Modern archaeological research carried out since the late 19th century has sufficiently demonstrated that the beginning of the food production economy and the establishment of a farming society had a significant impact on the shaping of subsequent human history. Accordingly, these processes of Neolithization have attracted a great deal of interest from archaeologists and anthropologists worldwide. The South Caucasus, i. e. the region discussed in this book, has remained one of the least studied regions in a modern sense. However, the research situation has improved remarkably since the 2000s, for a number of reasons, above all the increasing efforts of local and international archaeologists in collaboration.Since 2008, the Azerbaijan–Japan Archaeological Mission has played a major role in elucidating the origins and developments of the earliest farming communities in the South Caucasus, conducting a series of field campaigns in West Azerbaijan. The remarkable achievements made thus far include the establishment of a secure chronological framework for understanding the Neolithization processes in the early 6th millennium BC through the excavations of two important Neolithic sites: Göytepe and Hacı Elamxanlı Tepe in the Tovuz region, representing the early and late phases of the Neolithic of the South Caucasus, respectively, dating from the early 6th millennium BC.This volume presents a set of archaeological evidence obtained from the Azerbaijan–Japan excavations in 2016–2022 at Damjili Cave, West Azerbaijan. The cave contained cultural layers from the Mesolithic period in particular, along with Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age and medieval material indicating a very long sequence of use. Earlier explorers recorded Middle Palaeolithic lithic artifacts, though no tools of this period were recovered during the recent program of work. Ten small trenches were excavated, revealing a considerable depth of deposits. Mesolithic lithic materials provided evidence for obsidian blade production. Neolithic levels, that included some amorphous limestone block structures, hearths and pits, produced flaked and ground stone tools, pottery and bone objects. Part of the cave at least was utilized in the medieval period with evidence for some built structures and several burials. A program of environmental sampling and both radiocarbon and luminescence dating were undertaken. Through combining the records of the late (Göytepe), early Neolithic (Hacı Elamxanlı Tepe), and Mesolithic (Damjili Cave) periods, our understanding of the Neolithization processes of the South Caucasus will be greatly improved. Data from a combination of three chronologically different sites provide the first opportunity to observe Neolithization processes with secure stratigraphic evidence in a small region of West Azerbaijan.

The sanctuary at Kavos on Keros was discovered in 1963 in the aftermath of looting in the region of the sanctuary now designated the Special Deposit North. From 2006-2008, excavations in the Special Deposit South (now fully published in Volumes II and III of the present series), clarified the nature of the deposits and the materials found there. This volume publishes the sculptural fragments from the Special Deposit North, recovered in excavations in 1963 and 1967, in a campaign of surface survey and excavation in 1987, and collected by archaeologists over the past six decades, or discovered by locals. The material is better preserved than most of the material from the Special Deposit South, and offers important insights into earlier phases of Cycladic sculpture, monumental sculptures, and sculptures of special type, such as seated or standing figures, including musicians and groups. The present volume completes the publication of the entire sculptural assemblage recovered in approved excavations from the sanctuary at Kavos, and a number of conclusions are offered on the basis of the complete assemblage.

22km of road, 232ha of land, 8 years of work – the scale of the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Road Improvement Scheme necessitated one of the largest commercial archaeological projects ever to be undertaken within the UK. Archaeologically, the discoveries were even more impressive, ranging from the remains of Pleistocene woolly mammoths, Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial and burial monuments, dozens of Iron Age and Roman settlements, a whole new Roman pottery industry, Saxon settlements with royal connections, a deserted medieval hamlet, nineteenth century railway remains, and everything in-between. This monograph discusses some of the project’s key findings, major themes, and interesting debates, and is designed to supplement the other outputs from the project. Starting in the Bronze Age, we consider why evidence for middle-late Bronze Age settlement was not identified, and yet two of the largest cremation cemeteries in the region were. The Iron Age chapter explores the huge increase in archaeologically visible settlement during the later Iron Age, whilst the Roman chapter places the abundant evidence for Roman settlement amongst the regional dataset to provide a review of socioeconomic development in the rural hinterlands of Godmanchester and Cambridge. The Saxon chapter considers the ‘Middle Saxon settlement revolution’ and the impact this had on the A14 settlements, with the medieval chapter focusing on the deserted medieval hamlet of Houghton and its relationship with surrounding woodlands.

The end of the 3rd millennium was a time of significant transformation in Southeast Arabia (the United Arab Emirates and Northern Oman). The cultural homogeneity of the preceding Early Bronze Age, Umm an-Nar period (c. 2700–2000 BC) came to an end and gave way to the Middle Bronze Age, Wadi Suq period (2000–1600 BC). Settlements changed, and possibly began to decline in size and number; the economy changed for many; and the important trade in copper ore seems to have declined. In addition, there was a marked change in funerary practices as new types of tombs appeared – both collective and individual burials. All of this took place within the context of a climatic shift that led to a decline in rainfall across many parts of the region. Much of the countryside of Southeastern Iran was abandoned and the urban period of the Indus Valley was weakening. In the midst of this turmoil, the limited agricultural plains of Northern Ras al-Khaimah appear to have developed into an island where there was greater continuity than elsewhere. This book reports on the excavation of a number of monumental collective tombs that were built there and used through the early part of the 2nd millennium. The way that they were constructed and used as well as the burial goods that they contain throw light on the population of this area, and give some indication of how and why it was that life continued in this small pocket in a way that was different way to surrounding regions.

Strøby Toftegård: Halls, Hierarchies and Social Dynamics in Late Iron Age and Viking Age Denmark presents and considers the archaeological material from the site of Strøby Toftegård in the eastern part of Zealand, Denmark, where comprehensive excavations took place between 1994 and 2013. The book seeks to qualify the interpretation of Farm 1 as the residence of a magnate from c. AD 650 to c. AD 1000 and of the whole settlement consisting of at least nine farm units as a magnate settlement. This is done by means of a detailed survey and analysis of buildings and features, structures, various groups of objects, and a discussion of the landscape, the social context and the creation of social hierarchies that the site fitted into while it was in use.Detailed analyses of pits, wells, a latrine, bone material, macrofossils, pollen, the sherds of glass vessels, sherds of windowpanes, beads, jewelry, tools and pottery all substantiate that Farm 1 was something extraordinary. Its inhabitants appear to have had better access to resources, been in charge of certain activities, had access to knowledge that was not available to everyone and, finally, to have been part of larger social and political networks. It is likewise argued that the rest of the settlement was home to the magnate’s retinue in the form of, inter alia, mounted warriors. Strøby Toftegård’s placement within the hierarchy of power in relation to the other known magnate localities is also discussed. The argument here is that there were close connections between Strøby Toftegård and the royal seat in Lejre, although the material simultaneously indicates that Strøby Toftegård was not quite on the same political level as Lejre.The interpretation of Strøby Toftegård is considered in relation to the surrounding landscape, place names and other archaeological evidence from excavations and metal-detector surveys. The last chapter is a concluding discussion of those elements within the archaeological material that justify interpreting the settlement at Strøby Toftegård as a magnate settlement, what such an interpretation entails and what questions it raises for future treatment of the archaeological material.

For ambitious late antique homeowners seeking to demonstrate their status and taste, water and its display offered almost infinite possibilities. Water Displays in Domestic Spaces across the Late Roman West: Cultivating Living Buildings presents the first synthesis of the archaeological evidence for late antique water features in both urban houses and extra-urban villas across the western Empire. Ginny Wheeler examines a wide and varied range of examples: from decorative basins and pools to fountains of all forms and water-equipped dining couches. Through careful analysis and evocative reconstruction of the water displays in their diverse contexts, this book explores how they were incorporated into late antique residences, the different ways that they enhanced domestic spaces, and the potential motives behind their insertion. To assess the great efforts to which homeowners, particularly in urban settings, went to ensure their installation and continued operation, one case study focuses on the best-preserved cityscape of Ostia. While the roles of water features ranged from practical to aesthetic, social and symbolic, this book highlights their previously under-considered contributions to thermal comfort and sensory experience through in-depth analyses of two Iberian villas. Wheeler identifies broad patterns and regional distinctions in form and décor before reflecting on the multifaceted significance of water in the domestic sphere, informed by literary, epigraphic, and iconographic sources. Beyond contributing to the ongoing debate over fountains’ utility versus aesthetics, this research offers new insights into the organization of life at household and neighbourhood levels, the social relations between homeowners occasioned by water installations, and the understanding and application of environmental design in antiquity.

This volume presents the results of archaeological investigations at the site of the former Kirkstall Forge in Leeds, UK. It provides a window into the evolution of iron- and steel-working and engineering in Leeds over a period of 400 years, as the site expanded from a water-powered iron forge to a major industrial works, manufacturing products that aided in the development and expansion of the textile, railway, coal and engineering industries in Leeds and further afield.A ‘bloom-smithy’ was present on the site by the end of the 16th century, and in the 17th century the forge and a new slitting mill became part of the Spencer Syndicate’s extensive network of ironworking sites across Yorkshire. In 1779, the forge was taken over by the partnership of Beecroft and Butler, which ran the works for nearly 100 years. This partnership introduced iron puddling for the production of high quality wrought iron and a substantial engineering business was developed. The Forge finally closed in 2003 and the site was cleared of the majority of buildings in 2007.The origin, growth and development of the works and business fortunes are charted through research, standing building recording and extensive archaeological excavations. This has revealed information on the development of puddling technologies, power sources and the changes in the engineering and axle production industries.

Between 2013 and 2018, the construction of a new industrial park afforded Oxford Archaeology the opportunity to investigate 19ha of land on the western edge of Raunds, Northamptonshire. The archaeological works revealed evidence for human activity spanning the early Neolithic to middle Saxon periods. From at least the early 18th century, the area has been under cultivation and has conse-quently suffered the effects of a substantial period of ploughing. Key to the development of the site was an early Neolithic monumental ditched enclosure, recorded in the Northamptonshire Historic Environment Record (NHER) as Cotton ‘Henge’. Its excavation provided important new evidence for its date and its influence on the surrounding landscape. Nearby lay middle and late Neolithic pits containing pottery and struck flint. Positioned at the centre of the ‘Henge’ was an early Bronze Age barrow, which was subsequently incorporated into a Middle Bronze Age field system.Dense settlement remains dating to the early to middle Iron Age transition extended across much of the site, including structures, numerous storage pits or silos, cobbled trackways and a pit alignment. Large assemblages of pottery, animal bone and other finds came from these features, alongside rich environmental remains.Romano-British activity was significant, with non-settlement, craft and agrarian-related remains extending across the area. Features included a pottery kiln and corn dryer, various burials and six stone-lined wells. The latter yielded important finds and environmental assemblages, preserved in their waterlogged fills. The most impressive item was a near life-sized carved wooden arm, believed to be a votive offering. This is an extremely rare find and perhaps the only item of its type from Roman Britain.Anglo-Saxon settlement took the form of numerous sunken-featured buildings. By the post-medieval period, the development site lay beneath strip fields associated with the village of Raunds to the east; by this time, the adjacent medieval village of Mallows Cotton (located to the immediate west) had been abandoned.The archaeological evidence uncovered at Warth Park has demonstrated that this area has been a widely exploited and managed landscape for approximately five millennia. The remains reflect an agricultural site, with associated craft and funerary activity, linked to known settlement areas in the wider environs.

This new edition of LMCC remains the comprehensive catalogue and survey of the coinage of the London mint from AD 296, when Constantius I recaptured Britain from the usurper, Allectus, to its closure in AD 325 when his son and successor, Constantine I, began to shift his power base to the East. LMCC II continues our earlier expansion and revision of the London portions of Volumes VI and VII of The Roman Imperial Coinage by incorporating new types discovered since 2015 and expanding the census tables based on the population totals from several major new hoards. As Sam Moorhead notes in his foreword to this second edition, this catalogue is now recognized as the standard reference work on the London mint coins of this period and is used by both the British Museum and the Portable Antiquities Scheme when cataloguing these coins.

This book sketches the first archaeological history of the lower Sirwan/upper Diyala river valley of north-east Iraq and adjacent landscapes over a period of c. 12,000 years, from the earliest signs of human presence until the mid-first millennium BCE, based on data gathered between 2013 and 2023 by the Sirwan Regional Project (SRP).The central research objective of the SRP is to move beyond traditional historical topoi and their predominantly external and state-centric perspectives that have dominated narratives of the region thus far. Instead, we develop an in-depth, archaeological understanding of the nature of the region’s past communities, their cultural and economic practices, the modes of socio-political organisation they developed, adopted, and rejected, and their long-term developments.In order to reconstruct past Sirwan lifeways, the book interweaves regional-scale datasets with the results of ongoing and completed excavations at the Late Chalcolithic site of Shakhi Kora and the Late Bronze to Early Iron Age site of Kani Masi, as well as the results of a wide range of archaeological, Assyriological, art historical, and archaeometric analyses.

The essays in this book focus on archaeological approaches to the utilization of highland regions in southwestern and central Asia, examining the interplay between human communities and highland landscapes from the Paleolithic era to the present.Contributions combine case studies with theoretical considerations to explore adaptive strategies of movement. They discuss the significance of mobility within archaeological and anthropological discourse. Contributors engage with critical questions: How can archaeologists discern traces of movement and unravel material footprints of diverse mobility? How can they track shifts in mobility through time or regions? By systematizing observations on human spatial behavior across epochs and settings, these essays seek to test and refine traditional archaeological methodologies. They present nuanced frameworks and shed light on the adaptability and resilience of these communities.“Appropriating Height” aims to understand the human experience in highland environments. It is essential for those fascinated by the entanglement between people, place, and time, providing a comprehensive perspective on the legacy of human movement.This book is the second volume of a series published by the German-Iranian research cooperation “The Iranian Highlands: Resiliences and Integration in Premodern Societies”. The goal of the research project is to shine a new light on communities and societies that populated the Iranian highlands and their more or less successful strategies to cope with the many vagaries, the constant changes and risks of their natural and humanly shaped environments.

This study considers the detailed archaeological and documentary records of Cyprus and Ugarit (Syria) to gain new insights into the long-term relations between two of the best known, well-connected polities in the Late Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean.I engage with concepts such as maritime space and spheres of interaction, merchants and mercantilism, actors and agents. Some background on both Ugarit and Cyprus is presented, followed by examination of the common material features of both (e. g., ashlar masonry, urban mortuary practices, composite anchors, the Cypro-Minoan script). The study then zeroes in more specifically to present the Cypriot material uncovered in Ugarit (especially seals, metals and pottery), followed by some of the Levantine materials found on Cyprus.All known documentary evidence related to these two polities is presented and discussed with respect to three factors: people, politics and professions. The discussion section that follows takes a broader look at material and mercantile connectivity in the Late Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean, considering in turn the merchants of Ugarit and Cyprus, maritime spheres of interaction, and the actors and agents involved in these mercantile worlds. Although Ugarit and Cyprus were two very different kinds of society, they shared a vital, commercial link, one that — over time — had a transformative impact on Cyprus.

This is an inter-disciplinary study of pathways to regional rulership and territorial lordship in early post-Roman Britain which takes as its starting point the East Anglian royal centre at Rendlesham and its contexts.This book examines the origins and development of the East Anglian kingdom in the fifth to eighth centuries AD through the lens of the elite settlement complex at Rendlesham, Suffolk using an interdisciplinary approach involving field survey, landscape history, excavation and metal-detecting finds. It also examines the wider regional context and proposes a new narrative of kingdom formation.

The first ever large-scale synthesis on identity and social dynamics across archaic Macedonia (600-400 BC), Christos Giamakis’s book provides a detailed narrative exploring the role of power as displayed through material culture in the formation of group identities across the region. Giamakis focuses on data from nine cemeteries in the region combining multiple datasets including grave goods, osteological evidence, burial rites, tomb types and the organisation of the cemetery space in order to explore both inter- and intra-site competition that led to the emergence of different group identities across the region. By doing so, he proposes a new theoretical framework for the study of the region as an alternative to past, ethnicity-based, approaches. Identity, Power and Group Formation in Archaic Macedonia (600-400 BC) encourages the reader to explore the ways in which social inequalities, power dynamics and social interactions all affect the potency of specific identities at the expense of others. The present monograph will be of great interest to researchers working on ancient Macedonia and the wider ancient Greek world but also to scholars interested in power dynamics and identity formation in other parts of the ancient Mediterranean.

This volume presents a cutting-edge perspective on figurine studies in the Neolithic Aegean, sparking renewed interest and innovative ideas. It celebrates two significant milestones in the field: the 50th anniversary of Giorgos Hourmouziadis’ Ph.D. thesis (submitted in 1973 and published in 1974) and the 30th anniversary of Lauren Talalay’s Ph.

Excavations by OCA during 2015 at Oxford Road, Thame revealed activity from the Neolithic to the Late Saxon period. This has now been published by OCA in two illustrated volumes. Volume 1 describes how Early Neolithic pits and a three-circuit causewayed enclosure – possibly one of the largest known – were succeeded by later prehistoric activity including an extensive Early Iron Age settlement. This included structures and numerous pits, some of which contained notable deposits of material involving pottery, animal remains and other finds. A small cemetery included the remains of at least 13 people.