Oxbow Books

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.

Continuity and Rupture in Roman Mediterranean Gaul Cover

Format: Hardback

Pages: 256

ISBN: 9781789255669

Pub Date: 15 Aug 2020

Imprint: Oxbow Books

Illustrations: Colour and B/W

Description:

With the decline in popularity of the term “Romanization” as a way of analyzing the changes in the archaeological record visible throughout the conquered provinces of the Roman Empire, scholars have increasingly turned to the important concept of “identity” to understand the experiences of local peoples living under Roman rule. Studies of identity in the Roman Empire have thus emphasized how local peoples, rather than simply passively copying Roman culture, actively created and recreated complex and multi-faceted identities that incorporated local traditions within the increasingly connected and “globalized” world of the empire. How did the violent nature of Roman rule in the provinces impact local communities and the ways in which individuals interacted with one another? This book provides a detailed study of the ways in which the Celtic-speaking peoples of the ancient settlement of Lattara in Roman Mediterranean Gaul fashioned their lives under two centuries of Roman rule,and in particular the ways in which the creation of these lived experiences wasentangled in the larger processes of Roman colonialism. The important archaeological settlement and port of Lattara (located today in modern Lattes in Mediterranean France), was occupied from ca 500 BCE to 200 CE, and has been the focus of extensive excavations by international teams of archaeologists for over 35 years. The author seeks to understand the ways in which the daily lives of the inhabitants of Lattara were shaped and constrained by the particular historical circumstances of Roman rule, involving the violent conquest of the province between 125-121 BCE, the pacification of numerous revolts in the in the first half of the first century BCE, and the imposition of an oppressive system of taxation, land redistribution, and grain levies.Through a detailed analysis of the large corpus of archaeological evidence dating from ca. 200 BCE to 200 CE at Lattara, the author argues that the violent establishment of Roman rule in Mediterranean Gaul engendered very different forms of social relationships and interactions that structured the community during the late first century BCE and onward. This involved a new organization of domestic space and living arrangements, new relationships structuring the production and exchange of material goods, different relationships between the community and the wider spiritual world, and new strategies for acquiring political influence and power, based upon the increasing importance of material wealth. All of this occurred by the very end of the first century BCE despite the continued persistence of many aspects of local identity, particularly evident in religious practices. Furthermore, these new social relationships were arguably paramount in the daily practices of reproducing Roman rule at Lattara, and in the larger province of Mediterranean Gaul more generally; practices that were in particular rooted in an ever-increasing socio-economic hierarchy.

RRP: £50.00

Format: Hardback

Pages: 272

ISBN: 9781789252507

Pub Date: 15 Aug 2020

Imprint: Oxbow Books

Series: University of British Columbia Studies in the Ancient World

Illustrations: b/w and colour

Description:

This volume investigates the interaction between the natural environment, market forces and political entities in an ancient Sicilian town and its surrounding micro-region over the time-span of a thousand years. Focusing on the ancient polis of Kale Akte (Caronia) and the surrounding Nebrodi area on the north coast of Sicily, the book examines the city’s archaeology and history from a broad geographical and cultural viewpoint, suggesting that Kale Akte may have had a greater economic importance for Sicily and the wider Mediterranean world than its size and lowly political status would suggest. Also discussed is the gradual population shift away from the hill-top down to a growing harbour settlement at Caronia Marina, at the foot of the rock.

RRP: £60.00

Material Cultures in Public Engagement Cover

Format: Paperback

Pages: 168

ISBN: 9781789253689

Pub Date: 15 Aug 2020

Imprint: Oxbow Books

Illustrations: b/w and colour

Description:

The Material Cultures in Public Engagement volume seeks to document and explore the significant change in the relationship of Museums with collections of the Ancient World and their audiences. The volume establishes a new approach to the study of public archaeology as a discipline and application within Museums, by bringing together the voices and experiences of museum professionals (curators, conservators and researchers) and public engagement professionals. Chapters in this volume present clear case-studies of the variety and diversity of public engagement projects conducted currently within European Museums and beyond.

RRP: £25.00

The Early Neolithic of the Eastern Fertile Crescent Cover

Format: Hardback

Pages: 720

ISBN: 9781789255263

Pub Date: 31 Jul 2020

Imprint: Oxbow Books

Series: Central Zagros Archaeological Project

Illustrations: b/w and colour

Description:

The Eastern Fertile Crescent region of western Iran and eastern Iraq hosted major developments in the transition from hunter-forager to farmer-herder lifestyles through the Early Neolithic period, 10,000-7000 BC. Within the scope of the Central Zagros Archaeological Project, excavations have been conducted since 2012 at two Early Neolithic sites in the Kurdistan region of Iraq: Bestansur and Shimshara. Bestansur represents an early stage in the transition to sedentary, farming life, where the inhabitants pursued a mixed strategy of hunting, foraging, herding and cultivating, maximising the new opportunities afforded by the warmer, wetter climate of the Early Holocene.

Format: Hardback

Pages: 416

ISBN: 9781789254464

Pub Date: 15 Jul 2020

Imprint: Oxbow Books

Illustrations: Colour illustrations

Description:

Late Antique artefacts, and the images they carry, attest to a highly connected visual culture from ca. 300 to 800 C.E.

Format: Hardback

Pages: 256

ISBN: 9781789254426

Pub Date: 01 Jul 2020

Imprint: Oxbow Books

Series: Studies in Funerary Archaeology

Description:

Archaeologists excavating burials often find that they are not the first to disturb the remains of the dead. Graves from many periods frequently show signs that others have been digging and have moved or taken away parts of the original funerary assemblage. Displaced bones and artefacts, traces of pits, and damage to tombs or coffins can all provide clues about post-burial activities.

Format: Paperback

Pages: 248

ISBN: 9781789254549

Pub Date: 01 Jul 2020

Imprint: Oxbow Books

Illustrations: b/w and colour

Description:

The International Conference on Insular Art (IIAC) is the leading forum for scholars of the visual and material culture of early medieval Ireland and Britain, including manuscript illumination, sculpture, metalwork, and textiles, and encompassing the work of Anglo-Saxon-, Celtic- and Norse-speaking artists. The present volume contains a selection of papers presented at the eighth IIAC, which took place in Glasgow 11-14 July 2017. The theme of IIAC8 - Peopling Insular Art: Practice, Performance, Perception - was intended to focus attention on those who commissioned, created, and engaged with Insular art objects, and how they conceptualised, fashioned, and experienced them (with ‘engagement’ covering not only contemporary audiences, but later medieval and modern ones too).

RRP: £38.00

Format: Paperback

Pages: 448

ISBN: 9781789253276

Pub Date: 01 Jul 2020

Imprint: Oxbow Books

Illustrations: b/w

Description:

From generation to generation, people experience their landscapes differently. Humans depend on their natural environment: it shapes their behaviour while it is often felt that deities responsible for both natural benefits and natural calamities (such as droughts, famines, floods and landslides) need to be appeased. We presume that, in many societies, lakes, rivers, rocks, mountains, caves and groves were considered sacred.

Format: Hardback

Pages: 280

ISBN: 9781789251760

Pub Date: 14 Jun 2020

Imprint: Oxbow Books

Series: Prehistoric Society Research Papers

Illustrations: b/w

Description:

The Social Context of Technology explores non-ferrous metalworking in Britain and Ireland during the Bronze and Iron Ages (c. 2500 BC to 1st century AD). Bronze-working dominates the evidence, though the crafting of other non-ferrous metals – including gold, silver, tin and lead – is also considered.

Mediterranean Archaeologies of Insularity in the Age of Globalization Cover

Format: Paperback

Pages: 304

ISBN: 9781789253443

Pub Date: 05 Jun 2020

Imprint: Oxbow Books

Illustrations: b/w

Description:

Recently, complex interpretations of socio-cultural change in the ancient Mediterranean world have emerged that challenge earlier models. Influenced by today's hyper-connected age, scholars no longer perceive the Mediterranean as a static place where "Greco-Roman" culture was dominant, but rather see it as adynamic and connected sea where fragmentation and uncertainty, along with mobility and networking, were the norm. Hence, a current theoretical approach to studying ancient culture has been that of globalization. Certain eras of Mediterranean history (e.g., the Roman empire) known for their increased connectivity have thus been analyzed from a globalized perspective that examines rhizomal networking, cultural diversity, and multiple processes of social change. Archaeology has proven a useful discipline for investigating ancient "globalization" because of its recent focus on how identity is expressed through material culture negotiated between both local and global influences when levels of connectivity are altered. One form of identity that has been inadequately explored in relation to globalization theory is insularity. Insularity, or the socially recognized differences expressed by people living on islands, is a form of self-identification created within a particular space and time. Insularity, as a unique social identity affected by "global" forces, should be viewed as an important research paradigm for archaeologies concerned with re-examining cultural change. The purpose of this volume is to explore how comparative archaeologies of insularity can contribute to discourse on ancient Mediterranean "globalization." The volume's theme stems from a colloquium session that was chaired by the volume's co-editors at the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in January 2017. Given the current state of the field for globalization studies in Mediterranean archaeology, this volume aims to bring together for the first time archaeologists working ondifferent islands and a range of material culture types to examine diachronically how Mediterranean insularities changed during eras when connectivity increased, such as the Late Bronze Age, the era of Greek and Phoenician colonization, the Classical period, and during the High and Late Roman imperial eras. Each chapter aims to situate a specific island or island group within the context of the globalizing forces and networks that conditioned a particular period, and utilizes archaeological material toreveal how islanders shaped their insular identities, or notions of insularity, at the nexus of local and global influences.

Format: Hardback

Pages: 200

ISBN: 9781789254501

Pub Date: 05 Jun 2020

Imprint: Oxbow Books

Description:

This edited volume delves into the current state of Iron Age and Early Medieval research in the North. Over the last two decades of archaeological explorations, theoretical vanguards, and introduction of new methodological strategies, together with a growing amount of critical studies in archaeology taking their stance from a multidisciplinary perspective, have dramatically changed our understanding of Northern Iron Age societies. The profound effect of 6th century climatic events on social structures in Northern Europe, a reintegration of written sources and archaeological material, genetic and isotopic studies entirely reinterpreting previously excavated grave material, are but a few examples of such land winnings.

Cutting-edge Technologies in Ancient Greece Cover

Format: Hardback

Pages: 256

ISBN: 9781789252989

Pub Date: 31 May 2020

Imprint: Oxbow Books

Illustrations: b/w and colour

Description:

This volume examines materials produced with the use of fire and mostly by use of the kiln (metals, plasters, glass and glaze, aromatics)The technologies based on fire have been considered high-tech technologies and they have contributed to the evolution of man throughout historyPapers highlight technical innovations of the technician/artist/pyrotechnologist that lived in the Aegean (mainland Greece and the islands) during the Bronze Age, the Classical and the Byzantine periods

RRP: £40.00

The Earliest Europeans - A Year in the Life Cover

Format: Paperback

Pages: 416

ISBN: 9781785707612

Pub Date: 01 May 2020

Imprint: Oxbow Books

Illustrations: b/w figures

Description:

The Earliest Europeans explores a fundamental question: how did Europe’s first hominin occupants cope with the year-round practical challenges of life. To do so, the book adopts a ‘year in the life’ perspective that draws on the increasingly rich and robust archaeological and Quaternary Science records for the European Lower Palaeolithic, combined with insights from modern ethnography and zoological studies. By exploring potential survival strategies and behaviours, Hosfield offers new insights into the character of Europe’s earliest occupations across more than 1 million years, and ultimately asks: what sorts of ‘humans’ were these hominins?

Format: Paperback

Pages: 400

ISBN: 9781789253566

Pub Date: 01 Apr 2020

Imprint: Oxbow Books

Illustrations: b/w and colour

Description:

The island of Sicily was a highly contested area throughout much of its history. Among the first to exert strong influence on its political, cultural, infrastructural, and demographic developments were the two major decentralized civilizations of the first millennium BCE: the Phoenicians and the Greeks. While trade and cultural exchange preceded their permanent presence, it was the colonizing movement that brought territorial competition and political power struggles on the island to a new level.

Format: Paperback

Pages: 240

ISBN: 9781789254297

Pub Date: 01 Apr 2020

Imprint: Oxbow Books

Series: Ancient Textiles

Illustrations: Colour

Description:

The central issues discussed in this new collected work in the highly successful ancient textiles series are the relationships between fiber resources and availability on the one hand and the ways those resources were exploited to produce textiles on the other. Technological and economic practices - for example, the strategies by which raw materials were acquired and prepared - in the production of textiles play a major role in the papers collected here. Contributions investigate the beginnings of wool use in western Asia and southeastern Europe.

Format: Hardback

Pages: 200

ISBN: 9781789253641

Pub Date: 01 Apr 2020

Imprint: Oxbow Books

Illustrations: b/w and colour

Description:

The construction of urban defences was one of the hallmarks of the late Roman and late-antique periods (300–600 AD) throughout the western and eastern empire. City walls were the most significant construction projects of their time and they redefined the urban landscape. Their appearance and monumental scale, as well as the cost of labour and material, are easily comparable to projects from the High Empire; however, urban circuits provided late-antique towns with a new means of self-representation.