Hair, or lack of it, is one the most significant identifiers of individuals in any society. In Antiquity, the power of hair to send a series of social messages was no different. This volume covers nearly a thousand years of history, from Archaic Greece to the end of the Roman Empire, concentrating on what is now Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. Among the key issues identified by its authors is the recognition that in any given society male and female hair tend to be opposites (when male hair is generally short, women's is long); that hair is a marker of age and stage of life (children and young people have longer, less confined hairstyles; adult hair is far more controlled); hair can be used to identify the 'other' in terms of race and ethnicity but also those who stand outside social norms such as witches and mad women. The chapters in A Cultural History of Hair in Antiquity cover the following topics: religion and ritualized belief, self and society, fashion and adornment, production and practice, health and hygiene, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, class and social status, and cultural representations.

This volume includes an interdisciplinary research programme involving archaeological, anthropological and historical perspectives on different dimensions of the landscape. Although directed towards a specific region, the intensity of the archaeological fieldwork and the large scale of the excavations allow for interpretations that are important for the Northwest European Plain as a whole. Contributions include the publication of primary data of excavations published for the first time and analysis on a more abstract level. The studies include among others: Urnfield symbolism, ancestors and the land in the Lower Rhine Region (Roymans/Kortlang); Urnfield and settlement traces from the Iron Age at Mierlo-Hout (Tol); The archaeology and history of the curia of the abbey of St. Truiden at Hulsel (Theuws); Gift exchange, eternity and landed property. The foundation and endowment of the Premonstratensian priory at Postel (Bijsterveld).

"A revolutionary new understanding of the West's most iconic building and the people who made it"--Jacket.