Archaeopress aug 2017 (8 Ergebnisse)

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The secluded sanctuary on the coastal promontory of Ras il-Wardija on the central Mediterranean island of Gozo (near Malta) constitutes another landmark on the religious map of the ancient Mediterranean. Ritual activity at the sanctuary seems to be evidenced from around the 3rd century BC to the 2nd century AD and, possibly, even as late as the 4th century AD. This ritual activity was focused in a small built temple and in a rock-cut cave that seems to have incorporated a built extension in a later stage. But the practised cult or cults were aniconic and remained so largely throughout. This may explain why the sanctuary's excavators did not report any findings of statuettes or any figural images. Contemporaneously, figural images were also venerated on other sites showing that, for a long while, iconism and aniconism co-existed on the Maltese islands. There might have been more than one deity venerated in this sanctuary. Dionysos could have been one of them. But whoever they were, they are likely to have been somehow connected with the sea and / or with a maritime community or communities as the sanctuary itself evidently was.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Northamptonshire Archaeology, now MOLA Northampton, was commissioned by Opportunity Peterborough (Peterborough City Council) to undertake archaeological work ahead of an improvement scheme centred on Cathedral Square, the historic centre of Peterborough. The construction of two triangular arrays of fountains in the central part of Cathedral Square formed the core of the archaeological investigation, which was undertaken from November 2008 to August 2011. The archaeological work identified a succession of stone surfaces from the creation of the market square in the 12th century through to the 19th century. The cobbled surface of the original market square was overlaid by an accumulation of dark organic silts, containing finds dating through to the 16th century. At the start of the 15th century the parish church of St John the Baptist was constructed over the western half of the medieval market square with a cemetery immediately to the west of the church. Following the closure of this cemetery by the later 16th century, a small area of floor surfaces were the probable remains of a building, perhaps the Sexton's house, at the north end of Butchers Row. On the south side of the market square there were the remains of a rectangular stone building, dated to the late 15th to 17th centuries, perhaps containing shops. Between this building and the church, a raised area of rubble was probably a remnant of the plinth for the recorded market cross. The late 17th century saw the construction of the still extant Guildhall to the east of the church. The raising of the ground level and resurfacing of the square was probably contemporary with the Guildhall. This would have involved the removal of all existing buildings on the south side of the square, as well as the removal of the market cross. In the late 18th or early 19th centuries the square was again raised and resurfaced, now with pitched limestone. Shallow gutters between the pavement and the road facilitated drainage. A surface of granite sets of the 19th-century survived in a few places below the late 20th-century slab pavement, which has now been replaced by the fountain development.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Pottery is one of humankind's most important inventions. It is thousands of years old, and it is fair to say that without it the development of civilization as we know it would not have been possible. Food preparation and storage, religion and ritual, wine-making, trade, art, and architecture, among many other human achievements, were all aided by pottery, an artificial material that lent itself to the elaboration of all kinds of objects: vessels, figurines, roof tiles, water pipes, fishnet weights, and tablets inscribed with the earliest forms of writing, to name but a few; a veritable litany of human creativity. This book examines a contemporary pottery tradition in Mesoamerica, but also looks back to the earliest examples of cultural development in this area. By means of ethnographic analogy and ceramic ecology, this study seeks to shed light on a modern indigenous community and on the theory, method and practice of ethnoarchaeology; undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of archaeological research in Mexico today. …

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - At the Unai Bapot Site of the Mariana Islands, new excavation has clarified the oldest known instance of a residential habitation prior to 1500 B.C. in the Remote Pacific, previously difficult to document in deeply buried layers that originally had comprised near-tidal to shallow subtidal zones. The initial habitation at this site, as well as at others in the Mariana Islands, pre-dated the next Remote Oceanic archaeological evidence by about four centuries and in an entirely different part of the Pacific than previously had been claimed. The newest excavation at Unai Bapot in 2016 has revealed the precise location of an ancient seashore habitation, containing dense red-slipped pottery, other artefacts, food midden, and arrangements of hearths, pits, and post moulds in three distinguishable archaeological layers all pre-dating 1100 B.C. and extending just prior to 1500 B.C. The new discoveries are presented here in detail, as a substantive basis for learning about a rarely preserved event of the initial cultural inhabitation of a region, in this case in the Remote Oceanic environment of the world with its own set of unique challenges.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The Ritidian Site in Guam contains multiple layers and components that together reveal the full scope of traditional cultural heritage in the Mariana Islands in the northwest tropical Pacific since 1500 B.C., dating from the beginning of human settlement of the Remote Pacific Islands. The material records of changing artefacts, sites, and landscapes here have been incorporated into a cohesive narrative in chronological order, mirroring the experience of visiting a museum to learn about the profound heritage of this special site and its larger research contributions. The primary data findings are presented as a translation or visitor's guide of encountering a complex, multi-layered, and multi-vocal past.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Glassware and Glassworking in Thessaloniki: 1st Century BC - 6th Century AD is a detailed examination of the production of glass and glass vessels in the eastern Mediterranean from the Hellenistic Age to the Early Christian period, analysing production techniques and decoration. The volume establishes the socio-economic framework of glassmaking and glassmakers' social status in the Roman world generally and in Thessaloniki specifically, while identifying probable local products. Presented are all the excavation glass finds from Thessaloniki and its environs found between 1912 and 2002. A typological classification was created for almost 800 objects - which encompass the overwhelming majority of common excavation finds in the Balkans - as well as for the decorative themes that appear on the more valuable pieces. Comparative material from the entire Mediterranean was studied, verified in its entirety through primary publications. A summary of the excavation history of these vessels' find-spots is provided, with details for each excavation, in many cases unpublished and identified through research in the archives of the relevant museums and Ephorates of Antiquities. The uses of glass vessels are presented, and there is discussion and interpretation of the reasons that permitted, or imposed, the choice of glass for their production. The finds are statistically analysed, and a chronological overview examining them century by century on the basis of use and place of production is given. Finally, there is an effort to interpret the data from the study in historical terms, and to incorporate the results into the political-economic evolution of the region's political history. Relatively unfamiliar glassmaking terms are explained in a glossary of glassworking technology and typology terms. The material is fully documented in drawings and photographs, and every object in the catalogue is illustrated. A detailed index of the 602 geographical terms in the work, many unknown, concludes the book.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Normally dealt with in a rather limited way, through the examination of a particular activity or geographical zone, the artisans of ancient North Africa are here, for the first time, the subject of an entire book. Focusing on urban production in Algeria during Antiquity, this critical study brings together new documentation drawn up on the basis of field data and the consultation of archives from a long history of survey in Algeria and France. This synthesis reviews the archaeological sites with workshops by defining their activities, at the same time as analyzing how they operated and looking at them typologically. Based on a comparison with documented workshops in the Western Roman world, the study of the techniques highlights the very strong similarities between the Roman regions but also the specific local variations of the methods used in Africa at this time. Maghreb ethnography shows the permanence of certain practices over time while attempting to reconstruct the 'chaîne opératoire'. Although it is still difficult to obtain an overall picture both from a spatial and a chronological point of view of the artisanal topography, the data reveals the existence of varied artisanal and commercial activities in urban areas throughout Antiquity. French description: Abordé généralement de façon ponctuelle à travers une activité particulière ou une zone géographique donnée, l'artisanat en Afrique du nord antique fait ici pour la première fois l'objet d'un ouvrage. Centrée sur la production urbaine en Algérie durant l'Antiquité, cette étude critique rassemble une nouvelle documentation élaborée à partir des données de terrain et de la consultation des archives à partir d'un long travail d'enquête en Algérie et en France. La synthèse fait le point sur les sites archéologiques présentant des ateliers en définissant leur activité tout en analysant leur fonctionnement et leur typologie. En s'appuyant sur une comparaison avec les découvertes d'ateliers dans le monde romain occidental, l'étude des techniques met en évidence les similitudes très fortes entre les régions romaines mais aussi les spécificités locales des méthodes employées en Afrique durant cette période. L'ethnographie maghrébine montre quant à elle la permanence de certaines pratiques à travers le temps tout en complétant l'essai de restitution de la ' chaîne opératoire '. S'il est encore difficile d'avoir une vision d'ensemble tant d'un point de vue spatial que chronologique de la topographie artisanale, les données recensées révèlent l'existence d'activités artisanales et commerciales variées incluses dans l'ensemble du domaine urbain tout au long de l'Antiquité.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This book has its origin in a conference held at the British School at Athens in 2011 which aimed to explore the range of new archaeological information now available for the seventh century in Greek lands. It presents material data, combining accounts of recent discoveries (which often enable reinterpretation of older finds), regional reviews, and archaeologically focused critique of historical and art historical approaches and interpretations. The aim is to make readily accessible the material record as currently understood and to consider how it may contribute to broader critiques and new directions in research. The geographical focus is the old Greek world encompassing Macedonia and Ionia, and extending across to Sicily and southern Italy, considering also the wider trade circuits linking regional markets. The book does not aim for the pan- Mediterranean coverage of recent works: given that much of the latest innovative and critical scholarship has focused on the western Mediterranean in particular, it is necessary to bring old Greece back under the spotlight and to expose to critical scrutiny the often Athenocentric interpretative frameworks which continue to inform discussion of other parts of the Mediterranean.…