The British Museum holds approximately 6,000 human remains, the majority of which were recovered in the past century. Regarding the Dead addresses the British Museum’s approach to the ethical issues surrounding the inclusion of human remains in the Museum’s collection and presents solutions to the dilemmas relating to their curation, storage, access management and display. The holding of human remains in museums has long been a matter of academic and public discourse. The issues surrounding the rightful ownership, proper care, research and display of human remains are strongly debated, both within the museums and heritage sector and in the media on an international scale. Using case studies from the British Museum, Regarding the Dead examines these issues and explains how the availability of human remains for study has many benefits. Human remains provide the most direct and insightful sources of information on different cultural approaches to death, burial practices and belief systems. Their study also helps to advance important research concerning the history of disease, changing epidemiological patterns, forensics and human biology. The book draws together diverse strands of research concerning human remains and reflects the great variety of challenges and discoveries associated with this work as well as the sensitivities involved.

A comprehensive evaluation of the Portable Antiquities Scheme and the archaeological value of its findings particularly in relation to Roman Britain.

The second and final publication of the British Museum's fieldwork at Kom Firin, presenting key findings from the western Nile Delta, a little-explored yet strategically important area of Egypt. Focusing on two principal areas of the excavations, inside the north-eastern corner of the New Kingdom enclosure and an area of Saite occupation, this new research publication offers a detailed discussion of artefact assemblages, faunal remains, the ancient landscape and a chapter on modern Kom Firin.

Following on the British Museum’s critically acclaimed exhibition Hajj: journey to the heart of Islam, this volume provides over thirty papers on the history and significance of the Hajj, spanning history, politics, archaeology, pilgrims’ journeys, art, architecture, photography and material culture. This is a major multi-disciplinary study and a key reference work for anyone with an academic or personal interest in the Hajj.

This book presents the proceedings of the 2009 conference relating to the 2008 exhibition at the British Museum entitled "Hadrian: Empire and Conflict" and complements and expands upon the exhibition catalogue. It covers such subjects as architecture, sculpture, archaeology, economics, numismatics and philhellenism and ranges over the Roman Empire from Britain and Spain in the West to Turkey and Georgia in the East. The original contributions by international scholars present the latest state of research and the first publication of some new material. Thorsten Opper is a curator of Greek and Roman sculpture at the British Museum. He organised the internationally acclaimed 2008 exhibition "Hadrian: Empire and Conflict" and authored the accompanying catalogue (British Museum Press 2008). He currently directs a fieldwork project at Hadrian's Villa, near Rome.

The British Museum holds the largest collection of Middle Kingdom stelae outside Egypt. This is the first full publication of the collection: the scenes and inscriptions of each of the 42 stelae are described in detail, with textual notes and explanatory diagrams. This is an outstanding work of scholarship by unrivaled authorities in the field. The scenes and inscriptions of each of the forty-two stelae are described in detail, with full translations, textual notes and explanatory diagrams. Each catalog entry includes a wide-ranging general commentary on phraseology, formulae and titles, on the importance of each stela in its historical and social context, and on aspects of epigraphy and iconography. Wherever possible, stela owners are identified and family trees given.

This new publication brings together a range of leading scholars from Europe, America and the Middle East to discuss the most recent research in the field of Byzantine glass and mosaics in an interdisciplinary context. New Light on Old Glass explores how mosaics are perhaps the most outstanding examples of Byzantine art which survive; revealing changing aesthetics and issues surrounding the technical production of glass in medieval artistic practices. This is the first time that so many diverse papers, ranging from art history, archaeology, chemistry, physics and Byzantine studies have been assembled in one volume, and is the culmination of a five-year research programme on the Composition of Byzantine Glass Mosaic Tesserae, conducted by the University of Sussex in conjunction with the British Museum and sponsored by the Leverhulme Trust.

This volume is dedicated to the British Museum’s collection of early Anglo-Saxon gold coinage as well as the Anglo-Saxon and Continental silver coinage of the North Sea area, dating from the early seventh to the mid-eighth centuries. This was the coinage which circulated during the age of Bede, the Lindisfarne Gospels and Sutton Hoo, and which is widely celebrated for its historical significance and artistic accomplishment. Both these features are well illustrated in this volume by more than 850 coins, which together form one of the largest, oldest and most representative collections of this complex coinage. The last catalogue of this part of the British Museum’s collection was published in 1887 and since then the collection has more than tripled in size. This new catalogue includes comprehensive coverage of all new acquisitions, among them material from several significant hoards, as well as full details on the provenance and identification of individual coins. A major introduction sets the coins in context and reassesses their classification. New metallurgical analyses of the gold coinage and authoritative interpretation of the results, as well as a survey of the history of the collection, constitute further valuable supplements to the catalogue.

The British Museums uniquely important Melanesian collection is pre-eminent among early collections, and the 20,000 items it comprises are core to understanding the cultures of the western Pacific. The extraordinary art styles represented, from groups such as New Guinea, New Ireland and the Solomon Islands and relating to ancestors, family and clan, houses, feasting and festivals, are of interest not only in themselves but also for how they have influenced European artists since the nineteenth century. With contributions from a wide range of international scholars, anthropologists, indigenous peoples and artists, and illustrated with over 300 colour images of Museum objects and contextual photographs, the book will survey and respond to the collection from the point of view of anthropologists and the people responsible for its creation. Melanesia is a visual and key reference work, providing illuminating encounters with the historical and contemporary cultures of the western Pacific, documenting the most culturally diverse and artistically fertile region in the world for the first time.

Warriors of the Plains explores the art of North American Plains Indian warriors - weapons, amulets, clothing and ceremonial objects - with particular emphasis on their ritual use and symbolic meanings. Unlike most books on Plains Indians, which have a purely historical focus, this title examines continuity and change between historic warrior societies and contemporary Native American military associations. Originally set up as clubs to organise war raids and to police seasonal cycles of nomadic hunting, warrior societies today maintain much of the Plains Indians' ethos, vigorously reinforcing their cultural, national and ethnic identity. With a new approach to the subject the author reveals how specific items and symbols - objects of "ritual and honour" - such as the American flag, eagle feathers and medicine bundles have been used over the last 200 years, as well as exploring the introduction of new elements in modern ceremonial practices such as powwow dance competitions and war veterans' celebrations. Lavishly illustrated with objects from the British Museum's important collections, as well as archival material, this book features previously unpublished material. Max Carocci has been conducting research on Plains Indians since 1989. Since 2006 he has been researching and collecting in this area for the British Museum and is the curator of the touring exhibition "Warriors of the Plains: 200 years of Native North American honour and ritual". He lectures on Indigenous American Arts at Birkbeck College, University of London and is editor of the Anthropological Index Online run by the Royal Anthropological Institute.

The catalogue focuses on the entire non-numismatic contents of the Cuerdale hoard (discovered in 1840), together with all the other hoards and single-finds of gold and silver artefacts (ornaments and ingots) of Viking character in the British Museum, found in Britain and Ireland, up to the end of the year 2000, with each piece individually catalogued and illustrated. There is also a full chapter discussing the coins from Cuerdale, together with summary descriptions. Written by the leading authority on the subject, James Graham-Campbell is Emeritus Professor of Medieval Archaeology, University College London and a Fellow of the British Academy. This catalogue complements both that by D. M. Wilson on the Anglo-Saxon Ornamental Metalwork, 700-1100, in the British Museum (London, 1964) and that by James Graham-Campbell on The Viking-Age Gold and Silver of Scotland (AD 850-1100) (Edinburgh, 1995).

By presenting rigorous situated histories of changing training regimen in different cultures, this collection of papers collectively challenge orthodox notions of the perfect body and its pursuit. The introductory essay by the editor compares and contrasts the different methods and ideals. Ancient regimen and techniques may seem remote, yet many attempt to resolve issues that are common to us all. Some are directed at the immortality or longevity of the physical body, and include performance-enhancing nutrition and drug taking; others train the spirit and souls for the afterlife. Many emphasise the interconnectedness of the human body with its environment. The papers set their topic in its broad socio-political and cultural context, facilitating a dialogue with other contributors who considered many similar questions for the 20th and 21st centuries. Histories of sports, body cultivation and sports medicines in non-European cultures are only just now beginning to emerge. With the Olympics approaching in London, it is timely to explore the diverse traditions of perfecting body and soul, as a fascinating historical project in itself, but also to provide a rich context for envisioning a more widely beneficial approach to sports, medicine and immortality for all.

This catalogue provides a general introduction to Sikh coins and provides access to the British Museum's collection. The catalogue details every Sikh coin in the collection and includes a history of the collection with insights into the history of the Sikh empire and the practise of Sikhism. With information denominations, mints, coin inscriptions and dating together with maps and high quality images this book will be of interest to specialists and non-specialists alike both within the UK and worldwide.

The individual contributors to these papers tell the story of the dedicated and detailed efforts to understand the work of previous generations on the Acropolis and then to restore the buildings as nearly as possible to their original architectural state. The result is a story of engagement with the extraordinary problems associated with these world heritage monuments and the challenges to preserve and present them for future generations. This book represents a milestone in the history of the collaboration and friendship between the Acropolis Restoration Service and the British Museum.

This is last in a series of fascicules publishing the British Museum's programme of research excavations at Grimes Graves, Norfolk. Research into flint mines such as Grimes Graves, one of the largest Neolithic flint mine complexes in Europe, offers a fascinating glimpse into the practical knowledge and skills of humans at that time. This fascicule considers the miners' methods as well as their motivation and the uses to which the finished products were put. Ian Longworth was formerly Keeper of Prehistoric and Romano-British Antiquities at the British Museum, Gillian Varndell is a curator of Prehistory and Europe at the British Museum and Jacek Lech has a professorship at the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw.

This is the companion volume to one devoted to recent research on Byzantine jewellery published in 2010 and forms part of a series organised under the auspices of the British Museum Byzantine Seminar Series. The conference brought together leading scholars from Europe, the USA and the Middle East to discuss Late Antique gems and cameos. This is the first time that so many diverse papers, interdisciplinary in nature, have been assembled in a single volume and includes scientific papers addressing issues such as typology and sourcing of gemstones.