Early Farmers, Late Foragers, and Ceramic Traditions-
On the Beginning of Pottery in the Near East and Europe

Ed. Dragos Gheorghiu

Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 9781443801591
285pp,
Price Hardback £39.99

This work presents the most recent views on a subject of primordial importance for all students of history: the understanding of humankind’s process of becoming, viewed through the study of the beginnings of pottery in the late forager, and early farmer societies of Europe.
It is a collection of essays, by some of the prominent European scholars and young dynamic archaeologists whose works focus on the early European and Middle Eastern pottery, intended to present a new perspective on the rise of a new technology in prehistory.
With the breadth, variety and novelty of the approaches presented, “Early farmers, late foragers and ceramic traditions. On the beginning of pottery in Europe” is a fascinating read for scholars, as well as for the public at large.

Professor Dragos Gheorghiu is an anthropologist and experimental archaeologist whose studies focus on the process of cognition, and material culture, of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic societies of South Eastern Europe. His most recent research is concerned with the reconstruction of prehistoric kilns and wattle and daub buildings.

To order please download pdf for details:
Ordering Details

A Neolithic ring ditch and later prehistoric features at Staines Road Farm, Shepperton

Phil Jones

SpoilHeap Monograph no 1
ISBN 978-0-9558846-0-3
94pp, 52 illus, 32 tables
Price £10 + £2.50 p&p

A Neolithic ring ditch at Staines Road Farm, Shepperton, was dug, in the middle of the 4th millennium BC, and soon after two human burials were placed in it. Other finds from the base of the ditch included antler picks, a dog/wolf and Peterborough ware. The ditch was then infilled with soil containing large quantities ofstruck flint, animal bone, and pottery. A pit row avenue nearby may have been contemporary.
Adjacent to the ring ditch was an Early Bronze Age burnt mound, associated with a boiling pit and its hearth. A nearby large pit of the 2nd millennium BC contained a wooden ard.
This volume is a full report on this major site, with detailed reports on worked flint, pottery, animal and human bone, as well as studies of macroscopic plant and invertebrate remains, palynology, and radiocarbon dates.

To order please contact:
Nowal Shaikhley,
Surrey History Centre,
130 Goldsworth Road,
Woking GU21 6ND

tel 01483 518779,
e-mail scau.archaeology@surreycc.gov.uk)

Making magic: later prehistoric and early Roman salt production in the Lincolnshire fenland,

Elaine L. Morris

Member Elaine Morris, writes: I wonder of you might like to have a reference on the website about this paper published in 2007. I suspect that we cannot simply reproduce the whole thing on the site, but a reference to it and notification that anyone who wants a copy of the pdf can get in touch with me address below would be OK with me.

Dr. Elaine L. Morris
Senior Research Fellow
Director, Centre for Applied Archaeological Analyses
School of Humanities (Archaeology)
University of Southampton
Avenue Campus
Southampton SO17 1BJ

elm1@soton.ac.uk

For those who are interested in this period, Elaine’s paper is 1 of 31 published in:

The Later Iron Age in Britain and Beyond
edited by Colin Haselgrove and Tom Moore

The nature and causes of the transformation in settlement, social structure, and material culture that occurred in Britain during the Later Iron Age (c. 400-300 BC to the Roman conquest) have long been a focus of research. In the past, however, there was a tendency for attention to be directed mostly to southern England and the increased manifestations of Gaulish and Roman influence apparent there towards the end of this period. For the most part, developments in other regions were assumed to be secondary in character and of relatively little significance. Thanks to new work, this viewpoint can no longer be sustained. Throughout Britain, the extent and vitality of the social changes taking place during the later first millennium BC is becoming more apparent, as is the long-term character of many of the processes involved. The time is ripe therefore for new narratives of the Later Iron Age to be created, drawing on the burgeoning material from developer-funded archaeology and the Portable Antiquities Scheme, as well as on new methodological and theoretical approaches. The thirty-one papers collected here seek to re-conceptualise our visions of Later Iron Age societies in Britain by examining regions and topics that have received less attention in the past and by breaking down the artificial barriers often erected between artefact analysis and landscape studies. Themes considered include the expansion and enclosure of settlement, production and exchange, agricultural and social complexity, treatment of the dead, material culture and identity, at scales ranging from the household to the supra-regional. At the same time, the inclusion of papers on Ireland, northern France, the Low Countries, Denmark, and Germany allows insular Later Iron Age developments to be placed in a wider geographical context, ensuring that Britain is no longer studied in isolation. 512p (Oxbow Books 2007)

Oxbow Books

The Dating of Food Vessels and Urns in Ireland

Anna Brindley’s The Dating of Food Vessels and Urns in Ireland is a major contribution to Irish and British archaeology. Using her experience with radiocarbon dates and intimate knowledge of typology and classification, she investigates the chronology and development of the pottery found in the graves of early Bronze Age Ireland. Some 200 samples of bone collagen and carbonate have been dated specifically for this work. The core of this book consists of three sections: the radiocarbon dates plus fully illustrated catalogues; the development of the pottery described in three stages; and a detailed consideration of the radiocarbon dates for each stage against the calibration curve. The result is a tightly structured chronology of calibrated radiocarbon dates for food vessels and urns between 2160 BC and 1500 BC.

Published by the Department of Archaeology, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland, in its Bronze Age Studies Series ISBN 9535620-2-6. Hardback, 392 pp, 164 figs, 75 tables. €40 per copy plus €7 postage. Cheques should be made payable to ’Department of Archaeology’. Payment may also be made to a bank account at Allied Irish Banks, University Branch, Galway. National code: 93-74-36. Account name: J. Waddell. Account number: 38270-127; IBAN: IE03 AIBK 9374 3638 2701 27; BIC: AIBKIE2D. If making payment to this bank account, please note that name and full address should also be sent to the Department Secretary at the above address, to archaeologynuigalway.ie or by phone to 00-353-(0)91-492167.

For other publications see: http://www.nuigalway.ie/archaeology/book_Publications_sales.html