Since William King’s first description of the species Homo neanderthalensis (1864), assessments of Neanderthal social behaviour have been biased by the assumption that this was a species of simian brutes. However, in recent years, genetic, palaeoanthropological, and archaeological findings have significantly undermined the assumption of specific biological and behavioural differences between Neanderthals and AMHs (Green et al. 2010; Reich et al. 2010; Hammer et al 2011; Mendez et al. 2013; Trinkaus 2011; Zilhão et al. 2010; Henry et al. 2011; Pike et al. 2012; Peresani et al. 2013; Rodriguez-Vidal et al. 2014). Despite these findings, trait-list arguments still dominate research paradigms concerning the sociobehavioural capacities of Neanderthals and AMHs. The current state of the human material, paleontological, and paleogenetic records necessitate a more robust theoretical foundation than the one that trait-list models provide (Barton et al. 2011). A socio-ecological approach based within fission-fusion studies can provide robust test hypotheses with the potential to elucidate the evolution of modern social complexity. Following this direction, this thesis adapts the band model of hunter-gatherer sociality (Layton and O’Hara 2010; Layton et al. 2012) to archaeological investigation. The results of this approach both demonstrate the applicability of the band model to Palaeolithic research and highly suggest that Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans shared a comparable fission-fusion sociality.

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One essential feature of African iron production process is that it is greatly variable in culture and technology. The early research focused on some themes: origins, culture, and how iron was produced, which were investigated using archaeological, ethno-archaeological, and experimental methods. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the relationship between macroscopic and microscopic variation of iron and steel production in the southern highlands of Tanzania. I used field methods: ethnographic inquiry, surface and sub-surface survey, mapping, and excavation; and laboratory analytical techniques: firing, optical and electron microscopy, microanalysis, and X-ray fluorescence to investigate the research theme. The results indicate that there is a strong relationship between macro- and microscopic variation of iron and steel production in terms of the use technical ceramics with good refractory qualities, the presence of the three stage process in Ufipa and Unyiha, involving a refining stage between the smelting and smithing stages; the liquid slag handling techniques, the reduction efficiency, and the nature of the final products: soft iron and carbon-rich steel. Although there are macroscopic data on the use of forced- and natural-draft furnaces in the region, it is difficult to microscopically verify the air supply mechanisms in the region. This work recommends that in order to avoid the confusion on the three stage process and relationship between macro- and microscopic variation in iron and steel production, the role of matrix and provenance should be given due weight as laboratory analyses.

Since the 1970s, research on the first millennium AD in the Middle Niger has shed light on a fascinating episode of the world's history. Written records and oral histories hint at the existence of large polities and great wealth, while archaeological research has documented the development of urbanism and long-distance trade networks, and attempted to locate legendary capitals and trace migrations. In contrast, we know very little about the life of non-urban localities and societies living at the edge of the great 'empires'. This thesis takes an explicitly social focus to archaeology in the Middle Niger. To this end, excavations were carried out at the medium-sized tell site of Tongo Maarê Diabal (c. AD 400-1100) near Douentza, Mali. Rather than exploring the site's deep stratigraphy, which had already been done by K.C. MacDonald and T. Togola in the 1990s, these excavations opened a large area of the uppermost occupation horizon. Building on this excavation strategy, and using a household- level approach to a wide range of artefactual evidence, this thesis is able to explore themes such as sociocultural diversity, the social use of space, craft specialisation, connections and trade on a local, regional and supra-regional scale. Tongo Maarè Diabal is shown to have been the densely populated home of several lineage groups, which formed part of a network of sites in a culturally diverse region. The site's inhabitants were involved in the production and processing of iron on a large scale, which they probably traded with urbanised areas in the Inland Niger Delta, and upheld a network of influences and connections spanning the Middle Niger and the Niger Bend, even reaching across the Sahara.

This thesis presents a model of the Classic Maya polity using evidence from monumental inscriptions produced between about 200 and 900 CE. There have been many interpretations of the structure and operation of Classic Maya political units over the past century, with a polarised debate over their scale and degree of centralization that continues to the present day. Using new readings provided by an unfolding hieroglyphic decipherment, combined with fresh comparative and theoretical approaches, this study seeks to resolve these long-standing questions and lay the groundwork for a political anthropology of the region. It critiques an enduring emphasis on the form of political communities at the expense of how they interacted within a regional system, arguing that neither polity nor system can be understood independently since each determines the other as part of a recursive whole. The assembled evidence points strongly to a hegemonic mode of interaction between numerous Classic Maya polities, but the project goes beyond the description of such an order to analyze how it functioned and reproduced itself over time. It seeks to answer the core question of a multi-polity system, which is why did such an environment persist over time and not end in the consolidation of a few powerful polities?

This thesis aims primarily at furthering our understanding of the technologies involved in the metallurgy of precious metals during the Renaissance, by combining a critical evaluation of historical texts with the analytical study of contemporary archaeological remains. In particular, this work focuses on high-temperature processes performed in the fire assay and smelting of ores, by investigating two archaeological case studies from sixteenth-century Austria: the small-scale laboratory of Oberstockstall – the most complete Renaissance laboratory ever recovered –, and the contemporary large-scale gold smelting site of the Angertal. The analytical techniques used are optical microscopy, X-ray fluorescence, and scanning electron microscopy-energy and wavelength dispersive spectrometry. In the Oberstockstall laboratory, the study of high-temperature residues produced in triangular crucibles, scorifiers and cupels allows a detailed examination of fire assay practice. The main technical sequence identified is a three-step fusion-scorification-cupellation process, performed on fahlores for their precious metal content, together with a wider range of experimental chymical activities, testing the properties of new materials and illustrating approaches that would prove fundamental in the development of chemistry and modern science. The analyses of metallurgical remains from the contemporary gold smelting site in the Angertal indicate that silver and gold were extracted from a variety of sulphidic minerals characteristic of the regional mineralisation, employing a very standardised technological sequence. Smelting such ores created lead bullion at the bottom of the furnace, which collected most of the noble metals, fayalitic slag on top, and matte in between. The significant gold and silver losses in matte, documented through experimental cupellation of archaeological samples, suggest the possibility of matte being re-smelted, while it demonstrates in practice the links that would have existed between small- and large-scale metallurgical processes. The archaeological and historical contextualisation of these reconstructions, and comparison with contemporary technical treatises, allow a detailed insight into early modern gold and silver extraction and highlight the potential of future work.

Zinc made a relative late appearance in the metallurgical history of China. As a volatile metal, its production required sophisticated distillation installations. The production of this metal played a special role in both the technological and economic history of Ming and Qing China: as a key constituent of the copper-alloy brass, zinc was employed for coinage and also exported via long-distance maritime trade. Our understanding of Chinese zinc distillation technology has traditionally been limited by a lack of studies of production remains. Recent excavation of zinc smelting sites in Fengdu and Shizhu, Chongqing, provides an excellent opportunity to address this issue. This thesis presents the analyses, technical interpretation and socio-economic contextualisation of the production remains from three sites in Fengdu and one site in Shizhu. Zinc ore, zinc metal, retorts and slag were analysed by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS), electron probe micro-analyser with wavelength dispersive spectrometry (EPMA-WDS) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). Following on a detailed technological reconstruction, some differences were found between the zinc distillation technologies in Fengdu and Shizhu, not only in technical efficiency but also in the organisation of production. These differences can be explained as adaptation of the zinc production for coinage to the different social, political and economic constraints affecting each group of sites. This thesis thus offers a first contribution towards a detailed comparative reconstruction of Chinese zinc distillation technology that considers both variations in time and space as well as common elements that characterise the Chinese technological style. The significance of Chinese zinc production is contextualised and discussed with reference to coinage in Ming and Qing China, but also by comparing it to other brass and zinc making technologies in China, India and Europe, and by assessing the influence of Chinese zinc in the international maritime trade.

In this thesis I argue that history galleries work to construct place and culture and that, within this work, the new participatory practice offers a means to materialise participants’ agency in the gallery and interrupt hegemonic conceptions of belonging. I initially identify a growing trend for participatory practice in the curation of English museum galleries. Debates on relations between museum and community and of ethics and justice provide the foundations to the new work. A case-study methodology allows me to understand the practice from the perspectives of those involved. Actor-network theory provides a model to map both the enduring associations, which frame the projects, and the new voluntary associations with community members. I recognise all those involved as actors translating their personal agency into the project, and theorise the participants’ direct and indirect influence on the galleries as transformative translation. These actions include direct control of curation and influences on staff learning. The dynamics of trust, agency and participation are theorised as critical to the success of the practice. In order to assess the impact of participatory practices I apply discourse analysis to the finished galleries. This reveals the dominant discourses being constructed. These narratives are counterpointed with the co-present discourses on cultural diversity. More or less inclusive constructions of belonging for the city are noted as an unresolved debate on the terms of belonging arises in the relationship between these narratives. Finally I bring together analyses of process and product to discuss ways in which the participatory practice can help museums to re-imagine the gallery and the city. I note the ethical benefits of participatory working practices but highlight the role of staff choice in inviting such participation. I argue staff have an obligation to act ethically and offer guidelines to assist in this process.

The thesis is concerned with the Hellenistic banquet and rider reliefs discovered within modern Greece, and examines their typology, iconography, and style, in order to trace the evolution of both themes and of individual motifs, in comparison with similar material from other Greek areas, and Macedonian areas now belonging outside the Greek borders. It aims to investigate the influence of sculpture of other Greek areas (predominantly Attic sculpture) on iconography and style, as well as to establish prototypes and local trends, and thus to place Macedonian funerary relief production within the broader frame of Greek relief production. It also aims to trace any relation between iconography and metaphysical beliefs of the Macedonians by exploring the cultural and religious background of the people, as attested by archaeological and literary evidence. Both themes are seen in the light of public beliefs in the Afterlife and within the context of the heroization and cult of the dead in the Hellenistic period. Both themes, as well as individual motifs, are interpreted on the basis of iconography, epigraphy and literature; it is argued that the funerary banquet represents the deceased as a hero in the Underworld, and that the theme of the rider represents the deceased both as a hero and as an important member of the society. The social status of individuals and groups who erected the reliefs is also investigated on the basis of iconography, epigraphy, and onomastics, with the aim of exploring the plausible factors which might have determined the choice of themes and particular motifs.

Chemical data obtained through LA-ICP-MS, EPMA and XRF analysis have been used to investigate the potential for provenancing archaeological.artefacts. By combining chemical analysis with multivariate statistical analysis (pCA and cluster analysis) a more robust and objective method of classification and provenancing can be obtained. Modem glass bottles were used as an analogue for Islamic Bahraini glass samples, to test the application ofXRF analysis. For the modem glass samples which were homogeneous, with the chemistry being tightly controlled during manufacture and were free from alteration by weathering, an accurate method of provenancing was obtained. The colour of the glass was found to be a confounding factor. By restricting statistical analysis to a single colour of sample, a wide range of bottles from around the world were accurately grouped into the region where they were manufactured. Applying the same methods to the Islamic Bahraini glass it was found that the amount of weathering was a major confounding factor, as was the colour of the sample. When performing PCA and cluster analysis it was found that samples clustered together depending on their degree of weathering or how well weathering products had been removed prior to analysis. The size of sample for XRF was found to have an effect on the accuracy of the analysis, caused by x-ray attenuation within the sample and therefore requiring a ZAP like correction to be made to major and minor elemental data. No effect was seen when performing PCA and cluster analysis. Variations in the amounts of MgO and K20 present indicate that plant ashes were used as the soda source and not natron. There may be slight differences in the plants or the parts of plants used in manufacture. Ah03 contents also indicate differences in the silica source but neither of these appear to be related to the period of time or location where the samples were found. It is possible that raw glass was brought to Bahrain for re-working or that finished items were traded from elsewhere as no evidence was found in the samples for primary glass production (frit). The analysis of carnelian beads from India and Mali by LA-ICP-MS was found to be difficult. Although the heterogeneity within a carnelian bead was found to be much less than that seen in samples of agate, the chemical variations within in a sample was still large and would outweigh any differences between sources.