. This book presents life in Stari Grad (a Parian colony of the 4th c BC) and its nearby vicinity in the period occurring more than two millennia ago. The author employs methods used in prehistoric and classical archaeology, as well as data known from written, epigraphic, and numismatic sources. Chapter 2 outlines the prehistory; Chapter 3 focuses on the colonial aspirations of Cycladic island of Paros; Chapter 4 presents the remains of the city of Pharos today; Chapter 5 explores the landscape around the city; Chapter 6, the social organisation and city administration; Chapter 7, the economy; Chapter 8, the numismatics; Chapter 9, the ceramics; Chapter 10, the cults of Pharos; Chapter 11, burial rituals; Chapters 12 and 13, Demetrius of Pharos.

The other ceramics found in Beaker burial contexts have the potential for telling us much about the true nature of the Beaker phenomenon. Particularly exciting is the prospect that an understanding of their context will indicate whether Beaker pottery is indicative of an invasion, or something more subtle.