Farmers, Temples and Tombs

Farmers, Temples and Tombs
Author: Gordon Barclay
Publisher: Birlinn Publishers
Total Pages: 72
Release: 2005
Genre: History
ISBN:

For too long the story of this exciting period has been told using the same stone-built suites, mainly in the North and on Orkney. It tells the story using evidence from all over Scotland, from simple settlements as well as the great monuments, tombs and mysterious standing stones that are still such a notable feature of today's landscape. Designed throughout with colourful and detailed illustrations, "Farmers, Temples and Tombs" outlines in a clear and understandable way the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age in Scotland. It contains in-depth features on important Neolithic sites and emphasizes that what are now archaeological sites were once places where normal people lived. Included in the book are specially commissioned illustrations which show how different sites might have looked, as well as a list of Neolithic sites that can be visited across Scotland. This book is part of a newly updated edition of the acclaimed Making of Scotland series produced by Historic Scotland and Birlinn which provides lively, accessible and up-to-date introductions to key themes and periods in Scottish history and prehistory.

Everyday Life Matters

Everyday Life Matters
Author: Cynthia Robin
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre: Archaeology
ISBN: 9780813044996

While the study of ancient civilizations has often focused on holy temples and royal tombs, a substantial part of the archaeological record remains hidden in the understudied day-to-day lives of artisans, farmers, hunters, and other ordinary people of the ancient world. The various chores of a person's daily life can be quite extraordinary and, even though they may seem trivial, such activities can have a powerful effect on society as a whole. In this book, the author develops general methods and theories for studying everyday life - methods that are applicable in archaeology, anthropology, and a wide range of disciplines.

Reading Between the Lines

Reading Between the Lines
Author: Kenneth Brophy
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2015-10-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317430026

Reading Between the Lines: The Neolithic Cursus Monuments of Scotland is the first systematic analysis of Scotland’s cursus monuments and is written by one of the foremost scholars of the Neolithic in Scotland. Drawing on fifteen years of experience of cropmark interpretation, as well as his involvement in several excavations of cursus monuments and contemporary sites, Kenneth Brophy uncovers some of the secrets of the Neolithic landscape. While outlining the physical characteristics of the cursus, this book also addresses the limitations of this kind of typological description when applied to monuments which varied so remarkably in terms of materiality and size. Moving beyond a morphological account, Brophy considers what can be said of this diverse group of sites, and how they were actually built and used in prehistory, in light of several decades of aerial reconnaissance and excavation in Scotland. Through a close study of the differences, as well as the similarities, between these structures, this book offers a nuanced account of cursus monuments, finally allowing this important monument type to be better understood and placed alongside others of the period. Offering exciting new ways of thinking about these enigmatic yet important monuments, Reading Between the Lines: The Neolithic Cursus Monuments of Scotland is an essential resource for students and specialists in British prehistory, providing an introduction to the Early Neolithic archaeology of lowland Scotland as well as a meditation on broader aspects of monumentality and architecture.

Monumentalising Life in the Neolithic

Monumentalising Life in the Neolithic
Author: Anne Birgitte Gebaer
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 710
Release: 2020-09-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1789254957

One of the principal characteristics of the European Neolithic is the development of monumentality in association with innovations in material culture and changes in subsistence from hunting and gathering to farming and pastoralism. The papers in this volume discuss the latest insights into why monumental architecture became an integral part of early farming societies in Europe and beyond. One of the topics is how we define monuments and how our arguments and recent research on temporality impacts on our interpretation of the Neolithic period. Different interpretations of Göbekli Tepe are examples of this discussion as well as our understanding of special landmarks such as flint mines. The latest evidence on the economic and paleoenvironmental context, carbon 14 dates as well as analytical methods are employed in illuminating the emergence of monumentalism in Neolithic Europe. Studies are taking place on a macro and micro scale in areas as diverse as Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Germany, the Dutch wetlands, Portugal and Malta involving a range of monuments from long barrows and megalithic tombs to roundels and enclosures. Transformation from a natural to a built environment by monumentalizing part of the landscape is discussed as well as changes in megalithic architecture in relation to shifts in the social structure. An ethnographic study of megaliths in Nagaland discuss monument building as an act of social construction. Other studies look into the role of monuments as expressions of cosmology and active loci of ceremonial performances. Also, a couple of papers analyse the social processes in the transformation of society in the aftermath of the initial boom in monument construction and the related changes in subsistence and social structure in northern Europe. The aim of the publication is to explore different theories about the relationship between monumentality and the Neolithic way of life through these studies encompassing a wide range of types of monuments over vast areas of Europe and beyond.

Walks in Ancient Lakeland

Walks in Ancient Lakeland
Author: Robert Harris
Publisher: Sigma Press
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2001
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9781850587637

This guide to the Lakeland walks takes readers along 24 ancient tracks, to explore largely unknown areas and to uncover the mysteries of the lives of our ancient ancestors.

Handbook to Life in Prehistoric Europe

Handbook to Life in Prehistoric Europe
Author: Jane McIntosh
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2009-06-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0199726221

For most of Europe's long past we have no writing, no named individuals, no recorded deeds. This means that its history is almost entirely that of the ordinary individual--the hunger-gatherer, farmer, or metallurgist--rather than the king. Evidence of privileged elites and material splendor is not lacking, however. The skills and expertise of prehistoric Europeans were often employed in the production of exquisite jewelry, elaborately woven cloth, beautifully made tools, and finely wrought weapons. Though the palaces that have attracted excavators in other lands are absent, there are few monuments elsewhere in the world to rival Europe's massive megalithic tombs or great stone circles. And though individuals preserve their anonymity and many of their secrets, modern technology has made it possible to reveal parts of their life history in astonishing detail. Handbook to Life in Prehistoric Europe gathers the results of recent archaeological discoveries and scholarly research into a single accessible volume. Organized thematically, the handbook covers all aspects of life in prehistoric Europe, including the geography of the continent, settlement, trade and transport, industry and crafts, religion, death and burial, warfare, language, the arts, and more. Complemented with more than 75 illustrations and maps, the result is a fascinating introduction to the 7,000-year period that immediately preceded the Roman Empire.

Neolithic of Mainland Scotland

Neolithic of Mainland Scotland
Author: Kenneth Brophy
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2016-03-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 074868574X

Archaeologists show us how the Neolithic human lived in mainland ScotlandWhat was life like in Scotland between 4000 and 2000BC? Where were people living? How did they treat their dead? Why did they spend so much time building extravagant ritual monuments? What was special about the relationship people had with trees and holes in the ground? What can we say about how people lived in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age of mainland Scotland where much of the evidence we have lies beneath the ploughsoil, or survives as slumped banks and ditches, or ruinous megaliths?Each contribution to this volume presents fresh research and radical new interpretations of the pits, postholes, ditches, rubbish dumps, human remains and broken potsherds left behind by our Neolithic forebears.From the APFWhat was life like in Scotland between 4000 and 2000BC? Where were people living? How did they treat their dead? Why did they spend so much time building extravagant ritual monuments? What was special about the relationship people had with trees? Why was so much time and effort spent digging holes and filling them back up again? What can we say about how people lived in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age of mainland Scotland where much of the evidence we have lies beneath the plough soil, or survives as slumped banks and filled ditches, or ruinous megaliths?This book will draw together leading experts and young researchers to present fresh research and outline radical new interpretations of the pits, postholes, ditches, rubbish dumps, human remains and broken potsherds left behind by our Neolithic forebears. Much of this evidence has come to light in the past few decades, putting the emphasis very much lowland, mainland Scotland as opposed to more famous Orcadian Neolithic sites. Inspired by the work of Gordon Barclay, the leading scholars of Scotland's Neolithic in the last 40 years, the chapters in this book offer a wide-ranging analysis of the evidence we have for the first farmers in Scotland.

Timelines of Everything

Timelines of Everything
Author: DK
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2018-10-30
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 146549474X

Explore 13 billion years of history in the comfort of your own home! Journey through time and discover how some of the world’s greatest events unfolded. From the Big Bang all the way through to the digital age, this incredible visual encyclopedia for children shows you just about everything that has ever happened in history. Witness history come alive as you travel through more than 130 stunning timelines. Packed with fantastic photographs and illustrations, along with informative text and fun facts. The history book covers the rise and fall of empires to ground-breaking scientific breakthroughs and inventions that changed our lives. This educational book is an imaginative way of illustrating world history for children age 8 and over. Throughout the pages, your child will get to meet the most bloodthirsty pirates of all time and discover what happened during the storming of the Bastille. It’s a fantastic book for young readers with a natural curiosity about history around the world. Find your place in the world and understand where you fit in. Whether you want to discover the history of cinema, fashion, aviation, or espionage. There is something for everyone in this glorious guide through global history! The History of Everything… Ever! This fascinating reference book tells the story of a diverse range of subjects throughout history in an easily digested graphic format! After your kids dive into this book, you'll never hear them use the words "history" and "boring" in the same sentence again. Take a trip back in time! This history book covers the following eras: • Prehistory: Before 3000 BCE • The Ancient World: 3000 BCE – 500 CE • The Medieval World: 500 – 1450 • The Age of Exploration: 1450 – 1750 • The Age of Revolution: 1750 – 1914 • The Modern World: After 1914

Tombs, Temples and Their Orientations

Tombs, Temples and Their Orientations
Author: Michael A. Hoskin
Publisher:
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN:

This study of archaeoastronomy looks at more than 2,500 communal tombs and sanctuaries from around the Mediterranean. After a brief discussion of Hoskin's aims and the methodology for his fieldwork, individual chapters focus on evidence from particular regions: Malta, Gozo, the Balearics, Iberia, southern France, Corsica and Sardinia, Sicily and Pantelleria, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. The author concludes that in most of these regions the monuments faced sunrise, or more generally the sun when it was rising or climbing in the sky. Along the Mediterranean coast of France, however, there is a reverse sunset custom; in North Africa tombs faced downhill and in a Minoan cemetery on Crete all the tombs faced moonrise and look towards a mountain on whose peak was a sanctuary probably sacred to a lunar god. 264p, b/w figs and photos throughout, tables (Ocarina Books 2001) ` adorned with dozens of beautiful photographs, technical diagrams, and an extraordinary Corpus Mensurarum.....a living masterpiece in the field of archaeoastronomy ' - Juan Antonio Belmonte, Instituto de Astroficia de Canarias `

A Short History of Tomb-Raiding

A Short History of Tomb-Raiding
Author: Maria Golia
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2022-09-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 1789146305

A spine-tingling exploration of a venture as ancient as the pyramids themselves. To secure a comfortable afterlife, ancient Egyptians built fortress-like tombs and filled them with precious goods, a practice that generated staggering quantities of artifacts over the course of many millennia—and also one that has drawn thieves and tomb-raiders to Egypt since antiquity. Drawing on modern scholarship, reportage, and period sources, this book tracks the history of treasure-seekers in Egypt and the social contexts in which they operated, revealing striking continuities throughout time. Readers will recognize the foibles of today’s politicians and con artists, the perils of materialism, and the cycles of public compliance and dissent in the face of injustice. In describing an age-old pursuit and its timeless motivations, A Short History of Tomb-Raiding shows how much we have in common with our Bronze Age ancestors.