In the past twenty years there has been a sustained theoretical challenge to issues of Roman identity in the western provinces. However, despite this body of work, the towns of Roman Britain are still primarily defined by the extent to which they embraced a set of supposedly Mediterranean urban features. This research uses the medium of water to thoroughly explore the reasons behind this approach and the disparity it has created in respect to studies of prehistory. While water is undoubtedly a thread of continuity in human settlement, scholars of the Roman period have been particularly concerned with outlining its urban utilisation as a sign of familiarity, or shared civilisation, between the Roman period and modernity. Subsequently, Roman era structures related to water (such as aqueducts, wells, bridges and bathhouses) have been portrayed as examples of a cultural advancement that was distinct from previous activity within the immediate landscape. This approach has therefore discounted the rich and powerful associations pertaining to water throughout the temperate European prehistory. Through analysis of twenty one of the most influential Roman towns of Britain, this thesis shows how local beliefs would have been an integral part of how one perceived and experienced urban water features. It will be emphasised that the entanglement between these associations and complex, but receptive, incoming cultural influences would have played a key role in creating hybrid waterscapes within these settlements. Fully acknowledging this complex cultural presence of water underlines how the experience of towns in Roman Britain was a product of a number of different perspectives; meaning these places cannot be fully understood without a careful consideration of local context.

Pax Romana is often seen as an aggressive force, imposing the will of Rome on her empire. Perhaps it is because of this that Roman authors are often seen as having a dismissive view of peace and an admiration, if not a love, of war. The only literary area where this has been questioned at any length is in verse, most fully by the elegists. This thesis, therefore, focuses on the concept of peace in the philosophy and historiography of late republican and early imperial Rome, drawing examples from classical Greece and early Christian texts when necessary. The first section acts as an introduction to the possibility of a more positive attitude to peace by examining the most striking negative presentations of war: just war theory and civil wars. The second section examines the main philosophical schools from the period and argues that the Stoics, Cynics and Epicureans share pacifistic views that are not merely utopian but are grounded in important tenets of their respective philosophies: oikeiosis, cosmopolitanism, and the unimportance of material and physical virtues for the Stoics and Cynics; divine self-sufficiency, the avoidance of pain, and the importance of friendship for the Epicureans. Some even willingly reject more traditionally Roman values, like gloria, because they conflicted with the philosophical antipathy to warfare. An examination of the usages of the terms pax and concordia in the historians of the time argues that the dominant view, that they were suspicious of peace, is not wholly accurate. Sallust and Livy provide numerous examples that suggest a more open attitude to peace and, at times, even seem to share some of the pacifistic beliefs of the philosophers. Further, even the more militaristic historians can present peace as a state preferable to war.

The aim of this research is the consideration of the cultural heritage policies of European institutions (the European Union and the Council of Europe) and the impact of such policies on the national heritage policy of two member States (Greece and Italy). The analysis focuses mainly on the national and supra-national heritage legislation. The EU by means of policies and laws has gradually emerged as an important factor in the field of national heritage management. The impact of the EU in the fields of heritage terminology and legislation is a fact. New concepts concerning things 'national' are being directly 'imported' from the EU to its member States. The use of heritage in the political arena has a long history in nation States, with regard to issues of identity. By taking this one step further, the EU aims to construct a 'European' identity which will eventually replace the different 'national' ones. A historical narrative proves the logic behind EU action. The cultural heritage has been used by the EU throughout the years for a variety of political and economic purposes. The amendment of national laws and the introduction of EU concepts into national heritage law are results of an imposed change, not of legal evolution. The comparison of the two EU member States emphasises the complexity of issues involved in both the national and supra¬ national level. The conclusions aspire to arouse awareness of the powers that EU enjoys over national heritage legislation. The thesis also endeavours to highlight the power of law to create and construct public attitude towards the heritage, enhancing or denying claims for identity. It assesses the political will behind legal acts and policies with regard to the heritage. It addresses the attempt made by European institutions to create 'uniformity' in both laws and concepts related to heritage in a Europe of diverse heritages.

This study explores the relationship between wood-crafting activity and technological development in metal tools during the Late-Middle and Late Bronze Age in Southern England. It suggests that a number of tool types and forms can be characterised as direct responses to specific crafting processes. The study further suggests that through analysis of those tools and crafting processes, the socio-technological relationships between craftspeople and materials can be better explored. The thesis makes a case for the importance of wood-use during the British Bronze Age as a material key both to a range of craft activities and technological change. The discussion highlights the lack of a cohesive analysis of its use, potential and material relationships. It suggests that a semantic approach to craft practice can inform as to how those practices were facilitated, and that particular craft processes focussed on wood-use are manifested in surviving tools. Four tool types are examined - socketed axes, gouges, chisels and saws; their morphology and structure are analysed to discern variations in function and structural trends which are suggestive of common approaches to production and use. The results of this analysis are linked to woodcrafting practices to highlight how particular forms of each tool type were targeted to activity. The study concludes by arguing that Bronze Age tool forms, and their production, were the result of a complex network of social, technological and developmental influences. It finds that a number of forms were indeed targeted to specific wood-crafting tasks, and that tools ostensibly produced separately followed common structural trends which derived from those tasks. The study also concludes that certain tool forms such as saws manifest multi-material developmental origins, and that analysis based on crafting functions has the potential to provide a more cohesive perspective of Bronze Age tool development than has previously been developed.

Archaeologists have long scrutinised the relationship of images to disciplinary knowledge creation. However, to date, very little attention has been given to archaeological visual media and visual methods as generative tools. Visualisations work to make things possible—income, infrastructure, status, security, ideas and expertise—and their shrewd application has significant consequences for professional development and conceptual/methodological growth. The following thesis embarks on a micro-scale study of the mid-20th century establishment of the Institute of Archaeology (IoA) at the University of London to demonstrate the extent to which visualisation is embedded in, and accountable for, the foundation of academic archaeological studies in Britain. Drawing on results from extensive archival enquiry and interviews, this research stands as an account of institutional development told not through the standard lens of biography or intellectual evolution, but through analysis of the strategic management of visual material culture and graphic performance (i.e., photographs, illustrations, models, display collections, TV, exhibitions, illustrated lectures and conferences). It traces the early history of the IoA through a series of formative events from the mid-1920s to the end of World War II wherein visual media are mobilised to dramatic effect in the coming-into-being of scholarly archaeology in London, and in the post-war regeneration of British culture. Particular attention is paid to the entanglement of visualisation in the IoA’s pioneering work on the first archaeological television programmes; the standardisation of archaeological photography; the acquisition and display of the Petrie Palestinian collection; the launching of one-of-a-kind graphic industrial/laboratory units; and the training of the earliest generations of accredited field practitioners. This project is prompted by a desire to overturn two fundamentally unsustainable standpoints. Firstly, visual culture tends to be fallaciously constituted in archaeology—and beyond—as a recent phenomenon whose origins stretch back no more than a few decades (conveniently coinciding with the rise of digital graphic production). However as I argue here, calculated and skilful manipulation of optical media has a deep legacy, implicated in even the most basal levels of the discipline’s intellectual and organisational consolidation. Secondly, visual representation as a sub-field of enquiry is often relegated to the sidelines of ‘legitimate’ practice—dismissed as ephemeral and unrobust, or irrelevant to the fundamentals of archaeology. I counter such perspectives by outlining the rich and prescient history of critical graphic studies in the discipline. I then demonstrate that savvy visualisation can, in fact, breed concrete professional outcomes for archaeologists, providing the infrastructure to develop and refine our methods, the cognitive tools to reconceptualise aspects of the archaeological record, and the commercial capital to sustain and propagate the field. At once a chronicle of the IoA’s heritage and a testament to the power of visual media, this thesis situates imagery as a forcible actor in the struggle for disciplinary sovereignty and scholarly authority. Ultimately, it speaks not just of the importance of visualisation to archaeology’s past, but so too of its potential for negotiating our future.

This thesis examines the potential of semantic web technologies to support and complement scholarship in Assyriology. Building on prior research, it is unique in its assessment of the suitability of three existing OWL ontologies (CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model, FRBRoo and Ontomedia) to adequately capture and represent the heterogeneous and incomplete narratives published as composites by the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Its agenda sits firmly within the interdisciplinary context of the Digital Humanities and Web Science, and it describes a process centered on the development, implementation and valuation of an ontological representation system (mORSuL), designed to reflect the needs, desires, challenges and opportunities of Assyriological research paradigms. Underlying the process are two fundamental assumptions: firstly, that semantic technologies can be used to support academic endeavours in the Humanities, and secondly, that the benefits of doing so can be identified and evaluated. The thesis culminates in the conclusion that these existing ontologies are mostly suitable for the representation of the narrative content of these ancient texts, requiring only a few additions and changes.

The outmanoeuvring of Allied forces in May 1940 led to the eventual evacuation of the BEF from the continent in June 1940. Fearing an invasion, GHQ Home Forces set about the rapid re-militarisation of the UK to oppose, arguably, the first very real threat to this country’s sovereignty since the Norman conquest of 1066 AD. Constructing a series of anti-invasion defences throughout the countryside, a network of defensive fieldworks and concrete gun emplacements were erected, with linear stop lines forming part of the overall stratagem for a countrywide defence in depth. Examining one particular linear stop line, GHQ Line Green, despite previous research into its archaeological route through the landscape several questions still remain unanswered - Did the proposed wartime route for the stop line match the documented archaeology? Did the defensive fieldworks conform to 1940 WO specifications, or were they similar in design to the linear fieldworks of the First World War? Did GHQ Line Green dismiss the defensive ‘folly’ notion of the Maginot Line by being strategically sited in the Bristol hinterland? A prepared battlefield that never faced the unpredictable test of conflict, evidence offered by original cartographic, archaeological and GIS ‘Fields-of- Fire’ analysis concluded that the GHQ Line Green was strategically placed in the landscape. In ideal conditions GHQ Line Green could have had limited success in slowing down an invasion force. This dismisses the notion that the stop line was a defensive ‘folly’. With its origins found to lay in First World War fortifications, the research undertaken for this thesis will further our understanding of an often forgotten Second World War landscape.

This submission for a PhD BY published work examines archaeological historiography and lithic artefact studies concerning aspects of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology of Wales. The critical analysis connects the published works through the theoretical approach of biography. It draws out themes of archaeological, straigraphic and museum context where appropriate. The critical analysis commences with an examination of publications concerning the history of research at Palaeolithic cave sites in Wales. It identifies the sources and methodologies used then analyses their effectiveness for presenting histories of caves. The historiography of lithic artefact studies is then examined before an analysis is offered of the methodological approaches of technology, chronology, typology and the chaine operatoire as used in the published works. By applying the concept that artefacts have biographies, the archaeological context for individual and surface assemblages of lithic artefacts is explored. This leads to a discussion of archaeological projects and examines the fieldwork techniques adopted in the publications to elucidate archaeological context. There is an examination of the factors that influence the resulting archive and a discussion of its use as a resource for determining past work at archaeological sites. By exploring thesetopics the concept of biographies of people, places , artefacts and projects emerges. These biographies are drawn together into an assessment of their use for presenting archaeological narratives for regions of Wales. The final conclusions draw the aims of the critical analysis of the published works together before offering concluding thoughts about the continuation of antiquarian traditions in collecting lithic artefacts across Wales.

This thesis investigates evidence for the cultural lives of domestic objects in Late Antiquity. As such, it focuses on objects as meaningful possessions, rather than their practical, utilitarian functions. In particular, this research seeks to reveal the personal meaning for domestic possessions and their sentimental, as opposed to economic, value. This is something that has either been ignored or mentioned only in passing and without further qualification in existing studies of late antique material culture. This research is underpinned by specific theoretical approaches from the disciplines of archaeology, art history and anthropology. Object biography, or the understanding that events in the lives of objects can affect their meaning and value, is key to this investigation and provides the opportunity to approach the material evidence in a novel way. It allows the direct comparison of previously disparate textual and archaeological sources to better understand the relationships between people and their possessions across a broad social spectrum. It also governs the structure of the thesis, which has chapters on heirlooms, gifts, and souvenirs – all of which are defined by an element of their biography, namely the context of their acquisition. The case study chapter also examines a generally ignored artefact type – the basket – bringing this undervalued example of domestic material culture to the fore. This thesis reveals that personal domestic possessions had the capacity to function as material vehicles for intangible thoughts, memories, and relationships. This function was known and exploited by the people of Late Antiquity in order to create and possess meaningful domestic objects of various types. It provides a new interpretation of domestic material culture that is different to more traditional studies of economic and social status. As such, it allows an understanding of how material culture transformed dwellings into homes during this period.

This project examines Hieroglyphic Stairway 2 (HS. 2) at Yaxchilan, a Classic Maya city in Southern Mexico. Uncovered in 1975 as part of the clearing and consolidation of Structure 33, HS. 2 is made up of thirteen carved blocks which form the riser to the last step in the ascent to this building. The blocks depict thirteen different individuals (four female and nine male) in a series of elaborate ballgame rituals that demonstrated the legitimacy and power of Bird Jaguar IV, the ruler over Yaxchilan from 752-768 A.D. In this study, the previous work conducted around this monument is examined, and argue that it has been insufficient to draw the conclusions commonly presented about it. A translation of the hieroglyphic inscriptions from all blocks is provided, where previously only translations from the central three blocks (VI, VII, VIII) have been made available. This study also provides an analysis of the imagery on the blocks to better understand the ideology of Late Classic Yaxchilan (530-830 A.D.). This work relies on the hieroglyphic and archaeological data available from the site to demonstrate the geographical and temporal variation in lowland Maya political organisation, and to provide a model for Late Classic Yaxchilan. Overall, the author argues that the Late Classic political organisation of Yaxchilan underwent a period of centralisation followed by decentralisation and collapse. The contribution of this study to the literature is the conclusion that the representation of so many individuals on HS. 2 reveals that political power was being conferred upon the elite through ‘empowering,’ which led to a delocalisation of authority. This may also have led to dissatisfaction among the general population of the ideology of kingship, which may have caused the community to reject uncharismatic rulers.