Understanding similarity and difference is perhaps a cornerstone of archaeological enquiry. What is it that makes two objects similar and what is it that makes them different? Furthermore, how do we distinguish and explain these similarities and differences? This thesis explores similarity and difference within Middle and Late Bronze Age Belegiš ceramic urns from the region of Vojvodina in Serbia. This material comprises a corpus of cremation vessels that are similar to each other, yet also display differences, most noticeably in decoration. It therefore presents itself as an ideal case study to explore similarity and difference. Traditional approaches to the Belegiš phenomenon have rested upon typological classification within a culture-historical paradigm, meaning that similarities and differences have been explained in terms of cultural ethnicity, both spatially and temporally. Yet these attempts to categorise Belegiš urns have fallen short of sufficiently dealing with and explaining the complexity of the material, leading to confusing and often contradictory typological narratives. In order to redress these issues and elucidate the underpinnings of similarity and difference, this thesis focuses on how the vessels were made. The analysis of technological traces is used to shed light on three aspects of production; tradition, practice and creativity. Each of these three axes is suggested to provide a framework for exploring commonalities and variation within vessel manufacture. Exploration of Belegiš ceramic technology through tradition offered a macro-scale investigation and enabled the isolation of aspects of production that were shared across the region of Belegiš distribution. Analysis of the dataset demonstrated a clear core set of manufacturing principles. Despite this, urns from different sites show differences in the way in which the guidelines of tradition were used. It is suggested that trends in the data demonstrate that there were three communities of Belegiš practice; eastern Srem, southern Banat and southern Bačka. It is additionally suggested that creativity within Belegiš manufacture accounts for some of the variation present which sits within the relationship between maker and the collective. Each example of creativity is shown to be a reworking of existing manufacturing practice.

My research examines the florescence of symbolically elaborated material symbolism or ‘art’ witnessed with the appearance of the first sedentary village farming com munities’ c. 10000 years ago of Anatolia and Levant in South - West Asia. The objective is to clarify the potential correlation between symbolic material and increased sedentism, territoriality, ritual practice, group size, subsistence changes, agriculture, husbandry, and domestication. Specifically, to examine the psychological changes may have allowed, or promoted, social and economic changes through sedentism and farming. Considering the implications of social transformations in the Neolithic, despite the numerous Neolithic decorated buildings, decorated tools , figurines, and decoration portable items, studies to date have failed to cross reference the symbolism displayed on such items. Though the methodological approaches in this thesis have been influenced by the work of Kozłowski and Aurenche (2005) , who use an extensive assemblage to assess the implications of style on territories and boundaries in South - West Asia, a much broader framew ork for analysis is required for this thesis. A larger range of variables had to be considered and included in order to accurately assess the relationship between symbolic material and concurrent social changes. Data had to include information about site s ize, location, date, geographical and environmental placement, evidence for plant and animal exploitation, settlement layout, and detailed contextual evidence. This approach enabled assessment of changes in symbolically elaborated material. It also provide d a method with which to consider how the differing communities used the symbolically elaborated material within a different set of behaviour by examining the contextual deposition. My data rejects the potential correlation between symbolic material and e nvironmental change, increasing site size and permanence, population pressure, social tensions, subsistence changes, agriculture, husbandry, and domestication. Whilst these changes occurred in tandem, there is no causal link. Instead, the data suggest that distinctive patterns of ritual behaviour, alongside explicit motif choice, link to specific regional trends. These regional patterns point to resilient systems of communal identity. Chronological changes within the data reflect changes in the manipulation and presentation of that identity, evolving independently from other facets of Neolithic life. This chronological change potentially relates to the dynamic between sedentary and nomadic groups within the landscape and evolving inter - site relationships. The main factors involved in the florescence of symbolically elaborated material culture is sedentism and distinct regional patterns, along with specific behaviours relating to individual and house identities within communal identity. Any future study aiming to explain the ‘revolution of symbols’ will need to consider the implications of these independently evolving expressions of identity.

In Roman times, North Africa was one of the principal productive areas and a fundamental source of goods for the Empire. The successive conquests of the Vandals (5th century AD) and the Byzantines (6th century AD) provoked radical transformations, notably in the economic organisation and in the urban centres and rural landscapes. Focussing on three important northern African provinces (Zeugitania, Byzacena, Tripolitania), I have collected and reviewed all the published evidence of these changes from the 4th to the 7th century AD. After a general analysis of the status quaestionis, related to the problem of late antique urbanism all over the Roman Empire and, in more detail, in North Africa, Chapter 2 focuses on the principal historical events from 4th to 7th century. The aim of this part is not to recount the episodes, but rather highlight the phenomena that affected North Africa in these centuries and that lack of data do not permit to analyse in detail in relation to the archaeological evidence. Chapters 3 and 4 focus principally on the economy of late antique North Africa. Elements considered lead to the problem of the reuse of classical Roman buildings for productive activities, principally in urban areas, and archaeological data coming from surveys and pottery production and distribution. The aim is to re-construct the transformation of productive activity from the 4th to the 7th century, highlighting the connection between the historical sources and the archaeological events. It is suggested that private productive activity was characteristic especially of the Vandal period. By contrast, in the Byzantine period it appears that Bishops had a very important role in managing properties. The strict connection recorded between churches and productive complexes in urban areas suggests on the one hand the existence of a productive activity controlled by the Clergy and on the other hand the presence of rules which controlled the reuse of buildings in urban areas in the Byzantine period. This evidence leads to the last part of the thesis (Chapter 5), which focuses on problems related to the de-structuration of classical Roman cities and their re organisation in the passage from the Vandal to the Arab periods. The aim is principally to reorganise the data available and try to identify, if possible, the principal trends for each period. This thesis overall offers a first synthetic analysis of the late antique phases of these three North African Provinces.

The Early Bronze Age Aegean (hereafter EBA) is a period for which direct evidence for large-scale sailing ventures is limited. However, cultural, social and economic developments seem to occur between areas separated by the Aegean Sea. The aim of this thesis is to address the question: To what extent can interconnections be identified with the Cyclades in the EBA Aegean through the burial record? Burials are a good measure of interaction because unlike artefacts they represent social processes deeply embedded in systems of social order, cultural meaning and daily habituation. This is important as settlement evidence and domestic assemblages are often unavailable for the EBA period. Burial practices all imply direct experience, contact and extended interaction in a way that cannot be so easily presumed for other, more portable forms, for example, material culture. These elements are enduring and cannot be traded and so provide a good source for determining interconnections in the EBA period. Cemetery evidence will be presented from the Cyclades, Crete and mainland Greece, organised by three main themes of grave architecture, burial and the treatment of the dead and ritual practices. The evidence from these three core geographical areas suggests that interconnections were clearly established through the spread of Cycladic burial customs in addition to the known evidence for trade in material culture. In particular Cycladic influence in burial intentionally provokes ideas of memory, identity, visibility, performance and destruction. The burial practices highlighting periods of sustained co-presence between people from the Cyclades and elsewhere in the Aegean. These practices are indicative of high levels of mobility that involved extended stays away from the Cycladic islands. For some this journey would be their final one resulting ultimately in burial in a location away from home. The ritual practices carried out within the burial arena are only reproduced by individuals who see these elements as their own thereby unequivocally demonstrating clear evidence for Cycladic interconnections in the EBA.

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This PhD thesis aims to offer a new contribution to the study of regional Roman architectural decoration, focusing on the province of Mauretania Tingitana (northern Morocco). The analysis of the ornament is linked with that of the buildings where these architectural elements were employed. In addition to the reconstruction of local history and urban trajectories, the investigation is further extended to a broader extra‐provincial level, with particular attention to North Africa and the Mediterranean. The selected timeframe spans from the late Mauretanian period (c. mid‐first century BC) to the main phase of Roman provincial era (first to third century AD), also providing a glimpse into Late Antiquity (fourth to sixth centuries AD). The discussion in Volume I (Text) is based on the results of the field research carried out in Morocco, from 2011 to 2014, at four archaeological sites: Volubilis (Ksar Pharaoun); Banasa (Sidi Ali bou Djenoun); Sala (Chellah, Rabat); and Lixus (Tchemmich, Larache). The fieldwork involved the recording of the elements of architectural decoration preserved there, the vast majority of which are unpublished. The collected data were used to build up the typological classification presented in summary in Volume I and in full detail in Volume II (Appendix). The study also includes observations on the materials kept in the archaeological museums at Rabat, Tangier and Tétouan, and those from other important sites of the province (Thamusida and Zilil). The analysis shows how different artistic traditions were merged together in Tingitana during the Roman period: the persistence of pre‐Roman (Punic and Hellenistic) substrata; the influence of Roman official art and architectural decoration; and the creation of local‐style ornament. This mixture of styles is also reflected in the design of buildings and public spaces in each town, hinting towards the identification of equally mixed urban communities. The research has revealed the architectural vitality of this territory at the edge of the Roman world, while also illustrating a significant degree of adaptation of orthodox rules of Roman architecture.

The consideration of the fate of statuary during Late Antiquity (fourth to seventh centuries) is a key element for a nuanced understanding of the processes of de-structuration of the Roman world and its transformation to the Christian Byzantine Empire. The evidence of broken or discarded statues has frequently been associated with destructive responses of the Christian communities to the pagan past of their cities. It is only recently that regional studies have prompted a rethinking of the fate of statuary, by accommodating the issue within the context of the development of urban areas in Late Antiquity. Focusing on three important Cypriot cities (Nea Paphos, Salamis, Kourion), this research constitutes the first comprehensive investigation of the sculptural environment of a Roman province in late antique times. By collating all the published and unpublished evidence for the first time, it interprets the function, changing uses, and fate of statues within their local context. The first chapter discusses the contribution of the study of statuary and its fate to the ongoing debate about the evolvement of late antique urbanism and the demise of the ‘classical’ cities. Instead of repeating historical events, the next chapter focuses on a number of social, religious, and economic developments, which affected the material landscape of the Cypriot cities. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 analyse exhaustively the statuary landscape of late antique Cyprus. The aim is to re-site the statuary in its physical and social context and evaluate its significance. The chapters investigate the relation between find locations and display settings, and relate the condition and treatment of statues to the changing functions and audiences of the buildings. The findings revealed that statuary, predominantly mythological in subject, was scarcely a conflict point between the pagan and Christian communities of the island. In fact, it is suggested that up to the mid-sixth century, mythological statues remained integrally woven into the fabric of urban monumentality, and were identified as physical constituents of the island’s cultural heritage or objects promoting the wealth and status of their owners. Their fate was always determined by economic considerations, rather than driven by religious controversies. Deliberate mutilations on statues in Salamis and Kourion suggest that a modus vivendi between the pagan and Christian communities was reached, possibly as early as the late fourth century. Destructive responses to statuary post-dated the seventh century and may be associated with recycling activities and building projects that took place in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The concluding chapter of the thesis recapitulates the evidence; the aim is to identify common trends and sketch a chronological evolution of the Cypriot statuary landscape in Late Antiquity, by following the changing attitudes of the communities towards their sculptural legacy.

This thesis explores functional aspects and cultural roles of cook-pots to evaluate domestic cooking on the island of Crete (located in the Southern Aegean Sea) during the Late Bronze Age (Late Minoan, ca. 1600-1190 BC). The Integrated Approach to Ceramic Analysis (IACA) is proposed as a methodology for identifying interrelationship between people and pots in terms of production and use – by focusing on key elements of the vessels’ design, i.e. shape, ceramic fabric, size. IACA enhances the characterization of cook-pots beyond defining morphologies and fabric-types; it includes an experimental component that evaluates hypotheses concerning production and use. IACA is applied in reevaluating established cook-pot typologies to address our lack of knowledge about how individuals performed daily tasks in the prehistoric Aegean. Two case studies target cooking contexts well-placed to investigate cook-pot production and function, in both space and time. The cultural groups concerned are the towns of Mochlos and Papadiokambos on the northeastern coast. Mochlos was a thriving harbor town in the LMI period; Papadiokambos was its contemporary, a prosperous enough settlement. Mochlos was abandoned for a generation; it was reoccupied when Mycenaean influence was strong on Crete (LMII-III). Essentially, the cook-pot suites at Mochlos and Papadiokambos belong to a broader tradition, utilizing open and closed vessels. Experimental work that produced LM-style vessels out of similar clays as the archaeological cook-pots shows that while closed, bowl-shape bodies were used for slow cooking (i.e. stewing liquid-based foods) and open vessels are better suited for quickly sautéing, grilling, and baking foods there are hidden steps to producing and using these vessels. These actions are multifaceted and complex. This work encourages us to rethink how these tasks were performed to understand better why choices were made that have materialized in the archaeological record.

The thesis is an archaeological study of the island of Lesbos, with emphasis upon the central settlement of the Greek polis (the asty) and the surrounding territory of each city (the chora). Chapter 1 offers an introductory overview of the physical constitution of the island. Chapter 2 considers the development through the Dark Age and Archaic periods of the settlements which became the central asty of the poleis in Lesbos. Chapter 3 focuses on the chora of the poleis in early Lesbos, examining a series of towers and enclosures of Lesbian polygonal masonry. Detailed treatment is given to the style of masonry employed in order to give indications about the likely date of the structures. The social angle is also examined, exploring the possible group identity and social definition in the chora, and the other roles played out by the structures. Possible implications to be drawn from the lack of similar structures in the chora of the polis of Mytilene are considered. Both discussions in Chapters 2 and 3 are contextualised with other regional/island surveys to explore points of similarity or difference between Lesbos and the rest of Greece. -- The conclusions of the two studies are then summarised, drawn together, and supplemented by six appendices. The first four appendices tabulate the archaeological data from the island, examine epigraphical data for agricultural estates in the Roman Imperial period, discuss the pine forest in eastern Lesbos, and finally the distribution of epigraphical finds in Lesbos. A penultimate study considers the literary evidence of the war for Sigeion between the Mytileneans and the Athenians. In the last appendix, there is a re-examination of the work and conclusions of Page concerning the creation of a framework for Lesbian history in the late seventh and early sixth centuries from the fragments of Alkaios' poetry.