The main aim of this research was an attempt to clarify whether the protagonists of bacterial bone destruction were of a bodily origin as opposed to environmental contamination by soil bacteria and furthermore to demonstrate a time frame for such attack. It is hypothesised that bacteria from the gut commensal flora are responsible for micro-focal destruction (MFD) of bone postmortem that leaves distinctive tunnels. Microorganisms live with a person throughout their life and somewhat ironically after death persist to exploit this now nonoperational substrate. They continue to thrive and without a working immune system are capable of crossing mucosal barriers and invading both soft and hard body tissues. Experimental protocol using pigs as human analogues were combined with archaeological sections of both humans and animals. The experimental research was almost absolute in the conclusion that only the fetal material was free of MFD one year post-mortem; these were entirely skeletonised and open to contamination by soil bacteria. All of the other pigs had suffered some form of attack, including those that had not skeletonised and were not therefore subjected to soil bacteria. The archaeological material tended to support the hypothesis that endogenous gut bacteria were the cause of MFD as both fetal material and animal bones were much less likely to be affected. It is suggested that soil bacteria are not normally accountable for MFD although their involvement cannot be ruled out entirely and they may be involved at a later stage. It is therefore likely that endogenous gut bacteria having access to a dead body immediately are most often the cause of MFD and that this occurs well within the early postmortem period. This has negative implications for biomolecular studies and positive implications for in-situ preservation.

Recent theoretical and methodological developments in pottery studies have altered the way archaeologists handle and interpret prehistoric pottery. The technology and use of pottery, and the symbolic and social meaning of pots, are considered as anthropological phenomena, the products of human action. Excavations at Late Neolithic Makriyalos offered the opportunity to explore several aspects of Neolithic society in Greece from a new perspective. This thesis explores the ceramic assemblage of the second phase of Makriyalos. The study is structured around the concept of the ceramic chalne operatoire in an attempt to move beyond the traditional concern with typology and chronology and towards an approach that foregrounds the producers and consumers of ceramics. Ceramics are studied in terms of their production, use, function, and discard and, as far as the available data permit, in terms of the spatial distribution and social contexts in which these activities took place. The choices made by potters at successive stages of ceramic production show that pottery from Makriyalos II exhibits a level of complexity and diversification in terms of ware, ceramic paste, surface finishing and firing conditions, directly linked, on the one hand, to practical considerations and, on the other hand, to cultural and social distinctions or contexts of use, consumption and discard. Spatial and contextual differences in a series of variables related to the ceramic material suggest differences in the intra-site organisation of space, some of which may plausibly be interpreted in terms of an opposition between smaller (perhaps 'household') and larger ('interhousehold') scales of social activity.

The appropriation of prehistoric monuments in the early to middle Anglo-Saxon period is a phenomenon that has been studied by archaeologists for some decades. Prehistoric earthworks were reused as the foci for burial, as the locations of churches and pre-Christian shrines, and as places of political assembly. As such, a variety of theories have been put forward regarding the meanings of these landscape features and their significance amongst communities in Anglo-Saxon England. What is striking is that fifth- to ninth-century settlements have not featured in these discussions. There are a few exceptions, the most notable being Richard Bradley's (1987) reassessment of the 'palace' site of Yeavering. However, these studies have often led to the assumption that monument reuse in settlements was out of the ordinary, and restricted to late sixth- and seventh century high-status sites. In order to redress the balance, this thesis has reviewed the Anglo-Saxon settlement evidence from central England, demonstrating that monument appropriation did take place in settlements between the fifth and the ninth centuries. It has revealed that a variety of prehistoric monuments were reused, including Bronze Age round barrows and iron Age hillforts, and that this reuse could take a number of different forms. The study has also examined the religious and socio-political meanings of monument appropriation in settlement contexts. This has indicated that the practice may well have been one element in an early Anglo-Saxon 'catalogue' of religious practices. Furthermore, it has shown that reuse was already associated with the demonstration of authority in the early Anglo-Saxon period. As a result, it is now possible to suggest that the phenomenon was adopted on high-status elite settlements such as Yeavering precisely because it was already a recognisable and potent motif of power and ideological belief amongst communities over whom newly-emerged elites were claiming authority.

No description available.

The aim of this thesis is to seek to gain an understanding of the technology of the Mesolithic period as it is evidenced within the landscape of north Yorkshire. It does not aim to investigate, detail and classify the assemblages of the whole area as this would not be feasible within the confines of a thesis, due to the vast amount of evidence of the period that has been gathered since the advent of interest in archaeology. The thesis will investigate in detail the landscape of two areas within north Yorkshire and, at times, move to larger scales of analysis in order to seek to understand themes which informed technology at the landscape level. Yorkshire has long attracted research into the Mesolithic period and, in many respects, the area remains unsurpassed in the level of attention it has received, the amount of evidence for the period recovered and the quality of that evidence. This depth of research and evidence has not been limited to one area but occurs across the county. For example, extensive and intensive research has been undertaken in the Pennines ever since the initial discoveries of Buckley (1924) and most recently by Spikins (1999,2003). Similar research, collection and excavation have been undertaken on the North Yorkshire Moors, with local archaeologists such as Raymond Hayes, Don Spratt and Geoffrey Taylor collecting from the area. Jacobi (1976,1978) also utilised evidence from the North Yorkshire Moors, obtained by collectors such as Taylor, within his analysis and in order to develop his theories. The archaeological research upon the North Yorkshire Moors was combined with intensive palaeoenvironmental reconstruction by Dimbleby (1961), Simmons (1969,1996) and PhD students of Simmons such as Jones (1976) and Cundill (1988). The northern dales, such as Teesdale, Swaledale and Wensleydale, have been researched over many years by keen enthusiasts such as Tim Laurie and Dennis Coggins (Coggins, Laurie and Young 1989) and the southern dales, such as Wharfedale, have been investigated by Cowling (Cowling 1946). More recently, investigations have been carried out in the southern Vale of York by Peter Halkon, which is as yet unpublished, and by the English Heritage funded Wetland Project (Van der Noort & Ellis 1999). The Mesolithic landscape of the Vale of Pickering has without doubt been the most intensively investigated landscape of the region and probably the whole country. Research and excavation has been undertaken by Moore (1950), Clark (1954) and the Vale of Pickering Research Trust (Schadla Hall and Lane forthcoming). Even within such an intensively researched landscape, there are still areas which have received less attention, and two of these areas were chosen for research in this programme of work: the northern Vale of York/ Vale of Mowbray and Upper Nidderdale. It was decided to research the Mesolithic of the Vale of York because the area had received little attention, often overlooked because it was presumed that any Mesolithic archaeology present had been buried by alluvium. Manby, commenting recently upon the Mesolithic period in Yorkshire, was forced to state that `the great extent of the central lowlands has few Mesolithic assemblages' (Manby 2003: 33). A paper on the prehistory of the Vale of York by Radley (1974) lists numerous finds of the Neolithic and Bronze Age, but in relation to earlier periods he states `No Palaeolithic tools are known from the Vale. Few Mesolithic sites have been found in an area which must have been attractive to hunters and fishermen. ' (ibid: 11). This apparent lacuna led both Jacobi (1978) and Myers (1987,1989) to draw their models of the early Mesolithic in terms of winter occupation of the Lincolnshire Wolds and adjacent areas and summer occupation of the Pennines.

This thesis aims to explore whether idiosyncrasies in Acheulean handaxe manufacture can be seen and, if so, whether these can be used to trace the actions of hominins within the Lower Palaeolithic. This analysis has important implications for the application of current social theory to Palaeolithic contexts, which advocates a 'bottom-up' approach to archaeological study. This socially orientated theoretical approach emphasises the individual as the primary unit of analysis. However, as Hopkinson and White (2005) state, there is currently no methodology for such an analysis, rendering many discussions as exercises in what has been termed 'theoretical storytelling'. Using a series of innovative experiments, the question of whether the individual is a viable unit of analysis was tested. The results show that a suite of other factors that also contribute to stone tool manufacture currently masks the actions of individuals. Chief amongst these is variability in the raw material nodules selected for reduction. However, intra-site variability may indicate differences that are linked to socially mediated knapping strategies, or 'group templates' (c.f. Ashton & McNabb 1994). While this possibility requires further exploration, the thesis suggests that the individual is currently not viable as a primary unit of analysis within Palaeolithic archaeology and stresses that the theories posited from the standpoint of the individual cannot be interpreted as fact. At the same time, it appears that further work needs to be conducted that focuses on the more traditional group as the primary analytical unit and the prospect of teasing apart the interplay between the individuals, groups and the effects of raw material variability.

The thesis presents an analysis of faunal assemblages from late glacial and early postglacial sites in the northern Rhineland, Germany, and examines changes in environmental conditions and material culture between 13,000 - 9,000 BP. After a summary of research history into the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic of the region, the geographical, stratigraphical and absolute chronological framework is examined, and the archaeological terminology is described in its northern European context. Methods used by the study are discussed. these include quantification, spatial patterning and detailed study of the evidence for butchering methods. The main part of the thesis is provided by the study of three faunal assemblages from the sites Andernach-Martinsberg (Central Rhineland) and Bedburg-Königshoven (Lower Rhineland). Two distinct faunal complexes from the former site date to the earlier and later parts of the late glacial interstadial ("Bolling" and "Alleröd"), the Bedburg fauna dates to the Preboreal. The eruption of the Laacher see volcano (11,000 BP) has conserved late glacial sites in the Central Rhineland below deep pumice layers, giving generally excellent preservation of faunal remains. At the site Andernach-Martinsberg, two distinct faunal complexes are associated with lithic assemblages of the Magdalenian (13,000 BP) and Federmessergruppen (12,000 BP) traditions. The criteria for distinguishing the two faunal elements are first discussed. The Magdalenian fauna is characterized by species typical of arctic-continental conditions; horse, reindeer and arctic fox are the commonest species. The Final Palaeolithic (Alleröd) fauna is composed of species associated with temperate, forested conditionsred deer, elk, aurochs. The discovery of the site Bedburg-Königshoven revealed the existence of a new category of valley-bottom site previously unknown in the region. Pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating assign the archaeological level to the Preboreal. The lithic assemblage is typical for the northern European early mesolithic tradition; the fauna is dominated by the aurochs, associated with other species characterizing temperate, forested conditions. The final part of the study looks at two small late glacial faunal assemblages from the Central Rhineland. The sites Miesenheim 2 and Miesenheim 4 illustrate how human and non-human activity can be studied in detail under the excellent conditions of preservation due to the Laacher see pumice, and illustrate the potential for investigation of human subsistence activity and environmental background away from the larger sites examined by the previous part of the study. For my parents, who never objected to my becoming an archaeologist

My published work, in the archaeology of medieval buildings and in conservation studies/heritage management, is concerned with the role of buildings in the life of societies. This integrative chapter reviews this work to date with material written in the past eight years forming the major part of it, but including earlier publications to set the context. In the final section, it seeks to provide a very preliminary integrative theoretical framework.

The aim of this thesis is to introduce a new approach to the analysis of social organisation of the southern Greek Mainland during the Early Helladic II period. Central to this approach is a view of social organisation less as a "problem" faced by society and more as an open-ended project that involves defining particular networks of relationships as "associations that matter". From this point of departure, this thesis undertakes a novel analysis of domestic and monumental architecture (and their related artefactual assemblages), placing emphasis on the definition of contexts of practice where particular models of groupness were promoted and reproduced. The analysis establishes the "domestic" and the "public" as historically specific statements of belonging, firmly grounded in the ways specific activities, commensal events involving the sharing of a collectively procured produce, were structured.

The study outlined here is an investigation of mining and smelting evidence across eastern Macedonia in northern Greece particularly through the Byzantine (AD 324-1453) and Ottoman (AD 1453-1912) periods. Diverse evidence for mineral exploration and metallurgical extraction in the ancient and medieval past exists throughout this region bounded by the Strymon and Nestos river valleys. Through an integrated approach to survey, site characterization and scientific analysis of metallurgical debris it has been intended to approach issues of interrelatedness between subsistence and production sectors, and address questions relating to Byzantine economy and technological complexity. Documentary evidence from antiquity, late Byzantine Mount Athos charters and Ottoman cadastral registers refer to local, large-scale iron production in the region. Although at present there exists no clear understanding of the chronology for the various production sites, surveys and analytical studies carried out elsewhere have been proven enlightening towards that end. Further, the actual practices represented at these sites remains to be established. Although the mainstay of the metallurgical traditions seems to be iron metallurgy, analyses of slag from sites across Macedonia, particularly high arsenic concentrations, and the occurrence of speiss among the debris, suggested that precious metal extraction could have been an important but peripheral activity. This coupled with documentary evidence allows for the potential of eastern Macedonia to be a minor but significant source of precious metals in the Byzantine world. The current study focuses on the survey and sampling of four smelting sites in the region and scientific analysis by various instrumental techniques undertaken in view to characterizing the metallurgical processes represented in each case. The production sites are characterized by spatial and scalar variation reflecting distinct modes of organizing labour and fluctuations in specialization, intensity and time-length of operations. Analytical data provide an overview of the technical parameters which in turn represent human capacities and choices deeply rooted in social and cultural information. Eventually the dynamics of practice and technical choices for organizing seasonal smelting ventures are being perceived as identity forging incidents among the medieval rural communities of the region.