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.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 384
ISBN: 9781842174432
Pub Date: 31 Mar 2012
Illustrations: col & b/w illus
Description:
This volume presents a collection of more than 30 papers in honour of one of Europe's leading scholars on Roman pottery, Brenda Dickinson. Divided into thematic sections, papers are mostly concerned with her principal area of study, samian, but also touch on Brenda's other interests, with investigations into, for instance, the likely species of Lesbia's pet bird (Catullus) and language and style in the "British" speeches in Tacitus. Papers in the section on potters and potteries examine the evidence for the work of a number of important samian potters, aspects of pottery production and its organisation and a potter's eye view of the approach to reproducing samian.
Further papers are concerned with decoration, stamps and other marks, especially with evidence for previously unrecognised or little known potters, stamps and decorative features; the recognition of locally produced unguentaria from London; and the existence of makers' marks on textiles. The final section considers the use of samian and other pottery in illuminating aspects of life and death, including consideration of the likely expenditure involved in the inclusion of samian in burials and what the pots actually meant to the people who used them; the possible use of old vessels by plate spinning entertainers; and aspects of cooking methods and the composition and useage of possible dining services.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 232
ISBN: 9781842174982
Pub Date: 30 Mar 2012
Series: Current Research in Egyptology
Illustrations: b/w illustrations
Description:
The twelfth annual Current Research in Egyptology symposium aimed to highlight the multidisciplinary nature of the field of Egyptology. Papers in these proceedings reflect this multidisciplinarity, with research based on Archaeology, Linguistics, Cultural Astronomy, Historiography, Botany, Religion and Law, amongst others. By means of one or several of these disciplines, contributors to this volume approach a broad range of subjects spanning from Prehistory to modern Egypt, including: self-presentation, identity, provenance and museum studies, funerary art and practices, domestic architecture, material culture, mythology, religion, commerce, economy, dream interpretation and the birth of Egyptology as a discipline.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 134
ISBN: 9781842174999
Pub Date: 30 Mar 2012
Series: TRAC
Description:
This volume was derived from the twenty-first annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, which took place at the University of Newcastle (14-17 April 2011).
Format: Paperback
Pages: 336
ISBN: 9781842174333
Pub Date: 28 Feb 2012
Illustrations: 120 illus
Description:
The main concern of this volume is the multi-layered concept of ethnicity. Contributors examine and contextualise contrasting definitions of ethnicity and identity as implicit in two perspectives, one from the classical tradition and another from the prehistoric and anthropological tradition. They look at the role of textual sources in reconstructing ethnicity and introduce fresh and innovative archaeological data in reconstructing ethnicity, either from fieldwork or from new combinations of old data.
Finally, in contrast to many traditional approaches to ethnicity, they examine the relative and interacting role of natural and cultural features in the landscape in the construction of ethnicity. The volume is headed by the contribution of Andrea Carandini whose work challenges the conceptions of many in the combination of text and archaeology. He begins by examining the mythology surrounding the founding of Rome, taking into consideration the recent archaeological evidence from the Palatine and the Forum. Here primacy is given to construction of place and mythological descent. Anthony Snodgrass, Robin Osborne, Tim Cornell and Christopher Smith offer replies to his arguments. Overall, the nineteen papers presented here show that a modern interdisciplinary and international archaeology that combines material data and textual evidence - critically - can provide a powerful lesson for the full understanding of the ideologies of ancient and modern societies.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 304
ISBN: 9781842174548
Pub Date: 28 Feb 2012
Series: American School of Prehistoric Research Monograph
Description:
This collection of essays and tributes to Glynn Isaac marks the 26th anniversary of Glynns premature death on October 5th, 1985. These contributions document the work of many of Glynns colleagues students and collaborators, and reflect their continuing respect for a great scholar
Format: Paperback
Pages: 200
ISBN: 9781842174661
Pub Date: 28 Feb 2012
Illustrations: b/w illus
Description:
Many countries in northern Europe have seen a huge expansion in development-led archaeology over the past few decades. Legislation, frameworks for heritage management and codes of practice have developed along similar but different lines. The Valetta Convention has had considerable impact on spatial planning and new legislation on archaeological heritage management within EC countries as well as on the funding, nature and distribution of archaeological fieldwork.
For the first time these 12 papers bring together data on developer-led archaeology in Britain, Ireland, France, the Low Countries, Germany and Denmark in order to review and evaluate key common issues relating to organisation, practice, legal frameworks and quality management.
Pages: 224
ISBN: 9781842174586
Pub Date: 31 Jan 2012
Illustrations: b/w illus
Pages: 224
ISBN: 9781782975410
Pub Date: 31 Jan 2014
Illustrations: b/w illus
Description:
Materiality and Social Practice investigates the transformative potential arising from the interplay between material forms, social practices and intercultural relations. Such a focus necessitates an approach that takes a transcultural perspective as a fundamental methodology and, then a broader understanding of the inter-relationship between humans and objects. Adopting a transcultural approach forces us to change archaeology's approach towards items coming from the outside.
By using them mostly for reconstructing systems of exchange or for chronology, archaeology has for a long time reduced them to their properties as objects and as being foreign. This volume explores the notion that the significance of such items does not derive from the transfer from one place to another as such but, rather, from the ways in which they were used and contextualised. The main question is how, through their integration into discourses and practices, new frameworks of meaning were created conforming neither with what had existed in the receiving society nor in the area of origin of the objects.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 240
ISBN: 9781842174340
Pub Date: 31 Jan 2012
Illustrations: 83 b/w illus
Description:
This volume represents the final publication of the Olympias project, which saw the building of a full-scale reconstruction of a 170-oared Athenian trireme of the 4th century BC and its operation in five series of sea-trials in the Aegean Sea. The first three sea-trials in 1987, 1988 and 1990 have already been published in separate volumes (the last two by Oxbow) and this completes the series with reports of the 1992 and 1994 trials. The 1992 report by Paul Lipke of Trireme Trust USA, which collaborated with the Trireme Trust in the operation of the ship, offers an alternative view of the project as a whole from that presented in previous reports.
The rest of the volume is devoted to some twenty-six papers presenting more recent research on the trireme, some of them originally presented at a conference held in Oxford and Henley in 1998. One group of papers by Timothy Shaw and John Coates presents the argument for making relatively small adjustments to the hull and oar-system of Olympias , which would enable the crew to generate far more power and so match the performance under oar which is implied by the ancient sources. The papers, therefore show the detailed thinking behind the modifications proposed in the second edition of The Athenian Trireme (2000). Another set of papers offers further critiques of the project, some positive and some sceptical and hostile. A third group investigates aspects of operation and performance under both oar and sail, including slipping and launching, the ancient evidence for speed under oar and physiological aspects of the ship's "human engine". A fourth group looks at aspects of construction and maintenance and a final set of papers presents some of the latest research inspired by the project, including an investigation of the effects of ramming, a reconsideration of the evidence for the dimensions of the ancient trireme and the modelling of battle manoeuvres based on the data produced by the trials of Olympias .
Format: Paperback
Pages: 128
ISBN: 9781842174326
Pub Date: 31 Dec 2011
Description:
Community Archaeology is an assessment of the aims, results and validity of the broad spectrum of community archaeology initiatives taking place today. The project arose from a shared belief in cooperation between professional and non-professional archaeologists and the belief that archaeology does not have to take place in private between consenting companies. The 15 papers presented here are startlingly and pleasingly diverse, drawing on the expertise and experience of student archaeologists, academics, professionals, amateurs, educators and independent practitioners.
A number of interesting common themes emerge, including general theoretical reflections on the nature and significance of community archaeology, education (which highlights the common concentration on excavation within community archaeology and the concomitant neglect of post-excavation work), funding and sustainability, namely the dichotomy between one-off or medium-term projects that are funded and long-term projects that tend to be staffed by volunteers. As well as the difficulties involved, the collection also highlights the pleasures and emotional dimensions of engaging with material remains of the past.
Pages: 192
ISBN: 9781842174388
Pub Date: 15 Dec 2011
Illustrations: col & b/w illus
Pages: 192
ISBN: 9798888570616
Pub Date: 15 Nov 2023
Illustrations: color and B&W illustrations
Description:
This volume present a detailed study of the thin, usually rectangular, pieces of pierced fine stone that occur in inhumation graves of Beaker date mainly of the second half of the third millennium cal BC. These objects are considered to be archer's bracers or wristguards. The study forms part of a more wide-ranging research project to identify more accurately the significance of burial assemblages from Beaker and Early Bronze Age contexts in England and Wales.
The key objective is to produce a detailed analysis of the nature and function of these grave goods, beginning with the bracers, and to test the hypothesis that many of the artefacts were originally designed for use as components of ritual costume or as equipment for use in religious acts and ceremonies. The volume includes an illustrated database of all recorded bracers.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 232
ISBN: 9781842174647
Pub Date: 14 Dec 2011
Illustrations: 137 illus, 15 in colour
Description:
Corrstown in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, is a highly important Bronze Age site. This came to light during excavations carried out by Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in 2002-2003, the results of which are detailed here. A total of 74 Middle Bronze Age roundhouse platforms was identified and organised into pairs or short rows, the majority of which appeared to be contemporary.
The Corrstown village represents a site type hitherto unknown in Britain and Ireland, where the standard settlement pattern consists of roundhouses occurring in relative isolation or in small conglomerations. A two-tier network of roads and pathways also serviced the village: one large cobbled roadway and a second probable roadway (perhaps left un-surfaced) were identified along with a multitude of smaller paths leading from the entrances of the houses onto the roadways. The large cobbled road extended beyond the village perimeter, indicating connectivity with the wider landscape. The artefact assemblage from the site was dominated by domestic pottery (over 9,000 sherds) and lithics over 165,000 pieces). A small assemblage of stone axes and moulds was also retrieved. Radiocarbon analysis indicated that the village had three phases, an initial growth phase (commencing after c.1550 BC), followed by a considerable occupation phase (lasting up to 200 years) and a decline phase (commencing c.1150 BC). Early medieval occupation was also observed at Corrstown and the results are included as an appendix. Another Bronze Age settlement site, also excavated by Archaeological Consultancy Services, is also included as an appendix. It is hoped that this volume represents a beginning of the study of the Corrstown village, a site of national and international significance that urges archaeologists to reconfigure the settlement structure and associated social patterns of the Bronze Age.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 184
ISBN: 9781842174685
Pub Date: 14 Dec 2011
Series: Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papers
Illustrations: 74 b/w illus
Description:
The rise to prominence of pits within narratives of the British and Irish Neolithic is well-documented in recent literature. Pits have been cropping up in excavations for centuries, resulting in a very broad spectrum of interpretations but three main factors have led to the recent change in our perception and representation of these features: a broad shift in people's expectations as to what a Neolithic settlement should be; the development of the concept of 'structured deposition', within which pits have played a key role; and a dramatic rise in the number of pits actually known about. Development-led archaeology, and the often very large areas its excavations expose, has simply revealed many more pits.
The 15 papers in this volume explore these inter-related factors and present new thoughts and interpretations arising from new analysis of Neolithic pits and their contents.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 180
ISBN: 9781842174357
Pub Date: 30 Nov 2011
Illustrations: 148 b/w & colour illus, 27 tables
Description:
The Roman Empire depended on the power of its armies to defend and extend the imperial borders, enabling it to dominate much of Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East. Success was, in large part, founded on well-trained, well-disciplined soldiers who were equipped with the most advanced arms and armour available at that time. This is the story of the production of that armour.
Roman Imperial Armour presents an examination of the metals the armour was made from, of how the ores containing those metals were extracted from the earth and transformed into workable metal and of how that raw product was made into the armour of the Roman army. The policing and protecting of such a huge empire required a large and well-organised force and the book goes on to consider the organisation of the army, its size, composition, the logistics involved in its deployment and provisioning and the training, remuneration and benefits offered to its men at arms.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 208
ISBN: 9781842174500
Pub Date: 30 Nov 2011
Illustrations: col & b/w illus
Description:
It can be argued that elements of European heritage can be identified not only as a national strategy of the present but also as a process in prehistory - the cultural and political transformations of the third millennium BC in European prehistory sparking off this process. These transformations initiated the processes and mechanisms that led up to the complex political, social and cultural institutions of the first half of the second millennium BC. From this time on, an authentic historical continuum leading towards present-day society can be identified.
The papers in this anthology provide an up-to-date survey of trends in Bell Beaker research, with a focus on western and northern Europe, as well as developments in the northern and eastern Scandinavian and Baltic regions. The geographical focus, along with the interpretative perspective, hopefully demonstrates some of the progress in understanding the histories of third millennium Europe.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 264
ISBN: 9780977409495
Pub Date: 30 Nov 2011
Description:
An interest in places of pilgrimage is very much a part of the life of many people in the modern world. For Christians, it is the Holy Land that holds specific interest - the area where the events described in the Bible, in both the Old and the New Testament, are located. This volume focuses on early Christian pilgrimage in Jordan, the region east of the Jordan River which has so far been little explored by pilgrims and tourists to the Holy Land.
Yet many biblical events are said to have taken place here: Moses seeing the Promised Land, the ascension of the prophet Elijah and John the Baptist's ministry and beheading, to name but a few. This book takes an innovative approach to studying these sites. After a general introduction to each site, its biblical significance and a citation of the relevant biblical sources with commentary, the author lists the literary sources that pertain specifically to early Christian pilgrimage activity. This information is complemented with a description of the early Christian archaeological remains found at the site and their interpretation. Illustrated throughout with maps, plans, and photographs and including travel directions as well as suggestions about visits to the sites, this volume is made for scholars, pilgrims and tourists with an interest in early Christian and modern pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 128
ISBN: 9781842174579
Pub Date: 30 Nov 2011
Illustrations: b/w illus
Description:
How does "heritage" become objectified within public institutions and representative of a national past? This book proposes a model for this process and contains five case studies that explore variety in the transformation of heritage. The model proposes that heritage is transformed from concept to object and the agency of change is "management".
It explores management using strategic management analysis to understand the relationship between public institutions, heritage objects and their use. The analysis shows a development from administration to strategic management as a way of effecting change in public institutions over time, producing new heritage objects and markets for them, and demonstrates the need for public institutions to be aware of the way in which the adoption of management strategies creates "new" heritage as a cultural resource.
