Every ancient author writing about the Low Countries, was preoccupied with the complete contrast between the civilized people of the Roman Empire and the tribes of noble savages or barbarians living outside it. Julius Caesar exploited this preconception to enhance his own reputation, boasting that he had overcome the "bravest of all Gauls"; Tacitus employed the same stereotypes when he described the Batavian Revolt; and, in Late Antiquity, the Franks were still described as resembling monsters.The reality was different. The presence of the Roman army along the River Rhine radically changed the way of life in the small Roman province of Germania Inferior, and the need to maintain and feed this large army became a significant incentive for economic change. The tribes living along the lower reaches of the Rhine and close to the North Sea gradually began to resemble their occupiers.Historian Jona Lendering and archaeologist Arjen Bosman have combined their considerable expertise to create a successful synthesis of historical and archaeological evidence, in this history of Rome s Lower Rhine frontier.

Beyond the Aegean, some of the earliest written records of Europe come from the south-west, what is now southern Portugal and south-west Spain. Herodotus, the 'Father of History', locates the Keltoi or 'Celts' in this region, as neighbours of the Kunetes of the Algarve. He calls the latter the 'westernmost people of Europe'. However, modern scholars have been disinclined - until recently - to consider the possibility that the south-western inscriptions and other early linguistic evidence from the kingdom of Tartessos were Celtic. This book shows how much of this material closely resembles the attested Celtic languages: Celtiberian (spoken in east-central Spain) and Gaulish, as well as the longer surviving langiages of Ireland, Britain and Brittany. In many cases, the 85 Tartessian inscriptions of the period c. 750-c. 450 BC can now be read as complete statements written in an Ancient Celtic language.

The Middle Minoan III period on Crete was initially identified and studied in detail at Knossos by Sir Arthur Evans. Subsequent scholarly attention focused on the preceding Old Palace period and the apparent floruit of the New Palaces at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. In consequence one of the critical transitions in Minoan culture has been virtually overlooked, giving rise to confused and ill-informed judgements concerning developments in Crete and further afield. With numerous innovations in art, architecture and material culture — notably an entirely new palace at Galatas — the changes in Middle Minoan III are striking, and appear to herald a new political organisation of the island, centred on Knossos. The papers in this volume, presented at the first colloquium to be held in the Villa Ariadne at Knossos, now restore the period to its rightful position. The specialist contributions cover most key sites where Middle Minoan III occupation has been identified. The aim has been to rehabilitate Middle Minoan III as a dynamic period in Crete and also on Thera, in order to provide a better understanding of socio-political change across the island and beyond in the latter part of the Middle Bronze Age.

Florent Véniel offers here the anticipated continuation of La Vie Quotidienne de la femme au Moyen Âge. The medieval woman is presented in the context of her life, in the very heart of her society. Véniel focuses on the relationships in her life: neighbors, husband, community. She also considers society’s view on the medieval woman in all of its complexity, sometimes even contradictory in nature. We find here the medieval woman associated with the image of Eve, symbolic of sin and carnal desire; and Mary, the mother placed above all the saints. Far from providing us with the profile of the elite medieval woman, Véniel offers research on women from agrarian society, the middle class. French Language

There are about 300 archaeological open-air museums in Europe. Their history goes from Romanticism up to modern-day tourism. With the majority dating to the past 30 years, they do more than simply present (re)constructed outdoor sceneries based on archaeology. They have an important role as education facilities and many showcase archaeology in a variety of ways. Compared to other museum categories, archaeological open-air museums boast a wide variety of manifestations.This research assesses the value of archaeological open-air museums, their management and their visitors, and is the first to do so in such breadth and detail. After a literature study and general data collection among 199 of such museums in Europe, eight archaeological open-air museums from different countries were selected as case studies. They included museums in a very varied state with different balances between public versus private funding levels on the one hand, and on the other the proportion of private individuals to educational groups among their visitors.The issue of ‘quality’ was investigated from different perspectives. The quality as assessed by the museum management was recorded in a management survey; the quality as experienced by their visitors was also recorded using a survey. In addition on-site observations were recorded. Management and visitors have different perspectives leading to different priorities and appreciation levels.The studies conclude with recommendations, ideas and strategies which are applicable not just to the eight archaeological open-air museums under study, but to any such museum in general. The recommendations are divided into the six categories of management, staff, collections, marketing, interpretation and the visitors. They are designed to be informative statements of use to managers across the sector.

Throughout the local Bronze and Iron Age, European and Mediterranean societies appear to have been involved in complex systems of exchange networks which invariably affected local customs and historical developments. Archaeological evidence suggests social and economic phenomena, cultural expressions and technological skills stemmed from multifaceted encounters between local traditions and external influences. Examples of cultural openness and transcultural hybridisation seem to be more of a norm than an exception. The articles in the volume explore the dynamic relationship between regionally contextualised transformations and inter-regional exchange networks. Particular effort has been put in approaching the issue in a multi-disciplinary perspective. Continental Europe and the Mediterranean may be characterised by specific development and patterns of relations, but the authors draw attention to how those worlds were not alien to each other and illustrate how common interpretative tools can be successfully applied and a comprehensive approach including both zones adopted.

Hellenistic Egypt, with its many papyrus preserved by the dry climate, is the natural starting point for studies of Alexander the Great’s successors’ institutions. No other Hellenistic kingdom has as many sources, even in the military field. This book details the Ptolemaic organization and equipment over the period covering the 3rd to the 1st century BC. In an effort to bring the Ptolemaic soldier back to life, 37 plates illustrate the text, most of which were made from steles and mosaics found in Egypt.

Background to Beakers is the result of an inspiring session at the yearly conference of European Association of Archaeologists in The Hague in September 2010. The conference brought together thirteen speakers on the subject Beakers in Transition. Together we explored the background to the Bell beaker complex in different regions, departing from the idea that migration is not the comprehensive solution to the adoption of bell Beakers. Therefore we asked the participants to discuss how in their region Beakers were incorporated in existing cultural complexes, as one of the manners to understand the processes of innovation that were undoubtedly part of the Beaker complex. In this book eight of the speakers have contributed papers, resulting in a diverse and interesting approach to Beakers. We can see how scholars in Scandinavia, the Low Countries, Poland, Switzerland, France, Morocco even, struggle with the same problems, but have different solutions everywhere. The book reads as an inspiration for new approaches and for a discussion of cultural backgrounds in stead of searching for the oldest Beaker. The authors are all established scholars in the field of Bronze Age research.

Animal procurement and tool production form two of the most tightly connected components of human behaviour. They are tied to our emergence as a genus, were fundamental to the dispersal of our species, and underpin the development of our societies. The interaction between these fundamental activities has been a subject of archaeological inference from the earliest days of the discipline, yet the pursuit of each has tended to encourage and entrench specialist study. As a result, our understanding of them has developed in full-view but in general isolation of one from the other. This volume begins the process of integrating what have all too often become isolated archaeological and interpretative domains. Exposing and exploring contexts spanning much of prehistory, and drawing data from a wide range of environmental settings, the book covers both sides of the complex inter-relationship between animals, the technologies used to procure them and those arising from them. In taking a more inclusive approach to the material, technological and social dynamics of early human subsistence we have returned to the earliest of those archaeological associations: that between stone tools and animal bones. In revealing the inter-dependence of their relationship, this volume takes what we hope will be a first step towards a revitalized understanding of the scope of past interactions between humans and the world around them.Krish Seetah is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology, Stanford University. His zooarchaeological research focuses on butchering and the socio-economic context of food.Brad Gravina is a member of the laboratory Préhistoire a l'Actuel: Cultures, Evironment et Anthropologie (PACEA) at the University of Bordeaux. His research focuses on the final Middle Palaeolithic of Western Europe with an emphasis on lithic technology and taphonomy.

Dutch Description: De vaak honderden aardewerkfragmenten die in Oss-Ussen werden aangetroffen in waterputten, kuilen, greppels en huisplattegronden vormden het aangrijpingspunt voor een studie naar het aardewerk uit een min of meer aaneengesloten bewoningsperiode van een millennium (ca. 800 v.Chr. -250 n.

Dr Robert Munro (1835-1920) was a distinguished medical practitioner who, in his later life, became a keen archaeologist. His particular interests lay in the lake-dwelling settlements of his native Scotland, known as crannogs, as well as those then being discovered across Europe. In 1885 Robert Munro undertook a review of all lacustrian research in Europe, travelling widely to study collections and visit sites. The results of this work formed the basis for the prestigious Rhind Lectures at the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1888. These were then published as The Lake-Dwellings of Europe, a landmark publication for archaeology and one that cemented Munro’s archaeological reputation.In 1910 Robert Munro offered the University of Edinburgh a financial gift with which to fund lectures in Anthropology and Prehistoric Archaeology. Over the past century this has been done through the Munro Trust. In 2010, the year of the centenary of the Munro Trust, the University of Edinburgh and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland jointly celebrated the occasion with a gathering of Continental and British scholars. The papers presented in this publication are the results of that international seminar.This book will engage all those interested in European lake dwellings, wetland archaeology and the history of archaeology in the 19th century. The collected papers explore the historical context of Munro’s work, as well as introducing current research from across Europe. The book will appeal to both the professional and the interested amateur, of which Munro himself represented such an exciting synthesis.

The early Iron Age settlement at Longbridge Deverill Cow Down, Wiltshire is justly regarded as one of the type sites of the British Iron Age. During four brief seasons of excavation between 1956 and 1960 Sonia Chadwick Hawkes investigated three enclosures and revealed the well-preserved remains of four impressive timber roundhouses. The Longbridge settlement lay within a landscape of contemporary Iron Age communities on the northern periphery of Salisbury Plain, and its particular role and place in this complex of settlements, field systems, routeways and middens remains tantalisingly obscure. A remarkable collection of pottery associated with the fiery destruction of the roundhouses, perhaps immolation in the true sense, offers a wealth of new material to consider in the light of other important collections from the region. The release of Hawkes' archaeological data marks a major contribution to the pursuit of insight into this intriguing phase of British prehistory. 301p, b/w illus,

Barrows, as burial markers, are ubiquitous throughout North-Western Europe. In some regions dense concentrations of monuments form peculiar configurations such as long alignments while in others they are spread out extensively, dotting vast areas with hundreds of mounds. These vast barrow landscapes came about through thousands of years of additions by several successive prehistoric and historic communities. Yet little is known about how these landscapes developed and came about.That is what this research set out to do. By unravelling the histories of specific barrow landscapes in the Low Countries, several distinct activity phases of intense barrow construction could be recognised. Each of these phases contributed in a particular fashion to how the barrow landscape developed and reveals shifting attitudes to these landscape monuments.By creating new monuments in a specific place and in a particular fashion, prehistoric communities purposefully transformed the form and shape of the barrow landscape. Using several GIS-techniques such as a skyline-analysis, this research was able to demonstrate how each barrow then took up a specific (and different) position within such a social landscape. While the majority of the barrows were only visible from relatively close by, specific monuments took up a dominating position, cresting the horizon, and they were visible from much further away.It was argued that these burial mounds remained important landscape monuments on the purple heathlands. They continued to attract attention, and by their visibility ensured to endure in the collective memory of the communities shaping themselves around these monuments.This publication is part of the Ancestral Mounds Research Project of the University of Leiden.

C.R. Hermans is one of the founding fathers of archaeology in the Dutch Brabant-region. In 1865 he published the first collection of archaeological finds and find spots in this region. This publication is now reprinted in a facsimile-edition with an extensive introduction that puts the original book into perspective and supplies the reader with biographical information about Hermans. Dutch text

Pterosaurs or flying reptiles were the first vertebrates to evolve flight. These distant relatives of modern reptiles and dinosaurs lived from the Late Triassic (over 200 million years ago) to the end of the Cretaceous (about 65 million years ago) a span of some 135 million years. When they became extinct, no relatives survived them and as a result these prehistoric animals cannot readily be compared with our modern-day fauna. So what do we know of these highly succsessful animals? The present summary answers this and many more questions based on the most recent results of modern scientific research. After a short introduction to palaeontology as a science and its history related to pterosaurs, it explains what pterosaurs were, when and where they lived, and what they looked like. Topics such as disease, injury and reproduction are also discussed. Separated from this text are 'Mark explains' boxes. Each of these explanations puts one specific species in the spotlight and focuses on its lifestyle. They show how diverse pterosaurs were, from small insectivorous animals with a wingspan of nearly 40 centimetres to the biggest flying animals ever to take to the air, with wingspans of over 10 metres and with a way of life comparable to modern-day storks. The text is illustrated with many full colour photographs and beautiful palaeo-art prepared by experts in the field.

Papers given on a seminar celebrating the 25 years anniversary of the Petras excavations. Petras in western Crete was the site of a Minoan settlement. Despite the evidence for habitation in the last phase of the Neolithic period (3500 B. C.), the first settlement is dated to the Early Minoan II period (2600-2300 B.C.). It continued to be inhabited until 1450 B.C., when it was destroyed, along with the other Minoan centres. A short reoccupation occurred during the Late Minoan III period (1400-1300 B.C.). The settlement flourished in the Old Palace period (2000-1650 B.C.), when the central building of palatial character was built on the top of the hill; it reached a peak, however, in the New Palace period (2000-1450 B.C.) when many alterations of the buildings took place. In the 12th-13th centuries A.D. the top of the hill was occupied by a cemetery, of which 32 graves have been excavated.