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Music Stones is a fascinating account of the surprising and little-known ways in which stone has been used to create music. The use of stone instruments (lithophones) is thought to date back to prehistoric times, but here the focus is on a more recent interest being shown in the sound of stone. This all began in 1785, when Peter Crosthwaite, from Keswick in England’s Lake District, assembled his set of Music Stones, collected from the foot of Mount Skiddaw.From the 1840s onwards a succession of so-called rock bands from Keswick were inspired to produce bigger and better instruments and perform widely on them, including, in one case, playing at Buckingham Palace for Queen Victoria. The story continues into the twentieth century when, in 1949, the unearthing of an ancient set of tuned stone slabs in Vietnam, led to a revival of interest in lithophones in that country.A connection is also made between the sound of stone and the process of stone-carving, with particular reference to the work of Barbara Hepworth, as well as other sculptors such as Pinuccio Sciola, who was to become known internationally for his sound sculptures. Another focus is on the world of experimental music, in which some musicians and composers, keen to challenge ideas of what might constitute a musical instrument, have explored a range of geological possibilities, from vast rocky landscapes through to tiny pebbles. In the final chapter, a selection of contemporary practitioners write about their own musical involvement with the sound of stone.

Sieges and siege-related activities played a significant role in the development of Rome’s power in Hispania and Gaul during the late-Roman Republic. They were made possible by the efficient Roman ‘military machine’ available to commanders during this period – a constantly adapting and improving army, highly regularised encampments and lethal artillery.The narration of Caesar’s sieges by Caesar himself and his literary successor Hirtius, makes them seem unusual and inventive, probably to emphasise Caesar’s brilliance as a military commander. They were not that different or new though, as shown by the close similarity between established Hellenistic siege practices and the general evidence of sieges in Gaul and Hispania.It can often seem that siege fieldworks were ‘operation-specific’ to sieges, but essentially just mining and ramps were siege-only techniques. Most of the other works were simply implementations of the normal repertoire of the army’s fortifications, just as the artillery and weaponry were used in all types of conflicts. This becomes apparent when looking at the wide variety of Roman military installations emerging in the Iberian Peninsula.Sieges are not mere mechanical exercises in military technology and tactics, as often seems in academic discussions, but people are at the centre of it all, with troops and besieged suffering alike. Sieges are consequently considered here within ‘warfare ecology’ – the severe environmental impact, the suffering health and well-being of all involved, even changes to the smellscape, much of which continued for the besieged long after the siege had ended and troops had departed.

Dosariyah: Reinvestigating a Neolithic coastal community in eastern Arabia' describes the work carried out at Dosariyah, located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, which took place between 2010 and 2014. It was conducted by the joint German-Saudi Dosariyah Archaeological Research Project (DARP). A wealth of material remains was found during excavations within almost three metres of anthropogenic deposits. Radiocarbon dates and comparative studies of artefacts securely date the occupation of the site into the first centuries of the fifth millennium BC. The co-occurrence of locally produced artefacts that are technologically and typologically rooted in the local Arabian Middle Neolithic, and imports from southern Mesopotamia is characteristic of Dosariyah. However, the mechanisms behind this distribution of foreign materials along the Arabian Gulf coast, in particular, are still poorly understood. It is the central proposition of this book that the local societies living along the shores of the Arabian Gulf coast played an active role in the acquisition of Ubaid pottery and other objects originating in southern Mesopotamia. A predominance of imported objects, considered as ‘exotic items’, are understood as integral components of rituals that were part of temporary gatherings of larger groups of people at Dosariyah. Based on the material evidence from the site, such collective social events were embedded in everyday life during the fifth millennium BC.

Our understanding of ancient Pre-Columbian civilizations has changed significantly as the result of archaeological research in the last fifty years. Major projects during this period included dealing with cultural change in different contexts (Valley of Mexico, Oaxaca), regional research projects (“Olmec”), as well as attempts to understand more general trends in interpreting Pre-Columbian art and ideology (Codex Cihuacoatl, Templo Mayor). This book presents both the changes that occurred in the last few decades, and the impact that they had on our understanding on ancient Mesoamerican religions and cultures. It also includes references to some lesser-known research traditions (such as Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia), as well as to the work of scholars like Jacques Soustelle or Didier Boremanse. With the insistence on clear methodology, based on field research, this book uses the context of specific archaeological finds in order to put Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures in a historical perspective. In terms of method, the author follows R. E. W. Adams, Jeremy Sabloff, Robert J. Sharer and other archaeologists in emphasizing the “field archaeology school” approach, with its insistence on using the data acquired in context. Archaeological and anthropological research is in itself fascinating enough to not need stolen artefacts, forged vases, fantastic stories and invented mythical genealogies. The main goal of this book is to produce a methodologically sound and ethically valid interdisciplinary introduction into the exciting world of ancient Mesoamerica.

For the Gods are the opening words or incipit of the first inscribed votive artefacts dedicated to the principal deities of the Sumerian pantheon. They commemorate the construction or renovation of cities, temples, rural sanctuaries, border steles, in sum all the symbolically charged features of archaic states belonging thus metaphorically to supernatural tutelary overlords. Girsu (present-day Tello) is one of the earliest known cities of the world together with Uruk, Eridu, and Ur, and was considered to be in the 3rd Millennium the sanctuary of the Sumerian heroic god Ningirsu who fought with the demons of the Kur (Mountain) and thus made possible the introduction of irrigation and agriculture in Sumer. Girsu was the sacred metropolis and central pole of a city-state that lay in the Southeasternmost part of the Mesopotamian floodplain. The pioneering explorations carried out between 1877 and 1933 at Tello and the early decipherment of the Girsu cuneiform tablets were ground-breaking because they revealed the principal catalytic elements of the Sumerian takeoff – that is, a multiplicity and coalescence of major innovations, such as the appearance of a city– countryside continuum, the emergence of literacy, of bronze manufacture, and the development of monumental art and architecture. Because of the richness of information related in particular to the city’s spatial organization and geographical setting, and thanks to the availability of recently declassified Cold War space imagery and especially the possibility to launch new explorations in Southern Iraq, Girsu stands out as a primary locale for re-analyzing through an interdisciplinary approach combining archaeological and textual evidence the origins of the Sumerian city-state.

This book contains four substantial studies scrutinising aspects of the evidence for the design and form of the curtain, milecastles and turrets of Hadrian’s Wall as preserved in the primary archaeological record. Together they constitute a fresh assessment of the original appearance of the Wall and its structures, a matter of long-running controversy since nowhere does any part of the Wall survive to full height. The nature of the top of the curtain, and the form of superstructures over milecastle gateways, are not simply structural details of merely academic interest: the contributors show that both have a profound impact on how we interpret the function of the linear barrier both in its initial conception and as used over three centuries by the Roman army.

12,000 years ago the area that now forms the southern North Sea was dry land: a vast plain populated by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. By 5,500 BC the entire area had disappeared beneath the sea as a consequence of rising sea levels. Until now, this unique landscape remained hidden from view and almost entirely unknown. The North Sea Palaeolandscape Project, funded by the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund, have mapped 23,000 km2 of this “lost world” using seismic data collected for mineral exploration. "Mapping Doggerland" demonstrates that the North Sea covers one of the largest and best preserved prehistoric landscapes in Europe. In mapping this exceptional landscape the project has begun to provide an insight into the historic impact of the last great phase of global warming experienced by modern man and to assess the significance of the massive loss of European land that occurred as a consequence of climate change.

James Theodore Bent (1852-1897) was an Oxford-educated archaeologist, historian and explorer who dedicated his short life to researches in the Levant and Africa. In the winters of 1882-84 he and his wife, Mabel Hall-Dare, made extended tours of the Cycladic islands and in 1885 Bent published what has become a classic account of their wanderings and discoveries in what is now one of the best-loved regions of Greece. His island-by-island journals are a fascinating insight into Greek community living at the turn of the 19th century, and the work established Bent as a traveller of note. As might be expected, most of the major sites and sights are detailed, as well as references to customs and costumes, hospitality and hardship, history, folklore and myth. No account in English, then or since, has come close in terms of scope and achievement. (On a scholarly level, Bent was the first English archaeologist to undertake serious excavation work in the region and his findings on the small island of Antiparos (included here) are still referred to in current bibliographies.) As far as the publishers are aware, no English language edition of Bent’s Cyclades is currently easily available. This new edition of Bent’s 1885 work is accompanied by a newly commissioned biographical introduction and a series of notes including route-planner, and historical and archaeological summaries. ‘Tozer of Oxford sends me a charming book…by Theodore Bent…all about the Cyclades. (Dearly beloved child let me announce to you that this word is pronounced ‘Sick Ladies,’ – howsomdever certain Britishers call it ‘Sigh-claides.’)…’ (Edward Lear writes to Chichester Fortescue, Lord Carlingford [30 April 1885, San Remo])

Christopher Wordsworth (1807-85), the “Great Christopher” of Winchester and Trinity College, Cambridge, was a nephew of William the poet, and brother to the student who launched the University Boat Race. In 1832 he took a gap-year, after his brilliant studies in ancient Greek and Latin classics, to travel back in time over two thousand years to Pericles’ Athens. The account of his tour, Athens and Attica (1836), is still the perfect scholarly companion to the history, topography, and myths of an area compact in dimension yet vast in terms of its contribution to Western civilization. “The Bazaar or Market at Athens is a long street. Looking up you command a view of the commodities. Barrels of black caviar, small pocket-looking-glasses in red pasteboard cases, onions, tobacco piled up in brown heaps, black olives, figs strung together upon a rush, pipes with amber mouthpieces and brown clay bowls, silver-chased pistols, dirks, belts, and embroidered waistcoats. Such is the present state of Athens…a few Turks still doze in the archways of the Acropolis, or recline while smoking their pipes, and leaning with their backs against the rusty cannon. A few days ago the cannon of the Acropolis fired the signal of the conclusion of the Turkish Ramazam – the last which will ever be celebrated in Athens.” – Christopher Wordsworth, 1832

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 2003.

“Not the shadow of a smile disturbs the dry exposition of the scholarly Englishman [Cecil Torr] who has given us the best historical monograph on the island… Read him and you will see why...” (Lawrence Durrell, "Reflections on a Marine Venus"). Cecil Torr’s two 19th-century studies of Rhodes, in the Greek Dodecanese, off the coast of Asia Minor, were the first and most authoritative English guides to the island’s multi-layered history. Although more than a hundred years have passed since publication, the reclusive scholar’s "Rhodes in Ancient Times" and "Rhodes in Modern Times" remain firmly embedded in related bibliographies. Impeccably qualified – Harrow (Arthur Evans was a class-mate), Trinity Cambridge, and Inner Temple barrister of formidable reputation – Cecil Torr had the true antiquarian’s obsession for factual presentation and detailed analyses of primary sources. First published in 1885, "Rhodes in Ancient Times" is an historical and cultural guide to one of the most influential and powerful maritime states in the Mediterranean. Torr’s scholarly curiosity leads him to explore the island’s history, culture, myths and legends, arts, and contribution to learning in the centuries before Christ. Naturally, the celebrated Colossus is not overlooked!

CONTENTS: (1) Saad A. al-Rashid, The development of archaeology in Saudi Arabia; (2) Laïla Nehmé, Towards an understanding of the urban space of Madāin Salih, ancient Hegra, through epigraphic evidence; (3) Diane Barker & Salah Ali Hassan, Aspects of east coast Hellenism and beyond: Late Pre-Islamic ceramics from Dibbā 76 and Dibbā al-MurabbaΚah, Fujairah, United Arab Emirates; (4) Mark Beech, Richard Cuttler, Derek Moscrop, Heiko Kallweit & John Martin, New evidence for the Neolithic settlement of Marawah Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; (5) Ali Tigani ElMahi & Nasser Said Al Jahwari, Graves at Mahleya in Wādī Κandām (Sultanate of Oman): a view of a late Iron Age and Samad period death culture; (6) Heiko Kallweit, Mark Beech & Walid Yasin Al-Tikriti, Kharimat Khor al-Manāhil and Khor Āl Manāhīl — New Neolithic sites in the south-eastern desert of the UAE; (7) Jürgen Schreiber, Archaeological survey at Ibrām in the Sharqīyah, Sultanate of Oman; (8) Donatella Usai, Chisels or perforators? The lithic industry of Ras al-Hamra 5 (Muscat, Oman); (9) Paul Yule, The Samad Culture — Echoes; (10) Soumyen Bandyopadhyay, Diversity in unity: an analysis of the settlement structure of Hārat al-Κaqr, Nizwā (Oman); (11) Abdulrahman Al-Salimi, Makramid rule in Oman; (12) Valeria Fiorani Piacentini, Sohar and the Daylamī interlude (356–443/967–1051); (12) Alessandra Avanzini & Alexander V. Sedov, The stratigraphy of Sumhuram: new evidence; (13) Lamya Khalidi, The prehistoric and early historic settlement patterns on the Tihāmah coastal plain (Yemen): preliminary findings of the Tihamah Coastal Survey 2003; (14) Krista Lewis, The Himyarite site of al-Adhla and its implications for the economy and chronology of Early Historic highland Yemen; (15) Joy McCorriston, Michael Harrower, Eric Oches & Abdalaziz Bin Κaqil, Foraging economies and population in the Middle Holocene highlands of southern Yemen; (16) Carl S. Phillips, A preliminary description of the pottery from al-Hāmid and its significance in relation to other pre-Islamic sites on the Tihāmah; (17) Eivind Heldaas Seland, Ancient South Arabia: trade and strategies of state control as seen in the Periplus Maris Erythraei; (18) Peter Stein, Once again, the division of the month in Ancient South Arabia; (19); Claire Hardy-Guilbert, The harbour of al-Shihr, Hadramawt, Yemen: sources and archaeological data on trade (20) Ingrid Hehmeyer, Diurnal time measurement for water allocation in southern Yemen; (20) Mikhail Rodionov, "Satanic matters": social conflict in Madūdah (Hadramawt), 1357/1938; (21) Axelle Rougeulle, The Sharma horizon: sgraffiato wares and other glazed ceramics of the Indian Ocean trade (c. AD 980–1140); (22) Yosef Tobi, An unknown study by Joseph Halévy on his journey to Yemen.

This volume, edited by Rogério Sousa, is part of the scholarly ferment which has wheeled around the subject of ‘coffin’ during the last twenty years. Its magic and religious evaluation identifies it from time to time as body container, but at the same time substitute body for the deceased, a maternal womb in which the regeneration will occur, a microcosm, tomb, funerary temple, as well as a conduit to the dead, a powerful tool activated by means of the Opening of the Mouth ritual. -From the Foreword, by Alessia Amenta In February 2013, the Symposium Body, Cosmos and Eternity: the Symbolism of Coffins in Ancient Egypt convened at the historical building of the University of Porto to debate conceptual frameworks underlying the contemporary study of Egyptian coffins. Rising from the close association with the depiction of the mummified body, the anthropoid coffins soon absorbed a rich mythological imaginary related to the constellation of Nut, the mother goddess of the sky supposed to give birth to Osiris, and evolved continuously, integrating larger and more complex sets of beliefs, mirroring the increasingly bolder use of coffins in the funerary rituals. It was this complex set of beliefs involving the coffin that we proposed to explore in this series of symposia. Following our original purpose, the studies presented in this volume display an excellent overview on the new trends of research on coffin studies, with diverse contributions concerned either with symbolism or social significance of coffins, museums´ collections or archaeological finds. These studies superbly showcase the richness of coffins as documental sources for the study of Egyptian religion, economy and society.

What became of towns following the official end of ‘Roman Britain’ at the beginning of the 5th century AD? Did towns fail? Were these ruinous sites really neglected by early Anglo-Saxon settlers and leaders? Developed new archaeologies are starting to offer alternative pictures to the traditional images of urban decay and loss revealing diverse modes of material expression, of usage of space, and of structural change. The focus of this book is to draw together still scattered data to chart and interpret the changing nature of life in towns from the late Roman period through to the mid-Anglo-Saxon period. The research centres on towns that have received sufficient archaeological intervention so that meaningful patterns can be traced. The case studies are arranged into three regional areas: the South-East, South-West, and Midlands. Individually each town contains varying levels of archaeological data, but analysed together these illustrate more clearly patterns of evolution. Much of the data exists as accessible but largely unpublished reports, or isolated within regional discussions. Detailed analysis, review and comparisons generate significant scope for modelling ‘urban’ change in England from AD 300-600. ‘Towns in the Dark’ dispels the simplistic myth of outright urban decline and failure after Rome, and demonstrates that life in towns often did continue with variable degrees of continuity and discontinuity.

Much has been written about the history of Northern Ireland, but less well-known is its wealth of prehistoric sites, particularly burial sites, from which most of our knowledge of the early inhabitants of this country has been obtained. This work brings together information on all the known sites in Northern Ireland that are in some way associated with burial. It has been compiled from a number of sources and includes many sites that have only recently been discovered. A total of 3332 monuments are recorded in the inventory, ranging from megalithic tombs to simple pit burials. In addition to providing an inventory of all known sites, along with a selection of photographs and plans, the work also includes an introduction to the prehistory of Northern Ireland, an explanation of terms and a full bibliography. The aim is to provide a foundation for more specific research projects, based on a standardised information format of this largely untapped resource. For example, the work highlights several large and previously unrecognised clusters of prehistoric burial monuments, some located at unusual landscape features. Hopefully, further analysis will lead to a greater understanding of why this should be and stimulate a renewed interest in the prehistory of Northern Ireland. Enhanced awareness of this should complement knowledge of the historical period to provide a more balanced picture of human activity here.

This volume was conceived to provide a forum for Mexican and foreign scholars to publish new data and interpretations on the archaeology of the northern Maya lowlands, specifically the State of Yucatán. Increased communication among scholars has become increasingly important for grasping a better understanding of the great amount of data emerging from the State of Yucatán. There has been more salvage work conducted in this state than in any of the others throughout Mexico and the data is overwhelming. Because of this large amount of salvage work, archaeologists in the INAH office in Yucatán have had little time to publish the great majority of the new information. Further, many of the forums that are easily accessible to scholars in the northern lowlands have constrictive space restraints not conducive to publishing data. With these points in mind, this volume seeks to gather papers that did not necessarily have to have a theoretical focus, and that could be data laden so that the raw data from many of these projects would not be confined to difficult to access reports in the Mérida and Mexico City offices. The result is a series of manuscripts on the northern lowlands, most of which focus on the State of Yucatán. Some of the papers are very data heavy, while others have a much more interpretive emphasis. Yet all of them contribute to a more complete picture of the northern lowland Maya.

Stelae dating to the Epiclassic (650-900 CE) and Early Postclassic (950-1150 CE) from Tula, Xochicalco, and other sites in Central Mexico have been presented in the archaeological and art historical literature of the last four decades—when they have been addressed at all—as evidence of Classic Maya ‘influence’ on Central Mexican art during these periods. This book re-evaluates these claims via detailed comparative analysis of the Central Mexican stelae and their claimed Maya counterparts. For the first time the Central Mexican stelae are placed in the context of often earlier local artistic traditions as well as other possible long-distance connections. Comparison of Tula and Xochicalco stelae with earlier and contemporary stelae from Oaxaca and Guerrero demonstrates connections equally as plausible as those posited with the Maya region, and supported by archaeological evidence. While it is clear that some Central Mexican stelae, especially Stela 4 from Tula, reflect Maya contacts, this has to be balanced by consideration of local and other long distance developments and connections.

"This volume gathers together the first 10 years of The European Archaeologist (ISSN 1022-0135), from Winter 1993 through to the 10th Anniversary Conference Issue, published in 2004 for the Lyon Annual Meeting. In reality, like the Journal of European Archaeology, The European Archaeologist (TEA) was born before the official foundation of the EAA at Ljubljana in September 1994, and began publication the year before. The first issue announces the Ljubljana Inaugural Meeting, and documents the work of the International Steering Committee which promoted the Association. Readers can then trace the initial development of their brainchild, from the euphoria of a post-1989 Europe where Archaeologists could at last freely communicate to the consolidation of the Association as a key player in the Archaeology of the continent. Perhaps the most striking thing, reading through these early issues of TEA, is how the central concerns of the EAA, for heritage, commercial and academic archaeology have remained central to its content. This volume is published as the Association meets in Istanbul for its 20th Annual Meeting." –from the preface by Mark Pearce

This volume contains detailed information about 63 sites and shows, amongst other things, that the viticulture of the western delta was significant in Ptolemaic and Roman periods, as well as a network of interlocking sites, which connected with the rest of Egypt, Alexandria, North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean. Far from being a border area — as perhaps it had been in the Pharaonic period — the west Delta network exerted an important economic production influence over a very wide area. In addition, with access to medieval and later Arabic sources, Kenawi’s discussion of the sites has an added dimension not found in the work of western scholars. Mohamed Kenawi’s meticulous and determined work has resulted in an improved set of data for the Delta and shown how its potential can be tapped.

The “Begram ivories” are widely considered to be miniature masterpieces of Indian art and are one of the largest archaeological collections of ancient ivories. They were excavated at the site of Begram, in northern Afghanistan, in 1937 and 1939 and belong to a period when Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India were united under rulers of the Kushan dynasty. Divided soon afterwards between the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul and the Musée national des arts asiatiques–Guimet in Paris, the collection in Kabul suffered a disaster during the civil war which ravaged the country during the early 1990s. Some of the pieces were successfully concealed by museum staff but most were stolen, hundreds have since been reported in different collections and very few have yet been recovered. In 2011 a group of twenty bone and ivory plaques was generously acquired for the National Museum of Afghanistan by a private individual. These were scientifically analysed, conserved and exhibited at the British Museum and returned to Kabul in 2012. This book describes their story from excavation to display and return, with individual object biographies and detailed scientific analyses and conservation treatments. It also discusses how these objects have attracted very different interpretations over the decades since their discovery, and how the new analyses shed a completely fresh light on the collection. It is lavishly illustrated in full colour, and includes many previously unpublished views of the objects when they were originally exhibited in Kabul. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the archaeology of Afghanistan, Indian art, polychromy, museum studies, object biographies or the history of conservation.

Over her career Susan Sherratt has questioned our basic assumptions in many areas of the later prehistory of the Mediterranean and Europe, deploying a canny eye for detail, but never losing sight of the big picture. Her collected works include contributions on the relationship between Homeric epic and archaeology; the economy of ceramics, metals and other materials; the status of the ‘Sea Peoples’ and other ethnic terminologies; routes and different forms of interaction; and the history of museums/collecting (especially relating to Sir Arthur Evans). The editors of ΑΘΥΡΜΑΤΑ (Athyrmata) have brought together a cast of thirty-two scholars from nine different countries who have contributed these twenty-six papers to mark Sue’s 65th birthday – a collection that seeks to reflect both her broad range of interests and her ever-questioning approach to uncovering the realities of life in Europe and the Mediterranean in later prehistory.

This book is the first to closely examine the location of the earliest purpose-built Christian buildings inside the city of Rome in their contemporary context. It argues that some of these were deliberately sited by their builders so as to utilise prominent positions within the urban landscape or to pragmatically reuse pre-existing bath facilities for Christian liturgical practice. Several examples are discussed with the latest archaeological discoveries explored. Two particular case studies are also examined within the Subura area of the city, and their urban location is examined in relation to the commercial, religious, social and public spaces around them, known through a 3rd century A.D. survey of the city. Certain other Christian basilicas in the city encroached or blocked roads, were situated by main arterial highways, were located on hills and eventually reused prestigious public buildings. Other examples were located by potent ‘pagan’ sites or important places of public congregation, with two structures suggesting the political astuteness of a 4th century pope. This book shows that the spatial Christianisation of Rome was not a random and haphazard process, but was at times a planned project that strategically built new Christian centres in places that would visually or practically enhance what were generally small and modest structures.

This book is for students and practitioners of not only knapping, lithic technology and archaeology, but also of fractography and fracture mechanics. At conferences on fractography of glasses and ceramics, the author has often been asked to demonstrate knapping as well as provide overviews of fractography learned from it. The first part of the book is intended to stimulate such interests further, in order to solicit contributions from a largely untapped pool of experts. Such contributions can advance significantly our understandings of knapping as well as fractography. In Part II of the book, fracture markings as the tools of fractography are introduced, with their formation, meaning and utility explained. Observations on the presence or absence of the markings in knapping are considered in Part III, along with a number of interpretations of fracture features. The basic principles and concepts of fracture mechanics and fractography apply to fractures produced in any cultural context. This volume therefore addresses most questions on fracture in a generic sense, independent of cultural contexts. In general, understanding of fractures provides a sounder basis for lithic analysis, and use of more recent scientific tools opens new avenues for lithic studies.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the megalithic necropolis of Petit- Chasseur in Sion (Valais, Switzerland), an international conference was organised from the 27th to the 29th of October 2011 in Sion. This book constitutes the conference proceedings. The necropolis of Petit-Chasseur still remains a key reference for the understanding of the Final Neolithic period, not only in the Alpine countries, but also throughout Europe. The scientific meeting therefore focused on the end of the Neolithic period in Valais and in the adjacent regions, on the Bell Beaker phenomenon in general, on the funerary rites of this period, and on the anthropology of megalithic societies. The conference was attended by nearly two hundred people, students, junior and senior scholars from many countries including Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. The present publication includes twenty-five papers referring to the periods represented at the Petit-Chasseur necropolis, namely the end of the Neolithic, the Bell Beaker period and the beginning of the Early Bronze Age. In addition to a preface, a first group of papers – eight in total – deal directly with the Petit Chasseur Site in Sion and the end of the Neolithic in the Alps. A second group of articles constitute the section titled “The Final Neolithic and the Bell Beaker Culture in Europe and beyond”. This section is composed of fifteen articles presenting the results of archaeological, anthropological, botanical, and zooarchaeological analyses of Europe and Northern Africa. The conclusion drawn from the analysis is invariably the same. It is only possible to back our explicative constructions if we establish a serious dialogue with the field of cultural anthropology and if we construct a real science of the human facts, which is far from being achieved currently. The third part of this publication, which consists of two papers and is titled “Societies and Megaliths”, offers a discussion on megalith building societies that reflects on and develops this conclusion. All papers in English; abstracts for each paper in English and French.

The study of human remains from ancient Egypt and Nubia has captured the imagination of many people for generations, giving rise to the discipline of palaeopathology and fostering bioarchaeological research. This book contains 16 papers that cover material presented at a workshop entitled ‘Palaeopathology in Egypt and Nubia: A Century in Review,’ held at the Natural History Museum, London (August 29–30, 2012), which formed part of a three-year research project, ‘Sir Grafton Elliot Smith: Palaeopathology and the Archaeological Survey of Nubia.’ The papers explore the subject of palaeopathology from its beginnings in the early 1900s through to current research themes and the impact of technological development in the field. Revealing the diverse range of methods used to study human remains in these regions, the book gives readers an insight into the fascinating work carried out over the last century, and suggests some possible future directions for the field.

This book assesses the results of recent metallographic examination of 45 sword blades (mid-2nd century BC to early-16th century) from the territory of what is now Poland. Pre-Roman blades were usually made from one piece of metal of varying quality (better quality items were perhaps imported). Most high quality and complex technology Roman blades were in all probability of Roman provenance, while some low quality one-piece examples may have been made locally. The Migration Period and Early Middle Ages witnessed the greatest diversification of technological solutions. However it is much more difficult to define the provenance of blades based on their technology in these periods. The range of technologies in use strongly decreased in the High and Late Middle Ages.

In der Ägyptologie werden ökonomische Fragen stiefmütterlich behandelt. Diese Studie beschreibt die Ökonomie der ersten Hälfte des 2. Jahrtausends und die Umwelt, in die diese Ökonomie eingebettet ist, als Mosaik. Die Metapher ‚Mosaik‘ verwendet Mosaiksteine, welche Teile eines Bildes darstellen können. Einzelne Mosaiksteine sind offen für eine Integration in andere mögliche Bilder. Wo immer möglich beruhen Mosaiksteine auf Daten aus der betrachteten Periode, andere Mosaiksteine tragen als Modelle zum Mosaik bei. Verschiedene Mosaiksteine bestehen aus Schätzungen z.B. zu Produktion und Konsum. Das Mosaik soll ermöglichen, das Ägypten der betrachteten Periode als lebende Gesellschaft darzustellen. Es ist kaum überraschend, dass verschiedene Facetten des Bildes hypothetischen Charakter haben und das Mosaik zu einem beträchtlichen Teil unvollständig ist. Das Feld, fehlende oder auch konkurrierende Mosaiksteine in weiteren Studien zu entwickeln, ist weit offen.Heqanachts Papyri bilden die Basis für den Versuch, einen konkreten Haushalt im Bild der wirtschaftlichen Struktur des Landes darzustellen, als fragmentarische Emergenz einer Momentaufnahme, einer Mikrogeschichte.

The lector is first attested during the 2nd Dynasty and is subsequently recognised throughout ancient Egypt history. In previous studies the lector is considered to be one of the categories of the ancient Egyptian priesthood. He is perceived to be responsible for the correct performance of rites, to recite invocations during temple and state ritual, and to carry out recitations and perform ritual actions during private apotropaic magic and funerary rites. Previous treatments of the lector have rarely considered the full extent of his activities, either focusing on specific aspects of his work or making general comments about his role. This present study challenges this selective approach and explores his diverse functions in a wide ranging review of the relevant evidence. Why did he accompany state organised military, trading and mining expeditions and what was his role in healing? In the temple sphere he not only executed a variety of ritual actions but he also directed ritual practices. What responsibilities did he fulfil when sitting on legal assemblies, both temple-based and in the community? Activities such as these that encompassed many aspects of ancient Egyptian life are discussed in this volume.