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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.
Exploring and Explaining Diversity in Agricultural Technology Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 304
ISBN: 9781842175156
Pub Date: 11 Nov 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Earth Series
Illustrations: 285 col illus.
Description:
This volume is the outcome of collaborative European research among archaeologists, archaeobotanists, ethnographers, historians and agronomists, and frequently uses experiments in archaeology. It aims to establish new common ground for integrating different approaches and for viewing agriculture from the standpoint of the human actors involved. Each chapter provides an interdisciplinary overview of the skills used and the social context of the pursuit of agriculture, highlighting examples of tools, technologies and processes from land clearance to cereal processing and food preparation.
RRP: £50.00
A City from the Dawn of History Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 148
ISBN: 9781782977971
Pub Date: 04 Nov 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: fully colour illustrated
Description:
The city of Erbil, which now claims to be one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, lies on the rich alluvial plains at the foot of the piedmont of the Zagros mountains in a strategic position which made it a natural gateway between Iran and Mesopotamia. Within the context of ancient Mesopotamian civilisation there can be no doubt that it will have been one of the most important urban centres but archaeological research of the remains has been limited. Three recent archaeological assessments of the mound have sought to evaluate the significance of the remains within their historical context.
Towns and Topography Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 196
ISBN: 9781782977025
Pub Date: 27 Oct 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: b/w and col. illustrations
Description:
Fifteen papers examine a variety of aspects of medieval towns and their topography. The first part of the volume comprises essays on the excavations in the Frankish emporium of Quentovic, directed by David Hill; London; Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandinavian mints; the burhs of Somerset; and urban perspectives in literature. The second part concentrates on topographical subjects including an examination of the significance of the distribution through trade of Mayen Lava quernstones in early medieval north-west Europe and the evidence of a charter for the topography of late Anglo-Saxon Worcester which reveals that standing crosses were, by then, considered old fashioned.
RRP: £60.00
Structure, Image, Ornament Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 248
ISBN: 9781782977391
Pub Date: 16 Oct 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: b/w illus
Description:
This volume presents the proceedings of a conference hosted by the American School of Classical Studies, Athens and the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Athens in 2004. There are additional contributions from Patricia Butz, Robin Osborne, Katherine Schwab, Justin St. P.
The Land of Assur and the Yoke of Assur Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 368
ISBN: 9781782977414
Pub Date: 16 Oct 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: b/w illus.
Description:
This book brings together a selection of twenty-eight previously disparate articles by Nicholas Postgate that represent some thirty years of engagement with the nature of Assyrian society and government. Most are broadly synthetic and deal with general issues; they are a tremendous body of work, and this will be an invaluable collection for everyone interested in Assyria.
Documentary Sources in Ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman Economic History Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 336
ISBN: 9781782977582
Pub Date: 13 Oct 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: b/w illustrations
Description:
This volume breaks new ground in approaching the Ancient Economy by bringing together documentary sources from Mesopotamia and the Greco-Roman world. Addressing textual corpora that have traditionally been studied separately, the collected papers overturn the conventional view of a fundamental divide between the economic institutions of these two regions. The premise is that, while controlling for differences, texts from either cultural setting can be brought to bear on the other and can shed light, through their use as proxy data, on such questions as economic mentalities and market development.
RRP: £40.00
Ancient Textiles Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
ISBN: 9781782978305
Pub Date: 30 Sep 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Ancient Textiles
Illustrations: b/w and col illus
Description:
An understanding of textiles and the role they played in the past is important for anyone interested in past societies. Textiles served and in fact still do as both functional and symbolic items. The evidence for ancient textiles in Europe is split quite definitely along a north-south divide, with an abundance of actual examples in the north, but precious little in the south, where indirect evidence comes from such things as vase painting and frescoes.
Celtic Art in Europe Cover Celtic Art in Europe Cover
Format: 
Hardback Paperback
Pages: 400
ISBN: 9781782976554
Pub Date: 30 Sep 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: b/w illustrations, 32pp colour illustrations
Pages: 416
ISBN: 9781789253832
Pub Date: 15 Apr 2020
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: b/w illustrations, 32pp colour illustrations
Description:
The ancient Celtic world evokes debate, discussion, romanticism and mythicism. On the one hand it represents a specialist area of archaeological interest, on the other, it has a wide general appeal. The Celtic world is accessible through archaeology, history, linguistics and art history.
Paths to Complexity Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 248
ISBN: 9781782977230
Pub Date: 30 Sep 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: b/w illustrations
Description:
Exploring the origins of urbanism – the emergence and development of the first cities, has long constituted one of the main challenges of archaeological and ancient historical research. Studying cities in a long-term and cross-cultural perspective links the past with the present, allowing a better understanding of one of the most important developments in human history. Moreover, archaeological research on ancient cities can contribute to a better understanding of contemporary processes of urbanisation.
RRP: £65.00
Animal Secondary Products Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 256
ISBN: 9781782974017
Pub Date: 24 Sep 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: b/w illustrations
Description:
Animal Secondary Products investigates domestic animal exploitation and the animal economy from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze and Iron Ages across Eurasia (Europe, Near East, Siberia and China). Incorporating current zooarchaeological theory and cutting-edge methodological developments, it critically assesses Andrew Sherratt’s concept of a Secondary Products Revolution that proposed that a package of new subsistence practices and technologies swept across much of Eurasia at the end of the Neolithic, which triggered large-scale changes in economies and settlement across the landscape. This model argues that these changes were associated with a genuine shift from an emphasis upon domestic animals for their primary (meat hide, bone) products to a more diversified exploitation pattern which included their secondary (milk, wool, traction) products.
RRP: £65.00
Medicine and Healing in the Ancient Mediterranean World Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 446
ISBN: 9781782972358
Pub Date: 16 Sep 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: b/w illus
Description:
There are many recoverable aspects and indications concerning medicine and healing in the ancient past – from the archaeological evidence of skeletal remains, grave-goods comprising medical and/or surgical equipment and visual representations in tombs and other monuments thorough to epigraphic and literary sources. The 42 papers presented here cover many aspects medicine in the Mediterranean world during Antiquity and early Byzantine times, bringing together both internationally established specialists on the history of medicine and researchers in the early stages of their career. The contributions are grouped under a series of headings: medicine and archaeology; media (online access to electronic corpus); the Aegean; medical authors/schools of medicine; surgery; medicaments and cures; skeletal remains; new research in Cyprus; Asklepios and incubation; and Byzantine, Arab and medieval sources.
RRP: £65.00
Excavations at Cill Donnain Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 272
ISBN: 9781782976271
Pub Date: 09 Sep 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Sheffield Environmental and Archaeological Research Campaign in the Hebrides
Illustrations: 190 images, 63 tables
Description:
The SEARCH (Sheffield Environmental and Archaeological Research Campaign in the Hebrides) project began in 1987 and covers the Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. The aim of the project is to investigate how human societies adapted in the long-term to the isolated environment of the Outer Hebrides. The first major excavation on South Uist discovered that what was thought to be a shell midden at Cill Donnain was in fact a wheelhouse, a type of dwelling used in the period c.
RRP: £25.00
Athenian Potters and Painters III Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 272
ISBN: 9781782976639
Pub Date: 31 Aug 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: b/w images and 2 colour plate sections
Description:
Athenian Potters and Painters III presents a rich mass of new material on Greek vases, including finds from excavations at the Kerameikos in Athens and Despotiko in the Cyclades. Some contributions focus on painters or workshops – Paseas, the Robinson Group, and the structure of the figured pottery industry in Athens; others on vase forms – plates, phialai, cups, and the change in shapes at the end of the sixth century BC. Context, trade, kalos inscriptions, reception, the fabrication of inscribed painters’ names to create a fictitious biography, and the reconstruction of the contents of an Etruscan tomb are also explored.
RRP: £80.00
The Roman Textile Industry and its influence Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 200
ISBN: 9781782977407
Pub Date: 29 Aug 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: 4 col pls, illus
Description:
Textiles were a hugely important Roman industry yet, because of their perishable nature, only fragments remain. These twenty-two essays provide a detailed study of surviving fragments from across the Roman world, from the dry sands of Egypt to the Atlantic coast and the northern frontiers and beyond. The result is a comprehensive reconstruction of both everyday and exotic Roman clothing with information about the influences of fashion and of Roman weaving techniques.
Quaternary of the Trent Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 416
ISBN: 9781842174616
Pub Date: 20 Aug 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: 16p colour DVD
Description:
This volume is an integrated overview and synthesis of available data relating to the Quaternary evolution of the River Trent. It provides detailed descriptions of the Pleistocene sedimentary records from the Trent, its tributaries and related drainage systems - a sedimentary record that spans a period of approximately half a million years - and the biostratigraphical and archaeological material preserved therein. Significant new data are presented from recently discovered sites of geological and archaeological importance, including previously unrecognised fluvial deposits, as well as novel analyses, such as mathematical modelling of fluvial incision as recorded by the river terrace deposits.
RRP: £30.00
Of Rocks and Water Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 270
ISBN: 9781782976714
Pub Date: 11 Aug 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Joukowsky Institute Publication
Description:
People are drawn to places where geology performs its miracles: ice-cold spring waters gushing from the rock, mysterious caves which act as conduits for ancestors and divinities traveling back and forth to the underworld, sacred bodies of water where communities make libations and offer sacrifices. This volume presents a series of archaeological landscapes from the Iranian highlands to the Anatolian Plateau, and from the Mediterranean borderlands to Mesoamerica. Contributors all have a deep interest in the making and the long-term history of unorthodox places of human interaction with the mineral world, specifically the landscapes of rocks and water.
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