Growing mountains of waste, decreasing resources and global environmental pollution confront us today with challenges of unprecedented dimensions. Against this background, interest in sustainable and resource-saving concepts is increasing; it is not uncommon to fall back on (supposedly) traditional approaches from times past. But what do we really know about the roots of the circular economy? What turns everyday objects into worthless rubbish, what turns others into highly sought-after object...

The five tombs dealt with in this book were explored between 2009 and 2017 by the Leiden-Turin Expedition in the New Kingdom necropolis of Saqqara. All of them can be described as minor tombs, constructed wherever some space was still available in the cemetery between the major monuments of 18th Dynasty date. Some of them were clearly built against the exterior walls of these previous monuments, whereas their unusual plans show how the builders had to adapt to the cramped conditions in the ce...

This volume celebrates the academic life of prof. Raymond Corbey. It gathers contributions by diverse scholars and professionals from both science and society to engage with a range of key topics Raymond has grappled with at different stages of his capricious career. The volume not only provides an opinionated portrait of Raymond as an academic persona and sometimes controversial scholarly figure, unpacking key tropes of his intellectual journey such as “sitting on the fence” or the “em...

In Britain, Ireland and Southern Scandinavia, the Early Neolithic is characterised by monumental constructions (e.g. causewayed enclosures, dolmens) and by specific traditions of depositional practice. Some aspects of these practices are similar in both regions, for example the shapes and use of monuments, their overall developmental sequences, and the traditions of deposition (kinds of objects and their treatment, locations chosen and so on). In spite of these similarities, however, there ha...

This volume collects papers on the pre-Corded Ware horizon in central Europe and adjacent areas (i.e. from c. 3500 – 2800 BC). This phase is very patchily researched, partly also because certain kinds of evidence, notably domestic architecture and burials, are rare or absent in many regions. This has occasionally been interpreted as signs of a major crisis and population bottleneck, which in turn facilitated the migration of new populations from the steppe, bringing with them amongst others...

This study considers the detailed archaeological and documentary records of Cyprus and Ugarit (Syria) to gain new insights into the long-term relations between two of the best known, well-connected polities in the Late Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean.

I engage with concepts such as maritime space and spheres of interaction, merchants and mercantilism, actors and agents. Some background on both Ugarit and Cyprus is presented, followed by examination of the common material features of both (e....

The main goal of this volume is to look at social groups involved in economic activity other than members of the palace-based institutions and “elites” in Late Bronze Age Mycenaean Greek societies. The palaces and elites are the usual subject of studies of ancient economies, often from a top-down approach, but here we consider a fuller range of the members of a society, their organization, their institutions, and their contributions to the economies of those societies from bottom-up appro...

'Chariots on Fire, Reins of Power' presents the first comprehensive overview of 5th century BC elite graves from the Lower Rhine-Meuse region. Characterised by imported grave goods such as bronze vessels, horse tack, weapons and occasionally two-wheeled vehicles, these strikingly rich cremation burials are the northernmost representatives of an elite culture that had its roots in the Late Hallstatt and Early La Tène culture of more southern regions in France and the German Rhineland.

This b...

Heritage and Education are often cited together as two areas that could equally benefit from co-application and dialogue. This book includes some of the papers that were presented at the ‘Education VIA Culture’ conference, which was held online in December 2020. The chapters of this volume focus on how people can learn about heritage and engage with heritage through educational (formal or non-formal) processes.

In the VIA Culture understanding, the best way to create awareness about cultu...