Sacred Wells is an in depth study of springs, wells and waters that have been venerated from California to Cornwall, Russia to Australia. Tales of faeries, black hounds, hauntings and miraculous cures are explored. Many of these sites are still locations for religious festivals and ritual, unchanging for hundreds of years. The book is illustrated with photos taken by the author.

Marxist theory has been an undercurrent in western social science since the late nineteenth century. It came into prominence in the social sciences in the 1960s and 1970s and has had a profound effect on history, sociology and anthropology. This book represents an attempt to gather together Marxist perspectives in archaeology and to examine whether indeed they represent advances in archaeological theory. The papers in this volume look forward to the growing use of Marxist theory by archaeologists; as well as enriching archaeology as a discipline they have important implications for sociology and anthropology through the addition of a long-term, historical perspective. This is a book primarily for undergraduates and research students and their teachers in departments of archaeology and anthropology but it should also be of interest to historians, sociologists and geographers.

Major thematic areas of the encyclopedia include: Magic: the secret lore, Alchemy, Witches and witchcraft, Devils, demons and angels, Foretelling the future, Birds, plants and animals in myth and folklore, Nature, fertility and creation myths, Rites of passage, Symbols and Meanings, The heroʼs quest, Legendary lands and beasts, Western religions, Eastern religions, Ancient myths and legends, Folklore, primitive beliefs and customs, psychology and the paranormal, The soul, Ghosts, vampires and hauntings, Mystics, Unorthodox Christians, Occultists and theosophists.