Books in the British Archaeological Reports International Series series

This work is a study of plant macro remains from the Late Neolithic site of Opovo. Opovo is dated from 4700 to 4500 B.C., and culturally to the late phase of the Vinca culture, which is considered one of the most prominent Neolithic cultures of the Balkans. The Opovo site is located on the southern edge of the Pannonian Plain, in the Banat region, part of the modern province of Voyvodina in Serbia. The site of Opovo was excavated (1983-1989) by an international archaeological team from the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, and from the University of California. Through analysis of plant macro remains from the Opovo site, the author provides information on such important issues as vegetation reconstruction, plant use, subsistence, husbandry, wild plant procurement, and intra-site plant distribution at this late Vinca culture site. Relevant data from the artifactual analyses are incorporated in the description of the context from which the plant remains were recovered, with special emphasis on the integration of floral and faunal data. The Opovo site served as a case study of diverse subsistence strategies practiced within the general cultural context of the Vinca culture during the late Neolithic in the Balkans. In reconstructing past subsistence strategies, the author uses ethnohistoric data throughout the book to offer possible analogies for prehistoric activities, drawing selectively on a diverse range of limited analogies, and using multiple sources. Further chapters discuss relevant models of social context and land use during the late Neolithic period in the southern Pannonian Plan and the Balkans.

This study focuses on the management of raw materials used in early ceramics production (late Neolithic to early Bronze Age) in the north-eastern part of the Iberian Peninsular (Catalonia). The main aim of the study was to attempt to understand some aspects of the socio-economic organization of the ancient inhabitants of the area. The objective was not only to describe the archaeological material and put forward some economic and chronological hypotheses, but also to define some aspects of the social structures. Special consideration in this study was paid to the Bell Beaker finds and the work contains detailed scientific analyses of the finds.

15 essays on the archaeology and history of the ancient world: peripheral and cross-continental approaches.

After defining the framework of this study, describing the archaeological evidence for metallurgy dating from the emergence of the first copper finds (c. 4500 BC) to the establishment of tin/bronze technology in central Europe, this book provides an overview of the projects that provided the trace element analyses for this research. The database of this study has been assembled, according to several criteria, from those projects which have compiled c. 35 000 trace element analyses of copper and bronze objects from all over the 'Old World'. Various criteria, such as the location and date of each analysed object, must be confirmed by literature, so that a trace element analysis can be added to the database of this study. Access to the database is provided in the catalogue via an online download, which includes some of the output, graphs and diagrams resulting from the statistics. A further chapter ascertains the impact of both ore formation and the technical processes of early copper metallurgy, such as smelting and casting, on the trace element composition of copper objects. Apart from the metallurgical literature, this study also refers to archaeometallurgical studies that have investigated the properties of prehistoric copper artefacts. Following the discussion of the possible effects of impurities on copper and their importance for the prehistoric metallurgist, the database of trace element analyses is investigated in respect of the research questions. A subsequent chapter further explores the method discussed and the statistical evaluation and results are presented.

With contributions by Caroline Cartwright, Rosa Ma Flores Ramírez, Catherine Liot, Elizabeth López Rincón, Ma Teresa Ramírez Herrera and Gerardo Villanueva

In essence, this is a book about the female body. The Neolithic figurative representations examined here form part of what is traditionally called Levantine Rock Art or, more recently, Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin of the Iberian Peninsula. The region is understood to have occupied the whole of the Mediterranean Fringe, the coastal and pre-coastal regions of the Eastern Iberian Peninsula, from the foothills of the Pyrenees to the mountainous regions in the interior of the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula. The author's main interest is centred on recovering, documenting, and analyzing the greatest number of female representations in the Levantine panels. The aim was to explain them in relation to the social practices in which they were involved, based on the activities represented. (The surviving representations produced in this artistic style were declared an element of World Heritage by UNESCO in 1998.)

An extensive study of city planning in the Greek Archaic colonies (Sicily and Southern Italy) from Hippodamus and beyond. The author sets out to consider the legacy of the great planner and those projects he may have contributed to. The first section of the work focuses on 12 specific sites (Syracuse, Metapontum, Selinus, Neapolis, etc.), while the second section traces the developmental features of the characteristic grid pattern of the planned city, taking into account the social, economic, and political aspects that evolved. The detailed bibliography includes sub-sections arranged by site.

This volume presents the results of a statistical approach applied to assemblages of grave goods (and a use-wear analysis of the stone artefacts) found in the Neolithic settlements of Ca n'Isach (Girona, Spain), the storage pits of Bòbila Madurell (Barcelona, Spain), and the burial-fields of Sant Pau del Camp (Barcelona, Spain), Camí de Can Grau (Barcelona, Spain) and Bòbila Madurell. The main aim of the research was to attempt to understand some aspects of the socio-economic organization of the ancient people buried in these necropolises. The author set himself the task of not only describing the archaeological material and presenting some economic and chronological hypotheses, but also attempted to define some aspects of the social structure of these human groups. The selection of sites, especially the burial-grounds, was carefully made and determined by a number of factors (burials dated to the Early and Middle Neolithic period in the Northeast region of the Iberian Peninsula (5th-4th Millennium cal BC); the majority of the burials were single ones; and the state of preservation of the anthropological, grave goods and stone remains was good or excellent. Altogether, 117 graves were analysed.

This volume is derived from a symposium entitled "Theory and Practice in Chinese Pleistocene Archaeology" at the 65th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology 2000, in Philadelphia, PA. The 12 papers include: Current Research in Chinese Pleistocene Archaeology: an Introduction; Davidson Black and his role in Chinese Papaeoanthropology; Retrospect of 50 Years of Palaeolithic Archaeology in China; Biostratigraphy, Taphonomy, Palaeoenvironment and Hominid Diet in the Middle and Late Pleistocene of China; New Palaeolithic Discoveries in the Middle Yangzi River Region, Southern Cina; New Evidence of Hominid Behaviour from Xiaochangliang, Northern China: Site Formation and Lithic Technology; Taphonomy of an Early Pleistocene Archaeofauna from Xiaochangliang, Nihewan Basin, North China; Faunal Approaches to Site Formation Processes at Panxian Dadong; Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) Dating of Mammalian Tooth Enamel at Panxian Dadong Cave, Guizhou, China; ESR Dating of Early Pleistocene Archaeological Sites in China; The Jinniushan Hominid in Anatomical, Chronological, and Cultural Context; Remarks on Chinese Pleistocene Archaeology.

Merida was founded in the years immediately preceding the birth of Christ on the Roman crossroads linking Toledo and Lisbon, with Salamanca and Seville. Known at its peak as a miniature Rome, its monuments, temples, and public works make it the site of some of the most celebrated Roman remains in Spain. In this work, the author studies the theatre and amphitheatre from the point of view of construction and, in particular, the phases of wall building. The result is a detailed, course-by-course, picture of these two famous structures and their wider contexts, offering a new archaeological basis for the history of the city of Merida.

Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liège, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001Colloque / Symposium 9.45 papers from the session on Atlantic Megaliths from Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liège, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001.

This study illuminates structural variability in hunter/gatherer diet and subsistence behavior under conditions of low population density and rapid ecological reorganization. More specifically, it explores several unresolved issues relating to the diet and subsistence behavior of post-Clovis Paleoindian hunter/gatherers who inhabited the Northwestern Great Plains of North America during the late Pleistocene/early Holocene (ca. 11-8,000 years ago).

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) - Museo Arqueológico Regional de la Comunidad de Madrid (MAR) - Museo de San Isidro (Madrid) 18/20 Diciembre 2006Archaeological Studies on Late Antiquity and Early Medieval Europe (400-1000A.D.): Conference Proceedings II

A comprehensive study of a wide range of Andalusian ivory artefacts from the Middle Ages.

This study focuses on the local Iron Age culture of the region Molina de Aragon in northeast Guadalajara.

This study looks at the concepts of society, space, urbanism, expansion and organisation in the transition from Late Antiquity to the medieval period in Castile, Spain.

The author presents a report on Canaanite animal husbandry practices, diet, butchery methods, and animal sacrificial rituals. This information comes primarily from faunal remains that were retrieved from Middle Bronze IIB/C (1800/1750-1550 B.C.) strata at the site of Tel Haror, 20 km northwest of Beer Sheva in Israel. The work includes discussions on the origins of Canaanite civilization (and the continuing similarities between the cultures of Canaan, the Phoenician coast, and Syria), as well as a detailed analysis of the site itself (including faunal remains).

Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liège, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001. Section 1Publication of the General Sessions and Posters from the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liège, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001.

This book grew out of a symposium session entitled "Continuity and Change: The Role of Analytical Scale in European Archaeology" for the Society for American Archaeology Annual Meetings in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in April 2000. The basic premise behind this work is that the scale at which we pursue our research, the analytical scale, effects our interpretations of the archaeological record. The purpose of this volume is to encourage an explicit discussion of this relationship in order to develop a clearer understanding of its impact on research. This is done by highlighting some aspects of the role played by analytical scale in the analysis and interpretation of the archaeology of Europe. The papers include: Exploring the Role of Analytical Scale in Archaeological Interpretation (James R. Mathieu and Rachel E. Scott); Scale Factors in Early European Farming (Peter Bogucki); Analytical Scale, Populations, and the Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in the Far North-west of Europe (Timothy Darvill); Scale and its Discontents (D. Blair Gibson); The Four Scales of Technical Analysis; or, How to Make Archaeometry More Useful (Elizabeth Hamilton); Faces in a Crowd or a Crowd of Faces? Archaeological Evidence for Individual and Group Identity in Early Anglo-Saxon East Anglia (Genevieve Fisher); The City and Complexity: Change and Continuity in Late Antique Volterra (Rae Ostman); Distinguishing the Local from the Regional: Irish Perspectives on Urbanization in Early Medieval Europe (John Soderberg); Patterns in Time and the Tempo of Change: A North Atlantic Perspective on the Evolution of Complex Societies (Kevin P. Smith).

Presents finds of Roman oil lamps from North East Spain. Spanish text.

This book aims at synthesizing the available archaeological evidence for the Bell Beaker phenomenon, a large archaeological culture which extends from Ireland to Poland and from southern Scandinavia to northern Maghreb, mostly during the second part of the 3rd millennium BC. An up-to-date general framework for the Bell Beaker phenomenon is welcome as the last single-authored synthesis on the topic is now 25 years old. The core of the work consists of chapters which respectively offer synthetic regional accounts of the Bell Beaker material expressions. These chapters first deal with north-western and central Europe (Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland), second with western Europe (France, Italy, Iberian Peninsula) and last with the British Isles. For the sake of comparison, which remains the ultimate goal of this research, all chapters are organized along the same lines and start with an examination of the various local substrata.

In contrast to traditional stereotypes of the prehispanic culture of the Chontals of Oaxaca, architectural sites and artifacts along the Pacific coast indicate that there were more complex societies, well integrated into southeastern Mesoamerican networks of socio-cultural, economic and political interaction. This research presents the results of surface surveys and test excavations at the Río Huamelula, District of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca (southeastern Mexico), conducted by the author in 2001. The pottery classification aims at reconstructing the settlement chronology of the area from the Classic to the early Colonial periods, c. A.D. 300-1600. Stylistic traits of ball-game-related artifacts, sculptural art, pottery, and architecture, as well as obsidian composition analysis all point to an intensive socio-cultural and economic exchange between the prehispanic communities along the southeastern Oaxaca coast and other Mesoamerican societies. The ethno-linguistic identity of the Classic-period occupants of the Río Huamelula valley remains enigmatic. The archaeological remains of two Postclassic Chontal villages, Huamelula and Astata, however, exhibit a socio-economic complexity contradicting the colonial characterization of Chontal culture. They further demonstrate a settlement continuity that, overall, reaches back into the Classic period and has lasted up to the present day.

with French abstract

This extensive study examines bronze coin supplies to Western provinces of the Roman Empire: Britain, Gaul, the Germanies, Raetia, Italy and Pannonia in the period 81-192 AD. Examined coins are from various collections and excavations and all are listed. The resulting interpretation of bronze coin distribution is quite surprising.

This detailed study compares the results of previously published excavations in what is termed the North Pontic region (Southern Russia and the Ukraine). It explores the question of whether a 'Scythian' ethnic grouping can be identified and its culture defined.

South American Archaeology Series No. 10

Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 55The focus of this study (number 55 in the Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology) is the impact of developments from the 13th-19th centuries on the Ìlàrè District of Central Yorubaland, SW Nigeria. The author's goal is to explain how the pan-regional interaction networks and historical processes shaped the settlement history, socio-political development, and transformations in the material aspects of cultural institutions in Ìlàrè District during the period studied. Although Ìlàrè District is recognized as a periphery in the interacting networks that linked several regional metropolises in Yorubaland, this study demonstrates that a regional history of these networks can be reconstructed by using the archaeological and oral historical data from Ìlàrè District. As the first archaeological investigation in this interesting area, this work extends the frontiers of academic research in Yorubaland, and contributes to the pool of data needed to construct a comprehensive cultural history for the region.

An exploration of the figure of Orpheus in Graeco-Roman art and culture with special reference to its expression in the medium of mosaic in late antiquity.

Western Mediterranean Series 1Analysis of Bell Beaker Culture of the Balearic Islands, based on years of excavations on various sites. Apart from detailed analysis of artefacts and sites discovered, this study points to the strong evidence of growth of the population, through architectural, artefact and other data, social complexity and economic growth through the exploitation of natural resources. All these aspects have been well defined by radio carbon analyses.

Western Mediterranean Series 3This study examines all pottery groups found on Mallorca between the sixth century BC and the the first century BC. All the pottery derives from archaeological contexts and has been well dated. The provenance of many pieces was from underwater sites suchas El Sec, Cabrera II, Conegera, Na Guardis etc and they have provided excellent possibilities for typological analysis and identification. The majority of the pottery is from Punic Carthage, but is also from Sicily, Magna Graecia, the Levant, the Iberian peninsula etc.