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The contributions to this collection discuss ¿ from a general perspective and on the basis of concrete examples ¿ how the epistemic potentials of the manifold current strands of image and visual culture studies on images and their perception ¿ which proliferated since the pictorial and the iconic turn ¿ can be made available for the archaeological study of image cultures. They address semiotic and perceptual, frame-semantic, affect-theoretical and cognitive approaches as well as questions of image contexts and the agency of imag

The economic importance of raw material exploitation, especially metal mining, for communities in antiquity has long since been addressed. Only during recent decades, however, have scholars increasingly focused the material remains. These include not only the primary mining remains, such as underground workings, process residues and installations for beneficiation, but also habitational sites and infrastructural remains that emerged in the course of exploitation. The intention of this panel at the 19th International Congress for Classical Archaeology was to provide an insight on existing and emerging research on landscapes that were distinctly transformed by mining. It aimed furthermore at discussing how mining could affect not only the natural but also the cultural landscape. By focusing on select case studies, the intention was to identify the material characteristics of such areas, to highlight and explain differences and to discuss possible recurring infrastructural and organisational patterns.

Ever since the Bronze Age, the geographical position of Messapia, between the Ionian and Adriatic seas, has enabled the development of relations characterised by continuity within the framework of mobility in the Mediterranean. This volume focuses on certain aspects of the economy in Messapia, with particular reference to bio-archaeological themes (including livestock rearing and the consumption of animal resources), textile production (applying archaeometric methods to residues of fabric) and imports of luxury products from Greek cities and the Greek colonies of southern Italy. The presence in grave goods of imported prestige items has been investigated with reference to the forms of self-representation adopted by the Messapian aristocracy in both funerary rituals and manifestations of power within the settlements. The variety of religious manifestations in the Messapian world constitutes a particular case study linked to cultural exchanges, which, thanks to the recent discoveries of places of worship, can now be investigated in detail. Important in this regard are the discoveries made in Castro, where the Athenaion ¿ linked to the myth of Aeneas¿s first landing on the shores of Italy ¿ was identified.

The production of military equipment is a subject that is much more complicated than often thought as Roman soldiers were not completely equipped by the state in an uniform manner. While a certain amount of ¿near-uniformity¿ was necessary in the army, it was logistically impossible to ensure complete uniformity, even within a single unit. One reason for this was that Roman soldiers owned most of the equipment themselves, which allowed them to choose their own preferences (within limits). After an introduction and overview of the subject, the three case studies look at what the tools found in a fort can say about the production of military equipment on the site, at the influence of workshop traditions on the making of mail armour and at whether state control or local production was the main impetus in the production of crossbow brooches.

Compared to other pre-modern economies, the Roman world stands out for having developed a highly specialised and very productive manufacturing sector. This development led to the widespread and large-scale extraction of raw materials. Even in a territory as large as the Roman Empire, such activities put major pressure on the land. Strategies of resource exploitation and conservation were thus essential in dealing successfully with the limited availability of these resources in the medium or long term, and to ensure the sustainability of the Roman exploitation model. This volume deals with the various ways in which natural re sources were exploited and managed in the Roman world. It focuses on if, when, where and how the Romans pursued a harmonious balance between the limited availability of a particular resource and the law of supply and demand. The case studies in this volume cover various key areas of the Western Roman world ¿ from Italy and the island of Elba, over coastal Croatia to Central-Eastern Gaul and the Pannonian limes ¿ and discuss in particular the fi sh industry, iron smelting, deforestation and forest management, the stone trade and the exploitation of thermo-mineral resources.

What is the status and role of image systems in human culture and history? This volume presents original studies examining the complex interplay between images, thought processes, and the making of social worlds from the pre-Columbian Americas to the ancient Mediterranean and early China. Moving beyond a notion of images as "merely illustrative" of propositions expressed in language or writing these studies draw insights from the civilisations of Amazonia, Oceania, and Central Africa to reveal the autonomy of image systems as intellectual devices in their own right, and their enduring role in the development of human societies across the traditional divide of "oral" and "literate" cultures.