'Well, as for Nineveh, skipper, it was wiped out long ago. There's not a trace of it left, and one can't even guess where it was' (Lucian, 2nd century AD).Nineveh, the once-flourishing capital of the Assyrian Empire, has fascinated writers, travellers and historians alike since its complete annihilation by allied forces in 612 BC. It was said to have been a great and populous city with 90-km walls, stunning palaces and colossal statues of pure gold. Since 1842 archaeologists have been investi...

Ancient Egyptian coffins provided a shell to protect the deceased both magically and physically. They guaranteed an important requirement for eternal life: an intact body. Not everybody could afford richly decorated wooden coffins. As commodities, coffins also played a vital role in the daily life of the living and marked their owner's taste and status. Coffin history is an ongoing process and does not end with the ancient burial. The coffins that were discovered and shipped to museums have b...

There is a cluster of Early Iron Age (800-500 BC) elite burials in the Low Countries in which bronze vessels, weaponry, horse-gear and wagons were interred as grave goods. Mostly imports from Central Europe, these objects are found brought together in varying configurations in cremation burials generally known as chieftains' graves or princely burials. In terms of grave goods they resemble the Fürstengräber of the Hallstatt Culture of Central Europe, with famous Dutch and Belgian examples b...

Deze bundel vormt de neerslag van de 4e Nederlandse metaaltijdendag gehouden op 7 oktober 2016. Op die dag werden lezingen over diverse onderwerpen aangaande de brons- en ijzertijdgemeenschappen van de Lage landen gecombineerd met een groot aantal bijdragen over het centrale thema van dat jaar "Huis en huishouden: de mens achter de plattegrond". Veel van de sprekers van die dag waren bereid hun boeiende verhalen op schrift te stellen, zodat in deze bundel diverse bijdragen over nederzettingen...

Water & Heritage ... tells the story of water heritage in all its diversity. It reveals the technical ingenuity that water heritage has always inspired, and it presents the challenges that this heritage faces, along with possible solutions. Reflecting the depth of cooperation between UNESCO and ICOMOS, this book was launched ... as a showcase of cooperation to increase dialogue on water heritage. - Irina Bokova (Director-General of UNESCO)Water is vital for life, and its availability has been...

This catalogue presents the ancient Egyptian footwear in the collection of the Coptic Museum in Cairo. The catalogue contains detailed descriptions and measurements, photographs and drawings. Each description of a footwear category is followed by short discussions, addressing topics such as typology and dating. In addition a fairly large corpus of comparative material is presented as well, none of which has been published before. The present work will form an important resource for future stu...

Het is drukkend warm op woensdag 12 mei 1897. Veenarbeiders Willem Emmens en Hendrik Barkhof zijn hard aan het werk in een veentje tussen Vries en Yde. Met een baggerbeugel scheppen ze zwarte veenmodder uit het bruine water. Dan gebeurt er iets wat niemand verwacht: ze halen een lichaam naar boven. De twee mannen schrikken zich een ongeluk en rennen in paniek naar huis. Zo begint Het meisje van Yde, een kinderboek over het beroemdste veenlijk.

Interdisciplinary study on the role of earthquakes in the eastern Mediterranean.Does the "Minoan myth" still stand up to scientific scrutiny? Since the work of Sir Arthur Evans at Knossos (Crete, Greece), the romanticized vision of the Cretan Bronze Age as an era of peaceful prosperity only interrupted by the catastrophic effects of natural disasters has captured the popular and scientific imagination. Its impact on the development of archaeology, archaeoseismology, and earthquake geology in ...

The famous 'Silk Roads' have long evoked a romantic picture of travel through colourful civilizations that connected the western and eastern poles of Eurasia, facilitating the exchange of exotic luxury goods, peoples, pathogens and ideas. But how far back can we trace such interaction? Increasing evidence suggests considerable time-depth for Trans-Eurasian exchange, with the expanding urban networks of the Bronze Age at times anticipating later caravan routes. Tying the Threads of Eurasia app...

For many past and present societies, pottery forms an integral part of material culture and everyday practice. This makes it a promising case example to address human-thing-relations on a more general level, as well as social life itself. Humans organise their lives not only by engaging with materials and things but also by oscillating between movement and stasis. In these various rhythms of mobility - from daily subsistence-based movements to long-term migrations - things like ceramic vessel...