This volume is intended as a tribute to the memory of the Sumerologist Jeremy Black, who died in 2004. The Sumerian phrase zà-mí-zu dug-ga-àm 'Your praise is sweet' is commonly addressed to a deity at the close of a work of Sumerian literature. The scope of the thirty contributions, from Sumerology to the nineteenth-century rediscovery of Mesopotamia, is testament to Jeremy's own wide-ranging interests and to his ability to forge scholarly connections and friendships among all who shared his interest in ancient Iraq.

Cameo glass represents the ultimate achievement in Roman luxury glass, and the British Museum has the world's largest and finest collection. This comprises over seventy pieces, including two of only a dozen surviving complete cameo glass vessels: the celebrated Portland Vase, the greatest surviving example of Roman cameo glass, and the Auldjo Jug, each with its complex and intriguing history. The catalogue, begun by Veronica Tatton-Brown and William Gudenrath of the Corning Museum of Glass, has been revisited and enhanced by Paul Roberts of the British Museum and David Whitehouse and William Gudenrath of the Corning Museum of Glass. This publication presents the collection in its entirety for the first time. Each piece is illustrated in colour and line drawing, with full description and discussion. The book also presents the results of ground-breaking new research. The authors construct a comprehensive context, using archaeological, technological, iconographic and typological evidence to look at the origins of cameo glass and its place in contemporary Roman art and craftsmanship. They also propose a relative and absolute chronology for cameo glass, and suggest possible models for the organisation of the workshop(s) that produced it.

This monograph contains the joint proceedings of the first two conferences organised by the Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology. It contains 23 papers that cover land-based and underwater excavation and survey in the area of the North-Western Nile Delta, principally concerning the cities of Alexandria and Heracleion-Thonis, as well as studies of aspects of the material culture from these sites.

Eight thousand years ago, when the sea cut Britain off from the rest of the Continent, the island's fauna was very different: most of the animals familiar to us today were not present, whilst others, now extinct, were abundant. Over the course of millennia humans have manipulated Britain's fauna. For reasons of fear, suspicion, desire, or simply inadvertently, certain species were brought to extinction. In their place new animals were introduced: some transported purposefully by invading populations, others sent as royal gifts from far off lands, whilst several species arrived as stowaways. The story of each is fascinating, telling of the changing and multi-layered relationship between humans and animals. Drawing on new research in the fields of archaeology, ecology and history, this book examines how human society, culture, diet, lifestyles and even whole landscapes were fundamentally shaped by the animal extinctions and introductions that occurred in Britain since the last Ice Age. In its 22 chapters a wide range of mammal, bird, fish, snail and insect species are considered. All of the chapters include new and original research presented by authors who are acknowledged experts on their specific topic. Extinctions and Invasions advances our understanding of Britain's natural history whilst dispelling the myths that have become established in both popular and academic literature. It is written in a style accessible to the general reader, whilst providing the depth of research needed by academic researchers. Extinctions and Invasions provides a valuable single source of information for archaeologists, natural historians and conservation biologists, as well as interested laypeople.

Over the last few years, the ways in which we perceive and document rock art have shifted irreversibly. Prehistoric rock art played little part in the development of British and Irish archaeology and was not recognised until the 19th century, when its equivalents in Scandinavia and the Iberian Peninsula were already well known. Previously considered a fringe activity and the work of amateur archaeologists, over the last 30 years the situation has improved considerably, and the appearance of books such as this signify the change. This volume makes a powerful case for an archaeology that integrates rock art into a wider vision of the past. It brings together the experiences and informed opinions of the key organisations and stakeholders responsible for the conservation, management and accessibility of British rock art. An on-going and exciting period of change is documented here and the main issues that underpin the survival of our prehistoric carved heritage are addressed. Grouped into three sections, the chapters cover the recording, management and presentation of British rock art. The contributions illustrate the wide range of perceptions and approaches to the study, and the diversity of individuals and institutions who have become drawn into this fascinating subject, with independent researchers, heritage managers, artists and academics each bringing a unique perspective. This book aims to both inform new directions in rock art management strategies and provoke further initiatives through which these strategies can be implemented.

Papers of the Langford Latin Seminar 14 contains (in revised, usually enlarged, and annotated form) papers presented at Langford Seminars of the Department of Classics of The Florida State University over the years 2004 to 2008, together with supplementary articles contributed at the request of the editors. The papers in the section Health and Sickness in Ancient Rome mostly derive from the Spring 2008 Conference organised by Miriam Griffin as Visiting Professor and holder of the George R. Langford Family Eminent Scholar Chair at The Florida State University.

This book explores the dynamics of small-scale societies in the ancient Near East by examining the ways in which particular communities functioned and interacted and by moving beyond the broad neo-evolutionary models of social change which have characterised many earlier approaches. By focusing on issues of diversity, scale, and context, it considers the ways in which economy, crafts, technology, and ritual were organised; the roles played by mortuary practices and households in the structure and development of ancient societies; and the importance of agency, identity, ethnicity, gender, community and cultural interaction for the rise of socio-economic complexity. The contributors to this volume are well-known archaeologists in the field of Near Eastern studies; all are currently engaged in fieldwork or research in Cyprus, the Levant, or Turkey. The variety and depth of the research they present here reflect the richness of the archaeological record in the 'cradle of civilisation' and convey the vibrancy of current interpretive approaches within the field of Near Eastern prehistory today.

This volume presents a collection of papers focusing on archaeological approaches to landscape in the context of the adoption of agriculture in Southwest Asia and Northwest Europe. Case studies are presented from these contrasting regions, one where the transition to farming is indigenous, and the other where the transformation is initiated externally. This allows us to consider to what extent hunter-gatherer and farmer landscapes may be different, or the degree to which apparent differences have been constructed by our expectations and traditions of interpretation. While the concept 'landscape' enjoys considerable popularity in archaeological interpretation, it is somewhat ill-defined and inconsistently used. Some have suggested that this fluidity allows landscape to be a 'usefully ambiguous concept' but at times there is a danger that this very ambiguity affords imprecision in our narratives. This is particularly important where differing traditions of archaeological interpretation meet, as, for example, in the transition from hunting and gathering to farming. The transition has been understood as a major division in archaeological practice and attitudes to 'landscape' across the transition reflect this dichotomy. The results of these debates are illuminating, and raise questions beyond the immediate geographical scope of the volume. The contrast between the two regions provides valuable comparisons between traditions of archaeological theory and interpretation and the bodies of evidence. Bill Finlayson is the Director of the Council for British Research in the Levant, Graeme Warren is a College Lecturer in the School of Archaeology, UCD, Ireland.

This book critically examines the existence and identification of purpose-built slave markets in the Graeco-Roman world from a cross-cultural perspective. It investigates whether certain ancient monuments were designed specifically for use as slave markets and whether they required special equipment and safety precautions, allowing them to be clearly distinguished from other nonspecific commercial buildings and marketplaces of the Graeco-Roman world. First, selected parallels, namely slave markets in Istanbul, Marrakesh, Cairo, Havana, Charleston, and New Orleans, are analyzed in order to: assess the possible range of locations for the sale of slaves in slave-holding cultures better known than their ancient equivalents; answer the question of whether any of these cultures constructed clearly identifiable purpose-built slave markets on a regular basis, that is, whether the slave market was ever a firmly established building type; evaluate what can be gained from such a cross-cultural approach to the study of ancient slave markets. This is followed by a brief discussion of ancient written sources on slave markets, focusing on what the texts reveal about the existence, design, and requirements of ancient slave markets. A major part of this book is dedicated to a critical reexamination of all eight ancient buildings that have been identified as slave markets so far: Delos, so-called Agora of the Italians; Pompeii, Building of Eumachia; Rome, Crypta Balbi; Ostia, Tempio Rotondo; Herculaneum, so-called Basilica; Leptis Magna, so-called Chalcidicum/Building of Iddibal Cadapha Aemilius; Ephesus, so-called Sarapeum; Magnesia-on-Maeander, so-called Prytaneion. The conclusion includes a short comparison of modern and alleged ancient slave markets and finally answers the question of whether, to date, ancient slave markets are an archaeological fact or fiction.

The site at Cotswold Community in the western reaches of the Upper Thames Valley has been a focus for human activity since Neolithic times. Successive Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman settlements developed within an increasingly open grassland landscape, which was heavily exploited for the growing crops and the grazing of animals. The spiritual lives of the inhabitants were glimpsed through a series of structured pit deposits and ritual monuments, including a potential Neolithic timber circle and Bronze Age round barrows. One of the most striking landscape features was a late Bronze Age/early Iron Age pit alignment that extended over 500m, possibly marking one of the earliest attempts at defining territory on a large scale. It was still a visible feature for some time as it partly dictated the position of the boundaries of a Roman farmstead, which occupied the site from the 1st to 4th centuries AD. The farm lay in the shadow of Roman Cirencester less than 5km to the north and may even have been involved in the recycling of refuse from this important urban centre. Following abandonment of the Roman farmstead there was no further occupation on site, although a small number of Saxon agricultural structures indicate continuing use of the land, which may now have been part of a locally-centred Saxon estate.

This report presents the results of the excavations directed, in 1960 and 1961, by Mr J. P. Gillam within the fort at Haltonchesters. The work was carried out in the area to the south of the B6318 Newcastle to Carlisle road and to the west of the lane which runs from the B6318 to Halton village. Within this area lie the western part of the central range of the fort, a section of the west wall of the fort (including the porta quintana ), the north end of the west half of the retentura and part of an annexe attached to the west side of the fort. After the death of J.P. Gillam in 1986, his plans, Finds Book and photographs were transferred to the Archive of the Department of Archaeology in Newcastle. The late John Dore carried out an evaluation of the archive material and stratigraphic analysis between 1990 and 1994 and a draft text was in existence by 1995. His work is presented in this volume, which serves as a memorial to J.P. Gillam and John Dore and their contribution to current understanding of Rome's frontier in northern Britain.

The Hoxne treasure, a spectacular collection of gold and silver coins, gold jewellery and silver artefacts, was buried early in the 5th century AD, and was rediscovered in November 1992. Although the major objects have been exhibited in museums and illustrated and discussed in both popular and scholarly publications over the last fifteen years, the results of detailed research on the entire find are published here in full for the first time. This volume provides a complete, illustrated inventory of the items in the treasure other than the 15,000 coins, which have been separately published (in The Late Roman Gold and Silver Coins from the Hoxne Treasure, by P. S.W. Guest, British Museum Press, 2005). It catalogues the 29 superb pieces of gold jewellery, a dozen silver vessels, nearly a hundred silver spoons, and about 40 additional silver objects. The numerous objects made of organic materials (ivory, bone and wood), though individually small, are rare discoveries, and the iron nails and other fittings bear witness to the chest that originally contained the treasure: all are described in detail, bringing the total to just over 400 entries. Fifteen chapters of wide-ranging discussion include specialist contributions on the excavation, conservation and scientific study and analysis of the material, and the identification and interpretation of the inscriptions. Together they place this outstanding find both in its immediate environment of late Romano-British society and in the wider context of the art, iconography and luxury of the late Roman world.

Memory can be both a horrifying trauma and an empowering resource. From the Ancient Greeks to Nietzsche and Derrida, the dilemma about the relationship between history and memory has filled many pages, with one important question singled out: is the writing of history to memory a remedy or a poison? Recently, a growing interest in and preoccupation with the issue of memory, remembering and forgetting has resulted in a proliferation of published works, in various disciplines, that have memory as their focus. This trend, to which the present volume contributes, has started to occupy the dominant discourses of disciplines such as sociology, philosophy, history, anthropology and archaeology, and has also disseminated into the wider public discourse of society and culture today. Such a condition may perhaps echo the phenomenon of a melancholic experience at the turn of the millennium. Archaeology and Memory seeks to examine the diversity of mnemonic systems and their significance in different past contexts as well as the epistemological and ontological importance of archaeological practice and narratives in constituting the human historical condition. The twelve substantial contributions in this volume cover a diverse set of regional examples and focus on a range of prehistoric and classical case studies in Eurasian regional contexts as well as on the predicaments of memory in examples of the archaeologies of 'contemporary past'. From the Mesolithic and Neolithic burial chambers to the trenches of World War I and the role of materiality in international criminal courts, a number of contributors examine how people in the past have thought about their own pasts, while others reflect on our own present-day sensibilities in dealing with the material testimonies of recent history. Both kinds of papers offer wider theoretical reflections on materiality, archaeological methodologies and the ethical responsibilities of archaeological narration about the past.

The Gilgal Neolithic sites are among the first sites where cultivation emerged in the Levant. This book provides the full report of the late Tamar Noy's excavations including stratigraphy, architecture, artifacts, art objects, faunal, and botanical collections.

In ten papers Odyssey Marine Exploration presents the technology, methodology and archaeological results from four deep-sea shipwrecks and one major survey conducted between 2003 and 2008. The sites lie beyond territorial waters in depths of up to 820 metres off southeastern America and in the Straits of Gibraltar and the English Channel. Exclusively recorded using robotic technology in the form of a Remotely-Operated Vehicle, the wrecks range from the major Royal Navy warships HMS Sussex (1694) and the unique, 100-gun, first-rate HMS Victory (1744)to the steamship SS Republic (1865) and a mid-19th century merchant vessel with a cargo of British porcelain. Their study reveals that the future of deep-sea wreck research has arrived, but also that many sites are at severe risk from destruction from the offshore fishing industry.

This volume presents the research of the British team within the modern excavations at the northern Mesopotamian site of Chagar Bazar, resumed in 1999 after a 62-year hiatus since the excavations of Max Mallowan. It incorporates settlement archaeology approaches and theoretical ideas of "place" in exploring the site and its internal and external landscapes. The primary focus is the settlement during the early 2nd millennium BC (Old Babylonian Period, post-Samsi-Addu), its final ancient occupation. The authors have taken a contextual approach, integrating aspects of the settlement's internal variations, including both community and private architecture, together with burial practices and symbolic and functional material culture. While its political importance varied, Chagar Bazar's persistence of occupation meant that it played a key role within the regional landscape as a meaningful landmark.