Best of
Archaeology

2007

House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest


Craig Childs - 2007
    Drawing on scholarly research and archaeological evidence, the author examines the accomplishments of the Anasazi people of the American Southwest and speculates on why the culture vanished by the 13th century.

Complete Pompeii


Joanne Berry - 2007
    This up-to-date new survey draws on evidence produced at the cutting edge of modern archaeological research, revealing how the evidence for life in this city was first uncovered, and how archaeologists over the centuries have unpeeled the layers that enable us to reconstruct Pompeii's history.With its lavish illustrations, covering monumental architecture and inscriptions, shops, graffiti, wall-paintings, and mosaics, plus its numerous box features ranging from theatrical entertainments to water supply, The Complete Pompeii is the ultimate resource and inspirational guide to this iconic ancient town.Among the many topics covered:How Pompeii was destroyed in the eruption of AD 79What we know of the lives and deaths of its inhabitantsWhat the houses tell us about the people who lived in themWho was involved in politicsWhat can be reconstructed about religious practices

The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World


David W. Anthony - 2007
    But who were the early speakers of this ancient mother tongue, and how did they manage to spread it around the globe? Until now their identity has remained a tantalizing mystery to linguists, archaeologists, and even Nazis seeking the roots of the Aryan race. The Horse, the Wheel, and Language lifts the veil that has long shrouded these original Indo-European speakers, and reveals how their domestication of horses and use of the wheel spread language and transformed civilization.Linking prehistoric archaeological remains with the development of language, David Anthony identifies the prehistoric peoples of central Eurasia's steppe grasslands as the original speakers of Proto-Indo-European, and shows how their innovative use of the ox wagon, horseback riding, and the warrior's chariot turned the Eurasian steppes into a thriving transcontinental corridor of communication, commerce, and cultural exchange. He explains how they spread their traditions and gave rise to important advances in copper mining, warfare, and patron-client political institutions, thereby ushering in an era of vibrant social change. Anthony also describes his fascinating discovery of how the wear from bits on ancient horse teeth reveals the origins of horseback riding.The Horse, the Wheel, and Language solves a puzzle that has vexed scholars for two centuries--the source of the Indo-European languages and English--and recovers a magnificent and influential civilization from the past.

1897 Sears, Roebuck Co. Catalogue


Skyhorse Publishing - 2007
    (Yes, opium.) Not to mention ear trumpets, horse buggies, and Bibles. The 1897 Sears, Roebuck & Co. Catalogue is both a wonderfully fascinating collector's item and a valuable piece of American history. For every recognizable item included, there are plenty of others guaranteed to confuse or interest 21st century readers—like Bust Cream or Food and Sweet Spirits of Nitre. What was once standard household fare is today a sometimes strange, often funny look at what life was once like for the average American family. It's amazing to see that a Princely Shirt for Princely Men cost $0.95 or three for $2.75 or that a Complete Violin Outfit (with bow and case) cost only $2.00.

Rome and Environs: An Archaeological Guide


Filippo Coarelli - 2007
    Conveniently organized by walking tours and illustrated throughout with clear maps, drawings, and plans, Rome and Environs: An Archaeological Guide covers all of the city's ancient sites, and, unlike most other guides, now includes the major monuments in a large area outside Rome proper but within easy reach, such as Ostia Antica, Palestrina, Tivoli, and the many areas of interest along the ancient Roman roads. An essential resource for tourists interested in a deeper understanding of Rome's classical remains, it is also the ideal book for students and scholars approaching the ancient history of one of the world's most fascinating cities.* Covers all the major sites including the Capitoline, the Roman Forum and the Imperial Fora, the Palatine Hill, the Valley of the Colosseum, the Esquiline, the Caelian, the Quirinal, and the Campus Martius.* Two separate chapters discuss important clusters of sites-one on the area surrounding Circus Maximus and the other in the vicinity of the Trastevere, including the Aventine and the Vatican.* Additional chapters cover the city walls and the aqueducts.* Features 189 maps, drawings, and diagrams; an appendix on building materials and techniques; and an extensive bibliography.

The Lords Of Avaris


David Rohl - 2007
    This is the start of an epic journey of discovery, in the Homeric mould, which ranges across the ancient lands and archaeological sites of the Mediterranean. From Joshua's Jericho to Romulus' Rome, the true chronicle of our pre-Christian past is uncovered revealing an extraordinary historical picture, previously unimagined by scholars.The epic legends of the West, which permeate the writings of Greece and Rome, appear to have been based on the exploits of genuine historical figures and actual events. There really was an 'Heroic Age' of brazen-clad warriors, the last of which fought before the walls of Troy, just as described in Homer's Iliad.At the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age - two thousand years before the assassination of Julius Caesar in the Roman Senate - a new people appeared on the stage of history to join the great civilisations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. These 'Indo-European'-speaking tribes were chariot-riding warriors from the northern mountains and plains. They became the Hittites, the Aryan kings of Mitanni, the Vedic heroes of the Indus, and the founders of the later empires of Greece, Persia and Rome. They had many legendary names - the Divine Pelasgians of Greece, the Luwians of Troy and western Anatolia, the Rephaim and Anakim of the Bible, and the Hyksos rulers of Avaris who suppressed Egypt for generations. Their heroes and heroines are legionary: Inachus, mythical king of Argos in the Peloponnese; his daughter the beautiful Princess Io who married an Egyptian pharaoh; Danaus, the Hyksos ruler who, fleeing from Egypt to Greece, founded the Mycenaean dynasty which culminated in Agamemnon's ill-fated Trojan War; Cadmus, the bringer of writing to the West; Minos, the Cretan high-king of Knossos who built the infamous Labyrinth; Mopsus, warrior and sage who led a vast Greek, Philistine and Anatolian army into the Levant in a daring attempt to seize Egypt in the time of Ramesses III. All these, and more, are the stuff of legend - but The Lords of Avaris reveals these Classical heroes as flesh-and-blood characters from our ancestral past.

The Quest for the Historical Israel: Debating Archaeology and the History of Early Israel: Invited Lectures Delivered at the Sixth Biennial Colloquium of the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism, Detroit, October 2005


Israel Finkelstein - 2007
    Paperback edition is available from the Society of Biblical Literature (www.sbl-site.org)

The Last Human: A Guide to Twenty-Two Species of Extinct Humans


Esteban Sarmiento - 2007
    The story begins in Africa, six to seven million years ago, and encompasses twenty known human species, of which Homo sapiens is the sole survivor. Illustrated with spectacular, three-dimensional scientific reconstructions portrayed in their natural habitat developed by a team of physical anthropologists at the American Museum of Natural History and in concert with experts from around the world, the book is both a guide to extinct human species and an astonishing hominid family photo album.The Last Human presents a comprehensive account of each species with information on its emergence, chronology, geographic range, classification, physiology, lifestyle, habitat, environment, cultural achievements, co-existing species, and possible reasons for extinction. Also included are summaries of fossil discoveries, controversies, and publications. What emerges from the fossil story is a new understanding of Homo sapiens. No longer credible is the notion that our species is the end product of a single lineage, improved over generations by natural selection. Rather, the fossil record shows, we are a species with widely varied precursors, and our family tree is characterized by many branchings and repeated extinctions.Exhibition information:Photographs of most of the reconstructions that appear in this book will be featured in exhibits appearing in the new Hall of Human Origins at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.  The opening of the Hall is planned for November 2006.

The Nation and Its Ruins: Antiquity, Archaeology, and National Imagination in Greece


Yannis Hamilakis - 2007
    It also shows how, in return, national imagination has created and shaped classical antiquities and archaeological practice from the nineteenth century to the present. Yannis Hamilakis covers a diverse range of topics, including the role of antiquities in the foundation of the Greek state in the nineteenth century, the Elgin marbles controversy, the role of archaeology under dictatorial regimes, the use of antiquities in the detention camps of the Greek civil war, and the discovery of the so-called tomb of Philip of Macedonia.

Cloth and Clothing in Early Anglo-Saxon England AD 450-700


Penelope Rogers - 2007
    It focuses on clothing and jewellery and seeks to establish an evidence-based re-evaluation of the cultural and social significance of dress in Anglo-Saxon England.

Imagining Egypt


Mark Millmore - 2007
    The ancient Egyptians thrived over a 3,000-year period and are considered to have been one of the most sophisticated and innovative societies the world has ever known. In Imagining Egypt readers learn how to decode hieroglyphics, find out how the pyramids were built, read ancient myths and legends—and experience the daily life and culture of the Egyptians in a whole new way. Brand-new computer recreations of ancient monuments and structures, rendered by the author in full color just as they would have looked in their own time, are acompanied by photos of the sites today. With its highly original artwork, lively layout, and entertaining, interactive style, Imagining Egypt carries readers back to an exotic and fascinating time and place, into a culture that exerts influence and commands respect today. Going beyond artifacts and ruins to show what life was really like at the time, it’s perfect for students, teachers, armchair historians, and travelers. Visit www.imaginingegypt.com for special features and offers readers of Imagining Egypt.

The Great Pyramid: Ancient Egypt Revisited


John Romer - 2007
    Sweeping away centuries of myth and confusion, John Romer describes for the first time exactly how the Great Pyramid was designed and built. He argues that the pyramid makers worked from a single plan whose existence has long been doubted and even denied by scholars. Moreover, the Great Pyramid's unique architecture is integral to the way it was built, and for its builders the tasks of construction and design were not separate as they are now. By placing this awesome monument in its genuine contemporary context, this book underlines the extraordinary talents and the originality of the ancient Egyptians at the time of King Khufu.

Egypt


Joyce A. Tyldesley - 2007
    This stunning new series offers an inside look into twelve riveting subjects, beginning with Dinosaurs, Egypt, Oceans, and Space. Expertly written, each book will feature an arresting design, complete with dynamic, multi-layered CGI and 3-D model imagery that is complemented by fascinating, up-to-date information presented in a user-friendly format. Get a glimpse inside the chambers of King Tut's tomb, examine each layer of mummification, and see the inner workings of pyramid-building. Egypt covers every facet of ancient Egyptian civilization!

Wild Food


Ray Mears - 2007
    What's always frustrated him is not knowing how our own ancestors fed themselves--and what we could learn about our own diet. We know they were hunter-gatherers, but noone has been able to tell what they ate day to day. How did they find their calories, week in week out throughout the year? What were their staple foods? Where did they get their vitamins? How did they ensure their bodies received enough variety? In this book and the BBC TV series it inspired, Mears travels back ten thousand years to a time before farming to learn how our ancestors found, prepared and cooked their food. This extraordinary journey reveals many new possibilities--many of the same food sources are still there for us if only we know where to look. Through Ray Mears' knowledge of the countryside and the research conducted specially for this book with archaeo-botanist Gordon Hillman, we learn many new, useful and often surprising things about the amazingly rich natural larder that still surrounds us.--Book jacket flap

Write Your Own Egyptian Hieroglyphs: Names, Greetings, Insults, Sayings


Angela McDonald - 2007
    In Ancient Egypt, only an elite few could read and write hieroglyphs, but now you too can recognize and write a selection of names, titles, descriptions, sayings, greetings—even insults! For the ancient Egyptians, nothing could exist without a name—names held the spark of life. In this colorful illustrated guide, Angela McDonald explains how the Egyptians composed names for the elements of their world and along the way opens a fascinating window on their ancient culture—their gods, enemies, animals, and more. With practical guides and a lively, informative text, she shows how to create many charming and useful phrases in hieroglyphs for yourself, your friends, your pets—even your house. There are step-by-step tips on how to draw some of the trickier signs and a collection of genuine Egyptian phrases—greetings, laments, and insults—for use in your own compositions. In the words of one Egyptian papyrus, "By day write with your fingers, recite by night. Befriend the scroll and the palette—it's more fulfilling than wine!" Copub: British Museum Press

The Story of Archaeology: In 50 Great Discoveries


Justin Pollard - 2007
    Illustrated with 150 full color photographs offering a visual record of the extraordinary range of human societies that have inhabited our planet.

The World Encyclopedia of Archaeology: The World's Most Significant Sites and Cultural Treasures


Aedeen Cremin - 2007
    Here is a comprehensive view of the past as seen through the remnants of civilizations as they emerge and expand. The book begins by defining modern and ancient archaeology and gives the history of archaeology through the centuries. The different types of archaeology are explored, along with the techniques used for each and the problems, concerns and issues archaeologists face today.The main section of the book details each region of the world, with the authoritative text revealing the fascinating history of important archaeological sites. This global perspective includes more than 700 illustrations. The atlas section with detailed maps provides placements throughout history.Accurate, in-depth and up to date, The World Encyclopedia of Archaeology is compelling reading. It serves as an outstanding reference for professionals, researchers, history buffs and general readers.The World Encyclopedia of Archaeology includes:The first humans Early hunter-gatherers and farmers Megalithic builders The Bronze Age The Greeks and Romans The Dark Ages Ancient Mesopotamia The Persian Empire Nomadic states The Indus civilization China's dynasties and empires Japan and Southeast Asian kingdoms Early Mesoamericans The Maya, Aztec and Inca Ancient Egypt and the Upper Nile Iron Age Africa Australian Aborigines. Highlights:Compiled and written by an international team of archaeologists and historians Reveals the most up-to-date findings and their significance Organized geographically by region and key sites Uncovers the world's most important sites and treasures Spans all periods of human settlement Locator guide to sites by country List of World Heritage Sites 18 special features focus on intriguing topics Further readings and a glossary More than 700 color illustrations Attractive maps that show locations of key sites.

An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt


Kathryn A. Bard - 2007
    Provides an unprecedented introduction to the archaeology of ancient Egypt and its culture, monuments, and civilizationBeautifully illustrated with over 120 color and black and white illustrations, including artifacts, maps, and site and building plansIncludes special sections on such topics of perennial interest as building the pyramids at Giza, mummification, and deciphering hieroglyphsOrganized into 11 chapters, covering: the history of Egyptology and Egyptian archaeology; prehistoric and pharaonic chronology and the ancient Egyptian language; geography, resources, and environment; and seven chapters organized chronologically and devoted to specific archaeological sites and evidenceIncludes discussion of new excavations in Egypt, connecting recent work with the results of projects spanning the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Israelite Religions: An Archaeological and Biblical Survey


Richard S. Hess - 2007
    Israelite Religions offers Bible students and interested lay leaders a survey of the major issues and approaches that constitute the study of ancient Israelite religion. Unique among other books on the subject, Israelite Religions takes the Bible seriously as a historical source, balancing the biblical material with relevant evidence from archaeological finds.

The World of Pompeii


John J. Dobbins - 2007
    With contributions by well-known experts in the field, this book studies not only Pompeii, but also for the first time the buried surrounding cities of Campania. The World of Pompeii includes the latest understanding of the region, based on the up-to-date findings of recent archaeological work.Accompanied by a CD with the most detailed map of Pompeii so far, this book is instrumental in studying the city in the ancient world and is an excellent source book for students of this fascinating and tragic geographic region.

City Of The Sharp Nosed Fish: Greek Lives In Roman Egypt


Peter Parsons - 2007
    When they finished ten years later, they had uncovered 500,000 fragments of papyri from the ruins of the city of Oxyrhynchos. The work of deciphering these fragments is still ongoing.

Ancient Objects and Sacred Realms: Interpretations of Mississippian Iconography


F. Kent Reilly III - 2007
    This edited work brings together ten essays, analysing the iconography of Mississippian art in order to reconstruct the ritual activities, cosmological vision, and ideology of these ancient precursors to several groups of contemporary Native Americans.

Cave Art: A Guide to the Decorated Ice Age Caves of Europe


Paul G. Bahn - 2007
    There you can see the art – paintings, engravings, bas-reliefs or drawings – in its original, natural setting, and stand where the artists did 30,000–10,000 years ago. For speleologists and holidaymakers alike – indeed anyone who wants to add a visit to a cave to their itinerary – here is an essential handbook. The first guide to all the decorated Ice Age caves in Europe that are open to the public, Cave Art covers more than 50 caves in England, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy, as well as relevant museums and centres.

The Quest for the Tomb of Alexander the Great


Andrew Chugg - 2007
    In the intervening years, direct progress on testing of the candidate remains has been thwarted by the Church authorities, yet much new information has emerged, casting the enigma in an ever more probing light. It may turn out to be the greatest archaeological story of the century, for nobody has yet been able to refute the author's novel suggestion that the body stolen from Alexandria in AD828 and now in Venice may have acquired a false identity in the 4th century AD. This updated and extended account lays bare the forgotten secrets of one of the greatest mysteries bequeathed to us by the ancient world. Includes the author's several published academic articles on the subject as Appendices. Over 80 illustrations.

Conflicted Antiquities: Egyptology, Egyptomania, Egyptian Modernity


Elliott Colla - 2007
    Consulting the relevant Arabic archives, Elliott Colla demonstrates that the emergence of Egyptology—the study of ancient Egypt and its material legacy—was as consequential for modern Egyptians as it was for Europeans. The values and practices introduced by the new science of archaeology played a key role in the formation of a new colonial regime in Egypt. This fact was not lost on Egyptian nationalists, who challenged colonial archaeologists with the claim that they were the direct heirs of the Pharaohs, and therefore the rightful owners and administrators of ancient Egypt’s historical sites and artifacts. As this dispute developed, nationalists invented the political and expressive culture of “Pharaonism”—Egypt’s response to Europe’s Egyptomania. In the process, a significant body of modern, Pharaonist poetry, sculpture, architecture, and film was created by artists and authors who looked to the ancient past for inspiration.Colla draws on medieval and modern Arabic poetry, novels, and travel accounts; British and French travel writing; the history of archaeology; and the history of European and Egyptian museums and exhibits. The struggle over the ownership of Pharaonic Egypt did not simply pit Egyptian nationalists against European colonial administrators. Egyptian elites found arguments about the appreciation and preservation of ancient objects useful for exerting new forms of control over rural populations and for mobilizing new political parties. Finally, just as the political and expressive culture of Pharaonism proved critical to the formation of new concepts of nationalist identity, it also fueled Islamist opposition to the Egyptian state.

Oxford Bible Atlas


Adrian Curtis - 2007
    The Atlas will help readers of the Bible understand the contexts in which its stories are set and to appreciate the world from which it emerged and which formed its background. Maps show the geographical setting of the Bible's storiesand reflect the successive stages of the Bible's accounts, while specially chosen full-colour illustrations bring the countries and their peoples to life. The accompanying text describes the land of Palestine, and its wider ancient Near Eastern and east Mediterranean settings. It outlines clearly the successivehistorical periods, and describes the major civilizations with which Israelites, Jews, and early Christians came into contact. There is also an illustrated survey of the relevance of archaeology for the study of the Bible. The Atlas provides a superb guide to the geography of the Holy Land throughout biblical history, from the Exodus period through to New Testament times.

The Human Lineage


Matt Cartmill - 2007
    the sheer quality of the writing and explanatory synthesis in this book will undoubtedly make it a valuable resource for students for many years. --PaleoAnthropology, 2010 This book focuses on the last ten million years of human history, from the hominoid radiations to the emergence and diversification of modern humanity. It draws upon the fossil record to shed light on the key scientific issues, principles, methods, and history in paleoanthropology. The book proceeds through the fossil record of human evolution by historical stages representing the acquisition of major human features that explain the success and distinctive properties of modern Homo sapiens.Key features: Provides thorough coverage of the fossil record and sites, with data on key variables such as cranial capacity and body size estimates Offers a balanced, critical assessment of the interpretative models explaining pattern in the fossil record Each chapter incorporates a Blind Alley box focusing on once prevalent ideas now rejected such as the arboreal theory, seed-eating, single-species hypothesis, and Piltdown man Promotes critical thinking by students while allowing instructors flexibility in structuring their teaching Densely illustrated with informative, well-labelled anatomical drawings and photographs Includes an annotated bibliography for advanced inquiry Written by established leaders in the field, providing depth of expertise on evolutionary theory and anatomy through to functional morphology, this textbook is essential reading for all advanced undergraduate students and beginning graduate students in biological anthropology.

Roman Art


Michael Siebler - 2007
    It was only in about 1900 that a search began for ancient Roman art and architecture. Part of the 'Basic Genre' series, this volume features works of Roman art, such as: Augustus of Primaporta; Gemma Augustea; and Lycurgus beaker.

California Prehistory: Colonization, Culture, and Complexity


Terry L. Jones - 2007
    This work is the most extensive study of California's prehistory undertaken in the past 20 years. An essential resource for any scholar of California prehistory and archaeology!

Crusader Castles and Modern Histories


Ronnie Ellenblum - 2007
    These modern histories have interpreted the Crusades in terms of dichotomous camps, Frankish and Muslim. In this revisionist study, Ronnie Ellenblum presents an interpretation of Crusader historiography that instead defines military and architectural relations between the Franks, local Christians, Muslims and Turks in terms of continuous dialogue and mutual influence. Through close analysis of siege tactics, defensive strategies and the structure and distribution of Crusader castles, Ellenblum relates patterns of crusader settlement to their environment and demonstrates the influence of opposing cultures on tactics and fortifications. He argues that fortifications were often built according to economic and geographic considerations rather than for strategic reasons or to protect illusory 'frontiers', and that Crusader castles are the most evident expression of a cultural dialogue between east and west.

Rethinking the Human Revolution


Paul Mellars - 2007
    The 34 papers cover topics ranging from the DNA and skeletal evidence for modern human origins in Africa, through the archaeological evidence for the emergence of distinctively 'modern' patterns of human behaviour and cognition, to the various lines of evidence for the geographical dispersal patterns of biologically and behaviourally modern populations from their African origins throughout Asia, Australasia and Europe, over the past 60,000 years.

Handbook of the Indians of California


Alfred Louis Kroeber - 2007
    In the north they approximated the cultures of the Northwest Coast; in the center they developed distinctive, elaborate cultures based on local food supplies; and in the south and east they approximated the more primitive desert groups — all in all showing a host of adaptations within a relatively small geographical area. In addition, despite successive decimations by missionaries, colonial administrations, settlers, and exploiters, enough Indians survived (though sometimes only a couple of each group) to make their study possible. For these reasons they have long been an important topic in anthropological circles.Far and away the most important work ever prepared about this complex situation was the monumental Handbook of the Indians of California by Kroeber. Based on more than 15 years of exhaustive research by Kroeber, it is a summation of just about everything of importance known about these Indians. Kroeber covered demographic situations, linguistic relations (which are also extraordinarily complex), social structures, folkways, religion, material culture, and whatever else was needed to offer a full picture of each “tribe.” The resulting book is a survey of each group, the typologically more important groups like the Yurok, Pomo, Maidu, Yokuts, and Mohave naturally receiving the most detail. Indispensable for every student of the American Indian, it can be read with great profit by both specialists and lay readers.

Handbook of Archaeological Theories


R. Alexander Bentley - 2007
    This handbook gathers original, authoritative articles from leading archaeologists to compile the latest thinking about archaeological theory.

Machu Picchu: Exploring an Ancient Sacred Center


Johan Reinhard - 2007
    Even the most basic questions are still unanswered: What was its meaning and why was it built in such a difficult location? Renowned explorer Johan Reinhard attempts to answer such elusive questions from the perspectives of sacred landscape and archaeoastronomy. Using information gathered from historical, archaeological, and ethnographical sources, Reinhard demonstrates how the site is situated in the center of sacred mountains and associated with a sacred river, which is in turn symbolically linked with the sun's passage. Taken together, these features meant that Machu Picchu formed a cosmological, hydrological, and sacred geological center for a vast region.

Exotic Postcards: The Lure of Distant Lands


Alan Beukers - 2007
    This album of over 200 century-old postcards takes the reader on a magical journey across the world in five travelogues, depicting the Orient, the Arab lands, Africa, the Americas and Oceania.

The Archaeology of Race and Racialization in Historic America


Charles E. Orser Jr. - 2007
    He demonstrates this in two case studies, one from the Five Points excavation in New York City focusing on an immigrant Irish population, the second from a Chinese laundry in Stockton, California. Orser argues that race has not always been defined by skin color; through time, its meaning has changed. The process of racialization has marked most groups who came to the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; this book demonstrates ways that historical archaeology can contribute to understanding a fundamental element of the American immigrant experience.

Chaco Astronomy: An Ancient Americancosmology


Anna Sofaer - 2007
    Compiled by Anna Sofaer and her Solstice Project team of geographers, astronomers, archaeologists, and Native scholars, the book includes nine compelling and detailed chapters, with photographs, charts, diagrams, appendices.

Looting Spiro Mounds: An American King Tut’s Tomb


David La Vere - 2007
    They also ignited a controversy that continues to have repercussions throughout archaeological and American Indian communities.The Spiro Mounds contained some of the most impressive pre-Columbian Indian art ever found. In Looting Spiro Mounds, David La Vere takes readers behind the scenes of this discovery to re-create a Great Depression–era archaeological adventure worthy of Indiana Jones.The looting of the mounds is considered one of the major archaeological tragedies of all time. Today Spiro artifacts are scattered among the world’s museums, with some still circulating in the antiquities market and eagerly snatched up by collectors. La Vere weaves a compelling story of grave robbers and lost treasures as he pieces together the puzzle of the civilization that thrived at Spiro from A.D. 800 to 1450. He plumbs the mystery of why the people of Spiro abandoned the site, leaving behind their treasures but no forwarding address.Looting Spiro Mounds explains what the continuing mystique of Spiro artifacts is all about as the book uncovers a controversy—and a mystery—that lives on to this day.

Early Islamic Syria


Alan Walmsley - 2007
    This concise book offers an innovative assessment of social and economic developments in Syria-Palestine shortly before, and in the two centuries after, the Islamic expansion (the later sixth to the early ninth century AD), drawing on a wide range of new evidence from recent archaeological work. Alan Walmsley challenges conventional explanations for social change with the arrival of Islam, arguing for considerable cultural and economic continuity rather than devastation and unrelenting decline. Much new, and increasingly non-elite, architectural evidence and an ever-growing corpus of material culture indicate that Syria-Palestine entered a new age of social richness in the early Islamic period, even if the gains were chronologically and regionally uneven.

Pleistocene Mammals of Europe


Björn Kurtén - 2007
    For each species there is a description of its descent and migration history, its range, and its mode of life. The first version of this book was a semipopular paperback in the Swedish Aldus series.

Astronomical Symbols on Ancient and Medieval Coins


Marshall Faintich - 2007
    In a time when few members of the population could read or write, the symbols depicted on coins offered a medium for communication, propaganda, and historical archiving. This work hypothesizes that astronomical symbols on ancient and medieval coins were often used as a way to record actual celestial events. The author provides more than 550 figures and line drawings of coins, maps, and astronomical events to illustrate this hypothesis. In addition, several appendices evaluate the historical accuracy of ancient and medieval coinage and offer additional examples not included in the main volume.

Medicine and Healthcare in Roman Britain


Nicholas Summerton - 2007
    The book covers individual medical care, public health and the relationship between religion and medicine.

The Atlantic Iron Age: Settlement and Identity in the First Millennium BC


Jon Henderson - 2007
    By examining the evidence for settlement and maritime trade, as well as aspects of the material culture of each area, Henderson identifies distinct Atlantic social identities through time. He also pinpoints areas of similarity: the possibility of cultural 'cross-pollination' caused by maritime links and to what extent these contacts influenced and altered the distinctive character of local communities. A major theme running through the book is the role of the Atlantic seaboard itself and what impact this unique environment had on the ways Atlantic communities perceived themselves and their place in the world. As a history of these communities unfolds, a general archaeological Atlantic identity breaks down into a range of regional identities which compare interestingly with each other and with traditional models of Celtic identity. Bringing together the Iron Age settlement evidence for the Atlantic regions in one place for the first time, this excellent and original book is certain to establish itself as the definitive study of the Atlantic Iron Age.

Around the World: The Grand Tour in Photo Albums


Barbara Levine - 2007
    Chicagoan Clara E. Whitcomb's travel diary containing pages filled with souvenir photos, maps, and a list of titles for a future book about her travels in Egypt. These are only two of the narratives that unfold in the beautifully designed pages of Around the World. From Cairo to Burma and back again, authors Barbara Levine and Kirsten Jensen transport readers back tothe dawn of world travel when, Brownie cameras in tow, the middle class toured the world for the first time and painstakingly documented their discoveries within scrapbooks, diary entries, and pasted-on souvenir postcards.Around the World traces the development of the travel photo album, from primarily narrative formsships' logs and diariesinto rich multimedia objects of sublime beauty. The book features a wealth of turn-of-the- twentieth-century photographs and ephemera such as passports, ship menus, calling cards, and newspaper clippings. Around the World evokes the pleasures of a time when the surroundings were taken in slowly and travel was an art in and of itself.

Findings: The Material Culture of Needlework and Sewing


Mary C. Beaudry - 2007
    Beaudry mines archaeological findings of sewing and needlework to discover what these small traces of female experience reveal about the societies and cultures in which they were used. Beaudry’s geographical and chronological scope is broad: she examines sites in the United States and Great Britain, as well as Australia and Canada, and she ranges from the Middle Ages through the Industrial Revolution.The author describes the social and cultural significance of “findings”: pins, needles, thimbles, scissors, and other sewing accessories and tools. Through the fascinating stories that grow out of these findings, Beaudry shows the extent to which such “small things” were deeply entrenched in the construction of gender, personal identity, and social class.

Wonders of the World


Francesco Boccia - 2007
    The majestic pyramids and temples of Egypt, great monuments of the Greek and Roman worlds, gems of European medieval and Renaissance architecture, extraordinary works built by Mesoamerican and Oriental civilization, and astonishing structures designed by acclaimed contemporary masters are just a few of the works showcased in this exploration of the history of architectural creativity.The book embarks on a long and complex journey that uses words and images, commentaries and photographs, as fundamental tools to help readers grasp the essence and grandeur of these masterpieces. As detailed, careful and evocative as any account may be, no simple description of the structures, surfaces, materials and colors of these architectural works can convey their full complexity. By the same token, photographs alone-without explanatory texts or a brief overview of the vision behind these works-cannot do them justice. Words and images are essential and inseparable elements in bringing to life a work of architecture and, on a more general level, in the difficult art of creating communication. The unity and relationship of these forms of conveying thought and visible reality have the ability to inspire us - and that is the intention of this book.

Chiefdoms and Other Archaeological Delusions


Timothy R. Pauketat - 2007
    In turn, archaeologists have all too often relied on these models to reconstruct the lives of ancient peoples. In lively, engaging, and informed prose, Timothy Pauketat debunks much of this social-evolutionary theorizing about human development, as he ponders the evidence of 'chiefdoms' left behind by the Mississippian culture of the American southern heartland. This book challenges all students of history and prehistory to reexamine the actual evidence that archaeology has made available, and to do so with an open mind.

Images of Pederasty


Eva Cantarella - 2007
    The book shows how painters used the language of vase-painting to cast pederasty in an idealizing light, portraying it as part of a world in which beautiful elite males display praiseworthy attitudes, such as moderation, and engage in approved activities, such as hunting, athletics, and the symposium. The book also incorporates a comprehensive catalogue of relevant vase-paintings, compiled by noted archaeologist Keith DeVries. It is the most comprehensive treatment available of an institution that has few modern parallels.

The Archaeology of Collective Action


DEAN J. SAITTA - 2007
    Recognizing that studies of the past can serve different social interests, creating knowledge that can be used to oppress or emancipate elements of society, Saitta argues that historical archaeology needs to move beyond its emphasis on recovering the individual to acknowledging and asserting its power to effect social change.Developing a theoretical and methodological approach to the archaeology of collective action, Saitta reviews some of the progress archaeologists have made in illuminating race-, gender-, and class-based forms of collective action in shaping the American experience. He then provides a case study illustrating the methods and insights archaeology brings to research on the Ludlow Massacre and the Colorado Coalfield Strike of 1913-14. Throughout, Saitta frames key issues and definitions in a clear, accessible style and offers compelling and persuasive arguments for the epistemological reorientation of the discipline of historical archaeology.Notably, the book makes explicit the tie between the archaeological past and the political present. Excavations of the strikers’ tent colony site at Ludlow, Colorado, provided novel insights into the survival tactics and resistance strategies of ordinary people locked in struggle with state and corporate power. The site became a powerful living memorial, resonating in contemporary labor struggles. Saitta’s book will thus have special interest for the audience of scholars, students, and citizens who see archaeology as both a source of historical truth and a comment on the contemporary human condition.

The Parowan Gap


V. Garth Norman - 2007
    It is heavily visited and world famous for its many intriguing petroglyphs that until now have been an unsolved mystery. In 1993, noted archaeologist Garth Norman began the Parowan Gap Archaeology Project. His earth-shaking discoveries have challenged previously held ideas about the Fremont culture and way of life. Norman's breakthrough of how to read the code of the Gap rock art has enabled him to prove that the Fremont culture was far more sophisticated than was previously known and had distant trade contacts as far away as Mesoamerica. Among his most exciting discoveries is the sacred Mesoamerican calendar with in a Fremont lunar-solar calendar. Norman also discovered a massive world-class temple center and calendar observatory - and more! The book with its fascinating, cutting-edge study of the Parowan Gap is invaluable for anyone interested in North American archaeology.

The Art of Gandhara in The Metropolitan Museum of Art


Kurt Behrendt - 2007
    This steady commerce provided the financial foundation for the sustained patronage of luxury goods as well as Buddhist monastic sites and devotional sculpture. Drawing on the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, this book traces the complex and changing artistic tradition of Gandhara, from Northwest Pakistan and Eastern Afghanistan in the 2nd century BC until the 8th century.This book also explores early urban material, international trade, and the emergence and development of Buddhist art in the region, specifically addressing the relic tradition, narrative art, and iconic representations of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. The latest period of production is characterized by the fabrication of monumental imagery as well as the clay and stucco production of Afghanistan.

Feasting the Dead: Food and Drink in Anglo-Saxon Burial Rituals


Christina Lee - 2007
    The book examines the place of food and feasting in funerary rituals from the earliest period to the eleventh century, considering the changes and transformations that occurred during this time, drawing on a wide range of sources, from archaeological evidence to the existing texts. It looks in particular at representations of funerary feasting, how it functions as a tool for memory, and sheds light on the relationship between the living and the dead. CHRISTINA LEE is a lecturer in the School of English Studies at the University of Nottingham.

The Rock Art of Arizona: Art for Life's Sake


Ekkehart Malotki - 2007
    Consisting primarily of engraved images (petroglyphs) on sandstone and basalt, but also offering paintings (pictographs) under overhangs, and ground figures (geoglyphs) on the desert pavements, Arizona's rock art truly commands awe and respect. This book, in a comprehensive survey, presents the full gamut of the state's impressive open-air art from its earliest beginnings until more recent manifestations in the historic era. Though The Rock Art of Arizona contains more than 380 color photographs, over 130 drawings, and numerous charts and maps, it goes beyond the usual bounds of a lavishly illustrated coffee-table book. In addition to describing the various Archaic and post Archaic rock art styles and traditions in the state's fifteen counties, author Ekkehart Malotki focuses on providing insights into what may have compelled Arizona's ancestral artists to produce the imagery and what functions it may have had in their daily lives. At the same time, he acknowledges the severe limitations of scientifically dating the paleoart, the subjective biases involved in stylistic classification, and the ultimate mystery of its meaning. Within the confines of this explanatory framework, drawing primarily on novel ideas derived from the field of evolutionary psychology and the concept of human universals, he argues that rock art, in a broadly defined context of art and ritual, had beneficial adaptive value in the human struggle for survival and thus can truly be perceived as art for life's sake.

Be of Good Mind: Essays on the Coast Salish


Bruce Granville Miller - 2007
    Contributors point to the continual reshaping of Coast Salish identities and our understandings of them through litigation and language revitalization, as well as community efforts to reclaim their connections with the environment. They point to significant continuity of networks of kinfolk, spiritual practices, and understandings of landscape. This is the first book-length effort to directly incorporate Aboriginal perspectives and a broad interdisciplinary approach to research about the Coast Salish.

Rethinking Environmental History: World-System History and Global Environmental Change


Alf Hornborg - 2007
    Alf Hornborg, J. R. McNeill, and Joan Martinez-Alier have brought together a group of the prominent social scientists, historians, and geographical scientists to provide a historical overview of the ecological dimension of global economic processes. Readers are challenged to integrate studies of the Earth-system with studies of the world-system, and to reconceptualize the relations between human beings and their environment, as well as the challenges of global sustainability.

Sacred Sites -- Contested Rites/Rights: Pagan Engagements with Archaeological Monuments


Jenny Blain - 2007
    Pagan identities and constructions of sacredness contest assumptions of a 'closed' past and untouchable heritage, within a socio-politics in which prehistoric archaeology – the stone circles, burial cairns and rock art of the British Isles – is itself subject to political and economic threats. Pagans see prehistoric monuments in a living, enchanted landscape of deities, ancestors, spirits, ‘wights' and other non-human agencies engaged with for personal and community empowerment. From all areas of Britain and indeed worldwide, people come to sacred sites of prehistory to make pilgrimage, befriend places, give offerings, act as unofficial ‘site guardians’, campaign for ‘site welfare’. Summer solstice access at Stonehenge attracts tens of thousands of celebrants; threats of quarrying near Derbyshire's Nine Ladies stone circle or Yorkshire's Thornborough Henges lead to protests and campaigns for the preservation of sacred landscapes and conservation of plant and animal species. Pagans can be seen as allies to the interests of heritage management, yet instances of site damage and recent claims for the reburial of non-Christian human remains disrupt the preservation ethos of those who manage and study these sites, and the large-scale celebrations at Stonehenge and Avebury are subject to continual negotiation. … In this book an anthropologist (Blain) and archaeologist (Wallis) examine interfaces between paganisms and archaeology, considering the emergence of ‘sacred sites’ in pagan and heritage discourse and implications of pagan involvement for heritage management, archaeology, anthropology – and for pagans themselves, as well as considering practical guidelines for reciprocal benefit.

Antiquity Recovered: The Legacy of Pompeii and Herculaneum


Victoria C. Gardner Coates - 2007
    This volume presents a diverse array of response to the sites, tracing how perceptions of the past have changed over the course of three centuries of excavations, what the editors call "the strata of interpretation." The thirteen essays range in subject from a reassessment of the contents of the library at Herculaneum's Villa of the Papyri to the symbolic appearance of the ancient world in such films as Roberto Rossellini's Voyage in Italy and Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt. Antiquity Recovered explores the complexities of "the reception of the past" and helps enhance our understanding of the roles these cities have played, and continue to play, in Western culture.

Paleoindian Archaeology: A Hemispheric Perspective


Juliet E. MorrowEileen Johnson - 2007
    While Clovis remains the earliest undisputed cultural complex in the New World and one of the fastest and most successful diasporas in human history, many scholars argue that this culture did not enter an empty landscape. This volume samples sites from Alaska to the southern cone of South America to provide a better understanding of the processes by which the early settlement of the Americas occurred at the end of the late Wisconsonian Ice Age. With broad geographical and topical breadth, "Paleoindian Archaeology "provides theoretical perspectives on early migrations, interpretations of single sites, and comparative studies of material culture. Included are a synthesis on radiocarbon dating, a critique of Paleoindian studies, a reconstruction of the Clovis drought based on geomorphological and paleo-environmental data, several site specific studies (one on the only known Clovis burial in the New World), discussions on fluted points from South America, and three studies comparing North and South American evidence (grassland adaptations, stone technologies, and Paleoindian artifacts).

Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica


Christopher A. Pool - 2007
    Emphasising the strategies of political leaders and the environmental and social diversity within the Olmec region, this up-to-date and comprehensive study describes the history of Olmec research, synthesises recent scholarship on the ecology, economy, socio-political organisation and ideology of Olmec society, and evaluates current debates over the influence of the Olmecs on their contemporaries and their contributions to later Mesoamerican civilisations.

The Prehistory of Britain and Ireland


Richard Bradley - 2007
    In this landmark 2007 study - the first significant survey of the archaeology of Britain and Ireland for twenty years - Richard Bradley offers an interpretation of the unique archaeological record of these islands based on a wealth of current and largely unpublished data. Bradley surveys the entire archaeological sequence over a 4,000 year period, from the adoption of agriculture in the Neolithic period to the discovery of Britain and Ireland by travellers from the Mediterranean during the later pre-Roman Iron Age. Significantly, this is the first modern account to treat Britain and Ireland on equal terms, offering a detailed interpretation of the prehistory of both islands.

Daily Life In Ancient Egypt


Kasia Szpakowska - 2007
    This perfect snapshot in time has been painstakingly recreated using recently published textual data and archaeological findings. Provides an illuminating and engaging re-construction of what daily life was like in ancient Egypt Describes the main issues of everyday life in the town - from education, work, and food preparation to religious rituals, healing techniques, marriages, births, and deaths Authentically recreated through the use of recently published textual data and archaeological findings directly from the settlement of Lahun and other sites Includes photographs and illustrations of actual artifacts from the settlement of Lahun

Pompeii Awakened: A Story of Rediscovery


Judith Harris - 2007
    Not until 1748 did it emerge from its layer of volcanic rock, and the impact of that discovery was immediate and far-reaching. The evocative story of Pompeii's awakening lies not just in its uniquely preserved classical remains but also in the powerful impact it made on Western cultural imagination. Judith Harris brings the doomed city vibrantly to life. In her rich account of those who sifted through its artefacts, we read of Nelson, Napoleon and Mussolini. Of poets who sought melancholy fulfilment from Pompeii's shattered walls. Of tub-thumping Victorian preachers who likened it to Sodom and Gomorrah. And of the many others -- engineers and architects, artists and filmmakers -- for whom the city has never ceased to resonate. Harris has delved into ancient diaries and descended deep underground to assess the latest excavations.  As the sleeping city re-awakens at her hands, Pompeii casts its spell once more, bewitching those who seek to unearth its buried secrets. Her website is: www.judith-harris.com

Archaeology as a Tool of Civic Engagement


Barbara J. Little - 2007
    The authors are intensely committed to developing effective models for participating in the civic renewal movement - through active engagement in community life, in development offor interpretive and educational programming, and for in participation in debates and decisions about preservation and community planning. Using case studies from different regions within the United States, Guatemala, Vietnam, Canada, and Eastern Europe, Little and Shackel challenge archaeologists to create an ethical public archaeology that is concerned not just with the management of cultural resources, but with social justice and civic responsibility. Their new book will be a valuable guide for archaeologists, community planners, historians, and museum professionals.

The Teotihuacan Trinity: The Sociopolitical Structure of an Ancient Mesoamerican City


Annabeth Headrick - 2007
    Annabeth Headrick analyses Teotihuacan's art and architecture in the light of archaeological data and Mesoamerican ethnography, to propose a new model for the city's social and political organization.

Crossroads and Cosmologies: Diasporas and Ethnogenesis in the New World


Christopher C. Fennell - 2007
    He also explores similar developments among European immigrants and the interactions of both groups with Native Americans. Focusing on extant artifacts left by displaced Africans, Fennell finds that material culture and religious ritual contributed to a variety of modes of survival in mainland North America as well as in the Caribbean and Brazil. Over time, new symbols of culture led to further changes in individual customs and beliefs as well as the creation of new social groups and new expressions of identity. Presenting insights from archaeology, history, and symbolic anthropology, this book traces the dynamic legacy of the trans-Atlantic diasporas over four centuries, and it challenges existing concepts of creolization and cultural retention. In the process, it examines some of the major cultural belief systems of west and west central Africa, specific symbols of the BaKongo and Yoruba cosmologies, development of prominent African-American religious expressions in the Americas, and the Christian and non-Christian spiritual traditions of German-speaking immigrants from central Europe.