The dawn of art is sometimes equated with the birth of the human spirit. But when and how did figuration - sculpture, painting, drawing - actually begin? And did these first figurative creations coincide with the emergence of our own species, Homo sapiens ? Is figuration a general and fundamental feature of the human condition? In this challenging volume leading experts review the evidence now available from the worldwide practice of prehistoric archaeology, and go on to formulate some important conclusions. The scope of this work is global. It sets out to explore the first stirrings of artistic endeavour and of figurative imagery on each continent, and to consider the social context in which they arose. It will be a fundamental resource for all those seeking to understand the origins of art and the beginnings of human spirituality.

This book brings to public attention some of the most evocative and threatened features of the landscape of southern England. Water meadows work with nature to improve agricultural productivity, whilst providing rich habitats for wildlife such as water voles, waders and grass snakes. They are areas of low-lying grassland which are regularly 'drowned' - artificially irrigated - at certain times of the year, to stimulate the early growth of grass in the spring. Only a few remain in operation today, though they played a crucial role in Britains past farming economy. Their archaeological remains can be found all over southern England, with Hampshire and Wiltshire having perhaps the best surviving examples. In this book leading archaeologists and scientists - together with one of the last practising 'drowners' - explore the ecology and history of water meadows. They ask when and where the art of floating originated, and explain its hydrology. They also investigate water meadows conservation status and potential for the future.

The current conception of the absolute chronology of the Italian Copper Age to the end of the Early Iron Age is set out in this new title from the British Museum. Some 850 objects have been arranged chronologically from the Copper Age, through the Bronze Age, to the Early Iron Age. Within these headings, the objects are organised typologically e. g. axes, swords etc. A major result of this study has been the reassembly of several groups of bronzes probably originally from hoards. Each entry includes a description, bibliogrpahy and comparanda and line drawing or photgraph.

This fascinating portrait of the Society of Antiquaries of London, founded in 1707, assesses the impact that individual Fellows and the Society as a whole have had in influencing the way we visualise and understand the past. There are, for example, essays on the Society's pioneering role in recording monuments and antiquities for posterity, in establishing the scientific and empirical basis of archaeological studies, in replacing Biblically based timeframes with a clearer understanding of deep time measured in millions of years, in drawing up the first legislation protecting ancient monuments, and in funding and publishing the great excavations of the last one hundred years, from Stonehenge, Maiden Castle, Richborough and Sutton Hoo to Aksum (Ethiopia) and Mons Porphyrites (Egypt). All the papers represent fresh and original scholarship and they tell us much about the Society's achievements (and some of the accompanying conflicts between personalities and ideas) over three hundred years. They are based on diaries, letters, minute books and confidential government papers and on portraits that chart the changing image of the antiquary from a figure of fun to heroic seeker of forgotten people and civilizations. Visions of Antiquity reveals astonishing echoes across time - from the repeated and continuing attempts to record all ancient buildings and monuments to the continuity of the title 'antiquary' to describe scholars who build bridges between different branches of knowledge based on the study of material remains of the past and of a Fellowship whose numbers have included prime ministers, bishops, peers and parliamentarians, as well as radicals and free thinkers, such as William Morris and many of the founders of modern conservation.

It is difficult to imagine modern archaeology without radio-carbon dating, geophysics, analytical chemistry, or the input of the social and historical sources. Archaeology is inevitably an interdisciplinary enterprise, perhaps more so than any other field. But with the ever-increasing specialisation of modern research in general, it becomes more and more difficult to communicate across disciplinary doundaries; this is one of the major challenges modern archaeology faces today. This volume is the outcome of a two-day conference held at the University of Oxford that focused on the opportunities and challenges of interdisciplinary approaches to archaeology.

The papers published in this volume were presented at a seminar on 'Recent Developments in Research and Management at World Heritage Sites' held at the Institute of Archaeology, University College, London. This was part of the Wiltshire-Malta World Heritage Exchange Project funded by the European Union AER Centurio Programme. While most of the papers focus on prehistoric and megalithic sites in Wiltshire and Malta, others consider education, cultural landscapes, research strategies, and a Neolithic landscape in China. The common threads linking the papers are the influence of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, the importance of research in the understanding and management of World Heritage Sites, and the importance of building consensus through partnership and involvement in the management of World Heritage Sites.

This volume presents the geoarchaeological analysis of the Aboukir Bay by the Smithsonian Institute. This study outlines the reasons for the submergence of the ancient coast line through detailed analysis of geological core samples.

This volume of thirteen essays came out of a conference in December 2004 at Bristol University, to celebrate the career of Mick Aston on the occasion of his retirement. They reflect his enthusiam for landscape and monastic archaeology in particular, and range in time from prehistory to the nineteenth century. Mick's ability to communicate archaeology to the masses has rightly seen him earn the title of 'The Ambassador of British Archaeology'.

Drawing on the experience of the Temper project ( Training, Education, Management and Prehistory in the Mediterranean ) and wider examples from the Mediterranean, this volume explores the issues inherent in managing, interpreting and presenting prehistoric archaeological sites. The first section of the book contains thematic chapters on conservation, visitor management and interpretation, public participation, and issues of managing sites within their cultural landscape; the second section focuses on archaeology and education and the politics of national curricula, and presents detailed case studies. Written by academics and those working in the fields of archaeology, architecture, heritage management and education, this volume will be invaluable to students and practitioners alike.

This book presents the first topographic outline of the city of Heracleion and the nearby Ptolemaic and Byzantine sites, all currently being excavated underwater in the Bay of Aboukir. This volume is the product of ten years of survey and excavation.

Prince Christian Frederik (1786-1848) became King Christian VIII of Denmark in 1839. His accession to the throne took place at the end of Denmark's 'Golden Age' -- a period haunted by national bankruptcy but, notably, due to a few men of vision also a period in which painting, poetry and science developed intensively. Because of his intelligence, energy and patronage of the arts, King Christian VIII became one of the entrepreneurs of Danish cultural life. After his death in 1848, the King's collection became state property and was transferred to the National Museum. In 1998, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the King's death, the National Museum arranged a symposium where a series of papers were presented about the King as a collector and about the importance of the collections. This book, lavishly illustrated with photographs of the collection and other artefacts, contains the symposium papers, which have been revised and expanded.

These days the written word is coming under a great deal of pressure from visual media. Increasingly we feel we have to refer to films "which everyone knows" or contemporary mass culture in order to explain theories and discuss the pattern of a text. Photography, television and films have taken over a large share of information exchange, education and entertainment. The flow of images reaches us via the ever-changing forms of new technologies and the "medium is the message". But visual media are not merely part of our reality: we talk of a "world wiew" and this reflects the fact that the public space, and therefore our culture, is becoming more visual by the day. This anthology considers literature and visual culture from a number of different perspectives. It provides valuable assistance in the quest for a new understanding of the interplay and fusion of image and text in the modern era, in new yet at the same time well-established forms.

This book surveys mathematical education in Iceland from medieval times to the present. Its main focus is on the international "modern" mathematics reform movement in the 1960s, promoted by the OECD. At that time mathematics education in Iceland had drifted into stagnation, characterized by a shortage of teachers, curricula and textbooks. In spite of the turmoil and confusion in the Icelandic school system caused by the introduction of modern mathematics, this reform had significant positive impact. It stimulated the creativity and initative of a generation of teachers and played an important role in the transformation of Icelandic society. Icelanders came to recognize the importance of mathematics for technical and economic progress and for its inherent cultural value.

This edited volume of forty-four papers on terracottas opens with a section on New Research , followed by five geographical sections on: Etruria; Umbria and Abruzzo; The Faliscans, Rome and Latium; Campania and Magna Graecia; and Sicily. The terracottas in question are the various parts of roofing systems used by the ancient Italians Italic, Etruscan and colonial Greek and cover both domestic and temple architecture. Thirty-three papers are in Italian, nine in English and two in German.

Who owns cultural objects? and who has the right to own them? The contributors to this book have thought long and hard about the ethics and politics of collecting, from a variety of professional perspectives: archaeologist, museum curator, antiquities dealer, collector, legislator. The book is the outcome of a series of lectures and workshops held in Oxford in October-December 2004. It brings together some stimulating and provocative opinions, that would not usually be found together; archaeology and cultural heritage students rarely come into contact with antiquities dealers or collectors, for instance; museum curators rarely get to know the production processes and rationales behind the legislation and ethical codes they have to abide by. The aim is to provoke thought and debate on this topical and sensitive subject area.

This volume resurrects the forgotten history of early American involvement in biblical archaeology. Frederick Jones Bliss, an American from a prominent missionary family, is central to the story as he was the first of any nationality to scientifically excavate the tells of Palestine.