Oxbow Books is a leading publisher in the fields of archaeology, ancient history and medieval studies, with an international reputation for quality and affordability. Oxbow's archaeology publishing covers all periods from earliest prehistory through classical archaeology, the ancient Near East, Egyptology, the Middle Ages and post-medieval archaeology. They publish a wide variety of books including scholarly monographs, edited collections of papers, and excavation and research reports in related fields such as archaeological practice and theory, archaeozoology, and environmental, landscape and maritime archaeology.
Founded in Oxford in 1983 by academic and museum archaeologist, David Brown, Oxbow Books has evolved and expanded significantly over the years. Now celebrating their 40th anniversary, Oxbow remains dedicated to the quality of their publishing for readers, and the contribution their books bring to the scholarly and professional communities more broadly.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 272
ISBN: 9781842171516
Pub Date: 14 Sep 2004
Description:
A truly multi-disciplinary book allowing the reader to gain insights into an exceptionally diverse set of topics such as hunting, burial, sword-production and rock art, from the Mesolithic to the Middle Ages.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 318
ISBN: 9781842171387
Pub Date: 12 Sep 2004
Illustrations: b/w illus throughout
Description:
The four seasons of excavation at Tell Kosak Shamali yielded around 33,000 flaked stone artefacts from the Chalcolithic perid. These discoveries have allowed archaeologists their first oportunity to study lithic manufacturing activities and their development over this period in the Upper Euphrates valley, Syria. The tools are described and documented within their chronological context, and their functional and morphological properties discussed.
There are also chapters devoted to bone objects and small finds, as well as some archaeobotanical and archaeozoological observations. This book is a companion title to Volume I, which documents the Chalcolithic architecture and earlier prehistoric remains.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 224
ISBN: 9781842171332
Pub Date: 15 Aug 2004
Series: Current Research in Egyptology
Illustrations: b/w figs throughout
Description:
The fourth annual Current Research in Egyptology Symposium (CRE 2003) was held on 18-19 January 2003, at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL, and brought together graduate students of Egyptology from a range of institutions.In total, 27 papers were presented, 13 of which are published here. These illustrate a range of subject areas and approaches; an underlying theme, though, is apparent; a greater degree of reflexivity and a wider engagement with interdisciplinary research.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 152
ISBN: 9781842171394
Pub Date: 01 Jul 2004
Illustrations: b/w illus
Description:
The discovery of the well preserved remains of a Bronze Age boat in Dover in 1992 was one of the most important post-war finds in Britain. The boat was of a stitched oak plank structure, and has been dated to 1550 BC. To mark the tenth anniversary of the boat's discovery, a conference was held in Dover in 2002.
This publication brings to a wider audience sixteen of the papers presented there, allowing all those interested in this fascinating relic to share in the findings of experts from all over Europe. Subjects include: evidence of the boat's marine environment; the reconstruction of the boat; boats as Bronze Age artefacts; British prehistoric shipbuilding; the use of model ships in archaeological research; north-west European boats before AD 400; the sewn-plank boats of the Humber; the prehistoric harbours of Kent; the environmental context of the Dover boat; sea-faring voyages and rock art ships; social and religious perceptions of the ship in Bronze Age northern Europe; the heritage management of boats; the social role of the ship and the sea in Bronze Age Norway. Contributors: Peter Clark, Christopher Green, Peter Marsden, John Coates, Francis Pryor, Owain Roberts, Seán McGrail, Edwin Gifford and Joyce Gifford, Béat Arnold, Robert Van de Noort, Keith Parfitt, Mike Bailie, Kristian Kristiansen, Flemming Kaul, Thijs Maarlveld, Frode Kvalo .
Format: Hardback
Pages: 184
ISBN: 9781842171370
Pub Date: 01 Jul 2004
Illustrations: 95 b/w illus, 6 tbs
Description:
This book celebrates the career of Brian Sparkes, whose work in Classical archaeology has covered many diverse areas such as art, pottery, and theatre. Such interdisciplinary work is at the core of this book, which seeks to explore the relationship between different kinds of text and material culture and the ways in which these can be interpreted. Chapters include studies on the relationship between vase painting and sculpture (Karim Arafat) , images on wedding bowls (Sue Blundell) , and the role of pottery workshops in the choice of iconography (Robin Osborne) .
There is also, unusually for this kind of publication, a paper by Brian Sparkes himself, focusing on how artists and craftsmen in ancient Greece conceived the appearances of men and women and of the move from idealised naturalism to realistic naturalism.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 288
ISBN: 9781842171301
Pub Date: 20 May 2004
Series: Lithic Studies Society Occasional Paper
Illustrations: 93 b/w figs, 55 tbs
Description:
Most of these 28 papers were originally presented at the conference Lithic Studies in the Year 2000 , hosted by the Lithic Studies Society in Cardiff, 2000. The original purpose of the conference was to celebrate the coming of age of the Lithic Studies Society in its twenty-first year, and to consider the state of research and potential new developments in lithic analysis at the beginning of the twenty-first century AD. The papers have been divided into three thematic sections.
In the first section, "Behaviour and cognition in the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic", the contributors look at ways to reconstruct past human behaviours and cognitive capabilites from periods when lithic evidence is the primary, and sometimes the only source of evidence. Most focus on undisturbed lithic sites and use the analysis of refitted lithic artefacts to approach questions of technology, taphonomy, and the human use of space. In the second section, "Rocks, residues and use-wear", the contributors are concerned with the study of the original characteristics of rocks from different areas of the earth's surface, the selection of specific raw materials for manufacture into tools, the uses to which these tools were put, and how they were used. In the final section, "After hunter-gatherers", the contributors consider the role of lithics in increasingly complex societies and exchange networks, where lithics form just one strand of evidence among many.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 240
ISBN: 9781842171288
Pub Date: 01 May 2004
Series: Dakhleh Oasis Project Monographs
Illustrations: plus 46 pages of photo. The photos are also reproduced on a CD.
Description:
This volume publishes 293 texts inscribed in Greek on potsherds excavated at Ismant el-Kharab, Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt. These texts date from the 2nd - 4th centuries AD, and they contain documentary evidence for a wide range of subjects such as taxation (in the form of tax receipts), private letters, lists and accounts, contracts, memoranda, school texts, and astrologica. The volume includes texts, translations, and commentaries for each ostrakon, as well as comprehensive indices and concordances.
It also includes a chapter on the archaeology of Ismant el-Kharab and the context of the ostraka by Colin A Hope.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 392
ISBN: 9781842171295
Pub Date: 15 Jan 2004
Series: Dakhleh Oasis Papers
Illustrations: 228 b/w figs, 2 col pls, 62 tbs
Description:
This volume contains twenty-five papers presented at the Third International Conference of the Dakhleh Oasis Project held in Melbourne in 2000, plus several other invited papers, which together reflect the multidisciplinary nature of the project. Five deal with Pleistocene and Holocene archaeology, including the first charaterization of the Older Middle Stone Age culture of the Oasis; there are three on pharaonic archaeology and fifteen devoted to Roman period Kellis. They include: discussions of the most recent archaeological work; the first detailed publication of a unique glass jug decorated with scenes of combatant gladiators, accompanied by colour images; and specialist reports on human skeletal remains.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 128
ISBN: 9781842170403
Pub Date: 15 Dec 2003
Series: Archaeology Data Service & Digital Antiquity Guides to Good Practice
Description:
The essence of virtual reality lies with computer-based three-dimensional environments. Often termed 'worlds', these conceptual models can be navigated, interacted with and updated in real-time. This Guide to Good Practice is intended for individuals and organisations who are interested in potential ways to use virtual reality within the arts and humanities.
It concentrates on the most widely used form of virtual reality today, desk-top virtual reality, which may be distributed and viewed on-line via the World Wide Web. In these systems virtual reality worlds run on users' desk-top computers, are displayed on a standard monitor, and navigated using a mouse or 3-D space ball and keyboard. This Guide introduces virtual reality by considering its history, philosophy and theory, and discusses good practice in planning virtual reality projects. It presents the data management and documentation procedures required to enable models to be maintained, and enjoyed by the audiences for which they are intended. It also explores strategies for archiving and considers how to avoid the loss of virtual reality models as technology changes. A virtual library of case studies illustrates some applications of virtual reality in Archaeology, Architecture, Dance, Design, Fine Art, Heritage, History, Museum Studies and Theatre. Examples of worlds which allow users to interact with each other are also presented.
Pages: 272
ISBN: 9781842170922
Pub Date: 15 Dec 2003
Illustrations: 143 b/w illus
Pages: 272
ISBN: 9781785705298
Pub Date: 15 Nov 2016
Description:
For a century following the end of the Lamian War in 322 B.C., Athens' harbour at Pireus was almost constantly occupied by a Macedonian garrison.
The Macedonian presence dealt a crucial blow to Athenian independence and Athenian democracy, initiating the first in a long and intermittent series of foreign occupations. The twenty-eight papers in this volume are based on an international conference hosted by the University of Athens in May 2001, and focus on various aspects of Athenian art, archaeology and history in the century of Macedonian domination. They consider Athens' new role as a political stepping stone for potential Successors to the throne of Macedon - Cassander, Demetrios Poliorketes and Antigonos Gonatas were each able to secure Macedonia by using Athens as a power base - and the ways in which Athenian culture was affected by the Macedonian presence. They contribute to the ongoing debate about the reasons for the Macedonian ascendancy, the degree of independence accorded Athens by their Macedonian overlords, the third-century archon list, and changes in Athenian art and architecture.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 184
ISBN: 9781842171158
Pub Date: 11 Dec 2003
Series: Proceedings of the 9th ICAZ Conference
Illustrations: 99 b/w figs
Description:
The applications of zooarchaeological research can go far beyond the realms of the lab or the site report. These 18 papers are all concerned with the contributions archaeozoologists make to specific problems encountered in the management and conservation of our natural and cultural heritage. The volume is divided into two parts: Part 1 looks at Zooarchaeology and Wildlife Conservation Issues.
Contributors explore a range of subjects, including: how information on past environments can be used to explain the behaviour and distribution of species in the present; whether it is feasible to reintroduce game into areas where the species have become locally extinct; and how collecting and reporting procedures are related to the interpretation of zooarchaeological data. Part 2 covers Archaeozoology and Heritage Management. Contributors discuss the position of archaeozoologists in museums, universities, and private archaeological companies; the role of archaeozoologists in assessing and selecting sites for protection or excavation; and the problem of the deterioration of zooarchaeological material currently held in collections.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 105
ISBN: 9781842171110
Pub Date: 01 Nov 2003
Illustrations: b/w figs
Description:
The double-dactyl, a poetic form never intended for the serious or high-minded', was invented in 1951. One of the form's rules is that the verse must contain a double-dactyl name, such as Higgledy-Piggledy . This collection, the result of an obsession of the authors, substitutes the doubl-dactyl rhyme with a Latin expression or tag, providing a witty poetic tour through Roman history.
Beginning with Aeneas and ending with the last emperors, each brief poem is faced with an original drawing and accompanied by a short piece of text that sets the historical scene. Includes a glossary of Latin tags.
Pages: 256
ISBN: 9781842170908
Pub Date: 15 Jul 2003
Illustrations: b/w figs, 60 col phls
Pages: 256
ISBN: 9781785702518
Pub Date: 31 Dec 2015
Description:
The twenty-five papers in this volume cover diverse aspects of the material culture of the late Roman, Byzantine and Medieval periods, with particular emphasis on the metalwork and enamel of these times. Individual papers include major reinterpretations of objects in the British Museum's Byzantine collections as well as essays devoted to the Museum's recent acquisitions in this field. The volume celebrates the retirement of David Buckton, for over twenty years the curator of the British Museum's Early Christian and Byzantine collections and the National Icon Collection.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 368
ISBN: 9781842170861
Pub Date: 12 Jun 2003
Description:
These thirty essays were presented to Alan L Boegehold, a distinguished philologist and an inspirational teacher, on the occasion of his retirement and his seventy-fifth birthday. The contributions fall into two categories, each one reflecting Boegehold's diverse interests in classical studies: the first section includes essays on literary and philosophical topics, several of which pick up on the theme of "gestures"; the second section is representative of Boegehold's more specialised research in Greek epigraphy, history and law. Contents: Biography of Alan L Boeghold; A divine audience for the celebration of Asopichus' victory in Pindar's Fourteenth Olympian Ode (L Athanassaki) ; Poi de kai pothen ; self-motion in Plato's Phaedrus (G W Bakewell) ; Drinking from the sources: John Barton's Tantalus and the epic cycle (D Boedeker) ; Mania and melancholy: Some Stoic texts on insanity (M Graver) ; A gesture in Archilochos 118 (West)?
(C Hahnemann) ; When an identity was expected: The slaves in Aristophanes' Knights (J Henderson) ; Nemesis and Phthonos (D Konstan) ; A reading of Ausonius, Professores I (J Pucci) ; Horace epi. 1.13: Compliments to Augustus (M C J Putnam) ; When a gesture was misinterpreted: didonai titthion in Menander's Samia (A C Scafuro) ; Optical illusions in ancient Greece (P Tribodeau) ; Gesture (W F Wyatt, Jr) ; Some observations on the Appianos sarcophagus ( IGUR 1700) (G Bucher) ; The first tragic contest: Revision revised (A P Burnett) ; Notes for a philologist (J McK Camp) ; Two passages in Thucydides (M Chambers) ; Livy's narrative habit (J D Chaplin) ; Athenian prostitution as a liberal profession (E E Cohen) ; Sanides and Sanidia (John E Fischer) ; Thuc. 2.13.3: 600 T. of tribute (C W Fornara) ; Delivering the go(o)ds: Demetrius Poliorcetes and Hellenistic divine kingship (P Green) ; Lysias 14 and 15. A note on the grafes astrateias (M H Hansen) ; Counterproposal at Carthage (Aristotle, Politics II.11.5-6) (G L Huxley) ; Kallias A ( IG I3 52A) and Thucydides 2.13.3 (J Kennelly) ; Slander in ancient Athens: A common law perspective (W T Loomis) ; The bones of Orestes (D D Philips) ; The ostracism of Damon (K A Raaflaub) ; The date of Pnyx III: SEG XII 87, the law of Eukrates on tyranny (337/6 BC) (M B Richardson) ; Archon dates, atthidographers and the sources of Ath. Pol. 22-26 (J P Sickinger) ; A major Athenian letter-cutter ca. 410 to ca. 380: The cutter of IG II2 17 (S V Tracy) .
Format: Hardback
Pages: 288
ISBN: 9781842171011
Pub Date: 15 May 2003
Illustrations: 96 b/w illus, 1 tbs
Description:
A Festschrift in honour of the classical scholar, William J Slater, this volume looks at the social life of theories, artifacts, and poems in ancient Greece. The central focus of the collection is Greek theatre, but essays on such typically Slaterian subjects as ancient scholarship, lyric poetry, art, and inscriptions are also included. From a literary search for the elusive Pelasgians, an iconographic analysis of illustrations of Athenian women's religious rituals, to reflections on the revival and politicisation of Greek plays in the modern era, each paper attempts to elucidate the meaning of ancient Greek words, myths, poems, artifacts, theories, and activities by reinserting them into their cultural environment.
Pages: 400
ISBN: 9781842170939
Pub Date: 01 May 2003
Illustrations: 323 b/w figs, 22 tables
Pages: 376
ISBN: 9781785704611
Pub Date: 15 Oct 2016
Description:
From sewn planked boats in Early Dynastic Egypt to Late Roman wrecks in Italy, and the design of Venetian Merchant Galleys, this huge volume gathers together fifty-three papers presenting new research on the archaeology and history of ancient ships and shipbuilding traditions. The papers have been grouped into several thematic sections, including: ships of the Mediterranean; the reconstruction of ancient ships, from life-size reconstructions to computer models; the study of shipyards, shipsheds and slipways of the Mediterranean and Europe; Venetian Galleys of the 15th and 16th centuries; and North European medieval and post -medieval ships. These papers which were presented at the Ninth International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology (ISBSA), held in Venice 2000.
Carlo Beltrame is a free-lance archaeologist and contract professor of Maritime archaeology at Università Ca' Foscari of Venice and of Naval archaeology at Universita della Tuscia of Viterbo. He specialises in the archaeology of ship-construction from antiquity until the Renaissance period and methodology in maritime archaeology.