As part of a long-term survey of southern Etruria, the site of Monte Gelato, about 30 km north of Rome, was excavated from 1986-90. An exceptionally rich stratigraphy provided excavators with a detailed occupation narrative. An Augustan villa where dormice were eaten and eels kept as pets was abandoned in the early 3rd century AD. Sporadic settlements on the `frontier zone' of Lombard incursions were succeeded by the establishment of a fortified ecclesiastical centre and papal estate in the 9th century AD. Two major issues shaped the project design: firstly the chronology of the abandonment of Roman villas and the move to fortified castelli and secondly, the cycles of isolation from and linkage to Rome which continue to affect this beautiful area of Italy.

The contributors to this volume seek to decipher the Hellenistic citizens' views on vital elements of their society: the city, the ruler, religion, magic and astrology, everyday life and social relations (family and gender), morality, uses of the past, and the iconography of death. How did the changes in political and social ideas affect actions and practices, which in turn again altered concepts? Moreover, the authors distinguish between the views of the common people and the elite, the evidence from inscriptions (seen as popular sentiment) and the evidence from literature (from the elite). The authors' conclusions have broad ramifications for future scholars in a field that has not hitherto received much attention. This volume is essential reading on the early development of individualism and the history of ideas.

A slim but useful study of utilitarian domestic pottery from Ancient Egypt. The author presents scenes involving pots from published Egyptian tombs. The pictures, reproduced in line drawings, show ceramics used in milking, water carrying, bread-making, brewing, wine-making, cooking and consumption. The book also considers the usefulness of tomb-paintings for dating excavated materials.

Introductory report and a detailed illustrated catalogue of the pottery finds from this second millennium BC Assyrian site, in modern northern Iraq.

"The desert margins of North Africa are extremely rich in archaeological ruins of the Roman period, evidence of dense settlement 2,000 years ago in what are now arid and hostile environments. Historians, geographers and archaeologists have long debated the significance of these sites, explaining the 'Greening of the Desert' variously in terms of environmental change, colonization, external market forces or combinations of factors. The debate so far has been characterized by the lack of scientific data from any one region concerning, on the one hand, the nature of settlement, society and land-use and, on the other, the contemporary climate and environment; this has made it impossible to compare rigorously the strengths and weaknesses of the alternative theories. The two volumes of Farming the Desert present the results of the alternative approach taken by the UNESCO Libyan Valleys Archaeological Survey: a detailed inter-disciplinary study by archaeologists, geographers and historians of a single region, i.e. the basins of the Wadis Sofeggin and ZemZem in Tripolitania, northwest Libya. The project's methodologies for studying the archaeology of arid-zone agriculture have been recognized internationally, and the results of their application to the study area have transformed our understanding of how the desert margins of North Africa were farmed in antiquity, with important implications for modern agricultural planning.'A particular triumph. It marshals a wide variety of skills and techniques, transforms our understanding of ancient pre-desert farming, and is as vital a contribution to modern needs as it is to scholarship.' (Tim Potter, British Museum)

This is the first study of goldsmiths who were apprenticed and/or worked in the City of Oxford. Manuscripts in both Oxford and London reveal an enormous amount of information regarding not only their work, but also their personal lives, relationships and politics.

Updating and enlarging on a lifetime's work on Augustus and his `constitutions' Lacey discusses the process of gradual encroachment whereby Augustus unobtrusively and with minimal opposition accumulated more and more power, whilst outwardly retaining the facade of a republic. Chapters examine the constitutional settlements of 27 and 23 BC, to which Lacey attributes less importance than most, the nature of the role given to Agrippa, the evolution of tribunician power, his religious prominence and dynastic arrangements. This all adds up to a very thorough and incisive study of how under Augustus the republic finally died and the principate was born.

A transcription of a day-long seminar held at the British Museum in 1995 to discuss aspects of display at the museum. Invited guests examined specific displays and were joined by many of the staff and other curators. A stimulating discussion ensued which makes fascinating reading for all involved with heritage management.

This volume is largely composed of a report of excavations in St. Peter Port in 1980-83, which revealed a later Iron Age settlement with a smithy and stone covered graves. Not only Iron Age material was discovered, Bronze Age pottery also appeared, as well as later finds from Medieval and Roman times. The rest of the study is devoted to the Iron Age cist burials, a special feature of the island, which exist in considerable numbers and have not been fully discussed since the 1920s. A gazetteer of Iron Age sites and finds in Guernsey, Herm and Sark is followed by a brief discussion on the Iron Age occupation of Guernsey and its place in the trade between Armorica and Britain.

A report on seven hoards of Greek and Greek Imperial coins, four hoards of Roman Imperial coins and catalogues of six other collections of mostly provenanced coins. There is also a die-study of the extensive bronze coinage of Gordian III minted at 6 Caesarea in Cappadocia. This volume provides a companion to `Recent Turkish Hoards and Numismatic Studies'.

Ships and shipbuilding were important elements of Viking culture and a precondition for trade, warfare and conquest. The important excavations at the Viking towns of Hedeby and Schleswig-Holstein revealed a rich body of finds of wrecks and parts of ships. This is a report on this material and also examines the role of the towns as ports and the role of trading in their development.

In chronological order, recounting the interplay of political, social and economic factors, the author brings a unique understanding of the individual and combined roles in forming this great empire. Moreover, Rome's history is presented form two perspectives, both from that of the Romans throughout the Empire's existence, and from that of the present, as posterity has tried to understand what happened. The narrative throughout this work will provide the reader with a rare insight into what is understandably referred to as 'the eternal city'.

Basing this study of South Scandinavia's Maglemosian economy on a selection of the faunal assemblages of the period, this book uses spatial analysis and multivariate correspondence analysis to draw together theories on human movements of the time.

Sparse Iron Age occupation was followed by extensive rural occupation, building up over three phases in the Roman period to a large 2nd-4th AD farmstead. In the late 4th century AD this was abandoned for no archaeologically discernible reason to lay the ground for the famous Anglo-Saxon cemetery. Ecofactual evidence for crop-processing (including flax) and artefactual evidence for many craft activities are presented. The large collection of Roman pottery is the first from an excavation in Central Norfolk to receive detailed analysis and indicates fineware flows mostly from the Nene valley. This report fills the gap between Spong Hill 6 (prehistoric occupation) and the cemetery reports, most of which are still available.

The North Shoebury Project was mounted in response to the accumulating evidence for settlement in the Southend Peninsula during virtually all periods from the prehistoric to the present day, especially widespread and possibly continuous from the Neolithic. The site itself lay on a brickearth covered gravel terrace, whose calcareous nature resulted in the preservation of bone and shell. This excavation report includes discussion of the evidence for occupation in each period, and a gazetteer of antiquities of the region.

This is the first report to be published on the Biblical kingdom of Eden, the Iron Age site of Tawilan. Particular attention is paid to the cuneiform tablet and gold jewellery hoard, the first to be discovered in Jordan. The stratigraphy, ceramics and other finds are also comprehensively analysed by Piotr Bienkowski and other specialists, and an overview of the development and nature of the site is provided.