Nederlanders hebben door de eeuwen heen forten en andere verdedigingswerken op vele locaties ver van Nederland gebouwd. Meestal dienden deze ter bescherming van Nederlandse belangen. Denk hierbij aan de Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) en de West-Indische Compagnie (WIC) die van de Staten Generaal een geweldsmandaat kregen om oorlog te voeren met rivaliserende Europese mogendheden. En ook aan de koloniale aanwezigheid in Nederlands Indië.

Anders dan veel boeken over de VOC en de WIC i...

'Ritual Failure' is a new concept in archaeology adopted from the discipline of anthropology. Resilient religious systems disappearing, strict believers and faithful practitioners not performing their rites, entire societies changing their customs: how does a religious ritual system transform, change or disappear, leaving only traces of its past glory? Do societies change and then their ritual? Or do customs change first, in turn provoking wider cultural shifts in society? Archaeology possess...

Many are no larger than a fingertip. They are engraved with symbols, magic spells and images of gods, animals and emperors. These stones were used for various purposes. The earliest ones served as seals for making impressions in soft materials. Later engraved gems were worn or carried as personal ornaments - usually rings, but sometimes talismans or amulets. The exquisite engraved designs were thought to imbue the gems with special powers. For example, the gods and rituals depicted on cylinde...

Primäres Erkenntnismittel der Archäologie sind ihre Sammlungen und Archive an Objekten vergangener Kulturen und Gesellschaften. Diese Aussage war und ist auch heute noch oft zu hören. Doch inzwischen leidet die Archäologie zunehmend unter diesen Objekt-Massen, die sie zudem durch Ausgrabungen ständig vermehrt.

Die hier vorgelegten siebzehn Beiträge entstanden im Zuge einer von der Arbeitsgemeinschaft "Theorien in der Archäologie" organisierten Tagung 2013 in Berlin. Der Sammelband hat ...

This book explores a complex relational assemblage, a collection of 1481 Pacific artefacts brought together by Captain Edward Henry Meggs Davis, during the three voyages of HMS Royalist between 1890-1893. The collection is indicative not just of a period of colonial collecting in the Pacific, but also the development of ethnographic collections in the UK and Europe. This period of history remains present in the social and cultural lives of many Pacific Islanders today.

Using the collections as...

For many centuries, scholars and enthusiasts have been fascinated by Stonehenge, the world's most famous stone circle. In 2003 a team of archaeologists commenced a long-term fieldwork project for the first time in decades. The Stonehenge Riverside Project (2003-2009) aimed to investigate the purpose of this unique prehistoric monument by considering it within its wider archaeological context.This is the fourth of four volumes which present the results of that campaign. It includes investigati...

Ancient Egyptians always had an intense and complex relationship with animals in daily life as well as in religion. Despite the fact that research on this relationship has been a topic of study, gaps in our knowledge still remain. This volume presents well over 30 contributions that explore Human-Animal relationships from the Predynastic to the Roman period.

The essays cover topics such as animal husbandry, mummification, species-specific studies, the archaeology and economy of the animal cult...

This volume establishes a rich cross-disciplinary dialogue about the significance of stone in society across time and space. The material properties of stone have ensured its continuing importance; however, it is its materiality which has mediated the relations between the individual, society and stone.

Bound up with the physical properties of stone are ideas on identity, value, and understanding. Stone can act as a medium through which these concepts are expressed and is tied to ideas such a...

This book contains a selection of nineteen articles published by K.R. Veenhof, focusing on his main field of study: law and trade in the Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian society of the early second millennium B.C. They were originally published in journals, conference proceedings and collective volumes over the past fifty years. Their reissue here is motivated by their lasting value and their fundamental importance to the study of these subjects.

It includes both “broad” articles, which gi...

Barrows at the Core of Bronze Age Communities argues exactly that. Round barrows do not just represent the death side of Early Bronze Age communities placed in set-a-side ritual landscapes, but were instead central to existence in many ways. This study of the Rother Region, where the Weald meets the Wessex massif, reports the results of the People of the Heath project, 2014–18. It integrates a wealth of data from comprehensive field study of all relevant sites in the region with that from e...