Author: Charles D. Trombold Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 0521383374 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 300
Book Description
The presence of ancient road networks in the New World is a puzzle, because they predate the use of wheeled transport vehicles. But whatever their diverse functions may have been, they remain the only tangible indication of how extinct American societies were regionally organised. Contributors to this volume, originally published in 1991, describe past studies of prehispanic roads in the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central and South America, paying special attention to their significance for economic and political organisation, as well as regional communication.
Author: William N. Morgan Publisher: University of Texas Press ISBN: 0292786212 Category : Architecture Languages : en Pages : 190
Book Description
In the many centuries preceding Western contact, a richly diverse and innovative architectural tradition reached maturity in the western Pacific. Prehistoric Architecture in Micronesia, the first modern study of this remarkable work, reveals that there is no such thing as primitive architecture but only primitive means. This study presents five distinctly different examples of Micronesia's ancient architecture. The sites include the extraordinary stone cities of Leluh and Nan Madol on the islands of Kosrae and Pohnpei, respectively. Other structures include the meeting houses and residences built on hexagonal stone platforms in the Yap Islands, the earth terraces and ornately decorated meeting houses of Palau, and the megalithic columns and capstones of prehistoric houses in the Mariana Islands. These structures are illustrated by photographs, maps, plans, and other drawings. Many of the basic data come from archaeological investigations of the specific sites. Summaries at the ends of chapters and in the concluding section compare the architectural characteristics of the island groups with each other and with monuments outside Micronesia. One of the most remarkable achievements of any ancient people, the prehistoric architecture of Micronesia is a source of continuing inspiration for persons who search for meaning in the built form of our present-day environment.
Author: Peter Roger Stuart Moorey Publisher: Eisenbrauns ISBN: 9781575060422 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 456
Book Description
This is the first systematic attempt to survey in detail the archaeological evidence for the crafts and craftsmanship of the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians in ancient Mesopotamia, covering the period ca. 8000-300 B.C.E. As creators of some of the earliest farming and urban communities known to us, these people were among the first pioneers of many crafts and skills that remain fundamental to modern ways of life. Many of the raw materials for crafts had to be imported from outside the river valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, providing an unusually sensitive indicator of the commercial and cultural contacts of Mesopotamia. In this book, Dr. Moorey reviews briefly the textual evidence, and then goes on to examine in detail the material evidence for a wide range of crafts using stones, both common and ornamental, animal products--from hippopotamus ivory to ostrich egg-shells--ceramics, glazed materials and glass, metals, and building materials. With a comprehensive bibliography, this will be a key work of reference for archaeologists and those interested in the early history of crafts and technology, as well as for specialist historians of the ancient Near East.
Author: Johannes Müller Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317247922 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 330
Book Description
In European prehistory population agglomerations of more than 10,000 inhabitants per site are a seldom phenomenon. A big surprise to the archaeological community was the discovery of Trypillia mega-sites of more than 250 hectares and with remains of more than 2000 houses by a multidisciplinary approach of Soviet and Ukrainian archaeology, including aerial photography, geophysical prospection and excavations nearly 50 years ago. The extraordinary development took place at the border of the North Pontic Forest Steppe and Steppe zone ca. 4100–3400 BCE. Since then many questions arose which are of main relevance: Why, how and under which environmental conditions did Trypillia mega-sites develop? How long did they last? Were social and/or ecological reasons responsible for this social experiment? Are Trypillia and the similar sized settlement of Uruk two different concepts of social behaviour? Paradigm change in fieldwork and excavation strategies enabled research teams during the last decade to analyse the mega-sites in their spatial and social complexity. High precision geophysics, target excavations and a new design of systematic field strategies deliver empirical data representative for the large sites. Archaeological research contributed immensely to aspects of anthropogenic induced steppe development and subsistence concepts that did not reach the carrying capacities. Probabilistic models based on 14C-dates made the contemporaneity of the mega-site house structures most probable. In consequence, Trypillia mega-sites are an independent European phenomenon that contrasts both concepts of urbanism and social stratification that is seen with similar demographic figures in Mesopotamia. The new Trypillia research can be read as the methodological progress in European archaeology.
Author: Marvin Tameanko Publisher: ISBN: Category : Antiques & Collectibles Languages : en Pages : 256
Book Description
One of the more unusual sources for lost or ruinous buildings from ancient Greece or Rome is coinage. This well-illustrated and accessible study examines a wide range of coins which recall and evoke buildings which were clearly important to Roman powers. The book is arranged by building-type, including roads, harbours, aqueducts, Rome's public buildings, temples, triumphal arches and altars. Many coins are illustrated and all technical terms are explained in the glossary.
Author: Joanna Bruck Publisher: Taylor & Francis ISBN: 1000939553 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 181
Book Description
First published in 1999. This groundbreaking volume addresses issues central to the study of prehistoric settlement including group memory, the transmission of ideology and the impact of mobility and seasonality on the construction of social identity. Building on these themes, the contributors point to new ways of understanding the relationship between settlement and landscape by replacing Capitalist models of spatial relations with more intimate histories of place.
Author: Mick Wright Publisher: BRILL ISBN: 9047406028 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 199
Book Description
This résumé study deals with building material, which together with construction and structures, forms one of the three aspects of building, or equally one of the three factors which constitute the nature of a building.
Author: Charles D. Trombold
Author: William N. Morgan
Author: J. D. Clark
Author: Peter Roger Stuart Moorey
Author: Richard Bradley
Author: Johannes Müller
Author: Karl Baedeker (Firm)
Author: Marvin Tameanko
Author: Joanna Bruck
Author: Mick Wright