This volume explores long-term behavioural patterns and processes of change in hunter-gatherer societies from the Lower Palaeolithic to the present. In doing so, this volume questions the disciplinary distinctions between fine and coarse-grain understandings of hunter-gatherer societies in anthropology and archaeology and challenges the perception that these distinctions are inherent to the two disciplines. The volume brings together studies that specifically address long-term behavioural patterns in hunter-gatherer societies past and present. Some of the contributors also combine historical/archival data and archaeological evidence with anthropological work on contemporary hunter-gatherers. All the papers are based on case-studies that, taken together, cover a wide geographical and chronological range. They represent current research dynamics in anthropology and archaeology across the globe (North and South America, Europe and Australia), and a variety of theoretical perspectives. The papers range chronologically from the Lower Palaeolithic to the present, and encompass groups at various levels of complexity of social organisation and degrees of sedentism, interaction with farmers and 'pristine-ness'.

he medieval knight has a distinctive silhouette, despite the numerous legends which blur historical reality. At the turning point between the 12th and 13th centuries, while the feudal order was slowly disappearing in favor of the overwhelming royal will, some men stood apart from their contemporaries by their ability to fight on horses. They held the power and were considered little by little as the ruling class; they were the lords of the land. Thibaut des Puys de Morsaing, a young and poor bachelor, is about to achieve great success and become a rich land owner. Following his father's steps, who died during the Crusades, and his godfather's, Tristan de Maumesnil, he grasps the opportunities offered to him. The many events in the life of this imaginary character are used as a pretext to stage France's medieval society, from king Philippe Auguste to Saint Louis.

The Cycladic Islands of Greece played a central role in Aegean prehistory, and many new discoveries have been made in recent years at sites ranging in date from the Mesolithic period to the end of the Bronze Age. In the well-illustrated chapters of this book, based on the recent conference held at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research in Cambridge, international scholars including leading Greek archaeologists offer new information about recent developments, many arising from hitherto unpublished excavations. The book contains novel theoretical insights into the workings of culture process in the prehistoric cultures of the islands. It will be an indispensable resource for students and scholars interested in the prehistory of the Aegean and in the contributions made to its development by the prehistoric inhabitants of the Cyclades.

Until now the old religions of Britain have only been looked at in a piecemeal way. This book presents a detailed and focused investigation of the religion of the Dobunni and the Hwicce peoples who occupied the Severn valley and the Cotswolds immediately before and after the Roman occupation. It uncovers some secrets of the old religion of Britain that have lain hidden in reams of unconnected and largely forgotten information, from a variety of sources. The first part of the book concerns the deification of the natural world; the second, the deities of the tribal groups. It explores the deities of the different areas of the Dobunnic/Hwiccan territory; identifying the goddess of the Cotswolds, and describes how the worship manifested itself. Yeates demonstrates how the deification of rivers was important and how this has led to the location of a number of ancient river shrines as well as the identification of a number of monumental arrangements used by the peoples in their religious activities and folk-group identity; numerous recognisably pre-Old English folk-names are also shown to relate specifically to river-names, town-names, and folk-group-names. The religious use of the hill-forts, of which there are so many dotted over the landscape, and their shrines is discussed. These are connected with mineral extraction, warfare, nemetons, and sacred groves. The use for standing totems and burial practices is also covered. Once the associations are made between deity, river, and folk-group, and all other aspects of religion have been discussed the deity who resided over the Dobunni is revealed. Her cult, which was evident in the major Roman towns, can be traced back into the Iron Age, and can be identified as the inspiration for the tribal name Hwicce . This shows an element of continuity in British culture, not recognised previously because of the assumed obliteration of British culture due to the extent, success, and longevity of the Roman occupation and Anglo-Saxon migration. Understanding the tribal goddess also explains why this people were "the tribe of witches". Finally, it is recognised that these gods did not perish but persisted in medieval legends, traditions and place-names. Although at its core this is a study of two British tribes, the work will have a major impact on the understanding of pre-Christian religion not only in Britain but also in Western Europe generally.

Two reports are published in this volume: excavations in 2003 at Blenheim Farm, Moreton-in-Marsh (by Jonathan Hart and Mary Alexander) and excavations in 2004 at 21 Church Road, Bishop's Cleeve (by Kate Cullen and Annette Hancocks). Significant remains recorded at Moreton-in-Marsh include a Middle Bronze Age settlement of four post-built circular structures partly enclosed by a segmented ditch, and a series of medieval fields and paddocks with a possible sheepcote structure. A Middle Palaeolithic handaxe was also recovered. The Iron Age and medieval remains recorded at Bishop's Cleeve add to our understanding of past settlement in and around the village, where extensive development has resulted in a number of significant excavations in recent years.

What an exceptional destiny was that of Matilda ! Born in Flanders in her her father, the Count Baldwin V's castle, she was introduced to William of Normandy who she was later to marry around 1050. She was far from imagining, on her wedding day, that she would one day be the Queen of a kingdom as powerful as, if not more than the kingdom of France or the Holy Gemanic Empire. From her union with William, she gave birth to a least ten children, two of whom were to become King. Designated Regent of Normandy during the Norman Conquest, she was later crowned Queen of the new Anglo-Norman Kingdomù, thus becoming one of the most influencial of William's companions. Whilst living a wise and exemplary life, this Queen of legendary discretion, managed to assert herself among her contemporaries, for whom she was an abiding source of praise.

This full color booklet tells the story of the origins of the Vikings through their assaults on Europe to the various established societies they created.There is information on Viking art, on runes on their constant quest for new territories and many other aspects of the story of this extraordinary people.

The authors present a version of the Battle of Orleans that Joan of Arc was the main actor, based on several essential sources. These give a picture overnight what was this terrible battle. Discussed here: the political context, the situation of the city, military science of the time, as well as biographies of French and English captains present at the battle.

These seventeen papers reflect John Lloyd's wide ranging interests in Ancient History, new technologies and methods, geomorphology and anthropology and how they can all be combined in the study of past landscapes. Scholars from Italy, the UK, the USA and Germany write about various projects based mainly in central Italy with seven of the papers describing aspects of John's major fieldwork project in the Sangro Valley, Abruzzo.

Construction of a water supply pipeline in Cambridgeshire provided an opportunity to sample the prehistoric landscape along a transect that crossed several major geological boundaries. This narrow window ran from the Lower Chalk of the ancient peninsula of Isleham, across the heavy low-lying clays of Soham and down into the peat fen of Stuntney and south-east Ely. Within the constraints set by the development, field investigation and subsequent analysis were conducted at several scales. In the initial stage, attention focused on predicted occupation areas (principally at the fen margins), while the intervening landscape between these areas and known sites was sampled. Along with palaeoenvironmental data, samples of flint, burnt flint and other materials provided a context within which to explore specific models for interpreting the character of later prehistoric landscape occupation across a diverse set of conditions. As a consequence of landscape sampling, six significant site areas were designated for archaeological investigation. These were located at the neck of the sand and chalk peninsula of Isleham, extending down its gradually sloping western edge towards the braided palaeochannels of the River Snail. This occupation-rich zone on the chalk contrasted sharply with areas of the fen that showed little evidence of early occupation where crossed by the pipeline. Two of these sites saw more extensive fieldwork funded by English Heritage, and these form the main body of the report. These different scales and intensities of work in the field are reflected in the structure of the report. The extensive survey and evaluation is dealt with in Chapter 2 and provides a full record of work conducted along the length of the pipeline corridor. Chapter 3 documents the more limited investigations conducted at four of the site areas identified in stage 1. The core of the volume lies in Chapters 4 and 5, which deal with the more substantive records arising from work at Prickwillow Road and around the palaeochannels of the River Snail. Dominated by Early Bronze Age and Earlier Neolithic material respectively, these sites add a significant body of information to our understanding of the later prehistoric sequence in the area, data which are set in broader context in Chapter 6.

In Scandinavia as elsewhere, cryptocrystalline rocks such as flint were an integral part of peoples' lives during prehistory. Knowledge about flint, its properties, its uses, and its many names, was no doubt transmitted through the generations as part of everyday life. As archaeologists, we are interested in how prehistoric people dealt with flint and what they might have seen as the strengths and weaknesses of the various kinds of flint available. But in order to answer such questions it is necessary that we are able to talk to each other about flint in an informed and informative manner. Scandinavian Flint proposes a classification into 17 types for use by archaeologists. Flint types are described and evaluated in terms of knappability, limitations posed by nodule size, and prehistoric availability, rather than in terms of morphogenesis or chemical composition. Flint formation, geographic distribution of flint sources in Scandinavia, provenience studies, and patination are discussed in detail. Scandinavian Flint is a useful guide for archaeologists working with flint.

The Mycenaean Linear B tablets include numerous references to religion, such as details of offerings, banqueting foodstuffs or land-tenure relating to cult personnel. While contributing significantly to our understanding of early Greek religion, the documents are exclusively economic and administrative records and the limitations of such sources have long been recognised. Few attempts have been made, however, to analyse the purely economic information about religion we do have in Linear B. Such analysis is essential to understanding the place of religion in Mycenaean palace society. This book asks a simple but important question: What proportion of the resources available to the palaces was directed towards support for religion?

This volume concerns the palaeo-environmental and archaeological investigations of the upper Allen Valley of Cranborne Chase, Dorset, between 1998 and 2003, which revealed sequences of landscape development which contrast with those previously put forward for the region. A programme of valley-wide geoarchaeological survey and palynological analyses of the relict palaeo-channel system was conducted, along with sample investigations and open area excavations of a variety of prehistoric sites in the area. Among the many excellent illustrations, GIS modelling techniques have been used to interrogate and visualise some of this new data which has provided possible independent corroboration.

Bucchero is the most distinctive class of ceramic produced in Etruria, Italy, between the 7th and the 5th centuries BC. This publication aims to provide a complete up-to-date listing and description of the collection of bucchero in the British Museum; a collection that consists of over three hundred items including examples of all the important regional productions of bucchero. A previous partial publication of the collection in 1932 is now out-dated and in need of replacement. In addition to being a new, complete, fully referenced and illustrated catalogue, technical aspects of the production of the vessels have been meticulously studied in order to reconstruct a working sequence - detailing the steps in the manufacture of each vase. A final important contribution of the study is the investigation of the formation of the collection, which dates back to 1756, and the history of the study of bucchero.

The site of Dhaskalio Kavos, on the remote Cycladic island of Keros, was extensively looted in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Investigations starting in1963 then revealed large quantities of fractured marble bowls, broken marble figures and smashed pottery of the Early Cycladic period from around 2500 BC. This report of the subsequent survey and rescue excavations of 1987-88 reveals the extraordinary richness of the site, now confirmed as one of the most prolific in Èlite goods of the entire Aegean early bronze age. Was it an unprecedentedly rich Early Cycladic cemetery, recently wrecked by looters? Or was the damage deliberately produced during early bronze age times in some procedure of ritual breakage and ceremonial deposition? Here the survey of the site and the rescue excavations undertaken within the looted area are documented in detail, with a full account of the finds. Alternative explanations for this extraordinary deposit are explored. What has been termed 'the Keros Enigma', in the light of the finds at the site, can now be reconsidered with the full documentation which this volume offers.

Documenting the results of some ten years of fieldwork, this volume explores the prehistoric occupation of a small valley near Broom, on the Bedfordshire gravels. It traces a biography of the landscape from the later Mesolithic through to the Iron Age, a sequence that saw profound changes in the character, scale and temporality of occupation. Undertaken in advance of gravel extraction, the scale of the fieldwork reported here made it possibe to track not only the sequence of occupation, but also how prehistoric communities encountered, appropriated or ignored the 'archaeology' of their time. Set against sequences from across southern England, this work sheds important light on the relationship between local histories and broader processes, and on the complex and geographically varied ways in which the past itself was understood in the past.