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 ...

This dissertation investigates the dynamics of social inequality in the Carpathian Basin between the Late Neolithic and the Middle/Late Bronze Age (5200–1000 BCE) through a quantitative analysis of burial contexts. Employing statistical methods, including Gini indices and Generalized Entropy Measures, the study evaluates the extent, development, and underlying factors of inequality within prehistoric societies.

Key findings reveal a complex, cyclical pattern of inequality, challenging the n...

Geographical Information Systems has moved from the domain of the computer specialist into the wider archaeological community, providing it with an exciting new research method. This clearly written but rigorous book provides a comprehensive guide to that use. Topics covered include: the theoretical context and the basics of GIS; data acquisition including database design; interpolation of elevation models; exploratory data analysis including spatial queries; statistical spatial analysis; map...

Drenthe kent een lange bewoningsgeschiedenis. De oudste sporen van menselijke aanwezigheid gaan zeker 50.000 jaar terug, misschien wel meer dan 100.000 jaar. In die lange periode voltrekken zich grote veranderingen. Gedurende het grootste deel van die eindeloze tijd leven de bewoners als jager-verzamelaars. Vanaf 5000 v.C. nemen ze zeer geleidelijk agrarische praktijken uit zuidelijker streken over. De invloed op het landschap wordt steeds groter. Er worden akkers aangelegd en opvallende graf...

In Van Neanderthaler tot rendierjager nemen we het publiek mee naar een bijzondere periode uit de rijke geschiedenis van de provincie Drenthe: de Oude Steentijd. De tijd van ijstijden, rendierjagers én Neanderthalers; die immer boeiende andere menssoort, die circa 40.000 jaar geleden uitstierf en ons als Homo sapiens alleen achterliet. De resten van de aanwezigheid van deze oermensen zijn door (amateur-)archeologen overal in de provincie gevonden. Hun vuurstenen werktuigen, resten van hun ka...

Textiles from the early medieval period that are occasionally found in excavations are the scarce remains of garments, household fabrics, sails etc. Although several authors have published textile finds from the Netherlands in the past,systematic research of these finds has not been conducted yet. Where the surrounding countries have witnessed a development in which textile archaeology has become a fundamental part of archaeological research, a similar development has been lacking in the Neth...

The 35th volume of the ASLU series develops and applies a new approach to study Aegyptiaca Romana from a bottom-up, Roman perspective. Current approaches to these objects are often still plagued by top-down projections of modern definitions and understandings of Egypt and Egyptian material culture onto the Roman world. "Egypt beyond representation" instead argues that these artefacts should be studied in their own right, without reducing them from the onset to fixed (Egyptian) meanings. Start...

One of the most puzzling phenomena of the European Bronze Age, is that many communities buried or otherwise hid large numbers of valuable bronze objects, but never returned to retrieve them. This book focuses on the metal finds of one small European region, the southern Netherlands and the adjacent part of North Belgium.Fontijn considers the question of why so many elaborate bronze objects have been found in watery locations in this landscape, such as rivers, streams, and marshes, while so fe...

Ce livre est consacré à la recherche sur le développement de la production et des échanges céramiques entre le continent et les îles de Bretagne, du Néolithique à la période gallo-romaine. L'analyse archéométrique de la céramique est utilisée pour explorer le développement des réseaux de communication: la circulation des personnes et des produits entre les îles et le continent. Ces îles produisaient-elles leur propre poterie ou étaient-elles dépendantes de la production con...