This thesis examines the production, exchange and distribution of domestic and utilitarian ceramics in southern Transjordan and the Negev in the 6th–9th centuries AD, i.e., during the late Byzantine–early Islamic transition following the Muslim expansion into the former Byzantine province in the mid-7th century, and the formative centuries of Islamic culture. Ceramics from five socioeconomic contexts and archaeological sites, the monastery of Jabal Harûn, the village of Khirbet edh-Dharih, the port city of ‘Aqaba/Aila, the commercial and administrative centre of Elusa, and the farmstead of Abu Matar in Beersheva, were assigned to typo-chronological categories and analysed with ED-XRF and SEM-EDS to investigate their microstructure and composition. These data were employed to make inferences about their provenance, local ceramic production, manufacturing techniques, distribution patterns of ceramic products and shared influences in the ceramic culture. Typologically, the ceramics have numerous parallels from sites in southern Transjordan and the Negev, but also in the broader geographical area, illustrating that potters adapted their technologies similarly on the basis of influences diffusing from the Islamic centres. The analytical results demonstrate that the communities mainly utilised local ceramic supplies, although there were also complex systems of regional and interregional exchange, the distribution areas of certain ceramics extending to 200 km. There were apparently overlapping systems of ceramic supply. Some workshops specialised in certain forms, while others produced a wide range of products. Coarse ware ceramics were exchanged as byproducts of other goods, but probably also as primary products, either directly or via markets. Urban and rural communities also used cooking ware from the same manufacturer. The chronological span of the exploited raw material resources was remarkably long, and although new forms were introduced, possibly relating to changes in dietary customs, there were minimal changes in the operational chains of the potters and the ceramic recipes over these centuries. The ceramic data demonstrate that there were wealthy rural and urban economies in southern Transjordan and the Negev in the early Islamic period, which required and were able to sustain ceramic manufacture on a significantly large scale. Many characteristics of the southern ceramic culture provide an analogy with areas further north, Islamic cultural centres, and the wider cultural context.

The accumulation of capital is a widely recognised, but little studied, feature of early urbanisation in Mesopotamia during the fourth-millennium BC. Current research links the concentration and mobilisation of capital in urban centres to the expansion of cross-regional trade routes. However, the social and cultural mechanisms through which primary accumulation took place remain poorly understood. A related aspect of urban growth is the virtual disappearance of human burials from the archaeological record. This contrasts with earlier traditions where burials were routinely incorporated into domestic contexts. Adapting Weber‟s insights regarding the origins of modern capitalist accumulation in changing modes of religiosity, this research investigates the changing relationship between funerary rituals and wealth consumption. Detailed study of burial practices over the long-term (Late Neolithic through to Late Uruk) will isolate major trends in funerary consumption over time. This will situate the phenomenon of large-scale accumulation within a wider social matrix. The analogous treatment of human remains and artefacts in Late Neolithic funerary contexts highlights complex relationships between persons and objects. Late Neolithic funerary consumption suggests that acquisitive behaviour was morally sanctioned by interaction with the dead. The decreasing importance placed on funerary consumption during the fifth-millennium is reflected in the separation of the adult dead from habitation areas, inhibiting contact with the living. Goods were now channelled through households, and underwent ritually mediated (intramural infant burials) processes of transformation into new commodity forms. Trajectories of accumulation reinforced through provisioning ancestral cults and personal display in death developed during the Early-Middle Uruk period, only to be reversed with the onset of the Urban Revolution. The profound social changes that accompanied the urban expansion transformed conceptions of persons and things. The dead were expelled from the context of the living and the flow of commodities was now regulated by new forms of religious institution.

This research examines the ways in which communities define and value their cultural heritage and then how they deal with those ideas. By concentrating on ancient monumental stone towers and their relationship to the identity and sense of place among the Minyak townships along the Liqiu River in Kangding County, western Sichuan, it is possible to understand why and for whom the ancient is an active part of the present. How these communities manage their monumental heritage and balance concerns over economic development with a desire to continue cultural traditions such as language and lifeways contributes to current discussions and practices among heritage professionals the world over. Ancient buildings in Minyak are little documented, there is no comprehensive management plan for their conservation and thus far they have been saved from destruction (both active and by neglect) by the efforts of a native architect and his local NGO. The grass roots level organization in Minyak is compared with other sites in China that are farther along the path to proactively managing cultural resources. These vary in degree from Danba County in western Sichuan Province whose towers, which are part of the system of towers including Minyak, are currently on China’s Tentative List; to early 20th century Chinese-European architectural fusion of Kaiping in Guangdong Province which received UNESCO World Heritage designation in 2007 to Yongding County in Fujian Province with its traditional earthen houses (designated a World Heritage Site in 2008). Through a comparison of the beginning stages of community-based poorly funded conservation efforts to World Heritage Sites it is possible to place Minyak in the larger framework of discussion on the role of monumental architecture as it creates a sense of place and community identity.

This thesis examines metal production debris with the aim of reconstructing extractive metal technologies employed around Phalaborwa during the second millennium AD. Mining and metallurgy were previously identified as exclusive pulling factors for Iron Age human settlement in this agropastoral marginal area. Several Iron Age settlements with extensive metal production evidence were previously documented. This thesis places emphasis on extractive copper metallurgy previously neglected for several reasons. The early second millennium AD site of Shankare is used as the main case study. Whilst previously excavated metallurgical assemblages from late second millennium AD sites are re-investigated to explore diachronic changes in smelting technologies. The thesis is inspired by contemporary theoretical developments by the Francophone school of thought known as the ‘Anthropology of Technology’. Standard archaeological fieldwork procedures together with post-fieldwork laboratory studies were employed. Separation of copper from iron production debris visually was impossible but a combination of field observations and archaeometric approaches offered the answer. Archaeological ores, slags, technical ceramics and metal artefacts were subjected to optical microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS). Copper smelting slags differ significantly from iron smelting slags in their chemistry and microstructure. There are subtle differences in copper slags from different archaeological sites. Earlier copper slags are heterogeneous with notable unreacted minerals fragments. Despite these differences both copper and iron slags are linked to the same ore deposit known as the Palabora Igneous Complex. The metallurgical chaînes opératoires employed in the research area are reconstructed. At Shankare copper production is represented by crushed furnace slags and secondary refining ceramic crucibles. Iron slags are confined to dedicated metallurgical middens whereas copper production debris is present at low density scatters and domestic middens. This spatial configuration confirms recent observations by other archaeologists in Southern Africa. The archaeological and analytical results permit preliminary discussions of sociotechnical systems of Iron Age metal producers in the Northern Lowveld.

This thesis examines the final Pleistocene cultural landscape of the Azraq Oasis in eastern Jordan on the basis of archaeological fieldwork conducted at Ayn Qasiyya and AWS 48, two Epipalaeolithic sites in the southern Azraq wetlands. It challenges traditional understandings of landscape and socio-cultural changes during the Epipalaeolithic period, and this period’s role in shaping the subsequent emergence of agriculture and sedentism. The current model of socio-cultural change, which considers the Epipalaeolithic-Neolithic transition as a development from simple foragers, to complex collectors, to farmers, is critically reviewed. Evidence from the Epipalaeolithic of the Le-vant is highlighted that strongly suggests that this unilineal sequence must be re-evaluated. Furthermore, the social evolutionary underpinnings of this model are critiqued and rejected. This social evolutionary model is based on a conceptualization of the southern Levantine landscape as sub-divided into distinct phyto-geographical zones, which suggest a dichotomy between a lush ‘core’ and a impoverished ‘periphery’. Palaeoenvironmental data, however, is argued to be poorly correlated with major instances of socio-cultural change. This dichotomy also relates to a static understanding of landscape as empty, commodified space. To examine the Azraq Oasis from a different perspective and to suggest an alternative narrative the archaeological evidence produced by three seasons of fieldwork at Ayn Qasiyya and AWS 48 is first described in detail, and then interpreted from a practice orientated perspective. This practice perspective centres on examining the châine opératoire of the chipped stone artefacts and the activities and practices at the sites. It is argued that practices at these localities shapes space into social places, and that hereby landscapes become socially and culturally constructed. Using data from Ayn Qasiyya specifically, the social interactions of diverse social communities in the Azraq Basin can be tentatively reconstructed, providing a further example of the way in which social space was created though social engagement. I argue that these instances of the creation of places, and the evidence for social interaction, provide an alternative perspective on the Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic in the Azraq Basin and the southern Levant as a whole, which should lead us to reconsider the applicability of the geographical core-periphery dichotomy and social evolutionary models.

This thesis examines the Bronze Age settlement distribution in the Lower Murghab Delta, Turkmenistan. The delta represents a visually obstructed landscape in which the reconstruction of past archaeological patterns is extremely difficult. Drawing on concepts of distributional archaeology and 'siteless surveys', the research focuses on the distribution of surface pottery as the primary dataset in an examination of local and regional settlement distributions and their significance with respect to the proto-urban landscape of the delta. The survey data is assessed within the context of past and present landscapes, examining issues of visibility and recovery potential en route to a better understanding of the archaeological significance of the Bronze Age settlement pattern. While the central trajectory of the thesis is to address these issues, a secondary goal is to examine the nature of survey itself in the region. The field results are therefore considered in light of earlier Soviet/Russian and Italian research in the Murghab, assessing the effectiveness of that work and the research potential of intensive survey in the region. In addressing these questions, newer methodologies that incorporate spatial analysis and remote sensing data are examined, both on their own merits and as adjunct methods to support field survey. Ultimately, these questions are synthesised in order to examine the relationships between surface distributions and the landscape, and ultimately to better understand settlement phenomena in the northern Murghab.

The local production of iron was an important technology in eastern Africa up until the later twentieth century, when the use and reuse of imported iron overtook vernacular smelting industries and cemented their decline. Prior to this, the utilisation of local ores had produced iron for agricultural implements, household tools and weapons, serving the needs of many generations of farmers and herders across the region. The smelters of western Uganda enjoyed a particularly esteemed reputation in recent history, especially among their neighbours in Buganda, yet prior to this research little was known about the technologies upon which this reputation was fostered. This thesis presents the results of six months of fieldwork in Uganda and subsequent archaeometallurgical analysis, which together revealed the complexities of smelting in western Uganda between the fourteenth and twentieth centuries. Exploring this new archaeometallurgical dataset has indicated that some iron producers in Mwenge (a particularly iron-rich region of western Uganda) were selecting manganese-rich ores with which to supplement the iron ores in the smelt, imparting a tangible effect on the process and outcomes of these smelting episodes, hypothetically increasing the metal yield and improving operating parameters. Although such harnessing of beneficial manganese-rich minerals was an unexpected and unusual finding, technological reconstructions of these smelts highlighted several other interesting features, including the consistent use of grog temper in technical ceramics, the occasional use of banana pseudostems, and variations in furnace style. Combining these discoveries with existing ethnoarchaeological and ethnohistorical data, and building upon social approaches to iron technologies, it was possible to explore some of the possible reasons for this variation, adding colour and time-depth to the understanding of iron production within this region.

This project reveals the proliferation in the awareness of acetate and other carbonyl corrosion on bronze artifacts in archaeological collections. Blue and blue-green carbonyl corrosion of bronze is a recent discovery in part due to its mistaken attribution over the years to bronze disease, chalconatronite, and azurite. This project examines sources of acetic acid, and evaluates the environmental conditions in which acetate corrosion develops and the influence of alloyed lead and sodium contaminants in this process. Case studies identifying corrosion by XRD on predominantly Egyptian archaeological bronzes, with a focus on Saqqara, revealed a preponderance of a sodium copper carbonate acetate and copper sodium formate acetate. These were identified on the majority of Saqqara bronzes sampled in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Ashmolean Museum, Liverpool Museum, Petrie Museum and British Museum. Unknown compounds not included in the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD) catalogue were also discovered. Due to the novelty of this discovery, the conservation of bronze with carbonyl corrosion is as yet an unexplored area. This project examines passive and active means of conservation. Solubility and cleaning tests were carried out on the Saqqara bronzes. Solubility of carbonyl corrosion is discussed in terms of removability, influence on cleaning methods, and stabilization of corrosion by means of environmental control. Two coatings, the acrylate Incralac®, and the polyethylene wax emulsion Poligen® ES 91009, underwent corrosion testing on leaded and unleaded bronze with promising results as protective coatings against attack by volatile acetic acid.

This thesis seeks to explain the nature and strength of the latter-day status of Ştefan cel Mare in the republics of Romania and Moldova, and the history of his legacy. The regime and posthumous career of Ştefan cel Mare is examined through studies of history, politics and archaeology, set within the conceptual approach to nationalism that is known as “ethnosymbolism”. At the heart of this thesis lie the questions why does Ştefan cel Mare play a key role as a national symbol and how does this work in practice? These questions are addressed within an ethnosymbolist framework, which allows for the ethnosymbolist approach itself to be subjected to a critical study. There is a lacuna in many ethnosymbolist works, a space for a more detailed consideration of the place of archaeology in the development of nationalism. This thesis contends that the results of archaeological research can be included in a rounded ethnosymbolist study. First, the history of archaeological sites and monuments may contribute to understanding the way in which historically attested cultural symbols are adopted by communities over time. Secondly, if studied carefully, archaeological evidence may have the potential to trace the evolution of identity characteristics, in line with ethnosymbolism’s attempt to account for the formation of national identity in the pre-modern era.

The present study focuses on the primary glass production during Late Bronze Age mainly in Egypt and secondarily in the Eastern Mediterranean. Large scale production of Egyptian glass objects began around 1500 BC during the early New Kingdom. However, both the location at which glass was produced from its raw materials, and how the production centres were organised is still not clear. Several studies have investigated and/or continue to investigate how Egyptian glass was produced, how it was coloured, what raw materials were used; and several sites have been identified as possible primary glass production centres, with Qantir demonstrating the most concrete evidence at present. The chronologically earlier than Qantir sites of Amarna and Lisht provide sufficient evidence to make them candidates of LBA glass production as well. This present study investigates important finds which have not been studied before largely from the Amarna glass collection of the Petrie Museum, and secondarily, samples from the site of Lisht in order to investigate primary glass production in New Kingdom Egypt. In addition, by studying Mycenaean material from Thessaly in northern Greece as well as re-examining published data from Late Bronze Age Egyptian and Mesopotamian glass, patterns of glass production and exchange are also examined. The aim of this study is to increase our understanding regarding LBA glass production by (i) testing whether glass-making can be positively identified for the sites of Amarna and Lisht, (ii) determining whether the models developed for the site of Qantir are applicable also to Amarna and Lisht, (iii) identifying regional differences and patterns in LBA glass compositions.