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Il Castello di Milano è un'opera medievale voluta dai Visconti e potenziata dagli Sforza. Oggi è sede di biblioteche, musei e raccolte d'arte, ma rimane una formidabile "macchina da combattimento", dove hanno lavorato tra i migliori architetti e ingegneri italiani. I soli studi d'epoca medievale riguardanti la Fortezza, a oggi noti, sono di Leonardo da Vinci, il quale ne ha esaminato le difese, comprensive delle parti sotterranee, prospettando i miglioramenti. Trent'anni d'indagini speleologiche condotte innanzitutto nei suoi sotterranei hanno permesso di eseguire le planimetrie dell'articolato sistema, composto anche di canali d'acqua segreti, mettendole a confronto con i disegni leonardeschi. Si è così compreso che una parte della Fortezza non è stata demolita, ma solo "cimata": oggi nel sottosuolo esiste un patrimonio archeologico, architettonico e artistico inestimabile, ma da recuperare integralmente. Il lavoro presenta un metodo d'indagine multidisciplinare che può essere facilmente applicato allo studio di ogni altra fortificazione europea. The castle of Milan is a medieval work commissioned by the Visconti and developed by the Sforza. Today it is intended for cultural functions but its origins are those of a formidable "combat machine". Some of the best Italian architects and engineers worked on the creation of the castle. The only studies known about the fortress, belonging to the medieval age, are by Leonardo da Vinci. He examined the defences, including the underground parts, looking for improvements. Thirty years of speleological investigations, first of all conducted in its basements, and also concerning secret water channels, have allowed us to carry out the plans of the complex system and to compare them with Leonardo's drawings. This has made it clear to the author that a part of the Fortress has not been demolished, but only "cut" in the surface. Today there is an invaluable archaeological, architectural and artistic heritage to be fully recovered. The work presents a method of multidisciplinary investigation that can be applied to the study of any other European fortification.

Il presente volume prende avvio dalle riflessioni generate dall'analisi di tutti gli affreschi nelle catacombe cristiane di Roma, per identificare e catalogare le c.d. gammadiae, rappresentate sul lembo del pallio dei personaggi, e provando a comprenderne il significato attraverso una suddivisione per temi iconografici e un inquadramento topografico. Per raggiungere questo obiettivo, non è possibile fermarsi alle sole testimonianze presenti nei cimiteri romani, ma è anche necessario "viaggiare" attraverso l'Egitto e Israele, scoprendo i reperti tessili, toccando l'affascinante mondo dei sarcofagi-ritratto, così come quello degli affreschi della sinagoga di Dura Europos e, infine, esaminando i mosaici cristiani, profani e giudaici. Il volume, con un ricco catalogo di 209 schede, si propone come un punto di partenza per ricerche più approfondite, costituendosi anche come un importante passo per far sì che si indaghi su un tema iconografico che è sempre stato considerato estremamente intricato.This book analyses all the frescoes in the Early Christian Roman catacombs to identify and catalogue the so-called gammadiae, represented on the hem of the pallium of the characters. It interrogates their meaning through a thematic subdivision of iconographic themes and a topographical overview. The study explores beyond evidences found in the Roman cemetery: "travelling" through Egypt and Israel to discover textile finds; touching the fascinating world of the portrait-sarcophagi, as well as that of the frescoes in the synagogue of Dura Europos; and finally, examining Christian, profane and Jewish mosaics. This book, with a rich catalogue of 209 forms, is a starting point for further research, but it is also an important contribution to investigate an iconographic theme that has always been considered extremely intricate.

Despite Sardinia's extraordinarily rich Neolithic record, very little of it has made its way into the general European discourse. Written as a companion to G. Webster and M. Webster, Punctuated Insularity. The Archaeology of 4th and 3rd Millennium Sardinia. Oxford: BAR International Series 2871, 2017, the present volume addresses the omission by offering a synthesis of an archaeological corpus still little known outside the island. It covers in detail the evidence of colonisations and subsequent adaptations to the Sardinia's diverse environments in terms of settlement patterns, craft industries, subsistence economies, mortuary and non-mortuary cult expressions, imagery, art and extra-insular relations with special emphasis of neighbouring Corsica, while offering interpretive suggestions. As a study of the frequentation and settling of Sardinia as a locale, a large, insular, west-Mediterranean landmass, by people with non-indigenous heritages, it furthermore locates the island's cultural modalities within the so-called neolithisation of the broader Tyrrhenian region during the sixth and fifth millennia BCE.

La carta archeologica del territorio comunale di Poggiardo si propone a compendio delle ricerche condotte negli ultimi trent'anni dall'Università del Salento in collaborazione con enti di ricerca italiani e stranieri. In questa occasione si raccolgono, condensano e restituiscono, anche in forma grafica/cartografica, le conoscenze acquisite fino ad oggi, tratteggiando un quadro conoscitivo diacronico del centro antico di Vaste e del territorio ad esso circostante. Obiettivo è la realizzazione di un prodotto utile non solo per gli studiosi, ma anche e soprattutto per coloro i quali, amministratori locali in primis, hanno il dovere e l'onere di pianificare e di dettare le linee guida per la crescita urbana e lo sviluppo del proprio territorio, in un'ottica di compatibilità con la progettazione, il restauro e la conservazione del paesaggio, dell'ambiente e del patrimonio culturale. Il volume è stato realizzato nell'ambito del laboratorio di Archeologia Classica del Dipartimento di Beni Culturali dell'Università del Salento.This archaeological map of the municipal territory of Poggiardo is intended as a compendium of the research conducted over the last thirty years by University of Salento in cooperation with Italian and international research institutions. The aims of the project include the recovery, analysis and enhancement of earlier data and an updating of these data with more recent discoveries; all of these have been collected and shown in graphic and cartographic form, to facilitate the outlining of a diachronic picture of the ancient settlement and of its surrounding territory. This study has been devised in such a way as to make it useful not only for scholars, but also as a support for the local municipalities in establishing the guidelines for urban growth and the development of the territory, taking into consideration the preservation of Cultural Heritage and the environment and landscape. The development of this publication has been realised under the auspices of the Laboratory of Classical Archaeology (Department of Cultural Heritage, Università del Salento).

Este trabajo es una propuesta para estudiar la organización social descentralizada en la Mixteca Alta. Para ello nos focalizamos en el estudio del sitio arqueológico El Alvarado en asociación a otros sitios menores ubicados en el Valle de Tlaxiaco. El objetivo fue tener un acercamiento a la organización social a nivel de sitio y valle que existió durante el Preclásico Tardío o Fase Ramos (300 a.C. - 300 d.C.). A partir de los análisis: fisiográfico, arquitectónico, arqueológico, de tránsito, de visualización y de estimación de población se plantea primero, una deconstrucción y posteriormente, una reconstrucción del paisaje del Valle de Tlaxiaco durante la fase Ramos. Se propone una organización social centralizada a nivel de sitio y una organización social descentralizada a nivel de valle. En este sentido, se plantea una forma diferente a la organización centralizada a nivel de valle que ha sido ampliamente estudiada en la Mixteca Alta.This work studies decentralised social organisation in the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca, Mexico. The research focuses on the El Alvarado archaeological site in association with other small sites in the Tlaxiaco Valley. The main goal was to understand the social organisation that existed, at the site and valley level, in the Late Preclassic or Ramos phase (300 BC to AD 300). From the physiographic, architectural, archaeological, transit, visualisation and population estimation analyses, first, a deconstruction is proposed and then a reconstruction of the landscape of Tlaxiaco Valley during the Ramos phase. This research deals with the centralised social organisation at the site level and the decentralised social organisation at the valley level. In such a way, at the valley level, a type of social organisation different from the centralised one is proposed, which has been widely studied in the Mixteca Alta.

Los ataúdes de Pairusejer y Ruru procedentes del lote nº 13 de la Cachette de Bab el-Gasus, que forman parte de la colección egipcia del Museo Arqueológico Nacional (Madrid), se analizan en profundidad en este estudio a través de técnicas instrumentales como SEM, imagen VIL, FRX y FTIR. Estas permiten entender cómo fueron elaborados, qué materias primas se emplearon (maderas, morteros, pigmentos o barnices), qué técnicas artísticas aplicaron y el estado de conservación que estas dos cajas funerarias presentan en la actualidad. Asimismo, con ayuda de la documentación y fotografías conservadas se han podido conocer las condiciones del hallazgo en Egipto, su traslado a España y los cambios que experimentaron desde su llegada al museo madrileño hasta hoy. Se identifican las diferentes maderas, las policromías y su conservación, a la vez que se comprende mejor la evolución española de la disciplina de la Restauración tan ligada a la historia del Patrimonio.This study provides an in-depth analysis of the coffins of Pairusejer and Ruru, from lot No. 13 of objects found at Bab el-Gasus, now to be found in the Egyptian collection of the Museo Arqueológico Nacional (Madrid), using a variety of techniques, including SEM, VIL imaging, FRX and FTIR. These allow us to understand how the coffins were made, which materials were used (woods, mortars, pigments or varnishes), what artistic techniques were applied and the coffins' current state of conservation. Moreover, thanks to the documentation and photographs preserved, the conditions of the objects' discovery in Egypt, their transfer to Spain and the changes they have experienced from their arrival at the Madrid museum can also be taken into account. The different woods and types of polychrome decoration are identified, as well as the methods employed in their conservation, at the same time allowing a better understanding of the evolution of restoration practices in Spain, which is intimately related with the history of Heritage as a field.

Este libro presenta los resultados alcanzados por el Proyecto de Investigación IdaVe sobre el paisaje, el urbanismo y la arquitectura de Idanha-a-Velha en épocas romana, Antigüedad tardía y medieval-islámica a partir de los estudios realizados en el marco de este proyecto y de la reinterpretación de las excavaciones que nos han precedido. Desde 2012, un equipo interdisciplinar ha afrontado la investigación de la ciudad y el territorio de la ciuitas Igaeditanorum (Portugal), que pertenecía a la provincia romana de Lusitania, situada en la parte occidental de la Península Ibérica. El objetivo ha sido comprender la transformación de la topografía y el paisaje romanos en sede episcopal tardoantigua a través de un enfoque arqueológico amplio. Las nuevas excavaciones nos han permitido realizar análisis de zoología, carpología, palinología y morteros, cuyos resultados se recogen en este volumen. La aplicación de diversos métodos de teledetección en los trabajos de campo nos ha permitido registrar más datos sobre la arquitectura y la topografía de la ciudad antigua.This book presents the results obtained by the IdaVe Research Project on the landscape, urbanism and architecture of Idanha-a-Velha in the Roman, late antique and medieval periods from the latest fieldwork data and the reinterpretation of previous works. Since 2012, an interdisciplinary team has been studying the city and territory of the Roman ciuitas Igaeditanorum (Portugal), that was located in the Roman province of Lusitania in the western Iberian peninsula. The aim has been to understand the transformation of the Roman city and landscape into a late antique bishopric through a wider archaeological approach. The new excavations have allowed analysis of zoology, carpology, palynology and mortars. The application of remote sensing methods in fieldwork have enabled the authors to record more data about the architecture and topography of the ancient city.

The book investigates the contribution of glass finds to understanding the nature of the transition from Byzantine to Islamic rule in Syria-Palestine, by analysing numerous glass assemblages from Jerusalem and its environs. This original synthesis explores the nature of numerous types of glass objects, and their distinct distribution in various types of sites. Furthermore, the identification of trends of continuity and change in the fabrics, technologies, typologies and styles of the glass finds throughout this turbulent period, illuminates the nature of the processes undergone by the various communities in the Jerusalem area. The monograph comprises a newly established, comprehensive, up-to-date typo-chronology, based on hundreds of glass wares of the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods from scores of excavations, in and around Jerusalem and in neighbouring regions. Additionally, a holistic study of lighting devices, glass lamps and windowpanes, includes a novel assessment of Christian, Muslim and Jewish written sources regarding lighting in religious buildings in Jerusalem in the relevant periods.

Actes de la journée d'études du 29 mai 2018, Institut Catholique de ParisCette publication constitue les actes de la deuxième journée d'études sur l'art du Proche-Orient hellénistique et romain, qui s'est tenue à l'Institut Catholique de Paris le 29 mai 2018.Comme lors de la première journée d'études, publiée en 2018 (BAR S2897), les chercheurs ont abordé des sujets variés dans l'optique d'enrichir le débat concernant les échanges, contacts et transferts culturels dans le Proche-Orient antique. Sont ainsi évoqués l'architecture et l'urbanisme, la mosaïque, l'art funéraire, le portrait royal, les importations et exportations...Le domaine géographique couvert est également très vaste, débordant même le Levant. Il inclut la Syrie (Palmyre, Doura-Europos), le Liban, la Judée/Palestine, Délos et l'Égée ainsi que l'Égypte.Les approches, comme les thèmes traités par les auteurs, sont plurielles et exploitent les données de l'archéologie, l'épigraphie, la numismatique, l'iconographie, souvent en les croisant. Elles permettent de livrer de nouvelles interprétations.This book constitutes the proceedings of the second study day on art of Hellenistic and Roman Near East held at the Catholic University of Paris on May 29th 2018.As during the first study day, published in 2018 (BAR S2897), the researchers discussed various topics with the aim of enriching the debate on exchanges, contacts and cultural transfers in the ancient Near East: architecture and town-planning, mosaics, funerary art, royal portrait, imports and exports.The geographical area covered is also vast, extending even beyond Near East. It includes Syria (Palmyra, Dura-Europos), Lebanon, Judea/Palestine, Delos and the Aegean as well as Egypt. New interpretations are developed from diverse and interdisciplinary approaches, utilising the data of archaeology, epigraphy, numismatics and iconography.

The book explores settlement and burial patterns across the southeastern corner of the Balkan Peninsula during the second millennium BC and offers a new, detailed cross-border examination of the local pottery data. The volume offers a comprehensive analysis based on the existing cultural-historical framework and calls into question established constructs such as the 'Plovdiv-Zimnicea' culture. The work offers a chronologically structured analysis of pottery sequences and is methodologically innovative in the way it applies a rare combination of settlement-scale analysis using advanced spatial-statistical methods alongside artefact-scale typological and stylistic study on local ceramics also subjected to spatial-statistical mapping. As a result, the research highlights clusters of attributes and cycles of micro-regional interaction. On that basis it also addresses the formation, development and decline of the Late Bronze Age tradition(s) in Thrace and examines the degree to which this trajectory was influenced by wider patterns of regional development.

Archaeology of Prehistoric Art, Volume 1Atlantic Rock Art is a rock art tradition which includes emblematic motifs such as cup-marks, cup-and-rings and lines, known to several countries on the Atlantic seaboard. Design and Connectivity springs from an inter-regional study of this tradition, based on an original and innovative methodology applied to an empirical dataset. The project builds on Richard Bradley's work, investigating differences and similarities in Atlantic Art over study areas in five countries: Scotland, England, Ireland, Spain and Portugal. It applies a multi-scalar methodology developed under the principles of Relational Ontology and Assemblage Theory, providing a dynamic perspective on the empirical data. A thorough categorical scheme was scrutinised using a Presence/Absence Matrix, spatial analysis (fieldwork and GIS) and the development of Social Network Analysis (SNA) to relate and explore the relationships and connectivity between study areas. Concepts of developmental psychology support the idea of intentional teaching and cultural transmission.

Archaeology of Maya, Volume 3En esta obra se abarca de manera amplia los diversos tipos de caminos que construyeron los Mayas Antiguos, específicamente los caminos pavimentados conocidos como calzadas mayas o sacbeob. Como estudio de caso se analizan once sacbeob que se localizan en los sitios de Ichmul, San Felipe y Yo'okop, ubicados en el centro de la península de Yucatán. El libro se compone de una amplia investigación bibliográfica, complementada con datos obtenidos durante reconocimientos de superficie, mapas topográficos, excavaciones de pozos de prueba y excavaciones extensivas. Este trabajo plantea que las calzadas tuvieron funciones y significados específicos, las cuales se pueden conocer si se analiza a estas construcciones en conjunto con sus áreas de inicio/término y no de manera aislada. La interpretación se realiza desde una perspectiva basada en la semántica, además de que se emplean conceptos de la antropología simbólica y la teoría de la metáfora para realizar las conclusiones.This work comprehensively examines the types of roads built by the Ancient Maya, with a specific focus on the paved roads known as Maya causeways, or sacbeob. As a case study, it analyses eleven sacbeob located at the sites of Ichmul, San Felipe and Yo'okop, in the centre of the Yucatan peninsula. The analysis draws upon impressive bibliographical research, complemented by survey data, maps, test pits and extensive excavations. The author proposes that roadways have specific functions and meanings, which can be understood if these constructions are analysed in conjunction with their termini, rather than in isolation. These conclusions are reached from a perspective based on semantics, as well as on concepts drawn from symbolic anthropology and metaphor theory.

Settlement evidence has long been an under-studied category of finds in examining the cultural changes which occurred in northern central Europe in the final centuries BC. These changes have been widely associated with the process of latènisation which affected most of the communities in the North European Plain in the Iron Age. This book addresses the central question of the mechanism and agency behind these changes, by examining material culture patterns. The study uses data from 89 systematically selected settlement sites located in the Oder River area, including places of production. The data is contextualised against the evidence from other central and northern European sites of similar chronology and against other categories of finds from the study area. The book also contains systematic catalogues of the examined sites, of their buildings, and of settlement features of other kinds.

The Napatan Cylindrical Sheaths provides a complete analysis of the precious finds discovered at the royal cemetery of Nuri (Sudan) for the first time. This volume critically analyses translations of the inscriptions and identifies the divinities occurring on the cylinder sheaths, which were important in Kushite history between the VII and IV centuries BC. The work is composed of four parts studying: the royal cemetery of Nuri, where the cylindrical sheaths were found; the complete catalogue of the cylinders with their iconographical and epigraphic descriptions; observations on the inscriptions, the features of the bottoms and the main decorations, the crowns worn by the main figured goddesses, the relation of these goddesses and crowns, the attributes held by goddesses, and the small motifs occurring on the cylinders; and the hypothetical identification of the cylinders, their practical function and their ideological significance. This work emphasises the importance of Nubian archaeology as a subject, providing a useful contribution to stimulating and developing further discussion on the function of the cylindrical sheaths.

The book examines the moneyers, those men responsible for minting the king's coinage, within developing urban society in England during the tenth and eleventh centuries to address both their status and whether the internal workplace organisation of the mints might reflect the complexity of an Anglo-Saxon 'state'. In reviewing the minting operation of late Anglo-Saxon England, and the men in charge of those mints, a better picture of the social history of pre-Conquest England is realised. These men were likely part of the thegnly or burgess class and how they organised themselves might reflect broader trends in how those outside of the aristocracy acted in response to royal directives. The book outlines a new and innovative method of analysing the organisation of labour in Medieval England. These new techniques and methodologies provide support for a previously unknown level of complexity in English minting.Accompanying the book are several digital downloads, including the Moneyers of England Database, 973-1086, consisting of information on 3,646 periods of moneyer activity derived from 28,576 individual coins produced at ninety-nine geographic locations.

Este libro reúne las investigaciones sobre la explotación tartésica del estaño realizadas en San Cristóbal de Logrosán (Cáceres, España) por Craig Merideth entre 1992 y 2002 y las coordinadas por el G.I. PRETAGU de la Universidad de Extremadura entre 2013 y 2017. En síntesis, se trata de un estudio interdisciplinar sobre este poblado minero-metalúrgico y de la comunidad que lo habitó, incluida una propuesta de la 'cadena operativa' del beneficio de la casiterita durante el Bronce Final-Hierro I. El relevante papel jugado por este estratégico recurso parece justificar la presencia en esta region interior del suroeste ibérico de elementos de prestigio y estatus social como los del Tesoro de Berzocana y la estela de guerrero de Solana de Cabañas. A mayor escala, los estudios arqueológicos y analíticos permiten integrar San Cristóbal en la 'red regional' de contactos e intercambios atlántico-mediterráneos confluyentes en Huelva, foco emergente de Tartessos.This book brings together the archaeological research carried out by Craig Merideth between 1992 and 2002 on the Tartessian exploitation of tin in Cerro de San Cristóbal de Logrosán (Cáceres, Spain) and the work done later, in the period 2013-2017, coordinated by the G.I. PRETAGU of the University of Extremadura. It is an interdisciplinary study of this metallurgical-mining site and the community that settled there, including a proposal of the 'operational chain' of the treatment and use of the cassiterite during the Late Bronze-Iron I phase. The relevant role played by this strategic mineral resource seems to justify the presence of elements of prestige and social status such as the Berzocana Treasure and the warrior's stela of Solana de Cabañas in the south-central west of the Iberian Peninsular. On a larger scale, archaeological and analytical studies allow the integration of San Cristóbal into the 'regional network' of Atlantic-Mediterranean contacts and exchanges converging in Huelva, an emerging settlement of Tartessos.

The Velebit necropolis, located in the southern Carpathian Basin remains to this day an unpublished archaeological site, although it has been known for almost 50 years. It represents the only systematically-investigated Tumulus (Hügelgräber) culture necropolis in the territories of Serbia and Vojvodina which has not been completely published so far. Bi-ritual burial rites from the Bronze Age perspective of the Velebit necropolis are not so rare in the Tumulus Culture commonwealth (Central Europe, Carpathian Basin and Transdanubian region), but the equal representation of both burial customs is quite uncommon. Graves from the undisturbed contexts at the Velebit necropolis show some differences in Koszider bronze and pottery burial gifts, gender and maybe social differentiation in communities. Certain artefacts possibly indicate economic stratification and the presence of craftsmen (metallurgists) in these Middle Bronze Age communities, which is considered one of the more significant traits of the Tumulus culture.

Esta investigación se desarrolla como una exploración crítica de los principios de la Economía y el Estado en el fundamento de las sociedades humanas. Transita, así, a través de una multiplicidad de tradiciones disciplinares, casos de estudio y debates que van desde las reflexiones aristotélicas sobre la casa y la ciudad hasta las de los pensadores contemporáneos sobre lo que es una sociedad de consumo; sobre la semiosis del dinero y lo sagrado, en los márgenes operativos de la identidad política; o sobre el poder de los cazadores de cabezas melanesios, y el no-poder de los reyes divinos del África central. Por este camino irá perfilándose un nuevo utillaje teórico basado en una comprensión praxeológica de la historia, en un intento por recomponer, más allá de la obcecada oposición entre modos de producción y narrativas, la unidad de nuestra especie biológica también en la interpretación de su radical variabilidad cultural.This research constitutes a critical exploration of the onset of Economics and the State in the foundations of human societies. It thus moves through a multiplicity of disciplinary traditions, case studies and debates. From Aristotle's reflections on the household and the city to those of contemporary authors on what a 'consumer society' is; on the semiosis of money and the sacred, towards the operative margins of political identity; or on the power of Melanesian headhunters, and the non-power of the 'divine kings' of Central Africa. On this path a new theoretical toolkit based on a praxeological understanding of history will be outlined, as an attempt to reset, beyond the obtuse opposition between modes of production and narratives, the unity of our biological species also in the interpretation of its radical cultural variability.

African Archaeology, Volume 91This book is an original study of very large pots in parts of Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria. Found in excavations and surface fieldwork, they have been attributed to the So, a group of pre-Islamic inhabitants of the area before the sixteenth century AD, who have become mythologised as giants. Originally for burial, in some cases the pots have been dug up by villagers and reused: for brewing beer or as dye pits for indigo cloth. The book focuses on a group of these pots that survived until the late twentieth century in villages in a small part of Borno, north-eastern Nigeria. With the passage of time and terrorist activities in the region, their fate is now unknown and the photographs from 1963 to 1993 reproduced in this book have become a major archive of an unusual pottery group.

The excavations of the Roman settlement of Littamum in San Candido, situated in the Alps have been conducted at a variety of sites over the past three decades, as construction becomes an increasing problem on the site.

The settlement of Ilgynly-depe is situated in the foothills of the Kopet Dag mountains approximately 240 km due south-east of Ashgabat and 110 km north-west of Meshkhed, southern Turkmenistan. The settlement was founded in the late 5th and early 4th millennium BC. The subject of this study was the collection of anthropomorphic figurines found within the confines of the Ilgynly-depe settlement. The assemblage of over 500 distinctive figurines was gathered in the course of 14 excavation seasons. This is the first time the collection has been published in depth. The accompanying download shows each figurine in colour.

Dans cette étude, l'auteur explore tous les aspects du chien et les origines de l'animal au début de l' Egypte et le Soudan - sauvage et domestiqué, divine et bâtarde. Inclus sont un catalogue de découvertes connexes et un Gazetteer des sites clés.In this study the author explores all aspects of the dog and the animal's origins in early Egypt and the Sudan - wild and domesticated, divine and mongrel. Included are a catalogue of related finds and a Gazetteer of key sites.

This technical study of biological population affinities amongst Eastern Mediterranean Chalcolithic and Bronze Age humn skeletal examples' is based on the author's analysis of 686 samples from eight sites in Cyprus, Greece and Syria. Parras focused on age, sex and non-metric traits from the dentition, crania and post-crania.

This study represents a compilation and systematisation of a corpus of Mayan inscriptions dated to the 9th century from Chitchén Itzá, Mexico. A philological analysis has been carried out, which enabled further studies on the characteristic dialect used for the inscriptions. The catalogue consists of transliteration, transcription and translation of 47 glyphic texts which represent more than 90% of the known epigraphical production of the city of Chichén Itzá.

This is the first general synthesis of the major social dimensions of mortuary practice with respect to age, gender, horizontal and vertical dimensions. The study carefully examines quantitative approaches to extracting social information, previews previous work on the subject and offers a novel and systematic assessment of these approaches. The conclusions, which at times dispute conventional judgement, are well documented with the help of a new methodology developed by the author.

Le présent volume rassemble les résultats des dix premières années de fouilles archéologiques espagnoles menées dans la nécropole de Qoubbet el-Hawa. Il s'ouvre sur un aperçu historique de la province la plus méridionale de l'Égypte dans l'Antiquité afin de contextualiser les vestiges funéraires découverts à Qoubbet el-Hawa. Suit une description historique et archéologique de la découverte des vestiges de la nécropole par différents chercheurs et le programme de recherche mis en œuvre par la présente mission espagnole pour développer son projet multidisciplinaire. Le volume comprend en outre plusieurs axes subsidiaires de recherche axés sur la conservation du site et le développement local à partir de la valorisation du patrimoine. L'un des apports majeurs du présent ouvrage est la publication des résultats historiques et archéologiques réalisés sur le site et mis à jour par les dernières publications faites par l'équipe multidisciplinaire en charge du projet.This book presents the results of the first ten years of Spanish archaeological excavations in the necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa. It opens with an outline of the history of the southernmost province of Egypt in Antiquity, in order to contextualize the funerary remains found in Qubbet el-Hawa. This is followed by a historic and archaeological description of the discovery of Qubbet el-Hawa by various scholars and of the research programme carried out by the current Spanish mission to develop its multidisciplinary project. The volume also includes subsidiary lines of research, focusing on the conservation of the site and the local development resulting from the valorisation of this heritage. One of the main contributions of the present work is the publication of the historical and archaeological results, updated and reinterpreted, together with the latest works produced by the multidisciplinary team.

In this book, David A. Fisher combines methods including Geographic Information Systems (GIS), GPS, computerised three-dimensional modelling and astronomical formulae in order to reconstruct the world as it was seen by the builders of Scottish megalithic sites within the region of Argyll and Mull. These sites have no associated archaeological artifacts that allow us to determine the dates of their construction. Through the employment of these methods, however, the sites' astronomical orientations may be visualised and used to predict a feasible date range for their construction more accurately than has been possible in past research. New discoveries made via computer simulations/animations showing 3D recreations of the sites through the course of a single year, or over millennia (available as a digital download accompanying this book), show that the sites are 800 to 1000 years older than previously stated, and new hypotheses as to how the sites were employed are also suggested. For the first time, the author offers the definitive conclusion that stars formed an important part of megalithic history.

Questo volume è il risultato di quattro diversi seminari che hanno rappresentato un'occasione unica per condividere i risultati degli ultimi anni di ricerche archeologiche e topografiche condotte all'interno delle regioni comprese tra le due sponde dell'Adriatico centrale. Sono stati coinvolti ricercatori che si occupano o si sono occupati di queste tematiche negli attuali territori costieri di Emilia-Romagna, Marche, Abruzzo, Dalmazia e Illiria. Le recenti ricerche sembrano indicare che diversi fenomeni di trasformazione della cultura materiale e delle scelte insediative sono influenzati direttamente dai continui cambiamenti politici e dalle diverse influenze economiche e culturali che caratterizzano le zone occupate dai barbari rispetto a quelle sotto il controllo romano-"bizantino". Nei contributi raccolti in questa occasione vengono prese in esame, attraverso sintesi regionali e attraverso la presentazione di singoli contesti di studio, le forme degli insediamenti e gli aspetti delle produzione e della circolazione dei prodotti ceramici e di tutti i prodotti artigianali, in questo periodo di crisi.This volume is the result of four seminars that represented a unique opportunity to share the results of the most recent archaeological and topographical research conducted in the regions on the two shores of the central Adriatic Sea. The contributors include specialists who have been involved in excavations or who have researched archaeological topics in the coastal territories of Emilia-Romagna, Marche, Abruzzo, Dalmatia and Illyria. Recent research seems to indicate that different phenomena relating to the transformation of material culture and settlement choices were directly influenced by the continuous political changes and the various economic and cultural influences that characterised the areas occupied by 'barbarians' compared to those under Roman-Byzantine control. The papers here collected, through regional summaries and through the presentation of individual study contexts, examine the forms of settlements and aspects of the production and circulation of ceramics and other craft products during this period of crisis.

Health was a constant concern in life and even the deceased needed extra care so that they would be at their prime when enclosed in the sarcophagus; and in the possession of magical 'weapons' so that when they reached the Afterlife, they would be in complete possession of all their physical abilities. Medicine in ancient Egypt was trying to restrain all malefic beings from action and to preserve the well-being of the individual. Through this work, all descriptions and conceptions observed in the existing legacy of ancient Egypt will lead to conclusions that attest this unique duality: its main aim is to synthesize information from ancient Egyptian daily life; everything that has been written upon it and analyzed until today, throughout the world, in different perspectives and several languages, thus giving a contribution for international research and also possible future contributions for medicine and Egyptology. This work is divided into four chapters: Chapter 1: Sources of Information; Medical and Magical Papyri; Chapter 2: Heka -"the art of the magical written word"; Chapter 3: Pathological types; Chapter 4: Medical-magical prescriptions and their ingredients; this list is a description that contemplates from the global perspective to details, revealing all, from general existing sources to particular ingredients used in prescriptions.

This book publishes the results of investigations carried out between 1999-2003 in West Greenland on reindeer that died naturally. 282 complete skeletons and 403 skeleton parts were recorded and measured, mostly in the field, but with some analysed at the Zoological Museum of Copenhagen.