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...

Bodies are immanent element of socio-cultural negotiation. Since the 19th century, Egyptology has produced vast knowledge on the ancient Egyptian bodies (human, divine, animal), however, mainly by focusing on funerary aspects of ancient Egyptian culture. Different paradigm shifts and turns of the last few decades (hermeneutics, semiotics, social-constructivism, ontology etc.), echo through Egyptology, but are still not part of the dominant discourse. This is also the case for the so-called �...

Fifteen new contributors bring fresh perspectives to the fifth edition of The Human Past, the most authoritative introduction to world prehistory, revealing our shared human story with the latest scholarship. Thoroughly updated by its team of authors, including 15 leading specialists new to this edition, this fifth edition introduces students to a more equitable and representative view of world prehistory. A total of 30 contributing authors – a truly international team of experts – introd...

Spatial analysis on the basis of material culture has always been one of the mayor topics in archaeological research. Designating place analyses the urban space of Roman Ostia and Pompeii in different ways: geophysical analysis, spatial analysis, iconographic analysis and epigraphic analysis. This book is based on the work of Hanna Stöger, the Leiden scholar who died in 2018. Hanna’s work in Ostia was not finished and this book contains contributions from people who inspired her, people sh...

This book deals with the question how communities across Europe during the later 3rd millennium BC adopt and transform the Bell Beaker phenomenon differently. By looking at these processes of change from the perspective of settlements and settlement material culture, an interpretation is given to the development of this phenomenon that is alternative to the currently prevailing migration models.Instead, the author uses social theories on the spread of innovations, the development and function...

Early Settlers of the Insular Caribbean: Dearchaizing the Archaic offers a comprehensive coverage of the most recent advances in interdisciplinary research on the early human settling of the Caribbean islands. It covers the time span of the so-called Archaic Age and focuses on the Middle to Late Holocene period which - depending on specific case studies discussed in this volume - could range between 6000 BC and AD 1000. A similar approach to the early settlers of the Caribbean islands has nev...

The early Neolithic site of Vráble (5250-4950 cal BCE) is among the largest LBK settlement agglomerations in Central Europe, and exceptional within the southwest Slovakian area. Geophysical surveys revealed more than 300 houses, grouped into three contemporary neighbourhoods, one of which is delineated by a complex ditched enclosure system. This enclosure is associated with a large number of human remains, which reveal new patterns of burial and deposition practices. This volume presents the...

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...

Research Project Sagalassos speaks to the imagination in more ways than one. The authentic and natural beauty of the site no doubt plays a role in that. The Sagalassos Project testifies to the fact that its core business, archaeology, also appeals to the imagination. Learning about the past is fascinating, for young and old alike. Curiosity unquestionably plays a role in this. Archaeologists, as any other scientist, are driven to really know about past human activities. As they leave no stone...