Reports on excavations at the prehistoric site Ras Al-Hamra RH-5, located in the Qurum area of Muscat. The site dates from the late 5th to the end of the 4th millennia BC and comprises an accumulation of superimposed food discards deriving from continuous and repeated subsistence activities such as fishing, collecting shells, hunting and herding.

This two part volume brings together over 60 specialists to present 31 papers on the latest research into archaeozoology of the Near East. The papers are wide-ranging in terms of period and geographical coverage: from Palaeolithic rock shelter assemblages in Syria to Byzantine remains in Palestine and from the Caucasus to Cyprus. Papers are grouped into thematic sections examining patterns of Palaeolithic and Neolithic subsistence in northern Mesopotamia, Anatolia and the Iranian plateau; Palaeolithic to Neolithic faunal remains from Armenia; animal exploitation in Bronze Age urban sites; new evidence concerning pastoralism, nomadism and mobility; aspects of domestication and animal exploitation in the Arabian peninsula; several case studies on ritual animal deposits; and specific analyses of patterns of animal exploitation at urban sites in Turkey, Palestine and Jordan. This important collection of significant new work builds on the well-established foundation of previous ICAZ publications to present the very latest results of archaeozoological research in the prehistory of this formative region in the development of animal exploitation.

This book, first published in 2007, offered the first and only summary of decades of archaeological research in the Oman Peninsula. The original eleven chapters are expanded and enhanced in this new edition by a number of new ‘windows’, written by a new generation of scholars, in order to include more recent research and interpretations.

This publication will give an overview of the available global datasets on irrigated areas and an evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses. From these analyses an outline on how to develop a global irrigated area map, based on a generic methodology, will be presented. Some examples will be given for the area covering India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. These countries offer a broad range of irrigated areas in different environmental settings, ranging from deserts to humid tropics. This publication should be considered as a first attempt to develop such a generic methodology, rather than a presentation of actual results on the extent of irrigated areas.

Handbook of Microscopy is a manual that deals mainly with the basic instruments and techniques used in light microscopy and its biological applications. A large section is devoted to the study of organic matter in microfossils preserved in rocks, in view of its stratigraphic importance in mining and oil prospecting. This text is comprised of six chapters; the first of which introduces the reader to the basic principles as well as to the instruments and techniques used in light microscopy. This book also discusses the microscopes and electronic flashlights for photomicrography, along with the use of monochromatic light, stereological and physicochemical microanalysis, microanalysis by electron microscopy, and microdetermination of physical values. Attention then turns to staining and impregnation and methods of fixation, examination, cutting, and mounting. The remaining chapters focus on the microscopy of topological stains and non-specific cytological stains, with emphasis on special methods used in animal and plant histology and protistology and mycological methods in pathology. This book is written specifically for microscopists.

This magnificently illustrated work offers a comprehensive view of the textiles and techniques of pre-Columbian Peru. An introduction discusses yarns, dyes, looms, and raw materials; the first of the two-part text examines weaves, and the second considers such nonwoven materials as braiding, felt, and embroidery.