This second volume in the new TRAC Themes in Roman Archaeology series seeks to push the research agendas of materiality and lived experience further into the study of Roman magic, a field that has, until recently, lacked object-focused analysis. Building on the pioneering studies in Boschung and Bremmer's (2015) Materiality of Magic, the editors of the present volume have collected contributions that showcase the value of richly-detailed, context-specific explorations of the magical practices of the Roman world. By concentrating primarily on the Imperial period and the western provinces, the various contributions demonstrate very clearly the exceptional range of influences and possibilities open to individuals who sought to use magical rituals to affect their lives in these specific contexts – something that would have been largely impossible in earlier periods of antiquity. Contributions are presented from a range of museum professionals, commercial archaeologists, university academics and postgraduate students, making a compelling case for strengthening lines of communication between these related areas of expertise.

From the Foundations to the Legacy of Minoan Archaeology provides a range of new approaches to key issues in Minoan archaeology, inspired by Professor Keith Branigan’s long-standing contribution to the archaeology of Bronze Age Crete. From the way in which the developmental trajectory of a single site can offer insights into regional patterns, to the importance of integrating local survey information in reconstructing generalhistorical processes and the significance of temporal variability in the construction of space, contributors evaluate the general frameworks within which Minoan archaeology operates, assess the usefulness of chronological horizons in understanding continuity and change and provide a critical framework for the diachronic analysis of culture, how the study of settlement patterns can reveal structural continuity through time and the political reach of territorial states. Articles focus on the way the power bases of Minoan society were articulated through the interplay between individual and collective social strategies, further illustrated by in-depth considerations of the role and value of material culture from a social and technological perspective. The largest portion of discussion is devoted to mortuary practices, reassessing the significance of micropatterns in the articulation of mortuary behaviour, while also emphasizing broader temporal and spatial processes that affect practices of ostentatious display in burial, critically evaluated by recent osteoarchaeological studies throwing light on mortuary ritual and the constitution of the social units using the cemeteries. The volume is offered in honour of Professor Branigan, as a reflection of his influence in shaping our current understanding of Minoan society.

The nineteenth century was a time when the world was becoming increasingly connected through global forces and networks. Colonial and capitalist expansion was bringing the world into closer contact, while nationalism and forms of indigenous resistance were shaping and moulding the world on more local and regional scales. This dynamic environment was the backdrop for a time when childhood was becoming significantly elaborated as a cultural category of identity. Institutions, objects, and places specifically designed for children were multiplying at an unprecedented rate; writing about children in fiction and non-fiction became increasingly prolific; and the concern for children’s health and well-being in life and death was paramount in many communities. Scholarship on the nineteenth century spans many disciplines and areas of interest and utilizes diverse and abundant source material to study a period recognized as foundational for our modern, globalized world. This volume brings together scholars from archaeology, art history, bioarchaeology, educational history, history, literary studies, and theatre history to present studies of nineteenth century children and childhood in Australia, the Bahamas, Canada, England, Ireland, Native North America, Romania, Russia, and the United States. The interdisciplinary focus of this volume illustrates the wealth of sources, methods, and perspectives that can be used to develop our understandings of childhood in the nineteenth century, and the international scope of the studies offers a platform to engage commonalities in an increasingly globalized world alongside an appreciation for local, regional, and national variations in the cultural creation and experiences of childhood.

Alepotrypa Cave at Diros Bay, Lakonia, Greece, is a massive karstic formation of consecutive chambers ending at a lake. The cave was excavated by G. Papathanassopoulos from 1970 to 2006. In conjunction with the surrounding area, it was used as a complementary habitation area, burial site, and place for ceremonial activity during the Neolithic c 6000 to 3200 BC. As a sealed, single-component, archaeological site, the Neolithic settlement complex of Alepotrypa Cave is one of the richest sites in Greece and Europe in terms of number of artifacts, preservation of biological materials, volume of undisturbed deposits, and horizontal exposure of archaeological surfaces of past human activity and this publication is an important contribution to ongoing archaeological research of the Neolithic Age in Greece in particular, but also in Anatolia, the Balkans and Europe in general. This edited volume offers a full scholarly interdisciplinary study and interpretation of the results of approximately 40 years of excavation and analysis. It includes numerous chemical analyses and a much needed long series of radiocarbon dates, the corresponding microstratigraphic, stratigraphic and ceramic sequence, the human burials, stone and bone tools, faunal and floral remains, isotopic analyses, specific locations of human activities and ceremonies inside the cave, as well as a site description and the history of the excavation conducted by G. Papathanasopoulos.

The wool trade was undoubtedly one of the most important elements of the British economy throughout the medieval period - even the seat occupied by the speaker of the House of lords rests on a woolsack. In The Wealth of England Susan Rose brings together the social, economic and political strands in the development of the wool trade and show how and why it became so important. The author looks at the lives of prominent wool-men; gentry who based their wealth on producing this commodity like the Stonors in the Chilterns, canny middlemen who rose to prominence in the City of London like Nicholas Brembre and Richard (Dick) Whittington, and men who acquired wealth and influence like William de la Pole of Hull. She examines how the wealth made by these and other wool-men transformed the appearance of the leading centres of the trade with magnificent churches and other buildings. The export of wool also gave England links with Italian trading cities at the very time that the Renaissance was transforming cultural life. The complex operation of the trade is also explained with the role of the Staple at Calais to the fore leading to a discussion on the way the policy of English kings, especially in the fourteenth century, was heavily influenced by trade in this one commodity. No other book has treated this subject holistically with its influence on the course of English history made plain.

Alan Sorrell’s archaeological reconstruction drawings and paintings remain some of the best, most accurate and most accomplished paintings of their genre that continue to inform our understanding and appreciation of historic buildings and monuments in Europe, the Near East and throughout the UK. His famously stormy and smoky townscapes, especially those of Roman Britain, were based on meticulous attention to detail borne of detailed research in collaboration with archaeologists such as Sir Mortimer Wheeler, Sir Cyril Fox and Sir Barry Cunliffe, who excavated and recorded his subjects of interest. Many of his reconstructions were commissioned to accompany visitor information and guidebooks at historic sites and monuments where they continue to be displayed. But archaeological subjects were not his only interest. His output was prodigious: he painted murals, portraits, imaginative and romantic scenes and was an accomplished war artist, serving in the RAF in World War II. In this affectionate but objective account, Sorrell’s children, both also artists, present a brief pictorial biography followed by more detailed descriptions of the genesis, research and production of illustrations that demonstrate the artist’s integrity and vision, based largely on family archives and illustrated throughout with Sorrell’s own works. So influential were Sorrell’s images of Roman towns such as London, Colchester, Wroxeter, St Albans and Bath, buildings such as the Heathrow temple and the forts of Hadrian’s Wall, that he became known as the man who invented Roman Britain.

Animals have always been integral to culture. Their interaction with humans has intensified since the onset of domestication resulting in higher incidences of animal disease due to human intervention. At the same time, human care has counter-balanced pressures of natural selection, reducing morbidity among wild animals. Prior to the emergence of a veterinary record, animal disease can only be traced by analysing pathological symptoms on excavated animal remains. This volume presents a collection of studies in the discipline of animal palaeopathology. An international team of experts offer reviews of animal welfare at ancient settlements from both prehistoric and historic periods across Eurasia. Several chapters are devoted to the diseases of dog and horse, two animals of prominent emotional importance in many civilisations. Curious phenomena observed on the bones of poultry, sheep, pig and even fish are discussed within their respective cultural contexts. Many poorly healed bones are suggestive of neglect in the case of ordinary livestock. On the other hand, a great degree of compassion may be presumed behind the long survival of seriously ill companion animals. In addition to furthering our better technical understanding of animal disease in the past, this volume also mirrors the diversity of human attitudes towards animals during our millennia-long relationship. Some animal bones show signs of extreme cruelty but others also reveal the great attention paid to the recovery of sick animals. Such attitudes tend to be a largely hidden yet are characteristic aspects of how people relate to the surrounding world and, ultimately, to each other.

Communities in Transition brings together scholars from different countries and backgrounds united by a common interest in the transition between the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age in the lands around the Aegean. Neolithic community was transformed, in some places incrementally and in others rapidly, during the 5th and 4th millennia BC into one that we would commonly associate with the Bronze Age. Many different names have been assigned to this period: Final Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Eneolithic, Late Neolithic [I]-II, Copper Age which, to some extent, reflects the diversity of archaeological evidence from varied geographical regions. During this long heterogeneous period developments occurred that led to significant changes in material culture, the use of space, the adoption of metallurgical practices, establishment of far-reaching interaction and exchange networks, and increased social complexity. The 5th to 4th millennium BC transition is one of inclusions, entanglements, connectivity, and exchange of ideas, raw materials, finished products and, quite possibly, worldviews and belief systems. Most of the papers presented here are multifaceted and complex in that they do not deal with only one topic or narrowly focus on a single line of reasoning or dataset. Arranged geographically they explore a series of key themes: Chronology, cultural affinities, and synchronization in material culture; changing social structure and economy; inter- and intra-site space use and settlement patterns, caves and include both site reports and regional studies.

Greek scholars have produced a vast body of evidence bearing on nuptial practices that has yet to be mined by a professional economist. By standing on their shoulders, the author proposes and tests radically new interpretations of three important status groups in Greek history: the pallakē, the hetaira, and the nothos. It is argued that legitimate marriage – that is ‘marriage by loan of the bride to the groom’ – was not the only form of legal marriage in classical Athens and the ancient Greek world generally. Pallakia, that is, ‘marriage by sale of the bride to the groom’, also was legally recognized. The pallakē-wifeship transaction is a sale into slavery with a restrictive covenant mandating the employment of the sold woman as a wife. In this highly original and challenging new book economist Morris Silver proposes and tests the hypothesis that the likelihood of bride sale rises with increases in the distance between the ancestral residence of the groom and the father’s household. The ‘bastard’ (nothoi) children of pallakai lacked the legal right to inherit from their fathers but were routinely eligible for Athenian citizenship. It is argued that the basic social meaning of hetaira (‘companion’) is not ‘prostitute’/’courtesan’ but ‘single woman’ – that is, a woman legally recognized as being under her own authority (kuria). The defensive adaptation of single women is reflected in Greek myth and social practice by their grouping into ‘packs’, most famously the Daniads and Amazons.

The Bioarchaeology of Ritual and Religion is the first volume dedicated to exploring ritual and religious practice in past societies from a variety of ‘environmental’ remains. Building on recent debates surrounding, for instance, performance, materiality and the false dichotomy between ritualistic and secular behaviour, this book investigates notions of ritual and religion through the lens of perishable material culture. Research centring on bioarchaeological evidence and drawing on methods from archaeological science has traditionally focused on functional questions surrounding environment and economy. However, recent years have seen an increased recognition of the under-exploited potential for scientific data to provide detailed information relating to ritual and religious practice. This volume explores the diverse roles of plant, animal and other organic remains in ritual and religion, as foods, offerings, sensory or healing mediums, grave goods, and worked artefacts. It also provides insights into how archaeological science can shed light on the reconstruction of ritual processes and the framing of rituals. The 14 papers showcase current and new approaches in the investigation of bioarchaeological evidence for elucidating complex social issues and worldviews. The case studies are intentionally broad, encompassing a range of sub-disciplines of bioarchaeology, including archaeobotany, anthracology, palynology, micromorphology, geoarchaeology, zooarchaeology (including avian and worked bone studies), archaeomalacology and organic residue analysis. The temporal and geographical coverage is equally wide, extending across Europe from the Mediterranean and Aegean to the Baltic and North Atlantic regions and from the Mesolithic to the medieval period. The volume also includes a discursive paper by Prof. Brian Hayden, who suggests a different interpretative framework of archaeological contexts and rituals.

In many regions of Europe and beyond fortifications belong to the most impressive of archaeological remains. Their study has a long tradition and today a multitude of aspects about architecture, function or symbolism has been explored. However, fortifications are generally examined in a temporally, regionally or culturally limited context. Going a step further, this volume aims to bring into focus concepts of fortifications, which can be socially, symbolically or functionally, but also chronologically and supra-regionally aligned. An important question is to determine which fortification elements are culture-specific, and which can be regarded as convergence or even universal phenomena. Adopting a comparative view, the central aim of the volume is to highlight the diversity and the structural similarities of ancient fortifications. The chronological framework goes from the Neolithic to the Late Iron Age, and the geographical scope from the Ural steppes to the Iberian Peninsula.

Caves and rockshelters in Europe have traditionally been associated with prehistory, and in some regions cave archaeology has become synonymous with the Palaeolithic. However, there is abundant evidence that caves and rockshelters were important foci for activities in historic times. During the medieval period (here taken as AD 500–1500) caves were used for short-term shelter, habitation, specialised craft activities, storage, as hideaways and for tending animals. Caves were also used for religious purposes. Caves and ritual in medieval Europe, AD 500–1500 focuses on this neglected field of research – the ritual and religious use of caves. It draws together interdisciplinary studies by leading specialists from across Europe: from Iberia to Crimea, and from Malta to northern Norway. The different religions and rituals in this vast area are unified by the use of caves and rockshelters, indicating that the beliefs in these natural places – and in the power of the underworld – were deeply embedded in many different religious practices. Christianity was widespread and firmly established in most of Europe at this time, and many of the contributions deal with different types of Christian practices, such as the use of rock-cut churches, unmodified caves for spiritual retreat, caves reputedly visited by saints, and caves as places for burials. But parallel to this, some caves were associated with localised popular religious practices, which sometimes had pre-Christian origins. Muslims in Iberia used caves for spiritual retreat, and outside the Christian domain in northern Europe, caves and rockshelters were places for carving symbols among Pictish groups, places for human burial, for bear burials amongst the Sámi, and places for crafting and votive deposition for Norse populations.

Cityscapes consist of houses, streets, civic buildings, sanctuaries, tombs, monuments and inscriptions created by multiple generations of citizens and foreigners with an interest in the city; they are interpreted and reinterpreted as expressions of past lives, changing relations of power, memories and various identities. The present volume publishes 25 contributions written by scholars specializing in the history and archaeology of western Asia Minor. New and well-known material – literary, epigraphical, numismatic, and archaeological – is presented and analyzed through the twin lenses of memory and identity. The contributions cover more than 1000 years of cultural diversity during changing political systems, from the Lydian and Persian hegemony in the Archaic period through Athenian supremacy and Persian satrapal rule in the Classical period, then autocratic kingship in Hellenistic times until, finally, more than half a millennium of Roman rule. Identities are voiced through several media and visible at many levels of the ancient societies. So are the places of memory – the Lieux de Mémoire – and the studies presented here provide new insights into how human beings chose, deliberately or subconsciously, to commemorate their past and their ancestors, and how identity was displayed and expressed under shifting political rule.

As one of the few surviving artefacts from the late prehistory of north-east Africa, pottery serves as an essential material category by which to explore long-term human development. This book presents a major study on the ceramics recovered from early and mid-Holocene sites in Egypt’s Dakhleh Oasis, which come from 96 registered sites and five other findspots and comprise more than 10,000 sherds. In addition, there is little proxy evidence to support the manufacture of pottery in the form of kilns, clay firedogs, and other firing equipment. None of the ceramic objects come from burials. They derive instead from settlement sites that display evidence of living activities (hut circles, hearths, chipped stone scatters, etc.), or sites for which there is no other evidence of human activity. Through detailed description, classification and quantification, a detailed cultural sequence has been determined, demonstrating descrete stylistic variations between sites and over time, and highlighting growing diversity and innovation in local pottery-making from the late seventh to mid-third millennia cal. BC. These shifts help to refine the characterisation of local cultural units within the Holocene sequence for Dakhleh Oasis, and to compare against parallel pottery traditions elsewhere in the desert. A firmer grounding in the oasis ceramics, as detailed here, offers inroads to examine social practices and the interconnectedness of desert groups of the ancient Eastern Sahara.

Although much of the primary information about the Parthian period comes from coins, there has been much new research undertaken over the past few decades into wider aspects of both the Parthian and Sasanian Empires including the Arsacid Parthians, and their material culture. Despite a change of ruling dynasty, the two empires were closely connected and cannot be regarded as totally separate entities. The continuation of Parthian influence particularly into the early Sasanian period cannot be disputed. An historic lack of detailed information arose partly through the relative lack of excavated archaeological sites dating to the Parthian period in Iran and western scholars’ lack of knowledge of recent excavations and their results that are usually published in Persian, coupled with the inevitable difficulties for academic research engendered by the recent political situation in the region. Although an attempt has been made by several scholars in the west to place this important Iranian dynasty in its proper cultural context, the traditional GrecoRoman influenced approach is still prevalent. The present volume presents 15 papers covering various aspects of Parthian and early Sasanian history, material culture, linguistics and religion which demonstrate a rich surviving heritage and provide many new insights into ideology, royal genealogy, social organisation, military tactics, linguistic developments and trading contacts.

Public Archaeology and Climate Change promotes new approaches to studying and managing sites threatened by climate change, specifically actions that engage communities or employ ‘citizen science’ initiatives. Researchers and heritage managers around the world are witnessing severe challenges and developing innovative mechanisms for dealing with them. Increasingly archaeologists are embracing practices learned from the natural heritage sector, which has long worked with the public in practical recording projects. By involving the public in projects and making data accessible, archaeologists are engaging society in the debate on threatened heritage and in wider discussions on climate change. Community involvement also underpins wider climate change adaptation strategies, and citizen science projects can help to influence and inform policy makers. Developing threats to heritage are being experienced around the world, and as this collection of papers will show, new partnerships and collaborations are crossing national boundaries. With examples from across the globe, this selection of 18 papers detail the scale of the problem through a variety of case studies. Together they demonstrate how heritage professionals, working in diverse environments and with distinctive archaeology, are engaging with the public to raise awareness of this threatened resource. Contributors examine differing responses and proactive methodologies for the protection, preservation and recording of sites at risk from natural forces and demonstrate how new approaches can better engage people with sites that are under increasing threat of destruction, thus contributing to the resilience of our shared heritage.