Sidestone Press
Sidestone Press is an academic publishing house founded by scholars, for scholars. As a publisher they have one clear ambition, that is to make scientific information available to all. They believe scientific information should be available at all times, at all places and to each and every one. This means that the printing and selling of books is but one part of what they believe a good publisher should do.

Apart from printed books that can be found in libraries and bookstores around the world, Sidestone books can also be freely accessed online through different channels such as Google Books, Google Scholar and through their own digital ebook library. By offering access to their books for free, more people than ever have access to our publications. First of all this is beneficial for our authors as it greatly increases the exposure of their work, and in effect, the impact of their research. Second, of course, it enables their readers – scholars and students around the world – to access their publications at any time and at any place, including those parts of the world where access to good quality academic libraries is not guaranteed.

From 2012 onwards Sidestone books have been published under one of three different imprints: Sidestone Press Academics, Sidestone Press Dissertations and Sidestone Press.
Generale Missiven van Gouverneurs-Generaal en Raden aan Heren XVII der Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie Deel xiv: 1761-1767
Band 1 Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 550
ISBN: 9789088905346
Pub Date: 15 Mar 2018
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Series: Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicatiën Grote Serie
Description:
Deel XIV in de serie Generale Missiven van de VOC bestaat uit twee banden. Deze bevatten samenvattingen in hedendaags Nederlands en oorspronkelijke citaten van de algemene brieven van Gouverneur-Generaal en Raden in Batavia aan Heren XVII in Nederland. In deze brieven worden de berichten weergegeven ontvangen uit de verschillende kantoren, van Kaapstad in Zuid-Afrika tot Deshima in Japan en van Kharg in de Perzische Golf tot Timor in Oost-Indonesië.
The Arts of Making in Ancient Egypt Cover The Arts of Making in Ancient Egypt Cover
Format: 
Pages: 275
ISBN: 9789088905247
Pub Date: 15 Feb 2018
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Illustrations: 27fc/49bw
Pages: 275
ISBN: 9789088905230
Pub Date: 15 Feb 2018
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Illustrations: 27fc/49bw
Description:
This book provides an innovative analysis of the conditions of ancient Egyptian craftsmanship in the light of the archaeology of production, linguistic analysis, visual representation and ethnographic research. During the past decades, the “imaginative” figure of ancient Egyptian material producers has moved from “workers” to “artisans” and, most recently, to “artists”. In a search for a fuller understanding of the pragmatics of material production in past societies, and moving away from a series of modern preconceptions, this volume aims to analyse the mechanisms of material production in Egypt during the Middle Bronze Age (2000–1550 BC), to approach the profile of ancient Egyptian craftsmen through their own words, images and artefacts, and to trace possible modes of circulation of ideas among craftsmen in material production.
De stad en de dood Cover De stad en de dood Cover
Format: 
Pages: 145
ISBN: 9789088904905
Pub Date: 01 Feb 2018
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Series: Urban Graveyard Proceedings
Illustrations: 29fc / 49 bw
Pages: 145
ISBN: 9789088904899
Pub Date: 31 Jan 2018
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Series: Urban Graveyard Proceedings
Illustrations: 29fc / 49 bw
Description:
Het is een wijdverbreid idee dat (post-)middeleeuwse steden een sterfteoverschot hadden en zij slechts in leven konden blijven door de toestroom van migranten; een fenomeen dat bekend staat als het ‘urban graveyard’-effect. Over details valt te twisten, maar duidelijk is dat de stad en de dood dichter bij elkaar stonden dan tegenwoordig. Met de dood als belangrijk element in de stedelijke samenleving vormen grafvelden een belangrijke bron van kennis over het leven in de post-middeleeuwen.
The Urban Graveyard Cover The Urban Graveyard Cover
Format: 
Pages: 320
ISBN: 9789088905032
Pub Date: 01 Feb 2018
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Series: Urban Graveyard Proceedings
Illustrations: 62fc / 96bw
Pages: 320
ISBN: 9789088905025
Pub Date: 01 Feb 2018
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Series: Urban Graveyard Proceedings
Illustrations: 62fc / 96bw
Description:
It is commonly believed that in medieval and post-medieval towns and cities death outnumbered births and that these urban centres could only survive through the influx of migrants; a concept which has come to be known as the urban graveyard effect. Whether this was indeed the case for all cities and towns is still debated, but it is certain that urban citizens were more used to death that we are today. The medieval graveyards in which the deceased were interred, then still located within town limits, are an invaluable source of knowledge for reconstructing past lives.
The Coffins of the Priests of Amun Cover The Coffins of the Priests of Amun Cover
Format: 
Pages: 150
ISBN: 9789088904936
Pub Date: 31 Jan 2018
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Series: Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities
Illustrations: 60 fc
Pages: 150
ISBN: 9789088904929
Pub Date: 31 Jan 2018
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Series: Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities
Illustrations: 60 fc
Description:
Ancient Egyptian coffins provided a shell to protect the deceased both magically and physically. They guaranteed an important requirement for eternal life: an intact body. Not everybody could afford richly decorated wooden coffins.
Engraved Gems Cover Engraved Gems Cover
Format: 
Pages: 230
ISBN: 9789088905063
Pub Date: 30 Dec 2017
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Series: Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities
Illustrations: 141fc / 26 bw
Pages: 230
ISBN: 9789088905056
Pub Date: 30 Dec 2017
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Series: Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities
Illustrations: 141fc / 26 bw
Description:
Many are no larger than a fingertip. They are engraved with symbols, magic spells and images of gods, animals and emperors. These stones were used for various purposes.
Archaeology of Touchstones Cover Archaeology of Touchstones Cover
Format: 
Pages: 200
ISBN: 9789088905186
Pub Date: 28 Dec 2017
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Illustrations: >50 fc
Pages: 200
ISBN: 9789088905179
Pub Date: 28 Dec 2017
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Illustrations: >50 fc
Description:
Did ancient Europeans truly believe in an active after-life, as modern Europeans would like to think they did? What purpose did grave-goods actually serve? Are archaeology and the historical sciences in general able to shed, once and for all, a curse placed upon them at their inception as research disciplines in the early nineteenth century?
Why Leather? Cover Why Leather? Cover
Format: 
Pages: 134
ISBN: 9789088904707
Pub Date: 15 Dec 2017
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Illustrations: 79fc/17bw
Pages: 135
ISBN: 9789088902611
Pub Date: 16 Sep 2014
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Illustrations: 50 full colour illustrations
Description:
This pioneering volume brings together specialists from contemporary craft and industry and from archaeology to examine both the material properties and the cultural dimensions of leather. The common occurrence of animal skin products through time, whether vegetable tanned leather, parchment, vellum, fat-cured skins or rawhide attest to its enduring versatility, utility and desirability. Typically grouped together as ‘leather’, the versatility of these materials is remarkable: they can be soft and supple like a textile, firm and rigid like a basket, or hard and watertight like a pot or gourd.
Tutankhamun’s Footwear Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 312
ISBN: 9789088904745
Pub Date: 15 Dec 2017
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Illustrations: 286fc/105bw
Description:
The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb by Howard Carter in 1922 is one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of all time. It took Carter and his team 10 years to clear the contents of the tomb and among the objects found was a large collection of shoes and sandals. The footwear is analysed here in detail for the first time since the discovery using Carter’s records and Harry Burton’s excellent photographs along with the author’s analyses of the objects, all of which are housed in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo and the Luxor Museum.
Ritual Failure Cover Ritual Failure Cover
Format: 
Pages: 170
ISBN: 9789088904790
Pub Date: 15 Dec 2017
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Illustrations: 19fc/22bw
Pages: 180
ISBN: 9789088902208
Pub Date: 16 Dec 2013
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Illustrations: 16 b/w illustrations and 8 col. illustrations
Description:
‘Ritual Failure’ is a new concept in archaeology adopted from the discipline of anthropology. Resilient religious systems disappearing, strict believers and faithful practitioners not performing their rites, entire societies changing their customs: how does a religious ritual system transform, change or disappear, leaving only traces of its past glory? Do societies change and then their ritual?
Hajj Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 245
ISBN: 9789088904776
Pub Date: 15 Dec 2017
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Series: Mededelingen van het Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde
Illustrations: 69fc/11bw
Description:
Every year, in the last month of the Islamic calendar, millions of Muslims from around the world come together in Mecca to perform the Hajj, the pilgrimage that all capable Muslims should perform at least once in their lives. In 2013, the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden organised the exhibition Longing for Mecca. The Pilgrim’s Journey.
From Primitives to Primates Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 384
ISBN: 9789088904752
Pub Date: 15 Dec 2017
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Illustrations: 20bw
Description:
Where do our images about early hominids come from? In this fascinating in-depth study, David Van Reybrouck demonstrates how input from ethnography and primatology has deeply influenced our visions about the past from the 19th century to this day – often far beyond the available evidence. Victorian scholars were keen to look at contemporary Australian and Tasmanian aboriginals to understand the enigmatic Neanderthal fossils.
Fragmenting the Chieftain – Catalogue Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 330
ISBN: 9789088905155
Pub Date: 15 Dec 2017
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Series: Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities
Illustrations: 126fc / 37 bw
Description:
There is a cluster of Early Iron Age (800–500 BC) elite burials in the Low Countries in which bronze vessels, weaponry, horse-gear and wagons were interred as grave goods. Mostly imports from Central Europe, these objects are found brought together in varying configurations in cremation burials generally known as chieftains’ graves or princely burials. In terms of grave goods they resemble the Fürstengräber of the Hallstatt Culture of Central Europe, with famous Dutch and Belgian examples being the Chieftain’s grave of Oss, the wagon-grave of Wijchen and the elite cemetery of Court-St-Etienne.
Fragmenting the Chieftain – Catalogue Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 330
ISBN: 9789088905148
Pub Date: 15 Dec 2017
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Series: Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities
Illustrations: 126fc / 37 bw
Description:
There is a cluster of Early Iron Age (800–500 BC) elite burials in the Low Countries in which bronze vessels, weaponry, horse-gear and wagons were interred as grave goods. Mostly imports from Central Europe, these objects are found brought together in varying configurations in cremation burials generally known as chieftains’ graves or princely burials. In terms of grave goods they resemble the Fürstengräber of the Hallstatt Culture of Central Europe, with famous Dutch and Belgian examples being the Chieftain’s grave of Oss, the wagon-grave of Wijchen and the elite cemetery of Court-St-Etienne.
Fragmenting the Chieftain Cover Fragmenting the Chieftain Cover
Format: 
Pages: 300
ISBN: 9789088905124
Pub Date: 15 Dec 2017
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Series: Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities
Illustrations: 39fc / 39 bw
Pages: 300
ISBN: 9789088905117
Pub Date: 31 Jan 2018
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Series: Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities
Illustrations: 39fc / 39 bw
Description:
There is a cluster of Early Iron Age (800–500 BC) elite burials in the Low Countries in which bronze vessels, weaponry, horse-gear and wagons were interred as grave goods. Mostly imports from Central Europe, these objects are found brought together in varying configurations in cremation burials generally known as chieftains’ graves or princely burials. In terms of grave goods they resemble the Fürstengräber of the Hallstatt Culture of Central Europe, with famous Dutch and Belgian examples being the Chieftain’s grave of Oss, the wagon-grave of Wijchen and the elite cemetery of Court-St-Etienne.
Experiments Past Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 284
ISBN: 9789088904783
Pub Date: 15 Dec 2017
Imprint: Sidestone Press
Illustrations: 64fc/54bw
Description:
With Experiments Past the important role that experimental archaeology has played in the development of archaeology is finally uncovered and understood. Experimental archaeology is a method to attempt to replicate archaeological artefacts and/or processes to test certain hypotheses or discover information about those artefacts and/or processes. It has been a key part of archaeology for well over a century, but such experiments are often embedded in wider research, conducted in isolation or never published or reported.