Prehistoric war-god, seventeenth century marvel, or living monument? In 1996, a 'trial' was held in Cerne Abbas Village Hall to discuss the origin of the Giant - prehistoric/Romano-British, medieval/post-medieval, or significant for the very fact that he exists, regardless of age. This is the book of the trial: after a preliminary briefing, the witnesses for the three cases present their evidence which ranges from detailed factual information about the archaeology and history of the monument through to its folklore and continuing role as the inspiration for all sorts of activity from local poetry to national advertising. An epilogue contains the jury's decision and an account of the trial's filming for regional BBC programme.

The remains of snails in ancient soils and sediments are one of the most important biological indicators of past landscapes, and have attracted study for well over a century. In spite of this, the only English-language textbook was published in 1972 and is long since out of print. Snails provides a comprehensive, up to date reference text on the use of snails as indicators of past environments in Quaternary landscape studies and archaeology. It considers the use of terrestrial and freshwater sub-fossil snail remains as indicators of Late Quaternary (c. last 15,000 years) environmental change and as indicators of past environments and human impacts on the landscape. The volume also demonstrates how an understanding of modern snail ecology can be used to enhance our interpretation of landscape archaeology, and provides a detailed contextual approach to the main types of deposits in which snail remains are found. Davies also puts forward an agenda for future research on the use of snails in archaeological and environmental reconstruction.

If there is a central theme of this volume, it is the supply of money in circulation, rather than the importance of money, per se . It was this circulation that determined the movement of prices, of trade, and of credit - in short, it was this that underpinned the commercialisation of the economy, and therefore was the most important medieval money matter.

This volume explores the landscape settings of megalithic chambered monuments in Wales. Set against a broader theoretical discussion on the significance of the landscape, the authors consider the role of visual landscapes in prehistory, meanings attached to the landscape, and the values and beliefs invested in it. Wales is rich in Neolithic monuments, but the general absence of certain classic monumental forms found in the rest of Britain and Ireland, such as causewayed enclosures, henges, and cursus monuments, seems to have marginalised the Welsh record from many wider discussions on the Neolithic. Instead of seeing Wales as an area which lacks many of these 'classic' components, Cummings and Whittle argue that Wales has its own unique and individual Neolithic which is simply different from the Neolithic found further to the east. It is suggested that this difference may relate to an essentially mobile existence, with strong links back to the Mesolithic period. The authors present three detailed case studies, examining the settings of sites in south-west, north-west and south-east Wales. They outline the history of research for each region, including the previous classification of the monuments and any excavations, and describe the specific landscape settings of the monuments. They assess the significance of a variety of landscape features which would have been visible from the monuments, in particular emphasising the mythological and symbolic significance of the sea, rivers and mountains. An illustrated inventory of sites completes the volume.

Food and drink, along with the material culture involved in their consumption, can signify a variety of social distinctions, identities and values. Thus, in Early Minoan Knossos, tableware was used to emphasize the difference between the host and the guests, and at Mycenaean Pylos the status of banqueters was declared as much by the places assigned to them as by the quality of the vessles form which they ate and drank. The ten contributions to this volume highlight the extraordinary opportunity for multi-disciplinary research in this area.

This collection of papers brings together a broad range of new research and new material on Antioch in the late Roman period (the 2nd to the 7th centuries AD), from the writings of the orator Libanius and the preacher John Chrysostom to the extensive mosaics found in the city and its suburbs. The authors consider the lively issues of identity and ethnicity in this truly multi-cultural and multi-religious city, the effects of Romanization and Christianization on the city and surrounding region, and the central place of the city in the Roman world. These papers were presented at a colloquium in London, in December 2001.

When Alexander the Great died in 323 BC without a chosen successor he left behind a huge empire and ushered in a turbulent period, as his generals fought for control of vast territories. The time of the Successors (Diadochi) is usually defined as beginning in 323 BC and ending with the deaths of the last two Successors in 281 BC. This is a major publication devoted to the Successors and contains eighteen papers reflecting current research. Several papers attempt to unravel the source history of the very limited remaining narrative accounts, and add additional materials through cuneiform and Byzantine texts. Specific historical issues addressed include the role of so-called royal flatterers and whether or not Alexander's old guard did continue to serve into their sixties and seventies. Three papers reflect the recent conscious effort by many to break away from the Hellenocentric view of the predominantly Greek sources, by examining the role of the conquered, specifically the prominent roles played by Iranians in the administration and military of Alexander and his Successors, pockets of Iranian resistance which eventually blossomed into Hellenistic kingdoms ruled by sovereigns proclaiming their direct connection to an Iranian past and a continuation of Iranian influence through an examination of the roles played by certain of the Diadochis Iranian wives. The papers in the final section analyse the use of varying forms of propaganda. These include the use of the concept of Freedom of the Greeks as a means of manipulating opinion in the Greek world; how Ptolemy used a snake cult associated with the foundation of Alexandria in Egypt to link his kingship with that of Alexander; and the employment of elephant images to advertise the authority of particular rulers.

The final publication of results of the excavations at Pontnewydd cave in north-east Wales has been eagerly awaited. The site was investigated as part of the Palaeolithic Settlement of Wales Research Programme, which has been responsible for transforming understanding of the nature of human settlement on the very margins of Eurasia by early Neanderthals. The caves of the Elwy valley in north-east Wales contain evidence of the earliest human occupation of Wales. This monograph documents the results of 20 years of field research. It describes the traces of occupation left around 225,000 years ago by people who were ancestors of the Neanderthals. These include stone tools, animal bones and the remains of the people themselves. The key cave site, Pontnewydd, is full of international significance, producing artefacts and fauna associated with early Neanderthal skeletal material, related to repeated occupations of the cave around a quarter of a million years ago. Key issues relating to gender and diet will be explored. Within the faunal assemblage at Pontnewydd, as also within the potentially contemporary assemblage from the nearby cave of Cefn, it is possible to see interglacial elements which may date to MIS 7 or, even, to the preceding interglacial cycle (MIS 9), fully 50 to 100,000 years earlier. The pointers here are the rhinoceros Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis, a large horse Equus ferus, and the leopard, Panthera pardus. None of these can be later than MIS 7 and may even be of MIS 9 age. Moreover, the species of bear represented at both Pontnewydd and Cefn is the cave bear ( Ursus spelaeus ) and these seem to be replaced by brown bears ( Ursus arctos ) during MIS 11 or 9. This inference of an early date for elements of the Pontnewydd and Cefn faunas is borne out by the presence of macaque at Cefn, a species not known in Britain after MIS 9. This multi-authored monograph will place the Elwy valley caves within a geological and archaeological context; allow a detailed publication of research on the artefacts, fauna and hominid remains; and provide a synthesis of how this work feeds back into understandings of the Palaeolithic settlement on the edge of the then known world.

This volume brings together papers that discuss social change. The main focus is on the Early Helladic III to Late Helladic I period in southern Greece, but also touches upon the surrounding islands. This specific timeframe enables us to consider how mainland societies recovered from a ‘crisis’ and how they eventually developed into the differentiated, culturally receptive and competitive social formations of the early Mycenaean period. Material changes are highlighted in the various papers, ranging from pottery and burials to domestic architecture and settlement structures, followed by discussions of how these changes relate to social change. A variety of factors is thereby considered including demographic changes, reciprocal relations and sumptuary behaviour, household organization and kin structure, age and gender divisions, internal tensions, connectivity and mobility. As such, this volume is of interest to both Aegean prehistorians as to scholars interested in social and material change.The volume consists of eight papers, preceded by an introduction and concluded by a response. The introduction gives an overview of the development of the debate on the explanation of social change in Aegean prehistory. The response places the volume in a broader context of the EH III-LH I period and the broader discussion on social change.

A selection of papers from the 13th Viking Congress focusing on the northern, central, and eastern regions of Anglo-Saxon England colonised by invading Danish armies in the late 9th century, known as the Danelaw. This volume contributes to many of the unresolved scholarly debates surrounding the concept, and extent of the Danelaw.

This richly illustrated book presents a selection of the rich and varied iconographic material from the Scandinavian Late Iron Age (AD 400-1050) depicting clothed human figures, from an archaeological textile and clothing perspective. The source material consists of five object categories: gold foils, gold bracteates, helmet plaques, jewellery, and textile tapestries and comprises over 1000 different images of male and female costumes which are then systematically examined in conjunction with our present knowledge of archaeological textiles.In particular, the study explores the question of whether the selected images complement the archaeological clothing sources, through a new analytical tool which enables us to compare and contrast the object categories in regard to material, function, chronology, context and interpretation. The tool is used to record and analyze the numerous details of the iconographic costumes, and to facilitate a clear and easy description. This deliberate use of explicit costume shapes enhances our interpretation and understanding of the Late Iron Age clothing tradition.Thus, the majority of the costumes depicted are identified in the Scandinavian archaeological textile record, demonstrating that the depictions are a reliable source of research for both iconographical costume and archaeological clothing. The book contributes with new information on social, regional and chronological differences in clothing traditions from ca. AD 400 to the Viking Age.

In the first millennium BC, communities in Italy underwent crucial transformations which scholars have often subsumed under the heading of ‘state formation’, namely increased social stratification, the centralisation of political power and, in some cases, urbanisation. Most research has tended to approach the phenomenon of state formation and social change in relation to specific territorial dynamics of growth and expansion, changing modes of exploitation of food and other resources over time, and the adoption of selected socio-ritual practices by the ruling élites in order to construct and negotiate authority. In contrast, comparatively little attention has been paid to the question of how these key developments resonated across the broader social transect, and how social groups other than ruling élites both promoted these changes and experienced their effects. The chief aim of this collection of 14 papers is to harness innovative approaches to the exceptionally rich mortuary evidence of first millennium BC Italy, in order to investigate the roles and identities of social actors who either struggled for power and social recognition, or were manipulated and exploited by superior authorities in a phase of tumultuous socio-political change throughout the entire Mediterranean basin. Contributors provide a diverse range of approaches in order to examijne how power operated in society, how it was exercised and resisted, and how this can be studied through mortuary evidence. Section 1 addresses the construction of identity by focusing mainly on the manipulation of age, ethnic and gender categories in society in regions and sites that reached notable power and splendour in first millennium BC Italy. These include Etruria, Latium, Campania and the rich settlement of Verucchio, in Emilia Romagna. Section 2 offers a counterpoint to Section 1 by focusing on the concepts of ‘periphery’, marginality and the frailty of élite (or sub-élite) power in phases of dramatic socio-political change. Moreover, this Section approaches the idea of identity construction in ‘fringe’ geographical areas that are sometimes overlooked in Anglophone scholarship, such as the Veneto, Samnium, western Emilia and Trentino–South Tyrol. With its overall emphasis on scholarly multivocality, this volume is one of the first ever to strongly advocate for a study of social exclusion and extreme social marginality in late prehistoric and proto-historic Italy.

The relationship between the Homeric epics and archaeology has long suffered mixed fortunes, swinging between 'fundamentalist' attempts to use archaeology in order to demonstrate the essential historicity of the epics and their background, and outright rejection of the idea that archaeology is capable of contributing anything at all to our understanding and appreciation of the epics. Archaeology and the Homeric Epic concentrates less on historicity in favour of exploring a variety of other, perhaps sometimes more oblique, ways in which we can use a multi-disciplinary approach – archaeology, philology, anthropology and social history – to help offer insights into the epics, the contexts of their possibly prolonged creation, aspects of their 'prehistory', and what they may have stood for at various times in their long oral and written history. The effects of the Homeric epics on the history and popular reception of archaeology, especially in the particular context of modern Germany, is also a theme that is explored here. Contributors explore a variety of issues including the relationships between visual and verbal imagery, the social contexts of epic (or sub-epic) creation or re-creation, the roles of bards and their relationships to different types of patrons and audiences, the construction and uses of 'history' as traceable through both epic and archaeology and the relationship between 'prehistoric' (oral) and 'historical' (recorded in writing) periods. Throughout, the emphasis is on context and its relevance to the creation, transmission, re-creation and manipulation of epic in the present (or near-present) as well as in the ancient Greek past.

In the ancient Greek-speaking world, writing about the past meant balancing the reporting of facts with shaping and guiding the political interests and behaviours of the present. Ancient Historiography on War and Empire shows the ways in which the literary genre of writing history developed to guide empires through their wars. Taking key events from the Achaemenid Persian, Athenian, Macedonian and Roman ‘empires’, the 17 essays collected here analyse the way events and the accounts of those events interact. Subjects include: how Greek historians assign nearly divine honours to the Persian King; the role of the tomb cult of Cyrus the Founder in historical narratives of conquest and empire from Herodotus to the Alexander historians; warfare and financial innovation in the age of Philip II and his son, Alexander the Great; the murders of Philip II, his last and seventh wife Kleopatra, and her guardian, Attalos; Alexander the Great’s combat use of eagle symbolism and divination; Plutarch’s juxtaposition of character in the Alexander-Caesar pairing as a commentary on political legitimacy and military prowess, and Roman Imperial historians using historical examples of good and bad rule to make meaningful challenges to current Roman authority. In some cases, the balance shifts more towards the ‘literary’ and in others more towards the ‘historical’, but what all of the essays have in common is both a critical attention to the genre and context of history-writing in the ancient world and its focus on war and empire.

Quality Management in Archaeology deals with the effects of the profound changes that have had an impact on the discipline of archaeology all over the world. In North America, in Europe and increasingly in other parts of the world, new legislation and international treaties have changed its position in society. What was once a university based research activity by a limited number of academics has become a socially relevant field with many practitioners that are mostly employed in some branch of archaeological resource management. Archaeology has been successful in persuading governments and the general public that more should be done to preserve archaeological heritage and to investigate it where it will be irretrievably lost. The scale and frequency of archaeological work has increased vastly, at considerable cost to society. Consequently, there is pressure to do the work efficiently and economically. At the same time, academic standards have to be maintained to assure that the end result will be the relevant knowledge about the past that society pays for. Different countries have found different approaches and solutions to deal with this dilemma. Sometimes commercial archaeology is allowed, sometimes it is not, but in every national context quality has to be managed in some way. This book presents a survey by specialists from the US, Canada, and several European countries on how this is done, what the principles are, and also the priorities. It will be useful for anyone interested in archaeological resource management.

The technological capabilities of the ancient world have long fascinated scholars and the general public alike, though scholarly debate has often seen material culture not as the development of technology, but as a tool for defining chronology and delineating the level of interactions of neighbouring societies. These fourteen papers, arising from a conference held in Oxford in September 2000, take the approach that technology plays a vital role in past socio-economic systems. They cover the Near East and associated areas, including Greece, Crete, Cyprus, Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia and Egypt from the end of the Middle Bronze Age to the Late Bronze Age (1650-1150 BC), a period when many technological innovations appear for the first time.