David Brown Book Company

Current research in Egyptology; proceedings.

The 13 papers represent just half of the presentations at the symposium; the others are listed along with citations of their publication elsewhere. Graduate students in Egyptology from a number of countries discuss such topics as employing non-destructive methods to study mummies in the Lisbon Mummy Project, anthropoid busts and ancestor cults at Deir el-Medina, and Iaau and the question of the origin of evil according to ancient Egyptian sources. There is no calendar. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Danish Institute at Athens; proceedings.

Unlike their Greek hosts, Danes are not prone to chit-chat for awhile before getting down to business. So it is without introduction or preface that they plunge into the six papers. Among their topics are the Platonic corpus in antiquity, the use and abuse of Athena in Roman imperial portraiture as exemplified by Julia Domna, and a third preliminary report on Greek-Danish excavations at Aetolian Chalkis in 1999-2001. Neither do the northerners linger for wine nor indexing. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Discovering a Welsh landscape; archaeology in the Clwydian Range.

Formerly Country Heritage Officer for Clwyd, Brown offers an introduction rather than a comprehensive study to the cultural and environmental heritage of one corner of northeastern Wales. The study begins with hominids and woolly rhinoceros in the Palaeolithic, then proceeds through eras and ages into the beginning of history. From there, it finds Romans, the myriad shades of the Middle Ages, and developments to modern times. Sharp and Williamson are leading archaeological and landscape photographers. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Dolaucothi-Pumsaint; survey and excavations at a Roman gold-mining complex 1987-1999.

This volume traces the history of archaeological research at the site of the Roman gold mine of Dolaucothi near the Welsh town of Pumsaint from 1987-1999. Extensive study is included on the infrastructure of watercourses (leat) and roads that supported the mine as well as the neighboring fort and other settlement buildings, including a bath house. The history of the site and its study are described in the introduction. The chapters describe the excavations in detail, with many photos, maps, diagrams, and tables. Several other archaeologists contributed to the volume along with the Burnhams. Not indexed. Distributed by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The Dover Bronze Age boat in context; society and water transport in prehistoric Europe.

This text contains papers delivered at a conference held in Dover, England, in 2002 to mark the tenth anniversary of the discovery of a Bronze Age boat in Dover in 1992, and to explore the impact of the boat on European Bronze Age studies. Sixteen contributions written by 17 European experts examine what life was like when the Dover boat set sail, including the marine environment and seaworthiness, boat- building techniques and materials, and social and religious perceptions of boats and sea voyages. Illustrated with b&w photographs and diagrams. No subject index. Distributed in the U.S. by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Dwelling among the monuments; the neolithic village of Barnhouse, Maeshowe passage grave and surrounding monuments at Stenness, Orkney.

Since the 1960s, Orkney, with its profusion of well preserved settlements and remarkably conserved chambered tombs, has been regarded as one of the richest sources for the understanding of Neolithic Britain. Until this complete account of the excavations at Barnhouse, however, no researcher has succeeded in connecting the two differing facets of Orcadian prehistory: the monumental represented by the tombs and great circles the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness; and the domestic as represented by Skara Brai, Rinyo, and Knap of Howar. Dwellings, the Great Passage Grave of Maeshowe, grooved ware, lithic assemblage, pumice, wood charcoal, and faunal remains are among the reports. There is no index. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Early Anglo-Saxon buckets; a corpus of copper alloy- and iron-bound, stave-built vessels.

Cook (1927-2001) was an Anglo-Saxon archaeologist and pioneer administrator for museums and higher education. Her copious notes and drawings for this book, along with a database planned and operational, were in her files when she died. Four friends and colleagues have brought her work on buckets to publication. It covers the archive and published corpus, terminology, construction and reconstruction, typological aspects of fittings, the grave context, and questions with some answers. Some three fifths of the volume, however, comprises a corpus, or catalogue, of known buckets arranged by locality. There is no index. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Early engravers and their public; the master of the Berlin Passion and manuscripts from convents in the Rhine-Maas region, ca. 1450-1500.

Very few of the engravings and metalcuts sold to the public in the last half of the 15th century survive. They were meant to be pasted into manuscripts but many were cut away and used to decorate furniture or boxes, pinned to walls, or otherwise incorporated into ordinary lives. Weekes, former supervisor of the print room of the Ashmolean Museum, examines some of the few remaining in situ to find the contexts of the printmakers and the public who bought their wares. Of those who created the prints, Weekes is primarily interested in the work of the master of the Berlin Passion and his circle, and examines four of the manuscripts for which they created prints, including vernacular prayer books and a book of hours. Weekes includes a comprehensive catalogue of the manuscripts under study, monochrome photographs, and color plates. Distributed by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The emergence of civilisation revisited.

The question at hand is not whether becoming civilized was such a good idea after all, but rather the impact on Aegean archaeology of Colin Renfrew's 1972 The Emergence of Civilization. Archaeologists mostly from Britain but also the US and the continent gathered in Sheffield for the 30th anniversary to discuss such matters as social life and social transformation in the Aegean before the Bronze Age, the contested landscape of prepalatial Mesara, and dimensions of social complexity as seen in the house of the tiles at Lerna. Renfrew himself adds his voice. There is no index. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Excavations at Deansway, Worcester, 1988-89; Romano-British small town to late medieval city.

The Deansway Archaeological Project, launched in advance of the construction of a shopping center, encompassed not only the decade of excavations, but also post-excavation activities through 2001 and the production of this comprehensive report. A large team of participants discuss the historical and archaeological background, the chronology from prehistory to the 20th century, various themes such as soils and rubbish disposal, reports on each of the six sites, and specialist reports on such aspects as later post-medieval pottery, and human skeletal remains. Drawings, maps, and photographs accompany the text. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Excavations at the priory of the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, Clerkenwell, London.

This substantial volume presents a synthesis of excavations carried out from 1986-1995. Chapters are included that detail the history of the Order of the Hospital of St John, which originated in Jerusalem during the Crusades and remained a powerful landowner in Europe until the 17th century. Other chapters describe the history of the site of the priory from Roman times until the 17th century, the archaeological and architectural features of the site, the role of the priory in the district, and the various activities and occupations associated with it. Much of the text contains detailed reports of finds and their study, with sections on the moulded stone, the architectural terra-cottas, various other building materials, ceiling and wall plaster, pottery, non-ceramic finds, plant remains, animal bone, and human remains. The volume is well illustrated with drawings, photographs, ground plans, maps, and tables. Distributed by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Explorations in Albania, 1930-39; the notebooks of Luigi Cardini, prehistorian with the Italian archaeological mission.

The notebooks of Cardini (d.1971), who was in Albania from 1930-1939, are usefully made available to archaeologists in this volume. Presented in the Italian original with full English translation, the notebooks contain Cardini's extensive study of prehistoric caves and rockshelters. B&w photos of the sites and finds and many of the notebooks' pages are included. The volume is oversize: at 8.5x12 inches. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Explaining social change; studies in honour of Colin Renfrew.

Colleagues and former students of Renfrew (archaeology, U. of Cambridge) mark his retirement with 19 studies in social archaeology, of which he was a pioneer. Their focus is using archaeology not so much to determine what human society was like at a certain prehistoric time and place, but to understand how and why that society changed. Among the topics are climate and the Upper Palaeolithic Revolution in Europe, figuring out social archaeology at Sitagroi, a view of Orkney from South Uist, the use of objects in rich Bronze Age graves, and Aegean islands and islanders. There is no index. Two more commemorative volumes are expected. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Fortress builder; Bernard de Gomme, Charles II's military engineer.

A specialist in military architecture both of early medieval castles and later artillery fortifications, Saunders examines the place of de Gomme in the design and construction of English fortifications from the Civil Wars to the death of Charles II, during the 17th century. Little evidence remains about the military architect himself, he says, so his life must be reconstructed from surviving edifices that he built and drawings, many them reproduced here, and other papers related to contracts and construction, including claims for travel expenses. His work is placed in the context of fortress building at the time, the Old Dutch school of fortification, and the English Civil War. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

From megaliths to metal; essays in honour of George Eogan.

Thirty-one essays honor Eogan, who taught archaeology at the University College Dublin and whose preeminence in the field of the neolithic and bronze age in Ireland is evident in the topics presented. Among the topics are hunting wild pig in the late mesolithic, axehead hoarding, exotic materials in the early bronze age, middle bronze age burial traditions, the genesis of the early bronze age in central Europe, Scandinavian rock carvings, the excavation of the high cross in the medieval marketplace in Kells, and bronze age rotary spits. The contributors are archaeologists in Ireland, the UK, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, and Spain. There is no index. Distributed by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Glass beads from early Anglo-Saxon graves; a study of the provenance and chronology of glass beads from early Anglo-Saxon graves.

They are tiny universes clasped deep in glass and shot with color. When set against a neutral background for a photograph they are remarkable enough. There they have branches inside them, wildflowers, planets' faces and the geometry of stars. When set against the clothing or skin of the wearer, their transparency and shine reveal both the fire within and the fire without. Brugman describes how these small treasures came to be discovered on the bodies in graves the Anglo-Saxons scattered across the British Isles, and how the beads reflect the remarkable abilities of the people who made them. Along with their skills in modeling and minerals, the makers must have had remarkable powers of observation as they incorporated their interpretations of the natural world and the world to come for those they adorned. While intended primarily as documentation of the finds, this can also serve as inspiration to those who still seek to speak through the glint of minerals and metals on their bodies. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Greek art in view; essays in honour of Brian Sparkes.

Friends and colleagues celebrate Sparkes' contributions to Classical Greek archaeology over the past 45 years with 11 essays. Their topics include sculpture gone to pot, whether images of women with mortars and pestles portray the kitchen or a cult, workshops and the iconography and distribution of Athenian red figure pottery, Athenian cobblers and heroes, and eating fish in Greek culture. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The Hagia Photia Cemetery I; the tomb groups and architecture.

The village on the northeast coast of Crete, particularly the cemetery of about 300 tombs, was excavated in 1971, but no comprehensive report on the findings and implications has been published until now. The more than 1,800 artifacts found reveal a Cycladic presence in Crete at the beginning of the Minoan period. Among them are some of the earliest known Cretan discoveries in several categories, including crucibles with copper inside them, long daggers with central midribs, and pendants made with the lost-wax process. A report is included for every tomb opened, with photographs and drawings of any artifacts or significant features. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Hendrick Van Balen (1575-1632); ein Antwerpener Kabinettbildmaler der Rubenszeit; 2v.

The ouevre of this prolific Flemish painter is catalogued in this two-volume work by Werche. The life and career of Van Balen, a contemporary and collaborator with Jan Bruegel the Younger, and an analysis of his ouevre as a painter of works specifically for the collector's cabinet are discussed in initial chapters. A catalogue follows, with a formal discussion of each painting and exhaustive notes on its provenance and bibliography. His paintings and related works are contained in Volume Two, in b&w plates of excellent quality. Werche carried out this project for her PhD (fulfilled in 1992 at the Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn, Germany). In German. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

An historical atlas of Kent.

Printed in a horizontal format (11.5x8.5 inches), this atlas contains a wealth of information and history about this county just west of London. Containing the historically important cities of Canterbury and Dover, Kent has a long and complex history, which is related in chronological order in detailed entries, each accompanied by a map. A sample of topics includes the Iron Age, pilgrimage, medieval watermills, education 1500-1700, accommodation for travelers in 1686, 18th-century land ownership, brewing, policing and prisons, riots and unrest from 1750-1850, and the Channel Tunnel and rail link. Killingray is emeritus in history at Goldsmiths College, U. of London; Lawson is a former assistant director of the Ministry of Defence. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)