From the Publisher’s Desk

Randi Danforth1

We continue to offer most of our list as either free pdf downloads or read-only editions (of our newer titles) at https://escholarship.org/uc/cioa_ciap.

Our Newest publiCAtiONs fOr 2022

Critical Archaeology in the Digital Age

Proceedings of the 12th IEMA Visiting Scholar Conference

edited by University of Wisconsin lecturer Kevin Garstki, was published in the Cotsen Digital Series on our eScholarship site as a free pdf, in keeping with its subject matter. The contributors to this volume discuss a critical approach to archaeology in a digital world, a purposeful and systematic application of digital tools in archaeology, and how to understand their impact on practice and interpretation. Topics include three-dimensional data, predictive and procedural modeling, digital publishing, digital archiving, public and community engagement, ethics, and global sustainability.

Divine Consumption

Sacrifice, Alliance Building, and Making Ancestors in West Africa

by University of Oregon professor Stephen Dueppen, brings together research of the diversified archaeological program at Kirikongo in Burkina Faso to identify and examine a complex series of ritual deposits, particularly of domestic and wild animals, ranging in time from the origins of sedentary farming communities to the ravages of the Black Death. Books on the archaeology of West Africa prior to 1500 CE are very rare, making this volume an invaluable addition to this area of scholarship. The author delivered a lively talk as the second event in our new series Author Spotlight, which celebrates our publications.

first kings of europe

From Farmers to rulers in Prehistoric Southeastern Europe

edited by University of Georgia professor Attila Gyucha and Field Museum curator William Parkinson, is a co-publication with the Field Museum in Chicago, to accompany an exhibition opening in New York City in fall 2022 and traveling on to Chicago and finally Ottawa. Over a span of four millennia, early agricultural villages gave rise to kingdoms and monarchies in Europe, the first complex state organizations. General audiences and scholars alike will appreciate the splendid selection of artifacts in bronze, gold, ceramic, and stone (many of which have never traveled outside the countries of origin), reconstruction drawings, and archaeological data in the book.

COmiNg iN 2023

first kings of europe

Exhibition Catalog

This catalog accompanies the exhibition First Kings of Europe and the companion volume First Kings of Europe: From Farmers to Rulers in Prehistoric Southeastern Europe. The catalog presents detailed images of most of the objects, photographed in studio settings, providing close-up views of these ancient masterworks.

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Ancient methone, 2003–2013

Excavations by Matthaios Bessios, Athena Athanassiadou, and Konstantinos Noulas

edited by Cotsen Institute affiliates Sarah Morris and John Papadopoulos, explores work at ancient Methone, a settlement with a crucial role in the economic and political history of Classical Greece as well as the prehistory of the North Aegean. Excavations there have uncovered remains from the Late Neolithic period through the fourth-century destruction by King Philip II of Macedon. This two-volume publication presents results of the project in selected artifacts, burials, and structures representing the chief phases of the city, in chronological order.

Archaeology Outside the box

edited by Cotsen Institute affiliate Hans Barnard, aims to make contemporary archaeology germane to the general public as well as to researchers in other disciplines. Thirty-one richly illustrated chapters present a wide variety of projects by an international group of anthropologists, archaeologists, architects, and artists. Many chapters provide arguments relevant to the soul-searching discussions currently taking place within archaeology worldwide and accelerated by the Black Lives Matter movement and the recent Covid-19 pandemic.

ritual and economy in east Asia

Archaeological Perspectives

edited by Anke Hein, Rowan Flad, and Bryan K. Miller, is a commemoration of Cotsen Institute faculty member Lothar von Falkenhausen’s sixtieth birthday. It assembles 18 scholarly essays that explore the intersection between art, economy, and ritual in ancient East Asia. The themes collectively reflect the theoretical, methodological, and historical questions that von Falkenhausen has examined throughout his career. Most chapters work with archaeological and textual data from China, but there are also studies of materials from Mongolia, Korea, Southeast Asia, and even Egypt, showing the global impact of von Falkenhausen’s work. The chronological range of studies extends from the Neolithic through the Bronze Age in China into the early imperial, medieval, and early modern periods.

Animals, Ancestors, and ritual in early bronze Age syria

An Elite Mortuary Complex from Umm el-Marra

edited by Johns Hopkins University professor Glenn M. Schwartz, is a final report of the excavation of Tell Umm el-Marra in northern Syria, conducted in 1994−2010. It is likely the site of ancient Tuba, capital of a small kingdom in the Early and Middle Bronze Age periods, in the Jabbul plain between Aleppo and northern Mesopotamia. Its study advances our understanding of early Syrian complex society beyond the big cities of antiquity. Of particular importance in the Early Bronze Age excavations are results from the site necropolis, tombs of high-ranking persons containing objects of gold, silver, and lapis lazuli. Separate installations hold the remains of kungas (donkey–onager hybrids), sometimes along with human infants. This site provides the first archaeological attestation of the kunga equids, unique in the archaeology of third-millennium Syria and Mesopotamia.

people of Ancient Daunia

Voicing the Statue-Stelae

by Camilla Norman, is an in-depth analysis of the statuestelae of Early Iron Age Daunia (in northern Apulia, Italy), a group of stone slabs, each incised to represent the garb and accoutrements of a person. Additional figurative images drawn on many of the robes show ritual practices, everyday activities, and scenes of local legend. Beyond the funerary record, the material culture of Daunians is relatively poorly known. The stelae, however, provide a rich source of self-representation, offering an unparalleled window into the lives of a protohistoric people. This is the first time a holistic study of the stelae has been undertaken and is the first presentation of the material in English.

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Ordering information

Cotsen Institute of Archaeology books in print are distributed by ISD (a distributor of scholarly books), https://www.isdistribution.com, 860-584-6546. They are also sold through our publications office; please contact ioapubs@ioa.ucla.edu. Recent titles are available as eBooks through https://www.amazon.com. Our complete online catalog can be found at https://www.ioa.ucla.edu/press/online-catalog.