Au cours des quatre derniers siècles av. n.è. les sociétés d’Europe continentale de la culture dite de La Tène développent leur propre artisanat du verre. Cette période de mutations économiques et sociales saisissantes, où les centres urbains et les réseaux d’habitats hiérarchisés se déploient, connaît également une intensification et une diversification des productions artisanales et agricoles. De l’agriculture à la métallurgie, l’étude des spécialisations artisanales laténiennes révèle des changements techniques et économiques majeurs et précise les facteurs impliqués dans ces transformations socio-économiques.Presque exclusivement dédié aux ornements du corps, l’artisanat du verre celtique produit des perles et des bracelets. Longtemps considérés comme des objets de pacotilles, babioles qui ne pouvaient être que féminines ou enfantines, ces objets sont considérés ici sous leurs aspects économiques et sociaux. La méthode d’étude pluridisciplinaire développée, combinant l’étude contextuelle des objets, l’analyse élémentaire des matériaux et l’exploration des techniques avec des artisans verriers, a permis pour la première fois d’aborder ces objets à travers toute leur chaîne de production. De la fabrication du verre brut au Proche-Orient aux poignets des populations celtiques, l’étude des parures en verre celtiques révèle désormais les réseaux d’échanges et les savoir-faire que les sociétés ont développés pour leur production. Cette redécouverte de l’artisanat verrier laténien permet d’approcher les valeurs et les fonctions de signes des parures en verre, redéfinissant ces objets comme des parures de prix, destinés à la distinction sociale des individus, mais dont la production et les consommations semblent également évoluer parallèlement à la hiérarchisation de la société du La Tène.English abstractThis books focusses on Iron Age glassmaking through a socio-economic perspective. To do so, a multidisciplinary method has been established, combining archaeological data with archaeometry and technological approaches developed with modern glassmakers. It allows us to reconstruct, step by step, the commodity chain of this craft, only dedicated to beads and bangles productions, from the raw glass production, its transformation into items of adornments but also its distribution and its consumption processes by La Tène societies.By reconstructing this production system, the social and symbolic values of these ornaments can be better understood. Glass beads and bangles are luxury products and their consumption evolved alongside the hierarchisation of La Tène societies. This new research on La Tène Glass reveals conspicuous consumption practises depending on the organisation of goods networks with the Near East, but also specialised craftspeople and production structures only dedicated to the production of objects used for the distinction of individuals.

Au cours des quatre derniers siècles av. n.è. les sociétés d’Europe continentale de la culture dite de La Tène développent leur propre artisanat du verre. Cette période de mutations économiques et sociales saisissantes, où les centres urbains et les réseaux d’habitats hiérarchisés se déploient, connaît également une intensification et une diversification des productions artisanales et agricoles. De l’agriculture à la métallurgie, l’étude des spécialisations artisanales laténiennes révèle des changements techniques et économiques majeurs et précise les facteurs impliqués dans ces transformations socio-économiques.Presque exclusivement dédié aux ornements du corps, l’artisanat du verre celtique produit des perles et des bracelets. Longtemps considérés comme des objets de pacotilles, babioles qui ne pouvaient être que féminines ou enfantines, ces objets sont considérés ici sous leurs aspects économiques et sociaux. La méthode d’étude pluridisciplinaire développée, combinant l’étude contextuelle des objets, l’analyse élémentaire des matériaux et l’exploration des techniques avec des artisans verriers, a permis pour la première fois d’aborder ces objets à travers toute leur chaîne de production. De la fabrication du verre brut au Proche-Orient aux poignets des populations celtiques, l’étude des parures en verre celtiques révèle désormais les réseaux d’échanges et les savoir-faire que les sociétés ont développés pour leur production. Cette redécouverte de l’artisanat verrier laténien permet d’approcher les valeurs et les fonctions de signes des parures en verre, redéfinissant ces objets comme des parures de prix, destinés à la distinction sociale des individus, mais dont la production et les consommations semblent également évoluer parallèlement à la hiérarchisation de la société du La Tène.English abstractThis books focusses on Iron Age glassmaking through a socio-economic perspective. To do so, a multidisciplinary method has been established, combining archaeological data with archaeometry and technological approaches developed with modern glassmakers. It allows us to reconstruct, step by step, the commodity chain of this craft, only dedicated to beads and bangles productions, from the raw glass production, its transformation into items of adornments but also its distribution and its consumption processes by La Tène societies.By reconstructing this production system, the social and symbolic values of these ornaments can be better understood. Glass beads and bangles are luxury products and their consumption evolved alongside the hierarchisation of La Tène societies. This new research on La Tène Glass reveals conspicuous consumption practises depending on the organisation of goods networks with the Near East, but also specialised craftspeople and production structures only dedicated to the production of objects used for the distinction of individuals.

The Crownthorpe hoard was discovered in 1982 during a metal detector search of a Roman temple site. It consists of seven bronze vessels: native copies of two Roman silver wine cups and a spouted strainer bowl, together with an imported Roman saucepan, patera and a pair of dishes. The cups are copies of plain silver vessels of form Eggers 170, and may well have been made in a workshop in Norfolk. They are the only complete examples of insular copies of Roman wine cups from Britain. Copies of Roman wine cups were made in the east of England from before c. 25 BC. Some of these local imitations were inspired by imported cups that have not survived in the archaeological record. Bearing in mind that no imported silver plate is known from late Iron Age Britain after c. 10 BC, insular copies of wine cups show that more silver plate reached Iron Age Britain than we have hitherto realised. Confirmation comes from images of Roman silver cups on Iron Age coins. The spouted strainer bowl was made in a workshop to the south of Crownthorpe, somewhere in the counties north of the lower Thames. Such vessels are an insular type that owed nothing significant to the Roman world. They were used primarily for flavouring local drinks. A corpus of thirty-one such copper-alloy vessels is provided here, including three examples that reached the mainland of Europe. The Roman saucepan in the hoard is an Eggers 151 saucepan of Trau-Kasserolle type. They are rare finds: Crownthorpe is only the fourth example from Britain, and the only complete one. It came from a workshop along the Rhine or Danube frontiers. The patera is Italian and part of a set of hand-washing vessels; the jug that would have been used in conjunction with it was not present in the hoard. The two dishes have tinned inner surfaces and represent a long-lived Roman vessel type. The hoard was assembled at Crownthorpe c. AD 40-75. Relating the hoard to the local context suggests that the date can be narrowed down to c. AD 45-60/61. It was buried by a Briton, a member of the local Icenian elite. The set of vessels at Crownthorpe was used for preparing and serving local ale or mead flavoured with fruit or vegetable additives, and drunk from the cups. Wine amphoras are seldom found in late Iron Age and early Roman Norfolk, and that precludes the use of the Crownthorpe cups for the drink. As there are two cups, we should envisage their use for the host and a guest. The Eggers 151 saucepan was used to ladle the drink into the strainer bowl for its flavouring. Snacks to accompany the drink were served in the two dishes. Hand-washing in the course of these revelries was facilitated by the patera. Burial of the hoard near the site of a later Romano-Celtic temple with no trace of an organic container to facilitate recovery suggests it was votive. Other base-metal utensil hoards from Roman Britain cannot be satisfactorily accounted for as the temporary concealment of portable wealth with the intention of recovery, and strengthen the case for Crownthorpe being votive. No comparable hoards are known from late Iron Age Britain because few copper-alloy utensils were in use then, but we know that the practice of burying such hoards had its roots in a native tradition because single copper-alloy vessels have been recovered from watery contexts in the late Iron Age. Components of the Crownthorpe hoard had been dismantled when it was buried, but it should not be seen as a hoard of scrap metal intended for recycling. It is proposed instead that the termination of the useful working life of the hoard vessels represents an act of renunciation, in this case a repudiation of Icenian dealings with the Roman world that culminated in the calamity of the Boudican Revolt of AD 60-61.

Some 3000 to 3500 years ago a number of barrows were erected in an area now known as the Slabroekse Heide (Uden, N.-Br.). In the following centuries people were regularly buried here, and between circa 800 and 500 BC a small urnfield evolved with several hundred small mounds on the heath. These burial monuments covered the cremated remains of the dead, which were generally buried in urns. A unique inhumation burial in which a man or woman was interred lying on his or her back in a small chamber carefully constructed from charred oak beams also dates from this period. Here the deceased was dressed in a colorful dress with long sleeves and wore metal rings in her hair. Extraordinary bronze bracelets and anklets adorned the limbs, and pins and toiletries were interred as grave goods. Several centuries later, during the Roman Age, the cemetery was once again used as a place of burial. Following this, the area went out of use, and the dead buried here were slowly lost to time. In the late Middle Ages a so-called landweer was constructed, running straight through the cemetery and marking the border between the vrije heerlijkheid Ravenstein and the dukedom Brabant. In the 1950s the mounds were removed from the landscape and the area was taken into use as an agricultural field. But this is not where the story ends – in 2003 Staatsbosbeheer took ownership of the land and following the excavation in 2010 the Slabroekse Heide cemetery was (re)constructed. Today the area is part of the nature reserve the Maashort and accessible for recreational use, and contributes to the primal feeling that this regions wants to evoke. This book presents the results of three excavation campaigns conducted at this special place. In 1923, Remouchamps of the National Museum of Antiquities explored this area. In 2005 and 2010 the Faculty of Archaeology and Archol bv further researched this cemetery using modern techniques, which allow us to reconstruct the use of the cemetery and the special inhumation funerary ritual in detail, thereby bringing these mounds on the heath back to life.

The Sahara contains one of the most extensive and enigmatic collections of rock art in the world. An Engraved Landscape represents the main report on the rock art of the Wadi al-Ajal, south west Libya. Based on extensive fieldwork directed by the author between 2004 and 2009, and funded by the British Academy and Society for Libyan Studies, this monograph presents and synthesises a rich corpus of new engravings from an area of central importance in the cultural development of the Sahara. Spatial and quantitative analyses of the carvings reveal changing relationships between humans and the landscape over an 8000-year period from c.6000 BC to recent times. The volume is beautifully illustrated, with a substantial selection of the engraved panels presented in photographs and line drawings.

Towards the capstone of the European Bronze Age, in an area stretching from the Carpathians in the East to the North Sea in the West, vast cremation grave cemeteries occur that are perhaps better known as ‘urnfields.’ Today some 700 of these burial sites have come to light in the Netherlands alone. In this corner of Europe, also known as the ‘Lower-Rhine-Basin,’ these cemeteries are often characterised by vast collections of small burial mounds under which the cremated remains of decedents were buried in small shaft-like pits. In many a case the cremated remains had been put in urns first, providing these cemeteries with their very name. Though rich in numbers, urnfield graves are often described as ‘poor’ and ‘simple’ as only in rare occasions decedents were provided with grave gifts. However, when close attention is paid to the actions involved in the creation of these seemingly simple graves, they in fact reveal a richness in funerary practices that on their turn hint a complex and intricate mortuary process. This book delves into the wealth of funerary practices reflected in more than 3,000 urnfield graves excavated throughout the Netherlands in order to reconstruct the mortuary process associated with the urnfields in this particular part of Europe. Together these graves tell interesting stories about how the dead related to each other, how plain and simple objects could be used as metaphors in the creation of relational and ancestral identities and how the dead were inextricably linked to the land.

Towards the capstone of the European Bronze Age, in an area stretching from the Carpathians in the East to the North Sea in the West, vast cremation grave cemeteries occur that are perhaps better known as ‘urnfields.’ Today some 700 of these burial sites have come to light in the Netherlands alone. In this corner of Europe, also known as the ‘Lower-Rhine-Basin,’ these cemeteries are often characterised by vast collections of small burial mounds under which the cremated remains of decedents were buried in small shaft-like pits. In many a case the cremated remains had been put in urns first, providing these cemeteries with their very name. Though rich in numbers, urnfield graves are often described as ‘poor’ and ‘simple’ as only in rare occasions decedents were provided with grave gifts. However, when close attention is paid to the actions involved in the creation of these seemingly simple graves, they in fact reveal a richness in funerary practices that on their turn hint a complex and intricate mortuary process. This book delves into the wealth of funerary practices reflected in more than 3,000 urnfield graves excavated throughout the Netherlands in order to reconstruct the mortuary process associated with the urnfields in this particular part of Europe. Together these graves tell interesting stories about how the dead related to each other, how plain and simple objects could be used as metaphors in the creation of relational and ancestral identities and how the dead were inextricably linked to the land.

The Tripolye phenomenon, which displays a specific artefact complex and an extraordinary settlement layout, is also known for its so-called ‘mega sites’. Five of the largest ‘mega’ or giant settlements measure between 150-320 ha in size. These, and other big settlements, are concentrated in the Sinyukha River Basin, which is a central part of modern Ukraine. In this region, more than 100 different Tripolye sites are known. The chronology of this region is the key to understanding not only the ‘mega-site’ phenomenon, but also the dynamics of spatial development within the Tripolye phenomenon in general. The central issue of this study focusses on the reconstruction of the Tripolye chronology in the Sinyukha Basin and its surrounding areas, including the chronology of individual mega-sites, the periodization of spatial Tripolye distribution, the development of ceramic styles, the lifetime of individual sites, and Tripolye settlements in time and space. Special attention is paid to the ceramics as one of the main sources for typo-chronologies. The obtained results provide a new view on the appearance, functions and the end of Tripolye, in general, and of large sites in particular.

Bathing culture was one of the pillars of Roman society and bathhouses are one of the largest categories of a particular type of construction excavated in the Roman world. The large number of surviving remains and their regional variety make bathhouses vital for the study of the local societies in the Roman-Byzantine period. This book presents the archaeological evidence of close to 200 Roman-style bathhouses from the region of Iudaea/Syria-Palaestina and Provincia Arabia, part of the provinces of the Roman East, constructed from the reign of Herod the Great (second half of the 1st century BCE) to the end of the Umayyad rule (mid-8th century CE). The bathing complexes of the Roman, Byzantine, and the Early Islamic periods, ranging from large public thermae to small bathing suites, are for the first time analysed as unified data with an unprecedented amount of detail, considering a variety of parameters - from dating and setting, through building techniques and materials, to plans and decorations. Typologies of the bathhouses and their components are supplemented by exploration of the socio-cultural insight provided by this particular type of construction. The historical narrative of the regional bathing facilities is updated in the light of new information. The full raw data used for the study is provided in the expandable open-access online database.

In dieser Dissertation hat José Eduardo M. de Medeiros einen neuen theoretischen Ansatz mit der Untersuchung konkreter Probleme in der Bronze- und Eisenzeitforschung Mitteleuropas in Einklang gebracht. Das ursprüngliche Ziel war die Untersuchung der Schmuckhorte der Spätbronzezeit in Frankreich. Aber eine anfängliche Beschäftigung mit der Literatur zu den Hortfunden der Spätbronze- und Früheisenzeit führte zu der Einsicht, dass die Grundlagen prähistorischer Interpretation einer kritischen Revision bedurften. Die angebotene Reflexion ist eng mit einer soziologischen Kulturtheorie verknüpft, die eine kritische Sicht darauf miteinbezieht, wie Menschen Objekte und Ereignisse in der Welt erklären. Es gibt einen revolutionären Wechsel zwischen vormodernen (handlungs- und substanzlogischen) und modernen (prozessualen) Erklärungen, und es war Medeiros' Aufgabe, die Folgen dieses Paradigmenwechsels für die archäologische Forschung zu verstehen. Da diese Einsichten zu einer Relativierung der Niederlegungsabsichten als heuristisches Werkzeug führen und die Niederlegungsabsicht weiterhin als ein wichtiges Instrument für die Kategorisierung von Hortfunden dient, handelt es sich um Konsequenzen für die archäologische Interpretation im Allgemeinen und für die Deutung der Hortfunde der Spätbronze- und Früheisenzeit im Speziellen. Die Arbeit zeigt, dass Schmuck-, Gefäß- und Waffenhorte verschiedene Arten von Deponierungen darstellen und dass, wenn diese Depots im religiösen Kontext der Zeit betrachtet werden, Schmuck und Gefäße die gleiche Bedeutung wie Waffen tragen. Dies steht im Widerspruch zu einer gängigen Auffassung der Spätbronze- und Früheisenzeit, welche die Krieger und ihre Waffen in den Vordergrund stellt. Der Autor zeigt, dass dies eine kulturell konstruierte, „männliche“ Voreingenommenheit ist, die psychologische und soziologische Ursachen hat. Schließlich bietet dieses Buch einen rekonstruktiven Ansatz an, der die kulturelle Bedeutung der Schmuckhorte aufklärt. English abstract Throughout his Ph.D. Thesis, José Eduardo M. de Medeiros has balanced a deeply theoretical approach with the study of concrete problems within Central European Bronze and Iron Age Archaeology. The original objective of his thesis was the investigation of Late Bronze Age jewellery hoards in France. But an initial examination of the literature on the hoards of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age led to the insight that the foundations of prehistoric interpretation required a deeper critical revision. The proposed reflection is closely linked to a sociological theory of culture that entails a critical view of how human beings explain objects and events in the world. According to this view, there is a marked revolutionary change between "pre-modern" (subject logic) and "modern" (processual logic) explanations, and it has been Medeiros’s work to understand the ramifications of this paradigm shift for archaeological investigation. Essentially, this theoretical reflection questions attempts to explain a fact through recourse to the subjective intention or plan behind the fact. Consequently, these insights lead to a relativization of the subjective intention as a tool for interpretation of archaeological remains. Such a position poses serious consequences for archaeological theories in general, and for the interpretations of the hoarding phenomenon of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in particular. The archaeological category of hoards is currently defined as an intentional selection of objects for unknown reasons. Nevertheless, the underlying intention is a highly-important instrument for the classification of the hoard finds as being either profane and/or ritual forms of deposition. Thus, an over reliance on the intentions behind an act clearly contrasts with the negative definition of that category. This work shows that jewellery, vessels and weapons constitute different kinds of depositions (a.k.a. hoards), and that in addition, when these depositions are viewed in the religious context of the period, jewellery and vessels carry the same importance as weapons. This is contrary to the more common view that emphasizes warriors and their weapons, which the author demonstrates to be a male bias having psychological and sociological foundations. Finally, this book offers a reconstructive approach that clarifies the cultural significance of the jewellery hoards.

La publication des actes du colloque « Mégalithismes et monumentalismes funéraires : passé, présent, futur » reprend les trois grands thèmes de ces rencontres internationales en offrant une large place aux études récentes du mégalithisme en Europe ainsi qu’à l’ethnoarchéologie et aux questions de valorisation et de conservation de ce patrimoine fragile. Les contributions d’experts internationaux montrent tout l’intérêt de voir au-delà du monument afin de comprendre son insertion dans le paysage et sa relation avec les autres structures archéologiques. Sur cette question, les outils sont aujourd’hui aussi nombreux que variés : études paléoenvironnementales, prospections multi-méthodes (LiDAR, géophysique), analyses spatiales (SIG) ou encore fouilles extensives. Les questions d’organisation du territoire, à travers les interactions entre mégalithes et enceintes par exemple, sont au cœur des recherches actuelles. Innover dans la façon d’étudier un cairn ou une chambre funéraire est un autre axe de réflexion développé dans cet ouvrage. De nouvelles méthodes d’analyse, en France et en Espagne, offrent aujourd’hui une restitution fiable de la chaîne opératoire dédiée à la construction mégalithique. Les études des architectures en pierres sèches et des parois mégalithiques, s’appuyant sur des modèles 3D haute résolution, participent au renouveau de nos connaissances sur l’organisation du chantier et des conditions d’utilisation du monument. L’apport de l’observation ethnographique à l’interprétation des faits archéologiques est abordé au travers des exemples asiatiques et africains pour échafauder des scénarios interprétatifs sur les sociétés anciennes européennes. Des éléments de réflexion sont proposés au sujet du fonctionnement des carrières, du déplacement de monuments ou encore de l’organisation du territoire et notamment des liens forts avec l’habitat. Enfin, les dernières contributions sont dédiées à la valorisation des monuments en France. Des exemples de travaux d’inventaire, de restauration et de restitution au grand public mettent en lumière les avancées dans ce domaine. Travaux du Projet Collectif de Recherche « Milieu et peuplement en Languedoc occidental du Néolithique à l’âge du Bronze », sous la direction de Muriel Gandelin, et de l’ANR « Monumentalités, espaces et compétitions sociales en Europe Atlantique », sous la direction de Vincent Ard et Vivien Mathé English abstract This book focusses on the past, present and future of recent studies of megalithism in Europe, including enthoarchaeology and the conservation of these monuments. The book contains contributions from international experts that focus on the monuments and their surroundings to better understand their place within the wider landscape. New innovative methods and techniques are explored (most notably 3D) that allow architectural analyses that were previously not possible and which greatly increase our knowledge base. Ethnographic research contributes to the interpretation of archaeology as is illustrated through Asian and African examples. These data substantially contribute as a source of interpretative scenarios for European megalithism. The final chapters in this book are dedicated to the promotion of these monuments in France through projects focussing on the finds they contained, their restoration and making them available to the general public.

La publication des actes du colloque « Mégalithismes et monumentalismes funéraires : passé, présent, futur » reprend les trois grands thèmes de ces rencontres internationales en offrant une large place aux études récentes du mégalithisme en Europe ainsi qu’à l’ethnoarchéologie et aux questions de valorisation et de conservation de ce patrimoine fragile. Les contributions d’experts internationaux montrent tout l’intérêt de voir au-delà du monument afin de comprendre son insertion dans le paysage et sa relation avec les autres structures archéologiques. Sur cette question, les outils sont aujourd’hui aussi nombreux que variés : études paléoenvironnementales, prospections multi-méthodes (LiDAR, géophysique), analyses spatiales (SIG) ou encore fouilles extensives. Les questions d’organisation du territoire, à travers les interactions entre mégalithes et enceintes par exemple, sont au cœur des recherches actuelles. Innover dans la façon d’étudier un cairn ou une chambre funéraire est un autre axe de réflexion développé dans cet ouvrage. De nouvelles méthodes d’analyse, en France et en Espagne, offrent aujourd’hui une restitution fiable de la chaîne opératoire dédiée à la construction mégalithique. Les études des architectures en pierres sèches et des parois mégalithiques, s’appuyant sur des modèles 3D haute résolution, participent au renouveau de nos connaissances sur l’organisation du chantier et des conditions d’utilisation du monument. L’apport de l’observation ethnographique à l’interprétation des faits archéologiques est abordé au travers des exemples asiatiques et africains pour échafauder des scénarios interprétatifs sur les sociétés anciennes européennes. Des éléments de réflexion sont proposés au sujet du fonctionnement des carrières, du déplacement de monuments ou encore de l’organisation du territoire et notamment des liens forts avec l’habitat. Enfin, les dernières contributions sont dédiées à la valorisation des monuments en France. Des exemples de travaux d’inventaire, de restauration et de restitution au grand public mettent en lumière les avancées dans ce domaine. Travaux du Projet Collectif de Recherche « Milieu et peuplement en Languedoc occidental du Néolithique à l’âge du Bronze », sous la direction de Muriel Gandelin, et de l’ANR « Monumentalités, espaces et compétitions sociales en Europe Atlantique », sous la direction de Vincent Ard et Vivien Mathé English abstract This book focusses on the past, present and future of recent studies of megalithism in Europe, including enthoarchaeology and the conservation of these monuments. The book contains contributions from international experts that focus on the monuments and their surroundings to better understand their place within the wider landscape. New innovative methods and techniques are explored (most notably 3D) that allow architectural analyses that were previously not possible and which greatly increase our knowledge base. Ethnographic research contributes to the interpretation of archaeology as is illustrated through Asian and African examples. These data substantially contribute as a source of interpretative scenarios for European megalithism. The final chapters in this book are dedicated to the promotion of these monuments in France through projects focussing on the finds they contained, their restoration and making them available to the general public.

This volume presents interpreting of agency of individual officials in in different periods of ancient Egyptian history. Their activity and careers are observed using different methods different methods of complex network of more general trends operating the society at a given stage of its evolution. We are confident that this is one of the most promising and proven ways to gain deeper insights into day-to-day lives of the people of the past. In recent years, this research approach has evolved independently at several institutions exploring ancient Egypt.

The Journal of Roman Pottery Studies continues to present a range of important new research in the field by both established and early career scholars. Volume XVIII has a strong theme on pottery production with papers on kiln sites, mortaria and late Roman pottery production in East Anglia and at a small town in Belgium. A major new third century assemblage from civitas Cananefatium in South Holland is presented. The second part of an important gazetteer of less common samian ware fabrics and types in northern and western Britain covers fabrics from Central and East Gaul.

The period covered by the Old Testament - beginning in approximately 3000 BC - was one of great technological development and innovation in warfare, as competing cultures clashed in the ancient Middle East. The Sumerians were the first to introduce the use of bronze into warfare, and were centuries ahead of the Egyptians in the use of the wheel. The Assyrians developed chariot warfare and set the standard for a new equine-based military culture. The Babylonians had an army whose people were granted land in return for army service. This authoritative history gives an overview of warfare and fighting in the age of the Old Testament, from the Akkadians, Early and Middle Kingdom Egypt and their enemies, Mycenean and Minoan Greece and Crete, Assyrians and New Kingdom Egyptians, the Hittites, the Sea Peoples who gave rise to the Philistines, the Hebrew kingdom, the Babylonian kingdom, the Medes and later Persian Empires, through to early Classical Greece. Author Simon Elliott explores how archaeology can shed light on events in the Bible including the famous tumbling walls of Jericho, the career of David the boy warrior who faced the Philistines, and Gideon, who was able to defeat an army that vastly outnumbered his own.

This volume presents a series of reflections on modes of communication in the Bronze Age Aegean, drawing on papers presented at two round table workshops of the Sheffield Centre for Aegean Archaeology on 'Technologies of Representation' and 'Writing and Non-Writing in the Bronze Age Aegean'. Each was designed to capture current developments in these interrelated research areas and also to help elide boundaries between 'science-based' and 'humanities-based' approaches, and between those focused on written communication (especially its content) and those interested in broader modes of communication. Contributions are arranged thematically in three groups: the first concerns primarily non-written communication, the third mainly written communication, while the second blurs this somewhat arbitrary distinction. Topics in the first group include how ritual architecture is represented in the Knossos wall-paintings; a re-interpretation of the 'Harvester Vase' from Ayia Triada; the use of colour in wall-paintings at Late Bronze Age Pylos; the use of painted media to represent depictions in other (lost) media such as cloth; and re-readings of Aegean representations of warfare and of the sequence of grave stelae at Mycenae. In the second group Linear B texts and archaeological data are used to explore further the colour palette used at Pylos, how people were represented diacritically through taste and smell, and how different qualities of time were expressed both textually and materially; the roles of images in Aegean scripts, complemented by a Peircian analysis of early Cretan writing; and a consideration of the complementary role of (non-literate) sealing and (literate) writing practices. Topics in the third group range from defining Aegean writing itself, through the contexts for literacy and how the Linear B script represented language, to a historical exploration of early attempts at deciphering Linear B.