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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.
The Excavations at Ismant al-Kharab I Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 328
ISBN: 9781789259049
Pub Date: 15 Dec 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: B/W and colour
Description:
Excavations by the Dakhleh Oasis Project at Ismant al-Kharab, ancient Kellis in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, revealed the presence of an extensive necropolis dating to the Roman Period, with hundreds of rock-cut tombs containing multiple burials. Termed the Kellis 1 Cemetery, it yielded a range of artefacts and many of the individuals were provided with elaborately decorated cartonnage coverings. This is the largest collection of such material yet discovered in Dakhleh.
An Introduction to Peatland Archaeology and Palaeoenvironments Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
ISBN: 9781789257557
Pub Date: 15 Nov 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Studying Scientific Archaeology
Illustrations: B/w and colour
Description:
Peatlands are regarded as having exceptional archaeological value, due to the fact the waterlogged conditions of these wetlands can preserve organic remains that are almost entirely lost from the majority of dryland contexts. This is certainly true, although the remarkable preservation of sites and artefacts is just one aspect of their archaeological importance. This book provides an accessible introduction to the ecology and formation processes of peatlands, and to the different archaeological and palaeoenvironmental techniques that have been developed and adapted for the study of these environments.
Chariots, Swords and Spears Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 312
ISBN: 9781789255423
Pub Date: 15 Nov 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: b/w and colour
Description:
This volume brings together recent excavations at two sites in Pocklington, East Yorkshire. The main focus of the volume is examination of Iron Age burials, which included chariots, swords, and spears, along with inclusion of earlier Prehistoric and later Roman activity. The excavations have enabled further scientific evidence for migration and mobility in the Iron Age population and secure chronologies for artefacts.
Sacred Nature Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 136
ISBN: 9781789259179
Pub Date: 15 Nov 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Material Religion in Antiquity
Illustrations: B/W
Description:
Sacred Nature: Animism and Materiality in Ancient Religions is the second volume of the series Material Religion in Antiquity (MaReA). The book collects the proceedings of the international online workshop carrying the same title organized by CAMNES, SoRS on 20–21 May 2021. Sacred Nature brings together the perspectives of scholars from different disciplines (archaeology, anthropology, iconography, philology, history of religions) about the notions of nature, sacredness, animism and materiality in ancient religions of the Old and the New World.
The Dean and Canons' Houses of St George's Chapel, Windsor Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 176
ISBN: 9781789258653
Pub Date: 15 Nov 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: Colour
Description:
The College of St George at Windsor Castle was founded by Edward III in 1348 to support the newly created Order of the Garter, and to this day fulfils the same primary purpose. The domestic buildings provided for the Warden, Canons and Priest-Vicars – now the Deanery and Canons Cloister – are an astonishing survival: despite enlargement and alteration over the centuries, a significant amount of the mid-fourteenth-century fabric survives, though often hidden from view. A recent programme of refurbishment and conservation revealed much hitherto unknown evidence for the way the buildings were constructed, their fittings and decoration and their subsequent evolution.
Rome and the North-Western Mediterranean Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 288
ISBN: 9781789257175
Pub Date: 15 Oct 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: B/w
Description:
To date, Rome’s intervention to the West from the mid-2nd century BC has not really been looked at with any sense of overview. Instead, there has been an unconnected series of micro-regional studies looking at particular areas, from the River Ebro in Spain round to Italy on the land front, and from the Balearic Islands to Corsica, Sardinia and even Sicily as regards the seaborne aspect. In contrast, this volume pushes the historical and archaeological debates about Rome’s expansion beyond these traditional geographical boundaries and the discipline-based previous research.
The Kyrenia Ship Final Excavation Report, Volume I Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 424
ISBN: 9781785707520
Pub Date: 15 Oct 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: The Kyrenia Ship Final Excavation Report
Illustrations: b/w and colour + additional folder of plans
Description:
The Kyrenia Ship, a Greek merchantman built around 315 BC, which sank off the north coast of Cyprus was excavated between 1968 and 1972 under the direction of Michael L. Katzev of the University of Pennsylvania and Oberlin College. The importance of this ship lies in the exceptionally well-preserved hull that provided new insights into ancient shipbuilding, as well as the cargo it carried.
From House Societies to States Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 312
ISBN: 9781789258622
Pub Date: 15 Oct 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Ancient Societies (MAtAS)
Illustrations: B/w
Description:
The organisation and characteristics of early and ancient states have become the focus of a renewed interest from archaeologists, ancient historians and anthropologists in recent years. On the one hand, neo-evolutionary schemas of political transformation find it difficult to define some of their most basic concepts, such as ‘chiefdom’, ‘complex chiefdom’ and ‘state’, not to mention the transition between them. On the other hand, teleological interpretations based on linear dynamics, from less to increasingly more complex political structures, in successive steps, impose biased and too rigid views on the available evidence.
Defining Spaces in Iron Age Northumberland Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
ISBN: 9781789258561
Pub Date: 15 Oct 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: Colour
Description:
The Iron Age settlements excavated by Headland Archaeology (UK) Ltd at Morley Hill and Lower Callerton lie within the rich later prehistoric landscape of the Northumberland coastal plain. This monograph presents the results of the excavation, specialist analyses and provides a key dataset upon which to discuss regionally and nationally important later prehistoric research themes. The excavations at Morley Hill and Lower Callerton offer two large-scale new datasets to compare within the corpus of enclosed Iron Age settlement sites across the region, allowing for an increased understanding of settlement patterns, architectural forms and farming practices.
Scientific Dating in Archaeology Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
ISBN: 9781789255621
Pub Date: 15 Oct 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Studying Scientific Archaeology
Illustrations: B/W
Description:
A variety of techniques have been developed to provide scientific chronologies of archaeological sites and material culture. These chronologies underpin the narratives that are generated for prehistoric and other periods. The application of Bayesian statistical analysis to scientific chronologies has been hailed as ‘a revolution in understanding’, and has brought renewed emphasis onto how we generate scientific chronological data, how these data are applied into wider narratives, and the epistemological importance of these data.
The First Stones Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
ISBN: 9781789257397
Pub Date: 10 Oct 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: Colour and b/w
Description:
The First Stones brings together the results of recent research on the Neolithic long cairns lying in the shadow of the Black Mountains in south-east Wales, focusing upon Penywyrlod and Gwernvale, the two best known tombs within the group, previously excavated in the 1970s. Important results lie in both new site detail and reassessment of the wider context. Small-scale excavation, geophysical survey and geological assessment at Penywyrlod – the largest of the Welsh long cairns – gave further information about the distinctive external and internal architecture of the monument.
Human Transformations of the Earth Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
ISBN: 9781789259209
Pub Date: 15 Sep 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Studying Scientific Archaeology
Illustrations: B/W and colour
Description:
This book charts and explains how human activities have shaped and altered the development of soils in many parts of the world, taking advantage of five decades of soil analytical work in many archaeological landscapes from around the globe. The core of this volume describes and illustrates major transformations of soils and the processes involved in these that have occurred during the Holocene and how these relate to human activities as much as natural causes and trajectories of development, right up to the present day. This is done in two ways: first by examining a number of major processes and impacts on the landscape such as Holocene warming and the development of woodland, clearance and agricultural activities, and second by examining the trajectories of these changes in soil systems in different palaeo-environmental situations in several diverse parts of the world.
Temples and Sanctuaries in the Roman East Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 392
ISBN: 9781789258806
Pub Date: 15 Sep 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: B/w
Description:
This lavishly illustrated volume presents a comprehensive architectural study of 87 individual temples and sanctuaries built in the Roman East between the end of the 1st century BCE and the end of the 3rd century CE, within a broad region encompassing the modern states of Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan. Religious architecture gave faithful expression to the complexity of the Roman East and to its multiplicity of traditions pertaining to ethnic and religious aspects as well as to the powerful influence of Imperial Rome. The source of this power lay in the uniformity of the architectural language, the inventory of forms, the choice of styles and the spatial layout of the buildings.
RRP: £39.95
Canterbury Cathedral, Trinity Chapel Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 416
ISBN: 9781789258417
Pub Date: 15 Aug 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: Colour
Description:
Canterbury Cathedral possesses a unique marble mosaic pavement, dating from the early 12th century, which has long intrigued scholars and been the subject of speculation and debate. It forms part of the floor of the Trinity chapel, adjacent to the site where the shrine of St Thomas Becket stood, prior to the Reformation. Since the mosaic is older than the chapel itself and partly destroyed a pavement of figurative roundels, laid c.
Gudme Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 472
ISBN: 9781789259070
Pub Date: 15 Aug 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Pre-Christian Cult Sites
Illustrations: B/W and colour
Description:
Gudme: The Iron Age Settlement and Central Halls presents, describes and interprets the many finds and structures that have been comprised during the extended excavations at the central parts of the Gudme locality on southeast Funen, Denmark. Head of excavation Palle Østergaard Sørensen extracts, combines, classifies, dates and temporalizes the many finds and houses from the excavations Gudmehallerne, Gudme III, Gudme IV. Since the 19th century the Gudme area has been known as one of the richest prehistoric localities in Scandinavia, and more than 1,000 roman coins, close to 600 fibulas as well as several small mask and animal figurines form part of the Gudme find assemblage.
Writing Around the Ancient Mediterranean Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 320
ISBN: 9781789258509
Pub Date: 15 Aug 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Contexts of and Relations Between Early Writing Systems
Description:
Writing in the ancient Mediterranean existed against a backdrop of very high levels of interaction and contact. In the societies around its shores, writing was a dynamic practice that could serve many purposes – from a tool used by elites to control resources and establish their power bases to a symbol of local identity and a means of conveying complex information and ideas. This volume brings together contributions by members of the Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems (CREWS) research team and visiting fellows, offering a range of different perspectives and approaches to problems of writing in the ancient Mediterranean.
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