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.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 132
ISBN: 9781842170106
Pub Date: 01 Dec 2000
Illustrations: 16p col pls, 144 b/w figs
Description:
The Matopo Hills, an area of rugged and majestic hills in Zimbabwe, contain a staggering number of prehistoric rock paintings. Eighteen years of fieldwork in this area has produced a stunning collection of rock art images, many previously unpublished and probably unique to the Matopo region. These rock paintings are a unique record of hunter-gatherer society and provide insights into the relationship between hunter-gatherers and immigrant pastoralists, evidence that is generally lacking in the archaeology of the area.
Well over one thousand painted panels have been closely observed and the illustrations presented here have been drawn from 124 separate sites. The exact copies have been produced using techniques that scrupulously avoid direct contact with the images and are the work of Janet Duff, a scientific illustrator. This method emphasises the importance of conservation and preservation which is also discussed extensively in the book. An evocative look at the work of a lost people, this study is intended to stimulate further research and interpretation of these incredible paintings.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 76
ISBN: 9781900188739
Pub Date: 01 Dec 2000
Series: Archaeology Data Service & Digital Antiquity Guides to Good Practice
Description:
A straightforward guide which provides advice on preparing and depositing digital archives which also includes recommendations for archive curators and collecting agencies and copyright considerations. The book contains practical information and guidelines for depositing an archive with the Archaeological Data Service and the principals behind archiving archaeological data in a digital form.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 300
ISBN: 9781842170144
Pub Date: 01 Dec 2000
Description:
Neo-Darwinism is becoming an increasingly important influence on archaeological theory, as a number of recently edited books on `Darwinian archaeologies' make clear. However, many of these volumes are internationally inconsistent and reflect the muddled understanding many archaeologists have of the potential of Darwin's thought for interpreting material culture. Ben Cullen's book starts by critiquing some recent neo-Darwinist approaches, including cultural evolutionism and cultural sociobiology.
He then presents a neo-Darwinian paradigm of extreme power, which he has termed the Cultural Virus Theory (CVT). This focuses on explaining the transmission of ideas by comparing cultural memes wit natural genes. In the final section he takes the important step of applying this theory to real materials; demonstrating how CVT can be used to understand the spread of megalithic monuments in prehistoric North-West Europe, the diffusion of the renaissance in medieval Europe and the basis of stylistic change in pottery. Tragically this collection of brilliant thoughts is published posthumously. Ben Cullen was close to finishing a major book when he died suddenly in 1995 and his writings have been gathered into a consistent whole by James Steele, Richard Cullen and Christopher Chippendale.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 224
ISBN: 9781842170359
Pub Date: 01 Dec 2000
Series: University of Southampton Department of Archaeology Monograph
Illustrations: many b/w figs
Description:
Southern Spain's archaeological record is a rich one but for the Roman period archaeological research has yielded limited results. The major settlement of Penaflor, the site of ancient Cleti, was selected for excavation for its good epigraphic and historical record and its excellent uncluttered stratigraphic sequence. The excavations aimed to establish, amongst other things, the date and cultural context for the first establishment of the site, the site'ss regional context and the Romanisation of the town during the late Republican period.
This book, which is part of a wider programme of publication, is intended to provide an overview of the project as a whole but excludes some of the more detailed analyses and appendices which are accessible in a University of Southampton web page.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
ISBN: 9781842170014
Pub Date: 01 Aug 2000
Series: Symposia of the Association for Environmental Archaeology
Illustrations: many figs
Description:
The papers in this book were first presented at the Association for Environmental Archaeology conference at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1998. The aim of the conference was to encourage contributors to examine the inter-relationships between classes of data that have increasingly come to be treated in isolation and to encourage thinking about theory in environmental archaeology. Authors have focused on explicit development of theory, others on bridging barriers between different fields of study or classes of evidence.
The notion that people are influenced, but not necessarily determined, by the environments in which they live, may seem like a truism, but an ecodynamic perspective however requires us to question the human impact on the environment, disregarding agrecultural influences. Human Ecodynamics discuss how people have been affecting, and affected by environmental variables around them since the biginning of time. Archaeologists are peculiarly well placed to link culture and nature together as the discipline decerns thriving socio-cultural and biological traditions. This thinking is applied to the way in which we conduct our studies of the world around us, and to the boundaries between the various disciplines and sub-disciplines into which we sub-divide the subject matter of investigation.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 128
ISBN: 9781842170113
Pub Date: 01 Jul 2000
Series: University of Southampton Department of Archaeology Monograph
Illustrations: b/w figs and pls
Description:
The traditional view of the colonisation of Fiji is one of an initial movement to the islands three thousand years ago followed by relative isolation until the 19th century. Therefore it is no surprise that these islands and their inhabitants have been widely studied as examples of cultures evolving in isolation. However, recent archaeological evidence and new theoretical models have questioned the degree of isolation experienced in the early years of the occupation of the islands.
One important site within this debate is the Sigatoka sand dunes on the south-west shore of Fiji's largest island. Here the archaeological evidence from this site is reassessed and presents a dynamic, interactive picture of island life, with constant contacts with other islands to the east and west. The information from this site is not only placed within the broader context of this group of islands, but also within other theoretical migrationist and evolutionary models of island groups.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 176
ISBN: 9781842170434
Pub Date: 31 Jan 2000
Series: TRAC
Illustrations: b/w illus
Description:
This book contains thirteen papers on Roman archaeology from the tenth Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference in London. The TRAC conference was held in April 2000, at the Institute of Archaeology and was divided into five different sessions. In the opening session, Representing Romans, the methodology of portraying the Romans to the wider world was explored.
David Clarke andFraser Hunter’s paper outlines the challenge of designing appropiate gallery displays for the new National Museum of Scotland. In his paper, Francis Grew discusses the development of Roman London. Garrick Fincham’s paper discusses the threat of overwhelming military intervention by the imperial power in colonial negotiations. Issues of ethnicity, gender, class and occupation within the later Roman army are addressed here. Miranda Green’s paper presents an important discussion of the nature of human/stag hybrids in Iron Age and Gallo-Roman iconography, and Gillian Hawkes presents an analysis of food procurement and preparation encountered in Roman Britain. Gilly Carr considers the role of body decoration and grooming, arguing that individuals in different areas of south eastern Roman Britain made different cultural choices to structure their ethnic identities. The final set of papers focused on Constructing Childhood in the Roman World, reconsidering some long-standing truisms regarding the status and treatment of children in the Roman context. John Pearce examines Roman infant burial and the role religion plays in burial ceremony.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 194
ISBN: 9781900188784
Pub Date: 01 Dec 1999
Series: Cardiff Studies in Archaeology
Description:
Chronology is the factual basis for contextualising archaeology. This collection of papers aims to integrate local chronogical schemes with more comprehensive and general "master" chronologies. The studies focus on Germanic or Germanised populations during and after the Roman Empire's fall in the West: the rich Germanic archaeological sites provide a yardstick for other areas.
The authors also play close attention to terminology with definitions of major periods, sub-periods and artefact-types and to the relationship between typology and computerised quantitive and statistical techniques. The papers, all in English, cover North-West Europe, Denmark and Britain.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 396
ISBN: 9781900188920
Pub Date: 01 Dec 1999
Illustrations: with illus
Description:
Even before the Mayflower sailed across the Atlantic in 1620, the material and cultural lives of the 'Old' and 'New' worlds were inextricably linked. This book reflects the techniques which archaeologists have used over the last 30 years to try and unravel, from a mass of material evidence, the lives of early Americans, and their English contemporaries. This book discusses the unique methodologies which historical archaeologists (in both Britain and the US) have developed to study early modern and industrial societies and new theoretical approaches focusing on ethnicity and domestic space, and new practical techniques using environmental as well as artifactual evidence.
The book contains forty two essays arranged thematically. Five are concerned with the use and interpretation of evidence; thirteen describe settlements and their communities on both sides of the Atlantic; four are on nautical and military operations; thirteen are concerned with artefacts and pottery and their manufacture and distribution; and seven use environmental evidence to throw new light on the human populations, and the plant and animal worlds of the time.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 162
ISBN: 9781900188814
Pub Date: 01 Dec 1999
Illustrations: with photos and drawings
Description:
Initially concerned exclusively with death and burial, this volume grew to encompass the role of the living and the towns they inhabit. The ten papers take an informal, relaxed tone, seeking to inspire discussion rather than provide a definitive summary. John Bradley's candid and witty "Urbanization in Early Medieval Ireland" stands out especially.
He points out that history is not just about the past; it is very much about the present. (Spaces of the Living and the Dead) adeptly interweaves both, examining historical facts and our modern biases toward them.
Pages: 288
ISBN: 9781900188623
Pub Date: 01 Dec 1999
Series: Archaeology of Mediterranean Landscapes
Illustrations: with illus
Pages: 280
ISBN: 9781785704703
Pub Date: 15 Oct 2016
Series: Archaeology of Mediterranean Landscapes
Description:
Archaeology of Populus Monograph in Archaeology of Mediterranean Landscapes Series. Population trends and demographics in general are discussed through a variety of case studies based in Mediterranean Europe. The range of archaeological techniques and methods of analysis includes reginal field surveys, artefact scatter analysis, palaeoanthropology, historical and documentary sources, and studies of cemeteries.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 61
ISBN: 9781900188975
Pub Date: 01 Dec 1999
Illustrations: b/w figs and pls
Description:
A collection of short papers and abstracts from the 4th, 5th and 6th proceedings of the Osteological Research Group, held in April and November 1996 and June 1997. The papers cover a wide range of subjects including technical information, evidence derived from bone assemblages and specific individual examples. Studies are presented on archaeozoology, domesticated animal bone assemblages, evidence of violence and stress indicators, measurement and statistical analysis and current research in the field of osteoarchaeology.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 276
ISBN: 9781900188746
Pub Date: 01 Dec 1999
Series: Archaeology of Mediterranean Landscapes
Description:
. The fourth book in the Archaeology of Mediterranean Landscapes series
Format: Paperback
Pages: 200
ISBN: 9781900188654
Pub Date: 01 Dec 1999
Illustrations: with 18 b/w plates
Description:
While significant advances have been made in direct dating French and Spanish rock art, direct dates obtained by AMS for the New World are extremely scarce and existing stylistic hronologies cannot be trusted. These papers from the International Rock Art Congress held in Bolivia in 1997 focus in the dating problem. They also reflect discussion of the earliest art in the light of recent research and as seen from a world palaeo-art perspective.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 152
ISBN: 9781900188951
Pub Date: 01 Dec 1999
Series: Dakhleh Oasis Project Monographs
Description:
This volume contains progress reports on the work of these two seasons as well as a number of short reports on excavations at the Roman site of Kellis (Ismant el-Kharab).
Format: Paperback
Pages: 120
ISBN: 9781900188937
Pub Date: 01 Dec 1999
Series: Bournemouth Conservation
Description:
A volume of essays on communicating archaeology by every imaginable means provides an excellent tribute to the work of Bill Putnam - always a communicator. Learning by doing (Philip Rahtz), field archaeology in the 70s and 80s (John Hinchliffe), ignore good communication at your peril (Andrew Lawson), the IFA: what it means to be a member of a professional body (Timothy Darvill), talking to ourselves (Ellen McAdam), commissioning knowledge or making archaeology for books (Peter Kemmis Betty), arcane to ARC: the York experience (Andrew Jones), the National Curriculum (Mike Corbishley), past experience: the view from teacher education (Tim Copeland), child's play: archaeology out of school (Kate Pretty), university archaeology: ivory tower or white elephant? (Kevin Andrews) , liberal adult education in the second half of the twentieth century (Trevor Rowley), the local societies (John Manley) , archaeology in museums (Roger Peers).
