Download or read book Prehistoric Technology 40 Years Later written by Laura Longo and published by British Archaeological Reports Oxford Limited. This book was released on 2008 with total page 584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Proceedings of the International Congress Verona (Italy) 20-23 April 2005 This book includes papers from the congress: Prehistoric Technology 40 Years Later: Functional Studies and the Russian Legacy held in Verona (Italy), 20-23 April 2005. Sessions: Methodology (seven contributions); Hunter-Gatherers (nine contributions); Food Producers (eight contributions); Complex Polities (six contributions); Burial Context (six contributions); Posters (thirty-two contributions); Round Table (eight contributions). Edited by Laura Longo and Natalia Skakun with the assistance of Massimo Saracino and Martina Dalla Riva.
Download or read book Detecting and Explaining Technological Innovation in Prehistory written by Michela Spataro and published by . This book was released on 2019-12-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Technology refers to any set of standardised procedures for transforming raw materials into finished products. Innovation consists of any change in technology which has tangible and lasting effect on human practices, whether or not it provides utilitarian advantages. Prehistoric societies were never static, but the tempo of innovation occasionally increased to the point that we can refer to transformation taking place. Prehistorians must therefore identify factors promoting or hindering innovation.This volume stems from an international workshop, organised by the Collaborative Research Centre 1266 'Scales of Transformation' at Kiel University in November 2017. The meeting challenged its participants to detect and explain technological change in the past and its role in transformation processes, using archaeological and ethnographic case studies. The papers draw mainly on examples from prehistoric Europe, but case-studies from Iran, the Indus Valley, and contemporary central America are also included. The authors adopt several perspectives, including cultural-historical, economic, environmental, demographic, functional, and agent-based approaches.These case studies often rely on interdisciplinary research, whereby field archaeology, archaeometric analysis, experimental archaeology and ethnographic research are used together to observe and explain innovations and changes in the artisan's repertoire. The results demonstrate that interdisciplinary research is becoming essential to understanding transformation phenomena in prehistoric archaeology, superseding typo-chronological description and comparison.This book is a scholarly publication aimed at academic researchers, particularly archaeologists and archaeological scientists working on ceramics, osseous and metal artifacts.
Download or read book Prehistory written by Chris Gosden and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent archaeological discoveries from China and central Asia have changed our understanding of how human civilization developed in the period of some 4 million years before the start of written history. In this new edition of his Very Short Introduction, Chris Gosden explores the current theories on the ebb and flow of human cultural variety.
Download or read book Gender Transformations in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies written by Julia Katharina Koch and published by . This book was released on 2019-12-17 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is dedicated to examining the role and impact of gender relations during socio-environmental transformation processes as well as matters of gender equality in archaeological academia across the globe.
Download or read book Dorothy Garrod and the Progress of the Palaeolithic written by William Davies and published by . This book was released on 2017-03-20 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dorothy Garrod opened many doors; not only was she the first female professor at Cambridge University, but she illuminated - and in some cases initiated - some of prehistoric archaeology's most central issues. The quiet yet self possessed woman was best known as a fieldworker, often venturing into dangerous regions such as Kurdistan. Her first and highly successful excavation revealed fragments of Neanderthal fossils in Gibralter. This volume reviews modern research on this site, as well as exploring other issues which interested the Disney Professor of Archaeology: hominid remains from Mount Carmel; Palaeolithic sites in the Zagros Mountains, Bulgaria and Britain; and the cultural evidence for the beginning of Near Eastern food production, which Garrod called Natufian. Also included are papers concerned with her life, background and published work. The topics' span and continuing relevance are testament to Dorothy Garrod's remarkable character and great achievements.
Download or read book Salt in Prehistoric Europe written by Anthony Harding and published by Sidestone Press. This book was released on 2013-11-01 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Salt was a commodity of great importance in the ancient past, just as it is today. Its roles in promoting human health and in making food more palatable are well-known; in peasant societies it also plays a very important role in the preservation of foodstuffs and in a range of industries. Uncovering the evidence for the ancient production and use of salt has been a concern for historians over many years, but interest in the archaeology of salt has been a particular focus of research in recent times. This book charts the history of research on archaeological salt and traces the story of its production in Europe from earliest times down to the Iron Age. It presents the results of recent research, which has shown how much new evidence is now available from the different countries of Europe. The book considers new approaches to the archaeology of salt, including a GIS analysis of the oft-cited association between Bronze Age hoards and salt sources, and investigates the possibility of a new narrative of salt production in prehistoric Europe based on the role of salt in society, including issues of gender and the control of sources. The book is intended for both academics and the general reader interested in the prehistory of a fundamental but often under-appreciated commodity in the ancient past. It includes the results of the author’s own research as well as an up-to-date survey of current work.
Download or read book Prehistoric Archeology Along the Zagros Flanks written by University of Chicago. Oriental Institute and published by Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures. This book was released on 1983 with total page 704 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Robert J. Braidwood set out with his wife Linda in the spring of 1948 to explore the field evidence for the transition from hunter-gatherer way of life to sedentary food production in the region surrounding the Mesopotamian Plain. This initial work started many archaeologists thinking about how the processes that lay behind this fundamental change, and ultimately other transitions, could be documented archaeologically. His pioneering effort to introduce specialists from the geological and biological sciences into work on relevant problems in this transition brought about a new set of standards for fieldwork in the Near East and a new appreciation of the richness of the multidimensional archaeological record that can result from these studies. This volume is the final report on the Braidwoods' initial phase of exploration from 1948 to 1955 in the Chemchemal Valley and adjacent regions of Iraqi Kurdistan. In this sense it is a work that can be viewed as the result of a study begun at a transition within archaeology itself, from the goals and techniques of the period between the wars to the methods and purposes that characterize the discipline at present. Approximately half the volume is devoted to reports on the architecture and artifacts recovered during three seasons of work at Jarmo, the first early village site with aceramic levels excavated in the Near East. Substantial sections are also devoted to reports on the earlier aceramic site of Karim Shahir and the later (Halafian) site of Banahilk. [From a review by Arthur J. Jelinek in the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 265 (1987) 87-88].
Download or read book Beyond Barrows written by David R. Fontijn and published by Sidestone Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Europe is dotted with tens of thousands of prehistoric barrows. In spite of their ubiquity, little is known on the role they had in pre- and protohistoric landscapes. In 2010, an international group of archaeologists came together at the conference of the European Association of Archaeologists in The Hague to discuss and review current research on this topic. This book presents the proceedings of that session. The focus is on the prehistory of Scandinavia and the Low Countries, but also includes an excursion to huge prehistoric mounds in the southeast of North America. One contribution presents new evidence on how the immediate environment of Neolithic Funnel Beaker (TRB) culture megaliths was ordered, another one discusses the role of remarkable single and double post alignments around Bronze and Iron Age burial mounds. Zooming out, several chapters deal with the place of barrows in the broader landscape. The significance of humanly-managed heath in relation to barrow groups is discussed, and one contribution emphasizes how barrow orderings not only reflect spatial organization, but are also important as conceptual anchors structuring prehistoric perception. Other authors, dealing with Early Neolithic persistent places and with Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age urnfields, argue that we should also look beyond monumentality in order to understand long-term use of "ritual landscapes". The book contains an important contribution by the well-known Swedish archaeologist Tore Artelius on how Bronze Age barrows were structurally re-used by pre-Christian Vikings. This is his last article, written briefly before his death. This book is dedicated to his memory. This publication is part of the Ancestral Mounds Research Project of the University of Leiden.
Download or read book Prehistoric Mesoamerica written by Richard E. W. Adams and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this revised edition of Prehistoric Mesoamerica, Richard E. W. Adams updates his widely adopted text with material from recent archaeological fieldwork to present a balanced summary and overview of the region that is today Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras. Following an introduction to Mesoamerican studies, a brief geographic sketch of the region, and a summary of the major features of its civilizations, Adams examines in detail each period of cultural history: the first immigrants; the Olmec and their contemporaries; Maya beginnings and classic civilization; the great cities of Teotihuacan and Monte Alban; the rise and fall of the Toltec; and the civilizations of the Tarascans, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Totonacs, and Aztecs.
Download or read book Prehistoric Britain written by Timothy Darvill and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-07-02 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Britain has been inhabited by humans for over half a million years, during which time there were a great many changes in lifestyles and in the surrounding landscape. This book, now in its second edition, examines the development of human societies in Britain from earliest times to the Roman conquest of AD 43, as revealed by archaeological evidence. Special attention is given to six themes which are traced through prehistory: subsistence, technology, ritual, trade, society, and population. Prehistoric Britain begins by introducing the background to prehistoric studies in Britain, presenting it in terms of the development of interest in the subject and the changes wrought by new techniques such as radiocarbon dating, and new theories, such as the emphasis on social archaeology. The central sections trace the development of society from the hunter-gatherer groups of the last Ice Age, through the adoption of farming, the introduction of metalworking, and on to the rise of highly organized societies living on the fringes of the mighty Roman Empire in the 1st century AD. Throughout, emphasis is given to documenting and explaining changes within these prehistoric communities, and to exploring the regional variations found in Britain. In this way the wealth of evidence that can be seen in the countryside and in our museums is placed firmly in its proper context. It concludes with a review of the effects of prehistoric communities on life today. With over 120 illustrations, this is a unique review of Britain's ancient past as revealed by modern archaeology. The revisions and updates to Prehistoric Britain ensure that this will continue to be the most comprehensive and authoritative account of British prehistory for those students and interested readers studying the subject.
Download or read book Late Prehistoric Florida written by Keith Ashley and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2012-07-15 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prehistoric Florida societies, particularly those of the peninsula, have been largely ignored or given only minor consideration in overviews of the Mississippian southeast (A.D. 1000-1600). This groundbreaking volume lifts the veil of uniformity frequently draped over these regions in the literature, providing the first comprehensive examination of Mississippi-period archaeology in the state. Featuring contributions from some of the most prominent researchers in the field, this collection describes and synthesizes the latest data from excavations throughout Florida. In doing so, it reveals a diverse and vibrant collection of cleared-field maize farmers, part-time gardeners, hunter-gatherers, and coastal and riverine fisher/shellfish collectors who formed a distinctive part of the Mississipian southeast.
Download or read book An Ethnography of the Neolithic written by Christopher Tilley and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2003-10-30 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Archaeological research in Sweden and Denmark has uncovered a startling array of evidence over the last 150 years, but until now there has been no comprehensive synthesis and interpretation of the material. An Ethnography of the Neolithic bridges this gap, giving an accessible and up-to-date analysis of a wide range of evidence, from landscapes to monumental tombs to portable artifacts. Christopher Tilley also uses this material as a basis for a provocative and novel reconstruction of late Mesolithic and earlier Neolithic societies in southern Scandinavia, over a period of 3,000 years. His skilful integration of archaeological evidence with new anthropological approaches makes this book an original contribution to an important topic, whose significance stretches outside Scandinavia, and beyond the Neolithic.
Download or read book Decolonizing prehistory written by Gesa Mackenthun and published by . This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Decolonizing "Prehistory"critically examines and challenges the paradoxical role that modern historical-archaeological scholarship plays in adding legitimacy to, but also delegitimizing, contemporary colonialist practices. Using an interdisciplinary approach, this volume empowers Indigenous voices and offers a nuanced understanding of the American deep past.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Oceania written by Terry L. Hunt and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 720 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Oceania was the last region on earth to be permanently inhabited, with the final settlers reaching Aotearoa/New Zealand approximately AD 1300. This is about the same time that related Polynesian populations began erecting Easter Island's gigantic statues, farming the valley slopes of Tahiti and similar islands, and moving finely made basalt tools over several thousand kilometers of open ocean between Hawai'i, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, and archipelagos in between. The remarkable prehistory of Polynesia is one chapter of Oceania's human story. Almost 50,000 years prior, people entered Oceania for the first time, arriving in New Guinea and its northern offshore islands shortly thereafter, a biogeographic region labelled Near Oceania and including parts of Melanesia. Near Oceania saw the independent development of agriculture and has a complex history resulting in the greatest linguistic diversity in the world. Beginning 1000 BC, after millennia of gradually accelerating cultural change in Near Oceania, some groups sailed east from this space of inter-visible islands and entered Remote Oceania, rapidly colonizing the widely separated separated archipelagos from Vanuatu to S?moa with purposeful, return voyages, and carrying an intricately decorated pottery called Lapita. From this common cultural foundation these populations developed separate, but occasionally connected, cultural traditions over the next 3000 years. Western Micronesia, the archipelagos of Palau, Guam and the Marianas, was also colonized around 1500 BC by canoes arriving from the west, beginning equally long sequences of increasingly complex social formations, exchange relationships and monumental constructions. All of these topics and others are presented in The Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Oceania written by Oceania's leading archaeologists and allied researchers. Chapters describe the cultural sequences of the region's major island groups, provide the most recent explanations for diversity and change in Oceanic prehistory, and lay the foundation for the next generation of research.
Download or read book Prehistoric Investigations in Iraqi Kurdistan written by Robert John Braidwood and published by Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures. This book was released on 1960 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of the first three field campaigns of an archeological expedition-the Iraq-Jarmo Progect-in the Kurdish hill country of Iraq.
Download or read book Reading Prehistoric Human Tracks written by Andreas Pastoors and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Open Access book explains that after long periods of prehistoric research in which the importance of the archaeological as well as the natural context of rock art has been constantly underestimated, research has now begun to take this context into focus for documentation, analysis, interpretation and understanding. Human footprints are prominent among the long-time under-researched features of the context in caves with rock art. In order to compensate for this neglect an innovative research program has been established several years ago that focuses on the merging of indigenous knowledge and western archaeological science for the benefit of both sides. The book gathers first the methodological diversity in the analysis of human tracks. Here major representatives of anthropological, statistical and traditional approaches feature the multi-layered methods available for the analysis of human tracks. Second it compiles case studies from around the globe of prehistoric human tracks. For the first time, the most important sites which have been found worldwide are published in a single publication. The third focus of this book is on firsthand experiences of researchers with indigenous tracking experts from around the globe, expounding on how archaeological sciencecan benefit from the ancestral knowledge. This book will be of interest to professional archaeologists, graduate students, ecologists, cultural anthropologists and laypeople, especially those focussing on hunting-gathering and pastoralist communities and who appreciate indigenous knowledge.--
Download or read book Trade and Exchange written by Carolyn D. Dillian and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-12-05 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long before the advent of the global economy, foreign goods were transported, traded, and exchanged through myriad means, over short and long distances. Archaeological tools for identifying foreign objects, such as provenance studies, stylistic analyses, and economic documentary sources reveal non-local materials in historic and prehistoric assemblages. Trade and exchange represent more than mere production and consumption. Exchange of goods also led to an exchange of cultural and social experiences. Discoveries of the sources of alien objects surpass archaeological expectations of exchange and geographic distance, revealing important technological advances. With thirteen case studies from around the world, this comprehensive work provides a fresh perspective on material culture studies. Evidence of ongoing negotiation between individuals, villages, and nations provides insight into the impact of trade on the micro-, meso-, and macro-level. Covering a wide array of time periods and areas, this work will be of interest to archaeologists, anthropologists, and anyone working in cultural studies.
