No description available.

This study investigates continuity and change in ceramic production and consumption during the Classic to Postclassic transition (c. A.D.750 - A.D.1050) at the Maya centre of Lamanai, a community that stands out for its continued prosperity during a time changing world conditions. It examines the ways in which community-based activities involving ceramics were affected by developments at a regional level, such as the disruption of networks of politico-economic relations, population migrations and military pressures. Variability in ceramics is examined in terms of vessel style, raw materials and technology, to reveal continuity and change in local manufacturing traditions, in addition to illuminating the provenance of a range of ceramics. In addressing these questions, an approach was adopted that integrates traditional macroscopic methods of examination with thin section petrography, neutron activation analysis and scanning electron microscopy. The mineralogical, chemical and structural data generated are interpreted in the light of archaeological and geological information, in order to reconstruct the community-level patterns of ceramic production and consumption. The research has produced a host of new information on ceramic change for the Terminal Classic to Early Postclassic period. The results of the study reveal a period of cultural transition within the community, marked by innovative ideas and their blending with well established pottery traditions. Local craft practice and consumption patterns point to significant changes in ritual and ceremonial practice, emphasising an interplay between these and the way in which pottery is manufactured. It is argued that these transformations in craft and ritual practice were triggered by a new emphasis on the creation and maintenance of a community identity.

Over the past ten years, the academic archaeological community has begun to come to terms with some of the implications of the archaeological're-thinking the Celts'. Yet, what can we say about the ways in which images of an archaeo-historic Celtic cultural package are circulated in heritage media, and invested with meaning by the consumers (i.e. us all) of those media? Despite the academic critique of the potentially dangerous conflation of race and politics which characterizes Celticentric heritage media, very little work has been done on the forms that these media take, and on the actual mobilization of Celtic images in the everyday. This dissertation represents an attempt to chart the landscapes of Celticentric heritage media in English-speaking Europe of the 1990s, and the ways in which those landscapes are mobilized in our lives. From in-depth interviews with visitors to two Welsh spaces of Celtic representation - Castell Henllys Iron Age Hillfort and Celtica - I go on to suggest that while it is a mistake to reduce such consumption to a value-free leisure activity, neither should we uncritically assume that representations of the Celtic automatically reproduce racist and nationalist discourses via an unproblematic relationship between 'text' and 'reader'. Rather, we need to look at the specific circumstances of active visitor engagement in order to begin to understand the ways in which these physical representations of Celtic culture are' good to think' the politics of identity in late- 1990s Britain. From this work I am able to suggest creative ways forward for those presenting media narratives of pastness. The key is to rethink our own professional attitudes towards monolithic notions of 'the public' and the meanings which are invested in the communal consumption of images of a Celtic past.

No description available.

The impact of animal disease on human societies has been highly publicised recently, both as a consequence of diseases that have spread amongst animal populations (e.g. foot and mouth), as well as those that have 'jumped' from animal to human populations (e.g. HIV, bird flu and BSE). Non-disease-related pathologies can also provide much information about human-animal interactions, such as the use of animals for traction or riding. While the human, social and economic effect of such conditions is profound, the study of their impact on past human populations has been widely neglected. This is partly due to the inconsistent manner in which incidences of animal disease (palaeopathology) have been collected, recorded and interpreted which, together with the typically low incidence of specimens per site, has precluded any detailed studies of regional or temporal trends. The aim of this project was to improve the study of animal palaeopathology in order to attain a better appreciation of the potential for such research to resolve archaeological questions. This was to be achieved by designing, developing and implementing a methodology to overcome these problems and enable the past impact of animal disease to be better understood.;The primary objectives were to: Design and develop a generic methodology to facilitate the consistent recognition, recording and description of animal palaeopathological data; implement the methodology within a database system; and apply and critically evaluate the methodology, using assemblages from the Roman legionary fort at Alchester and the Roman town of Colchester, and demonstrate the benefits of adopting a systematic approach to recording animal palaeopathology.

This thesis explores food and foodways, and changes in foodways over the Roman period; it has two main aims: to develop a methodology for the study of foodways and to apply this methodology to examine the impact of the Roman Conquest on native cultures. The thesis is underpinned by the development of a post-colonially informed theoretical framework. In the first part a methodology is developed which allows three main strands of evidence (pottery, animal bones and botanical remains) to be studied together. The foodways are broken down into different stages: food procurement, preparation, cooking and serving. The methodology is applied to case studies chosen from the area of the Corieltauvi and a representative sample from Southern Britain. Sites were chosen on the basis of the quality of the excavations and the published reports and the presence of all three of the data sets. The published data were reanalysed using SPSS and Excel and recast in the different elements of the meal process. These sites have been divided into broad categories such as rural low status, rural high status and urban. Models were developed to predict foodways for each site category. Results demonstrate the value of the application of the methodology to the analysis of the different data sets together rather than in isolation. The analysis has shown that the meaning of pottery and foodstuffs is not necessarily intrinsic but dependant on their context of use. It has also been established that change is far less common than continuity on most of the sites studied. The conclusions suggest important regional and status differences in the way people engage with food and in the material culture surrounding food.

This research looks at the problems of integrating palynological and archaeological data in the context of landscape archaeology. Concentrating on the differences in spatial scale of the two data sets and using a case study from eastern Cumbria the research focuses on the recognition and reconstruction of prehistoric landscapes. The research tests the distribution patterns evident in the existing archaeological record to assess whether the spatial and chronological distributions are a reflection of human activity areas or the result of differential preservation, destruction and recovery. The research also assesses the level of intra-regional variation in vegetation and its relationship to the archaeological record. The methodological approach adopted for this research ensures that both data sets relate to the same geographical space. Four pollen sites, dominated by a local and extra-local pollen catchment, are sampled and intensive archaeological investigation carried out within the catchment area. It is shown that late mesolithic-early neolithic communities were utilising most sections of the landscape but that activities varied between one micro-region and another. Diversity in human/environment interaction continues into the neolithic and bronze age by which time the Eden Valley has increased in importance possibly due to its position in relation to major routes through the Pennines. The study indicates that eastern Cumbria had a spatially varied mid-Holocene vegetation with a degree of variation comparable to that identified for the whole of northern England. Much of this variation is related to soil type and altitude with the influence of human activity being local in origin and responsible for only small scale change. It is suggested that the local and extra local scale pollen data provides a common denominator between nature and culture and combined with archaeological investigation forms the very basis for archaeological landscape studies.

No description available.

Archaeology is a visually rich discipline with multiple avenues for visualisation within the field. In recent years the rising dominance of digital techniques for archaeological three dimensional surveys and interpretive visualisation has resulted in a rapid uptake of technologies without adequate assessment of their impact on the interpretive process and practitioner engagement. As such, fundamental issues with their application remain problematic and largely unresolved. This research moves the current debate forward by assessing the practices and practical application of visualisation within archaeology in order to understand and develop its role when framed within academic research practice. Through the observation, exploration and collaboration of various techniques and approaches to visualising the archaeological record this research challenges common preconceptions and assumptions associated with ‘reconstruction’, redefining its role within the field by investigating the following research questions: - In what way is a practitioner’s interpretive engagement with an archaeological site mediated by different data capture and visualisation methods in the field? - How might practitioners of archaeological visualisation combine the creative and subjective methods of storytelling and visual expression with the more systematic and traditional means of data collection and visualisation to create dynamic and challenging imagery which promote cognition? - How can we foreground and communicate the importance of the interpretive process involved in the creation of engaging visualisations to general audiences? Using a series of case-studies from sites managed by Historic Scotland on both St Kilda and Orkney the research will consider each stage of the visualisation process in detail, from collection of digital spatial and visual data in the field, to the creation of engaging three dimensional models and animations, to consumption of the output by varying audiences across a range of settings. The overall aim is to develop a clearer understanding of the ways in which interpretive archaeological visualisation and the creation of subjective narratives influences engagement with the site, the integrity of the captured record, the control of experience and the ways of dealing with uncertainty in the archaeological record in order to establish where and how it may sit within a broader academic framework.

This thesis proceeds from the contention that the relationship between text and archaeology, which comprises protohistoric study, is poorly understood. The archaeology of Later Iron Age religious ritual is employed as a forum for examination of this relationship. Whilst text is often privileged in protohistoric study, the Later Iron Age textual data themselves have not been adequately examined. The first aim of this thesis is therefore to evaluate comments on the rites and beliefs of peoples described as <i>Keltoi</i> or <i>Galli</i> in Classical texts of Later Iron Age date. This evaluation forms the basis for exploitation of the potential of the texts and for analysis of existing archaeological approaches to this material. The second part of this work examines three site categories from the current Later Iron Age ritual corpus. These are: water sources, wells and shafts, and rectilinear enclosures. The archaeological criteria on which cult identities are advanced in each case are examined, as is the nature and extent of the use of textual data in informing the ritual identities afforded these <i>loci</i>. It is concluded that ritual identities are not assigned primarily on the basis of Later Iron Age material evidence, but are heavily predicated on text-led presuppositions of the nature of 'Celtic' religion, and on retrospective appeals employing the post-Conquest archaeological record. The validity of ritual identities assigned on such bases is questioned, and it is argued that reliance on these processes has meant that the underlying dynamic of Later Iron Age religion has been little addressed. It is suggested that the contextual integration of textual and archaeologial data, and greater chronological control over both data sets, are prerequisites for methodological progress in the study of Later Iron Age religious ritual.