Beyond the Catch


Book Description

Drawing on archaeological and written sources, this collection of essays presents fascinating new interpretations in the history of the fisheries by highlighting the consequences of the northern fisheries through interdisciplinary approaches to various themes, including the environment, economy, politics, and society in the medieval and early modern periods.




Local Identities


Book Description

Gerritsen's study investigates how small groups of people—households, or local communities—constitute and represent their social identity by shaping the landscape around them. Examining things like house building and habitation, cremation and burial, and farming and ritual practice, Gerritsen develops a new theoretical and empirical perspective on the practices that create collective senses of identity and belonging. An explicitly diachronic approach reveals processes of cultural and social change that have previously gone unnoticed, providing a basis for a much more dynamic history of the late prehistoric inhabitants of this region.




Aerial Photography and Archaeology 2003


Book Description

This publication contains the selected proceedings of a conference devoted to the history of aerial photography (Ghent, 2003).




Archaeology in Confrontation


Book Description

This collection of papers focuses on the Provincial-Roman archaeology of Northern Gaul, Germany and Britain.




Behaviour Behind Bones


Book Description

This book is the first in a series of volumes which form the published proceedings of the 9th meeting of the International Council of Archaeozoology (ICAZ), held in Durham in 2002. The 35 papers present a series of case studies from around the world. They stretch beyond the standard zooarchaeological topics of economy and ecology, and consider how zooarchaeological research can contribute to our understanding of human behaviour and social systems. The volume is divided into two parts. Part 1, Beyond Calories, focuses on the zooarchaeology of ritual and religion. Contributors discuss ways to approach questions of ritual and religion through the faunal record, and consider how material culture depicting and/or associated with animals can provides clues about ideology, religious practices and the role of animals within spiritual systems. Part 2, Equations for Inequality, looks at questions of identity, status and other forms of social differentiation in former human societies. Contributors discuss how differences in food consumption, nutrition, and food procurement strategies can be related to various forms of social differentiation among individuals and groups.




Barely Surviving or More than Enough?


Book Description

How people produced or acquired their food in the past is one of the main questions in archaeology. Everyone needs food to survive, so the ways in which people managed to acquire it forms the very basis of human existence. Farming was key to the rise of human sedentarism. Once farming moved beyond subsistence, and regularly produced a surplus, it supported the development of specialisation, speeded up the development of socio-economic as well as social complexity, the rise of towns and the development of city states. In short, studying food production is of critical importance in understanding how societies developed. Environmental archaeology often studies the direct remains of food or food processing, and is therefore well-suited to address this topic. What is more, a wealth of new data has become available in this field of research in recent years. This allows synthesising research with a regional and diachronic approach. Indeed, most of the papers in this volume offer studies on subsistence and surplus production with a wide geographical perspective. The research areas vary considerably, ranging from the American Mid-South to Turkey. The range in time periods is just as wide, from c. 7000 BC to the 16th century AD. Topics covered include foraging strategies, the combination of domestic and wild food resources in the Neolithic, water supply, crop specialisation, the effect of the Roman occupation on animal husbandry, town-country relationships and the monastic economy. With this collection of papers and the theoretical framework presented in the introductory chapter, we wish to demonstrate that the topic of subsistence and surplus production remains of interest, and promises to generate more exciting research in the future.




Roman Finds


Book Description

Studies on finds in Roman Britain and the Western Provinces have come to greater prominence in the literature of recent years. The quality of such work has also improved, and is now theoretically informed, and based on rich data-sets. Work on finds over the last decade or two has changed our understanding of the Roman era in profound ways, and yet despite such encouraging advances and such clear worth, there has to date, been little in the way of a dedicated forum for the presentation and evaluation of current approaches to the study of material culture. The conference at which these papers were initially presented has gone some way to redressing this, and these papers bring the very latest studies on Roman finds to a wider audience. Twenty papers are here presented covering various themes.




Birds in Archaeology


Book Description

This volume comprises the papers presented at the 6th Meeting of the ICAZ Bird Working Group, held in August 2008 in Groningen, the Netherlands. The subjects of the contributions range from New Zealand, South America and the Near East to Europe and vary in time from the Pleistocene up to the late 19th century. Themes discussed are the palaeozoogeography of birds, the role of birds in subsistence, ritual and symbolism, bird hunting techniques and histological studies of bird bones. The geographical, temporal and thematic variation underlines the importance of ornito-archaeozoology for all aspects of archaeology.




Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science


Book Description

The quaternary sciences constitute a dynamic, multidisciplinary field of research that has been growing in scientific and societal importance in recent years. This branch of the Earth sciences links ancient prehistory to modern environments. Quaternary terrestrial sediments contain the fossil remains of existing species of flora and fauna, and their immediate predecessors. Quaternary science plays an integral part in such important issues for modern society as groundwater resources and contamination, sea level change, geologic hazards (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis), and soil erosion. With over 360 articles and 2,600 pages, many in full-color, the Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science provides broad ranging, up-to-date articles on all of the major topics in the field. Written by a team of leading experts and under the guidance of an international editorial board, the articles are at a level that allows undergraduate students to understand the material, while providing active researchers with the latest information in the field. Also available online via ScienceDirect (2006) – featuring extensive browsing, searching, and internal cross-referencing between articles in the work, plus dynamic linking to journal articles and abstract databases, making navigation flexible and easy. For more information, pricing options and availability visit www.info.sciencedirect.com. 360 individual articles written by prominent international authorities, encompassing all important aspects of quaternary science Each entry provides comprehensive, in-depth treatment of an overview topic and presented in a functional, clear and uniform layout Reference section provides guidence for further research on the topic Article text supported by full-color photos, drawings, tables, and other visual material Writing level is suited to both the expert and non-expert




Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science


Book Description

The second revised edition of the Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science, Four Volume Set, provides both students and professionals with an up-to-date reference work on this important and highly varied area of research. There are lots of new articles, and many of the articles that appeared in the first edition have been updated to reflect advances in knowledge since 2006, when the original articles were written. The second edition will contain about 375 articles, written by leading experts around the world. This major reference work is richly illustrated with more than 3,000 illustrations, most of them in colour. Research in the Quaternary sciences has advanced greatly in the last 10 years, especially since topics like global climate change, geologic hazards and soil erosion were put high on the political agenda. This second edition builds upon its award-winning predecessor to provide the reader assured quality along with essential updated coverage Contains 357 broad-ranging articles (4310 pages) written at a level that allows undergraduate students to understand the material, while providing active researchers with a ready reference resource for information in the field. Facilitates teaching and learning The first edition was regarded by many as the most significant single overview of Quaternary science ever, yet Editor-in-Chief, Scott Elias, has managed to surpass that in this second edition by securing even more expert reviews whilst retaining his renowned editorial consistency that enables readers to navigates seamlessly from one unfamiliar topic to the next