Women in Purple

A new book by Judith Herrin looks at three powerful women who ruled the Byzantine Empire in their sons' stead, until duty (or calumny) removed them...

The Great Warbow - copies signed by Robert Hardy

Most people will know Robert Hardy as the actor who played Siegfried Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small. But he is also an acknowledged expert on the longbow and a Trustee of the Mary Rose Trust. OXeN went to meet him...

Of all the new books that have passed over the desks of the Oxbow staff this month, these, for whatever reason, are the ones that grabbed their attention.

Book News 63 - Spring 2005

• Method, Theory, Conservation, Prehistory, Egypt, the Near East, and Asia (194 Kb)
• The Greek and Hellenistic Worlds, Etruscan Studies, Roman World (134 Kb)
• Early Medieval, Anglo-Saxon, Medieval and Post-Medieval (154 Kb)

• Bargains and Special Offers (60 Kb)

New Releases

Byzantine Butrint: Excavations and Surveys 1994-99
edited by Richard Hodges, William Bowden and Kosta Lako
Hardback. GB £40.00, GB £10.00

The ancient walled town of Butrint sits at the crossroads of the Mediterranean. In its heyday it could command sea-routes up the Adriatic Sea to the north, across the Mediterranean to the west, and south through the Ionian islands. It also controlled a land-route into the mountainous Balkan interior. For much of its long history it occupied a hill on a bend in the Vivari Channel, which connects the Straits to the large inland lagoon of Lake Butrint.
Designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1992, Butrint covers an area of around 16 ha, but geophysical survey has shown that at times it was almost twice this size. The site itself is made up of two parts: the acropolis and the lower city. The acropolis is a long narrow hill, whose sides are accentuated by a circuit of walls that separate it from the natural and artificial terraces gathered around the flanks of the hill. The lower city occupies the lower-lying contours down to the edge of the Vivari Channel. This book brings to life this extraordinary Byzantine town, with chapters on the historical sources, various aspects of the archaeological excavation and survey, finds of pottery and environmental remains.

Biosphere to Lithosphere: new studies in vertebrate taphonomy
by T O'Connor
Hardback. GB £40.00

Taphonomic studies are a major methodological advance, the effects of which have been felt throughout archaeology. Zooarchaeologists and archaeobotanists were the first to realise how vital it was to study the entire process of how food enters the archaeological record, and taphonomy brought to a close the era when the study of animal bones and plant remains from archaeological sites were regarded mainly as environmental indicators. This volume is indicative of recent developments in taphonomic studies: hugely diverse research areas are being explored, many of which would have been totally unforeseeable only a quarter of a century ago.

Diet and Health in Past Animal Populations
by J Davies, M Fabis, I Mainland, M Richards, R Thomas

Until recently, osteological studies into ancient diet and health have primarily focused upon human remains. As a result, these areas of research are still in their infancy in the field zoo-archaeology. Animals have paid a heavy price for many major human advances, such as those in agriculture and transport. This use (and often abuse) of animals has left many tell-tale signs in their teeth and bones. Along with the many advantages in animal exploitation have also come major problems for humans. Thus, infectious diseases passed from animals to humans must have long played a significant evolutionary role in the development of society.
The zooarchaeological record could provide an extremely important temporal framework for exploring and understanding past and current issues of human health and animal welfare. This volume provides one of the first contributions to the field, and may stimulate many more.

The exploitation and cultural importance of sea mammals
edited by Gregory Monks

Humans are known to exploit plant and animal resources for a variety of purposes. Subsistence is the most obvious of these, but there are also social and technological reasons behind such activities, not to mention ideological and spiritual motives for exploitation. In order to maximise exploitation of resources, human often exploit ecotones, where several ecological zones exist in close proximity. The seashore is such an ecotone, and sea mammals are just one of many groups of resources who are available here. This volume looks to address some of the vast array of coastal adaptations that have occurred during the human past and the role that sea mammals have played in them.

Conferences we will be attending

Institute of Field Archaeologists (IFA) 2005
Winchester, UK (Tuesday 22 March, 2005 - Thursday 24 March, 2005)
The Annual Conference for Archaeologists has become established as the premier archaeological conference in the UK, attracting over 300 participants. With its combination of keynote addresses, wide-ranging sessions, workshops, displays, poster sessions and other events, it is a vital forum for discussing topical professional issues, as well as providing updates on current research. The topic for this years meeting is "Working in Historic Towns". For further information please contact Alex Llewellyn, email: alex.llewellyn@virgin.net

TRAC/RAC
Birmingham, UK (Thursday 31 March, 2005 - Sunday 03 April, 2005)
The Roman Archaeology / Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference will be held at the Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, The University of Birmingham under the auspices of The Roman Society.
In total there will be 18 sessions, these will be divided so that the Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (TRAC) have six sessions as a complete strand running through all three days. The remaining sessions will be Roman Archaeology Conference (RAC) sessions. In addition, there will be a Poster session.
http://www.iaa.bham.ac.uk/rac.htm

The Classical Association Annual Conference
Reading, UK (Friday 01 April, 2005 - Monday 04 April, 2005)
There will a plenary lecture by Robin Lane Fox (Oxford) who will talk about his experiences in the making of Oliver Stone's Alexander the Great; there will also be two panels on Alexander and his reception, and a further one on aspects of the classics in the cinema. As Reading is one of the six departments forming the Classical Reception Studies Network (CRSN), we are also delighted to include in our programme a debate between Professor Charles Martindale and Professor Christopher Rowe on 'Classics and the Uses of Reception'. There will also be a plenary lecture by the CA's current president, Professor Brian Sparkes.
http://www.rdg.ac.uk/classics/CA/