Books published by BAR Publishing

The Samnites recur throughout Greek and Roman historical sources as formidable warriors and Rome's greatest foes from the mid-fourth century B.C. This book explores the portable material culture for evidence of an emerging 'proto-Samnite' identity between 750 and 350 B.C. The relationships between material culture, ethnicity, constructions of social identity, gender and the life-course are critically examined through the personal adornments recovered from necropolis sites in the central Apennines and surrounding regions. The catalogue of fibulae, bracelets, pendants and necklaces (available online) forms the basis for analysis through distribution mapping, typological patterns, and the use of metals and exotic materials.

Jian Leng's dissertation takes as its starting point the model of Hallam Movius devised in the 1940s to explain the production and distribution of stone tools in Asia and the presence of a technological boundary separating the east from the west (Africa and Europe).

This work is an examination of the transitional period spanning the end of Roman Britain and the beginning of the medieval period, in a small region centred on South Cadbury Castle, Somerset, England. It aims to set this well-known post-Roman settlement in its proper landscape and regional context through a landscape archaeological survey of the, previously poorly studied, hinterlands. Through this method the study moves towards a better understanding of the socio-economic processes effecting social and political change from the 3rd to 10th centuries AD. A multi-disciplinary approach is employed involving cartographic and documentary evidence; extensive geophysical survey and sample excavation revealed a remarkable continuity of land division in the rural landscape from the late prehistoric period to the modern day.

Subtitled An analysis of the later prehistoric monuments of the Yorkshire Wolds and the culture which marked their final phase this volume re-examines the evidence for monument and settlement distribution and material culture in the East Yorkshire Wolds.

How small-scale processes contributed to the growth of early civilizationsThis volume demonstrates how models can contribute to an understanding of the development of ancient Mesopotamian settlement and landscape. The models are intended to show that early settlements co-evolved in an intimate relationship with their physical and social environments. Local rules that determined the subsistence practices of the householder then developed into more complex social mechanisms which culminated in the emergence of complex systems of settlement. Data for the models is drawn from archaeological surveys, environmental archaeology, anthropology and cuneiform texts. Although initially intended as an investigation of how agent-based models can contribute to understanding urban growth, this volume adopts a more broad-brush approach to include both 'bottom-up' and 'top-down' models as well as mathematical and qualitative methods.

The book assesses the impact of a Cistercian monastery on the landscape and how, in its turn, the landscape influenced the monastery. It also tests some of the traditional views on the early ideals of the Cistercians such as their attitude to colonisation, land clearance, administration of their territory and dealings with secular society. This study also goes beyond the monastic period and examines what effect the suppression of the monastery had on the landscape and community. This volume approaches the subject from a different perspective and examines not only the abbey but its territory using archaeology, architecture, documents and map evidence in a holistic, 'landscape' manner. Using the earthwork survey plan of the abbey, features within the precinct are identified.

This re-publication of The Saxon and Medieval Palaces at Cheddar has been prompted by the unavailability of the original, published over a quarter of a century ago. Unlike much historical scholarship, the archaeological report on a site is primary data and therefore needs itself to be read before turning to re-interpretations. It is also appropriate in the context of the recent re-evaluation of the British and Saxon palace of Yeavering, after a similar interval since publication. In the intervening years since publication, This volume has frequently been cited and reviewed, not least as the most extensively-excavated of the royal complexes of the pre-Conquest period.Written by Philip Rahtz, edited by S.M. HirstWith contributions by F. W. Anderson, L. Biek, G. C. Boon, D. Charlesworth, R. H. M. Dolley, E. Eames, J. Evans, A. Garrard, I. H. Goodall, G. W. Green, W. Greenwood, B. Hartley, P. Hembry, E. Higgs, F. Neale, D. P. S. Peacock, R. Powers, J. T. Smith, R. Tylecote, D. Walsh, D. M. Wilson

With this book the contributors review funerary practices from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic in the Western Mediterranean, more specifically, in this first volume, on modern day Spain, Andorra, and Portugal. A second volume will focus on the same periods in Southern France and the Italian Peninsula.

The subject of this study is an examination of the resources at the disposal of the elite class of Old Kingdom officials who administered the state on behalf of the crown. Their assets included one or more rural estates either owned outright or held in usufruct and/or enjoyed according to a land-owning system referred to as the pr Dt (estate), and all that the estate produced: a workforce if in some way bound to the estate, buildings, means of transport, household and personal effects. The resources available to these officials were the products of the estate: livestock, annually grown field crops and what could be procured from the desert margins, waterways and marshlands. Their assets and resources contributed to officials' status and authority and provided the crown with an elite class of administrators available for state service. This examination of Old Kingdom estates is based on a study of funerary images and inscriptional material that may throw light on the economic basis of high officials and on the value that they attached to the different resources at their disposal.

This programme of five geophysical analyses arose from specific problems encountered during survey and excavation of mid-later Iron Age settlement enclosures by the author in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds (UK). At these sites there was a need to supplement detailed magnetic mapping from gradiometry with higher quality data on magnetic susceptibility (MS), in order to establish a more viable basis for assessing patterns of burnt material over and around clearly defined archaeological structures. Paper 1: small Iron Age enclosures: The first project introduces the MS probe within a detailed analysis, supported by data from a range of related sites. These smaller, lightly-defended ditched enclosures, often complexes with appended subenclosures, usually clearly definable by gradiometry, are a common type in the Cotswold and English Midland areas, and present excellent subjects for functional analysis using MS and other geochemical data. Few such detailed studies exist. Paper 2: Iron Age hillforts: The Cotswold area contains a series of hillforts, ranging from smaller and more modestly defended, to larger and often highly defensive sites. This diversity, and the relative absence of data on internal, and especially on any external features, present clear grounds for investigation. MS surveys over the interiors of Iron Age hillforts and adjacent extra-mural areas indicate patterns of activity highly relevant to their functional interpretation, and allow comparison with data from broadly contemporary ditched enclosures. Paper 3: larger Roman settlement:Survey of extensive and complex areas of Iron Age and Roman settlement provides data relevant to their layout and operation. One Roman 'small town' site and one complex of more agrarian Roman settlement, both with known mid-later Iron Age antecedents, were selected, both on a similar gravel substrate. Paper 4: early Bronze Age round barrows: The region includes many funerary areas of Neolithic to Bronze Age date, containing mainly round, but often long barrow sites. MS survey can be applied with some confidence to map distributions of burnt sediment over and around them, and to retrieve at least some information. Detailed survey of barrow monuments and their surrounding areas provides data on the properties of known sites as MS anomalies, indicates the potential for detection of terminal sites, truncated and without apparent above-ground features, and allows association between round barrows and areas of nearby settlement or activity to be assessed. Paper 5: Cotswold area: Extensive survey over a 40 km2 sample of the Cotswold upland and dip-slope reveals patterns of MS relevant to discussion of early land clearance and use, to development and organisation of settlement in the area, also to environmental events in this catchment area of the upper Thames valley and their effects on its hydrology.

ARCUS Studies in Historical Archaeology 1"'Made in Sheffield'" still carries a huge amount of credibility, both nationally and abroad. These pages chronicle the history of the men and women who originally gave these three simple words their standing in the world today." This volume is the first in a new series of studies in historical archaeology. Bringing together the work of archaeologists, historians and others, this publication examines the Sheffield cutlery industry - from Chaucer's time and before, right up to the present day.Written by James Symonds with contributions from Victoria Beauchamp and Joan Unwin and foreword by John C. Bramah, Master Cutler

Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 60The Middle Nile Basin, which is in effect the present Republic of the Sudan, from the 7th century CE accepted Islam through influences from both the north and the east and responded to the changes which have taken place in the Dar al-Islam. From the north these influences, through Egypt, have been largely from 'Sunni' sources and from the east, through the Red Sea Coast which have been 'Sufi'. This has profoundly affected the spiritual life of both the immigrant Muslims and the indigenous population who converted to Islam. Political divisions through the centuries maintained those differences and as a result they are visible in the archaeological evidence on which this work concentrates. The principal aims of this study are: to define and analyse the archaeological evidence for Islam in the Sudan; to establish a basis for future Sudanese study in the field of the archaeology of Islam, by considering the present evidence in all aspects; to point out the variations in archaeological evidence in the domains of Ottomans, Fung and Fur; to analyse the main influences that came from the east, north, north-west and west Africa and their impact on material culture in the Middle Nile Valley; to draw attention to the long misunderstood Ottoman presence in Lower Nubia, the importance of the Mahas mekdom in its relation with the Ottoman and Fung sultanates; to draw attention to the evidence of the Islam of the nomads and their material culture and also to contribute to a better understanding of the true nature of the foundation of Islam in the Sudan from archaeological remains and written documents and comment on the importance of documentary evidence in the understanding of Islamisation of the Sudan.

In this work the author presents a modern study of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in the north-west of Spain, renowned for its Romanesque architecture and as a destination for pilgrims. The author has focussed on the two main contributors in the construction of the building: Archbishop Gelmírez and the Master Mason Mateo. The discussion over dating and building progression revolves around which of these two designed, built and completed the west end. Following a detailed study of the masonry, the author discloses fresh evidence which reveals more of the original Romanesque state of the building. She also examines how the Historia Compostelana (a contemporaneous account of the life and work of Gelmírez from circa 1100 to his death in 1140), and the fifth part of the Codex Calixtinus (purportedly written by Aymery Picaud in the mid-1130s), contribute to the understanding of the architecture of the cathedral-church.

Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 70The faunal assemblages that are the subject of this study were excavated in northern Burkina Faso and the southern Lake Chad area, within the framework of a multidisciplinary project. They cover almost the entire four millennia between 2000 BC and the present. The analysed faunas are placed in a wider context by comparing them with data from other archaeological sites in sub-Saharan West Africa and beyond. Iconography, textual evidence, genetics, animal production, ethnography and linguistics are confronted with the faunal data. Besides gathering information on the history of the different domestic animals in the research area, a major aim of this study is the reconstruction of the palaeoeconomy and palaeoecology of the investigated sites. The data Appendices include radiocarbon dates and details of faunal remains.

This book argues that temples in Mesopotamia appear only in the 4th millennium BC, and that only three large oval compounds explored at Khafadje, Tell el Obeid and El Hiba may be interpreted as temples for the Early Dynastic Period. It shows that among the Uruk period buildings discovered at Warka , only the so-called Riemchen- and Steingebaude present the most ancient temples of their kind in Mesopotamia.

Collection of thirteen papers which furnish a comprehensive view of the prehistoric archaeology of Jordan. There are seven overviews of the major periods stretching from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Late Neolithic, followed by summaries of areal investigations and views of Jordanian prehistory from the perspectives of neighbouring regions.

Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 46The north-east of the Central African Republic and the east of Cameroon were the only geographical zones in central Africa to have important concentrations of megalithic monuments. The objective of the eleven years of research work reported on here was to understand the role and place of the megalithic phenomenon, and notably the relation of megaliths with systems of symbolic representation, in the societies of the Central African Republic from 2500 BC. A firm chronological framework is presented, together with a fresh analysis of material culture, derived from a systematic programme of fieldwork comprising survey, sondages and excavation. Three cultural periods are distinguished and iron-working activity is shown to be present from the 9th century BC. The interactions of the whole cultural order are explored: at the level of pottery manufacture, iron-working and megalith construction.

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.

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.

Papers presented at a conference organised by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England and the Garden History SocietyCollection of ten papers given at a conference organised by Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England and the Garden History Society in London in November 1996. The subject is an archaeological one, concentrating on the contribution made by non-intrusive fieldwork studies to the archaeology of parks and gardens.

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.

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.

Although amphorology is now a thriving subject the epigraphy of their inscriptions has been neglected. Funari provides an introductory discussion of epigraphy, a catalogue of stamps found in England with an economic analysis and chronological study.

Symposia of the Association for Environmental Archaeology No.2

Research in the field of neo-catastrophism and impact cratering has quickened its pace since the early 1980s. An increasing number of astronomers have suggested that a series of cosmic disasters punctuated the earth in prehistoric times. Scholars such as Victor Clube, Bill Napier, Mark Bailey, Sir Fred Hoyle and Duncan Steel claim that a more 'active' sky might have caused major cultural changes of Bronze Age civilisations, belief systems and religious rituals. Can the astronomical evidence brought forward by these astronomers be substantiated by the historical, archaeological and climatological records?

This book attempts to study Western Iberian Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic society by investigating a segment of its economy, the production and exchange of bifacial lithic artifacts. It focuses on the role of craft specialization within the context of social complexity. Most of the sampled artifacts come from old collections and are supplemented by only basic spatial and temporal information. The book includes a catalogue and descriptions of 149 settlement and burial sites, as well as formal and technological analysis of each of the three classes of bifacial tools found at these sites. In conclusion, this study shows that lithic production was organized in at least two different ways; one was based on the individual household, while the other was carried out by craft specialists. The products circulated through two distinct distribution mecahnisms.

The basis of this book are excavations undertaken by Ernest Greenfield at the site of a Roman villa at Great Witcombe. The excavations and the finds are presented in detail. It is suggested that the villa belonged to the descendants of a veteran, settled on an estate established here at the foundation of the colonia at Gloucester. This book is published in association with English Heritage.With contributions by J. Bayley, L. Bevan, S. Butcher, S. Cottam, J. Davies, B. Dickinson, J. G. Evans, T. Finney, J. Henderson, M. Henig, R. Jones, J. Price, J. Timby and D. Williams.Illustrations by M. Breedon, N. Dodds and T. Pearson.

The study of 18th century gardens in Norfolk from an archaeological point of view. Attention is focused on different kinds of designed landscape in time and space, on ways in which these landscapes were created and on the ways in which they related to the 'vernacular' landscape upon which they were imposed. The task was to supply information about distributions and chronology which is generally lacking in studies of eighteenth-century landscapes.

First in a series of titles dedicated to a thorough archaeological investigation of the islands of the Adriatic. This book explores and catalogues sites on the island of Hvar which range in date from the period of Greek colonisation, through the Roman to the early medieval period.Written by Vincent Gaffney, Branko Kirigin, Marinko Petric and Nikša Vujnovic with a commentary on the classical sources for the island by Slobodan Cace

The other ceramics found in Beaker burial contexts have the potential for telling us much about the true nature of the Beaker phenomenon. Particularly exciting is the prospect that an understanding of their context will indicate whether Beaker pottery is indicative of an invasion, or something more subtle.