Oxbow Books
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: Paperback
Pages: 271
ISBN: 9781842173534
Pub Date: 30 Jun 2009
Illustrations: 118 b/w illus, 16 tbls
Description:
The aim of this book is to raise questions about the investigation of identity, community and change in prehistory, and to challenge the current state of debate in Central European Neolithic archaeology. Although the LBK is one of the best researched Neolithic cultures in Europe, here the material is used in order to further explore the interconnection between individuals, households, settlements and regions, explicitly addressing questions of Neolithic society and lived experience. By embracing a variety of approaches and voices, this volume draws out some of the cross-cutting concerns which unite LBK studies in their different regional research contexts and paves the way for further debate on the subject.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 144
ISBN: 9781842173497
Pub Date: 09 Jun 2009
Series: University of Cambridge Museum of Classical Archaeology Monographs
Illustrations: b/w illus
Description:
The publication of the papers presented in this volume marks an important step in the study of ancient cities. Despite having long been a focus of archaeological investigation and analysis, until relatively recently they have tended to be described rather than analysed. These eleven papers concentrate on analysing ancient urban centres from within, exploring some of the ways in which people lived in, perceived and modified their built environments.
The papers span several time periods, from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic era as well as geographic locations from Italy to Beirut. The title of this volume thus incorporates two meanings of Greek: the territory of the modern nation-state and areas of the ancient world with cultural influences from the Aegean. The diversity of ancient urban forms is therefore fully recognised and celebrated.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 224
ISBN: 9781842173558
Pub Date: 01 Jun 2009
Description:
This volume of papers is dedicated to Peter Woodman in celebration of his contribution to archaeology, providing a glimpse of the many ways in which he has touched the lives of so many. The twenty-one contributions cover many aspects of predominantly Mesolithic archaeology in Ireland, mainland Britain and North-west Europe, reflecting the range and breadth of Peters own interests and the international esteem in which his work is held. His particular interest in antiquarians and the material they collected began early in his career and Part 1 presents papers which deal with artefacts and finds by antiquarians.
Part 2 is concerned with papers on fieldwork projects, both new sites and sites which have been re-investigated, predominantly focusing on the Mesolithic period. Part 3 presents papers on the theme of people and animals, particularly the topic of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition from different angles.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 980
ISBN: 9781842173114
Pub Date: 30 May 2009
Description:
Mesolithic Horizons marks the publication of the proceedings of the seventh international conference on 'The Mesolithic in Europe' (Belfast 2005). The numbers attending these five-yearly conferences continue to grow - testimony to the growing interest in a period that less than fifty years ago was seen by many as either a 'hiatus' between two more interesting periods, or as a poorly understood phase of little consequence. This is an enormous compendium of research published in two volumes with over 140 papers drawn from the whole of Europe, ranging from the European Arctic to many parts of the Mediterranean, and from the British Isles to Russia.
These papers cover recent research on virtually all aspects of the European Mesolithic. They are grouped into twelve thematic sections that cover topics as diverse as regional studies which explore settlement, economic identity and mobility, as well as the critical analysis of individual settlement sites, and the significance of ritual. The crucial issue of the process of colonisation that took place at the end of the Ice Age and issues of transitions in the Mesolithic are extensively covered. For the first time the publication of the conference contains an index and consolidated bibliography which will make these volumes invaluable research tools.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 138
ISBN: 9781842173336
Pub Date: 29 May 2009
Series: Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papers
Illustrations: 60 b/w illus
Description:
This book is the ninth published collection of papers from a Neolithic Studies Group day conference, and it continues the Group's aim of presenting research on the Neolithic of all parts of the British Isles. The topic - regional diversity - is an important theme in Neolithic studies today, and embraces traditions of monumentality, settlement patterns and material culture. The contributors to this volume address issues of regionality through a series of case-studies that focus not on the traditional 'cores' of Wessex and Orkney, but rather on other areas - the 'Irish Sea Zone', Ireland, Scotland, Yorkshire and the Midlands.
The volume commences with an introduction (Gordon Barclay) that expands on the initial impetus and research questions behind the 2001 conference this volume is based on. This is followed by a more abstract contribution analysing that most familiar of tools for the display of 'regional' archaeological data, the distribution map (Kenneth Brophy). Two papers follow that address the role material culture plays in both defining and characterising regional trends, one addressing the distinctive regionality of querns in the Neolithic (Fiona Roe), the other a wide-ranging analysis of high status material culture and monumentality in Yorkshire (Roy Loveday). A series of regional studies follows, with three papers focusing explicitly on a range of evidence from the 'Irish Sea zone (Vicki Cummings, Tom Clare and Aaron Watson and Richard Bradley). A large and detailed body of evidence from the East Midlands is also considered (Patrick Clay) and the volume is completed by two papers considering very different regional scales in Ireland. At a more localised level, a series of islands off the east coast of Ireland are discussed in a local and wider context (Gabriel Cooney) and a still wider scale approach is taken to landscape and routeways across Ireland as a whole (Carleton Jones). These papers do not simply set up 'rival' distinctive regions, but rather suggest that local, regional and national traditions cross-cut and combine in different ways in different places. The interaction between regions is as significant as intra-regional distinctiveness. This volume addresses how we might begin to develop a more nuanced vision of the Neolithic of the British Isles.
Pages: 416
ISBN: 9781842173503
Pub Date: 01 May 2009
Illustrations: 32p of col plates, b/w illus throughout
Pages: 416
ISBN: 9781789250596
Pub Date: 31 Aug 2018
Illustrations: 32p of col plates, b/w illus throughout
Description:
This volume presents the proceedings of the second Athenian Potters and Painters conference, which was held at the American School of Classical Studies, Athens 2007. Together with the 1994 conference (Volume I, Oxbow 1997), these are the first of their kind - focusing purely on Athenian pottery and addressing key aspects of its study. The thirty-two papers contained here are the result not only of a large amount of new material but also the dynamic appearance of a younger generation of scholars dealing with the subject.
Subject areas range from the study of the potters and painters themselves, to shape, subject matter, chronology, export, excavation pottery, context, and the influence of Athenian vases on pottery from other regions of the Mediterranean and vice versa. Three papers in Greek.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
ISBN: 9781842173657
Pub Date: 06 Apr 2009
Description:
Human bones form the most direct link to understanding how people lived in the past, who they were and where they came from. The interpretative value of human skeletal remains (within their burial context) in terms of past social identity and organisation is awesome, but was, for many years, underexploited by archaeologists. The nineteen papers in this edited volume are an attempt to redress this by marrying the cultural aspects of burial with the anthropology of the deceased.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 200
ISBN: 9781842173510
Pub Date: 01 Apr 2009
Series: TRAC
Illustrations: b/w illus
Description:
A larger than usual selection of papers from the annual TRAC conference. Sessions included Supplying the Army, Imperial communication, The role of the deceased in Roman society, Military identities and Experiencing space and place in the Roman world.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 216
ISBN: 9781842172445
Pub Date: 28 Mar 2009
Series: Delta Reports
Illustrations: 33 illus, 27 b/w pls
Description:
Delta Reports is a new series that will make available the substantial amount of archaeological work that has been undertaken in the Delta region of Egypt over recent decades. Volume I contains work done in and around the temple of Ba-neb-djed in the North-west temenos at Tel er-Rub'a (Mendes), material that was previously published in the ATP newsletter by the Akhenaten Temple Project (now discontinued).
Format: Paperback
Pages: 232
ISBN: 9781905223022
Pub Date: 15 Jan 2009
Illustrations: b/w & col illus
Description:
This volume provides a synthetic review of the background and archaeology that has emerged through archaeological interventions associated with the quarrying of sand, gravel, and rock for aggregates. The book covers all periods from the Lower Palaeolithic to Medieval, and is organized on a regional basis. The review, which also contains as yet unpublished data, shows how the variety and preservation of archaeology can greatly expand our understanding of the relationships of humans to their changing environments.
Pages: 160
ISBN: 9781842171271
Pub Date: 19 Dec 2008
Series: Dakhleh Oasis Papers
Illustrations: b/w illus
Pages: 172
ISBN: 9781785705601
Pub Date: 15 Dec 2016
Series: Dakhleh Oasis Papers
Description:
This volume of fourteen papers covers the environment, archaeology and conservation of the Dakhleh Oasis, as presented at the Second International Conference of this long-running project (held in Toronto, 1997). Four abstracts from papers not submitted to the published volume are also included, as is the original conference programme.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 240
ISBN: 9781842173367
Pub Date: 12 Dec 2008
Illustrations: 54 b/w illus
Description:
Excavations carried out from 1984-1985 at Ditches in Gloucestershire identified a large, late Iron Age enclosure which contained a remarkably early Roman villa. This long awaited excavation report reinterprets this evidence in the light of more recent studies of the late Iron Age-Roman transition. It extends our understanding of the Ditches-Bagendon-Cirencester oppida complex, and corroborates the latest thinking on the nature of Romanisation.
New conceptions are challenging the significance of the Claudian invasion of AD 43, suggesting that Roman political influence in southern Britain was much more important than commonly thought decades before this. The Roman take-over was a long drawn-out process, which began especially with intimate links between Caesar and his successors and the dynasts they supported or implanted in Britain on the other. High status archaeological sites are central to these relations, including the so-called oppida , developed in southern Britain in the decades between Caesar's raids and the Claudian occupation. Ditches provides further corroborative evidence. Several phases of Romano-British building were uncovered, revealing an unusual sequence of development for a villa in the region and representing an exceptionally early villa beyond south-east England. Discoveries included a well-preserved cellar and a range of finds, including Gallo-Belgic wares, Iron Age coins, coin moulds, Venus figurines and brooches indicating high-status occupation. The form and date of the villa also provides evidence of connections between the late Iron Age elites and communities of southern England and Gaul. Further evidence suggests the villa was abandoned in the later second century AD, emphasising the unusual sequence of the site.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 120
ISBN: 9781842173435
Pub Date: 12 Dec 2008
Description:
Målsnes 1 is an early post-glacial site dating to c.9500 BP, amd located at the outlet of the Bardu Målselv river system in Troms county, north of the Arctic circle, in northern Norway. It was discovered in 1998 and several years of meticulous excavation followed.
This book reports on the results of the excavations. Detailed information on the lithic artefacts - their raw materials and typology - is presented along with an analysis and interpretation of their spatial arrangements. The economy, seasonality, and several models for the settlement pattern are examined and followed by a discussion of the pioneering settlement within its wider cultural and Scandinavian and northern European context. This book provides the reader with unprecedented information and is a very useful companion for all those interested in Scandinavian Stone Age archaeology in general and northern Fennoscandia and Norway in particular.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 440
ISBN: 9781842172858
Pub Date: 12 Dec 2008
Illustrations: 136 b/w illus, 42 col pls
Description:
The excavations in the centre of Birmingham uncovered evidence of habitation from prehistoric and Roman times, but the 12th to 19th centuries presented by far the most evidence, from artefacts, environmental samples and structural remains. The medieval industrial past was of particular interest, with tanning and the manufacture of hemp and linen all playing a large role in the city's prosperity. Metal working reached its peak in the seventeenth century, with brass founding becoming important from the eighteenth century onwards.
Most of the artefactual evidence attests to Birmingham's industrial past, indeed the evidence for domestic life is comparatively scant, with an anomalous burial of two people at Park Street presenting something of a mystery. This volume presents insights into the early industrial past of this important city and is an invaluable record covering eight hundred years of occupation.
Pages: 160
ISBN: 9781842173411
Pub Date: 11 Dec 2008
Pages: 160
ISBN: 9781782975427
Pub Date: 31 Jan 2014
Description:
Archaeology often struggles in envisioning real people behind the world of material objects it studies. Even when dealing with skeletal remains archaeologists routinely reduce them to long lists of figures and attributes. Such a fragmentation of past subjects and their bodies, if analytically necessary, is hardly satisfactory.
While material culture is the main archaeological proxy to real people in the past, the absence of past bodies has been chronic in archaeological writings. At the same time, these past bodies in archaeology are omnipresent. Bodily matters are tangible in the archaeological record in a way most other theoretical centralities never appear to be. Ancient bodies surround us, in representations, in burials, in the remains of food preparation, cooking and consumption, in hands holding tools, in joint efforts of many individual bodies who built architecture and monuments. This collection of papers is a reaction to decades of the body's invisibility. It raises the body as the central topic in the study of past societies, researching its appearance in a wide variety of regional contexts and across vast spans of archaeological time. Contributions in this volume range from the deep Epi-Palaeolithic past of the Near East, through the European Neolithic and Bronze Age, Classical Greece and Late Medieval England, to pre-Columbian Central America, post-contact North America, and the most recent conflicts in the Balkans. In all these case studies, the materiality of the body is centre stage. Possibilities are highlighted for future study: by putting the body at the forefront of these archaeological studies an attempt is made to provoke the imagination and map out new territories.
Pages: 216
ISBN: 9781842172704
Pub Date: 28 Nov 2008
Illustrations: illus, 4 b/w illus, 2 maps
Pages: 216
ISBN: 9781842179635
Pub Date: 28 Mar 2010
Illustrations: illus, 4 b/w illus, 2 maps
Description:
The papers in this collection are the product of the conference "Hittites, Greeks and Their Neighbors in Ancient Anatolia: An International Conference on Cross-Cultural Interaction," hosted by Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. They cover an impressive range of issues relating to the complex cultural interactions that took place on Anatolian soil over the course of two millennia, in the process highlighting the difficulties inherent in studying societies that are multi-cultural in their make-up and outlook, as well as the role that cultural identity played in shaping those interactions. Topics include possible sources of tension along the Mycenaean-Anatolian interface; the transmission of mythological and religious elements between cultures; the change across time and space in literary motifs as they are adapted to new milieus and new audiences; the ways in which linguistic data can refine our understanding of the interrelations between the various peoples who lived in Anatolia; and the role that the Anatolian kingdoms of the first millennium played as cultural filters and conduits through which North Syrian or Near Eastern ideas or materials were transmitted to the Greeks.