This study is an interpretation of the historical events recorded in the Codex Colombino-Becker. Beginning with the earliest known appearances of the parts of this document, its owners are traced and a survey made of scholarly thought concerning its text. The physical dimensions and internal structure of the manuscript are described, and these form the basis for re-grouping the present seven fragments into three larger sections. All the scenes of the codex are described and discussed in detail. The events are found to be occurring within a broader context that is not expressed in the pictorial content of the manuscript, but which must be understood in order for the individual scenes to become meaningful. The discovery and analysis of this larger context has enabled much of the material in the codex to be integrated into a more coherent history in this study than has been possible heretofore. The text of the Colombino-Becker is basically an account of the major political events in 8 Deer's rise to prominence in the Mixteca, showing only his public and official activities that directly relate to his obtaining power. Ultimately he succeeded in gaining control of a wide area and founded a nascent empire, but his murder by 4 Wind before he could establish an hereditary empire caused his political achievements to be destroyed.

No description available.

This study has been undertaken in order to find out what were the main foodstuffs consumed by the people of Mesopotamia, whether they would have provided an adequate diet containing all the essential nutrients, and whether the foodstuffs could have been supplied locally. Agricultural techniques have been looked at to see how efficiently and in what quantities food crops were produced and the methods of food preparation have been examined in order to see in what form the foodstuffs were consumed. The modern climate and countryside are outlined and the evidence for the ancient climate and changes in the courses of the rivers are set against them. The sources of evidence used can be divided into three main categories. These are: direct evidence of food sources from excavations - that is, botanical and zoological remains indicating the existence of specific cereals, vegetables, meat-animals etc, at a given place and at a . given point of time; indirect evidence from excavations such as tools and artefacts which could have been used in the production and preparation of food, representations of plants, animals, foodpreparation and consumption on cylinder seals, stone reliefs, pottery, inlay work, jewellery etc; and evidence from cuneiform tablets of the variety of foodstuffs known, and in many cases, of the amounts of foodstuffs eaten. In the main, the cuneiform texts which have been consulted are those which are published with transliterations and the vast body of texts which are either unpublished or published only in copy have not been examined. It was considered that the enormous number of texts already published could be expected to give a representative picture of the main features of food preparation and food stuffs. The main cereal crop cultivated was barley and this was the main crop used for rations and for fodder. Emmer-wheat and bread-wheat were also grown, as were a wide variety of vegetables and fruits, including onions, chickpeas, lentils, dates, figs and pomegranates. The main meat-animals were sheep, goats and cattle whose dairy products were also used. Hunting and fishing were practised to provide food and these activities were probably more important in the third millennium.The main types of food were those based on cereals, such as breads, beer, roasted grains, 'semolina' and malt. The wide variety of breads made included sweetened preparations to which dates and ghee had been added. Animal fats and vegetable oils were used and the main vegetable oil was probably linseed. The qualitative nutritional value of the diet was assessed, and it was found that most of the essential nutrients existed in the food stuffs available in Mesopotamia. However, if the rations issued by employers are taken to represent the probable diet of the ordinary people, it is seen that there is a marked deficiency of Vitamin A and Vitamin C. Other possible sources for these vitamins were examined. An assessment was made of the energy intakes of the ordinary people, from the ration lists, and it was found that the average intake for the whole of Mesopotamia was higher than that recounended for an adult male by the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, although the local average varied from place to place and time to time. No such quantitative nutritional assessment could be made for the diet of other classes.

No description available.

No description available.

A detailed study has been made of the Mesolithic material in southern and Western Britain and a quantity of new evidence has been recorded from west England and Wales, by means of research in the field and in museums and private collections. The results of the study may be summarised under headings referring to the four main cultural groups with which it is concerned. THE MAGLEMOSEAN CULTURE: New evidence has extended the previously known distribution of the Maglemosean culture into Somerset and Cornwall and a concentration of settlement around the Solent has been established. THE HORSHAM CULTURE: Previously published evidence has been reorganised in order to establish the distribution, economy and origins of this culture in the Weald, and new evidence has indicated a slight penetration of this culture into western Britain. THE BRITISH 'SAUVETERRIAN': This culture has been re-examined in the light of new evidence from west England, and it is suggested that the industries which exhibit the clearest affinities with the continental Sauveterrian occur in west England and Wales, in the areas of Upper Palaeolithic Settlement. An indigenous origin for these industries is considered possible and no similar sites have been identified in southern and eastern England. SITES WITH COASTAL ECONOMIES: A quantity of new evidence has been recorded in west England and Wales, for the identification of cultural groups which pursued an economy based on the sea shore, wihh a diminished reliance on the hunting of small game. This economy is in direct contrast to that of the Horsham culture of the Weald and is reflected in the material equipment.

The purpose of this study is to explain why cremation was replaced by inhumation and cinerary monuments by sarcophagi in Rome during the second century A.D. by looking at the decoration of the monuments from Tiberius to the mid second century.Part one examines briefly the treatment of Boman funerary symbolism by previous scholars, the literary and epigraphic evidence for Roman eschatological belief In the period, and the nature of the contemporary decorative repertoire used in non—funerary contexts. These studies suggest that Roman eschatological ideas were somewhat vague, and that most of the motifs used on the funerary monuments were in common use in other decorative arts: one should not, therefore, expect the decoration of the funerary monuments to contain allusions to a deep or coherent eschatology. The final chapter of Part one deals with the evidence for the chronology of the monuments. Part two looks at the decoration of the cinerary monuments motif by motif, considering in particular their possible symbolic interpretations. The conclusion is that there is little evidence to suggest that this decoration was designed to convey complex or deeply held eschatological beliefs, but only the vaguest ideas about heroisation and survival after death. Part three deals with the decoration of the garland sarcophagi. The decorative repertoire, though reduced, is not radically different from that used on the cinerary monuments,the predominance of mythological (mainly non—bacchic) scenes being its major feature. These, however, do not seem to express any coherent philosophical or religious concept of death and the afterlife which might explain the change in burial rite. The conclusion is that a group of educated, probably noble, families were responsible for introducing sarcophagi to Roman society, but that this does not reflect a radical change in eschatological ideas, only a change in fashion.

The contents of this thesis give an archaeological picture of the civilization of Palestine (the land of Canaan) in the middle-Bronze II Period c.1800-1550 B.C. The citizens of this part of the world were sharing in the general civilization of the coastal area of Syria. They had, of course, close connections with the rest of the Near East. The Geographical formation of the land tended to accentuate local differences, a condition which is favourable to a political organization based on the city-state. We may presume that each city-state had its chieftain, sheikh, or tribal leader, as in the period of the Amarna Letters. To call these chieftains, sheikhs, and tribal leaders "Hyksos" is a misnomer, because they were not foreigners to Palestine. The basic culture of Palestine in the Middle-Bronze II Period (the so-called Hyksos) does not reveal any break in the continuity of the preceding phase. It has always been stated that the Hyksos are bands of warriors. By the available archaeological evidence they impress us rather as a Peace-loving-people ruled by their chieftains, sheikhs or tribal leaders. They had never used the horse and the chariot as a war technique in Palestine and Egypt until possibly in their last struggle against the Egyptians before they were expelled from the country, i.e. our Phase V or the XVIII Dynasty. Their daggers were not as efficient as those of earlier and later periods. They hardly used the spear (if at all) at the very early period of our Phase IIA i.e. 1750 B.C., though it was in comaon use in the Middle-Bronze I Period. The use of the bow and arrow in the early Phases of our period is also uncertain. However, in Phase V there is slight evidence of their use but they are not as comaon as in the Late Bronze Period. The archaeological evidence from a number of sites suggests that there was a state of instability. This was most probably one of the main reasons for the decline in their standard of living recognized in every aspect of their life. This feature of decline, with-a quantitative prosperity, could be compared with Palestine nowadays.

No description available.

This study is a report on an archaeological survey and excavations undertaken in the Coclé province of Panama, between the Santa Maria and Coclé rivers, from October, 1969 to April, 1970. Five sites were excavated and forty-three collected from the surface. A four-phased sequence of polychrome pottery is established according to the stratified position of sherds in the excavated units and statistical analyses of the surface samples. Transitional forms between the four major Polychrome Groups are suggested and other polychrome types whose relative age is less clear are described. Non-polychrome pottery is analysed and the categories assigned an approximate relative age. Meal refuse excavated at three sites is described and a list included of all the animal bones, shells and plant remains identified to date. Artifacts in bone and stone are described. The archaeological chronologies of all the sites excavated in western Coclé by the author and other investigators is assessed and an approximation made of the relative ages of some of the surface-collected sites. The ideas of S.K.Lethrop concerning the chronology of the Sitie Conte and "Coclé" culture in general are reconsidered. A reconstruction is attempted of the pattern of life from 5000 B.C. to the Conquest according to available archaeological and ethnohistorical evidence. A survey is made of the relationships between the surveyed area and regions outside the frontiers of Coclé, incorporating much data that is unpublished. The emphasis in the descriptions and analyses is on the horizontal development of culture throughout the Pacific littoral of Panama east of Chiriqui and not on isolated regional developments. A gazeteer of all known archaeological sites is included, with precise topographical locations where possible.