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Fiedel's book exploring the development of the prehistoric cultures of North, Central and South America from about 10,000 BC to AD 1530 has been updated to include discussion of recent discoveries and analyses of their implications. Prehistory of the Americas examines archaeological evidence of the earliest human migration from Asia to the New World; the rapid expansion of Paleo-Indian hunters; the adaptations of archaic hunter-gatherers to post-Ice Age life; the origins and spread of farming and village life; and the rise and fall of chiefdoms and states. The author describes how different regions in the New World evolved, affected by a variety of factors ranging from technological developments to climate change. He compares the evolution of New World prehistory with that of Old World cultures. Discussion of the development of American archaeology, from the early European encounters with native Americans to the 'new' archaeology, is also included.
Bodies intrigue us. They promise windows into the past that other archaeological finds cannot by bringing us literally face to face with history. Yet 'the body' is also highly contested. Archaeological bodies are studied through two contrasting perspectives that sit on different sides of a disciplinary divide. On one hand lie science-based osteoarchaeological approaches. On the other lie understandings derived from recent developments in social theory that increasingly view the body as a social construction. Through a close examination of disciplinary practice, Joanna Sofaer highlights the tensions and possibilities offered by one particular kind of archaeological body, the human skeleton, with particular regard to the study of gender and age. Using a range of examples, she argues for reassessment of the role of the skeletal body in archaeological practice, and develops a theoretical framework for bioarchaeology based on the materiality and historicity of human remains.
A pan-European overview of the archaeology of hunter-gatherer societies, written by experts in each region.
The Mediterranean's Iron Age period was one of its most dynamic eras. Stimulated by the movement of individuals and groups on an unprecedented scale, the first half of the first millennium BCE witnesses the development of Mediterranean-wide practices, including related writing systems, common features of urbanism, and shared artistic styles and techniques, alongside the evolution of wide-scale trade. Together, these created an engaged, interlinked and interactive Mediterranean. We can recognise this as the Mediterranean's first truly globalising era. This volume introduces students and scholars to contemporary evidence and theories surrounding the Mediterranean from the eleventh century until the end of the seventh century BCE to enable an integrated understanding of the multicultural and socially complex nature of this incredibly vibrant period.
Based on the extensive excavation in the 1960s and 1970s, before flooding by artificial lakes, explores the Lepenski Vir culture, which lived in the Iron Gates Gorge of the Danube about 7,000 years ago. Investigates their origin; their geographical and chronological framework; and their role in ushering in the neolithic age, the early stages of which exhibit some Lepenski Vir traits. Discusses the environment now and then, settlements and architecture, burial rites, portable artifacts, periodization and chronology, and the European framework. Translated (from Serbian) and extensively revised from a 1993 U. of Belgrade Ph. D. dissertation. No index. Paper edition (unseen), $48.50. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
This book had its origins in a symposium held at the University of Edinburgh from 30 March to 2 April 2000, which was attended by archaeologists with a shared interest in the prehistory of the small but distinctive region of Southeast Europe known as the Iron Gates. In the broad sense the area refers to the section of the Danube valley where the river forms the modern political border between Serbia and Romania, and this definition is adopted for the present volume. First and foremost the volume is intended to illustrate the immense research potential of the Iron Gates region. A second objective is to provide case studies that illustrate the nature of current research and the rich possibilit...
Secondary edition statement taken from dust jacket flap.
Who were the first humans to inhabit North America? According to the now familiar story, mammal hunters entered the continent some 12,000 years ago via a land bridge that spanned the Bering Sea. Distinctive stone tools belonging to the Clovis culture established the presence of these early New World people. But are the Clovis tools Asian in origin? Drawing from original archaeological analysis, paleoclimatic research, and genetic studies, noted archaeologists Dennis J. Stanford and Bruce A. Bradley challenge the old narrative and, in the process, counter traditional—and often subjective—approaches to archaeological testing for historical relatedness. The authors apply rigorous scholarship to a hypothesis that places the technological antecedents of Clovis in Europe and posits that the first Americans crossed the Atlantic by boat and arrived earlier than previously thought. Supplying archaeological and oceanographic evidence to support this assertion, the book dismantles the old paradigm while persuasively linking Clovis technology with the culture of the Solutrean people who occupied France and Spain more than 20,000 years ago.
"That new view, says Dillehay, will come mainly from South America - from South American sites and from freedom from the North American dogma that kept the Clovis theory dominant for so many years.
This text contains short and concise papers that focus on the following themes: pre-Clovis archaeology; Clovis-era archaeology; Paleoamerican paleobiology; new approaches to the study of Paleoamericans; Paleoamericans and public policy; and new directions for Paleoamerican archaeology.