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ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD & THEORY
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Oxbow Books • 9781789255188 Hardback • b/w illus. • 240 x 170mm 240 pages • November 2020 • £50.00
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About the editor:
Nicola Laneri teaches Archaeology and Art History of the Ancient Near East at the University of Catania. He is currently director of the School of Religious Studies (Florence) and the Archaeological Museum of the University of Catania. Since 2003, he has been the director of the Hirbemerdon Tepe Archaeological Project (southeastern Turkey) and is currently co-director of the Ganja Region Kurgan Archaeological Project in western Azerbaijan.
The Sacred Body
Materializing the Divine through Human Remains in Antiquity Edited by Nicola Laneri Series: Materiality and Religion in Antiquity
The human body represents the perfect element for relating communities of the living with the divine. This is clearly evident in the mythological stories that recount the creation of humans by deities among ancient and contemporaneous societies across a very broad geographical environment. Thus, parts of selected human body parts or skeletal elements can then become an ideal proxy for connecting with the supernatural, as demonstrated by the cult of the human skulls among Neolithic communities in the Near East as well as the cult of the relics of Christian saints.
The aim of this volume is to undertake a cross-cultural investigation of the role played in antiquity by humans and human remains in creating forms of relationality with the divine. Such an approach will highlight how the human body can be envisioned as part of a broader materialisation of religious beliefs that is based on connecting different realms of materiality in perceiving the supernatural by the community of the living. Case studies on ritual aspects of funerary practices is presented, emphasising the varied roles of body parts in mortuary rituals and as relics. Other papers take a wider look at regional practices in various time periods and cultural contexts to explore the central role of the corpse in the negotiation of death in human culture.
9781785709012 £40.00 Oxbow Books 9781785702914 £48.00 Oxbow Books
Proceedings of an International Symposium held at Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, on 21–23 September 2017 Interdisciplinary methodologies for investigating diseases and their effects and outcomes in the ancient world Edited by Robert Arnott and Rupert Breitwieser
This book is aimed at understanding the role of disease and epidemics in the ancient world and brings together ancient historians, classicists, archaeologists, archaeological scientists and many others who are interested in the subject. It also explores the creation of interdisciplinary methodologies that will help to understand the complexities of disease transmission and explain the long-term effects on health and social change. Papers range from earliest prehistory to the late antique and include the latest work from early pandemics to occupational
Oxbow Books • 9781789255300 • Hardback • b/w illus. 216 x 280mm • 416 pages • October 2020 • £80.00
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Themes in Old World Zooarchaeology
From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic
Edited by Umberto Albarella, Cleia Detry, Sónia Gabriel, Catarina Ginja and Ana Elisabete Pires
An overview of cutting-edge research in Old World zooarchaeology. This new collection of papers from leading experts provides an overview of cutting-edge research in Old World zooarchaeology. The research spans various areas across Europe, Western Asia and North Africa – from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Thematically, the book covers many of the research areas where zooarchaeology can provide a significant contribution. These include animal domestication, bone modifications, fishing, fowling, economic and social status, as well as adaptation and improvement.
Oxbow Books • 9781789255348 • Hardback • b/w illus. 280 x 216mm • 208 pages • August 2020 • £60.00
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Grave Disturbances
The Archaeology of Post-depositional Interactions with the Dead Edited by Edeltraud Aspöck, Alison Klevnäs and Nils Müller-Scheeßel Series: Studies in Funerary Archaeology
Examines post-depositional interactions of past humans and their approaches to graves and human remains.
Archaeologists excavating burials often find that they are not the first to disturb the remains of the dead. Graves from many periods frequently show signs that others have been digging and have moved or taken away parts of the original funerary assemblage. This book explores past human interactions with mortuary deposits, delving into the different ways graves and human remains were approached by people in the past and the reasons that led to such encounters.
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Oxbow Books • 9781789255621 • Paperback b/w illus. • 240 x 170mm • 256 pages October 2020 • £29.95
About the editor:
Seren Griffiths is a lecturer in the School of Forensic and Applied Sciences in the University of Central Lancaster. She specialises in the application of archaeological science techniques. She chiefly specialises in Mesolithic, Neolithic and early Bronze Age archaeology of Europe. She has interests in scientific dating, stable isotopes, environmental archaeology, three dimensional modelling and geophysics.
Scientific Dating in Archaeology
Edited by Seren Griffiths Series: Studying Scientific Archaeology Methods, applications and challenges of different scientific dating techniques.
The Studying Scientific Archaeology series from Oxbow Books produces books on a wide variety of scientific topics in archaeology aimed at students at all levels. These examine the methods, procedures and reasoning behind various scientific approaches to archaeological data and present case studies or extended examples to demonstrate how data is used and interpretations are arrived at. In particular we aim that they should demonstrate how scientific analyses contribute to our wider understanding of past human behaviour, technology and economy.
This volume will provide a timely review of the methods, applications and challenges of applying different scientific dating techniques to archaeological sites and material culture, as well as an introduction to Bayesian modelling, and highlight a series of considerations in the application of scientific dating techniques.
A variety of techniques have been developed to provide scientific chronologies of archaeological sites and material culture. These chronologies underpin the narratives that are generated for prehistoric and other periods. The application of Bayesian statistical analysis to scientific chronologies has been hailed as ‘a revolution in understanding’, and has brought renewed emphasis onto how we generate scientific chronological data, how these data are applied into wider narratives, and the epistemological importance of these data.
9781785706080 £25.00 Oxbow Books 9781785701238 £32.00 Oxbow Books
The Social and Cultural Contexts of Historic Writing Practices
Edited by Philip J. Boyes, Philippa M. Steele and Natalia Elvira Astoreca Series: Contexts of and Relations Between Early Writing Systems
Writing is not just a set of systems for transcribing language and communicating meaning, but an important element of human practice fundamentally interconnected with all other aspects of human life. This book explores these relationships in a number of different cultural contexts and from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including archaeological, anthropological and linguistic. It offers new ways to approach the study of writing and integrating it into wider debates and discussions about culture, history and archaeology.
Oxbow Books • 9781789254785 • Hardback • b/w illus. 240 x 170mm • 352 pages • October 2020 • £55.00
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Crossing Continents
Between India and the Aegean, from Prehistory to Alexander the Great By Robert Arnott
Examines trade between India and the Aegean. The first contacts between Greece, the Aegean and India are generally thought to have occurred at the beginning of the 6th century BC. There is now, however, growing evidence of much earlier but indirect connections, reaching back into prehistory. This study views the Aegean as part of a greater trade network and attempts to both evaluate and re-evaluate what evidence and speculation there are for such contacts.
Oxbow Books • 9781789255546 • Paperback • b/w illus. 240 x 170mm • 128 pages • September 2020 • £28.00
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Returning to Gokstad
The Art and Science of the Archaeological Revisit Edited by Jan Bill and Hege S. Gjerde Explores the context, process and progress of the Gokstad Revitalised project.
This book is the first of three planned volumes from the project ‘Gokstad Revitalised’, which is an archaeological revisit at the famous Viking Age ship grave originally excavated in 1880. It collects experiences from other archaeological revisits from the past decades, reports on the research history of the Gokstad find, and discusses the paradox of planning a multi-year, frontrunner project in a field where methodological development is rapid and uncertainty abounds.
The Macro and Microscopic Characteristics of Experimental Samples By Theresa Emmerich Kamper Series: Central Eurasia in Context
The importance of skin processing technologies in the history and expansion of humankind cannot be overstated, yet these technologies can be difficult to identify in the archaeological record. This research outlines the development of a systematic, non-destructive method for identifying the tanning technologies used to produce prehistoric skin artefacts. The approach combines extensive archaeological research and over 25 years of the author’s personal tanning experience.
Sidestone Press • 9789088908361 • Paperback • b/w and colour illus. 280 x 210mm • 206 pages • June 2020 • £45.00
ALSO AVAILABLE IN HARDBACK 9789088908378 • £135.00
Cultures of Stone
An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Materiality of Stone By Gabriel Cooney and Edited by Bernard Gilhooly, Niamh Kelly and Sol Mallía-Guest
Establishes a rich cross-disciplinary dialogue about the significance of stone in society across time and space.
The material properties of stone have ensured its continuing importance; however, it is its materiality which has mediated the relations between the individual, society and stone. Bound up with the physical properties of stone are ideas on identity, value and understanding, and its enduring character creates a link through generations to both people and place. This volume brings together a collection of 17 papers to explore these themes which draw on a range of diverse disciplines and approaches.
Sidestone Press • 9789088908910 • Paperback • b/w and colour illus. 254 x 178mm • 298 pages • May 2020 • £45.00
ALSO AVAILABLE IN HARDBACK 9789088908927 • £135.00
Cleaning and Value
Interdisciplinary Investigations Edited by Isabel Bredenbröker, Christina Hanzen and Felix Kotzur Contributions on the relation between values and cleaning processes in different places, cultures and times.
This volume combines scholarly contributions on the relation between values and cleaning processes in different places, cultures and times. The core disciplines are archaeology and anthropology with interdisciplinary additions from sinology, classic philology, philosophy, sociology and fine arts. Aspects of materiality, social organisation, creation and conservation of value, devaluation as well as destruction come into play.
The Art of Siege Warfare and Military Architecture from the Classical World to the Middle Ages
Edited by Michael Eisenberg and Rabei Khamisy
Oxbow Books• 97817892540386 Hardback• 288 pages September 2020• £45.00 Ceramics, Cuisine and Culture
Edited by Michela Spataro and Alexandra Villings Studies on technological and socio-economic aspects of ceramic kitchen ware, cuisine and cooking.
Oxbow Books• 9781789253412 New in Paperback• 288 pages Available Now• £38.00
Art in the Archaeological Imagination
Edited by Dragos Gheorghiu
Explores the archaeological imagination as a type of artistic creation.
Oxbow Books• 9781789253528 Paperback• 140 pages Available Now• £36.00 Dying to Eat
Edited by Candi K. Cann First interdisciplinary book to explore the role of food in death, bereavement, and the afterlife.
University Press of Kentucky 9780813178516• Paperback 208 pages• Available Now £26.50 Death and Changing Rituals
Edited by J. Rasmus Brandt, Håkon Roland and Marina Prusac
Explores how funerary rituals changed and the meaning behind these changes.
Oxbow Books• 9781789253818 New in Paperback• 476 pages
Available Now• £35.00
Animo Decipiendi?
Edited by Antonio Guzmán and Javier Martínez
New approaches to fakes and
