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The extraordinary phenomenon of Ice Age art endured for over 30,000 years of our prehistory. This book will show you how the art was discovered, how it was made, how we know its age and if it's genuine. But this art is much more than pictures and paint - it tells us more about our early ancestors than bones and tools ever will. Life during the Ice Age was a huge part of our human journey, and the people who lived then, by painting on cave walls and engraving their myths on animal bones, have reached out to us down the millennia with their stories and memories. It is unlikely we will ever know the meanings of the simple handprints or the animal silhouette paintings, or the ideas that were shared in great cave wall murals, but they are likely to be profound. And despite our inability to understand the messages, we can still marvel at the valuable gifts these Ice Age artists have bestowed on us.

The Great Sphinx has guarded the Giza Plateau in Egypt for many thousands of years. Despite there being relatively little direct evidence, it is generally assumed that this iconic monument is some 4500 years old, built at the same time as Giza’s great pyramids. This book challenges the established history of the Giza Necropolis to present the only comprehensive, evidence-led account of the history and ritual meaning of the Great Sphinx. After re-examining the archaeological evidence and then considering the important role of geology, the book concludes that the Great Sphinx and a number of related monuments, were built at Giza in the earliest stages of the Pharaonic Era – in the period before Egypt’s first pyramids were built. Perhaps more surprisingly, evidence emerges that the Great Sphinx may not have been the first monument built at Giza, with indications of ritual activity at this important site, which pre-dates Egypt’s first pharaohs. By answering these uncertainties regarding the age of the Great Sphinx, a new picture unfolds of what the concept of the human-headed lion meant to the people that originally built it.

The study of salt in Roman times has not benefitted from the attention paid to the exploitation of other subsoil resources like metals. This is the result of the scarcity not only of sources concerning the exploitation itself, but also of those that provide indirect information (like aspects of mining, trade or especially administration), compounded by the lack of archaeological research on this resource (particularly when compared with the archaeology of salt in prehistory or the archaeology of Roman mining). The main objectives of this volume are to analyse the existing archaeological research on salt exploitation in Roman Dacia, and to discuss the epigraphic information to better understand salt exploitation and administration as well as the relationship between mining and administrative staff and the military personnel. Based on this information, a global view of salt exploitation in Roman Dacia is presented, and the particularities of salt production, industry and consumption in this province are compared with the Roman world.

Excavations at Carnoustie produced exceptional archaeological results from the prehistoric past. The remains of the longest early Neolithic timber hall so far found in Scotland were identified. Beside it were the postholes and pits of another contemporary but less well preserved large hall. A final but smaller timber hall was constructed at one end but within the footprint of the largest timber hall. This latter structure indicated the importance of the place and the perpetuation of ideologies and traditions of the earlier building. During the later Neolithic, other evidence included the sparse remains of an oval house built over the remains of one timber hall with temporary re-occupation of part of another. The main focus of activities during the middle and late Neolithic were groups of pits whose presence indicated changes in social structure and possibly economic conditions. A period of abandonment with only sporadic use of the area during the early Bronze Age was followed by a roundhouse settlement. A small number of buildings of the middle and late Bronze Age were replaced in rotation. The last buildings were intimately associated with a rare late Bronze Age metalwork hoard, buried close to them. The hoard included a sword, spearhead with gold decoration and a long pin wrapped in textile and sheep-skin.

This volume is devoted to the origins and early history of the Indo-Aryans. According to the generally accepted theory, they originated in the Eurasian steppe, from where they subsequently migrated to the Indian subcontinent and the Iranian plateau. However, evidence to support these developments is lacking. The author has collected linguistic, palaeogenetic and archaeological data to reconstruct the processes that occurred in the Eneolithic and Bronze Age over large areas of Eurasia, demonstrating that the ancestral homeland of the Indo-Iranians was in Northwestern Iran. From there some migrated to Southeastern Iran, which led to the emergence of Indo-Aryan dialects around the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. From the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, the migration of Indo-Aryan tribes to the north-east of Iran and Central Asia began, which later culminated with migration to India, as well as to the Near East, Eastern Europe, the Southern Urals and, occasionally, to Southern Siberia.

Pundawar Manbur is one of the largest painted rock shelters in the Drysdale River valley of the Kimberley, Western Australia. It contains more than 600 rock paintings, engravings and rock markings with a complex series of overlapping styles of rock art. It is a cultural jewel of Kwini Country, within the lands of the Balanggarra Native Title determination. This monograph presents the first detailed recording and analysis of the site and its art. There are many figures in superposition, and many also in carefully targeted patterns of superimposition, making for a rich story of sequential engagements going back many thousands of years. There is much figurative art, including images from the earliest purported phase of Kimberley art, the Irregular Infill Animal Period, but there are also stencils and other markings. There is evidence of additive reuse – some of the figures have been repainted. There is also fascinating evidence of subtractive reuse, some of the images showing signs of having been ‘battered’ and/or scratched, that is, directly engaged with subsequent to their painting. This monograph is unusual in Australian archaeology as it does not focus on an excavated site; it focuses solely on the rock art of Pundawar Manbur and gives it the attention it deserves.

Prehistoric human images have fascinated archaeological, anthropological and social researchers for many generations. They are known from the Upper Palaeolithic, but in the Neolithic their number increased significantly, forming part of the archaeological record throughout Europe. In Iberia, especially in the south, thousands of figurines have been preserved. These are small human figures of men, women, boys and girls, with female images predominating in funerary and domestic contexts. This volume brings us closer to the current state of knowledge in Iberia, from romantic archaeology to processual and post-processual archaeology. The book explores the number, geographical spread and extended chronology of the figurines – from the 6th to the 3rd millennium BC – and the social practices that lay behind their production and use. From goddesses to women, this exceptional legacy indicates an unprecedented role for women in these societies. The figurines illuminate the representation of identity, its chronological depth, the existence of workshops and distribution circuits, and the continued manipulation of these pieces over generations.

Myths on the Edge of Empire presents the findings of an extensive investigation into how classical mythology spread across Roman Britain, revealing which characters and deities were the most prevalent, in which contexts, and within which physical media. The reader is initially guided through a series of case studies that use individual mythical entities (Minerva, Mars, Medusa, Hercules, Mercury, and Cupid) to introduce key concepts and observations, as well as drawing attention to the pitfalls of the terminology often employed in explaining complex cultural interchanges. Building upon these findings, more complex patterns are then discussed in thematic chapters that focus on military deities, how myths were combined or displayed together, and the extent to which urban environments were fertile ground for their employment, as well as a typological breakdown and discussion of material culture. As a reference, this book presents a series of graphical displays, one per myth, that show quantities of artefacts, locations, find contexts, and prevalence over time. Finally, the book classifies and explains the vectors that were used in the cultural transmission of mythology throughout a province that was at the very edge of the Roman Empire.

L’objectif de ce travail de recherche était d’appréhender l’outillage en pierre lié a la déformation plastique des métaux, ce que l’on appelle communément les marteaux et les enclumes.Pour ces outils, encore largement méconnus, il n’existait aucun inventaire en France en 2008, et seulement quatre outils reconnus comme tel apparaissaient dans la bibliographie française. Partant des quelques exemplaires connus, un important travail d’investigation au sein des collections de musées publics ou privées principalement de la façade atlantique, dans un premier temps, a conduit a l’identification de plus d’une centaine d’outils pour la plupart inédits. Ce travail s’est ensuite poursuivi dans quelques musées de l’Est et du Sud de la France, mais les outils y semblent plus rares et difficile a localiser au sein de collections parfois anciennes. Les objectifs de cette recherche se sont concentrés sur trois aspects : appréhender la fonction de ces outils, les replacer au sein des chaînes opératoires du métal et appréhender leurs liens avec l’outillage métallique. Dans cette optique, une typologie fonctionnelle de ces outils lithiques a été réalisée en s’appuyant sur la typologie de leurs homologues métalliques afin de permettre une meilleure comparaison des performances de l’une et l’autre série d’outils dédiées au travail des métaux. La publication de ce travail présentera un inventaire le plus complet possible des outils en pierre de la façade atlantique de l’Europe.

Two Late Umm a-Nar Tombs at Mowaihat-Ajman, United Arab Emirates presents information resulting from rescue excavations at two collective tombs (A and B), belonging to the last quarter of the third millennium BC. The excavations at Tomb A, a disturbed above-ground, circular grave, and the diversity of the materials discovered in Tomb B, a rectangular subterranean pit-grave, in the mid-1980s, have confirmed that the sphere of the Umm an-Nar Culture in the United Arab Emirates is much wider than originally thought. Whilst Tomb A was fully excavated, Tomb B was only partially uncovered (Al Tikriti 1989). Excavation at the latter was completed by Late Ernie Haerinck (1991). The aim of this report is therefore to summarize the two preliminary published reports, and more importantly, to introduce an osteological study on the human bone remains from Tomb B. Since the discovery of the Umm an-Nar culture by the Danish Archaeological Expedition in the late 1950s, subterranean tombs of the period are still rare. Tomb N at Hili and Tomb B in Ajman are the only ones known so far. However, despite belonging to the same period and showing similarities in burial customs, the bone study of the Ajman remains demonstrated some differences between the dead of Tombs B and N.

It is remarkable, given Dunkeld’s importance in medieval Scotland, that so little was known of King’s Seat fort until the 1950s. While proposed as a royal Pictish ‘nuclear’ fort in the 1980s, it was so heavily overgrown as to be effectively lost to archaeology until 2015, when the local history society instigated a programme of community archaeology to explore its story. Led by Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust, working with AOC Archaeology Group, this included excavation that revealed a high-status Pictish fort complex. Like the classic sites Dundurn and Clatchard Craig, it had a high-status summit citadel surrounded by a hierarchy of connected out-works on lower terraces. LiDAR data revealed a previously unknown south enclosure, more than doubling its total footprint and raising questions about the role of such sites and the nature of Pictish settlement. Controlling important routes from the north and west into the lower Tay region, King’s Seat was a Pictish ‘royal’ stronghold, estate, and production centre which was to attract an important early monastic foundation. While relatively short-lived, it produced evidence of elite metalworking and trade and was the venue for feasting that saw the consumption of exotic luxuries such as Continental imports and glass vessels from Anglo-Saxon England. It was abandoned, rather than destroyed, perhaps as power passed to a lower site in a new architectural form, associated with the increasing power of the church and as larger polities developed. The relics of Columba were brought to Dunkeld in the 9th century, probably as much a result of tensions between Pictish royalty and the Gaelic church as the threat of Viking raids, before its ecclesiastical importance was eclipsed by St Andrews. Dunkeld takes its name from the Gaelic dun Cailleann or ‘fort of the Caledonians’ which undoubtedly refers to King’s Seat fort. It is apt that retention of this pre-Pictish name celebrates the link between later prehistory and medieval Scotland that is so well represented by the site itself.

This volume is the second in a series commissioned by Jersey Heritage as part of an overarching Archaeological Research Framework for the island. It is a comprehensive, up-to-date study of the Neolithic of Jersey in the context of the other Channel Islands and their relationship with north-west France. After a brief reference to the preceding Mesolithic period, and a discussion of the Neolithisation of Jersey, the volume summarises our current state of knowledge and proposes key outstanding research questions for the Early Neolithic (c. 4900-4700 BC), the Middle Neolithic I (c. 4700/4600-4300 BC), the Middle Neolithic II (4300-3400 BC) and the Late – Final Neolithic and Chalcolithic (c. 3400 - 2300 BC). It offers an academic framework for future investigations in Jersey and aims to inform the actions of those responsible for the care and protection of Jersey’s artefacts, archaeological deposits and monuments.

This volume is the first in a series of archaeological resource assessments commissioned by Jersey Heritage as part of an Archaeological Research Framework for the island. It is a comprehensive study of the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age of Jersey in the context of the other Channel Islands and their relationship with north-west France. The first part of the book describes our current state of knowledge and in the second part research objectives and questions are presented. These are designed to guide those responsible for the care and protection of artefacts, archaeological deposits and monuments. Researchers will benefit from the resource assessment as it provides an academic framework for future investigations in Jersey.

Les ateliers de céramique de la Byzacene du Sud-Ouest is the result of more than three decades of investigation, examining ceramic workshop dumps in the southwest region of Byzacena. Over this period, we have had the rare opportunity to uncover the remains of seven workshops, three of which are still unpublished. Our research unfolded in two main phases : the first focused on locating, identifying, and distinguishing between endogenous and exogenous production in the region, particularly the so-called “classic” types. During the second phase, our efforts shifted to detecting, exploring, and prospecting for new production centers, as well as on the typological, mineralogical, and petrographic analysis of the various products, aimed at disentangling regional production from one another and defining their distribution areas. The task was challenging, especially given the often-pronounced similarities in the clays used and the forms produced. Beyond this technical aspect, which includes body types, slips, shapes, typologies, motifs, and decorative styles, our research stands out for its diachronic approach. This approach reveals the historical factors—both economic and political—that contributed to the the appearance, development, and extinction of these workshops. Additionally, our study of the ceramic rejects from the eight workshops, the subject of this work, revealed a spatial distribution from east to west, with a designated catchment area for each production center and a categorical distribution of types. Chronologically, our findings revealed a synchronisation in the emergence and decline of these workshops and identifying a peak period of activity and production.

The Domesticity of Their Darkness is about the appearance of images of the enslaved in Roman art and the analysis of this archive. The word snapshots has been used quite deliberately, and very specifically, in the subtitle of this study because of the impossibility of there ever being the material evidence and opportunity to write a full, linear, chronological narrative about images of the enslaved in Roman times. The ancient enslaved are now to us like shadows out of time: yet, most importantly, they seem to have existed between the images discussed in this study. In these works it was never their aesthetic value that counted: they were to be read and understood, so that their meaning came across. In the Roman world everything was art, including the history of enslavement and of the enslaved. The floating roots of so many of these enslaved individuals cannot be located in a world where for the Roman elite name, roots, and family lineage created an ideological geography of belonging, of being inside, reaching into the future as well as back to the past. For the enslaved the tranquillity of simply inhabiting space could never be enough. Images of the enslaved in Roman domestic interiors often appear now as being somehow quite weird, in terms of the strange within the familiar and the familiar as strange. The domestic world portrayed, its domesticity, does not coincide with itself. There is a wrongness here, a delusive envelope, yet all is depicted as being right. The book represents an attempt to foreground the background.

The excavation of archaeological sites in Egypt involves much more than the careful recovery and documentation of monuments and small finds. These activities take place in the context of a wide range of logistic and other tasks necessary for their initiation and smooth operation, an aspect of the work generally absent from scientific reports. This book describes this background to operating an archaeological project, with the day-to-day preoccupations of administration, acquisition of equipment and provisions, organizing transport and arranging accommodation. Mention of the key discoveries made over the years shows how evidence is recovered from the ground, with all the associated problems and procedures, to assemble new insight into the history of a site. Living in a small rural village for months and interacting with the local population reveals much about the nature of village life in the Nile Delta and the hospitality of the people, giving insight into the local culture.