This volume represents a bold attempt by the editors to bring scholars from distinct research orientations together, to discuss the interplay between the geographic and social dimensions of different kinds of interaction networks. Within the humanities, networks afford an umbrella of approaches to the study of social relations and their patterning, both through qualitative and quantitative applications, with two main perspectives standing out: those centered on space and those concerned with the social dimension of interaction. In this book, we aim to highlight the potential for integrating these different research directions and identify common ground for developing new interdisciplinary insights. The volume demonstrates how a network approach can successfully incorporate and frame different kinds of theoretical perspectives and methodological applications, drawing on multiple strands of social and geographical theory and using data as diverse as archaeological artefacts, roads/infrastructure, textual sources, and information from living informants. As such, it will appeal to archaeologists, historians, geographers, and sociologists, as well as anyone interested in exploring further the potential for employing network-based methodologies within the Humanities and Social Sciences, and in enriching their understanding of the theoretical and interdisciplinary underpinnings of widely employed concepts in network science. The volume stems from a workshop held at the Freie Universität Berlin which was funded and hosted by the Excellence Cluster Topoi. The publication of the proceedings has been made possible thanks to generous financial support from the Gerda Henkel Foundation.

This volume presents the results of the zooarchaeological analysis of animal bones that were recovered from sixteen sites in Ipswich between 1974 and 1988. The focus of the study is on the animal bones from Middle Saxon (700-850/880), Early Late Saxon (850/880-920), Middle Late Saxon (920-1000) and Early Medieval (1000-1150) sites that were part of the Origins of Ipswich project.The faunal assemblages from all four periods were composed primarily of cattle, caprines (sheep and goats), pigs, and domestic chickens. Horses were few in number and do not seem to have formed part of the diet after the Middle Saxon period. In terms of NISP (Number of Identified Specimens Per taxon), cattle are always the most numerous animals, followed by pigs and then caprines, but the relative number of sheep and goats increases throughout the Middle Saxon, Late Saxon and Medieval periods. Domestic chickens greatly outnumber domestic geese in all periods. Wild birds and mammals are rare in all the Ipswich assemblages. The most common wild species are red deer (Cervus elaphus) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). Biometrical data show that the Middle Saxon cattle are comparable in size to the cattle from other Middle Saxon emporia in England. These data also suggest that fewer oxen were sent to market in the later periods and that there was a slight overall decrease in the size of cattle by the Early Medieval period. The Middle Saxon sheep from Ipswich are small and comparable in size to the Middle Saxon sheep from rural East Anglian sites such as Brandon in Suffolk. All the Ipswich horses are the size of large ponies; most are between 130 and 140cm (about 13-14 hands) in withers height. The dog remains from the Late Saxon and Early Medieval contexts in Ipswich include dogs of a range of different sizes. The smallest are about 30cm at the withers; the largest are about 50cm in shoulder height. Ageing data indicate that Ipswich was supplied with market-aged and older adult cattle, sheep and pigs. Elderly animals and very young animals are rare. These data suggest that the inhabitants of Ipswich obtained their meat from markets throughout the Middle Saxon, Late Saxon and Early Medieval periods.

The construction of a natural gas pipeline across southern Wales and into Herefordshire and Gloucestershire between 2005 and 2007 resulted in numerous archaeological discoveries, including sites of national significance. The project not only produced a wealth of new archaeological sites, it also generated important radiocarbon and environmental datasets for the region.The earliest activity is indicated by worked flint of Mesolithic (or earlier) date, with the earliest Neolithic communities represented by pits, evidence for occasional timber houses, and the discovery of a previously unknown henge. Beaker and Bronze Age settlement and burial remains were found too, including a rare copper halberd. The excavations also produced evidence for Early Bronze Age houses and numerous examples of burnt mounds.Other discoveries comprised much new evidence for Iron Age settlement (including some in areas of upland), Roman roads, crop-processing ovens, and ironworking. Rare evidence for the early medieval period was also found, along with the remains of later farmsteads and field systems. Moves towards industrialisation were reflected in the discovery of a brick kiln and charcoal-burning platforms.

This volume is a collection of 19 articles in three sections reporting on recent research on the archaeology of shipwrecks, harbours, and maritime landscapes in the Mediterranean region. The shipwrecks section looks at excavated vessels from Mazotos, Modi Island, the port of Rhodes, Naples, and Narbonne, as well as a sailing reconstruction of the Ma‘agan Mikhael ship. The harbours section includes articles on areas from the Levant to Seville looking at a variety of harbour defence systems and dockyards dating from the Hellenistic period to the 12th century AD. Articles in the third section on maritime cultural landscapes combine data sets to examine human interactions with the sea: navigation from the perspectives of the accounts of early geographers, the skills required by the earliest sailors, and the contextual reconstruction of sea routes; coastal survey and resource use; and geoarchaeological evidence used to analyse the choice of harbour location. This book will be of interest to students and archaeologists researching the Mediterranean region, and all interested in a wide range of recent advances in maritime archaeology.

This new collection of papers from leading experts provides an overview of cutting-edge research in Old World zooarchaeology. The research presented here spans various areas across Europe, Western Asia and North Africa – from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Several chapters focus on Iberia, but the eastern Mediterranean and Britain are also featured. Thematically, the book covers many of the research areas where zooarchaeology can provide a significant contribution. These include animal domestication, bone modifications, fishing, fowling, economic and social status, as well as adaptation and improvement. The investigation of these topics is carried out using a diversity of approaches, thus making the book also a useful compendium of traditional as well as more recently developed methodological applications. All contributions aim to present zooarchaeology as a discipline that studies animals to understand people, and their richly diversified past histories. This will be a valuable source of information not just for specialists, but also for general archaeologists and, potentially, also historians, palaeontologists and geographers, who have an interest for the research themes discussed in the book. The book is dedicated to Simon Davis, who has been a genuine pioneer in the development of modern zooarchaeology. It presents hugely stimulating case studies from the core areas where Davis has worked in the course of his career.

The aim of this book is to explore the interdisciplinary relationships between archaeology and other branches of knowledge in Europe and elsewhere. Interdisciplinary cooperation has been essential in the development of archaeology as we know it today, although until now its role and influence have been largely ignored in the histories of the discipline. This book brings to light the processes that led to interdisciplinary relations in archaeology from the 19th to the 20th centuries, with scholarly contributions that offer a critical overview of this complex, dynamic and long-lasting transformative process. This is a pioneering project in the field of the history of archaeology, as it is the first to examine the inclusion into archaeological practice of various disciplines categorised under the umbrella of hard, natural and social sciences, as well as the humanities. This insertion led to ground-breaking interdisciplinary collaborations and, ultimately, to the birth of new branches within archaeology, including, for example, archaeozoology, archaeobotany, geoarchaeology and archaeometallurgy. The authors of this volume include internationally acknowledged scholars of the history of archaeology. Chapters cover a wide range of topics, looking at interdisciplinarity in archaeology at a general level by analysing its relationship with a number of other sciences in specific countries such as Portugal and Italy, to the incorporation of particular disciplines such as geology, palynology and zoology into archaeology using case studies. Several authors focus on the work of influential scholars as starting points for examining the intersection between antiquarianism, archaeology, the natural sciences and numismatics or between archaeology, art history, architecture and natural sciences. Other chapters theorise on the influence of epistemology and philosophy of science and even positivism on archaeological theory and practice. The influence of the army is also discussed in the development of underwater and aerial archaeology.

Writing is not just a set of systems for transcribing language and communicating meaning, but an important element of human practice, deeply embedded in the cultures where it is present and fundamentally interconnected with all other aspects of human life. The Social and Cultural Contexts of Historic Writing Practices explores these relationships in a number of different cultural contexts and from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including archaeological, anthropological and linguistic. It offers new ways of approaching the study of writing and integrating it into wider debates and discussions about culture, history and archaeology.

The British countryside is on the brink of change. With the withdrawal of EU subsidies, threats of US-style factory farming and the promotion of ‘rewilding’ initiatives, never before has so much uncertainty and opportunity surrounded our landscape. How we shape our prospective environment can be informed by bygone practice, as well as through engagement with livestock and landscapes long since vanished. This study examines aspects of pastoralism that occurred in part of medieval England. It suggests how we learn from forgotten management regimes to inform, shape and develop our future countryside. This book focuses on a region of southern England the pastoral identity of which has long been synonymous with the economy of sheep pasture and the medieval right of swine pannage. These aspects of medieval pastoralism, made famous by iconic images of the South Downs and the evidence presented by Domesday, mask a pastoral heritage in which a signifi cant part was played by cattle. This aspect of medieval pastoralism is traceable in the region’s historic landscape, documentary evidence and excavated archaeological remains. Past scholars of the South-East have been so concerned with the importance of medieval sheep, and to a slightly lesser extent pigs, that no systematic examination of the cattle economy has ever been undertaken. This book therefore represents a deep, multi-disciplinary study of the cattle economy over the longue durée of the Middle Ages, especially its importance within the evolution of medieval society, settlement and landscape. Nationally, medieval cattle have been one of the most important and neglected aspects of the agriculture of the medieval period. This book shows us how, as part of both a mixed and specialised farming economy, they have helped shapethe countryside we know today.

With the thought of treasure, Isle of Wight islander, Derek Williams researched ancient local wreck records. Top of his extensive wreck list was the 40-gun frigate Assurance lost in 1753 while returning from Jamaica with Governor Trelawny on board, whose story possibly inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write Treasure Island. Derek’s first dive at the western point of the Isle of Wight called “The Needles” put him on top of cannons, various wreckage and Spanish-American “Pieces of Eight”, all scattered at the foot of the rock face. He reported this astonishing discovery to the authorities which resulted in the site being designated the 6th British historic protected wreck site. When the authorities decided that further professional help was needed, author and diver John Bingeman supplied his Portsmouth Royal Naval diving team, and together with David Tomalin, County Archaeologist, developed the full potential of this important site. Over the next nine years John Bingeman’s team conducted annual visits to excavate the site; they successfully recovered 3,471 artefacts including cannon weighing 1½ tons. Some of these cannon post-dated the Assurance, leading to the identification of a second 38-gun frigate, the Pomone, lost in 1811. Her Captain, Robert Barrie’s extensive correspondence was discovered by Paul Simpson to have been archived by Duke University, North Carolina. It features Pomone’s continuous actions during the French Napoleonic wars, followed by his appointment to the 74-gun Dragon when he saw action in Chesapeake Bay during the 1812-15 war with the USA. Returning to North America as Senior Naval Officer Canada, Commodore Barrie made quite a name for himself improving the political relationship between the USA and Canada; he is remembered by the Canadian City named Barrie. Previously un-researched archaeological finds are featured, including the development of rigging blocks, gunlocks, military buttons and ship’s chain pumps, all superbly illustrated, as well as the results of research into numerous other artefacts of the period. Appendices contain the transcripts of the two ship’s court martials and make fascinating reading. Captains seem to be blameless while their navigating officers are held responsible even going to prison. Perhaps not surprising when tried by fellow Captains!

Why are so many nautical words in Danish the same as in Dutch? Who taught the shipwrights in the Royal Danish Shipyard in Copenhagen to build carvel planked ships? How did the first Danish ships find their way to the riches of the East Indies? These questions and many more are meet in this Ph.D. dissertation, which circles around the maritime relationships between especially the seaward provinces of the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries. In the early renaissance Dutch maritime technology was imported by the Danish king, who recruited craftsmen and bough ships in the Netherlands and later on the Royal Danish Navy was profoundly influenced by Dutch master shipbuilders and naval officers. But it was not only maritime experts and mariners who travelled to the North, but also ordinary Scandinavian sailors, who migrated the other way and took a part in Dutch shipping to all parts of the world. This labour migration has been known amongst Dutch scholars for some time, but is almost unknown in Scandinavian historical circles.For the first time data from the Amsterdam City archive has made it possible to get closer to the individual sailors, who hailed from the coastal districts of Norway, the Southwest coast of Denmark and for a lesser part the West coast of Sweden and their participation in the Dutch shipping industry has been analysed showing, that they learned important maritime skills onboard. Coming back to Scandinavia these sailors were the backbone of the navies and merchant fleets of the Scandinavian countries especially in the eighteenth century.This study of maritime labour migration will be of interest for scholars of maritime-, migration and technology history but also for anyone, who likes to read about the life’s and work of ordinary sailors in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Why are so many nautical words in Danish the same as in Dutch? Who taught the shipwrights in the Royal Danish Shipyard in Copenhagen to build carvel planked ships? How did the first Danish ships find their way to the riches of the East Indies? These questions and many more are meet in this Ph.D. dissertation, which circles around the maritime relationships between especially the seaward provinces of the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries. In the early renaissance Dutch maritime technology was imported by the Danish king, who recruited craftsmen and bough ships in the Netherlands and later on the Royal Danish Navy was profoundly influenced by Dutch master shipbuilders and naval officers. But it was not only maritime experts and mariners who travelled to the North, but also ordinary Scandinavian sailors, who migrated the other way and took a part in Dutch shipping to all parts of the world. This labour migration has been known amongst Dutch scholars for some time, but is almost unknown in Scandinavian historical circles.For the first time data from the Amsterdam City archive has made it possible to get closer to the individual sailors, who hailed from the coastal districts of Norway, the Southwest coast of Denmark and for a lesser part the West coast of Sweden and their participation in the Dutch shipping industry has been analysed showing, that they learned important maritime skills onboard. Coming back to Scandinavia these sailors were the backbone of the navies and merchant fleets of the Scandinavian countries especially in the eighteenth century.This study of maritime labour migration will be of interest for scholars of maritime-, migration and technology history but also for anyone, who likes to read about the life’s and work of ordinary sailors in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Designed for children aged 10-14 and their teachers. The book is beautifully illustrated throughout, and tells a romantic story of a ten-year-old girl who went to an archaeological excavation in Egypt. The book is both a learning tool for the home or the classroom. It explores key topics in archaeology, tells the tale of archaeologists excavating the desert, finds that are done in the field and many more. The book is attractively illustrated with h images of Lisa excavating!

The terracotta figurines from Akragas (Agrigento) with their chubby faces, splendid furniture, and rich adornments, depict a prosperous life in the late sixth and early fifth century BCE. The extensive jewellery on the figurines contains strikingly large fibulae appliques fastening pectoral chains with several sorts of pendants. They are modelled after existing items. The form of the jewellery items changed fast, influenced by different peoples and changing fashions, which can be compared with representations of jewellery and fashion on coins of the same period from Syracuse.In contrast, the body of the figurines remained armless and abstract for some time, nor does it express its gender. The block shaped, sloping upper body might have originated with aniconic objects, but suggests here a seated person, covered with a rectangular apron on the front. In contrast, the face is detailed, and often crowned with a specific headgear, the polos. The Archaic smile reveals Greek influence on its features.An archaeological experiment in which figurines and moulds were reproduced revealed their production process. By combining data from the experiment with an analysis of their iconographic features, most of the figurines studied can be shown to have been designed and produced locally. The moulding technique, introduced by newcomers to the city, provided for relatively cheap and rapid production of terracotta figurines. Local clay and marl are found near to the city, and its composition was found to be very suitable, due to its plasticity, fine structure and soft tone on firing.Wooden figurines, the forerunners of the terracotta figurines, were used in the production of the moulds of their terracotta successors. The terracotta figurines developed to become more three-dimensional, so that they were able to stay upright unsupported. Objects and moulds were exchanged with the city of Selinous, resulting in variations of the standard and figurines with finely detailed faces. Designing and dedicating these votive figurines, and possibly also jewellery, to a cult statue might have acted as a unifying element for the perhaps multi-ethnic society of Akragas. By means of these anthropomorphic female figurines, people gave shape to their origin and narratives, using old and new symbols such as the Phoenician crescent and the Greek satyr. Their cultural influences formed a new religious setting, helping to forge a new identity unique to Sicily. The prosperity expressed by these metal adornments, fits Diodorus Siculus’ description of Akragas as a rich city.

Archaeology is in crisis. Spatial turns, material turns and the ontological turn have directed the discipline away from its hard-won battle to ­ find humanity in the past. Meanwhile, popularised science, camouflaged as archaeology, produces shock headlines built on ancient DNA analyses that reduce humanity’s most intriguing historical problems to ‘just-so stories’. Today archaeology ­finds itself less able than ever to proclaim its relevance to the modern world. This volume foregrounds the relevance of the scholarship of John C. Barrett to this crisis. Twenty-four writers representing three generations of archaeologists scrutinise the current turmoil in the discipline and highlight the resolutions that may be found through Barrett’s analytical framework. Topics include archaeology and the senses, the continuing problem of the archaeological record, practice, discourse and agency, reorienting archaeological field practice, the question of different expressions of human diversity and material ecologies. Understanding archaeology as both a universal and highly specific discipline, case studies range from the Aegean to Orkney, and encompass Anatolia, Korea, Romania, the United Kingdom and the very nature of the Universe itself. This critical examination of John Barrett’s contribution to archaeology is simultaneously a response to his urgent call to arms to reorient archaeology in the service of humanity.

Weapons and tools are frequently found depicted in rock art in many parts of the globe and different periods and in varying social contexts. This collection of papers by leading rock art specialists examines the subjective and metaphorical value of weapons and tools in art, the actions that created them, and their contexts. It also takes into account that such representations incorporate and transmit some kind of understanding about the world and the relationship between objects and humans. Contributors analyse objects and weapons as status symbols, as evidences of cultural contacts, as ideological devices, etc. Divided into regional sections which, for once, do not focus on Scandinavia, chapters deal with the representations of weapons and certain kinds of tools (such as axes and sickles) in different prehistoric, protohistoric and traditional community contexts all over the world. Attention focuses on rock art, but also looks at stelae and statue-menhirs, as well as other kinds of ‘container’ or vehicle for this kind of depiction. The major concern is to discuss the possible meanings of these embodied signs in different areas and periods, since meanings are permeable both to time and space. Papers either centre their attention in broader approaches based on a specific area, region or people, or focus on particular case studies.

Construction of the Peterborough Eastern Bypass led to the excavation of a burial mound and the discovery of a complex burial and ritual site, which lay in the Nene valley on the north bank of an old course of the river. The site was effectively sealed under alluvial deposits accumulating over the last thousand years, and almost untouched by any post-medieval disturbance. A round barrow, found by David Hall in the 1970s, was a slight bump in the flood meadows, scarcely 0. 25m above the general level. When archaeological excavation began, a change in the vegetation nearby proved to be another, older, burial monument. Work was intermittent, held up by lack of funds and only completed under a government unemployment scheme. Both burial sites span the period from the Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age with evidence that they shared a sequence of development. Iron Age weaponry and currency bars were recovered from the old course of the river Nene and there was evidence that ritual or religious practice continued at the barrow into Early Saxon times. The focus of the cult may have been the tidal effect on the Nene. Cultivation in open fields up-stream during the Late Saxon and Medieval periods led to silting of the valley bottom, almost completely covering the burial mounds, the process coming to an end progressively through the eighteenth century.