The first ever large-scale synthesis on identity and social dynamics across archaic Macedonia (600-400 BC), Christos Giamakis’s book provides a detailed narrative exploring the role of power as displayed through material culture in the formation of group identities across the region. Giamakis focuses on data from nine cemeteries in the region combining multiple datasets including grave goods, osteological evidence, burial rites, tomb types and the organisation of the cemetery space in order to explore both inter- and intra-site competition that led to the emergence of different group identities across the region. By doing so, he proposes a new theoretical framework for the study of the region as an alternative to past, ethnicity-based, approaches. Identity, Power and Group Formation in Archaic Macedonia (600-400 BC) encourages the reader to explore the ways in which social inequalities, power dynamics and social interactions all affect the potency of specific identities at the expense of others. The present monograph will be of great interest to researchers working on ancient Macedonia and the wider ancient Greek world but also to scholars interested in power dynamics and identity formation in other parts of the ancient Mediterranean.

This volume presents a cutting-edge perspective on figurine studies in the Neolithic Aegean, sparking renewed interest and innovative ideas. It celebrates two significant milestones in the field: the 50th anniversary of Giorgos Hourmouziadis’ Ph.D. thesis (submitted in 1973 and published in 1974) and the 30th anniversary of Lauren Talalay’s Ph.

Excavations by OCA during 2015 at Oxford Road, Thame revealed activity from the Neolithic to the Late Saxon period. This has now been published by OCA in two illustrated volumes. Volume 1 describes how Early Neolithic pits and a three-circuit causewayed enclosure – possibly one of the largest known – were succeeded by later prehistoric activity including an extensive Early Iron Age settlement. This included structures and numerous pits, some of which contained notable deposits of material involving pottery, animal remains and other finds. A small cemetery included the remains of at least 13 people.

The second volume covers how Late Iron Age fields were replaced during the Early Roman period with larger scale land division related to agriculture, reflected in finds of millstones and corn driers. Two inhumation burials date to the very end of the Roman or the early post-Roman period. A settlement which comprised 13 sunken-featured buildings was established in the 6th–7th centuries AD. One building had burned down, preserving important information about the structure and materials which had been used in its construction. Several buildings contained evidence of weaving equipment in the form of loomweights. A ditched enclosure was created during the Late Saxon period with nearby ovens providing evidence for both crop drying and malting at a time when the nearby town of Thame was being established. Finds and environmental remains are examined in detail.

‘Chariots on Fire, Reins of Power’ presents the first comprehensive overview of 5th century BC elite graves from the Lower Rhine-Meuse region. Characterised by imported grave goods such as bronze vessels, horse tack, weapons and occasionally two-wheeled vehicles, these strikingly rich cremation burials are the northernmost representatives of an elite culture that had its roots in the Late Hallstatt and Early La Tène culture of more southern regions in France and the German Rhineland. This book is the result of an interdisciplinary study of this northern group of graves, prompted by the recent discovery of a new chariot burial at Heumen, the Netherlands. It will be of great interest to anyone interested in the material culture of the Iron Age and the wider debate about social transformations in the European region at this time. All elite graves in the area were reexamined from a practice perspective, including the examination of all grave goods using a wide range of techniques, including examination of use-wear traces and XRF-analysis. Physical anthropological study of cremated remains revealed new insights into the ages and sex of the elite dead, and strontium analysis provided valuable insights into Middle Iron Age mobility. Technical study from a practical equestrian perspective revealed the presence of both chariots with accompanying draught horses, as well as riding horses that wore elaborately decorated tack. The 5th century BC reveals itself as a highly dynamic period in the study area, with the appearance of elite graves being just one element in the broad spectrum of social changes that occurred during this phase. The urnfields fell into widespread disuse, small new cemeteries with flat graves emerged, a practice of inhumation was introduced in the Dutch river area, and ‘Marne ceramics’, a new pottery style, spread rapidly. In order to understand these complex regional dynamics, this book proposes a model that allows scope for intensive interregional connectivity, demographic fluctuations and probably also the small-scale immigration of southern groups, not just elites but lower social groups as well.

Fenster sind multifunktionale Bauteile, die sich sowohl nach Innen als auch nach Außen richten. Sie geben uns durch ihre Zahl, Größe und Art ihrer Verschlüsse wichtige Hinweise auf die Benutzungsarten und -zeiten der jeweiligen Räume, in denen sie angebracht sind. Darüber hinaus sind sie in der Lage zusammen mit dem decor eines Raumes eine Atmosphäre zu schaffen, in manchen Fällen sogar eine von der realen Welt entkoppelte Heterotopie. Zwar waren die Häuser und Thermen der Römer schon lange Gegenstand archäologischer Untersuchungen, doch blieb eine grundlegende Beschäftigung mit ihren Fenstern bisher aus oder sie erfolgte nur in einzelnen Aufsätzen. Das vorliegende Buch bündelt das Desiderat der Forschung und schließt bestehende Forschungslücken in Bezug auf deren Konstruktionen, Verschlüsse und Ausstattungselemente. Es zeichnet die Entwicklungsgeschichte dieses Bauteils über mehr als 500 Jahre Architekturgeschichte nach und berücksichtigt dabei nicht nur dessen pragmatische Funktionen, sondern auch seine kognitiv-sensualistischen.English abstractWindows are multifunctional elements within roman architecture. Their number, size, and type of shutters help us understand the use of architectural spaces within their time. Windows, together with the décor of such spaces, are able to create certain atmospheres, sometimes even heterotopias, which are dissociated from the real world. Whereas houses and baths have been studied for a long time, the analysis of windows and their functions was often neglected and has been the subject of only a few articles.This book aims to summarize research results and close the gap of research regarding methods of window and shutter construction and their features. It traces the evolution of windows over more than 500 years of architectural history, taking into account not only their pragmatic functions but their cognitive-sensualistic effects as well.

Initial remote sensing survey at Tlachtga, Co. Meath in 2011–12 highlighted the presence of multiple, partially overlapping phases of enclosure at the site. Three subsequent seasons of excavation provided critical interpretive evidence, with over 15,000 fragments of animal bone, human remains, charred plant material, evidence of metalworking, and a hoard of Anglo-Saxon silver coins dating to the late 10th century AD. The main activity at the site spans four broad periods and two main phases of monumental construction: a late Bronze Age to early Iron Age ‘Hillfort Phase’ (1100–400 BC) and a late Iron Age to early medieval (AD 400–600) ringfort phase associated with a smaller foundation enclosure – the ‘Southern Enclosure’. This ringfort phase was remodelled later in the early medieval period (9th–10th century AD) and augmented by a phase of mound construction in the mid-10th century AD. This is contemporary with the deposition of the coin hoard east of the main complex in an apparent craft-working area. The final phase of the central mound indicates the construction of a timber stockade, most likely in the 12th century, again with significant craft activity.This volume represents the excavation of at least four loci within the broader monumental landscape of Tlachtga, charting its progression from Bronze Age hillfort to pre-Anglo Norman power display mound.The excavations at the Hill of Ward and this publication were made possible through funding by the National Monuments Service via the Royal Irish Academy archaeological research excavation grants, and by Meath County Council, with additional support by the Office of Public Works and the Heritage Council.

This volume brings together recent excavations at two sites in Pocklington, East Yorkshire. The main focus of the volume is examination of Iron Age burials, which included chariots, swords, and spears, along with inclusion of earlier Prehistoric and later Roman activity. The excavations have enabled further scientific evidence for migration and mobility in the Iron Age population and secure chronologies for artefacts. New evidence from osteological analysis gives support for Warrior Graves and burial rites. The volume also examines the Pocklington shield, which has been described as one of the most significant pieces of Iron Age art. The exceptional finds, including a dismantled chariot with horses and an upright chariot also with horses, captured the world’s media and the public imagination. The excavations at Pocklington in 2017 and 2018 were featured on BBC 4’s Digging for Britain series and was voted Current Archaeology Rescue Project of the Year 2018. Anglian elements will be included in an additional volume.

Forsaken Relics examines the intricate mechanisms of ritualistic appropriation of ruined and/or abandoned assets and artifacts. It explores how this process occurs in situations where there is legislation to regulate the appropriation of ownerless property, as well as in cases where such rules are either absent or contested, leading to disputes and conflicts.Every society has developed its unique ways of managing the re-appropriation of ‘ownerless things’, such as places and houses abandoned after conflicts, crises, or natural disasters, forsaken cemeteries, tombs, and forgotten goods. These practices often involve the use of ritualistic methods to mask the intent to appropriate abandoned artifacts. The book aims to stimulate comparative analysis of this topic in both ancient and modern societies, profiling the identity of the ‘actors’ of appropriation, examining the definition of abandonment, and exploring the ritual aspects such as inventorying material, dedication to ancestors, and prayers to gods that legitimize the re-appropriation of places and goods classified as abandoned.

Pottery was at the heart of the ‘Neolithic package’ appearing in Britain with the first farmers around 4000 BC. It arrived as a mature technology and was essential to the new, largely sedentary, lifestyle and economy. It transformed storage and cooking practices, and the earliest ceramics seem to have been essential equipment in the new practice of dairying. The pottery changed over time and, as a result, ceramics have been fundamental to the construction of relative chronologies since the early days of modern archaeology. Even with the development of absolute dating techniques, the role of pottery as a dating tool has not diminished but instead has become refined and more accurate.But pottery is not just a tool for dating the past – it also represents a facet of prehistoric art and expression. Starting simply, ceramics became arguably the main medium for display, with often complex designs. Simple techniques, motifs and panels are combined to create highly decorated vessels, often of great individuality. The use of inlays, pastes and slips added contrasting colours to these vibrant designs.By the end of the Neolithic, ceramics became one of the major grave goods of British prehistory, acting as accompaniments to those that warranted formal burial whether by inhumation or cremation. This practice continued throughout the Early Bronze Age to the extents that, lacking contemporary domestic sites, most of the corpora of Early Bronze Age ceramics are largely sepulchral in context. As we increasingly realise that burial rituals may have been varied and complex, so the roles of these ceramics are becoming all the more questioned.This book traces the 3000 years of ceramic use and development in Britain, charting the changing forms and decorative techniques and the differing and changing roles that pottery played within its contemporary society.

Water may separate islands and the mainland, but the sea also offers a vital link. This volume is one of three major outputs of the research and public engagement project ‘Being an Islander’: Art and Identity of the Large Mediterranean Islands, implemented between 2019 and 2024 at the University of Cambridge. This project aimed to elucidate what defines island identity in the Mediterranean. It explored how insularity affects and shapes cultural identity by integrating transdisciplinary research methodologies, for example, by producing an award-winning documentary on insularity and island identity, drawing on the principles of visual anthropology, social anthropology, and environment studies. This volume is the culmination of the project’s research strands, undertaken by our key research teams in Cambridge, Cyprus, Greece, and Italy. It disseminates our research across our main project themes: insularity, connectivity, mobility, migration, island art and material culture production, hybridity and diachronicity, and provides cross-disciplinary arguments and suggestions on the future of island archaeology and associated disciplines. Contributions included suggest that the relationship between people, place, and material culture is what reveals important aspects of island identity and reframes the concept of the islands as a dynamic interplay shaped by social and historical episodes, connectivity and mobility, rather than geography or political boundaries. The volume advocates that the complex histories of the Mediterranean islands can also be a story of connections.

The valley of the western Rother lies within the South Downs National Park but has a special character based on its Cretaceous geology of sandstones and clays. These give rise to soils that are ideal for agriculture but are extremely erodible. Over the centuries the area has been exploited by humans and partially cleared of forest. In this book, the archaeological history of the Rother Valley is summarized, with particular emphasis on the evidence for Mesolithic, Bronze Age and Roman occupation. Analysis of sediments in ponds adds to the evidence for changes that have happened over the last few hundred years. A notable feature of the cultural landscape is the network of sunken lanes.The Rother Valley contains unique chalk-aquifer fed streams with rare and protected species, such as sea trout and otter. Heathland, floodplain, wet meadows and woodlands are interspersed with agriculture, linked together by hedgerows and ditches. The health of the river is threatened by polluting inputs from farming and sewage. Past weather and hydrological records show the potential impact of climate change on the functioning of the river. The impact of recent changes on water availability for irrigation and human consumption are explored in relation to ecosystem requirements. Soil erosion is a significant problem, with the resulting high river sediment concentrations requiring expensive cleaning for the water to be fit for human consumption and the runoff often causes flooding of roads and properties. Mitigation measures aim to reduce the loss of soil on fields and interrupt connectivity between fields and the river system. We identify sediment sources contributing eroded soil to the river, the function of field-edge sediment traps, in-stream weirs and major reservoirs on sediment storage and connectivity.Finally, the book considers the future of the unique landscape that is the Rother Valley, including plans for restoration of the flood plain. Contributors include planners, researchers and managers of the large estates that are an integral part of the Rother landscape.

This year, with the centennial of Howard Carter’s discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, Martin Hense is presenting his meticulous research on the robberies that took place in the tomb of this Egyptian pharaoh, 3300 years ago. This book is the outcome of that research, presented like a true ‘cold case crime investigation’. Even though the tomb robberies took place more than 3300 years ago, the evidence for the way the robbers entered the tomb and the items they removed, could still be discerned when Howard Carter opened the tomb in 1922. Knowingly, but also unknowingly, Carter documented the last traces of evidence of these crimes. Now, one hundred years later in 2022, the evidence for the different robberies is presented through new analysis of the documentation of Howard Carter and his excavation team.

The date of the Cerne Giant has long been a matter for debate, as exemplified by a public and televised debate of March 1996, published as The Cerne Giant: An Antiquity on Trial (1999, Oxbow Books). Excavations were conducted in 2020 by the National Trust in the centenary year of its ownership of the Giant. The excavations were limited and targeted in extent and scope, the aim was to date the actual construction of the iconic figure by absolute dating methods (OSL). As the 1999 publication explained, the jury was still out – with advocates for a prehistoric origin, one connected to the period of the Civil War or a more modern one. In the event, the dates were a complete surprise, falling within the Anglo-Saxon period.The research has provided an accurate, scientifically verified date for the Cerne Giant. These unexpected results, together with the land-use history and ominous ‘disappearance’ of the Giant for six centuries, provide the platform for reconsideration and new discussion and debate.Part 1 deals with new research: the historical background and aims, the excavation results, stratigraphic finds, geoarchaeological interpretation, land-use history (environmental/land snails), and discussion. Part 2 is the wider discussion and implications derived from the results and places the Giant in his local and Saxon context. Part 3 begins with summaries of the other two excavated hill figures (the Long Man of Wilmington and the Uffington White Horse) followed by a series of essays from leading archaeologists, historians and experts in early medieval iconography.

“The entry of daggers into the Forum” is an expression that identifies two precise historical moments: when two tribunes of the plebs—brothers Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and Caius Sempronius Gracchus—were murdered in Rome in 133 and 122 BC amidst bloody riots. These deaths and subsequent events marked the rupture of the constitutional order in the Roman Republic and the beginning of a political crisis. Thus began a political process that would lead, over the span of three generations, to the end of the res publica, a transition of endless violence, ransacking, and destruction, including three bitter and bloody civil wars. Internal politics in Rome in this period was fueled by social conflict, the confrontation between two political alignments—the Optimates and the Populares—each headed by an eminent figure and was characterized by sectarianism and (factional) intolerance. It was characterized by speeches delivered in the Senate, in the streets, and in the courts with solemnity and intensity but equally by the daggers that flashed in the hands of conspirators and assassins; by street riots, with thousands of victims; by real or alleged coups d’état, with ferocious mass repressions; by summary executions; by victims abandoned to the fury of the mob; of widespread civil wars whose battles intertwined with those against enemies abroad; manhunts, horrendous crimes; the system of legalized killings that aimed at the annihilation of political opponents known as proscriptions; corruption; and brutal and mass killings.This book discusses this tumultuous period in Rome between 133 and 78 BC, covering the plots of the Senate of Rome against the Gracchi and their violent ends, the mysterious death of Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, destroyer of Carthage and of Numantia, the ferocious lynching of Lucius Apuleius Saturninus, the seditious tribune of the plebs, the civil war between Marius and Sulla, including the siege and capitulation of Rome and Marius’ reign of terror, ending with the definitive victory and proscriptions of Sulla.

Northwold Manor is a multi-period listed building (grade II*), about which almost nothing was known. Uninhabited since 1955, it had fallen into a state of extreme dereliction, and was beyond economic repair when the author purchased the property in 2014. He and his wife, Diane Gibbs, embarked on a major restoration that ran for nine years. The restoration was carried out as a quasi-archaeological operation, revealing that the building complex had Tudor origins, followed by the construction of a Stuart house, with Georgian improvements, and a new entertaining suite added in 1814. The Manor, with its fine drawing room, ballroom and orangery, was the grandest house in Northwold, and research into the families that occupied it revealed unexpected connections to the French Bourbon Court. From the 17th to the 20th century, the Carters were the principal owners, and a local branch of the family included Howard Carter, discoverer of Tutankhamen’s tomb.This account begins with a topographical study of Northwold and its three medieval manors, followed by an exploration of the decline of the Carter family in the late 19th century. That triggered the break-up of the Northwold Estate in 1919. Passing through several ownerships, the Manor was earmarked for demolition in 1961; reprieved, it became a furniture store in the 1970s, and every room was solidly packed. As the roofs failed and water poured in, ceilings and floors collapsed, carrying with them the stacks of rotting furniture. By the late 1990s, walls and gables were collapsing too, and the local authority attempted to intervene. A long struggle to save the Manor ensued, finally ending with compulsory purchase in 2013.Although manor houses occur in most English parishes, they have received surprisingly little archaeological study. Every year, hundreds are restored or altered, but rarely accompanied by detailed recording or scholarly research; and popular television programs reveal the shameful level of destruction that takes place in the name of ‘restoration’. This is a book like no other: the holistic approach to the rehabilitation of Northwold’s derelict manor house – involving history, archaeology, architecture and genealogy – demonstrates how much can be learned about a building that had never before been studied. The project has received several awards.