Books in the British Archaeological Reports International Series series

This work is the definitive publication of the excavation that took place between 1977 and 1984 of several tombs by the French archaeological mission in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates): six tombs of Hafit type (first phase of the local early Bronze, about 3000-2700 BC) and two tombs of Umm an-Nar type (second phase of the early Bronze Age) - tomb M of Hili and tomb A of Hili north. Tomb M dates to the middle of the architectural sequence of the necropolis of Hili and is one of the rare tombs known for the middle of the 3rd millennium. Tomb A of Hili north, which is later, remains today a site of the first importance for the richness and variety of the discoveries made. It is an important landmark in the establishment of a regional chronology and its study has greatly enriched our perception of trade, on different scales. This work is the first of a series that will be published on the work carried out in the region of Al-Aïn by the French mission, which in 1999 became the French archaeological mission to the United Arab Emirates. The next two volumes will present the anthropological study of tomb N of Hili and the study of ancient technologies at Hili.

This book examines passages in the Iliad and the Odyssey which present semantic or logical difficulties, and those that might be thought incoherent or inconsistent. Original Greek and author's own translations are given for these problematic passages and then each case is commented on.

The focus of this work is narrow geographically but broad chronologically. It examines all major aspects of political and social history of the city of Abila (located in Northern Jordan, about three miles from the Yarmuk River valley which is the modern boundary between Jordan and Syria); evidence for habitation reaches back some 4,000 years. Two historiographical chapters are included, and the further important contributions of this work are its synthesis of seven seasons of excavations and the comparative information provided on Abila as a prominent city of the Decapolis.

Preface in EnglishUniversitat Autonoma de Barcelona

This detailed study of military medical practice on the western frontiers of the Roman army aims to discover whether legionary and auxilliary units were treated differently, whether local civilians were also treated by military doctors and if the soldier's location impacted on his medical treatment.

Teleilat Ghassul (a few kilometres north east of the Dead Sea) is important in the archaeology of the southern Levant, offering as it does a possibility to draw together data from a number of sites that provide primary evidence for the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods (c. 5000 - c. 3500 BC). The Australian excavations at the site in 1967-77 (J.B. Hennessy) and 1994-97 form the basis of this study and provide an opportunity not only for a thorough reappraisal of the data, but also its interpretation in the light of present knowledge of the period elsewhere, and up-to-date research strategies. The stratigraphic and ceramic sequences are structured and assessed, and the site set in its contemporary cultural and social contexts. The monograph concludes with a reappraisal of the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods in the southern Levant.

A visit to the Samian Heraion can be a disappointment as the remains of what was one of the most important sanctuaries in antiquity are scanty. The buildings have been plundered down to their foundations and, after excavation, a large part of the remainshad to be covered up again in order to protect them from being destroyed by vegetation. Thus, a lot is left to the visitors' imagination. Since the Heraion is rarely referred to in ancient texts, our knowledge of it almost exclusively derives from the analysis of archaeological evidence. On the basis of the study of its architecture, it is possible to visually reconstruct the sanctuary, but what about the reconstruction of its cult? The significance of votive offerings as a source that provides insight into cult characteristics has often been underestimated. In this study, significant votive finds from various periods from six Hera sanctuaries are examined to find out both their specific and shared cult aspects. In the Peloponnese, the Heraia at Perachora, Argos and Tiryns are explored, and the Samian Heraion provides an insight into Hera's cult in Ionia; the analysis of the Heraia at Poseidonia - Paestum affords a study of two Hera sanctuaries belonging to the same polis. To shed light on the nature of the cults, the Heraia are considered on the basis of five fundamental cult aspects - pregnancy, childbirth, and growing up; marriage; home and family; agriculture and vegetation; and military aspects. The final chapter compares the evidence to try and define the individual, polis, and pan-Hellenic characteristics of the six sanctuaries under consideration.

This book has papers in English with Spanish summaries and Spanish with English summaries.

This study examines Roman sculpture across the provinces extending from the Rhine to the Pyrenees and Britain to understand better both regional similarities and local peculiarities, to contextualize them historically, culturally, and geographically, and to set them within wider patterns across the Empire.

This study was conceived of some years ago as a sequel to the metallographic examination of Early Bronze Age axes from the north alpine region of central Europe. The original impetus was to provide a long-term perspective on the development of methods of casting and forging by extending the data base to Eneolithic/Copper Age material. In addition, by a shift east to the Carpathian Basin an attempt was made to allow for the existence of different traditions of early metalworking and compare regional trajectories into the metal ages. The approach may be termed cognitive since metallographic data, that is the examination of a metal object's microstructure, is used to reconstruct chaînes opératoires in the production of early metal objects and to compare the knowledge Eneolithic/Copper Age and Bronze Age metalworkers had gained of the different types of copper and copper-based alloys they were working. In the first instance therefore this work represents is an archaeometallurgical study in the early phases of metallurgy in parts of central and south-eastern Europe. Metallographic data from a large series of Eneolithic/Copper Age shaft-hole axes and flat axes is first published here in detail. The findings from this examination are discussed and both groups of implements are compared in terms of variation in their production parameters. This variation is related to both the technological change that came about during the Eneolithic/Copper Age and to a shift in emphasis placed on the production of shaft-hole implements and more mundane flat axes respectively. The conclusions drawn relate to genuinely archaeological questions. At least, the author hopes that they are of wider archaeological relevance and they are framed in such terms as to arise the interest of an archaeological audience beyond the sub-discipline of archaeometallurgy. There is also new data on Bronze Age material contained in this study, but most discussions related to that period draw on previously published data as well and try to integrate both data sets into a more comprehensive picture than was previously available.

Long-distance trade of obsidian in the Maya realm has been documented as early as the Middle Formative Period (1000-400 BC). Obsidian exchange continued in each succeeding period, through the Post-Classic (AD 900-1525), varying in both intensity and source of origin. It is the temporal variations in source utilisation that have formed the basis for obsidian research in the Maya area. By focusing on the origin of the obsidian and the temporal context these studies provide valuable information in documenting shifts in source utilisation. This work focuses on the distribution and consumption of obsidian on an intra-site scale with an intent to determine if variation in source utilisation can be attributed directly or indirectly to contextual variations. For the purposes of this study three types of context were identified, functional, archaeological and social. Information regarding obsidian consumption was compiled from ten sites and two survey areas spanning four geographic regions across Northern Belize and North-eastern Peten.

This book is an investigation of the funerary monuments of Rough Cilicia and Isauria. Rock-cut tombs, tower tombs, temple tombs, grave houses, barrel-vaulted aedicula tombs, tombs with monumental columns, sarcophagi, larnaces, rectangular funerary altars and stelae, mostly from the Hellenistic and Roman periods, all occur in Rough Cilicia and Isauria. Much of the book rests on archaeological surveys conducted by the author in Rough Cilicia and in Isauria. She divides Rough Cilicia into four areas, to establish tentative boundaries of local distribution, as well as a rough chronology of distinct types of monuments. The funerary monuments of Isauria are treated separately. Selected tombs are considered, site-by-site, with comments on characteristic features, typical of the funerary architecture of the district. A noteworthy aspect is the movement of itinerant artists, who contributed to the transmission of funerary forms and motifs.

Foreword by Colin Renfrew.It is only in the last couple of decades that the crucial importance of the westernmost province of China (formerly known as Chinese Turkestan) for the prehistoric period, and specifically for the bronze and iron ages, has come to be recognized. It has come to public attention through the excavation and study of the so called Xinjiang 'mummies', in fact desiccated human burials (with wonderfully preserved textiles) going back to before 1000 BCE. The present volume offers the first coherent study of the later prehistory of this region to be available in English, and the first in any language to give a detailed treatment of what is now known of its early metallurgy. In this field the author has been a pioneer, and his metallurgical analyses and his study of the important mining and smelting site at Nulasai here begin the necessary task of reconstructing the early history of metallurgy in Central Asia.

Edited by Peter Attema, Gert-Jan Burgers, Ester Van Joolen, Martijn Van Leusen and Benoît Mater.The 7 sections in this volume represent the proceedings of the three-day international conference 'Regional Pathways to Complexity' held in April 2000 at the University of Groningen. They bring together expert contributions on a broad range of common themes in Mediterranean landscape archaeology - including: the comparison of settlement histories across projects and regions; the methods and methodologies involved in analysing regional settlement data; the relationship between pottery technology and production and societal proceses such as urbanisation and colonisation; the potential of land use models based on land evaluation techniques; and the archaeological study of past landscape perception from an urban and colonial perspective. To students of Italian archaeology, and Mediterranean archaeology in general, the papers and workshop discussions will serve as an excellent introduction to these subjects and their complexities, conveying the state-of-the-art in Mediterranean landscape archaeology.

From 1981 to 1990, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA), in conjunction with Texas A&M University (TAMU) and the Jamaica National Heritage Trust, excavated a portion of the underwater English colonial city of Port Royal in Jamaica. Port Royal, an important international commercial centre in the late 17th century, was destroyed in 1692 by an earthquake, which sank over half of the city beneath the waters of Kingston Bay. The INA/TAMU investigation has resulted in an extensive collection of artifacts and other material remains contemporary with the disaster. This study examines the ceramic inventory of one of the most fully excavated buildings in the heart of old Port Royal. As household wares, the pottery vessels recovered from the site provide important data on the customs and standard of living of the building's occupants. By extension, they reveal certain social aspects of the town as a whole and provide information about the kinds of material goods that were available to New World colonial settlers at the end of the 17th century. Minimum vessel counts, by ceramic ware, form, and functional classification, are the basis for the analysis. The assemblage is looked at in the general context of all of the ceramics recovered from the Port Royal site, as investigated by INA/TAMU. It is also compared with similarly well-dated groups from two non-Jamaican sites. English pottery inventories from the 17th century and household probate inventories from Port Royal are examined to cast light on ceramic usage and markets. Social commentaries of the period and northern European paintings of interior scenes provide a snapshot of the everyday roles of ceramic vessels.

Prior to the last decade, few cylinder seals and no impressed sealings had ever been discovered in Predynastic Egyptian archaeological contexts. This monograph reviews important new finds from Abydos (Upper Egyptian Cemetery U) which demonstrate that cylinder seals were indeed used for sealing purposes, as well as other finds from Egypt and Nubia, which may be reevaluated in light of these discoveries. Seals and sealings from Lower Nubia and the southern Palestinian site of 'En Besor are examined to trace the development of the Predynastic Egyptian glyptic style from the Naqada IId period to the beginning of the First Dynasty. This development is used to suggest a sequence for other Predynastic art works without provenance. The social and political implications of early Egyptian cylinder seal use are also examined using models established in the study of Mesopotamian seal use and sealing practices

This monograph is a first attempt to present a general outline of the economic evolution of the province of Scythia (4th-6th centuries AD) from a ceramic point of view. The author aims to fill a gap in Romanian archaeological research, where ceramic studies focused more on form and decoration of the ceramic vessels than on the economic inferences to be drawn from this ubiquitous archaeological material. This study will be of interest not only to specialists in Roman ceramics but also to historians of the ancient economy. The monograph is divided into two parts. The first discusses the typology of the ceramic vessels, and the second analyses the economic implications of the ceramic finds themselves.

Written by Thomas Völling. Edited by Holger Baitinger, Alexandru Popa und Gabriele Rasbach.The present study concentrates on the question whether the time around the birth of Christ was a period of change for ancient Germania. In order to approach this question the extensive find material (including fibulae forms) was structured chronologically by means of selected cemeteries and individual graves. It becomes clear that, at least in continental Europe, the change of the material culture occurred in comparable periods and thus the formation of horizons of more than just regional validity is possible. The material remains of the period around the birth of Christ were divided into five horizons, starting with the "horizon of bent fibulae" before the mid 1st cent. B.C. and ending after the mid 1st cent. A.D. In German with an English summary.

This book presents a study of Neolithisation and the chronological sequence of Neolithic cultures in the Near East. Focusing on the years between 10,500 and 6200 BC, the authors start with empirical data in an attempt to reveal not only cultures, but the territorial limits of these cultures -their borders-and their possible interactions with time. The geographical zone covered comprises the two branches of the area known traditionally as the Fertile Crescent, as well as the steppe/desert zone which they encompass. A full Appendix presents a catalogue and find distribution sites. Preface by F. Hole.

The book analyzes the distribution of the local Punic tombs in correlation with the geography of Malta and is followed by a proposal for a comprehensive picture of social ranking in Punic Malta. The location of Punic settlements are then compared to the later historical settlement patterns.

This study provides the first comprehensive analysis of the various 'villa' sites in the region of Rome in order to differentiate the various intentions that lay behind their construction over time. This includes an analysis of the coastal villas near Ostia, the estates in the Alban Hills, the socio-political function of Imperial residences and how each site can be used to understand the social climate of the hinterland beyond the capital up until the end of the 2nd Century AD, but there have also been some examples taken from a 3rd Century context as well, which have been used on a largely comparative basis. The main focus remains the development of villas around the capital into the first two centuries of the Roman principate. The author analyses the chief characteristics of the layout of central Italian villas of the élite, using specific case studies of villas that have been excavated and/or recorded outside the city of Rome. This analysis aims to uncover correlations between the literary definition of "suburbia", the identification of villas as 'suburban' - as opposed to rural or maritime.

The main subject discussed in this study is the way in which the ancient Maya of Calakmul (modern Mexico), who thrived between 900 B.C. to A.D. 1000, managed their landscape in order to survive in the tropical rainforest. Their lithic technology, the hot, humid climate with a prolonged dry season, the lack of permanent surface sources of fresh water, and thin soils, considered insufficient for sustained agricultural production, are factors that were addressed successfully by the Maya in developing their complex civilization. The author's research begins with landscape, archaeological, and edaphological analyses, after which she explores the areas most advantageous to permanent habitation, suitable agricultural zones, land potential of the region and the capability of the area for supporting population. In addition, a complex agricultural channel irrigation system is explored as a critical factor for managing productive terrain for agriculture in karstic depressions (bajos). Similarly, an impressive rain harvesting system is exposed as an option to optimize hydrological resources for canalizing excessive rain during the wet season and storing water during the dry period. Finally, a reconstruction of the agricultural landscape is proposed.

This volume is a study of later Iberian prehistory and contributes to our understanding of the range of religious beliefs and practices present in the Celtic-speaking world. The author has brought together a huge mass of data and has added to it the results of her own careful observations through fieldwork and museum studies. It offers, for the first time, a balanced review of a data-set of crucial interest in the study of European pre and proto history. Dr Alfaye presents her results at several levels. There is an overview of earlier perceptions of "sacrificial stones and altars" presented in the context of developing visions of Celts and Druids beginning in the seventeenth century. There follows an in-depth study of one of the most extensively excavated hill top settlements - Numancia - a site which presents a microcosm of the issues involved in attempting to use raw archaeological evidence to interpret human behaviour. In addition there is a detailed assessment of urban and domestic sanctuaries and votive deposits; a detailed consideration of cave sanctuaries; and studies of votive metalwork, of the enigmatic "verracos", of epigraphy from sanctuaries and or ritual artefacts. The research has been conducted, analysed and presented in the full knowledge of the much broader context of Celtic religion. Sylvia Alfaye's new and original study of the religious beliefs and practices of Celtic Iberia helps us to address the crucial question of just how deep the roots of Iberian practices of the later first millennium BC run, and how much is shared with the broader region of Western Europe.

This study documents the search for settlement and abandonment processes in a highly vulnerable, but attractive, valley that was squeezed between the rising hills of Cis- and Transjordan. Throughout history this area changed in perception from a barrier to a demographic centre and back again. Especially during the period of this study - 1000 and 539 BC - the Middle Jordan Valley was a dynamic area in which many considerable population movements took place. By using newly-gathered excavation and survey data, different mechanism and motives of settling, surviving and abandoning is illuminated in this volume with the ultimate goal of reaching a regional synthesis.

A new study of the Old Akkadian tablets in the collection of the World Museum Liverpool (Liverpool, UK). This presentation comprises three sections. Chapter 1 recounts the modern history of the tablets. It deals with the acquisition of the tablets in the early twentieth century and surveys scholarly treatments of the texts following their first publication in the 1950s and 1960s. Chapter 2 fixes the chronological position of the texts within the context of the history of the Old Akkadian period and offers some interpretations of their historical context from the perspective of the information contained in them. The final section presents the texts themselves.

This is a major study of trade, exchange and economy in the maritime regions of northwest Europe during the Late Iron Age and Roman period (175/150 BC-AD 409). The study encompasses the regions of northwest Europe that were integrated into the Roman Empire, as well as those that lay in the Barbaricum, beyond the Empire's Rhine frontier. The author looks in detail at long-distance exchange goods, including: wine, olive oil and fish sauce amphorae; terra sigillata and pottery; coins; metals and metalwork; lava querns; building stone; glass; amber and agricultural products. Over 90 beautiful distribution maps and other figures are included. It is argued that three maritime exchange systems can be identified in the North Sea and Channel region: the Atlantic system; the Southern North Sea and Eastern Channel system and the Eastern North Sea system. These three systems can be distinguished from one another, though the first two in particular display considerable overlap. Geography is held to have played an important role in determining these systems and it is argued that they may endure across the longue durée. The author examines change through time and splits the study into five periods: 175/150-50 BC; 50 BC-AD 43; AD 43-165; AD 165-260 and AD 260-409. It is argued that changes in the nature and scale of connectivity are due to wider political and economic factors. For example, Caesar's Gallic Wars are held to have had a major transformative effect upon relations between Britain and the near continent. It issuggested that the eastern North Sea played an important role in the Augustan invasion of Germany, but in the aftermath of Varus's defeat there was a long phase of minimal contacts between Rome and the peoples of northwest Germany. The invasion of Britain in AD 43 led to a massive expansion in trade and exchange between Britain and the continent; however, in the late second century AD the impact of the Antonine plague and the Marcomannic Wars, and the consequent problems with the Roman money supply, began to lead to declining connectivity. In contrast, the problems experienced by the Empire in the late second century encouraged the Roman state to make political payments to, and form treaties with, tribes beyond its frontiers in the Barbaricum, which encouraged contact and trade in the eastern North Sea. From the second half of the third century AD the nature of North Sea and Channel connectivity changed dramatically as a result of the deepening internal and external crises of the Empire. Northern Gaul began to depend heavily upon Britain for its agricultural supplies, whilst Germanic peoples used the eastern North Sea to raid and settle in parts of the Empire. Britain's secession from the Empire in AD 409 caused the virtual collapse of state-contracted and private overseas trade. Finally, the author notes that the vulnerable and changeable nature of connectivity in the North Sea and Channel presents a very different picture to that of the Mediterranean, where connectivity remained at a high level continuously across the longue durée.

Proceedings of the 4th Italian Congress of Ethnoarchaeology, Rome, 17-19The 4th National Ethnoarchaeology Meeting was held in Rome from the 17th-19th of May 2006. The meeting principally focused on the formation of archaeological sites in their multiple aspects: domestic work, craft activities, the conduct of social and ritual activities that lead to the formation of sediment and debris object, which are typically involved in post-depositional processes of variable complexity. Also considered were those behaviors which, although clearly observable in living cultural environments, do not leave traces in the soil or on other materials and therefore are not recognized and diagnosed. This book presents forty papers from five of the sessions held at the meeting. The five sessions are: 1) Formative processes - production facilities. Working and processing of materials; 2) Formative processes - structures; 3) Formative processes - territorial strategies; 4) Formative processes - symbols and rituals; 5) Formative processes - urban realities.

In 1998 the authors of this report initiated a Jamaican Taíno archaeological project as a joint program of the Department of History, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, and Murray State University, Kentucky, USA. The objectives were to conduct a systematic archaeological investigation of a Taíno community (c. 1000-1700 AD), towards understanding its chronology, subsistence economy, trade connections, and social organization. The Taíno occupation sites of St. Mary Parish, on the north coast of Jamaica, were selected so as to compare findings from a number of different areas within a Taíno community which could be recovered through controlled excavations. The first season of excavations was at the Green Castle site, near Annotto Bay, Jamaica, in1999; these excavations were completed in three years, and two neighbouring sites were then investigated, Newry and Coleraine, in 2002 and 2003, respectively. A brief excavation at the Wentworth site, near Port Maria, west of Annotto Bay was also undertaken.Contributions from Lisabeth Carlson, Simon F. Mitchell, Sherene A. James, Ryan Ramsook, Marcella Phillips, Nicole L. Patrick, Anthony R. D. Porter and Ana Luísa Santos.

Contents: Introduction: Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Liverpool (Jonathan Trigg); Joan Taylor PhD, FSA: an appreciation (EA Slater); A bibliography of the publications of Joan J. Taylor (Jonathan Trigg); Early fire: The case for the prosecution and the case for the defence (John Gowlett); 'Books and the Night'.

Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, Granada, Spain, April 2010.This volume contains the proceedings of the 38th Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) Conference, held April 6th-9th 2010, in Granada, Spain. The theme of the conference was 'Fusion of Cultures', aiming to reflect both the scope of the conference and the spirit of the host city - a celebrated venue for such disciplinary interplay between archaeologists, computer scientists, and mathematicians.