Beads, beadwork, and personal ornaments are made of diverse materials such as shell, bone, stones, minerals, and composite materials. Their exploration from geographical and chronological settings around the world offers a glimpse at some of the cutting edge research within the fast growing field of personal ornaments in humanities’ past. Recent studies are based on a variety of analytical procedures that highlight humankind’s technological advances, exchange networks, mortuary practices, and symbol-laden beliefs. Papers discuss the social narratives behind bead and beadwork manufacture, use and disposal; the way beads work visually, audibly and even tactilely to cue wearers and audience to their social message(s). Understanding the entangled social and technical aspects of beads require a broad spectrum of technical and methodological approaches including the identification of the sources for the raw material of beads. These scientific approaches are also combined in some instances with experimentation to clarify the manner in which beads were produced and used in past societies.

This book contains papers that reflect the wide-ranging interests of the Dutch archaeologist Maurits van Loon—prehistory, art history, and ancient history. It is a mine of useful information and synthesis for archaeologists working in the region of northern Syria.

Charles Maisels follows the course of discovery of 'the land between the rivers' over more than a century, to our present conclusions - very different from the first discoveries.

Perspectives on the Past shows how knowledge of the past is contingent and is largely determined by the social and intellectual milieu in which those who study it have received their training. In the original essays that comprise the volume, field archaeologists discuss their own biases and the effects these biases have on the way they conduct their research on hunter-gatherers in the Mediterranean.

Analysis of the transition to sedentary farming in the Fertile Crescent and the establishment of Neolithic culture based on major excavations in Iraq

Leading scholars provide an overview of current issues in Old Testament studies.

This large volume presents virtually all aspects of the Epipalaeolithic Natufian culture in a series of chapters that cover recent results of field work, analyses of materials and sites, and synthetic or interpretive overviews of various aspects of this important prehistoric culture.

This book is the first in a series of reports on fieldwork carried out n eastern Jordan, 1979-1991. It presents evidence for the Epipalaeolithic period docused on the site of Dhuweila, a hunting camp used in the 7th and 6th millennia BC, and surrounding camps making use of desert 'kites', their chipped and ground stone industries, animal remains, botanical remains and rock art. Also includes an edited summary of work by Uzbek and Russian scholars on hunting traps and animal migration patterns on the Ustiurt plateau in Uzbekistan.

Tracing the development of some of the earliest and key civilizations in history, Early Civilisations of the Old World explains how particular forms of social structure and cultural interaction developed from before the Neolithic period.