Perishable Material Culture in Prehistory provides new approaches and integrates a broad range of data to address a neglected topic, organic material in the prehistoric record. Providing news ideas and connections and suggesting revisionist ways of thinking about broad themes in the past, this book demonstrates the efficacy of an holistic approach by using examples and cases studies. No other book covers such a broad range of organic materials from a social and object biography perspective, or concentrates so fully on approaches to the missing components of prehistoric material culture. This book will be an essential addition for those people wishing to understand better the nature and importance of organic materials as the ’missing majority’ of prehistoric material culture.

Perishable Material Culture in Prehistory provides new approaches and integrates a broad range of data to address a neglected topic, organic material in the prehistoric record. Providing news ideas and connections and suggesting revisionist ways of thinking about broad themes in the past, this book demonstrates the efficacy of an holistic approach by using examples and cases studies. No other book covers such a broad range of organic materials from a social and object biography perspective, or concentrates so fully on approaches to the missing components of prehistoric material culture. This book will be an essential addition for those people wishing to understand better the nature and importance of organic materials as the 'missing majority' of prehistoric material culture.

This volume focuses on the role and means of archaeological experimentation in understanding the processes involved in the manufacture and use of past artifacts. When asking for contributions, we suggested the five stages of an experimental approach as main-themes: 1. Selection and acquisition of raw material, identical to those present in the archaeological assemblages. 2. Production of replicas following the technological transformation schemes identified by the direct study of archaeological items. 3. Experimental use as indicated by the publications/ethnographic comparisons or as suggested by the morphology/use-wear evolution of the archaeological items. 4. Microscopical analysis of use-wear patterns. 5. Comparison of experimental data with archaeological data in order to validate the existing hypotheses on the way they were manufactured and used by the human communities. A second aim was that the invited authors to have various archaeological backgrounds and cover a broad spatial and temporal interval. As a result, this volume comprises 17 studies organized in three sections, dictated by the various aspects of experimental archaeology they represent: from the more traditional experimental replication, understanding and interpretation of artefact functionality, and relatively recent (and less trodden) directions in experimental archaeology. It also comes to show that experimental archaeology is as well suited for Palaeolithic studies, as it is for the Neo-Eneolithic and the Bronze Age. Although most papers refer geographically to Europe, interesting contributions take us to Argentina and Australia. *** Acest volum se concentrează pe rolul și mijloacele experimentelor arheologice în înțelegerea proceselor implicate în fabricarea și utilizarea artefactelor din trecut. Am invitat o serie de specialiștii să contribuie cu studii care să testeze ipotezele teoretice existente, dar și altele care să aducă abordări inovatoare. Când am solicitat contribuții, am sugerat ca teme principale cele cinci etape ale demersului experimental: 1. Selectarea și achiziționarea de materii prime, identice cu cele prezente în ansamblurile arheologice. 2. Realizarea de replici urmând schemele de transformare tehnologică identificate prin studiul direct al ansamblurilor arheologice. 3. Utilizarea experimentală după cum este indicată de publicații/comparații etnografice sau sugerată de evoluția uzurii pe artefactele arheologice. 4. Analiza microscopică a modelelor de de uzură. 5. Compararea datelor experimentale cu datele arheologice în vederea validării ipotezelor existente privind fabricarea și utilizarea lor de către comunitățile umane. Un al doilea scop al volumului a fost ca autorii invitați să provină din diferite medii arheologice și să acopere un interval spațial și temporal larg. A rezultat un volum cuprinzând 17 studii organizate în trei secțiuni, dictate de diversele aspecte ale arheologiei experimentale: replicarea experimentală la nivel tehnologic, înțelegerea și interpretarea funcționalității artefactelor și direcțiile relativ recente (interdisciplinare) în cadrul experimentului arheologie. De asemenea, volumul ne-a arătat că arheologia experimentală este la fel de potrivită pentru studiile paleolitice, ca și pentru neo-eneolitic și epoca bronzului. Deși majoritatea lucrărilor se referă geografic la Europa, contribuții interesante vin din Argentina sau Australia.

Between 2018 and 2019, Cornwall Archaeological Unit undertook two projects at Mount’s Bay, Penwith. The first involved the excavation of a Bronze Age barrow and the second, environmental augur core sampling in Marazion Marsh. Both sites lie within an area of coastal hinterland, which has been subject to incursions by rising sea levels. Since the Mesolithic, an area of approximately 1 kilometer in extent between the current shoreline and St Michael’s Mount has been lost to gradually rising sea levels. With current climate change, this process is likely to occur at an increasing rate. Given their proximity, the opportunity was taken to draw the results from the two projects together along with all available existing environmental data from the area. For the first time, the results from all previous palaeoenvironmental projects in the Mount’s Bay area have been brought together. Evidence for coastal change and sea level rise is discussed and a model for the drowning landscape presented. In addition to modeling the loss of land and describing the environment over time, social responses including the wider context of the Bronze Age barrow and later Bronze Age metalwork deposition in the Mount’s Bay environs are considered. The effects of the gradual loss of land are discussed in terms of how change is perceived, its effects on community resilience, and the construction of social memory and narratives of place. The volume presents the potential for nationally significant environmental data to survive, which demonstrates the long-term effects of climate change and rising sea levels, and peoples’ responses to these over time.

Discusses both the revolutionary cultural, social, and economic impact of Bronze Age textile production in Europe and innovative methodologies for future studies.

Prehistoric human life is a common reference point in contemporary culture, inspiring attempts to become happier, healthier, or better people. Exploited by capitalism, overwhelmed by technology, and living in the shadow of environmental catastrophe, we call on the prehistoric to escape the present, and to model alternative ways of living our lives. In Back to the Stone Age Ben Pitcher explores how ideas about race are tightly woven into the powerful origin stories we use to explain who we are, where we came from, and what we are like. Using a broad range of examples from popular culture – from everyday practices like lighting fires and walking in the woods to engagements with genetic technologies and Neanderthal DNA, from megaliths and museum mannequins to television shows and best-selling nonfiction – Pitcher demonstrates how prehistory is alive in the twenty-first century, and argues that popular flights back in time provide revealing insights into present-day anxieties, obsessions, and concerns. Back to the Stone Age shows that the human past is not set in stone. By opening up the prehistoric to critical contestation, Pitcher places racial justice at the centre of questions about the existence and persistence of Homo sapiens in the contemporary world.

HANDBOOK OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCES A modern and comprehensive introduction to methods and techniques in archaeology In the newly revised Second Edition of the Handbook of Archaeological Sciences, a team of more than 100 researchers delivers a comprehensive and accessible overview of modern methods used in the archaeological sciences. The book covers all relevant approaches to obtaining and analyzing archaeological data, including dating methods, quaternary paleoenvironments, human bioarchaeology, biomolecular archaeology and archaeogenetics, resource exploitation, archaeological prospection, and assessing the decay and conservation of specimens. Overview chapters introduce readers to the relevance of each area, followed by contributions from leading experts that provide detailed technical knowledge and application examples. Readers will also find: A thorough introduction to human bioarchaeology, including hominin evolution and paleopathology The use of biomolecular analysis to characterize past environments Novel approaches to the analysis of archaeological materials that shed new light on early human lifestyles and societies In-depth explorations of the statistical and computational methods relevant to archaeology Perfect for graduate and advanced undergraduate students of archaeology, the Handbook of Archaeological Sciences will also earn a prominent place in the libraries of researchers and professionals with an interest in the geological, biological, and genetic basis of archaeological studies.

Explains how recent scientific advances have revolutionised our understanding of prehistoric diet, economy and society.

Later prehistoric settlement in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly reports on the excavation between 1996 and 2014 of five later prehistoric and Roman period settlements. All the sites were multi-phased, revealing similar and contrasting occupational patterns stretching from the Bronze Age into the Iron Age and beyond.

This volume presents the results of archaeological investigations on the Newquay Strategic Road and goes on to discuss the complexity of the archaeology, review the evidence for ‘special’ deposits and explore evidence for the deliberate closure of buildings especially in later prehistoric and Roman period Cornwall.