Sidestone Press

Sidestone Press is an academic publishing house founded by scholars, for scholars. As a publisher they have one clear ambition, that is to make scientific information available to all. They believe scientific information should be available at all times, at all places and to each and every one. This means that the printing and selling of books is but one part of what they believe a good publisher should do.

Apart from printed books that can be found in libraries and bookstores around the world, Sidestone books can also be freely accessed online through different channels such as Google Books, Google Scholar and through their own digital ebook library. By offering access to their books for free, more people than ever have access to our publications. First of all this is beneficial for our authors as it greatly increases the exposure of their work, and in effect, the impact of their research. Second, of course, it enables their readers – scholars and students around the world – to access their publications at any time and at any place, including those parts of the world where access to good quality academic libraries is not guaranteed.

From 2012 onwards Sidestone books have been published under one of three different imprints: Sidestone Press Academics, Sidestone Press Dissertations and Sidestone Press.

Format: Paperback

Pages: 180

ISBN: 9789088900167

Pub Date: 01 Dec 2008

Imprint: Sidestone Press

Description:

Beneath the surface of Aardenburg, a small town in the south-western part of the Netherlands, lie the remains of a Roman settlement that is presumed to have been named Rodanum. Extensive archaeological excavations from the late 1950s to the late 1980s revealed that the settlement was similar in size or even larger than the modern town. Its centre was formed by a large castellum-type fortification wall that enclosed several large stone buildings.

Visiting the Calvario at Mitla, Oaxaca Cover

Format: Paperback

Pages: 158

ISBN: 9789088900082

Pub Date: 01 Dec 2008

Imprint: Sidestone Press

Description:

In the centre of the Mexican town of Mitla stands a run-down chapel on an overgrown pre-colonial pyramid. The chapel, housing three crosses, is the town's Calvario, the local representation of the hill on which Christ died. Although buses full of tourists on their way to Chiapas or on daytrips from Oaxaca City swarm the town every day almost none of them ever visit the Calvario.

The Expression and Perception of Space in Wayana Cover

Format: Paperback

Pages: 144

ISBN: 9789088900068

Pub Date: 01 Dec 2008

Imprint: Sidestone Press

Description:

Until recently it was assumed that all cultures perceive and express space from the ego. However, this belief in a universal phenomenological bias is currently being challenged by many linguists from several disciplines, who believe that space can also be perceived intrinsically or absolutely. This ethno-linguistic analysis of the Cariban language, Wayana (still spoken in the dense rainforests of Suriname, French Guiana and Brazil), not only strengthens these claims but, more importantly, gives a detailed account of how spatiality is expressed in Wayana.

Format: Paperback

Pages: 98

ISBN: 9789088900075

Pub Date: 01 Dec 2008

Imprint: Sidestone Press

Description:

Similar to the osteological study of prehistoric human remains, the study of human dental wear has been proven to afford a wealth of information on human cultural practices. This study is aimed at recording and understanding the dental wear patterns in human dentitions from the Caribbean archaeological sites of Anse la Gourde, located on the most eastern point of Guadeloupe, and Tutu located on the small island of St. Thomas, U.

Bronze Age Metalworking in the Netherlands Cover

Format: Paperback

Pages: 171

ISBN: 9789088900150

Pub Date: 01 Dec 2008

Imprint: Sidestone Press

Description:

Almost fifty years ago J. J. Butler started his research to trace the possible remains of a Bronze Age metalworker's workshop in the Netherlands.

Midden-bronstijdsamenlevingen in het zuiden van de Lage Landen Cover

Format: Paperback

Pages: 274

ISBN: 9789088900174

Pub Date: 01 Dec 2008

Imprint: Sidestone Press

Description:

This thesis reviews and re-assesses the Hilversum Culture of the southern Netherlands and Flanders in the second millennium BC. Completed ten years ago, but re-issued with a new introduction by the author. Text in Dutch. In deze studie staan de overblijfselen van prehistorische boerengemeenschappen van omstreeks 3500 jaar geleden centraal. Het gaat om samenlevingen die de pleistocene zandgronden van Zuid-Nederland en Vlaanderen in de periode van 1800 tot 1050 voor Chr. bewoonden. Van hun boerenbestaan van toen rest niet veel, maar het databestand aan archeologische ontdekkingen uit deze periode groeit sinds jaar en dag. Het was de archeoloog Willem Glasbergen die in de jaren vijftig de overblijfselen toeschreef aan de zogenoemde 'Hilversum-cultuur'. Hij deed dit op grond van een aantal nieuwe elementen in de materiële restanten. In eerste instantie was zijn definitie hoofdzakelijk gebaseerd op bepaalde typen grafmonumenten en de urnvondsten daaruit. Nederzettingen waren lange tijd schaars. Dat veranderde halverwege de jaren zestig toen het onderzoek bij de plaatsen Zijderveld en Dodewaard ronde huizen opleverde, die duidelijk afweken van de langgerekte, drieschepige woon-stalboerderijen in Noord-Nederland. Glasbergen zag daarin een bevestiging van zijn hypothese: de ongewone verschijnselen waren ontstaan door een migratie van een Zuid-Engels volk naar het zuiden van de Lage Landen. Veertig jaar na de definitie van de Hilversum-cultuur is het archeologische databestand opnieuw tegen het licht gehouden. Reden daarvoor was het toegenomen gegevensbestand en het veranderde paradigma. De groeiende kritiek op de migratietheorie als verklaringsmodel had de Britse migranten uit het denken doen verdwijnen. De tijd was rijp voor een evaluatie van het begrip Hilversum-cultuur. Met in de ene hand de restanten van het grafritueel, de grafmonumenten en de begravingen, en in de andere hand de overblijfselen van hun boerenerven schetst deze studie een beeld van de boerensamenlevingen van 3500 jaar geleden. Daarnaast gaat de auteur uitgebreid in op het ontstaan en ontwikkeling van het archeologisch cultuurbegrip en dat van de Hilversum-cultuur. Uit de studie is duidelijk geworden dat bepaalde kenmerkende restanten - vooral zichtbaar in het grafritueel - nog steeds archeologische realiteiten zijn. De vondstcomplexen die Glasbergen destijds als bouwstenen voor zijn definitie van de Hilversum-cultuur hanteerde, blijken nog steeds afwijkend te zijn, zowel in de tijd (het gaat om nieuwe verschijnselen) als ruimtelijk (ze kennen een beperkt verspreidingsgebied). Alleen de ronde huizen zijn archeologisch onbewijsbaar. De evaluatie geeft aan dat de Hilversum-cultuur nog steeds als een archeologische cultuur aanwijsbaar is. Ondanks de eigen karakteristieken maken de samenlevingen 'achter' de Hilversum-cultuur onderdeel uit van de uitgestrekte Noordwest-Europese bronstijdtraditie, gekenmerkt door lange woon-stalhuizen, grafheuvelbegravingen en grootschalige netwerkrelaties over lange afstanden. Dit proefschrift is tien jaar na de verdediging opnieuw uitgebracht door Uitgeverij Sidestone en voorzien van een woord vooraf.

Korte Beschryvinge van eenige Vergetene en Verborgene Antiquiteten der Provintien en Landen gelegen tusschen de Noord-Zee, de Yssel, Emse en Lippe Cover

Format: Hardback

Pages: 390

ISBN: 9789088900051

Pub Date: 01 Dec 2008

Imprint: Sidestone Press

Description:

A facsimile reprint of a classic work on the antiquity of the Netherlands and north west Europe, originally published in 1660, now re-issued and set in context with an Introduction by Wijnand A B van der Sanden. Text in Dutch throughout.

Format: Paperback

Pages: 192

ISBN: 9789088900129

Pub Date: 01 Dec 2008

Imprint: Sidestone Press

Description:

This publication contains the six main appendices to the PhD thesis "A Living Landscape: Bronze Age settlement sites in the Dutch river area (c. 2000-800 BC)" by Stijn Arnoldussen which was published by Sidestone Press in 2008. That study comprises an analysis of the nature (i. e. the constituent components) and dynamics (i.e. diachronic approaches to settlement dynamics) of the settlement sites. It aims to integrate and synthesize interpretations of Bronze Age settlements based on a number of large-scale excavations. The discussion of the archaeological and geological research on these sites, as well as more detailed source criticism and long-term overviews of the occupation histories of six (c. 30 km2) macro-regions around them, could for sake of conciseness not be incorporated into the main stud's text. However, such discussions contain critical information necessary to interpret the results and to evaluate their representativeness, and this information is now made available in this separate publication. While these texts are primarily appendices to the thesis, they can be read separately by those who are particularly interested in the the excavations at Zijderveld, Rumpt - Eigenblok, Wijk bij Duurstede, Meteren - De Bogen, Lienden - Kesteren or Dodewaard, which have been published in Dutch. In addition, the appendices provide a recent overview of the palaeogeographical development and occupation history of six large macro-regions in the Dutch river area. This information may be of relevance to those studying other sites within these macro-regions for the period under study (c. 2000-800 BC). Stijn Arnoldussen studied the prehistory of northwestern Europe at Leiden University and won the 'W. A. van Es' award for the best Dutch archaeological MA thesis. From 2003 to 2007 he was involved in a research project that focused on the Bronze Age cultural landscape in the Dutch river area. The present book is a result of this project. Stijn Arnoldussen is also co-editor of the book 'Bronze Age settlements in the Low Countries' (Oxbow Books, 2008). He is presently employed as a senior researcher with the Dutch National Service for Archaeology, Cultural Landscape and Built Heritage (RACM) and starting November 2008, he will be employed as a lecturer in later prehistory at the University of Groningen.

Format: Paperback

Pages: 78

ISBN: 9789088900198

Pub Date: 01 Dec 2008

Imprint: Sidestone Press

Description:

In 1979, the world was taken by surprise when the Iranian people revolted against their westernized ruling elite, and traded in the Shah for a radical Islamic republic ruled by the most senior Shiite cleric, ayatollah Khomeini. The Islamic revolution of Iran was a breaking point in history. It was the defining moment for Islam in the twentieth century and fuelled the Islamic confidence that has since then only grown.

Format: Paperback

Pages: 200

ISBN: 9789088900204

Pub Date: 01 Dec 2008

Imprint: Sidestone Press

Description:

The sophistication of Neanderthal behavioural strategies have been the subject of debate from the moment of their recognition as a separate species of hominin in 1856. This book presents a study on Neanderthal foraging prowess. Novel ethnographic and primatological insights, suggest that increasing dependence on high quality foods, such as meat, caused the brain to evolve to a large size and thus led to highly intelligent hominins. From this baseline, the author studies the Neanderthal archaeological record in order to gain insight into the knowledge-intensity of Neanderthal hunting behaviour. In this research, an optimal foraging perspective is applied to Pleistocene bone assemblages. According to this perspective, foraging success is an important factor in an individuals evolutionary fitness. Therefore foraging is organised as efficiently as possible. The prey species that were selected and hunted by Neanderthals are analysed. The author investigates economic considerations that influenced Neanderthal prey choice. These considerations are based on estimates of the population densities of the available prey species and on estimates of the relative difficulty of hunting those species. The results demonstrate that when Neanderthals operated within poor environments, their prey choice was constrained: they were not able to hunt species living in large herds. In these environments, solitary species were the preferred prey. It is striking that Neanderthals successfully focussed on the largest and most dangerous species in poor environments. However, in richer environments, these constraints were lifted and species living in herds were successfully exploited. In order to assess the accuracy of this approach, bone assemblages formed by cave hyenas are also analysed. The combined results of the Neanderthal and hyena analyses show that an optimal foraging perspective provides a powerful tool to increase our understanding of Pleistocene ecology. The niches of two social carnivores of similar size, which were seemingly similar, are successfully distinguished. This result lends extra credence to the conclusions regarding Neanderthal foraging strategies. This book contributes to the debate surrounding Neanderthal competence and ability. It combines an up-to-date review of current knowledge on Neanderthal biology and archaeology, with novel approaches to the archaeological record. It is thus an important contribution to the current knowledge of this enigmatic species.

Format: Paperback

Pages: 537

ISBN: 9789088900105

Pub Date: 01 Dec 2007

Imprint: Sidestone Press

Description:

Today, half the Netherlands is below sea level. Because of this, water-management is of key importance when it comes to maintaining present-day habitation of the Dutch low-lands. In prehistory, however, large parts of the Dutch landscape were highly dynamic due to ongoing fluvial sedimentation.

Format: Paperback

Pages: 134

ISBN: 9789088900013

Pub Date: 01 Dec 2006

Imprint: Sidestone Press

Description:

As early as the 19th century discoveries of groups of large axes puzzled those confronted with them. The fact that most were found in waterlogged places increased the speculation as to the nature of the deposits. This thesis is concerned with the character and significance of TRB flint axe depositions.

Format: Paperback

Pages: 206

ISBN: 9789088900020

Pub Date: 01 Dec 2006

Imprint: Sidestone Press

Description:

An Archaeology of Exchange is primarily an archaeology of human sociality and anti-sociality. Nevertheless, archaeological studies of exchange are numerous and varied, and archaeologists do not always approach exchange as a social mechanism, concentrating rather on the cultural, economic or political implications of exchange. Even so, at times it is worth retracing the implicit theoretical steps that archaeologists have taken and look at human sociality through the eyes of exchange as something new.

Format: Paperback

Pages: 393

ISBN: 9789073368194

Pub Date: 15 Nov 2002

Imprint: Sidestone Press

Series: Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia

Illustrations: b/w illus, tbs (Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia 33/34 , Faculty of Archaeology, University of Leide

Description:

One of the most puzzling phenomena of the European Bronze Age, is that many communities buried or otherwise hid large numbers of valuable bronze objects, but never returned to retrieve them. This book focuses on the metal finds of one small European region, the southern Netherlands and the adjacent part of North Belgium. Fontijn considers the question of why so many elaborate bronze objects have been found in watery locations in this landscape, such as rivers, streams, and marshes, while so few have been found in the controlled excavations of local settlements and cemeteries.