Best of
Archaeology

1984

Ancient Lives: The Story of the Pharaohs' Tombmakers


John Romer - 1984
    Illustrated with both color photos and black-and-white drawings, this groundbreaking study goes back more than 3,000 years to a village where the workers who created the tombs of the Pharaohs and the Valley of the Kings resided. "John Romer is an archeologist with a genius for raising the busy ghosts of ancient Egypt."--Sunday Times

Roman Building: Materials and Techniques


Jean-Pierre Adam - 1984
    It looks at large- scale public buildings as well as more modest homes and shops. Placing emphasis on the technical aspects of the subject, it follows the process of building through each stage -- from quarry to standing wall, from tree to roof timbers -- and how these materials were obtained or manufactured. The author also discusses interior decoration and looks at the practical aspects of water supply, heating and roads.

Secret Language of Snow


Terry Tempest Williams - 1984
    Discusses the physical properties and formation of the snow and how it affects the plants, animals, and people of the Arctic.

The Stars And The Stones: Ancient Art And Astronomy In Ireland


Martin Brennan - 1984
    Examines stone age carvings in Ireland, discusses their astronomical significance, and looks at how ancient mounds were oriented towards the rising sun of the solstice and equinox.

Kingsmill Plantation, 1619-1800: Archaeology of Country Life in Colonial Virginia


William M. Kelso - 1984
    Erosion had revealed a brick well shaft in a cliff on the James River; above this was an earthen fort and, a bit farther downriver, the remains of a plantation manor. These would be the first of many intriguing discoveries to be made in the area known as Kingsmill. Though the land's owners agreed to cooperate with, and even fund, an archaeological study of the area, the excavation schedule would have to keep one step ahead of the work on a major residential development. For centuries, time had stood still in Kingsmill; now the clock was suddenly ticking. Kingsmill Plantations, Kelso's first-hand account of a great feat of rescue archaeology, covers a three-year period and the excavation of fifteen separate sites. The various properties dated as far back as 1619-placing them among the earliest of American settlements--and continued up through the eighteenth century. Because the division of labor on the Kingsmill Plantations was typical of the era, the settlement could provide an invaluable microcosmic view of colonial Virginia. Meticulous study of the structures and their surroundings--including faunal analyses and inventories of entire house-holds--allowed Kelso and his colleagues to construct a remarkably detailed picture of life in Kingsmill over the course of nearly two hundred years. At once scholarly and highly readable, Kingsmill Plantations speaks to both expert and amateur. An extensive collection of illustrations--including maps, diagrams, and contemporary and archival photographs--makes the narrative especially vivid.

Leicestershire and Rutland


Elizabeth Williamson - 1984
    The large and the small Midland counties possess a varied and rewarding range of buildings. Church architecture encompasses the classical Normanton, preserved in remote isolation from the flood of Rutland Water, to Market Harborough with its elegant medieval steeple, and a fine group of Victorian churches in Leicester. The major country houses include Belvoir Castle, Staunton Harold and Burley-on-the-Hill, while the more modest homes of the late nineteenth century include notable work by Ernest Gimson, Voysey and a garden city at Leicester by Parker & Unwin. Leicestershire also possesses fine modern buildings, from its architecturally progressive schools to the justly renowned buildings of Leicester University, dominated by Stirling & Gowan's Engineering Building.

Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn: The Connected Farm Buildings of New England


Thomas C. Hubka - 1984
    It also portrays the four essential components of the farms where many of them lived. The stately and beautiful connected farm buildings made by nineteenth-century New Englanders stand today as a living expression of a rural culture, offering insights into the people who made them and their agricultural way of life. A visual delight as well as an engaging tribute to our nineteenth-century forebears, this book has become one of the standard works on regional farmsteads in America.

Hadrian's Wall in the Days of the Romans


Ronald Embleton - 1984
    It tells us about the soldiers who built and garrisoned it and the civilians who lived in the towns and villages scattered along its length. Never before has such a grand attempt been made to show in vivid colourful detail the life of Roman Britain. Every building to be found inside the Roman forts and camps has been carefully reconstructed.

Living the Sky: The Cosmos of the American Indian


Ray A. Williamson - 1984
    Then imagine them establishing observational sites and codified systems to pass their knowledge down through the centuries and continually refine it. A few years ago such images would have been abruptly dismissed. Today we are wiser.Living the Sky describes the exciting archaeoastronomical discoveries in the United States in recent decades. Using history, science, and direct observation, Ray A. Williamson transports the reader into the sky world of the Indians. We visit the Bighorn Medicine Wheel, sit with a Zuni sun priest on the winter solstice, join explorers at the rites of the Hopis and the Navajos, and trek to Chaco Canyon to make direct on-site observations of celestial events.

Art and Religion in Thera: Reconstructing a Bronze Age Society


Nanno Marinatos - 1984
    Very Good conditions. May have soft reading marks and name of the previous owner.

The Archaeolgy of California


Joseph Chartkoff - 1984
    The book was also written as a general introduction to the state's archaeological record, especially for non-archaeologists.

An Introduction To Louisiana Archaeology


Robert W. Neuman - 1984
    Robert W. Neuman Traces the history of archaeology in the state from the observations of naturalist William Dunbar in 1804 through the flurry of activity during the WPA period to the scientific excavations of professionals today at rich locations throughout the state. Discussing the findings of the state's archaeologists, Neuman outlines the current level of knowledge concerning the Indian populations that once occupied Louisiana - their physical appearance, social and eating habits, crafts and rituals, and burial procedures.

The Pottery Kilns of Roman Britain


Vivien G. Swan - 1984