Download or read book Ceci N est Pas Une Hache written by Karsten Wentink and published by Sidestone Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As early as the 19th century discoveries of groups of large axes puzzled those confronted with them. The fact that most were found in waterlogged places increased the speculation as to the nature of the deposits. This thesis is concerned with the character and significance of TRB flint axe depositions. The first part is mainly concerned with the question of selective deposition and how it was structured. By means of metrical, spatial and functional analysis, patterns are explored that can shed light on the actions performed by people in the past. The second part deals with the meaning and significance of TRB flint axe depositions. Why did people in the past do the things they did, how were these actions meaningful and important? Using sociological theory and ethnographic evidence an interpretation is presented based on the empirically observed patterns.
Download or read book Axe heads and Identity written by Katharine Walker and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2018-01-31 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume seeks to re-assess the significance accorded to the body of stone and flint axe-heads imported into Britain from the Continent which have until now often been poorly understood, overlooked and undervalued in Neolithic studies.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe written by Chris Fowler and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2015-03-26 with total page 1303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Neolithic --a period in which the first sedentary agrarian communities were established across much of Europe--has been a key topic of archaeological research for over a century. However, the variety of evidence across Europe, the range of languages in which research is carried out, and the way research traditions in different countries have developed makes it very difficult for both students and specialists to gain an overview of continent-wide trends. The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe provides the first comprehensive, geographically extensive, thematic overview of the European Neolithic --from Iberia to Russia and from Norway to Malta --offering both a general introduction and a clear exploration of key issues and current debates surrounding evidence and interpretation. Chapters written by leading experts in the field examine topics such as the movement of plants, animals, ideas, and people (including recent trends in the application of genetics and isotope analyses); cultural change (from the first appearance of farming to the first metal artefacts); domestic architecture; subsistence; material culture; monuments; and burial and other treatments of the dead. In doing so, the volume also considers the history of research and sets out agendas and themes for future work in the field.
Download or read book Mobility Meaning and Transformations of Things written by Hans Peter Hahn and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2013-01-31 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Things travel around the globe: they are shipped as mass consumer goods, or transported as souvenirs or gifts. There are infinite ways for things to be mobile, not only in the era of globalisation but since the beginning of time, as the earliest traces of long distance trading show. This book investigates the mobility of things from archaeological and anthropological perspectives. Material Objects are characterised by temporal continuity, embodying a prior existence with lingering effects. Yet the material continuity disguises the transformations they may undergo, which only become evident upon closer examination. Objects are in perpetual flux, leaving visible traces of their age, usage, and previous life. While travelling through time, objects also circulate through space, and their spatial mobility alters their meaning and use with respect to new cultural horizons. As objects transform through time and space, so does the value attributed to them. Mapping out itineraries of value in the realm of the material, allows us to grasp the nature of a given social formation through the shape and meaning taken on by its valued 'stuff'. It also provides insights into the nature of materiality, through the value ascribed to objects at a given point in time and space. This edited volume brings together studies of material culture, materiality and value, with regard to the mobility of objects, with the aim of tracing the ways in which societies constitute their valued objects and how the realm of the material reflects upon society.
Download or read book Neolithic Stone Extraction in Britain and Europe written by Peter Topping and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2021-12-08 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the introduction of Neolithic extraction practices across Europe through to the Atlantic periphery of Britain and Ireland. The key research questions are when and why were these practices adopted and what role did extraction sites play in Neolithic society. Neolithic mines and quarries have frequently been seen as fulfilling roles linked to the expansion of the Neolithic economy. However, this ignores the fact that many communities chose to selectively dig for certain types of stone in preference to others and why the products from these sites were generally deposited in special places such as wetlands. To address this question, 168 near-global ethnographic studies were analyzed to identify common trends in traditional extraction practices to produce robust statistics about their motivations and material signatures. Repeated associations emerged between storied locations, the organization of extraction practices, long-distance distribution of products, and the material evidence such activities left behind. This suggests that we can now probably identify mythologized/storied sites, seasonality, ritualized extraction, and the use-life of extraction site products. The ethnographic model was tested against data from 223 near-global archaeological extraction sites, which confirmed a similar patterning in both material records. It was used to analyze the social context of 79 Neolithic flint mine and 51 axe quarry excavations in Britain and Ireland and to review their European origins. The evidence that emerges confirms the pivotal role played by Neolithic extraction practices in European Neolithization and that the interaction of indigenous foragers with migrant miners/farmers was fundamental to the adoption of the new agropastoral lifestyle.
Download or read book Connecting Networks Characterising Contact by Measuring Lithic Exchange in the European Neolithic written by Tim Kerig and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2015-07-31 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings together a group of peer reviewed papers, most of them presented at a workshop held at University College London, 15-17 October 2011, as part of the European Research Council (ERC) funded project Cultural Evolution of Neolithic Europe (EUROEVOL 2010-2015).
Download or read book Star Carr Volume 2 written by Nicky Milner and published by White Rose University Press. This book was released on 2018-04-12 with total page 602 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This second volume of Star Carr provides detail on specific areas of research around the Star Carr site, one of the most important Mesolithic sites in Europe. Discovered in the late 1940s by John Moore and then excavated by Grahame Clark from 1949-1951, the site is famous in the archaeological world for its wealth of rare organic remains including significant wooden artefacts. The 2003-2015 excavations directed by Conneller, Milner and Taylor explored how the site was used. In use for around 800 years, the Star Carr site is much larger and more complex than ever imagined. This volume looks in detail at focused areas of research, including: wooden artefacts; antler headdresses; structures; environmental and climate change data; plant and animal remains found at the site; and sediment data.
Download or read book A Geography of Offerings written by Richard Bradley and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2016-11-30 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than quarter of a century ago Richard Bradley published The Passage of Arms. It was conceived as An Archaeological Analysis of Prehistoric Hoards and Votive Deposits, but, as the author concedes, these terms were too narrrowly focused for the complex subject of deliberate deposition and the period covered too short. A Geography of Offerings has been written to provoke a reaction from archaeologists and has two main aims. The first is to move this kind of archaeology away from the minute study of ancient objects to a more ambitious analysis of ancient places and landscapes. The second is to recognise that problems of interpretation are not restricted to the pre-Roman period. Mesolithic finds have a place in this discussion, and so do those of the 1st millennium AD. Archaeologists studying individual periods confront with similar problems and the same debates are repeated within separate groups of scholars – but they arrive at different conclusions. Here, the author presents a review that brings these discussions together and extends across the entire sequence. Rather than offer a comprehensive survey, this is an extended essay about the strengths and weaknesses of current thinking regarding specialised deposits, which encompass both sacrificial deposits characterised by large quantities of animal and human bones and other collections which are dominated by finds of stone or metal artefacts. It considers current approaches and theory, the histories of individual artefacts and the landscape and physical context of the of places where they were deposited, the character of materials, the importance of animism and the character of ancient cosmologies.
Download or read book Is There a British Chalcolithic written by Michael J. Allen and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2012-06-09 with total page 546 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Chalcolithic, the phase in prehistory when the important technical development of adding tin to copper to produce bronze had not yet taken place, is not a term generally used by British prehistorians and whether there is even a definable phase is debated. Is There a British Chalcolithic? brings together many leading authorities in 20 papers that address this question. Papers are grouped under several headings. 'Definitions, Issues, and Debate' considers whether appropriate criteria apply that define a distinctive period (c. 2450 - 2150 cal BC) in cultural, social, and temporal terms with particular emphasis on the role and status of metal artifacts and Beaker pottery. 'Continental Perspectives' addresses various aspects of comparative regions of Europe where a Chalcolithic has been defined. 'Around Britain and Ireland' presents a series of large-scale regional case studies where authors argue for and against the adoption of the term. The final section, 'Economy, Landscapes, and Monuments', looks at aspects of economy, land-use and burial tradition and provides a detailed consideration of the Stonehenge and Avebury landscapes during the period in question. The volume contains much detailed information on sites and artifacts, and comprehensive radiocarbon datasets that will be invaluable to scholars and students studying this enigmatic but pivotal episode of British Prehistory. Additional information originally found on included CD ROM can be downloaded here: https://books.casematepublishers.com/Is_There_a_British_Chalcolithic.pdf
Download or read book A Biography in Stone written by D. C. M. Raemaekers and published by Barkhuis. This book was released on 2011 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cover -- Table of contents -- Foreword -- 1 Typology and age -- 2 Function -- 3 Meaning -- 4 Conclusions -- References -- Appendix 1. List of Dutch perforated wedges
Download or read book Archaeological Artefacts as Material Culture written by Linda Hurcombe and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-05-12 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an introduction to the study of artefacts, setting them in a social context rather than using a purely scientific approach. Drawing on a range of different cultures and extensively illustrated, Archaeological Artefacts and Material Culture covers everything from recovery strategies and recording procedures to interpretation through typology, ethnography and experiment, and every type of material including wood, fibers, bones, hides and adhesives, stone, clay, and metals. With over seventy illustrations with almost fifty in full colour, this book not only provides the tools an archaeologist will need to interpret past societies from their artefacts, but also a keen appreciation of the beauty and tactility involved in working with these fascinating objects. This is a book no archaeologist should be without, but it will also appeal to anybody interested in the interaction between people and objects.
Download or read book Temporary Palaces written by Richard Bradley and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2021-05-31 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Great Houses of the prehistoric and early medieval periods were enormous structures whose forms were modelled on those of domestic dwellings. Most were built of wood rather than stone; they were used over comparatively short periods; they were frequently replaced in the same positions; and some were associated with exceptional groups of artefacts. Their construction made considerable demands on human labour and approached the limits of what was possible at the time. They seem to have played specialised roles in ancient society, but they have been difficult to interpret. Were they public buildings or the dwellings of important people? Were they temples or military bases, and why were they erected during times of crisis or change? How were their sites selected, and how were they related to the remains of a more ancient past? Although their currency extended from the time of the first farmers to the Viking Age, the similarities between the Great Houses are as striking as the differences. This study focuses on the monumental buildings of northern and northwestern Europe, but draws on structures over a wide area, extending from Anatolia as far as Brittany and Norway. It employs ethnography as a source of ideas and discusses the concept of the House Society and its usefulness in archaeology. The main examples are taken from the Neolithic and Iron Age periods, but this account also draws on the archaeology of the first millennium AD. The book emphasises the importance of comparing archaeological sequences with one another rather than identifying ideal social types. In doing so, it features a range of famous and less famous sites, from Stonehenge to the Hill of Tara, and from Old Uppsala to Yeavering.
Download or read book Materialitas written by Gabriel Cooney and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2009-12-01 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stone monuments and objects are highly accessible today and formed a focus for engagement, transformation and re-use in the past. Stone is inextricably linked to ideas of monumentality and remembrance. It formed an active medium in the creation of identities and memory in a range of social contexts and practices, including the embodied, performative and incorporated practices of daily activities and traditions. It can be argued that the material presence and physical character of stone objects and monuments were not only actively harnessed in these encounters, but were also the very stuff from which social relations were derived, perceived and thought through. This volume explores the power and effect of stone through the meanings that emerged out of peoples engagement and encounters with its physical properties. Focused primarily on the Neolithic and Bronze Age of Atlantic Europe it brings together authors working on the materiality (materialitas) of stone via stone objects, rock art, monuments and quarrying activity. This highlights the connections that cross-cut what are traditionally seen as disparate research areas within the archaeological discipline.
Download or read book The Geologic Model of Religion written by Andrew Clifford and published by Andrew Clifford. This book was released on 2012-07-17 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity" The opening line of the film Troy captures the tragic essence of personal mortality: ones' passing into oblivion and fading from all memory. Since the prehistoric dawn of humanity death has shadowed everyone’s footsteps. Even into the current scientific era religion has long been the only defense. The sole comfort against oblivion offering a promise of new life or even immortality. The Geologic Model of Religion is a sympathetic study of this defense from its ancient beginnings, drawing upon archaeology, anthropology and comparative religion to clearly explain one of the most complex subjects known. From the study a new model emerges which: * Decomposes religion into its distinct worldview and afterlife paradigms * Categorizes evidence of belief systems held by prehistoric hunter-gatherers, culminating in the Temples of Rebirth such as Gobekli Tepe * Concludes that spirituality began in the Fertile Crescent 11,000 years ago, spreading with the Neolithic revolution throughout the world * Shows why judgment in afterlife was the keystone in the emerging edifice of civilization, and how it enabled hierarchies overcoming Dunbar's number which limited village sizes * Overviews the interaction between science and religion and projects the ultimate fate of religion itself There might be 100,000 books written about religion but the Geologic Model of Religion is unlike any other. Drawing upon evidence from anthropology, archaeology and scripture religion is divided into worldviews and afterlife paradigms. This new model evidences several long lost prehistoric religious belief systems and explains the origin of spirituality in settled societies.
Download or read book Valuable Flints written by Bjørn I. Smit and published by Barkhuis. This book was released on 2010 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses the problems concerning the research of Stone Age surface scatters in the Northern Netherlands (provinces of Groningen, Drenthe and Friesland). Research methods are presented which can be used to assess these scatters within the realm of archaeological heritage management and suggestions are made with regard to knowledge hiatus and future research opportunities.Due to the large number of scatters, poor conservation, lack of visibility in the landscape and disturbed context these sites can often be overlooked. Nowadays, the majority of archaeological research is performed within the context of archaeological heritage management where, besides scientific, socio-economic motives also play a role. A major part of this book is focused on ways in which these scatters can be investigated within the context of archaeological heritage management.In this thesis the use of a landscape approach is advocated for an effective study of early prehistoric communities. This means that the intrinsic characteristics of the surface scatters should be supplemented with information on landforms and palaeo-ecological data from the surrounding areas. By using such an approach a more thorough image of Stone Age communities can be presented.
Download or read book Costly Giving Giving Gua zas written by Angus A. A. Mol and published by Sidestone Press. This book was released on 2006-12 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Archaeology of Exchange is primarily an archaeology of human sociality and anti-sociality. Nevertheless, archaeological studies of exchange are numerous and varied, and archaeologists do not always approach exchange as a social mechanism, concentrating rather on the cultural, economic or political implications of exchange. Even so, at times it is worth retracing the implicit theoretical steps that archaeologists have taken and look at human sociality through the eyes of exchange as something new. This is undertaken here by concentrating on the exchange of social valuables in the later part of the Late Ceramic Age of the Greater and Lesser Antilles (AD 1000/1100-1492). Questions concerning this exchange are framed in a novel mix of theories such as Costly Signalling Theory coupled with the paradox of keeping-while-giving and the notion of gene/culture co-evolution joined with Complex Adaptive System theory. All these theories can be related back to the concept of exchange as put forward by the French sociologist Marcel Mauss in his famous "Essai sur le don" of 1950. This theoretical framework is put to the test by an extensive case-study of a specific category of Late Ceramic Age social valuables, shell faces, which have an area of distribution that ranges from central Cuba to the Ile de Ronde in the Grenadines. The study of these enigmatic artefacts provides new insights into the nature and use of social valuables by communities and individuals in the Late Ceramic Age.
Download or read book Jerusalem and Other Holy Places as Foci of Multireligious and Ideological Confrontation written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-12-07 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jerusalem and Other Holy Places as Foci of Multireligious and Ideological Confrontation demonstrates the variety in the study of holy places, as well as the flexibility of geographic and historical aspects of holiness.
