This volume presents detailed results on the manufacturing technology and elemental composition of some 136 objects in the collections of six European museums, with discussion of the findings in historical and cultural contexts. The starting point was the remarkable jewellery buried with a woman and a child who lived about 1650-1550 BC at Qurna, the West Bank of ancient Thebes in Upper Egypt. The questions generated from this find led to investigation of assemblages and individual artefacts from earlier periods in varied social contexts, from the rural environment of Qau and Badari, to sites connected with urban or royal centres, such as Riqqa, Haraga and Lahun.

This book explores the role of material culture in the formation of corporeal aesthetics and beauty ideals in different past societies and thus contributes to the cultural relativization of bodily aesthetics and related gender norms. The volume does not explore beauty for the sake of beauty, but extensively explores how it serves to form and keep gender norms in place. The concept of beauty has been a topic of interest for some time, yet it is only in recent times that archaeologists have begun to approach beauty as a culturally contingent and socially constructed phenomenon. Although archaeologists and ancient historians extensively dealt with gender, they dealt less with it in relation to beauty. The contributions in this volume deal with different intersections of gender and corporeal aesthetics by turning to rich archaeological, textual and iconographic data from ancient Sumer, Aegean Bronze Age, ancient Egypt, ancient Athens, Roman provinces, the Viking world and the Qajar Iran. Beauty thus moves away from a curiosity and surface of the body to an analytic concept for a better understanding of past and present societies.

Climate change is the greatest challenge of our generation - we hear it all the time.  It has almost become a refrain.  But do we really believe it? What if we were to let those words settle a little, penetrate minds and hearts deeply, and accept their troubling, terrifying truth? What if we were to understand that climate change isn't something far away out there in space and time, but something that affects us here and now?   In Climate Generation: Awakening to Our Children's Future, Lorna Gold shares her personal journey in understanding what those two words 'climate change' mean for her as a mother seeking to protect her children and, by extension, the world of which we are all a part.        Climate change is a real danger, which risks destroying our Children's future.  This book tells the story of how one mother was awakened to this reality and how it changed her life.  From fearing she could do nothing, she found herself catapulted into a big adventure.  She discovered people from all walks of life who care about their children's futures and who are doing amazing things to make these voices heard.             ADVANCE PRAISE         "Lorna Gold has given all of herself to this small book. She takes us on an anguished, unflinching journey into the heart of the climate crisis, and emerges emboldened - with a radical, utterly convincing hope that we can spring into action to protect the future of everything, and everyone, we love most." Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything: Capitalism Vs. the Climate        "We need more narratives on climate change so that people are encouraged to make it a personal issue in their lives. This compelling personal story of a mother and activist makes that emotional connection very well, as she wakes up to the danger her children are in and connects the dots on how to safeguard their future." Mary Robinson, President, Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice        "Written by one of the planet’s most stalwart and successful climate fighters, this is a truly necessary book. If you’ve ever wondered how you could dig in and make a real difference on the greatest problem the planet faces, wonder no longer. Just read." Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature