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The site of Tell Atchana/Ancient Alalakh is located in the Amuq valley, now in the modern province of Hatay, in Southern Turkey. While it was previously thought that the site was abandoned towards the end of the Late Bronze Age, recent excavations at the site have demonstrated the presence of Iron Age levels, suggesting a prolonged period of occupation. This thesis presents a detailed analysis of the pottery assemblages excavated from the Iron Age levels of Alalakh; makes a major contribution to defining a new chronology for the site of Alalakh and sheds a new light on the last centuries of occupation. Based on the pottery assemblages this thesis proposes a new interpretation of the Early Iron Age period as being not a period of crisis and collapse but of accomplishment and regeneration. Moreover, by applying a more holistic and anthropological approach to the study of ceramics, this thesis investigates the patterns of consumption and of social dynamics in Early Iron Age Alalakh and links them within the broader regional framework of the Northern Levant. The morphological analysis carried out in this thesis defines a typology for the Iron Age pottery assemblages and establishes a relative chronology for the Iron Age levels. This enables the Iron Age settlement on Alalakh to be dated to the Iron Age I and II (12th-9th century BC). The functional analysis performed on the pottery assemblage recovered from square 42.10, the only square that yielded a reliable stratigraphy, results in the identification of the square as an open area devoted to the processing and consumption of food. This approach determines a change in the way food was cooked and displayed, but not in the way it was served and consumed. Finally this thesis draws conclusions related to continuity and change detectable in the local pottery assemblage and proposes a new historical narrative regarding Alalakh and the Amuq valley for the first centuries of the Early Iron Age.

Ancient trace residues left on stone artefacts by people represent a source of potentially fruitful data about diet, technology, and behaviour, but their investigation is not problem-free. Rather, correct identification of degraded residues and determination of their natural or anthropogenic origin remains at the heart of current methodological development in lithic residue analysis. This thesis addresses these issues by examining: 1) 13 modern reference residues on flint flakes, 2) modern residues on 78 experimentally buried flint flakes at Star Carr and off-site, and 3) residue traces on 138 archaeological stone artefacts from Star Carr. The study of modern reference residues showed that only residue types bearing diagnostic structures can be confidently identified by visual analysis alone. The study of experimentally buried flakes showed that tree resin, softwood tissue, and red ochre preserved after both one month and 11 months burial periods and across three burial environments, and were the most likely candidates to be encountered archaeologically. When the archaeological material was examined using reflected visible light microscopy (VLM), hypotheses of residue origin based on visual observations were tested against chemical information collected from the residues. Importantly, the microscopic hypotheses of residue identity based on comparison with reference residues and published literature were, in nearly all cases, falsified by confocal Raman microspectroscopy (micro-Raman) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Key identifications were: iron (III) oxide, gypsum, quartz, pyrite, and organics. Some residue samples also contained compounds consistent with pine tree resin, but this finding is considered preliminary. These results from stone artefacts highlight the need in lithic residue analysis for: 1) more careful consideration of chemical processes in the burial environment, and 2) further incorporation of appropriate scientific techniques to verify microscopic residue identifications.

Living things change. From Ruskin onwards, reference has been made to historic buildings as ‘living’, and current guidance in England defines conservation as ‘the management of change’; in practice, however, conservation processes often appear to resist change. While acknowledged in legislation, the difference between historic monuments and living buildings that remain in active use is often blurred; for the latter, the demands of the present and future necessarily play a more prominent role than for the former. In pre-modern cultures it is the dynamic processes of an ongoing tradition that safeguards this balance of past, present and future. Tradition is characterised by temporal continuity rather than the radical discontinuity proclaimed by modernity and assumed by much conservation theory, and is essential for a ‘balanced heritage’ of people and place. In this thesis English parish churches are used to explore the relationship between communities of tradition and their historic buildings from two angles – firstly, a critique of the permissions process through an examination of key documentation and, secondly, the lived experience of five communities who have attempted, with varying results, to change their medieval church building. From this it is argued that conservation cannot deal responsibly with the objects of tradition without a thorough understanding of the creative workings of tradition itself, and that narrative is the associated cultural form by which continuity through temporal change becomes intelligible. Finally, the practical application of a tradition-centred narrative framework for conservation is explored in three ways: firstly, through issues of concern to practitioners; secondly, through the polemic of a new conservation manifesto; and, thirdly, through a booklet for church communities introducing the conservation landscape. As a whole, this project demonstrates the necessity and productivity of a critical engagement with theory, which conservation has hitherto tended to avoid.

It is now clear in archaeology that a full interpretation of sites cannot be realised if information about the environmental setting and constraints of the surrounding context are not available. The Latium coast (central Italy) has been extensively investigated since the 19th century and is one of the regions with the highest number of prehistoric sites in Italy. In spite of this, multidisciplinary environmental reconstructions of this region are still absent. This thesis deals with investigations of the travertine quarry Cava Muracci (Latium, central Italy), where excavations were carried out between 2012 and 2016. Seven caves were discovered, coprolites, a large faunal assemblage and a small lithic collection were found at one of them (i.e. Area 3) which was revealed to be a cave hyena den dating between 44–34 ka BP. A holistic palaeoecological study has been undertaken to increase our knowledge of the environment of the coastal Latium, the so-called Pontine Plain. Pollen analysis of cave hyena coprolites, an extremely undervalued resource, has been carried out for the first time in the region. This study has provided new insights into the vegetation and climate of the Pontine Plain, previously known only through distant pollen records. The faunal assemblage from the den has also been exhaustively studied. The environmental inferences have then been combined with the pollen data and geological information. The results returned a complex reconstruction of the local landscape, with at least three main habitats and a wide biodiversity. Finally, the role of the Pontine Plain as an ecological refugium has been examined. The results of this research suggest the region had milder environmental constraints, providing an optimal place to live to several faunal and vegetational taxa also during the harshest millennia of Late Pleistocene.

This thesis presents the novel analysis of the extensive lithic assemblage at the Early Mesolithic site of Flixton Island 2, Flixton, Yorkshire, and the geochemical analysis program carried out alongside that. The research project aimed to evaluate whether the use of several methods of analysis on sediments and lithics could produce a better understanding of activity areas and spatial patterning than had previously been achieved for Mesolithic dryland sites. A complementary case study was undertaken at Star Carr. More than 20,000 lithic artefacts were typologically analysed to define the nature of the Long Blade and Early Mesolithic lithics assemblages from Flixton Island 2. Sediment samples associated with the Mesolithic lithics assemblage were analysed using general geochemical tests (colour and texture assessment, pH, calcium carbonate presence, and phosphate presence) alongside elemental characterisation using inductively-coupled plasma atomic-emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF). Spatial statistical methods were applied to explore and analyse the data. At the more ephemeral of the two sites, Flixton Island 2, the use of both artefact analysis and geochemical analysis suggested that spatial patterning on site could be drawn out and mutually supported by the two avenues of evidence. At Star Carr, similar multi-elemental analysis on an occupation area that had archaeologically identified structural features strongly supported the case for the structure’s proposed limits as well as providing new information about potential activity in the general vicinity. The two sites yielded results that indicated that geochemical testing, particularly multi-elemental characterisation, and combining that information with artefactual and structural evidence was a useful approach for future researchers to consider using to identify activity areas at both ephemeral and more significant Mesolithic sites.

The archives and libraries of Europe are full of dead animals. As the primary medium for writing for over 1000-years, tens of millions of durable parchment skins were manufactured, many of which survive to this day. While a few are illuminated Gospels or Royal Charters, the vast majority are mundane legal deeds concerning the ownership or right over property. When viewed simply as a textual resource, they are often considered to be of limited historic value and risk being deaccessioned or refused by archives. However, as a physical object they are an extraordinary high-resolution zooarchaeological and molecular archive, through which centuries of craft, trade and animal husbandry can be explored. To explore the use of parchment as an isotopic resource, sheep, goat, pig and calfskin parchment was manufactured, identifying an impact from production on the measured values in fresh skin. The isotopic relationship between skin and bone was explored though paired samples to aid the integration of parchment results with bone collagen data; and a freeranging diet study undertaken on a modern flock of sheep to examine the isotopic spacing between diet, bone, skin and parchment. These results were used to interpret data from 663 British legal deeds dating from the 12th to 20th century. Species identification via peptide mass fingerprinting indicted an almost exclusive use of sheepskin parchment throughout the medieval and post-medieval period. δ13C and δ15N isotope analysis revealed information on the use of domestic and potentially imported skins, as well as a likely preference for the skins of young lambs. Insight was also provided into the increasing geographical range livestock and skins moved across Britain facilitated by transport developments.

Medieval Portugal, tucked between a Christian north and an Islamic south, and at a crossroad between Africa and Europe, saw the birth and development of a multi-faith and multi-cultural society. Muslims and Christians co-existed in this region, shaping a unique pluralistic society, first under Islamic political control and later under Christian rule following the Christian conquest of the 12th century. This thesis applies carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope analysis to characterises early and late medieval diet under Islamic (8th-12th) and Christian rule (12th-15th), exploring the impact of a shifting political system, status and faith onto economy, food availability and consumption. Analysis of stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) was performed on bone collagen from 176 animals and 251 humans including Muslims and Christians sampled from sites covering a north-south trajectory (Laranjal, Coimbra, Lisbon, Setubal, Beja, Silves and Loulé) with a date range between the 8th and 15th centuries. Results indicate that a faith-related difference in diet exists but is also related to chronology and geographical location. Early medieval Muslim diet is based on animal protein and C3 plants with possible inputs of low trophic level fish in Setubal and Loulé; while bigger proportions of marine fish appear in the diet of late medieval Muslims in Lisbon. Early medieval Christian diet is based on terrestrial resources with a reliance on C4 plants in Coimbra; while late medieval Christian sites in southern Portugal show a reliance on marine resources. Results show a difference in diet between early and late medieval sites with a clear change in economy possibly brought about by the Christian conquest. Multi-faith sites (Lisbon, Beja and Silves) show an increment of at least 11% in the quantity of marine protein included in the human diet of Muslims and Christians from the early to the late medieval period.

The research conducted explored the dynamics of the historical water-management system that was in use at Engaruka, Tanzania, between the 15th to 18th centuries CE, the aim being to model the primary human and environmental factors and their interactions, and to assess how these influenced the development of the system at several spatial and temporal scales. The ABMs developed in this research represent first steps in the integration of archaeological evidence with ABM techniques in order to understand the Engaruka site. This research shows how the integration of data from different sources and disciplines can help in our understanding of how the system could have developed by integrating a multitude of factors and showing how these interactions influenced the development of the system.

This research focuses on the representation of mounds and standing stones in Orkney's folklore, and how this can inform us about potential Norse perceptions of sites and the landscape. The Orcadian folkloric record is examined under consideration of wider parallels, whilst case studies are considered individually as well as within their wider landscape setting.