Books in the British Archaeological Reports International Series series

The image of Cleopatra VII Philopator, often a cause of controversy and debate, has long been of particular interest among collectors of classical antiquities and academics. Starting from the controversial identification of the Capitoline Cleopatra and critical reading of the iconographic and literary documentation available, the author discusses iconographic and methodological issues and offers new interpretations and identifications of royal female statuary in Egyptian style. This volume offers a wide panorama of the Lagid figurative culture (Egyptian and Greek) and includes a catalogue of the monuments. The author's Egyptological and semiotic analysis of the sardonyx agate phiale, better known as the "Farnese Cup", reveals what may be considered the most evident and effective result of the concept of 'bilingual' expression through iconography. The historical, cultural, political and religious aspects of the Ptolemaic dynasty are discussed, and special attention is given to the religious politics of the Lagid sovereigns in Egyptian territory and particularly to the deification of the Ptolemaic queens.

The nature of disputes related to the in situ conservation of archaeological remains into the basements of contemporary buildings are explored in this study. Through a novel, interdisciplinary approach negotiation theories and models with heritage management practices are merged, and the concept of in situ museums (structures that conserve in situ archaeological remains) is introduced. The author discusses examples of in situ conservation of archaeological remains in contemporary private and public buildings including museums. Special emphasis is given on the Acropolis Museum which is linked with a wide range of conflicts at local, national and international level. The book concludes with a proposed strategy for managing disputes in the heritage sector.

This book, based on the author's doctoral thesis, is focused on understanding social and economic aspects of the medieval rural world on the basis of the zooarchaeological analysis of seven different assemblages of animal remains located in the north and centre of the Iberian Peninsula. Multiple lines of analysis are utilized and combined in order to understand animal husbandry practices, subsistence strategies, the use of animal bones and antler as raw material, and site formation processes. The main contributions of this work are understanding the economic system of medieval peasant communities and changes over time, as well as understanding the ways of social differentiation through diet in medieval Iberia. Also, worked bone and antler and butchery practices are analysed. Other aspects related to the social dimension of the use of animals are discussed, such as the presence of companion animals, the introduction of species, and the veterinary knowledge of the peasant communities. The use of animals in possible ritual or symbolic contexts is also analysed. This book is a substantial contribution towards understanding animal use in the medieval Iberian Peninsula.

Fifteen papers, eight from a session at the SAA meeting in Denver in 2002 on Natufian cultures and the others invited papers, examine various issues associated with the cultures of the late Pleistocene in the Near East.

After the death of the last of the ramessides, Smendes, Lord of Tanis, proclaimed himself Pharaoh, founded the XXI dynasty and initiated one of the most unknown but attractive periods in the history of Egypt, the Third Intermediate Period. This book deals with the burials in the Valley of the Kings in the 21st - 30th Dynasties of Egypt, when they were not used by the rulers anymore. Through detailed investigation of the tombs and the hieroglyphs, the author has tried to identify the individuals buried in these tombs. The royal New Kingdom tombs were taken as a reference point and a comparison with the texts and iconography was established. This enables a better understanding of the traditions that followed in the Third Intermediate Period and naturally the changes that had taken place in the choice of the religious compendiums and representations associated with this period.

This tribute volume to Oliver Dickinson marks the occasion of his retirement from his post at the University of Durham. It is a tribute by only a few (unavoidably) of his friends, colleagues and former students, marking the formal cessation of Oliver's teaching responsibilities. Oliver's ongoing participation in major projects (e.g. Lefkandi, Argolid) makes it clear that his contributions to Aegean Bronze Age studies will not end with his retirement. This Festschrift was assembled merely as a token of its contributors' appreciation of his achievements hitherto, and in anticipation of many more still to come. The title of the volume, Autochthon, highlights the central notion in his classic synthesis, namely that "[...] the history of Mycenaean development can be understood as that of progressive assimilation of the mainland societies to the earlier Aegean civilisations, artistically and politically". Indeed, one of Oliver's main contributions in Aegean prehistory has been to depict the emergence of Mycenaean 'civilisation' as a multi-linear and dynamic process, associated with Cretan influence yet not entirely dependent on it; it was also informed, he has suggested, by indigenous Helladic cultures and heralded by the emergence of MH 'shadowy aristocracies' in various regions of the mainland.

In this study of Late Roman Republican coin hoards (157-2 BC), the author, rather than taking a specific testable hypothesis such as 'hoards from Spain have more coins of type A than hoards in Italy', prefers to tackle the question: 'what patterning is there in the hoard data?' Just as there are schools of archaeological thought there are schools of statistical thought. It is not uncommon for statistics to be viewed as a way of testing a quite specific hypothesis which is accepted or rejected on the basis of the results. An alternative approach is to view statistics as a method for exploring data. With the development of computers, the application of more complex multivariate tools has grown, but the aim of 'exploring' the data is similar. The methods chosen by the author in this study are mainly Correspondence Analysis and Cluster Analysis; these were selected as those most likely to answer his initial question. What those patterns mean take us from the realm of statistics into the realm of numismatic and archaeological interpretation. Archaeologically and historically, the principal aim is to examine the reasons for the differences between hoards such as the pattern of supply of coinage, or differences in the use of coinage.

The aim of this research is to illustrate a possible way of dealing with a regional landscape and its long-term settlement history based on the integration of archaeological data applying a GIS based approach to the social dimension of the landscape. Thelarge province area (ca 2,500 sqkm) of Boeotia (Central Greece) is examined by means of GIS (Geographical Information System), processing data from different archaeological, historical and environmental sources. The methodology established, dealing jointly with material culture and the environment, follows a critical comparative regional approach and opts for both region and micro-regions as the analytical unit. It aims mainly to assess landscape characters and the interface between human and social actions and landscape by critically assessing, first of all, the available archaeological record constituted by diverse, variegate and often incoherent data sets. The main periods of interest are the historical periods from Archaic to Late Roman, while earlier (Neolithic to Geometric) and later periods are taken into account for the analysis and understanding of diachronical processes which took place at the microregional and regional levels.

During the last century's archaeological investigations of the advanced Bronze Age culture maintained by the so-called Minoans on the island of Crete, a number of tombs dated to the Late Minoan period and containing weapons have been discovered in the surroundings of the site of Knossos. The tombs are not confined to a certain area or cemetery, but are rather dispersed around the Palace and town. Although they are characterised by their weapons, other artefacts - such as bronze vessels and certain pottery types - also distinguish these tombs. The tombs are of three types: chamber tombs with long dromoi, shaft graves and pit-caves. Various labels have been designated for them: tombs with weapons, warrior tombs, warrior graves and weapon-tombs. The warrior graves are often discussed in relation to the question of when the Mycenaeans arrived in Crete. Most scholars agree that a Mycenaean presence or power in Crete existed in the Late Bronze Age, but when their arrival would have taken place has not yet enjoyed consensus. Previous scholarship raises a number of questions that are dealt with in this work in relation to the funerary landscape at Knossos, including: to what degree do the burial customs in fact change in LM II, and what about the mainland influences? If the archaeological material points in that direction, how are we to understand such a transformation of the mortuary practices? Would this indicate an ethnic change? If, on the other hand, the material points towards a gradual process beginning already in LM I or earlier, with elements of mainland traits, what would that indicate? The tombs, shaft graves and pit-caves of Knossos are re-examined in an attempt to put answers to these intriguing questions.

This study investigates the provenance and technology of pottery during the earlier Prepalatial period (EM I-EM IIB) in west Crete, using an integrated approach involving stylistic examination and archaeometric analysis. Although the stylistic particularities of the west Cretan Early Minoan assemblages have been acknowledged since the 1960s, there has been no attempt to assess and interpret the differences, and integrate this part of Crete into the broader picture of the Prepalatial period. Due to the lack of publications and analyses, west Crete remained estranged from the new developments that have changed the way the Prepalatial period is considered. As part of the GEOPRO TMR Network, this project applies an integrated methodology to the ceramic material from selected sites and investigates issues of pottery provenance and technology. The analytical techniques used comprise thin section petrography, neutron activation analysis and scanning electron microcopy. Possible locations of production for the various fabrics are suggested and technological issues, such as clay recipes, firing practices and pottery manufacturing traditions, are discussed. As the research revealed no imports from outside Crete, and this contrasts with central and eastern Crete, the position and role of west Crete in the southern Aegean during the Early Bronze Age is re-assessed. Appendices include a catalogue of samples, petrographic descriptions, and NAA data. The final section features collection of 38 colour plates, including micrographs.

The main objective of the present research is to explore through skull morphology some potential sources of biological diversity within sub-Saharan Africa, such as: geography and especially history, in relation to large-scale population movements (expansion of Bantu-speakers). Therefore, through various statistical analyses, morphological variation was re-evaluated within modern sub-Saharan African populations, using a very large modern human sample and a set of metric variables related to the cranium and mandible. In the same way, morphological patterns through time were also traced, focusing on various Later Stone Age and Iron Age populations, originating in particular from strategic areas of various influences. In Chapter 2 after having briefly introduced both geographical and historical backgrounds of sub-Saharan Africa, the dispersal of Bantu-speakers, a very long-term and large-scale phenomenon, which initiated since the Early Iron Age (c. 1,000 BC) is presented in more depth. In Chapter 3, after a detailed presentation of the populations and variables under study, a preliminary analysis of inter- and intra-observer errors is presented. In chapter 4, various factors (geography, sex and ecology) are tested as a source of modern diversity. Chapter 5 looks a the effects of historical factors on skull morphology through both modern and past African diversity. Following the conclusion the author presents an extensive assemblage of Appendices (sites and datasets).

This book presents an outline history of ancient sites associated with floor mosaics depicting marine vessels in the widely defined Eastern Mediterranean stretching from southern Turkey to Egypt. A total of 38 individual examples of marine and riverine craft are presented from the study region: three from Turkey, seven from Syria, two from Lebanon, twelve from Israel (10 ancient, 2 modern), ten from Jordan, two from Egypt, and two unprovenanced. The author argues that mosaics did not exist or function in isolation of their historical contexts, but were created by specialists who had inherited a deep-rooted tradition from the Greek world and were commissioned by a range of officials with a long tradition of civic governance spanning the pagan and Christian spheres. Essentially this book is the study of what data may be derived from the techniques of boat construction in mosaic pavements and other artistic media, such as wall paintings and reliefs, and how these techniques were disseminated and understood through the medieval period and into the modern era by a combination of artistic depictions and oral traditions.

The author investigates changes in local hunter-gatherer adaptations during the Terminal Pleistocene in the Western Taurus Mountains of Turkey, a crucial but largely unknown portion of the Near East. A comprehensive zooarchaeological analysis of archaeofaunas from two cave sites in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey provides insights into the social and economic transformations of the societies living in the region before the emergence of agricultural economies. The book presents an analysis of archaeofaunal assemblages from Karain B and Öküzini caves encompassing the part of the Epipaleolithic period that extends from approximately 20,000 to 14,000 calibrated years BP. This period covers the end of the Last Glacial and is marked by the intensified exploitation of resources and the emergence of a series of significant changes in the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Thus, a period of rapid cultural and environmental change forms the interpretive context.

Proceedings of the International Round Table organized by the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece (Athens, November 28-30, 2008)Quantitative approaches in ceramology are gaining ground in excavation reports, archaeological publications and thematic studies. Hence, a wide variety of methods are being used depending on the researchers' theoretical premise, the type of material which is examined, the context of discovery and the questions that are addressed. The round table that took place in Athens on November 2008 was intended to offer the participants the opportunity to present a selection of case studies on the basis of which methodological approaches were discussed. The aim was to define a set of guidelines for quantification that would prove to be of use to all researchers.

Edited by Marta Capote, Susana Consuegra, Pedro Díaz-del-Río and Xavier TerradasThis book includes papers representing the Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of the UISPP Commission on Flint Mining in Pre- and Protohistoric Times (Madrid, 14-17 October 2009).

The Proceedings of an International Seminar held at the University of Trento on April 29-30, 2005 on Late Antique Societies, Religion, Pottery and Trade in Germania, Northern Africa, Greece, and Asia MinorThis book includes papers from an International Seminar held at the University of Trento on April 29-30, 2005.

It seems that, over recent years, the term landscape has received much discussion, albeit based on the mechanics of landscape. What has been omitted is the construction of landscape in terms of aesthetics, knowledge, emotion, interpretation and application. Although landscape is 'there', we control the imagination and cognitive construction of it. Fundamentally, landscape can be defined as a series of 'spaces' that become 'places', and, within this volume (the product of a number of conference sessions run between 1997-99 by the Theoretical Archaeology Group), 17 contributors re-address the importance of space/place and suggest both may be considered as part of an archaeological assemblage. Some chapters also attempt to place rock art into a narrative, placing its historical value into a prehistoric context.

The ninth volume of Notebooks on Medieval Topography (Documentary and field research), gives much input into research about Cultural Landscape. Latium (Monte Romano; Viterbo), and Basilicata (provinces of Potenza and Matera) are the Italian lands chosen to which methods, instruments and analyses, have been applied. Research from geology, archaeology, history, agronomy, history of art, engineering, architecture, literature, photography and cinema have all been used to contribute to a better analysis of Cultural Landcsape, i.e. the Space affected by Time and Human action. The whole area of Basilicata has been studied, especially the northern, central and eastern side (artistic and architectural heritage). In Latium the primary area of interest has been the village of Monte Romano and its county. The landscape evolution has been examined from the Roman period (III cent. B. C.) until the contemporary one. The last part discusses thoroughly the economic condition of the lands along the river Marta, between Tuscania and Corneto (Tarquinia) in XV and XVI cent. During this period there was organized cattle breeding and an ancient bovine race (the Maremmana). Combining survey, bibliographic and archival recovery of unpublished documents, without neglecting any aspect (such as the cataloguing of springs), the Cultural Landscape has been examined from different perspectives, even those that seem less relevant (cattle-breeding, agricultural and food), but are still an economic resource. Thus they are very important to a cultural development. The research, exploring a fairly wide range of possibilities, wants to be a stimulus to those who want to study a complex and articulate reality like Cultural Landscape.

Notebooks on Military Archaeology and Architecture 8This volume is dedicated to the study of the field-fortifications on the Finestre and Fattières hills located in Piedmont on the Italian Occidental Alps; being the unique easily passable transit between the Chisone valley and the fortress of Susa, they had a special strategic meaning and importance. The first part of the book focuses on the historical documentary study of the fortification existence phases from the first half of the XVII century up to 1799 and on the change from French dominion to the House of Savoy control. The second part pertains to the archeological researches carried out between 2007 and 2012 on the sites where the remains of the field-buildings are still evident. Great attention is dedicated to territorial recognition added to the intensified study of the most important defensive components. The essay is supplied with archeological remarks and photographic material. They aim at presenting the real extension of the whole defensive system as well as the still visible consistency of the archeological remains.

This book synthesizes the last 25 years of research on the prehistoric inhabitants of an intermontane basin located at elevations above 11,000 ft. This research is centered in the region of Antofagasta de la Sierra, which has yielded stimulating data on human occupations and paleoenvironmental conditions during the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary and continuously throughout the Holocene, including the very arid Middle Holocene -a time when the Atacama Desert to the west and the North Puna witnessed low intensity human occupations. The archaeological studies presented in this volume take on different aspects of human adaptation, from the earliest hunter-gatherers in the region to the transition toward food producing societies. Authors examine animal bones and fleece fibres, macro and micro-botanical remains, chipped and ground stone tools, and human burials from exceptionally well-preserved contexts in remarkable stratigraphic sequences from several rock-shelters, and discuss the relevance of their resultsin relation to hunter-gatherer settlement, subsistence and mobility strategies. This book aims at presenting the research to non-Spanish speaking audiences and at promoting a dialogue between archaeologists who study hunter-gatherers in deserts around the world. It is hoped that the research will contribute to a better understanding of the wide array of human adaptations in South America as well as to high altitude environments.

Notebooks on Military Archaeology and Architecture 9The presence of the British Army in Sicily during the years of the Napoleonic Wars has deeply marked the history of the island. There are many fortifications still visible, testifying to the British effort to defend Sicily against any possible military aggression. The present work is the result of various studies and research, with the specific objective of documenting and cataloguing the large fortified heritage of the city of Messina, currently undervalued and usable. In particular, the focus is on 1810, an important year for the central project of building fortifications around the Piazza of Messina, as well as the vain attempt to make an amphibious landing on the coast of Sicily, organised by Joachim Murat. The Martello Towers still exist, perhaps the most visible evidence of the work done in that time from the body of the Royal Engineers. A series of surveys on the territory, in conjunction with documentary evidence, have identified other military structures from that period, as well as tracing the precise location of those fortifications that no longer exist. This research therefore sets the stage for a more in-depth study about the interventions of the British for the fortification of the square of Messina.

Research at the Northeast Group explores how the malleability of commoner identity is crucial to interpretations of ancient Maya society. This volume has two main aims: first to demonstrate how residents of the Northeast Group used materials and architecture to distinguish themselves from others in the neighborhood, and second to examine the implications of commoners as agents of history. Fundamental to this is the deconstruction of what archaeologists mean by commoner and the theoretical and methodological assumptions built into these definitions. Regardless of extensive research in settlement and household studies, interpretations of ancient Maya society continued to be framed with reference to elites. As elites are defined as the motor of change within civilization, commoners, in contrast, are characterized as static and passive. This books seeks to demonstrate that these models do not accurately reflect who commoners were and their impact in the construction of ancient Maya society as a whole.

The book focuses on the conservation of iron and copper objects that mostly belong to the Iron Age sites of K2 and Mapungubwe (AD 825-1290), the two most prominent archaeological settlements in the middle Limpopo valley area of northern South Africa. For the purpose of conservation three main objectives were considered: revealing the material and methods of fabrication; evaluating physical and chemical stability; and preservation. Chapter 1 provides a short introduction to the study and presents its objectives. Chapter 2 then sets out the analytical methods and principles used in gathering and managing the data obtained. Next, Chapters 3 and 4 discuss the methods of manufacture of the selected artefacts as well as their physical stability. In these chapters the artefacts were respectively studied by the use of non-destructive methods such as neutron tomography and microscopy. Here, a new quantitative technique for estimating the corrosion percentage by using neutron tomograms and IMAGEJ software was introduced. Some of the objects with ambiguities as to their fabrication, were sampled destructively for metallographical examination and further chemical analyses. The native objects were manufactured by hot forging or cold working followed by annealing only in the case of copper, strip twisting and casting of molten copper in one piece mould. Meanwhile, new light was shed regarding signs of a new technique used in the production of some types of round wire on Mapungubwe Hill (strip-drawing). Chapter 5 examines the chemical stability of the artefacts and the deterioration processes affecting them, considering both the composition of corrosion products and the effects of environmental conditions on their formation. This information was gathered using analytical techniques such as Raman spectroscopy, XRD and SEM-EDS. Chapter 6 then presents suitable and practical conservation methods for the objects in question. These methods consist of both interventive and preventive conservation. The thesis concludes (in Chapter 7) with a summary of the results obtained.

Proceedings of the 5th International Conference of the UISPP Commission on Flint Mining in Pre- and Protohistoric Times (Paris 10-11 September 2012)The Union Internationale des Sciences Pré- et Protohistoriques (UISPP) commission on "Flint Mining in Pre- and Protohistoric Times" was created at the 12th meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (Cracow, Poland, 19th-24th September 2006). The aim was to perpetuate the tradition of organizing international symposia on flint, established by the Limburg Branch of the Dutch Geological Society in 1969 at Maastricht. The commission intends to maintain cooperation in archaeological research on siliceous rock mining (flint, chert, hornstone, radiolarite, jasper and obsidian), by presenting and discussing methods and results. Major fields of interest include the different stages of chaînes opératoires of manufacture, specialisation of labour and circulation of raw materials, as well as the study of flint mining sites in relation to pre- and protohistoric settlement patterns. The objective of the commission is to promote these lines of research into flint mining and its methods, thus enabling a better understanding of the various phenomena and processes taking place in pre- and protohistoric times. This volume contains the papers of the Paris conference held on 10th-11th September 2012, together with some additional papers presented at Vienna 2010 and Florianópolis 2011. A first set of contributions concerns the main topic of the conference, which was lithothèques and reference collections. A further group of papers concerns the second conference theme: workshops, from excavation to chaînes opératoires reconstruction.

Paris Monographs in American Archaeology 36This book analyzes the places of worship used during the eighteen feasts of the Nahua solar calendar, called "veintenas", and the ceremonial paths of the participants in the ceremonies in the Aztec capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. The work is based on the study of written sources of the sixteenth century, the pictographic manuscripts of pre-Hispanic times and their copies of the first colonial era, as well as archaeological data. In this way a comprehensive overview of the buildings and open spaces used during the monthly rites is presented. Each chapter is devoted to the study of a month and its ceremonies and is divided in two parts. As the first part describes the sacred spaces, the second one examines the ceremonial paths, its participants and the moments of realization. This investigation is enriched by the study of their localization in the sacred geography of the city. The conclusions obtained help to understand some of the new aspects of Aztec religious life: the symbolic significance of places of worship, the geographical distribution of the centers of supernatural power in the urban space and their usage. In this way, these data reflect the worldview of the ancient Nahuas.

Held at the Faculty of Letters, University of Lisbon, 8th-9th March 2012This volume comprises 15 articles - the result of presentations made at the first International Conference on Zooarchaeology which took place in Lisbon in 2012. This meeting was attended by researchers - PhD students, archaeologists, biologists and zooarchaeologists - studying animal remains from Portugal's past. The papers in this book comprise a wide range of themes and include material from various periods; the common denominator being their Lusitanian origin. The articles describe faunal remains dating from the Paleolithic to modern times and from various aspects, some purely zooarchaeological, others archaeological and combine a spectrum of methods of study, classical osteology/zooarchaeology, ancient DNA, and even written sources. The volume starts with an article about Paleolithic artefacts, followed by articles about Mesolithic Muge and Algarve and ends the prehistoric period with a discussion about Bronze age animal remains. The Roman period is also well represented as the Medieval and Modern periods, both with specific site-studies and other more wide-ranging ones that summarize work carried out in specific geographical areas. The volume finishes with an article about the situation of Zooarchaeology as a profession and scientific area of study in present-day Portugal. Here we are presented with the latest results from the younger generation of Portuguese zooarchaeologists as well as several more experienced in this field. With this small volume it is hoped to put Portuguese zooarchaeology 'onthe map'.

South American Archaeology Series No 21This book attempts to historize the construction of the dichotomy between "public" and "private" in Spanish colonial territories during the late 18th - early 19th centuries, when this opposition assumed some of the characteristics that today seem completely natural. It is usually acknowledged that these changes began at the level of everyday experiences that took place in a material world and while interacting with other people. Here we study these everyday experiences, particularly those structured around food habits within the domestic sphere in colonial non-elite domestic contexts. The first case study is the port of Buenos Aires while it was the head of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (1776-1810). Analysis of a sample of probate records each of them representing a single domestic unit. The second case study was the Nueva Colonia y Fuerte de Floridablanca, a small agricultural settlement in Patagonia (1780-1784). Here, several archaelogical lines of inquiry were followed: zooarchaeological, ceramic and glass remains and the analysis of architecture and spatial arrangement and distribution within four dwelling units excavated at the site. In every domestic context of both cases it could be observed that sociability affected the way food habits were organized in different ways, but always re-enforcing domestic group identities. It could also be assessed that none of the identified ways of organizing food habits indicate that these colonial societies were on the margins of the "novelties" that took place in other contexts. On the contrary, having full knowledge of these tendencies, each domestic unit negotiated on a daily basis the way they ate, taking their own, very individual preferences, as the main rule.

The Neolithic Çatalhöyük (c. 7400-6000 cal. BC), in the Konya Plain of Central Anatolia, was made famous by the excavations of James Mellaart in 1960s, who uncovered remains of a large, pueblo-like agglomeration of houses ('the world's first city'). Renewed excavations at the site over the past twenty years have used a range of current recovery techniques, including systematic sampling of archaeological deposits for archaeobotanical remains. The archaeobotanical recovery programme represents a unique opportunity to directly investigate the socio-economic underpinnings of an early 'town' community through the lens of crop husbandry and plant use. In this book, new archaeobotanical evidence from the early-mid Neolithic sequence of Çatalhöyük (c. 7400- 6500cal BC) is presented and used as a basis for investigations into the nature and scale of crop cultivation at the site. The results shed light on the economic and social role of agricultural production at a large long-lived Neolithic village, and its implications for issues such as settlement location, residents' mobility, crop cultivation productivity and long-term sustainability.

The chronological and geographical focus of this volume is medieval northern Europe, from the 6th to the 15th centuries. The contributors examine the sometimes arbitrary social factors which resulted in people being deliberately, accidentally or temporarily categorised as 'disabled' within their society, in ways that are peculiar to the medieval period. Health and disease are not static and unchanging; they are subject to cultural construction, manipulation and definition. Medieval ideas of healthy and unhealthy, as these papers show, were not necessarily - or even usually - comparable to modern approaches. Each of the papers represented in this volume assesses social constructs of health and ill-health in different guises within the medieval period.