Books published by BAR Publishing

Acts of the Xth Session of the EAA Congress, Lyon September 2004This volume represents the proceedings (with later additions) of a session held at the EAA Congress, Lyon, in September 2004. The session looked at continuing exchanges between educators and archaeologists, discussing, among other topics, how programmes are successfully organized and viewed in different countries.

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.

This work centres on one central question: should the passage from the Late Bronze II to the Iron I Age in Palestine, from the 13th to the 11th centuries BCE, be viewed, as is classically accepted, simply as a period of transition characterised by occasionally disrupted continuities? And yet the process of territorial division characteristic of Palestine, and of the entire Levant during this period, engendered the development of new cultural entities, initially introverted (13th century), but subsequently in contact with each other through political conflict (11th century). This process of territorial division in Palestine was accompanied by a profound redefinition of the demographic landscape, directly inherited, from the Canaanite people of the Late Bronze Age. In spite of these factors, a return to political and economic autonomy is one of the major characteristics of these periods. Based on the typological and technological analysis of formally unstudied ceramic materials from the acropolis of Tel Yarmouth, the author's research contributes to a more precise perception of this period, in particular in terms of its chronological evolution. Firmly anchored in chronological continuity, the pottery of this period testifies to the existence of a new codification of the relationships existing between the different regions of Palestine. Despite intrinsic political instability between the region of Palestine, a state of relative equilibrium was maintained during the Iron Age I. Consequently, the author proposes that the term 'mutation' could be used in the place of the more general term 'transition' to define this period, during which socio-political parcelling of territory resulted in the accentuation of local particularities, and which preceded, after a period of slow political gestation, the emergence of the new state of the first millennium BCE.

Papers from a Session held at the European Association of Archaeologists Ninth Annual Meeting in St. Petersburg 2003

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.

This volume is the product of a Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) conference session (held at Lampeter, Wales, in December 2003) entitled Mentalités and Identities in Motion. Included here are all the papers held there, and more besides. The session centred on the role of past ways of thinking, feeling and acting in social transformation, and exploring past worldviews as (instead of being relegated to the 'fictional' or anecdotal) an integral part of every aspect of human life, not just explicit contexts of power struggles and domination, but also approachable from the material evidence. The contributions are widely spread across space and time, ranging from Northern Ireland to Sicily, from France to Bulgaria and covering almost every period from the Mesolithic to the Thirty Years' War. On top of this, they are also very different in methodology, in the ways they have interpreted the session title and approached their evidence. Before rushing headlong into this kaleidoscopic mix, then, it is worth briefly explaining the rationale behind the session title and the selection and arrangement of papers.

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

Excavation and Survey in the Parish of Ridge, Hertfordshire, undertaken by Archaeological Services and Consultancy LtdThis volume is a result of a combination of a series of separate fieldwork projects undertaken in the late 1990s and early 2000s brought about by gravel extraction works. All four projects are linked by their location within a narrow 'strip parish' called Ridge that stretches from the river Colne in the north to Arkley in the south (now in Greater London) a distance of 10.1 km (6.3 miles). Three of the four projects (all with prehistoric to modern era finds) were located in the north of the parish while the fourth was located in the south of the parish towards Arkley. Of the four projects, one was classified as an 'enhanced watching brief' (Part 1), one was an 'evaluation/mitigation' (Part 2), one was a formal excavation (Part 3) and one was a landscape assessment of a small estate held by Hertfordshire County Council (Part 4). Each of these disparate projects is of interest in their own right. However, by combining them in this volume it is hoped that their value will be enhanced and that they will contribute towards a better understanding of the evolution of the local landscape.With contributions by Chris Turner, James Rackham, John Giorgi, Martin Lightfoot, Pippa Bradley, Lucy Whittingham, Nicholas Doggett and Andy Richmond

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).

Following the excavations at Sumaqa, Horvat Raqit was chosen as the second site for excavation and research on Mount Carmel. The excavations at Sumaqa were conducted between 1983-1995 and produced a rich and unique yield of historical and archaeological information about the Carmel range, but there was still some doubt as to whether the Sumaqa findings fully reflected the history of all the Carmel settlements during the Roman and Byzantine periods, or whether Sumaqa was a Jewish township isolated from its neighbours on the mountainous Carmel. Consequently a proposal was made, which was repeatedly discussed with the Sumaqa professional team, to study an additional site in the area and enrich the knowledge of the mountainous Carmel that was insufficiently known or familiar at the time. Raqit lay in a long-standing pine forest with paved roads that reached the foot of the spur on which the site is located. The site was almost completely covered by the forest undergrowth, but over the years this also protected it from the depredations of antiquity robbers. In the winter of 1992, a series of surveys of Horvat Raqit was conducted. Although Raqit had been surveyed in the course of the second half of the 19th century and in the 20th century too, no map of the site was available and its definition by the various surveyors was partial and inaccurate. By the summer of 1993 a detailed map of Raqit had been produced which was defined as a large estate villa. The excavations at Sumaqa were concluded in the summer of 1995, and in the spring of 1996 a small team went to Raqit to familiarize itself with the site and conduct trial excavations. After only a few days of work at the site it was unanimously decided that Raqit was worthy of detailed study and large-scale excavation, and indeed, between 1996 and 2002 annual excavations were conducted at Raqit, the results of which are published in this volume.With contributions by: Baruch Arensburg, Etan Ayalon, Yigael Ben-Ephraim, Leah Di Segni, Rivka Gersht, Gusta Jacobson, Liora Kolska Horwitz, Arie Kindler, Mordechai Kislev, Nili Liphschitz, Mina Marmorstein, Henk K. Mienis, Patricia Smith, Varda Sussman, Alexander Tsatskin, Anna de Vincenz and Ohad Zackheim

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 study focuses on an area which up until now has not been studied in any great detail, and this is mainly due to a lack of any major visible archaeological remains. This study takes a thematic approach, first listing previous research and models for the Bronze Age in the chosen area of the Northern Midlands, a low-lying landscape formed after a period of glaciation and retreat, as well as giving a background to the Bronze Age in general. The thesis encompasses a study area comprising Cheshire and Northern Staffordshire and Shropshire. The region in question is very different in nature from the landscape of Wessex and southern England, with the soils here being heavy and damp, and the majority of archaeological remains coming from Roman sites such as Chester and Wroxeter. This is a landscape-based study, bringing together a wide range of information for a specific homogenous region during the Bronze Age. Mullin makes it clear that the different soil types of the study area play an important role in the archaeological interpretation of various sites, and he divides these soils into five main types: Brown Soils, Surface water gleys, Ground water gleys, Podzols and Peats. The study looks at a number of different aspects of this region, including burials, lithic remains, settlement evidence (especially in relation to the surrounding environment), metalwork and metal production. One of the main conclusions Mullin makes is that the data given by the soil analyses carried out shows that those soil types present during the Bronze Age were very different from those present prior to forest clearance. This shows that farming did indeed play an important role during this period, but there is an accompanying lack of the major settlement evidence that this would suggest. Mullin explains this, and the lack of any large field systems on a mobile way of life, linking with it patterns of trade that had already been set in the Neolithic period, and many of the decorative and new items appearing in this period are attributed to this purpose. Although settlement was not widespread, Mullin states that burials are significantly linked to specific places, and that their spatial positioning is of importance, as is the link between the placing of metalwork in relation to burials. One important conclusion is that relating to the nature of hilltop enclosures. Mullin believes that these were the hubs of Late Bronze Age social networks, and cites the movement of pottery in this area as a good indicator of this pattern. Mullin states that it is probable that these sites were for specialist purposes only, and were thus located away from the regular and more obvious lowland sites, again stressing the importance of mobility in Bronze Age society in the period in question. This thesis does lack evidence of lowland settlement during this period, and as such this is an area which obviously requires more study. However, this thesis does succeed in shedding light on some of the regional diversity in Bronze Age Britain, as well as giving more relevance, perspective and meaning to the material culture of Bronze Age Britain in this region.

This study looks at the changing landscape of the Yorkshire Wolds from the Late Bronze Age up until the period prior to the Norman Conquest. This is a very large area so only a small section of this is studied in depth, namely the central Wolds area to the west of Driffield, which today encompasses eight modern parishes. This area has several different types of landscape commonly present in the Wolds: rolling countryside, broad sweeping valleys, springhead streams, the high dissected western Wolds, the western margins of the Wolds, and the high central Wolds watershed. This area includes all general topographies found in the Wolds and and therefore acts as a sample zone for comparisons between these different landscapes. The study starts by looking at this area during the Late Bronze Age, and this was when large areas of land were enclosed by linear earthworks comprising ditches, banks and walls. Fenton-Thomas looks at the origins of these linear ditches, and outlines the roles that these earthworks played. The study then goes on to look at the early and middle Iron Age periods, which were contemporary with square barrow cemeteries, and this period had an open and mobile landscape. The later period of the Iron Age was more occupied and enclosed, and this period prior to the Roman conquest was one of change, when the Wolds were an area of mainly pastureland which was separate from the lowland areas. Fenton-Thomas looks at the historical evidence from the twenty towns from the detailed study area, with the aim of finding out what the landscape was like before parliamentary enclosure. He then goes on to give an overview of the Wolds landscape before the Norman Conquest, using both historical and archaeological evidence. The picture emerges of an open and unenclosed landscape criss-crossed by trackways, which helped to structure township boundaries. During the medieval and post-medieval periods the large common field systems that existed can be seen, especially from place-names. Enclosures became more and more common as the Anglo-Scandinavian period began. Fenton-Thomas sums up his study by taking an overall perspective of the whole period, stressing the pattern of continuity and change that occurred, with periods of relative stability being followed by those of 'radical transformation'. The periodical isolation of the Wolds is also stressed, as is the importance of certain sites, but importantly the focus is on the influence of the past in patterns of continuity and change.

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).

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.

Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit Monograph Series 3A summary of rescue excavations at the Romano-British Shrine site at Rocester, Staffordshire, dating from the late first to mid-second centuries AD. Parts of two enclosures identified as being associated with the adjacent Roman fort complex were also dug, and pits revealed several unusual finds, including an altar fragment. A small, stone building in one of the enclosures has been identified as a shrine.With contributions by A.S. Esmonde Cleary, A. Hammon, K. Hartley, C. Hewitson, T. Joyce, D.F. Mackreth, A. Monckton, R.S.O. Tomlin, D. Williams and S. Willis.Illustrations by M. Breedon and N. Dodds

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

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

Birmingham Archaeology Monograph Series 13Written by Richard Cuttler, Sam Hepburn, Chris Hewitson and Kristina KrawiecThe site of Delamere Street lies just outside the North gate of the Roman and medieval Chester (n/w England) and in recent years has been subject to intensive investigation as part of the Gorse Stacks development. This publication represents the culmination of those investigations carried out by Birmingham Archaeology during 2006 and 2008.

The research conducted for this work revolves around the Egyptian word HAi. Man's innate desire to defeat death has found expression in his ritual behavior and mythology. In conjunction with the preservation of the corpse, the deposition of grave goods with the body, and the ceremonial act of burial, the ancient Egyptians devised a symbolic journey for the dead in order for them to pass on to a new life - this is the ritual of HAi. The term has the connotation of "ritually transport" with the express purpose of revivifying or rejuvenating the deceased. The results of this research are arranged under the following headings: genre of sources, participants (divided chronologically into three chapters), the avian motif that is connected to many references, location and time, the significance of the A 28 gesture, and a catalogue of sources. Generally, each chapter follows in chronological sequence. On a few occasions, for ease of discussion, similar sources have been grouped together within a particular period.

This report involves a multi-period site in a corner of the large sports field of the Royal Manor Arts College in Weston Road, Portland (Dorset, southern England). Excavation took place following the proposed development of an all-weather sports field, which was shown to contain many structures and other remains during preliminary assessment work by commercial archaeologists. The on-site work took place over a period of about 15 months. A large number of features and a very large quantity of finds were revealed. Specialists in different fields have contributed to the study of the main categories of finds and numerous photographs and drawings give a clear indication of the interest of the site and its assemblages.With contributions by Joanna Bird, Malcolm Lyne, Christopher Sparey-Green, Mark Maltby, Michael Allen, Debra Costen, Jane Yeo, David Ashford and David Dungworth

Paris Monographs in American Archaeology 24A study of war and the impact of war in the Central Andes from 2000 BC to AD 500.

In the cemeteries of Graeco-Roman Alexandria in Egypt, archaeological investigations initiated more than a century ago discovered various water systems adapted for specific funerary purposes. From the foundation of the city in 332 B.C. to the third century A.C., over fifty hydraulic installations have been noted within the records of Alexandria itself and its vicinity. From a corpus that inventories the hydraulic structures identified to this day in the archaeological literature, the different water management systems are described and reasons put forward to explain the presence of these devices (wells, cisterns, basins, etc.). The results show that the cemeteries should not just be considered as a 'cities for the dead' but also as places of rebirth and life. Some of the devices discovered within the funerary context have echoes in the libation systems already known in the Mediterranean and lead towards an evaluation, from textual and iconographical documents, of the role of water in the offerings to the Alexandrian dead.

The Morocco Maritime Survey (MMS) was initiated in 2001 in order to investigate the coasts of the Tangier peninsula in northern Morocco. This publication serves as a final report of the project, presenting the survey's findings from the two field seasons (2002-2003), subsequent artefact analyses and overall conclusions. The purpose of the MMS is to investigate the maritime record of Morocco through archaeological survey and historical research. Even though ancient, medieval and historical coastal sites are present, the maritime aspects of these periods remain relatively unknown. The questions for this survey ask: Who was here, and when and where were they present? Are maritime archaeological sites such as shipwrecks and anchorages present? If cultural remains are located, are they related to terrestrial sites, and if so, which ones and how are they linked? Can the survey's findings reveal anything about the logistics and past levels of navigation and maritime-borne exchange in the region?

Paris Monographs in American Archaeology 20

16 papers presented from an EAA session held at Krakow in 2006, exploring various aspects of the archaeology of death.

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

Studio crono-tipologico e culturale sulla base dei dati editi da Filicudi, Lipari, Panarea, SalinaThis study deals with the ceramic repertoire of the Aeolian Middle Bronze Age culture, the so called Milazzese facies. The work takes into account the edited documentation from the four main settlements on the Aeolian Archipelago, unearthed by Luigi Bernabò Brea in several excavations between 1940 and 1970. These settlements are on the Montagnola of Filicudi, the Acropolis of Lipari, Capo Milazzese at Panarea, and at Portella on the island of Salina. At the latter site, more recent excavations are also taken into account in this present study. The aim of this work is twofold: to devise a formalized typology for the Milazzese ceramic repertoire (to be used as a basis for the chrono-typological analysis of the pottery assemblages) and to assess the chronological and typological achievements in an historical and, broadly speaking, cultural perspective. Chapter 1 provides a description of the Milazzese facies and of the various aspects of its material culture. Chapter 2 deals with the problem of the stratigraphy of the Aeolian MBA settlements. Chapter 3 looks at Aegean pottery from Milazzese contexts. Chapter 4 devises a formalized typology for the Milazzese pottery assemblage. Chapter 5 deals with the seriation of the Milazzese ceramic assemblage. Chapter 6 describes the Milazzese ceramic repertoire's development and attempts to read this phenomenon in a cultural perspective. Three data Appendices and catalogue are provided.

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).

This study looks at the introduction of bronze technology in Syria/Mesopotamia and its subsequent diffusion and social consequences for the history of the region in the second millennium BC.