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This work discusses in depth the series of changes involving human communities that took place in the strip of land between the rivers Júcar and Segura (south-eastern Iberian Peninsular) over a period of nearly 3,000 years, ca. 5600 - 2600 cal BC, from the Ancient Neolithic Cardial period up to the Chalcolithic age.

A new study of 'The Fair Stone', defining jade, its nature, virtues, deposits and carving techniques according to ancient Chinese texts. Analysis of ancient sources with a critical mind may supplement archaeological finds and modern scientific studies, but others still present scholars with quite a few riddles, such as metal jade carving implements. This study attempts to provide an analysis of the multifaceted meanings, connotations and echoes of a single word, concept and symbol. It also allows a better grasp of matters of concern for mineralogists and gemmologists: jade's origin and deposits, mining and carving technology. Two appendices include a chart of "jade" producing places according to the Shanhaijing (Books of mountains and seas) and a full translation of Song Yingxing' chapter on jade in the Tiangong kaiwu (Exploitation of the works of Nature). Illustrations draw on reproductions of old Chinese books from the Yuan (1279-1368) to the Republic. Maps in late commentaries to the Classics, geographical monographs on Xinjiang or drawn by the author show jade and abrasive deposits and the "jade road" from Khotan to Xi'an.

In 2001, the Gadara Region Project was started, and the tell in the centre of Wadi al-Arab, Tall Zar'a was chosen as an initial focus of research. During previous visits to the site, it had been established that this tell had been inhabited almost continuously from the Early Bronze Age to the Late Ottoman Period. Tall Zar¿a is situated in the western sector of Wadi al-'Arab, which runs from the Transjordanian highlands near the city of Irbid to the Jordan Valley near northern Shunah. Contents: Introduction; Sondage and Stratigraphy; Architectural Remains; The Pottery; Small Finds; Stone Artefacts; Iron Age Cooking Vessels; Tall Zar¿a as 'Gadara' in the Later Bronze and Early Iron Age.

The main goal of this research is the study of the strategies of provisioning and utilization of lithic raw materials within the Pali Aike volcanic field, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina (South America). The work includes an analysis of the land-use patterns and home ranges of the human populations that inhabited this region during the Late Holocene (ca. last 4000 years BP). The case-study presented here employs a methodology of lithic analysis that is regional and non-typological, which has the potential to be of value in other areas of the world and with other specific research goals.

This collection of papers is dedicated to Dr Ina Plug to celebrate her tremendous contributions to archaeozoology (or zooarchaeology) in a career that has so far spanned more than three decades.

In 1717 A.D., the Caribou Inuit of the Kivalliq, Nunavut were introduced to the Fur Trade through the Hudson Bay Company. It has been previously posited that between that time and 1900 A.D., the Caribou Inuit were drawn out of a traditional subsistence pattern and into an economy that was a part of a world system. However, the actual process of how trade goods and technologies were incorporated into Caribou Inuit society by the Caribou Inuit themselves has received little attention. Using a combination of archaeology, archival history, and oral history to examine the profiles of specific individuals, this report demonstrates the importance of Caribou Inuit families that acted as intermediaries between their culture and European trade in the process of Caribou Inuit economic transition during the early historic period.

The Archaeology of Semiotics and the social order of things is edited by George Nash and George Children and brings together 15 thought-provoking chapters from contributors around the world. A sequel to an earlier volume published in 1997, it tackles the problem of understanding how complex communities interact with landscape and shows how the rules concerning landscape constitute a recognised and readable grammar. The mechanisms underlying landscape grammar are both physical and mental, being based in part on the mindset of the individual; the same landscape can thus evoke different meanings for different people and at different times. People's perception has greatly influenced the construction of landscapes over millennia but, until recently, the potential of this area has been largely untapped. Apart from chapters focusing solely upon human interaction with landscape, there are several which skilfully integrate artefacts and place with landscape (e.g. Gheorghiu and Sognnes). Other chapters look at the way people have marked the landscape through such mechanisms as rock-art (e.g. Clegg, Devereux, Estévez, Fossati, Kelleher and Skier). Rock-art establishes personal and communal identity in relation to landscape and it is clear that other forms of visual expression were in place which distinctively created special places within the landscape. Landscape constructs can bind cultures together; bringing the old ways of reading the landscape into contemporary life (e.g. Smiseth). Defining early and late prehistoric landscapes and segregating these into, say, mundane domestic and ritualised spaces rely on both clear and subtle archaeologies and in this volume distinct monument clustering and ritualised linearity are considered (e.g. Mason and Nash). A volume such as this cannot escape the influence of New World approaches, such as anthropology, and in many respects chapters by Bender, Muller and Merritt give context to other chapters within the book. Finally, one must consider text as a means of constructing landscape and this is considered by Heyd, who eloquently deconstructs the travel diary of a 17th century Japanese poet. This will be an important volume for archaeologists, landscape scholars and students. The many approaches used are tried and tested, forming an invaluable resource and not just another edited book.

Proceedings of a Nordic Research Training Seminar in Syria, May 2004The papers of a Nordic research training seminar that took place during a NorFA (currently NordForsk) PhD course in Syria in May 2004. These papers offer an introduction to anyone interested in archaeology, history, art history and ethnography of the neighbourhood of Jebel Bishri. They are written so that they are also approachable by a general reader or a non-specialist of a particular period. They are not scientific reports but contribute as a reference source to the previous and forthcoming archaeological publications concerning Jebel Bishri under the study by SYGIS (the Syrian GIS). The papers bring new insights, points of views, and methodological approaches to the already known sites in the vicinity of Jebel Bishri, as well as contexts to the newly studied sites in the area.

Although it has received much attention, Minoan religion has never been fully reconstructed, understood or analysed. In this study, with reference to major sites, the author concentrates on the role of sacrificial ritual in the religious organisation of Crete in the Bronze Age. The work points out some of the major problems with previous studies of Minoan religion and goes some way toward indicating possible routes of investigation.

The study of secondary centres is crucial to understanding how a state functions, as they are important points of interaction between state authorities and ordinary households. In this work the author focuses on the nature of the political organization of the lower-level centres of the Early Classic Period (A.D. 200- 500) in the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca, Mexico. A previous comparative analysis of architectural arrangements at secondary centers between the Valley of Oaxaca and the Mixteca Alta indicated that single plaza groups were the major form of public architecture. The author interprets these enclosed plaza groups as the residences of elite governing households suggesting dominance of secondary centres by single households in the Mixteca Alta. Conversely, in the Valley of Oaxaca secondary centres show a pattern of multiple enclosed plaza groups, indicating that multiple households shared administrative functions. The main questions addressed by the author are whether Mixteca Alta centres are characterized by a single plaza pattern, politically less centralized, or is there a broader span of control at the secondary level? Alternatively, do these single plaza groups suggest that the state vested power in single households? The focus of the research is on four secondary centres of the Mixteca Alta. Using intensive site survey and systematic random collection as the main methods of data recovery, the author has collected artefacts over whole site areas in relation to public buildings. By comparing the distribution of various artefact categories within the site limits, including costly goods, in relation to zones of the site containing public architecture, the author evaluates the degree of political centralization.

The Rise and Growth of an Urban Community (facsimile of a 1977 Oxford doctoral thesis).

Archeologia di una battaglia e delle sue fortificazioni sulle Alpi fra Piemonte e Delfinato Italia nord-occidentale

Proceedings of the XV World Congress UISPP Lisbon, 4-9 September 2006. Volume 40, Session C28This book includes papers (in French and English) from the session (Vol. 40, Session C28) 'Symbolic Spaces in Prehistoric Art', presented at the XV UISPP World Congress (Lisbon, 4-9 September 2006).

To date there has been little systematic study of the appropriation of, or attitudes to, prehistoric monuments in settlements of the period. The objectives of the research presented here are twofold. Firstly, it assesses how widespread the reuse of prehistoric monuments was in early to middle Anglo-Saxon settlements. In so doing, it examines the types of settlements in which the activity occurred and the types of prehistoric features that were reused. This is achieved through a review of the Anglo-Saxon settlement evidence in a regional study area. The settlements discussed in this study date to the period c.AD 450-850, with a regional focus based on central England, defined here to the north by the Humber and to the south by the Thames. In addition to well-known and published sites, this review makes use of data that is less frequently discussed in archaeological discourse, such as partially excavated or unpublished settlements that have not previously attracted a great deal of attention from scholars. The second aim is to assess how, and particularly why, monuments were appropriated in settlements. In order to answer these questions an in-depth, site-by-site approach is taken, in which the layout and use of space in a number of case studies are analysed. These case studies allow greater understanding of the ways in which older monuments could be referenced in settlements, how reuse changed over time, and why monuments may have been significant. Four Gazetteers provide locational and reference data to the selected sites.

Proceedings of the XV World Congress UISPP Lisbon, 4-9 September 2006. Volume 38, Session C76This book includes papers from the session 'Antiquarians at the Megaliths' presented at the XV UISPP World Congress, Lisbon, 2006

Sculpted stones and carvings in caves and rock faces testify to an unexplored facet of early Christianity across a zone stretching from the Scottish coasts to Iceland. Though recent work paves the way for a more nuanced interpretation of this material, key uncertainties pose significant hurdles for scholarship. This book highlights the ambiguities surrounding Viking-Age Scandinavian and early Christian communities (called papar by later Norse literature), and focuses upon the Pap-place-names of the north Atlantic islands in order to shed new light on our understanding of the relationships between the peoples of this zone in the early medieval period.

First and Second Millennia B.P.This work presents a detailed study of the Puna de Atacama oasis (Antofalla, Argentina) across the first two millennia B.P.

Actas del Congreso Internacional (Cádiz, 7-9 de noviembre de 2005)

Reconstitution et analyse d'une source perdue fondamentale sur la civilisation Azte¿que, d'apre¿s l'Historia de las Indias de Nueva Espan¿a de D. Durän (1581) et la Cro¿nica Mexicana de F.A. Tezozomoc (ca. 1598)Written and illustrated in Nahuatl, the Crónica X is one of our major sources on Aztec history, from the mythical origins to the Spanish Conquest. However, it only reaches us through derived documents, including especially two adaptations in Spanish of the last quarter of the XVIth century, completed respectively by a Dominican friar of Spanish origin, Diego Durán, and by one of the grandsons of Motecuhzoma II, the native historian Fernando Alvarado Tezozomoc. This present volume is a modern reconstruction of this important historical source.

This study explores several different techniques to isolate and determine the age of lithic microdebitage in relation to archaeological deposits and sedimentation. This research proposes the integration of techniques available in archaeology and geomorphology to ascertain the shape and features of quartz microdebitage, and the use of OSL for direct dating of the artefacts and sediments. In this research, sedimentary samples from two archaeological sites in northern Australia are analysed using experimental methodologies to isolate and date quartz microdebitage, derived from the process of manufacturing stone tools. The central aim of this research is to apply the OSL dating technique for direct dating of quartz artefactual material. In order to achieve this it is necessary to unequivocally distinguish between microdebitage and the surrounding sediments. This is done by applying grain surface features techniques and microdebitage analysis to separate archaeological quartz and naturally occurring sedimentary quartz grains. The aims of this research are, therefore, to identify quartz microdebitage from archaeologically relevant deposits, and to use quartz microdebitage for OSL age determination, along with refinements in microdebitage analysis techniques. The principal novel aspect of this research is the dating of quartz microartefacts by OSL, although the combination of approaches taken, and their integration, is also innovative.

The subject of this study is hunter-gatherer adaptations to high altitude, focussed around the little-known valley of the River Atuel in the province of Southern Mendoza, Argentina. The research is original, using latest methods and techniques within a context of current archaeological theories. The author also identifies new trends in the history of hunter-gatherer populations, which have implications and applications for groups on other continents than South America.

Ceramic building material, particularly roofing material, is one of the most common finds on Romano-British sites, yet despite its abundance, it has been relatively little studied. Whole books have been devoted to relatively minor pottery types, but it is extremely rare for a book to devote as much as a single chapter to ceramic roofing material. This book is devoted to the study of ceramic roofing material, primarily tegulae. It considers how they were made and develops and dates a typology. It looks at the role of stamps and signatures and how these can inform the study of when and by whom the tegulae were made. It analyses how the tiles were fitted onto pitched roofs, how these roofs were constructed and proposes four stages in their evolution. It suggests that tegulae might also have been used on some vaulted roofs. Finally the logistics, costs and economics of tile manufacture and distribution are addressed. The book follows a logical sequence considering first how tegulae were manufactured, next their typology and then their dating in order to prepare the ground for the subsequent chapters on stamps and roof construction. The final chapter brings all the evidence together to examine the economic and social data that can be derived from a study of tegulae, grouped together as a single site. In contrast, where a useful assemblage of tiles has come from an individual site within a town, this has been identified separately from other assemblages within the same town. If these separate assemblages within the same towns are aggregated together then the number of individual sites falls from 104 to 85.

Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liège, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001. Section 1214 papers, 5 in English and 9 in French.

Freiburg Dissertations in Aegean ArchaeologyThe subject of this study is middle-Minoan fine ware, also known as 'Kamares'-ware. Earlier scholars were adapting typological and stylistic results for psychological explanations and therefore the meanings of motifs on vases from the point of view of the perceptions of the original artists and the users of their vessels have been misunderstood. The author presents a catalogue of motifs that can be established as ancient units of thought by means of various criteria. This panorama of motifs is introduced according to the nature of their use on vessels. These include examples of vessel-specific (connecting the surface of the vessel and the image space), representative, contextualizing, informational, imitative, syntactic, 'accentualizing', and general indicative characteristics. This catalogue of motifs leads to a better understanding of the differentiated forms of expression in Middle Minoan ornament. On the basis of this compilation of motifs quintessential new themes can be discussed (among them play, symbolism and symmetry) and thus contributing to an 'ornamentic' value of motif and vessel. The appendix offers an overview of motifs designated by the author and shows a selection of vessels central to the present argument.

This report provides the integrated results of extensive archaeological investigations undertaken at the site of a former car park located between Much Park and St. John's Street, Coventry (central England) between 2007 and 2010. The results have demonstrated that the site represents one of the most important investigations into medieval Coventry, and is of national significance. The features, deposits and structures can be divided into seven main phases beginning in the 12th century, through to the present day.With contributions by Steve Allen, John Cherry, Cecily Cropper, Amanda Forster, Ben Gearey, David Higgins, Matilda Holmes, Roz McKenna, Phil Mills, Quita Mould, Rebecca Nicholson, Stephanie Rátkai, Ruth Shaffrey, David Smith, Tony Swiss, Penelope Walton Rogers, Angela Wardle; illustrations by Nigel Dodds, Jemma Elliot and Kevin Colls; finds photography by Graham Norrie and ceramic report (Appendix 1) by Stephanie Rátkai and Jemma Elliot.

This collection of papers on 'Dress and Identity' arose from a seminar series held by the Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, University of Birmingham in 2005. The present volume covers a wide chronological and geographical span: from archaic Greece to medieval Scotland by way of the Roman Empire and Anglo-Saxon England. The contributors come from a number of different academic disciplines: history, archaeology and classics.

This research presents a study of scythes and sharp-edged, bladed, handled agricultural tools from Gaul, based on a survey of archaeological finds. This survey deals only with completely preserved objects and represents the only catalogue of Gallo-Roman scythes to date. This catalogue contains 27 entries of scythes, representing in all 40 entries. These implements have been assessed according to the way they were supposedly used: either frontal cutting tools or lateral cutting tools.

This research takes a new look, including metallurgical analyses, at the small metal finds from earlier digs at the Temple of Hera on the Greek island of Samos, which are housed in the Archaeological Museum in Vathy (Samos town). The finds include nails,rivets, pins, washers, a link of a chain, wall rings and hooks, which form the basis of a systematic classification of ancient fastening elements. They can be arranged into main groups, under which they can be sub-divided further by type. The broad spectrum of applications of ancient fastening elements hardly differs from today, but their usage in ancient constructions is, however, less easy to verify, due to the dismantling and re-using of joining and securing components. Nails in particular were highlyvalued as a temple offering and magical instrument. Fastening elements were produced using the casting process, by forging or through a combination of both these methods.

The important city of Halmyris lay where the Danube empties into the Black Sea (Romania). The sizable present collection of inscriptions published here contains the complete number of the epigraphs found before and during the excavations at the site of Murighiol (ancient Halmyris) in the span of time before ca. 1896 and 2010. The epigraphic material presented in this volume intends to be a contribution to the knowledge of the social, economic and military history of the local society in the remotest part of the province of Moesia inferior, the extrema Minoris Scythiae, and to provide additional documents to the already impressive collection of Greek and Latin inscriptions related to the territories between the Danube and the Black Sea.

In many ways, we are presented today with a situation much like that described for Indus Civilisation studies in the 1960s: a particular model has been favoured for some time, but it is yet to be rigorously investigated, especially in the light of recent advances in data, methodologies and theory. This study aims to do that, employing a comparative approach with the aim of testing many of the explicit and implicit comparisons with Mesopotamia that are at the heart of this interpretation. Three types of data are considered: domestic architecture, metalwork and settlement patterns. Each is dealt with by a single chapter, which begins by identifying the relevance of that dataset to the 'alternative paradigm' interpretation, and the individual statements made of that dataset which form a part of the wider interpretation. The three chapters proceed to test those statements using comparative data from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran and the Gulf, depending on the availability of suitable comparative material. The theoretical background to the approach and the methodologies adopted is discussed in the following chapter. A feature of this study is that, having described an interpretation of the Indus Civilisation currently enjoying common currency, it sets out to challenge and investigate this academic position. In doing so, especially due to the methodological decision to test specific statements, it indiscriminately scrutinizes a large number of statements and interpretations made by a number of scholars.