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Showing 1081 - 1100 of 3354 items
By Peter Hessler. 2019
From the acclaimed author of River Town and Oracle Bones, an intimate excavation of life in one of the world's…
oldest civilizations at a time of convulsive changeDrawn by a fascination with Egypt's rich history and culture, Peter Hessler moved with his wife and twin daughters to Cairo in 2011. He wanted to learn Arabic, explore Cairo's neighborhoods, and visit the legendary archaeological digs of Upper Egypt. After his years of covering China for The New Yorker, friends warned him Egypt would be a much quieter place. But not long before he arrived, the Egyptian Arab Spring had begun, and now the country was in chaos.In the midst of the revolution, Hessler often traveled to digs at Amarna and Abydos, where locals live beside the tombs of kings and courtiers, a landscape that they call simply al-Madfuna: "the Buried." He and his wife set out to master Arabic, striking up a friendship with their instructor, a cynical political sophisticate. They also befriended Peter's translator, a gay man struggling to find happiness in Egypt's homophobic culture. A different kind of friendship was formed with the neighborhood garbage collector, an illiterate but highly perceptive man named Sayyid, whose access to the trash of Cairo would be its own kind of archaeological excavation. Hessler also met a family of Chinese small-business owners in the lingerie trade; their view of the country proved a bracing counterpoint to the West's conventional wisdom. Through the lives of these and other ordinary people in a time of tragedy and heartache, and through connections between contemporary Egypt and its ancient past, Hessler creates an astonishing portrait of a country and its people. What emerges is a book of uncompromising intelligence and humanity--the story of a land in which a weak state has collapsed but its underlying society remains in many ways painfully the same. A worthy successor to works like Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon and Bruce Chatwin's The Songlines, The Buried bids fair to be recognized as one of the great books of our time.This volume focuses on new research on the archaeology of the early medieval Celtic churches c AD 400-1100 in Wales,…
Ireland, Scotland, south-west Britain and Brittany. The 21 papers use a variety of approaches to explore and analyse the archaeological evidence for the origins and development of the Church in these areas. The results of a recent multi-disciplinary research project to identify the archaeology of the early medieval church in different regions of Wales are considered alongside other new research and the discoveries made in excavations in both Wales and beyond. The papers reveal not only aspects of the archaeology of ecclesiastical landscapes with their monasteries, churches and cemeteries, but also special graves, relics, craftworking and the economy enabling both comparisons and contrasts. They likewise engage with ongoing debates concerning interpretation: historiography and the concept of the Celtic Church, conversion to Christianity, Christianization of the landscape and the changing functions and inter-relationships of sites, the development of saints cults, sacred space and pilgrimage landscapes and the origins of the monastic town .By John J. Shea. 2020
Stone tools are the least familiar objects that archaeologists recover from their excavations, and predictably, they struggle to understand them.…
Eastern Africa alone boasts a 3.4 million-year-long archaeological record but its stone tool evidence still remains disorganized, unsynthesized, and all-but-impenetrable to non-experts, and especially so to students from Eastern African countries. In this book, John J. Shea offers a simple, straightforward, and richly illustrated introduction in how to read stone tools. An experienced stone tool analyst and an expert stoneworker, he synthesizes the Eastern African stone tool evidence for the first time. Shea presents the EAST Typology, a new framework for describing stone tools specifically designed to allow archaeologists to do what they currently cannot: compare stone tool evidence across the full sweep of Eastern African prehistory. He also includes a series of short, fictional, and humorous vignettes set on an Eastern African archaeological excavation, which illustrate the major issues and controversies in research about stone tools.By José Antonio González Zarandona. 2020
A fascinating case study of the archaeological site at Murujuga, AustraliaLocated in the Dampier Archipelago of Western Australia, Murujuga is…
the single largest archaeological site in the world. It contains an estimated one million petroglyphs, or rock art motifs, produced by the Indigenous Australians who have historically inhabited the archipelago. To date, there has been no comprehensive survey of the site's petroglyphs or those who created them. Since the 1960s, regional mining interests have caused significant damage to this site, destroying an estimated 5 to 25 percent of the petroglyphs in Murujuga. Today, Murujuga holds the unenviable status of being one of the most endangered archaeological sites in the world.José Antonio González Zarandona provides a full postcolonial analysis of Murujuga as well as a geographic and archaeological overview of the site, its ethnohistory, and its considerable significance to Indigenous groups, before examining the colonial mistreatment of Murujuga from the seventeenth century to the present. Drawing on a range of postcolonial perspectives, Zarandona reads the assaults on the rock art of Murujuga as instances of what he terms "landscape iconoclasm": the destruction of art and landscapes central to group identity in pursuit of ideological, political, and economic dominance. Viewed through the lens of landscape iconoclasm, the destruction of Murujuga can be understood as not only the result of economic pressures but also as a means of reinforcing—through neglect, abandonment, fragmentation, and even certain practices of heritage preservation—the colonial legacy in Western Australia. Murujuga provides a case study through which to examine, and begin to reject, archaeology's global entanglement with colonial intervention and the politics of heritage preservation.By William W. Baden. 2005
The dominant social theory used by archaeologists has tended to focus on either small scale agency or large-scale cultural patterns…
and processes of change. The authors of this volume argue that archaeologists should use nonlinear models to more accurately model the connections between scales of analysis, and show how micro-scale variation can lead to macro-scale cultural change. This work examines the applications of nonlinear systems models within archaeology and evaluates the range of approaches currently encompassed within Complexity Theory.By Giovanna Franco, Nicolò Marchetti, Stefano Francesco Musso, Maria Benedetta Spadolini. 2020
This book reports on a public archaeology project carried out at the ancient site of Tilmen Höyük in south-eastern Turkey.…
The project developed and applied new methodologies and advanced technologies for the planning, design, conservation and management of an archaeological park at a site of high cultural, environmental and touristic interest, representing a significant study case for other archaeological sites in the Mediterranean area and beyond. It highlights state-of-the-art techniques of remote sensing, both for archaeological surveying and for territorial and environmental analysis through the study of high-definition aerial photos and digital photogrammetry. It also takes into account the ecological and environmental characterization data elaborated by environmental and botanic experts, fundamental for the purposes of eco-sustainability and management of the site, through climate and ground measurements aiming at vegetation control and a management model for the archaeological site itself and its green areas of outstanding naturalistic interest. Further, the book comprehensively discusses the analysis of the state of preservation of the archaeological remains and their effective conservation based on a set of measures guided by the principles of minimum intervention, feasibility and low impact on the remains, the site and its landscape. Moreover, it presents novel devices and fixed structures aimed at protecting the fragile archaeological remains and allowing safe access to visitors to the newly created archaeological park. At the intersection of archaeology, architecture and natural sciences, this book appeals to researchers and specialists in archaeology, social sciences, environmental sciences, conservation, architecture and engineering disciplines.By Clive Gamble, Martin Porr. 2004
This book explores new approaches to the remarkably detailed information that archaeologists now have for the study of our early…
ancestors. Rather than explaining the archaeology of stones and bones as the product of group decisions, the contributors investigate how individual action created social life. This challenge to the accepted standpoint of the Palaeolithic brings new models and theories into the period; innovations that are matched by the resolution of data preserving individual action among the stones and bones. The volume brings together examples from recent excavations such as Boxgrove, Schöningen and Blombos Cave and the analyses of artefacts from Middle and Early Upper Pleistocene excavations in Europe, Africa and Asia.By Mark Patton. 2004
The megalithic monuments of Western Europe cover a period of over 2,000 years, from the earliest neolithic to the beginning…
of the Bronze Age, and have excited the popular imagination for centuries. Based on the evidence of recent excavations, and the most up-to-date and controversial theoretical perspectives of archaeology, Statements in Stone is the first account to put the megalithic traditions of Brittany in a social context and to develop a social model to account for their emergence and development.Since its first publication in 1971, Barry Cunliffe's monumental survey has established itself as a classic of British archaeology. This…
fully revised fourth edition maintains the qualities of the earlier editions, whilst taking into account the significant developments that have moulded the discipline in recent years. Barry Cunliffe here incorporates new theoretical approaches, technological advances and a range of new sites and finds, ensuring that Iron Age Communities in Britain remains the definitive guide to the subject.By Maria Brosius. 2004
The only book of its kind to cover both the Achaemenid period and the thousand years following Alexander's conquest, The…
Persians explores the period from the seventh century BC, to the seventh century AD, and presents a comprehensive introduction to ancient Persia. Incorporating recent research, and translated sources from a wide range of corpus material, Maria Brosius explores the history of Persia, and brings a new understanding of Persian society and culture and the structures on which these empires were built: the king and his court; religion and culture; art and architecture. From the lands of Egypt to the Indus River, from the Russian Steppes to the Indian Ocean, Brosius has provided an up-to-date account of the three empires of pre-Islamic Iran, and discussing key topics such as women, religion and art and architecture, she presents a clear survey of the history of these empires. Providing additional reading references along with frequent source citations, students of ancient Persia will find this an invaluable addition to their course studies.By Richard Bradley. 2004
This fascinating study explores how our prehistoric ancestors developed rituals from everyday life and domestic activities. Richard Bradley contends that…
for much of the prehistoric period, ritual was not a distinct sphere of activity. Rather it was the way in which different features of the domestic world were played out until they took on qualities of theatrical performance. With extensive illustrated case-studies, this book examines farming, craft production and the occupation of houses, all of which were ritualized in prehistoric Europe. Successive chapters discuss the ways in which ritual has been studied, drawing on a series of examples that range from Greece to Norway and from Romania to Portugal. They consider practices that extend from the Mesolithic period to the Early Middle Ages and discuss the ways in which ritual and domestic life were intertwined.By Graham Connah. 2004
Forgotten Africa introduces the general reader and beginning student to Africa's past, emphasizing those aspects only known or best known…
from archaeological and related evidence. It covers four million years of history across the continent, examining important aspects of Africa's momentous human story. Graham Connah is concerned to raise public awareness, both inside and outside Africa, to this frequently overlooked and often forgotten subject. Forgotten Africa examines: * human origins,* the material culture of hunter gatherers* the beginnings of African farming, the development of metallurgy* the emergence of distinctive artistic traditions* the growth of cities and states* the expansion of trading networks * the impact of European and other external contacts. The result is a fascinating and important story told in a straightforward and readable manner.By David N. Edwards. 2004
This cutting-edge synthesis of the archaeology of Nubia and Sudan from prehistory to the nineteenth century AD is the first major…
work on this area for over three decades. Drawing on results of the latest research and developing new interpretive frameworks, the area which has produced the most spectacular archaeology in sub-Saharan Africa is examined here by an author with extensive experience in this field.The geographical range of the book extends through the Nubian north, the Middle Nile Basin, and includes what has become the modern Sudan. Using period-based chapters, the region's long-term history is traced and a potential for a more broadly framed and inclusive 'historical archaeology' of Sudan's more recent past is explored.This text breaks new ground in its move beyond the Egyptocentric and more traditional culture-histories of Nubia, often isolated in Africanist research, and it relocates the early civilizations and their archaeology within their Sudanic Africa context. This is a captivating study of the area's history, and will inform and enthral all students and researchers of Archaeology and Egyptology.By Francesco Menotti. 2004
The chance discovery in 1854 of a prehistoric lake village on Lake Zurich triggered what we now call the 'lake-dwelling…
phenomenon'. One hundred and fifty years of research and animated academic disputes have transformed the phenomenon into one of the most reliable sources of information in wetland archaeology.This definitive volume provides an overview of the development of lake village studies, explores the impact of a range of scientific techniques on the settlements and considers how the public can relate to this evocative and exciting branch of archaeology. It explains how the multidisciplinary research context has significantly improved our knowledge of prehistoric wetland communities, from an environmental as well as a cultural perspective.By Roger Blench, Matthew Spriggs. 2004
Archaeology and Language IV examines a variety of pressing issues regarding linguistic and cultural change. It provides a challenging variety…
of case-studies which demonstrate how global patterns of language distribution and change can be interwoven to produce a rich historical narrative, and fuel a radical rethinking of the conventional discourse of linguistics within archaeology.By Stephen Wass. 2004
This informed and practical guide shows how anyone with an interest can take part in archaeology at many different levels,…
whether through fieldwork undertaken individually or by joining an excavation. Stephen Wass, himself an enthusiast with long experience, provides all that a beginner needs to know: what is archaeology all about? the range of skills that can be learnt examples of ideas for projects advice on what to expect on a dig clear explanations of archaeological techniques. There are some 177 local archaeological societies in Britain with 40,000 members, as well as numerous school, extramural and university courses in archaeology. It is one professional area in which the amateur, however inexperienced, can still not only participate but also make a real contribution and this book positively encourages people to join in.By James Dyer, James Dyer. 2004
This book is for anyone starting out to understand the prehistoric life of Britain from the first human occupation 450,000…
years ago, until the Roman conquest in AD 43.James Dyer here succeeds in bringing to life a thriving picture of the people and customs of the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, based on the sometimes sparse clues presented by prehistoric archaeological sites across Britain. For many readers, Ancient Britain will provide the first chance to get to grips with the present state of our knowledge of prehistoric agriculture, settlement, trade and ritual.The rise of power, with the development of a class system at the hands of the first metal users, is charted through to the growth of wealth and the emergence of a warlike and advanced Iron Age society - a society that was nonetheless unable to withstand the might of Rome.With over 130 illustrations and photographs, including a number of specially drawn reconstructions, this highly visual book is an ideal primer for all students of prehistory and all those who are simply interested in the subject.By Lisa Cooper. 2004
Studying archaeological evidence from sites covering over 200 kilometres of the banks of the Euphrates River, Lisa Cooper's excellent monograph…
explores the growth and development of human settlement in the Euphrates River Valley of Northern Syria during the Early and Middle Bronze Ages from circa 2700 to 1550 BC. Cooper focuses on the nature and development of the urban politics that existed in the area during these periods and highlights two principal inter-related characteristics of the Euphrates Valley: the study of specific aspects of Euphrates culture, such as the nature of urban secular and religious architecture, mortuary remains, and subsistence pursuits, to underline the unique character of this region during the Early and Middle Bronze Ages the striking resilience of its cultural traditions over many centuries despite the political instability and environmental degradation. Including studies on the tribal background of the populations, the economy, the unique geography of the Euphrates, the ethnic and social structure of its inhabitants, and the influences of states surrounding it, this is a unique and invaluable resource for all students of archaeology and ancient history.Scrutinizing, in detail, the relationship between archaeology, heritage and the public, this much-needed volume explores public interest and participation in…
archaeology as a subject worthy of academic attention in its own right. Examining case studies from throughout the world; from North America, Britain, Egypt and Brazil to East Africa, China and beyond, Nick Merriman focuses on two key areas: communication and interpretation, and stakeholders. Constant reports of new discoveries, protests over the destruction of sites and debates over the return of artefacts such as the Elgin marbles or indigenous remains testify to an increasing public interest in archaeology. For students and scholars of this archaeology, and of its relationship with the public, this will prove essential reading.By Peter Stone, Don Henson, Mike Corbishley. 2004
Practical, inspiring and instructive, Education and the Historic Environment emphasizes the contribution to both education and heritage that results from…
a positive relationship between the two disciplines. Education and the Historic Environment examines evidence, case studies and chapters from a wide cross section of the heritage sector and: argues for the value of using the physical remains of the past shows how and where the historic environment can be used to fit into and enhance learning examines how guidelines are reinforced looks at how physical heritage can not only be used to teach obvious subjects such as history, but are also useful across the curriculum, from literacy and numeracy to citizenship. Teachers at all levels, and students, academics and professionals in archaeology and heritage management, will all be able to use the case studies to reform and enhance their work.