Papers presented at the 5th Annual Symposium of the Association for Environmental Archaeology which was held at the University of Sheffield, September 1983.

This thorough reference shows how stable isotopes can be applied to understanding the palaeoenvironment, with chapters on the interpretation of isotopes in water, tree rings, bones and teeth, lake sediments, speleothems and marine sediments. The book offers detailed advice on calibration, including a multi-proxy approach, using isotope signals from different materials or combined with other palaeoenvironmental techniques, to enhance the reliability of readings.

The Yoruba: A New History is the first transdisciplinary study of the two-thousand-year journey of the Yoruba people, from their origins in a small corner of the Niger-Benue Confluence in present-day Nigeria to becoming one of the most populous cultural groups on the African continent. Weaving together archaeology with linguistics, environmental science with oral traditions, and material culture with mythology, Ogundiran examines the local, regional, and even global dimensions of Yoruba history. The Yoruba: A New History offers an intriguing cultural, political, economic, intellectual, and social history from ca. 300 BC to 1840. It accounts for the events, peoples, and practices, as well as the theories of knowledge, ways of being, and social valuations that shaped the Yoruba experience at different junctures of time. The result is a new framework for understanding the Yoruba past and present.

"Many of the papers in this volume present new and innovative research into the processes of maritime colonisation, processes that affect archaeological contexts from islands to continents. Others shift focus from process to the archaeology of maritime places from the Bering to the Torres Straits, providing highly detailed discussions of how living by and with the sea is woven into all elements of human life from subsistence to trade and to ritual. Of equal importance are more abstract discussions of islands as natural places refashioned by human occupation, either through the introduction of new organisms or new systems of production and consumption. These transformation stories gain further texture (and variety) through close examinations of some of the more significant consequences of colonisation and migration, particularly the creation of new cultural identities. A final set of papers explores the ways in which the techniques of archaelogical sciences have provided insights into the fauna of the islands and the human history of such places."--Provided by publisher.

A collection of papers focusing on the links between archaeology and the study of geological sediments and soils.

Microfossils are an abundant component of the sedimentary rock record. Their analysis can reveal not only the environments in which the rocks were deposited, but also their age. When combined, the spatial and temporal distribution patterns of microfossils offer enormous utility for archaeological and forensic investigations. Their presence can act as a geological ‘fingerprint’ and the tiniest fragment of material, such as a broken Iron Age potsherd, can contain a microfossil signature that reveals the geographical source of the materials under investigation. This book explores how microfossils are employed as tools to interpret human society and habitation throughout history. Examples include microfossil evidence associated with Palaeolithic human occupation at Boxgrove in Sussex, alongside investigations into human-induced landscape change during the Holocene. Further examples include the use of microfossils to provenance the source materials of Iron Age ceramics, Roman mosaics and Minoan pottery, in addition to their application to help solve modern murder cases, highlighting the diverse applications of microfossils to improving our understanding of human history.

After the excitement of its discovery and excavations in the early 1960s, the world-important site of Çatalhöyük has remained dormant for 30 years. This is Volume 1 of the Çatalhöyük Research Project series. It describes the first phase of renewed archaeological research at the site. It reports on the work that has taken place on the surfaces of the east and west mounds and in the surrounding regions. It also discusses the material from the 1960s excavation in museums, which has been re-examined. The result is that new perspectives can be offered on the internal organization and symbolism of a site which is central to our understanding of the earliest development of complex societies.