Best of
Archaeology

1994

Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times


Elizabeth Wayland Barber - 1994
    In fact, right up to the Industrial Revolution the fiber arts were an enormous economic force, belonging primarily to women.Despite the great toil required in making cloth and clothing, most books on ancient history and economics have no information on them. Much of this gap results from the extreme perishability of what women produced, but it seems clear that until now descriptions of prehistoric and early historic cultures have omitted virtually half the picture.Elizabeth Wayland Barber has drawn from data gathered by the most sophisticated new archaeological methods—methods she herself helped to fashion.

Egyptian Mummies: Unraveling the Secrets of an Ancient Art


Bob Brier - 1994
    Through these studies, noted Egyptologist Bob Brier has unearthed the gripping stories of grave robberies and stolen mummies, the forgotten language of the pharaohs, and the tombs of the royal mummies. In an easily accesible and lively style, Brier uncovers the complete historical context of ancient Egyptian culture and offers a fascinating contemporary interpretation of it. Illuminating their mysteries, myths, sacred rituals, and heiroglyphic writing, Egyptian Mummies brings the ancients to life.

The Archaeology of Weapons: Arms and Armour from Prehistory to the Age of Chivalry


Ewart Oakeshott - 1994
    Covering a period of 30 centuries, the study, like a richly woven tapestry, vividly describes the development of arms and armor — beginning with the weapons of the prehistoric Bronze and Iron Ages, through the breakup of the Roman Empire and the great folk-migrations of the period; the age of the Vikings; and finally, the Age of Chivalry.Relying on evidence of arms found in bogs, tombs, rivers, excavations, and other sites as well as on contemporary art and literature, the author describes in detail an awesome array of the weapons and accoutrements of war: swords, shields, spears, helmets, daggers, longbows, crossbows, axes, chain mail, plate armor, gauntlets, and much else.Profusely illustrated with more than 170 of the author's own line drawings and 23 plates depicting many rare and beautiful weapons, this meticulously researched volume will be an indispensable resource for military historians, archaeologists, students of arms and armor, and anyone interested in the weaponry of old.

Pagan Celtic Ireland


Barry Raftery - 1994
    But how do these images compare with the evidence revealed by the excavator's trowel? Recent archaeological research has transformed our understanding of the period. Reflecting this new generation of scholarship, Professor Barry Raftery presents the most convincing and up-to-date account yet published of Ireland in the millennium before the coming of Christianity.The transition from Bronze Age to Iron Age in Ireland brought many changes, not least the proliferation of imposing hillforts. Did these have a purely defensive role, or were they built for ceremonial or commercial purposes? When did the Celtic character of early Ireland emerge? New findings indicate that the construction of the country's great royal centers, such as Tara and Emain Macha, coincides with the first appearance in Ireland of the material culture of the European Celts - so-called La Tene artifacts. The author argues that these were the portable trappings of a rising aristocratic elite, which expressed its power by building highly visible monuments.Professor Raftery also discusses the significant advances that took place in travel and transport, including the creation of the largest roadway in prehistoric Europe; the elusive lives of the common people; the idiosyncratic genius of the local metalsmiths; and the complex religious beliefs exemplified by standing stones, and offerings in rivers and lakes. He presents fascinating new material about Ireland's contacts with the Roman world, and in a final chapter he reviewsthe whole question of whether La Tene culture spread to Ireland through invasion or peaceful diffusion. Pagan Celtic Ireland is the definitive statement of what we currently know about the country's shadowy, Celtic origins. Generously illustrated throughout, it will be read avidly

The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England: Its Archaeology and Literature


H.R. Ellis Davidson - 1994
    The first part of the book, a careful study of the disposition of swords found in peat bogs, in graves, lakes and rivers, yields information on religious and social practices. The second is concerned with literary sources, especially Beowulf.

The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran Texts in English


Florentino García Martínez - 1994
    One of the world's foremost experts on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Qumran community that produced them provides an authoritative new English translation of the two hundred longest and most important nonbiblical Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran, along with an introduction to the history of the discovery and publication of each manuscript and the background necessary for placing each manuscript in its actual historical context.

Planet Ocean: A Story of Life, the Sea, and Dancing to the Fossil Record


Bradford Matsen - 1994
    In its own way it has inspired many people to take a new look at the fossil record and imagine creatures and things as they might have been—a blend of word and image unlike any other.From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Virginia Adventure: Roanoke to James Towne : An Archaeological and Historical Odyssey (Virginia Bookshelf)


Ivor Noël Hume - 1994
    Combining information gathered through excavations of the sites with contemporary accounts from journals, letters, and official records of the period, the author illuminates the exploits of Sir Walter Raleigh, Captain John Smith, and Powhatan; the life and death of Pocahontas; and the dissapearance of the Roanoke colony.

Civilizations of the Ancient Near East


Jack M. Sasson - 1994
    One hundred and eighty-nine scholars from all over the world contributed their expertise to make this set the most appealing, original, and comprehensive reference on this fascinating area of study. All students, teachers, and scholars who seek to satisfy their curiosity about the ancient Near East's peoples and cultures will find within these volumes articles that intrigue and inform them.History begins in the ancient Near East. While earlier peoples left signs at Stonehenge, on the walls of caves in France it is in the Near East that we first find messages, evidence of the transmission of knowledge from one generation to another, and the organization of nomadic tribes into societies with distinctive class structures, religions, and governments. Ancient Near Eastern civilizations took a great many forms, from the city-states of Mesopotamia to the centralized monarchy of Egypt, and they generated vital traditions in art, architecture, and literature. Through constant interchange with other parts of the world, these cultures influenced the emergence of three of the world's great religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and the shape of human history into the Middle Ages and beyond. The vast expanses of desert in the region have preserved many ancient remains that scholars have recovered and analyzed. Spanning more than 4,000 years, from the Early Bronze Age to 325 BCE, this set explores all aspects of the emergence and development of the diverse cultures of the ancient NearEast.Civilizations of the Ancient Near East presents this enormously rich world from a variety of perspectives. It describes the physical world of the ancient Near East, evaluates the impact of ancient Near Eastern civilizations on succeeding cultures, and reconstructs its cultural contexts based on archaeological findings and the deciphering of documents. This two-volume edition contains the complete text of the original four-volume set, including 189 articles organized in eleven parts, enhanced by 46 maps and 612 photographs and line drawings.

Wonders of the Ancient World


National Geographic Society - 1994
    Superb photography includes hundreds of images of excavated chambers and amazing artifacts. This text journeys to both familiar civilizations and sites and lesser known ones, and summarizes archaeologists' findings. Includes more than 575 color photos, illustrations, and maps.

The Archaeology of Ancient Israel


Amnon Ben-Tor - 1994
    In this book some of Israel’s foremost archaeologists present a thorough and up-to-date survey of this research, providing an assessable introduction to early life in the land of the Bible. The authors discuss the history of ancient Israel from the Neolithic era (eighth millennium B.C.E.) to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E. Each chapter describes a different era as seen through relevant archaeological discoveries. The reader is introduced to the first permanent settlements in the land of Israel, the crystallization of the political system of city-states, the nature of Canaanite culture, the Israelite patterns of settlement, and the division of the country into the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. The lavishly illustrated text explores and demonstrates developments in religious practices, architecture, technology, customs, arts and crafts, warfare, writing, cult practices, and trade. The book will be a delightful and informative resource for anyone who has ever wanted to know more about the religious, scientific, or historical background to the events described in the Bible, or to current developments in the Middle East.

Iron Age Britain


Barry Cunliffe - 1994
    Filled with color illustrations, it includes all the latest discoveries about this still-controversial era. In Europe, dramatic changes ultimately led to the emergence of Rome as a megastate; on the extremity of those developments, England underwent its own profound social and economic transformations as the prehistoric Neolithic and Bronze ages gave way to a new world. It’s an epic tale of revolution, one not repeated again until centuries later.

Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum


Andrew Wallace-Hadrill - 1994
    Wealthy Romans lavished resources on shaping their surroundings to impress their crowds of visitors. The fashions they set were taken up and imitated by ordinary citizens. In this illustrated book, Andrew Wallace-Hadrill explores the rich potential of the houses of Pompeii and Herculaneum to offer new insights into Roman social life. Exposing misconceptions derived from contemporary culture, he shows the close interconnection of spheres we take as discrete: public and private, family and outsiders, work and leisure.Combining archaeological evidence with Roman texts and comparative material from other cultures, Wallace-Hadrill raises a range of new questions. How did the organization of space and the use of decoration help to structure social encounters between owner and visitor, man and woman, master and slave? What sort of households did the inhabitants of the Roman house form? How did the world of work relate to that of entertainment and leisure? How widely did the luxuries of the rich spread among the houses of craftsmen and shopkeepers? Through analysis of the remains of over two hundred houses, Wallace-Hadrill reveals the remarkably dynamic social environment of early imperial Italy, and the vital part that houses came to play in defining what it meant to live as a Roman.

Adventure Bible Handbook: A Wild and Spectacular High-Tech Trip Through the Bible


Anonymous - 1994
    As they "blitz" from one event to the next--from the Creation to the Book of Revelation--they enounter such exotic "ports-of-call" as Babel, Egypt, Jerico, Jerusalem, and Rome. Full color.

The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe


Barry Cunliffe - 1994
    In synthesizing the diverse findings of archeology, Barry Cunliffe and a team of distinguished experts capture the sweeping movements of peoples, the spread of agriculture, the growth of metal working, and the rise and fall of cultures, blending superb detail with ornate illustrations. For centuries, we knew little of the European civilizations that preceded classical Greece or arose outside of the Roman Empire, beyond ancient myths and the writings of Roman observers. Now the most recent discoveries of archeology have been synthesized into one exciting volume. Featuring hundreds of stunning photographs, this book provides the most complete account available of the prehistory of European civilization.

The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco: Selected Works


Asian Art Museum - 1994
    For the arts of Asia are as vast as humankind, and as complex and remarkable. While they conform to little of what Western artists know or knew, these arts are born of grand traditions, nurtured talents, and splendid ideas. The arts of Asia originate in the largest of Earth's continents and represent the oldest continuum of civilized activity in this world. This book presents a selection by the curators of the highlights of the Asian Art Museum collections. It is, therefore an introduction to the subject, but it is also an invitation for the reader to investigate further, to visit the museum, and to see at first hand the arrayed masterworks of Asian art installed in the galleries.

Chaco Canyon: A Center And Its World


Mary Peck - 1994
    Many mysteries of Chaco Canyon and the Anasazi will remain just so, but, here, in this book the grand splendor of Chaco Canyon is explored with penetrating essays by leading Chaco Canyon scholars and fabulous photography that attempts to understand this timeless place in its own terms.

Shipwrecks of Isle Royale National Park: The Archeological Survey


Daniel Lenihan - 1994
    The America, Emperor and Cox are only three of the significant treasures. The National Park Service study of these wrecks was the template for the future work of the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit. The study's archeological revelations had a broad impact on divers and shipwreck investigation, but the limited press run kept it from general distribution. Now, the publishers of Lake Superior Magazine produce a popular edition to shed important light on this historical record. This volume will be of immense interest to shipwreck enthusiasts, divers, researchers and historians.

Return to Sodom & Gomorrah


Charles Pellegrino - 1994
    Charles Pellegrino takes us on a remarkable journey from the Nile to the Tigris-Euphrates rivers -- crossing time, legend, and ancient lands to explore the unsolved mysteries of the Old Testament. Return to Sodom and Gomorrah is an epic saga of discovery that interweaves science, history, and suspense --the first book ever to bring archaeologists, scientists and theologians together to examine the same evidence. In this enthralling revelatory adventure, Pellegrino introduces us to dedicated pioneers like Benjamin Mazar, Leonard Woolley, and T. E. Lawrence, who retraced the steps of Moses to demystify the Exodus and the Flood. In the process, he enables us to view ancient relics in an extraordinary new light -- as both fascinating windows on the past and vivid signposts to the future.

Byzantine Art and Architecture: An Introduction


Lyn Rodley - 1994
    It covers the whole Byzantine period from the fourth to the fourteenth century in a systematic manner, by period, dealing with material culture under main section headings (such as architecture, sculpture, monumental art, minor arts and manuscripts) for ease of reference. The text is illustrated by well over 300 maps, plans and halftones.

The World of Roman Costume


Judith Lynn Sebesta - 1994
    True, she may have fudged a bit in her letter to the authorities, but she does teach art history, and she isn t about to miss her chance to see the world s most famous prehistoric paintings. Nora and her high-spirited husband, Toby, are visiting the Dordogne, in the southern French region of the Aquitaine. Aware that the Dordogne s renown for cave art is matched only by its reputation for delicious cuisine, the couple has also signed up for a cooking class at a nearby chateau, but they soon find that more than food is on their minds. During their tour of the cave, another visitor is murdered. When the local inspector pegs Nora and Toby as suspects, they embark on a mission to solve the crime, tracing strange links between a Cro-Magnon symbol and a thirteenth-century religious cult. As they match wits with the crusty inspector, Nora finds herself immersed in the notebooks of a forgotten artist who once lived in the chateau. In sifting through the artist s papers and uncovering old secrets, she begins to piece together the motives for the murder. But has she cooked up more trouble than she can handle?Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the American Association of School Librarians Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the Public Library Reviewers"

The Forgotten Centuries: Indians and Europeans in the American South, 1521-1704


Charles M. HudsonJohn E. Worth - 1994
    In addition, they offer new scholarly interpretations of the expeditions of Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon from 1521 to 1526, Panfilo de Narvaez in 1528, and most particularly Hernando de Soto in 1539-43, as well as several expeditions conducted between 1597 and 1628.The essays in this volume address three other connected topics. Describing some of the major chiefdoms--Apalachee, the "Oconee" Province, Cofitachequi, and Coosa--the essays undertake to lay bare the social principles by which they operated. They also explore the major forces of structural change that were to transform the chiefdoms: disease and depopulation, the Spanish mission system, and the English deerskin and slave trades. And finally, they examine how these forces shaped the history of several subsequent southeastern Indian societies, including the Apalachees, Powhatans, Creeks, and Choctaws. These societies, the so-called native societies of the Old South, were, in fact, new ones formed in the crucible fired by the economic expansion of the early modern world.

Dictionary of Celtic Religion and Culture


Bernhard Maier - 1994
    `[The author takes] the Celtic world to include both the European continent and the more recent settlements in the British Isles. The entries, admirably broad in scope, conceive religion and culture as including not only the usual gods and myths but shamanic practices and totems. Maier also provides entries for important scholars of Celtic culture.' CHOICE

Digging up Butch and Sundance


Anne Meadows - 1994
    With the tenacity of Pinkerton agents, the couple tracks the outlaws and the enigmatic Etta Place through South America, where they fled in 1901. Meadows and Buck rove Argentinian pampas, Chilean deserts, and Bolivian sierras; pore over faded newspapers and musty documents; exhume skeletons with the aid of forensic anthropologist Clyde Snow; unearth eyewitness accounts of Butch and Sundance’s final holdup and the Bolivian shootout; and examine letters by the bandits and interviews by the Argentine police who investigated their activities. Information about William T. Phillips, who claimed to be Butch Cassidy, is also included. While filling in the blanks in the Wild Bunch saga, Meadows explores the nature of truth and discovers how myths are made. She updates the search with a new afterword to this edition.

Burmese Crafts: Past and Present


Sylvia Fraser-Lu - 1994
    She then presents a systematic survey of the development and evolution of Burma's major crafts, such as bronze and ironwork, wooden architecture, wood-carving, gold, silver, and jewelry, ceramics, lacquer, textiles and costume, books, paper, baskets, mats, and umbrellas.

Ocmulgee Archaeology, 1936-1986


David J. Hally - 1994
    The work was conducted at the Macon Plateau site, and concerned Indian mounds and prehistoric villages. These essays set the finds in the context of southeastern history and culture.

Sagas and Popular Antiquarianism in Icelandic Archaeology


Adolf Friðriksson - 1994
    It covers: the Celts, Norsemen and Romans; religion (ritual sites and pagan burials); the assembly system; and the history of farming and the sagas.

Evolutionary Archaeology: Methodological Issues


Patrice A. Teltser - 1994
    All archaeologists, and especially those with a specific interest in method and theory, will find much here to challenge traditional theory, solidify the evolutionists' position, and stir further debate. Evolutionary archaeologists argue that Darwinian natural selection acts on human behavior, resulting in the persistence of alternative human behaviors and the material products of those behaviors. The contributors address the methodological requirements of evolutionary theory as it may apply to the nature of archaeological data. Several contributors evaluate the methodological implications of basic evolutionary principles, including the structure of explanations, the units of evolution and analysis, and the measurement of information transmission. Others explore the role of specific analytic approaches such as seriation, raw material sourcing, and comparative and engineering analyses. Still others confront the issue of reformulating archaeological problems from the point of view of evolutionary theory. By focusing on the methodological requirements of evolutionary theory, these essays go far in meeting the challenge of building new archaeological method. The work contributes to a better understanding of cultural evolution and builds toward a new, logical framework to explain variation in the archaeological record.

Roman Pottery in the Royal Ontario Museum: A Cagalogue


John W. Hayes - 1994
    

Sanctuaries of the Goddess: The Sacred Landscapes and Objects


Peg Streep - 1994
    Long before Judaism and Christianity, long before the Greco-Roman pantheon of gods and goddesses, the peoples of Western and Central Europe and the Near East worshipped a Goddess, seen in many guises, who encompassed both the awesome power of nature and the forces of life and death. The far reaches of her power found their expression in artifacts, sculptures and carvings, and at the sites where she was venerated - caves, sanctuaries, and temples - that have slept for thousands of years. Sanctuaries of the Goddess brings once-holy places dramatically back to life and recaptures their numinous power. The spiritual and archaeological significance of these ancient sites and their artifacts is conveyed in glowing photographs, from the caves of Lascaux in France to the awe-inspiring underground chambers of the Hypogeum on Malta, the mysteries of Ireland's Dowth and Knowth, and the mountain sanctuaries of Crete. The accompanying text takes readers deep into the past, offering glimpses of rites and rituals half-hidden in the shadows of history and illuminating the mysteries of the ancient Goddess for the present day.

Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age


Adrian Lister - 1994
    Incorporating recent genetic work, new fossil finds, new extinction theories, and more, Mammoths is a captivating exploration of how these mighty creatures evolved, lived, and mysteriously disappeared. The book features a wealth of color illustrations that depict mammoths in their dramatic Ice Age habitats, scores of photographs of mammoth remains, and images of the art of prehistoric people who saw these animals in the flesh. Full of intriguing facts, boxed features, and clear graphics, Mammoths examines the findings—including intact frozen carcasses from Siberia and fossilized remains from South Dakota, California, England, France, and elsewhere—that have provided clues to the mammoths' geographic range, body structure, way of life, and interactions with early humans. It is an enthralling story of paleontological, archaeological, and geological exploration and of the fascinating investigations of biologists, anthropologists, and art historians worldwide. Copub: Marshall Editions

Civitas to Kingdom: British Political Continuity, 300 - 800


Ken Dark - 1994
    Drawing on archaeological and other sources, the author of this study argues that the political structures persevered to become those of the Middle Ages.

The Practice of Theory: Poststructuralism, Cultural Politics, and Art History


Keith P.F. Moxey - 1994
    Keith Moxey bridges the gap between historical and theoretical approaches with the provocative argument that we cannot have one without the other. "If art history is to take part in the processes of cultural transformation that characterize our society," he writes, "then its historical narratives must come to terms with the most powerful and influential theories that currently determine the way in which we conceive of ourselves."After exploring how the insights offered by deconstruction and semiotics change our understanding of representation, ideology, and authorship, Moxey himself puts theory into practice. In a series of engaging essays accompanied by twenty-eight illustrations, he first examines the impact of cultural values on Erwin Panofsky's writings. Taking a fresh look at work by artists from Albrecht D rer and Erhard Sch n to Barbara Kruger and Julian Schnabel, he then examines the process by which he generic boundaries between "high" and "low" art have helped to sustain class and gender differences. Making particular reference to the literature on Martin Schongauer, Moxey also considers the value of art history when it is reduced to artist's biography. Moxey's interpretation of the work of Hieronymus Bosch not only reassesses its intelligence and imagination, but also brings to light its pragmatic conformity to elite definitions of artistic "genius." With his compelling analysis of the politics of interpretation, Moxey draws attention to a vital aspect of the cultural importance of history.

Florida's First People: 12,000 Years of Human History


Robin C. Brown - 1994
    Includes a photographic atlas of projectile points and pottery types as well as typical plant and animal remains uncovered at Florida archaeological sites.The author replicated many primitive technologies during the writing of this book. He fashioned a prehistoric tool kit from stone, wood, bone, and shell, then used the implements to carve wood, twist palm fiber into twine and rope, make and decorate pottery, and weave fabric. The book shows detailed photos of these processes.16-page color insert, 360 b&w photos, 159 line drawings

Greece: Temples, Tombs, and Treasures


Time-Life Books - 1994
    Stunning photographs and illustrations, plus detailed cutaways, maps and diagrams.

Historical Ecology: Cultural Knowledge and Changing Landscapes


Carole L. Crumley - 1994
    In this volume, the authors take a critical step toward establishing a new environmental science by deconstructing the traditional culture/nature dichotomy and placing human/environmental interaction at the center of any new attempts to deal with global environmental change. Topics include the theorization of ecology, evolutionary theory, evaluating the nature/culture binary in practice, global climate and regional diversity, historical transformations in the landscapes of eastern Africa, extinction in Greenland, ecology in ancient Egypt, ecological aspects of encounters between agropastoral and agricultural peoples, archaeology and environmentalism, and the role of history in ecological research.

Women in Prehistory: North America and Mesoamerica


Cheryl Claassen - 1994
    Women fit neatly into this model, such books as Woman the Gatherer explained, as gatherers of plant food. In spite of evidence of hunting by women, this model--which incorporated the unexamined assumption that women in prehistory were immobilized by pregnancy, lactation, and child care and therefore needed to be left at a home base--came to dominate archaeological interpretation of the economic roles of men and women.Women in Prehistory challenges this model and undertakes an examination of the archaeological record informed by insights into the cultural construction of gender that have emerged from scholarship in history, anthropology, biology, and related disciplines. Along with analysis of burial assemblages and of representations of gendered individuals, contributors study bone chemistry, assessment of skeletal pathologies, micro- and macro-scale distributional evidence, as well as analogical arguments from ethnoarchaeology and ethnohistory to discuss pottery, shell matrix sites, skeletal material, the domestic setting, and spinning.