They argue that crucial evidence (or a telling lack of evidence) at digs in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon suggests that many of the most famous stories in the Bible—the wanderings of the patriarchs, the Exodus from Egypt, Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, and David and Solomon’s vast empire—reflect the world of the later authors rather than actual historical facts. Challenging the fundamentalist readings of the scriptures and marshaling the latest archaeological evidence to support its new vision of ancient Israel, The Bible Unearthed offers a fascinating and controversial perspective on when and why the Bible was written and why it possesses such great spiritual and emotional power today.

    Pringle tells how mummies have been venerated as saints, fought over by politicians, collected as artistic treasures and investigated for clues to ancient civilization's drug use. In these pages lie child mummies of northern Chile, preserved household pets of ancient Egypt and the new crop of mummification services being hyped on the internet. A powerful and stimulating look at mummies, The Mummy Congress also turns our vision inwards towards our fears of mortality and our dreams of eternal life.

    The explosive controversy and resulting lawsuit also raised a far more fundamental question: Who owns history? Many Indians see archeologists as desecrators of tribal rites and traditions; archeologists see their livelihoods and science threatened by the 1990 Federal reparation law, which gives tribes control over remains in their traditional territories.In this new work, Thomas charts the riveting story of this lawsuit, the archeologists' deteriorating relations with American Indians, and the rise of scientific archeology. His telling of the tale gains extra credence from his own reputation as a leader in building cooperation between the two sides.

    Coe, the noted Mayanist, and Mark Van Stone, an accomplished calligrapher, have made the difficult, often mysterious script accessible to the nonspecialist. They decipher real Maya texts, and the transcriptions include a picture of the glyph, the pronunciation, the Maya words in Roman type, and the translation into English. For the second edition, the authors have taken the latest research and breakthroughs into account, adding glyphs, updating captions, and reinterpreting or expanding upon earlier decipherments.After an introductory discussion of Maya culture and history and the nature of the Maya script, the authors introduce the glyphs in a series of chapters that elaborate on topics such as the intricate calendar, warfare, royal lives and rituals, politics, dynastic names, ceramics, relationships, and the supernatural world. The book includes illustrations of historic texts, a syllabary, a lexicon, and translation exercises.

    Kathlyn Trent. A cross between Indiana Jones and The Crocodile Hunter, Dr. Trent has made a name for herself as a Media Archaeologist. Beautiful, intelligent and educated, she is one of the most famous faces in the world. Her television specials bring millions of viewers as she tackles subjects that most credible archaeologists won’t touch. But beneath the flash and hype, she has a true gift. A "sixth sense", this gift has helped her locate mystical and wonderful things all over the world. Whether or not people believe in her gift, her results speak for themselves. Because of her ability to find the unfindable, Dr. Trent is called in to assist the floundering dig of one of the world's top Egyptologists, Dr. Marcus Burton. Dr. Burton has a highly publicized dig in the Valley of the Kings, and Kathlyn is met with animosity the moment she sets foot on his dig. Tall, dark and ruggedly gorgeous, he has no desire to attract the attention she brings. But the excitement they come to share as they explore long-lost pharaoh’s tomb destroys the animosity in favor of an emotional bond that cannot be broken. Elements of intrigue endanger their lives and create chaos amidst their blooming romance, and the situation soon explodes in a running gun battle amongst the ruins of ancient Egyptian temples. It takes all of Kathlyn and Marcus’ strength to keep each other alive.

    Assmann describes in detail nine different images of death: death as the body being torn apart, as social isolation, the notion of the court of the dead, the dead body, the mummy, the soul and ancestral spirit of the dead, death as separation and transition, as homecoming, and as secret. Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt also includes a fascinating discussion of rites that reflect beliefs about death through language and ritual.

    This circle of wooden planks set vertically in the sand, with a large inverted tree-trunk in the middle, likened to a ghostly ‘hand reaching up from the underworld’, has now been dated back to around 2020 BC. The timbers are currently (and controversially) in the author’s safekeeping at Flag Fen.Francis Pryor and his wife (an expert in ancient wood-working and analysis) have been at the centre of Bronze Age fieldwork for nearly 30 years, piecing together the way of life of Bronze Age people, their settlement of the landscape, their religion and rituals. The famous wetland sites of the East Anglian Fens have preserved ten times the information of their dryland counterparts like Stonehenge and Avebury, in the form of pollen, leaves, wood, hair, skin and fibre found ‘pickled’ in mud and peat.Seahenge demonstrates how much Western civilisation owes to the prehistoric societies that existed in Europe in the last four millennia BC.

    Runes were not written, but carved - in stone, and on jewellery, weapons, utensils and wood. The content of the inscriptions is very varied, from owner and carpenter attributions on artefacts to memorials to the deceased on erected stones; contrary to popular belief, they are not necessarily magical or mystical, and the post-it notes of today have their forerunners in such runic reminders as: -Buy salt, and don't forget gloves for Sigrid.- The typical medieval runic inscription varies from the deeply religious to the highly trivial (or perhaps crucial), such as -I slept with Vigdis when I was in Stavanger.- This book presents an accessible account of the Norwegian examples throughout the period of their use. The runic inscriptions are discussed not only from a linguistic point of view but also as sources of information on Norwegian history and culture. TERJE SPURKLAND is Associate Professor of Nordic Medieval Studies at the University of Oslo.

    Our knowledge of Maya life has increased considerably during the past few decades. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the most recent research, compiled by experts from various disciplines. The topics of the contributions range from ancient Maya agriculturists to the inhabitants of the large cities in the rain forest, from the Spanish conquest to the modern Maya movement. The everyday life and religion of this important civilization are described, as well as its tremendous artistic and intellectual achievements.

    The general public is largely unaware of just how many castles survive today or over how wide an area of Europe and the Middle East they are to be found.Fortifications specialist J.E. and H.W. Kaufmann and technical artist Robert Jurga (authors of the acclaimed Fortress Europe: European Fortifications of World War II ) have once again combined European sources and personal observations to present a unique portrait of military architecture. They reveal how the medieval fortress combined both Roman and barbarian features, with some influences from as far away as China. Detailed coverage is given for castles in the British Isles, France, Germany, Moorish Spain, and as far east as Poland and Russia, as well as Muslim and Crusader castles in the Middle East. The Medieval Fortress covers the origin and evolution of the castles and other walled defenses, their major components, and the reasons for their eventual decline, which was not solely due to the introduction of gunpowder. Also receiving extensive coverage are the weapons and equipment of garrisons and besieging troops. Over a hundred photographs and 150 extraordinarily detailed technical drawings accompany the main text, which also takes an in-depth look at representative castles of each major type.

    John M. Camp begins with a comprehensive narrative history of the monuments from the earliest times to the sixth century A.D. Drawing on literary and epigraphic evidence, including Plutarch’s biographies, Pausanias’s guidebook, and thousands of inscriptions, he discusses who built a given structure, when, and why. Camp presents dozens of passages in translation, allowing the reader easy access to the variety and richness of the ancient sources. In effect, this main part of the book provides an engrossing history of ancient Athens as recorded in its archaeological remains. The second section of the book offers in-depth discussions of individual sites in their physical context, including accounts of excavations in the modern era. Written in a clear and engaging style and lavishly illustrated, Camp’s archaeological tour of Athens is certain to appeal not only to scholars and students but also to visitors to the area.

    These bones, award-winning investigative journalist Elaine Dewar asserts, challenge the accepted theory that the first Americans descend from a Mongoloid people who migrated across the Bering land bridge to Alaska at the end of the Ice Age 11,000 years ago. With Native American activists, white supremacists, DNA experts, and physical anthropologists—all vying for control of ancient bones like those of the Caucasoid Kennewick Man—Dewar explores the politics of archaeology, history, law, native spirituality, and race relations at work in this scientific battlefield. She reports, too, on the contention among the experts over alternative theories that suggest the New World may have been populated as early as 60,000 years ago, perhaps by Polynesian voyagers who sailed to South America. "Bound to shake archaeologists out of their complacency."—Canadian Geographic "Provocative ... likely to rattle the old bones of orthodoxy."—Calgary Herald

    It provides a continuous commentary on all other Greek arts, even sculpture, and the scenes figured on the vases can prove to be as subtle and informative as the great works of Greek literature. In no other art of antiquity do we come closer to the visual experience of the ancient Greeks, or are we able to observe so clearly their views on life, myth, and even politics. John Boardman has demonstrated the stylistic history of Greek vases in other Thames Hudson titles; as he writes, the subject "is a central one to classical archaeology and art, and dare not be ignored by students of any other ancient medium, or indeed of any other classical discipline."Here Boardman sketches that history but goes on to explore many other matters that make the study so fruitful. He describes the processes of identifying artists, the methods of making and decorating the vases, the life of the potters' quarter in Greek towns, and the way in which the wares were traded far beyond the borders of the Greek world. Boardman shows how Greek artists exercised a style of narrative in art that was long influential in the West, and how their pictures reflected not simply on storytelling but also on the politics and social order of the day.

    These maritime communities have long looked north and south along the coast, not inland, to claim a common bond. Even today, the Bretons see themselves as distinct from the French, but refer to the Irish, Welsh, and Galicians as their brothers and cousins.In Facing the Ocean, Barry Cunliffe, one of the world's most highly regarded authorities on prehistoric Europe, offers an utterly original way of looking at that continent. He argues that the peoples of the Atlantic rim--of Iceland, Scotland, Ireland, Brittany, Spain, Portugal, and Gibraltar--all share a cultural identity shaped by the Atlantic Ocean, an identity which stretches back almost ten thousand years. These peoples lived at the edge of the world, in places called Land's End, Finistere, and Finisterra, and looked out on a bountiful but terrifying expanse of ocean, a roiling, merciless infinity beyond which there was nothing. Their profound relationship with the ocean set these communities apart from their inland countryman, creating a distinct Atlantic culture. Cunliffe culls the archaeological evidence to illuminate the bonds that developed and intensified between these isolated communities and helped to maintain a shared and distinctive Atlantic identity.Attractively designed and vibrantly written, Facing the Ocean offers a striking reassessment of a people who have usually been regarded as peripheral to European history. It will send shock waves through the history world and will radically change our view of the European past.

    The author studied with don Juan Matus and the same circle of Nagual sorcerers who taught Carlos Castenada. Offers specific step-by-step instructions for mastering the ancient sexual techniques that lead to spiritual transformation.Readers of Carlos Casteneda have often complained that his work in ancient Meso-american shamanism never covered sexual practices beyond celibacy. With his death in 1998 it seemed that these practices might never be revealed, but fortunately Merilyn Tunneshende has stepped in. Set against the backdrop of the golden deserts of Sonora, Mexico, Don Juan and the Art of Sexual Energy recounts Tunneshende's initiation into the ancient sexual energy practices of the Toltec-Mayan tradition. Under the tutelage of don Juan Matus, Chon Yakil (whom Castenada referred to as Don Genaro), and dona Celestina de la Soledad, she learns to reclaim her feminine power and balance the masculine and feminine forces within herself. At the heart of the book is the mythical Rainbow Serpent: the phallic energy within women, the creative power within men. Each chapter focuses on a particular technique for awakening the serpent and connecting with its energy. Twenty-two sequential practices are covered, providing a powerful program for serious spiritual transformation.

    Conducted by a team of world-acknowledged experts, who provide the most up-to-date information available, it's the perfect mix of artistic brilliance and scholarly research. The Valley of the Kings and the tombs of the nobles are, together with the pyramids of Giza, among the world's most visited and best-known sites. Although millions come each year to gaze upon these ancient wonders, a significant portion of this remarkable place remains unseen by most. For the first time, an illuminating and spectacularly produced guide brings together both the artistic and the architectural features of the tombs and maps them out fully. The only photographer granted full access to the site over the past decade provides unrivaled color images of the funerary temples and private necropolises, and in addition, an exploration of their structures and embellishments features plans, photos, drawings of motifs, and hieroglyphs. To complete the presentation: walking itineraries in the Theban mountains, shown from many unusual vantage points. A visual treat, and an extraordinary adventure, for real and virtual travelers alike.

    Based on experimental archaeology at the author's world-famous research settlement in Cornwall, this book describes the ingredients of prehistoric cooking and the methods of food preparation.

    The full-color photographs make this tightly restricted site accessible to all.

    

    Including new methods and case studies in this third edition, it provides pre-university students and teachers, as well as undergraduates and enthusiasts, with the skills and technical concepts necessary to grasp the subject.The Archaeology Coursebook:introduces the most commonly examined archaeological methods, concepts, and themes, and provides the necessary skills to understand them explains how to interpret the material students may meet in examinations and how to succeed with different types of assignments and exam questions supports study with case studies, key sites, key terms, tasks and skills development illustrates concepts and commentary with over 300 photos and drawings of excavation sites, methodology and processes, tools and equipment links from its own website at www.routledge.com/textbooks/978041546... to other key websites in archaeology at the right level contains new material on "Issues in Modern Archaeology," "Sites and People in the Landscape" and "People and Society in the Past," new case studies, methods, examples, boxes, photographs and diagrams; as well as updates on examination changes for pre-university students.This is definitely a book no archaeology student should be without.

    The study is based on Goubitz' analysis of an important assemblage of shoes recovered from excavations at Dordrecht in the Netherlands but the volume's aim is to offer guidance for the identification of shoes found on sites across north-western Europe. In addition, contributions from van Driel-Murray and Groenman-van Waateringe examine evidence for shoe types in prehistoric Europe and the north-western provinces of the Roman Empire, periods which inevitably have left less evidence. The fully illustrated catalogue follows a comprehensive discussion of shoes styles and technology including height standards, iconography, material, patterns, stitches, soles, the identification and dating of fragments and conservation. The volume should prove a useful tool for Roman and, especially, medieval historians and archaeologists.

    It is a land of flash floods and extreme temperatures that demands much from those who would explore it. It is also an unparalleled museum of geological features and ancestral Puebloan culture. This fascinating culture flowered for more than a millennium and visitors to southeast Utah are treated to a sampling of archaeological wonders.A Hiking Guide to Cedar Mesa describes sixty-three routes, ranging from quarter-mile walks to fifteen-mile day hikes, loops, and multi-day backpack trips. There is essential information on permits, weather, gear, road, trailhead access, geology, human history in the region, and leave-no-trace camping.Care is given to name only those well-known archaeological sites that are visible or immediately accessible from roads. Throughout, the author emphasizes proper visitation protocol for fragile archaeological sites. He states, "I have been touched by this landscape and would prefer to keep its teachings and secrets to myself, but I cannot. The experience of the desert should be available to everyone with the motivation to encounter it."

    Yet although a wide range of relevant evidence survives from the ancient Near East, it has been exceptional for those studying women in the ancient world to stray outside the traditional bounds of Greece and Rome.Women of Babylon is a much-needed historical/art historical study that investigates the concepts of femininity which prevailed in Assyro-Babylonian society. Zainab Bahrani's detailed analysis of how the culture of ancient Mesopotamia defined sexuality and gender roles both in, and through, representation is enhanced by a rich selection of visual material extending from 6500 BC - 1891 AD. Professor Bahrani also investigates the ways in which women of the ancient Near East have been perceived in classical scholarship up to the nineteenth century.

    For much of the period in which archaeology has employed scientific methodology, debitage has been discarded or ignored as debris. Now archaeologists have begun to recognize its potential to provide information about the kinds of tools produced and the characteristics of the technology being employed. Debitage can even provide clues regarding human organizational systems such as settlement mobility and site functions.This volume brings together some of the most recent research on debitage analysis and interpretation. It presents stone tool production experiments and offers detailed archaeological investigations for interpreting variability at the individual and collective levels. Although there are a number of volumes that focus on general analysis of lithic artifacts, this is the first volume to address debitage and should be of use to a wide range of archaeological researchers.

    In this book, Roberto González convincingly argues that in fact Zapotec agricultural and dietary theories and practices constitute a valid local science, which has had a reciprocally beneficial relationship with European and United States farming and food systems since the sixteenth century.González bases his analysis upon direct participant observation in the farms and fields of a Zapotec village. By using the ethnographic fieldwork approach, he is able to describe and analyze the rich meanings that campesino families attach to their crops, lands, and animals. González also reviews the history of maize, sugarcane, and coffee cultivation in the Zapotec region to show how campesino farmers have intelligently and scientifically adapted their farming practices to local conditions over the course of centuries. By setting his ethnographic study of the Talea de Castro community within a historical world systems perspective, he also skillfully weighs the local impact of national and global currents ranging from Spanish colonialism to the 1910 Mexican Revolution to NAFTA. At the same time, he shows how, at the turn of the twenty-first century, the sustainable practices of "traditional" subsistence agriculture are beginning to replace the failed, unsustainable techniques of modern industrial farming in some parts of the United States and Europe.

    More view artifacts in museums and long to know the stories behind them. Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, Vol 2, is an essential book for all of them. In Ephraim Stern's sequel to Amihai Mazar's 1st volume, this world-renowned archeologist who's directed excavations for many years looks at how archeological research contributes to the understanding of connections between history & biblical stories. He writes about recently unearthed artifacts, relating them to the Assyrian, Babylonian & Persian biblical periods. Accompanied by photos & illustrations of relics ranging from household pottery to crafted jewelry & sculpture his discussion enlivens history.PrefaceAcknowledgments & CreditsList of Tables, Maps & IllustrationsList of AbbreviationsGlossaryTableThe Assyrian conquest & domination of PalestineThe Assyrian impact on the material culture of PalestineThe Assyrian provinces of Megiddo & SamariaThe PhoeniciansThe PhilistinesThe Kingdom of Judah The Greek penetration Egyptians in Palestine in the 7th century BCEThe Gilead & the kingdom of Ammon under Assyrian hegemonyThe Moabites The Edomites The Arabian trade The history of Palestine in the Babylonian periodExcavations & surveys Seals & seal impressionsTombs & burial customsPottery vesselsMetal & stone artifactsCult objectsThe history of Palestine in the Persian period Excavations & surveys Architecture Burial customs Temples & cult objectsPottery vessels Metal, stone, bone & glass artifactsSeals & seal impressions Coins Weights & measuresThe Persian Period: Summary & ConclusionsBibliographyIndexes

    The first strand is the remembered wisdom of the Abenaki community. The second strand is our history and that of our relatives, written down by European, Native American, and Euroamerican observers. The third strand is what our Mother the Earth has revealed to us through the studies and writings of those who delve in her, the archaeologists and paleoecologists. The fourth strand is my own family history and its stories. The fifth strand is, of course, that which has come to me alone, stories which I create with my own beliefs and visions." So begins the first book about Abenaki history and culture written from the inside. Frederick Matthew Wiseman's extensive research and personal engagement breathe life into Voice of the Dawn, making it truly unique. Colin Calloway, Chair of Native American Studies at Dartmouth College, writes, "Going beyond all previous works on the Abenakis, Wiseman draws on family and community knowledge in a way that none of those authors could, speaks from an avowedly Abenaki perspective, and addresses aspects and issues ignored in other works. Moreover, no one that I know of has done as much work in locating and regathering items of Western Abenaki material culture. The quality and quantity of illustrations alone make this an attractive book, as well as a valuable visual record of change and persistence over time. As someone personally and pivotally involved in the Abenaki renaissance, Wiseman brings the story up to date without closing it."

    The seemingly endless variety of images include humans, animals, weapons, masks, mazes, handprints, finger lines, geometric and abstract forms, tally marks, hoofprints, and the wavy lines and starbursts that humans universally associate with trancelike states. Plains Indian Rock Art is the ultimate guide to the art form. It covers the natural and archaeological history of the northwestern Plains; explains rock art forms, techniques, styles, terminology, and dating; and offers interpretations of images and compositions.

    Aimed at both professionals, amateurs, students and in fact anyone thinking about embarking on a dig, John Collis describes what is involved, why digs are important and what they seek to achieve. Every conceivable aspect seems to be covered, including the organisation of an excavation, recording strategies, the equipment used, what to wear, Health and Safety regulations, on-site and off-site behaviour, and how to approach the excavation of skeletal remains, stone and timber buildings, pits, ditches and banks.

    Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee, travel the mountains, deserts, and towns of the Four Corners tracking wrongdoers. In

    In examining the practices of Thecla's devotees in Asia Minor and Egypt, Stephen Davis shows that Thecla's cult was closely linked with communities of women as a means of empowerment.

    This book accompanies an exhibition at the Mint Museum of Art in North Carolina and includes 11 essays from the world's leading authorities on Mesoamerican art and culture. The contributors consider all aspects of ballgames, enactment, gender and symbolic aspects, the regalia worn, performance', the court setting, and the legacy of the game. The catalogue contains many superb colour photographs of figurines, painted and sculpted vessels and relief panels.

    But intensive amounts of research has revolutionized this field in the past decade. New methods of dating and analysis help to pinpoint the makers of these beautiful images, new interpretive models help us understand this art in relation to culture. Identification, conservation and management of rock art sites have become major issues in historical preservation worldwide. And the number of archaeologically attested sites has mushroomed. In this handbook, the leading researchers in the rock art area provide cogent, state-of-the-art summaries of the technical, interpretive, and regional advances in rock art research. The book offers a comprehensive, basic reference of current information on key topics over six continents for archaeologists, anthropologists, art historians, and rock art enthusiasts.

    They explain the true power sources in our world and provide a design for realigning ourselves with them. The Standing Stones Speak unifies the underlying wisdom of Christianity, Buddhism, and the Sufis. It interprets the lives of the great teachers and recounts the dark history of Atlantis. Linking the chakras, crystals, and earth spirits, redefining reincarnation and forgotten realms of existence both here and on other planets, it promises us a future of tranquility and peace-- children born free of karma on a clean Earth-- the New Jerusalem.Natasha Hoffman knew that she'd been called to Carnac in northern France. An artist, healer, and "intuitive," Hoffman felt welcome in the presence of the mysterious giant monuments that stand there-- the megalithic standing stones set up around the same time as Stonehenge. Walking among these alignments with her companion, Hamilton Hill, she first heard the voice. "This is a library," she said, "and we can read it."So began the "receiving" of the revelations encoded in certain of the standing stones. Sneaking past barriers, eluding gendarmes, encountering a goblin, even working by moonlight, Hoffman and Hill sought out particular stones. Natasha "read" the information held in them, using a pendulum for question-and-answer dowsing to check it. Hamilton, also a dowser, transcribed it using rods.The messages were placed for us, as the two discovered, by the Archangels who watch over our planet. After World War I, seeing that the human race had fallen into profound disharmony with the environment and was becoming dominated by materialism and misuse of technology, these higher beings began to leave us guidelines for restoring the balance within ourselves and between humanity and nature.Readers will be struck by the beauty of the message, its clarity, authority, and compassion. "You are addicted to suffering," the Archangels say, "because you have been made to feel guilty about joy." The message leaves us with renewed hope.With notes on the authors' personal pilgrimages and more than a dozen photographs, The Standing Stones Speak is more than a great adventure; it's a text that may become the New Age Bible.

    This valuable new addition to the acclaimed Oxford Archaeological Guides series provides coverage of all the main archaeological sites in Greece, ranging from prehistory to the sixth century AD. The individual sites are arranged by region, and include Philip's Tomb at Vergina, the Palace complex at Mycenae, the Temples of the Acropolis, the Hellenistic city of the Messene, and the Roman colony of Corinth. Also included in the book are 'partner factor' ratings that rank the most worthwhile sites for travelers to visit during their stay. An up-to-date introduction surveys Greece's landscape, history, and archaeology from the Neolithic period to the end of antiquity, and places the sites in their cultural context. Finally, there is a chronology for reference and a glossary of essential terms.

    He recounts (in his equally mysterious Louisiana voice) the setting, meaning, and history of archaeological thought that surround the site."--Mike Russo, National Park ServiceJon Gibson confronts the intriguing mystery of Poverty Point, the ruins of a large prehistoric Indian settlement that was home to one of the most fascinating ancient cultures in eastern North America. The 3,500-year-old site in northeastern Louisiana is known for its large, elaborate earthworks—a series of concentric, crescent-shaped dirt rings and bird-shaped mounds. With its imposing 25-mile core, it is one of the largest archaic constructions on American soil. It's also one of the most puzzling—perplexing questions haunt Poverty Point, and archaeologists still speculate about life and culture at the site, its age, how it was created, and if it was at the forefront of an emerging complex society. Gibson's engaging, well-illustrated account of Poverty Point brings to life one of the oldest earthworks of its size in the Western Hemisphere, the hub of a massive exchange network among native American peoples reaching a third of the way across the present-day United States.Gibson, the eminent authority on the site, boldly launches the first full-scale political, economic, and organizational analysis of Poverty Point and nearby affiliated sites. Writing in an informal style, he examines the period's architecture, construction, tools and appliances, economy, exchange, and ceremonies.

    Blending theoretical discussion with detailed case studies, the issues addressed include shamanic material culture, responses to dying and the dead, shamanic soundscapes, the use of ritual architecture and shamanism in the context of other belief systems such as totemism. Following an intial orientation reviewing shamanism as an anthropological construct, the volume focuses on the Northern hemisphere with case studies from Greenland to Nepal, Siberia to Kazakhstan. The papers span a chronological range from Upper Palaeolithic to the present and explore such cross-cutting themes as gender and the body, identity, landscape, architecture, as well as shamanic interpretations of rock art and shamanism in the heritage and cultural identity of indigenous peoples. The volume also addresses the interpretation of shamanic beliefs in terms of cognitive neuroscience and the modern public perception of prehistoric shamanism.Part One -- The archaeology of shamanism: Cognition, cosmology and world-view1. An archaeology of altered states: Shamanism and material culture studiesNeil S. Price2. Southern African shamanistic rock art in its social and cognitive contextsJ.D. Lewis-WilliamsPart Two -- Siberia and Central Asia: The 'cradle of shamanism'3. Rock art and the material culture of Siberian and Central Asian shamanismEkaterina Devlet4. Shamans, heroes and ancestors in the bronze castings of western SiberiaNatalia Fedorova5. Sun Gods or shamans? Interpreting the 'solar-headed' petroglyphs of Central AsiaAndrzej Rozwadowski6. The materiality of shamanism as a 'world-view': Praxis, artefacts and landscapePeter Jordan7. The medium of the message: Shamanism as localised practice in the Nepal HimalayasDamian WalterPart Three -- North America and North Atlantic8. The gendered peopling of North America: Addressing the antiquity of systems of multiple genderSandra E. Hollimon9. Shamanism and the iconography of Palaeo-Eskimo artPatricia D. Sutherland10. Social bonding and shamanism among late Dorset groups in High Arctic GreenlandHans Christian Gullov and Martin AppeltPart Four -- Northern Europe11. Special objects -- special creatures: Shamanistic imagery and the Aurignacian art of south-west GermanyThomas A. Dowson and Martin Porr12. The sounds of transformation: Accoustics, monuments and ritual in the British NeolithicAaron Watson13. An ideology of transformation: Cremation rites and animal sacrifice in early Anglo-Saxon EnglandHoward Williams14. Waking ancestor spirits: Neo-shamanic engagements with archaeologyRobert J. Wallis

    It is written by a noted scholar who visited the area over many years while conducting research for her doctoral thesis on Arakan. Off the Bay of Bengal, in the northwest corner of Burma lie the splendid capital cites of ancient Arakan; Dhanyaawadi, Vesali and Mrauk-U (Myohaung) being the largest. Mentioned in Ptolemy's Geographia (2nd century), Arakan was from earliest times a cosmopolitan state with a vigorous and mixed culture. Indian Brahmins conducted the royal ceremonials, Buddhist monks spread their teachings, traders came and went, and artists and architects used Indian models for inspiration. Through Buddhism, Arakan came into contact with other remote countries, including Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tibet, and China. To the east were the many early empires of Southeast Asia: Burman, Siamese, and Khmer, while later came influences from the Islamic courts of Bengal and Delhi. This is the first comprehensive study on the history, art, and culture of Arakan. It also serves as an excellent introduction to the hitherto almost unknown bronze and stone art of Arakan.

    Adrian Boas's combined use of historical and archaeological evidence together with first-hand accounts written by visiting pilgrims results in a multi-faceted perspective on Crusader Jerusalem.Generously illustrated, this book will serve both as a scholarly account of this city's archaeology and history, and a useful guide for the interested reader to a city at the centre of international and religious interest and conflict today.

    This rapid urbanization transformed the built environment of communities such as New Bedford, Massachusetts, as new housing styles emerged to accommodate the largely immigrant workforce of the mills. In particular, the wood-frame “three-decker” became the region’s multifamily housing design of choice in urban areas and is widely acknowledged as a unique architectural form that is characteristic of New England. In The Patina of Place, Kingston Heath offers the first book-length analysis of the three-decker and its cultural significance, revealing New Bedford’s evolving regional identity within New England.The Patina of Place offers a multidisciplinary analysis of workers’ housing as an index to social change and cultural identity in New Bedford from 1848 to 1925. Heath discusses both the city’s company-owned mill housing and the subsequent transition to a speculative building market that established the three-decker rental flat as the city’s most common housing form for industrial workers.Using the concept of “cultural weathering” to explore the cultural imprints left by inhabitants on their built environment, Heath considers whether the three-decker is a generic “type” that could be transferred elsewhere. He concludes that the ethnic, economic, and geographic conditions of a locale serve as filters that reshape the meaning, utility, and character of a building form, thereby making it an integral part of its particular community. Specifically, he shows how the three-decker was lived in, and used by, its original inhabitants and illustrates its transformation by later generations of residents following the collapse of the textile industry in the mid-1920s.The Patina of Place focuses on the three-decker in New Bedford, but its overarching theme concerns the cultural, economic, and social complexities of place-making and the creation of regional identity. Heath offers a broad investigation of the forces that drive the production and consumption of architecture, at the same time providing an economic and cultural context for the emergence of a particular architectural form.The Author: Kingston Heath is associate professor in the college of architecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His articles have appeared in The Encyclopedia of Architecture and Old-Time New England, among other publications.

    This authoritative account, written by two of the excavators of the site, traces its history and its gradual revelation through archaeological excavation, begun by Layard in the 19th century and continuing to the present day. The volume is abundantly illustrated and includes finds that have not previously been published, together with illustrations and the most complete account in English so far of the remarkable discoveries made in recent years by Iraqi archaeologists in the tombs of the Assyrian Queens. Contents: Introduction; Chapter 1: The Land of Assyria - Setting the Scene; Chapter 2: Major Palaces on the Citadel; Chapter 3: Tombs, Wells and Riches; Chapter 4: Temples, Minor Palaces and Private Houses; Chapter 4: Fort Shalmaneser: the ekal masarti; Chapter 6: The Written Evidence; Chapter 7: Types of Object and Materials from Nimrud; Chapter 8: Post-Assyrian Nimrud; Epilogue.

    U. of Southern Maine) assembles written sources from classical times revealing what the sites and structures meant to people before they were picturesque ruins. References point readers to modern editions of the full texts. The second volume presents the text

    Although it provides many techniques of wood conservation in detail, it goes far beyond the scope of a "recipe book" by giving an overview of the use of particular materials and methods as they apply to dry as well as wet or waterlogged wood. Access to the enormous wealth of information is facilitated by separate indexes for trade names, pests, and conservation materials. The latter, together with their methods of application, were gathered from the literature and organized chronologically. For liquid preservatives, fumigants, and consolidants, these listings are preceded by important data on each of the materials.

    This book, translated into English, presents a history of the civilisations along the Silk Road, including the Sarmatians in the first century AD, the Turks and Mongols, discussing aspects such as trade, money, the aristocracy and lower classes, religion, city life, as well as excavated material and sites.

    Thrilling images combined with original text describe the myriad facets of a colorful & surprising land which the Ancients appropriately called "The Red & the Black", evoking the sharp contrast between the red of the scorching desert wastes & the black silt left by the flooding Nile. Within the pages of this book is a journey thru a country with enduring appeal, savoring the complexity, mystery & wealth of the land of the pharaohs.

    A guide to the historic monuments of Armagh, Down, Louth and Monaghan and the folklore surrounding them, in particular the Ring of Gullion which stands at the heart of South Armagh.

    Throughout the book he spices the text with quotations from the works of contemporary travelers, while providing an expert’s commentary on the archaeological, architectural, and decorative features of the sites he describes. His original photographs are supplemented by numerous line drawings, plans of the main cities, and sketches of principal monuments and their ornamental features.

    Lapham was among the first scientists to produce evidence that the earthworks had been built by the ancestors of modern Native Americans, not some mythical "lost race," as was believed by many white authorities of the time. Modern researchers still use Lapham’s maps and descriptions to locate vestiges of sites that once existed, or to help reconstruct Wisconsin’s ancient cultural landscape. This edition includes a foreword by Wisconsin state archaeologist Robert A. Birmingham and an introduction by Robert P. Nurre, a Lapham scholar.

    

    It contains an amazing wealth of information considering that it is only 36 pages long! This is the first book on these delicate and monumental structures that clearly explains the physical forces that the builders had to overcome, and how they solved the problems of load, thrust, and oblique forces. In the process, they found they could lighten these structures even as they were building them larger and larger. The book contains detailed, 3 dimensional drawings illustrating each of the technical points, as well as the building techniques and architectural features. What's more, the text manages to place all this in an historical and socio-political context. Quite an accomplishment for such a slender volume. It many ways, it emulates the structures it discusses.

    Previous attempts to create a rapprochement between the disciplines have been undermined by a failure to see artefacts and documents as anything more than simple sources of information about the past. The central argument of this concise and original book is that both must be seen in terms of their efficacy in the past, in particular as technologies of power and resistance.Drawing upon recent work in theoretical archaeology, John Moreland puts forward a series of case studies from early medieval Europe, early modern North America, and the prehistoric Near East to illustrate the ways in which both documents and artefacts were ‘activated' in the reproduction and transformation of power and identity. The concluding chapter warns that any contribution these arguments may make to the better understanding of the historical past will be negated if we fail to appreciate the very real dangers posed, to all the peoples of the past, by the recent ‘linguistic turn' in both disciplines.

    Childhood training and ritual shaped, but did not set, adult gender, which could encompass third genders and alternative sexualities as well as "male" and "female." At the height of the Classic period, Maya rulers presented themselves as embodying the entire range of gender possibilities, from male through female, by wearing blended costumes and playing male and female roles in state ceremonies.This landmark book offers the first comprehensive description and analysis of gender and power relations in prehispanic Mesoamerica from the Formative Period Olmec world (ca. 1500-500 BC) through the Postclassic Maya and Aztec societies of the sixteenth century AD. Using approaches from contemporary gender theory, Rosemary Joyce explores how Mesoamericans created human images to represent idealized notions of what it meant to be male and female and to depict proper gender roles. She then juxtaposes these images with archaeological evidence from burials, house sites, and body ornaments, which reveals that real gender roles were more fluid and variable than the stereotyped images suggest.

    It intersperses journeys and descriptions of people and places with accounts of archaeological discoveries. Layard's romantic view of the countryside and local people blended with his rediscovery of Assyria.

    At the same time, it offers new perspectives on comparative religion, Irish literature, music, and history. Includes maps, illustrations, and photographs.

    This boldly revisionist book challenges that understanding. Ross Hassig offers convincing evidence that for the Aztecs time was predominantly linear, that it was manipulated by the state as a means of controlling a dispersed tribute empire, and that the Conquest cut off state control and severed the unity of the calendar, leaving only the lesser cycles. From these, he asserts, we have inadequately reconstructed the pre-Columbian calendar and so misunderstood the Aztec conception of time and history. Hassig first presents the traditional explanation of the Aztec calendrical system and its ideological functions and then marshals contrary evidence to argue that the Aztec elite deliberately used calendars and timekeeping to achieve practical political ends. He further traces how the Conquest played out in the temporal realm as Spanish conceptions of time partially displaced the Aztec ones. His findings promise to revolutionize our understanding of how the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican societies conceived of time and history.

    From early hominid remains found in Kenya to the Woodruff Ossuary in Kansas, clear and accurate descriptions of sites from around the world are supplemented by examples of a wide range of artifacts, with explanations of archaeological terms and excavation techniques. Additional articles focus on different civilizations, peoples, and the lives and achievements of key figures in the history of archaeology. Illustrated with more than 100 maps, diagrams, and black-and-white photographs-some of which have never before been published-this guide offers a superbly rich and authoritative account of a vast, complex, and perennially fascinating subject.

    This comprehensive training manual is designed to solve that problem. Neumann and Sanford use their decades of field experience to discuss in great detail the complex processes involved in conducting a CRM project. Dealing with everything from law to logistics, archival research to zoological analysis, project proposals to report production, they provide an invaluable sourcebook to archaeologists who do contract work in North America. After an introduction to the legal and ethical aspects of cultural resources management, the authors describe the process of designing a proposal and contracting for work, doing background research, conducting assessment, testing, and mitigation (Phase I, II, and III) work, laboratory analysis, and preparing a report for the project sponsor. Throughout, the emphasis on real-world problems and issues, the use of extensive examples, and the detailed advice on a host of subjects, make this an ideal teaching tool for novice archaeologists and field schools and a handy reference for experienced CRM archaeologists. The accompanying student textbook by the same authors, Cultural Resources Archaeology: An Introduction introduces the basic elements of CRM work to undergraduates.