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Archaeology

In September 2022 Oxbow's bookshop and distribution business merged with Pen & Sword Books, a family run independent publisher of history books. As Casemate UK, this new distribution business will continue to bring you the best books in the field of archaeology and related disciplines from our partner publishers. The Oxbow Books publishing imprint remains as a separate entity, still sold and distributed exclusively by us. Browse the archaeology subjects below, or visit our Ancient History and Medieval History books landing pages in the menus above.

Human Transformations of the Earth Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
ISBN: 9781789259209
Pub Date: 15 Sep 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: B/W and colour
Description:
This book charts and explains how human activities have shaped and altered the development of soils in many parts of the world, taking advantage of five decades of soil analytical work in many archaeological landscapes from around the globe. The core of this volume describes and illustrates major transformations of soils and the processes involved in these that have occurred during the Holocene and how these relate to human activities as much as natural causes and trajectories of development, right up to the present day. This is done in two ways: first by examining a number of major processes and impacts on the landscape such as Holocene warming and the development of woodland, clearance and agricultural activities, and second by examining the trajectories of these changes in soil systems in different palaeo-environmental situations in several diverse parts of the world.
Current Research in Nubian Archaeology Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 141
ISBN: 9781463243937
Pub Date: 01 Sep 2022
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
Sudan, now split into the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan, boasts a rich cultural heritage that has in recent years become the increasing focus of an international community of archaeologists, anthropologists and historians. This volume brings together papers presented at the Third Sudan Studies Annual Conference, a unique forum for interdisciplinary work.
Canterbury Cathedral, Trinity Chapel Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 416
ISBN: 9781789258417
Pub Date: 15 Aug 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: Colour
Description:
Canterbury Cathedral possesses a unique marble mosaic pavement, dating from the early 12th century, which has long intrigued scholars and been the subject of speculation and debate. It forms part of the floor of the Trinity chapel, adjacent to the site where the shrine of St Thomas Becket stood, prior to the Reformation. Since the mosaic is older than the chapel itself and partly destroyed a pavement of figurative roundels, laid c.
Writing Around the Ancient Mediterranean Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 320
ISBN: 9781789258509
Pub Date: 15 Aug 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Contexts of and Relations Between Early Writing Systems
Description:
Writing in the ancient Mediterranean existed against a backdrop of very high levels of interaction and contact. In the societies around its shores, writing was a dynamic practice that could serve many purposes – from a tool used by elites to control resources and establish their power bases to a symbol of local identity and a means of conveying complex information and ideas. This volume brings together contributions by members of the Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems (CREWS) research team and visiting fellows, offering a range of different perspectives and approaches to problems of writing in the ancient Mediterranean.
Preserved in the Peat Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
ISBN: 9781789258783
Pub Date: 05 Aug 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: Colour
Description:
Excavation of a Scheduled burial mound on Whitehorse Hill, Dartmoor revealed an unexpected, intact burial deposit of Early Bronze Age date associated with an unparalleled range of artefacts. The cremated remains of a young person had been placed within a bearskin pelt and provided with a basketry container, from which a braided band with tin studs had spilled out. Within the container were beads of shale, amber, clay and tin; wo pairs of turned wooden studs and a worked flint flake.
RRP: £34.95
Danish Archaeological Investigations on Failaka, Kuwait. The Second Millennium Settlements, vol. 5 Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 112
ISBN: 9788793423725
Pub Date: 01 Aug 2022
Illustrations: Illustrations, color
Description:
Excavations in 1958-1963 on the island of Failaka in Kuwait uncovered a small community of Dilmun traders from the second millennium BC. Prominent among the finds were 629 beads, most of them made of semi-precious stone, such as different varieties of chalcedony (agate, carnelian, jasper, and moss agate) and quartz (rock crystal, milky quartz, and smoky quartz), and a range of other stone types, such as calcite, chlorite, lapis lazuli, turquoise and porphyry. Additionally, part of the beads was made of glass: a new prestige material of the second millennium.
Harpole Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 240
ISBN: 9780904220902
Pub Date: 01 Aug 2022
Series: Oxford Archaeology Monograph
Illustrations: 119
Description:
Excavations at Panattoni Park, at Harpole within the Nene Valley west of Northampton, uncovered part of a Roman villa and evidence for preceding prehistoric and early Roman settlement. The earliest evidence was a Mesolithic flint-knapping site. During the early Iron Age or at the start of the middle Iron Age, a pit alignment was constructed running down the valley side.
The Pyramid Fields of Ancient Egypt: A Satellite Atlas Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 200
ISBN: 9788076710535
Pub Date: 28 Jul 2022
Description:
This volume offers a valuable resource by compiling and interpreting high-resolution satellite images of all Old and Middle Kingdom pyramid sites in Egypt. The sites included in this Atlas represent to a large degree the principal sites of the third- through the thirteenth-Dynasty. Their particular characteristics mirror the specific periods of Egyptian history, providing a fascinating window into the incredible story of ancient Egypt.
Archaeologies of Cosmoscapes in the Americas Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 288
ISBN: 9781789258448
Pub Date: 15 Jul 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: B/w and colour
Description:
This volume examines how pre-Columbian societies in the Americas envisioned their cosmos and iteratively modelled it through the creation of particular objects and places. It emphasises that American societies did this to materialize overarching models and templates for the shape and scope of the cosmos, the working definition of cosmoscape. Noting a tendency to gloss over the ways in which ancestral Americans envisioned the cosmos as intertwined and animated, the authors examine how cosmoscapes are manifested archaeologically, in the forms of objects and physically altered landscapes.
Clachtoll Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 336
ISBN: 9781789258479
Pub Date: 15 Jul 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: B/w and colour
Description:
Clachtoll broch is one of the most spectacular Iron Age settlements on the northern mainland of Scotland. When it became clear that the structure was threatened by coastal erosion, community heritage group Historic Assynt launched a major programme of conservation and excavation works designed to secure the vulnerable structure and recover the archaeological evidence of its occupation and use. The resulting excavation provided evidence of a long and complex history of construction and rebuilding, with the final, middle Iron Age occupation phase ending in a catastrophic fire and collapse of the tower by the early years of the first century AD.
Highhays, Kilkenny Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 368
ISBN: 9781789258530
Pub Date: 15 Jul 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: Full colour
Description:
This richly illustrated book presents the first comprehensive study of the making and marketing of pottery in medieval Ireland. Focusing on a well-preserved 14th-century pottery production centre which was excavated in 2006 at Highhays, outside the walls of the renowned Anglo-Norman town of Kilkenny in south-east Ireland, the authors describe its kiln, workshops and working areas, as well as its ‘Highhays Ware’ products: jugs, jars, cooking-pots, money-boxes and ridge tiles. Foremost amongst the outputs from the kiln site were high-quality, wheel-thrown, green-glazed jugs that were closely modelled on French Saintonge and Bristol Redcliffe archetypes and the volume describes the distinctive processes, kiln-firing technology and raw materials that were employed to produce these, and the other wares, represented on the site.
Ancient Arms Race: Antiquity's Largest Fortresses and Sasanian Military Networks of Northern Iran Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 928
ISBN: 9781789254624
Pub Date: 25 Jun 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: British Institute of Persian Studies Archaeological Monograph Series
Illustrations: colour
Description:
Which ancient army boasted the largest fortifications, and how did the competitive build-up of military capabilities shape world history? Few realise that imperial Rome had a serious competitor in Late Antiquity. Late Roman legionary bases, normally no larger than 5 ha, were dwarfed by Sasanian fortresses, often covering 40 ha, sometimes even 125–175 ha.
Journal of Roman Pottery Studies Volume 19 Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
ISBN: 9781789258257
Pub Date: 15 Jun 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Series: Journal of Roman Pottery Studies
Illustrations: B/w
Description:
The main focus of this volume is upon pottery production sites. The major contribution comprises ‘Excavations of Roman pottery kiln sites in Cantley Parish, South Yorkshire, 1956–1975’ by Paul Buckland and the late John Magilton. Other contributions publish the well-preserved kiln complex and products at Lavenham, Suffolk (Andrew Newton, Andrew Peachey, et al.
English Orchards Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 224
ISBN: 9781914427190
Pub Date: 05 Jun 2022
Imprint: Windgather Press
Illustrations: B/w and colour
Description:
Old orchards have an irresistible appeal. Their ancient trees and obscure fruit varieties seem to provide a direct link with the lost rural world of our ancestors, a time when the pace of life was slower and people had a strong and intimate connection with their local environment. They are also of critical importance for sustaining biodiversity, providing habitats, in particular, for a range of rare invertebrates.
Exploring Ancient Textiles Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 176
ISBN: 9781789257250
Pub Date: 05 Jun 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: B/w and colour
Description:
Over the past 30 years, research on archaeological textiles has developed into an important field of scientific study. It has greatly benefitted from interdisciplinary approaches, which combine the application of advanced technological knowledge to ethnographic, textual and experimental investigations. In exploring textiles and textile processing (such as production and exchange) in ancient societies, archaeologists with different types and quality of data have shared their knowledge, thus contributing to well-established methodology.
Tell Ahmar on the Syrian Euphrates Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 216
ISBN: 9781789258387
Pub Date: 05 Jun 2022
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Illustrations: B/w and colour
Description:
Tell Ahmar – also known as Masuwari, Til Barsib and Kar-Shalmaneser in the first millennium BCE – was first inhabited in the sixth millennium during the Ubaid period, and progressively developed to become a regional centre, and in the eighth and seventh centuries, a provincial capital of the Assyrian empire. Remains from the third millennium (a temple and a funerary complex), the second millennium (an administrative complex and well-preserved houses) and the first millennium (an Assyrian palace and elite residences) are particularly impressive. The book offers an archaeological and historical synthesis of the results obtained by the excavations of François Thureau-Dangin (1929–1931) and by the more recent excavations of the universities of Melbourne (1988–1999) and Liège (2000–2010).