The late New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period (1215-650 BC) have been, and continue to be, interpreted as periods of decline and dramatic change within ancient Egyptian history. This thesis challenges such views through an analysis of those interpretations and the evidence used to support them. In so doing I have evaluated if these periods do reflect a decline from previous periods and if the changes were as all-encompassing as previously suggested. In order to carry out this evaluation three key processes have been examined through detailed analysis of related datasets. These will establish the complexity of the periods, and the potential for nuance within specific datasets which is masked by the current descriptions. Reference has also been made to cross-cultural comparisons and ethno-archaeological theories as many of these processes have been identified in other societies and discussed outside Egyptology. This has led to some clarity regarding the complexity of the periods, recognising the extensive level of continuity and possible explanations for the changes visible, and thus an alternative to the 'simplistic' interpretation of decline and decay.

Over one hundred and seventy maps and plans are preserved from the ancient Near East, drawn on clay tablets or inscribed in stone, though a full study of all the available cartographic material from Mesopotamia has never before been undertaken. This thesis offers a critical analysis of these maps and plans, with particular focus on their graphic conventions, typology and function in Near Eastern society. The text on many of these maps is also undeciphered and a number of examples are translated here for the first time, including an unpublished map of an irrigation network in the Schøyen Collection. By examining all this material in a single study, it becomes clear that there was a coherent documentary genre in Mesopotamia which was cartographic in nature, and which served a variety of administrative and planning purposes. The Near Eastern cartographic corpus is also contextualised within the wider history of cartography, so that its place in the global development of graphic mapping can be better understood.

This study focuses on the idiosyncratic type of pottery called Handmade Burnished Ware (HBW) which appears in the Eastern Mediterranean and more particularly in the Mycenaean area during the 13th-12th centuries BC. It includes my own in corpore study of published and unpublished material from various sites in the Aegean region, as well as previously unstudied material from Mycenae itself. A major part of the study is devoted to a detailed definition of the chronological, geographical and depositional contexts of HBW, of its shapes and its varieties, in terms both of fabric and manufacture. This analysis was a necessary prerequisite to my goals of understanding the origin(s) and distribution of this pottery, of determining whether it is one ware or several similar ones and of understanding its role and significance in the social, economic and historical contexts in which it appeared. I conclude that this group of pottery is a cultural marker for the presence of a small foreign population who produced these vessels and were living amongst the local population already during the Mycenaean Palatial (LH IIIB) period but also in the following phase (LH IIIC), after the major destructions. The close relationship of this cultural marker, whether contextual, technological or in terms of origin, with several different types of artefacts linked to craft activities such as textile production or bronze-smithing, seems to point toward the interpretation of the occupation of the HBW makers as possible travelling artisans.

In this thesis I construct, implement and evaluate a Lefebvrian model of space and society suitable for archaeology, using the Neolithic Peak District as my case study. Archaeologists have largely overlooked the work of French Marxist philosopher and social theorist Henri Lefebvre or come to it second-hand, meaning that his dialectical model of the production of space has never been used to understand prehistoric society. My thesis demonstrates the value to archaeology of such an approach by applying Lefebvre’s three-part dialectical model of the production of space to the monuments and landscape of the Neolithic Peak. In doing so, it challenges simplistic binary readings of social space, replacing them with a Lefebvrian social geography approach to space. Not only does this reveal previously hidden facets of Neolithic society and architecture in the Peak, but my research also provides the first detailed study of this subject in some years. It highlights inter-regional connections between the Peak and other parts of the UK, and illustrates the sheer wealth and diversity of Neolithic monuments in the region, which until now have been sorely neglected. One of its central achievements is to introduce the ‘cross-fertilisation’ monument as a novel class of structure.

The archaeological excavation of the early medieval site at Towyn-Y-Capel on the island of Anglesey (Ynys Môn) in North Wales, UK, provided the opportunity to study a large population (122 skeletons) at a site that was in use over a period of up to 550 years (650 -1200 AD). Samples of skeletal materials for this study were taken directly from the site itself .The osteological condition of skeletal material was variable across the site. In general, the upper burials in particular were in the poorest condition, and were mainly fragmented and dispersed due to the ongoing site erosion and diagenetic processes. Conversely, lower “cist” burials were in far better condition. The assessment of skeletal sample condition was used to select materials chosen for genetic analysis, and 44% (54) of the skeletal population were selected for analysis of appropriate samples of tooth and bone. The gross morphology of samples was assessed and 87% of bones and teeth were considered to be in good or fair condition, according to the gross preservation index (GPI) used, while only 2% of bones and no teeth were considered to be in excellent condition. In addition to GPI, a novel technique called Qualitative Light Fluoresence (QLF), based on autofluoresence, was used to ascertain the surface condition of the teeth. Compared to the fluorescence of modern enamel, there was a net loss of 21.8% fluorescence, although the degree of fluorescence from one sample to another varied (with a standard deviation from the mean of 24.973). Histological sections taken from non-human bone finds from the site generally varied less than that indicated by the gross morphology, showing good to excellent histological preservation. Further to gross and histological morphology, ten skeletal samples were selected for detailed investigations, and were analysed for amino acid racemisation and amino acid composition. All samples tested had D/L enatomer Aspartic acid ratio less than 0.1, although 50% of the samples had D/L enatiomer Aspartic acid ratio over 0.08, which indicated that the recovery of aDNA from these skeletal samples was feasible, although the biological condition of the teeth was fairly degraded. The inorganic element profile of the same ten samples showed no discernable anomalies, either due to diet or diagenesis. To consolidate genographic research, strontium isotope analysis was performed and, from the small population subset, three anomalous ratios were found. Two of these were high (Skeletons 33 and 60), indicating that these individuals had spent their childhoods in areas with high strontium ratios, representative of precambrian rock types, possibly older than those of the Holyhead Rock group, such as in Northern Scotland or Norway. The skeletal samples yielding the lowest strontium ratio (Skeleton 52) are of compelling interest, since the ratio is indicative of upbringing in only one place in the North Atlantic, namely Iceland. In this study, DNA recovery was performed on teeth and bones from the site, after extensive decalcification of samples, and also extraction and optimisation trials. Amplification of DNA extracted from teeth samples was generally more successful than for bone samples. A random amplification based polymorphic (RAPD) DNA technique was utilised to “fingerprint” human and animal samples with limited success. Contamination and template variation are likely causes for the lack of success. Amplification using several primers specific for human HV1 & 2 mtDNA targets was also met with limited success. The results show that 14.8% of the skeletal teeth samples were amplified, and these were not commonly reproducible. DNA spiking trials demonstrated that some of the samples were affected by inhibition. Independent confirmation of 9 of 10 successful samples was attained by sequencing, and although sequences were highly degraded, an attempt was made at determining the haplogroups from the sequenced HV1 haplotypes based on likelihood. Generally, the site showed a high predominance of Haplotype K (5) followed by H (2) and U (2) haplogroup profiles.

This thesis demonstrates the significance of Food Vessel pottery and burial in Northern England during the Early Bronze Age (c.2200 to 1800 cal BC). It represents the first original and sustained study of this burial tradition for several decades. It is argued that the interwoven relationships between Food Vessels, other ceramic types, and trade and exchange networks are both a reason why the tradition has posed interpretative problems for prehistorians, and a central component of its significance during the Early Bronze Age. The chronological relationships between British Food Vessels and other ceramic and funerary traditions are reviewed using the first comprehensive and critically assessed dataset of radiocarbon determinations. Previous approaches to Food Vessel typology are critically reviewed and a new approach based on the ‘potter’s perspective’ and contextual studies is proposed. A contextual approach is applied to Food Vessels from three regions of Northern England: the Northern Counties; North-East Yorkshire, the central lowlands and North-West England; and South-East Yorkshire. Each study reveals significant inter- and intra-regional similarities and differences in how Food Vessels were used and understood. The significance of Food Vessel pottery and burial is then discussed at a national scale.

This dissertation presents a discussion on the Late Antique (fifth to eighth centuries AD) landscapes of Cyprus based on the archaeological, environmental and historical records. This dissertation argues that apart from being an economically well-integrated province, Cyprus was also well-integrated into the large social and strategic trajectories of the Late Antique east Mediterranean. This study also uses archaeological data generated by the Sotira Archaeological Project (SAP) to examine the Late Antique landscapes in the south coast urban settlement of Kouion's hinterland. Interestingly, the majority of the loci recorded by the SAP are interpretable as either estate centres or farmsteads. Analysis of these loci revealed the existence of a comparatively complex Late Antique landscape that embodied aspects of the manifold relationships between the productive, commemorative, and authoritative landscapes of Kourion's hinterland during this period.

This work discusses change and continuities taking place in the transition from the Late Bronze to the Early Iron Ages in Greece. The geographical range will cover the eastern mainland (including Euboea), Naxos and Knossos, in a period starting from the final palatial culture of LH IIIB2/13th century and ending with the Proto-Geometric/10th century burial evidence. In order to collect and observe the archaeological evidence several tombs assemblages have been researched from both original reports and visits to relevant Greek museums. Finds have been tabulated, and continuities, innovations and losses have been identified. The major categories of material evidence analysed included pottery, metalwork and jewellery but also the form of the tombs and the manner of the burials were considered. The final analysis of these categories of evidence refutes theories of major and or abrupt change, whether caused by invasion or natural phenomena. It rather indicates social modifications following the loss of the palatial centres and their administration and culminating in their gradual replacement by new forms of social structure. Although not directly demonstrable from the existing evidence, a possible scenario is proposed to explain the frequent indications of influence from SE and Central Europe during this transition.

This thesis explores the mechanisms of relations between the Aegean (focusing on Crete and Aegean islands such as Thera) and Egypt (including the Hyksos) from 1900 to 1400 BC. A fundamental tool has been the creation of a searchable database of the portable finds (at the moment, a unique resource) classified as Aegean, Egyptian, Aegeanising, Egyptianising, etc. In addition, the Avaris frescoes and the Aegean processional scenes in Thebes were examined in detail. Two approaches were applied to this evidence of Aegean-Egyptian interactions: World Systems Theory, applied here consistently and in depth (as opposed to earlier, broader discussions of Eastern Mediterranean interactions) and, for the first time in this field, Game Theory. The principles of this approach have been tested and found valid for this data. In contrast to World Systems Theory, Game Theory highlights the role of individuals in Aegean-Egyptian interactions, and not solely the roles of states. It has also enabled the exploration of the causes behind historical events and the mutual benefits of contact, as well as emphasising the factors that promoted mutual stability in the Eastern Mediterranean. As a result it has been possible to show that the Aegeans were key players in Eastern Mediterranean relations.

The present study synthesiszes archaeological and historical evidence concerning Attica (Greece), the hinterland of Athens, in the Early and Middle Byzantine periods (4th-12th c.). Although the Byzantine monuments of Attica have been thoroughly studied, no coherent picture of how these relate to broader patterns of occupation and land usage has thus far been presented. In the main, the period under discussion is generally interpreted in three ways: Regarding Late Antiquity, research has often focused on the transition from paganism to Christianity, and to the characterisation of Attica as a ‘stronghold of paganism’. During the so-called ‘Dark-Ages’, Attica is most often presented as being ‘desolate’. Regarding the Middle Byzantine period, archaeological research is dominated by architectural and art-historical study of churches. The present study presents Attica within wider trends which took place in the Byzantine Empire, and which caused its transformation in terms of demography, settlement pattern, administration, road networks, economy, defense and ecclesiastical institutions. After a detailed catalogue and interpretation of all available archaeological material, Attica appears less ‘exceptional’ in Late Antiquity, less ‘desolate’ in the ‘Dark-Ages’, while in the Middle Byzantine period, emergence of a strong local elite matches the erection of monuments of high artistic quality.