Naomi F. Miller - Böcker

Cultivation and land use practices the world over reflect many aspects of people's relationship to each other and to the natural world. The Archaeology of Garden and Field explores the cultivation of land from prehistoric times to the nineteenth century through excavation, experimentation, and the study of modern cultural traditions. The Archaeology of Garden and Field contains a wealth of information distilled from the combined experiences of the editors and contributors. Whether one's interest is the Old World or the New, prehistory or the present, this book provides a starting point for anyone who has ever wondered how archaeologists find and interpret the ephemeral traces of ancient cultivation.

Archaeological interpretations are built on many types of evidence. While no one method or analysis can fully reveal an extinct economic system, the papers in this volume are each focused on a single category of data to elucidate different aspects of ancient economy and settlement: settlement pattern (Khurban plains), trace elements in sealing clays (Tepe Gawra), seeds and charcoal (Tepe Hissar, Malyan, Kurban Hoyuk), economic texts (Nippur).

What is it like to be an archaeologist and to "do" archaeology? Through whimsical watercolors, drawings, fascinating marginalia, and humorous anecdotes, Naomi F. Miller illustrates the life of a field archaeologist, illuminating her story with charming art that she has done mostly in her spare time on digs. She begins with how she became an archaeologist and an archaeobotanist. She uses the artwork she has done over the past 30 years to recount her experiences on excavations from Malyan, Iran, to Gordion, Turkey, to Euphrates projects in Turkey and Syria, and to Anau, Turkmenistan Iran. Packed into the text are many anecdotes along with an astonishing amount of information about archaeology. The text answers the questions most lay people ask about archaeology-how do you find sites, how do you know where to dig, who pays for the excavation-and much more. The artist evokes both the life and landscapes she has experienced as an archaeologist. Neither a dry textbook nor a romanticized view of the field, this book integrates text and pictures to give an entertaining yet informative view of life on a dig.

A collection of essays put together by colleagues, friends, and students of William M. Sumner to honor his contribution to Iranian archaeology and archaeological field methodology. Topical contributions emphasize the methodological aspects of analysis of survey data, while regional contributions focus on two of the main geographical areas studied by archaeologists in Iran: the southwest and the northwest. This volume is published in association with The American Institute of Iranian Studies and The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

The archaeological site of Gordion is most famous as the home of the Phrygian king Midas and as the place where Alexander the Great cut the Gordian knot on his way to conquer Asia. Located in central Anatolia (present-day Turkey) near the confluence of the Porsuk and Sakarya rivers, Gordion also lies on historic trade routes between east and west as well as north to the Black Sea. Favorably situated for long-distance trade, Gordion's setting is marginal for agricultural cultivation but well suited to pastoral production. It is therefore not surprising that with the exception of a single Chalcolithic site, the earliest settlements in the region are fairly late-they date to the Early Bronze Age (late 3rd millennium B.C.). The earliest known levels of Gordion, too, date to the Early Bronze Age, and occupation of at least some part of the site was nearly continuous through at least Roman times (second half of the 1st century B.C.). This work is a contribution to both the archaeobotany of west Asia and the archaeology of the site of Gordion. The book's major concern is understanding long-term changes in the environment and in land use. An important finding, with implications for modern land management, is that the most sustainable use of this landscape involves mixed farming of dry-farmed cereals, summer-irrigated garden crops, and animal husbandry. The large number of samples from the 1988-89 seasons analyzed here make this a rich source for understanding other materials from the Gordion excavations and for comparison with other sites in west Asia.