In Britain, Ireland and Southern Scandinavia, the Early Neolithic is characterised by monumental constructions (e.g. causewayed enclosures, dolmens) and by specific traditions of depositional practice. Some aspects of these practices are similar in both regions, for example the shapes and use of monuments, their overall developmental sequences, and the traditions of deposition (kinds of objects and their treatment, locations chosen and so on). In spite of these similarities, however, there ha...

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Op 27 oktober 1275 werd ‘Amestelledamme’ voor het eerst genoemd in een document, het tolprivilege van graaf Floris V. Amsterdam was toen nog een kleine nederzetting bij IJ en Amstel, maar zou al snel uitgroeien tot een invloedrijke havenstad en beroemd bedevaartsoord.

Hoe ontstond Amsterdam? Wat voor leven had de middeleeuwse Amsterdammer? Aan de hand van archiefstukken, archeologische vondsten en plekken in de huidige stad vertellen ...

This collection provides interdisciplinary discussions of the impact of the heritage of modernity in archaeology and related disciplines from a theoretical and philosophical point of view. The ways the philosophical and scientific heritage of modernity shapes current human scientific thought is a much-discussed topic in archaeology, anthropology, and beyond. From central themes of modernity, such as reductionism, materialism, and physicalism, there is a connection to central archaeological an...

St. Eustatius, a small island in the Lesser Antilles, has played an important role in Atlantic World history. Since its first permanent European settlement in 1636, the island changed hands 22 times between the Dutch, French, and English. As a result of the Dutch free trade policy, St. Eustatius became one of the Caribbean’s main transshipment centers in the eighteenth century. During the American War of Independence (1775-1783), large amounts of arms, ammunition, and gunpowder were shipped...

One of the largest collections of Egyptian and Sudanese antiquities worldwide was accrued by the Egyptologist Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bissing (1873–1956). As a scholar, university professor, and politically engaged Prussian nobleman he was an important link in the international network of Egyptology and in the distribution of archaeological objects to museums. He was also active in other disciplines regarding the ancient world, such as Etruscology. Already during his life, the collec...

Dorestad was the largest town of the Low Countries in the Carolingian era. As an inland port on the edge of the Frankish Empire, it functioned as an international hub, connecting the North Sea World with the Continent and the Low Countries with Italy. In 2024, the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden hosted its quinquennial international congress based around Dorestad, located at present-day Wijk bij Duurstede. This fourth edition, ‘Dorestad and Everything After’, coincided with the l...

This volume comprises 100 archaeological air photographs, principally of sites dating to the Iron Age and Roman periods in Northern Britain, resulting from aerial survey between 1970 and 1995, before the advent of drones when archaeological air photography was still dependent upon the use of light aircraft. The principal target areas were the Anglo-Scottish Borders, central Scotland (crannogs) and the Northern and Western Isles (brochs and duns). Practically, in order to maximise intended ...

In the spring of 1497, the Hispaniolan cacica (chieftess) Anacaona presented Columbus’ brother, Adelantado (Governor) Bartolomé Colón, with a lavish assortment of Indigenous wealth, including both woven textiles and balls of spun cotton, “so large that a man could hardly lift them.”

These had been stored among the cacical reserves, held in readiness for distribution in ways deemed useful to the chiefs and their communities – from spun cotton for artisanal commissions, to finished ob...

The modern discipline of archaeology developed in tandem with the expansion of European imperialism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Cyprus, ruled by Britain between 1878 and 1960, is a fascinating example of how archaeology was practiced and developed in a specific colonial context. This volume explores the mechanisms, the institutions and the characters who contributed to the development of Cypriot archaeology, often within a fraught political environment.

The 23 papers in this volume addre...

Situated within the vast Karakum desert of western Central Asia, the Merv oasis exhibits a trove of archaeological sites, owing to its rich ancient and medieval history. Likely due to its strategic location along the historic Silk Roads, the oasis boasts no less than three distinct urban sites, each corresponding to a different period.

During the Islamic Golden Age (8th-13th centuries CE), the city of Merv flourished as a significant centre of Islamic scholarship and occasionally served as a ...