Books in the New Directions in Archaeology series

An interdisciplinary group of contributors to this volume re-examine the structure and political development of Celtic states scattered across present-day Europe. The main theoretical focus is on whether and when state-level complexity was attained in the different Celtic settlements.

This 1991 volume describes past studies of prehispanic roads in the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central and South America, paying special attention to their significance for economic and political organisation, as well as regional communication.

The aim of the contributors to Quantifying Diversity in Archaeology is therefore to examine what we mean by diversity, to review the methods of measurement and formulae we an apply and assess the pitfalls that exist.

The Archaeology of Prehistoric Coastlines offers a conspectus of recent work on coastal archaeology examining the various ways in which hunter-gatherers and farmers across the world exploited marine resources such as fish, shellfish and waterfowl in prehistory.

This contributory volume emphasises the archaeological significance of historical method and philosophy.

This volume presents a searching critique of the more traditional archaeological methodologies and interpretation strategies and lays down a firm philosophical and theoretical basis for symbolist and structuralist studies in archaeology.

Time, Energy and Stone Tools aims to refocus archaeological and anthropological interest in technology by demonstrating that theory-building is possible if tool manufacture and use are conceived as products of both environmental factors and social needs.

This book brings together essays that illustrate the different uses and interpretations of style in archaeology. The collection considers the history of style in archaeology, its relationship to the concept of style in art history and how stylistic analyses will differ according to different initial assumptions.

This book undertakes a comparative study of the history and development of legislative and administrative systems in operation today for the protection of archaeological monuments.

Thirteen leading archaeologists have contributed to this innovative study of the socio-political processes - notably imitation, competition, warfare, and the exchange of material goods and information - that can be observed within early complex societies, particularly those just emerging into statehood.

This volume, bringing together studies on the disposal of the dead, explores the frontiers and potential of research and presents critical appraisals of theory about social organisation and culture change.

The archaeology of classical Greece developed in the shadow of Greek historical scholarship, and classical archaeology has become something of a backwater. The contributors to this comprehensive volume review the history of the field, demonstrating that modern archaeological approaches can contribute to a richer understanding of Greek society.

One of the most troubling problems in archaeology is to determine the manner and content of prehistoric thought. A fundamental challenge is to develop the theory, methodology and tools to understand human cognition. The contributors to The Ancient Mind develop a new direction in prehistoric cognitive research which is rooted in the scientific tradition and in an empirical methodology.

Criticising the popular view about the progressive development of powerful hierarchies led by chiefs and kings, this book offers evidence from case studies in sub-Saharan Africa supporting the idea that complexity has emerged and developed in a variety of ways. It includes contributions from historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists.

In this collected work an international team of experts considers the consequences of colonialism in settler societies from the sixteenth century to the present day. By providing the reader with a global vision of the subject, the book presents an innovative approach to the study of contact archaeology.

In this collected work an international team of experts considers the consequences of colonialism in settler societies from the sixteenth century to the present day. By providing the reader with a global vision of the subject, the book presents an innovative approach to the study of contact archaeology.

The essays in this volume, which was originally published in 1983, present an innovative and unified approach to the archaeological analysis and interpretation of art and design. Together, they illustrate a variety of approaches to the discovery and systematic description of the underlying regularities in the organization of art forms.

This exciting 2001 collection investigates the historical archaeology of urban slums. Excavations yield evidence of communities that have left few written records. Including eleven case studies, it maps a new field, which will attract the attention of a range of students and scholars outside archaeology, in particular historical sociologists and historians.

This edited collection, first published in 2000, examines the impact of wealth and high culture on the development of states, applying a classic model developed by two leading scholars for studying Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia, to other early societies. Includes chapters on Mesoamerica, the Andes, the Indus Valley, China, and Greece.

This book outlines a fresh approach to the archaeological study of the historic cultures of North America. Instead of historical archaeologists borrowing models from colleagues working in the prehistoric past, Beaudry believes that historical archaeologists must develop their own framework for interpretation. It is designed to appeal to a broad spectrum of archaeologists and historians.

Domestic Architecture and the Use of Space investigates the relationship between the built environment and the organisation of space. The contributors are classical and prehistoric archaeologists, anthropologists and architects, who from their different backgrounds are able to provide some important and original insights into this relationship.

This volume assesses current archaeological theories and considers how they relate to our understanding of the past.

Bad Year Economics explores the role of risk and uncertainty in human economics within an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural framework. Drawing on archaeology, anthropology, and ancient and modern history, the contributors range widely in time and space across hunting, farming and pastoralism, across ancient states, empires, and modern nation states.

This volume examines how factional competition in the kinship and political structures in ancient New World societies led to the development of chiefdoms, states and empires.

This book examines abandonment as a stage in the formation of an archaeological site.

Hunters in Transition analyses one of the crucial events in human cultural evolution: the emergence of post-glacial hunter-gatherer communities and the development of farming. Traditionally, the advantages of settled agriculture have been assumed and the transition to farming has been viewed in terms of the simple dispersal of early farming communities northwards across Europe.

Prehistoric Quarries and Lithic Production is the first systematic study of archaeological sites that served as quarries for stone tools. Its theoretical and methodological importance will extend its appeal beyond those archaeologists concerned with lithic technology and prehistoric exchange systems to archaeologists and anthropologists in general and to geographers and geologists.

This book represents an attempt to gather together Marxist perspectives in archaeology and to examine whether indeed they represent advances in archaeological theory.

This book starts from the premise that methodology - the procedures for obtaining an 'objective' knowledge of the past - has always dominated archaeology to the detriment of broader social theory. It argues that social theory is archaeological theory, and that past failure to recognise this has resulted in disembodied archaeological theory and weak disciplinary practice.

This collaborative volume is concerned with long-term social change. Envisaging individual societies as interlinked and interdependent parts of a global social system, the aim of the contributors is to determine the extent to which ancient societies were shaped over time by their incorporation in - or resistance to - the larger system.