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Oxbow Books

Oxbow Books is a leading publisher in the fields of archaeology, ancient history and medieval studies, with an international reputation for quality and affordability. Oxbow's archaeology publishing covers all periods from earliest prehistory through classical archaeology, the ancient Near East, Egyptology, the Middle Ages and post-medieval archaeology. They publish a wide variety of books including scholarly monographs, edited collections of papers, and excavation and research reports in related fields such as archaeological practice and theory, archaeozoology, and environmental, landscape and maritime archaeology.

Founded in Oxford in 1983 by academic and museum archaeologist, David Brown, Oxbow Books has evolved and expanded significantly over the years. Now celebrating their 40th anniversary, Oxbow remains dedicated to the quality of their publishing for readers, and the contribution their books bring to the scholarly and professional communities more broadly.

TRAC 2013 Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
ISBN: 9781782976905
Pub Date: 31 Mar 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: TRAC
Illustrations: b/w illus
Description:
The twenty-third Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (TRAC) was held at King’s College, London in spring 2013. During the three-day conference nearly papers were delivered, discussing issues from a wide range of geographical regions of the Roman Empire, and applying various theoretical and methodological approaches. Sessions included those looking at Roman–Barbarian interactions; identity and funerary monuments in ancient Italy; migration and social identity in the Roman Near East; theoretical approaches to Roman small finds; formation processes of in-fills in urban sites; and new reflections on Roman glass.
Stairway to Heaven Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 264
ISBN: 9781842176658
Pub Date: 26 Mar 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: b/w & colour throughout
Description:
Spiral stairs, galleries and upper chambers in medieval cathedrals, abbeys and parish churches have been an enduring source of fascination to scholars since the eighteenth century. But what were these secret stairs, mysterious galleries and hidden upper rooms actually used for – and how can we know? This book presents the evidence for the practical functions of ecclesiastical upper spaces from c.
Exploring Prehistoric Identity in Europe Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 176
ISBN: 9781842178133
Pub Date: 19 Mar 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: b/w and col. illus
Description:
Identity is relational and a construct, and is expressed in a myriad of ways. For example, material culture and its pluralist meanings have been readily manipulated by humans in a prehistoric context in order to construct personal and group identities. Artefacts were often from or reminiscent of far-flung places and were used to demonstrate membership of an (imagined) regional, or European community.
RRP: £36.00
Archaeology in the 'Land of Tells and Ruins' Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 264
ISBN: 9781782972457
Pub Date: 28 Feb 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: b/w and col. illustrations
Description:
Recently, a travel account and 700 photographs came to light by the hand of Leo Boer, a former student of the École Biblique et Archéologique Française in Jerusalem who, at the age of 26 in 1953–4 visited many archaeological sites in the area of present-day Israel and the Palestinian Territories. These documents inspired 20 internationally-renowned scholars – many of whom excavated at the sites they describe – to report on what we know today of nine particular sites chosen from the many that Leo Boer visited 60 years ago: Jerusalem, Khirbet et-Tell (Άi?), Samaria & Sebaste, Tell Balata (Shechem), Tell es-Sultan (Jericho), Khirbet Qumran, Caesarea, Megiddo, and Bet She’an.
Medicine, Healing and Performance Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 176
ISBN: 9781782971580
Pub Date: 13 Feb 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: B/w illustrations
Description:
Whether it is the binding of shattered bones or the creation of herbal remedies, human agency is a central feature of the healing process. Both archaeological and anthropological research has contributed much to our understanding of the performative aspects of medicine. The papers contained in this volume, based on a session conducted at the 2010 Theoretical Archaeology Conference, take a multi-disciplinary approach to the topic, addressing such issues as the cultural conception of disease; the impact of gender roles on healing strategies; the possibilities afforded by syncretism; the relationship between material culture and the body; and the role played by the active agency of the sick.
Puspika: Tracing Ancient India Through Texts and Traditions Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 224
ISBN: 9781782974154
Pub Date: 31 Jan 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Puspika: Tracing Ancient India through Texts and Traditions
Description:
Puspika 2 is the outcome of the second International Indology Graduate Research Symposium and presents the results of recent research by young scholars into pre-modern South Asian cultures with papers covering a variety of topics related to the intellectual traditions of the region. Focusing on textual sources in the languages in which they were composed, different disciplinary perceptions are offered on intellectual history, linguistics, philosophy, literary criticism and religious studies.
A Corpus of Roman Pottery from Lincoln Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 544
ISBN: 9781842174876
Pub Date: 31 Jan 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Lincoln Archaeology Studies
Illustrations: b/w illus throughout, 16 pages of colour illus
Description:
This is the first major analysis of the Roman pottery from excavations in Lincoln (comprising more than 150,000 sherds). The pottery is presented in seven major ware groups. Fine wares include a modest range of imports and are dominated by Nene Valley products.
The Proto-Elamite Settlement and Its Neighbors Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 350
ISBN: 9781782974192
Pub Date: 27 Jan 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: American School of Prehistoric Research Monograph
Description:
The site of Tepe Yahya in southeastern Iran is famous, among other important aspects, for the Proto-Elamite complex dated to around 3000 BC (Period IVC). The material culture of Period IVC is not exclusively limited to its Proto-Elamite component, but is also characterized by the presence of elements from other Middle-Asian cultural ceramic traditions. In addition to a synthesis of the Proto-Elamite period and the material assemblage at Tepe Yahya, The Proto-Elamite Settlement and Its Neighbors provides an updated review and comprehensive discussion of the Proto-Elamite sphere, its relations to Mesopotamia, and its eastern Middle Asian neighbors.
RRP: £35.00
Locating the Sacred Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 144
ISBN: 9781782976165
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Joukowsky Institute Publication
Illustrations: b/w and col. illustrations
Description:
Ritual happens in distinct places – in temples, in caves, along pilgrimage routes – and religious activities there incorporate a diverse set of objects such as holy water, cult statues, and sacred texts. Understanding religious ritual requires viewing it not as a disembodied event, but as emplaced, grounded in both built and natural surroundings, and integrated with its associated material objects. Here authors examine various religious practices in the Greco-Roman world and pilgrimage routes in contemporary Israel.
RRP: £25.00
Violence and Civilization Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
ISBN: 9781782976202
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2014
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Joukowsky Institute Publication
Illustrations: b/w and col. illustrations
Description:
This collection of essays begins with the premise that violence, in its relationship to order, is a central element of history. Taking a broad definition of violence, including structural and symbolic violence, the contributions move beyond the problematic of civilization’s mitigating or foundational role, instead seeing violence as inherently social, and, perhaps, socially inherent (if variable). The question then becomes what forms of harm are authorized or banned in which social orders and how they change over time.
Gristhorpe Man. Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 256
ISBN: 9781782972075
Pub Date: 31 Dec 2013
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: b/w and col. illustrations
Description:
In July 1834 excavation of a barrow at Gristhorpe, near Scarborough, Yorkshire, recovered an intact, waterlogged, hollowed-out oak coffin containing a perfectly preserved Bronze Age skeleton that had been wrapped in an animal skin and buried with worked flints, a bronze dagger with a whalebone pommel, and a bark vessel apparently containing food residue. Gristhorpe Man became the centrepiece of the Scarborough Philosophical Society’s museum display.In 2004, planned refurbishment of the renamed Rotunda Museum provided the opportunity for a scientific re-examination of the burial and grave goods in order to eluciate the life and death of this extraordinary survival of the British Early Bronze Age.
Ancient Iran and Its Neighbours Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 400
ISBN: 9781782972273
Pub Date: 23 Dec 2013
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: British Institute of Persian Studies Archaeological Monograph Series
Illustrations: b/w and col. illus
Description:
The fourth millennium BC was a critical period of socio-economic and political transformation in the Iranian Plateau and its surrounding zones. This period witnessed the appearance of the world’s earliest urban centres, hierarchical administrative structures, and writing systems. These developments are indicative of significant changes in socio-political structures that have been interpreted as evidence for the rise of early states and the development of inter-regional trade, embedded in longer-term processes that began in the later fifth millennium BC.
Puspika: Tracing Ancient India Through Texts and Traditions Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 486
ISBN: 9781842173855
Pub Date: 23 Dec 2013
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Puspika: Tracing Ancient India through Texts and Traditions
Illustrations: b/w halftones
Description:
It is perhaps commonplace to say that India is one of the world's richest and most enticing cultures. One thousand years have passed since Albiruni, arguably the first "Indologist", wrote his outsider's account of the subcontinent and two hundred years have passed since the inception of Western Indology. And yet, what this monumental scholarship has achieved is still outweighed by the huge tracts of terra incognita: thousands of works lacking scholarly attention and even more manuscripts which still await careful study whilst decaying in the unforgiving Indian climate.
From These Bare Bones Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
ISBN: 9781782972112
Pub Date: 19 Dec 2013
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: b/w illustrations
Description:
A fundamental component of the study of worked osseous objects is the identification of the raw materials chosen to make them. In archaeological contexts many objects become degraded to the point where identification is very difficult and the way in which these materials decay during burial and upon excavation can vary greatly. Correct identification is crucial to the investigation of objects, their conservation and future curation.
Modelling archaeology and palaeoenvironments in wetlands Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 216
ISBN: 9781782971740
Pub Date: 19 Dec 2013
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: b/w and col. illus
Description:
The measurement and analysis of space is central to archaeological study, such as through the recording of site plans and sections and the interpretation of spatial relationships between artefacts and features. Modelling Hidden Landscapes details a different approach to the study of past patterns of environmental change within the broader framework of landscape archaeology. It utilizes a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies and GIS modelling to investigate spatial and temporal patterns of Holocene landscape change for two raised mires in south Yorkshire: Hatfield and Thorne Moors.
RRP: £30.00
The Neolithisation of Iran Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 272
ISBN: 9781782971900
Pub Date: 11 Dec 2013
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: BANEA monograph Series
Description:
The period c. 10,000-5000 BC witnessed fundamental changes in the human condition with societies across the Fertile Crescent shifting their alignment from millennia-old practices of seasonally mobile hunting and foraging to year-round sedentism, plant cultivation and animal herding. The significant role of Iran in the early stages of this transition was recognised more than half a century ago but has not been to the fore of academic consciousness in recent decades.
RRP: £40.00
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