September 2002 Issue
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| FEATURES | ||||||||
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Book Feature: Monsters, Grotesques and Astrology The British Library has just published two new books based on medieval manuscripts in their collection. These books form part of a very accessible 'series' of short paperbacks which each provide a superb insight into various pictorial aspects of the manuscripts. They are always well written and well illustrated and have lots of wonderful colour photos ... and they have an unbeatable price tag! They are a great series to collect. | |||||||
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Book Feature: Taking things away ... and giving them back ? The looting of archaeological sites, the trade in illicit antiquities, and the return (or not) of artefacts removed from their country of origin long ago - these situations all raise ethical concerns for archaeologists, heritage specialists and museum curators. It is not surprising, therefore, that these issues have formed the central focus of several recent conferences and symposia. If you think you need to brush up on the current state of the debate then you might want to consider starting with one of the following recent books ... | |||||||
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Book Feature: A Dramatic Tale of Warfare and Mayhem The dual forces of politics and culture often dictate the messages of history - messages that are taken up, recast and interpreted by contemporary authors and dramatists. Authors such as Shakespeare and Marlowe preserved the 'prejudices' of the 16th century for the future, and they did western theatre and literature a great service by introducing them to a vast audience ... but what did they do for our understanding of history? | |||||||
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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.
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| INTERVIEWS | ||||||||
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Meet the Bone Man: Barry Constantine of Bodies to Bones When Barry Constantine fills in forms he puts his occupation as 'consultant', 'archaeologist' or even 'educator'. The reality is somewhat stranger. Barry is a bone man - that is, his business is to provide complete skeletons to archaeologists, museums and universities. We caught up with Barry and his wife Jo at the International Council for Archaeozoology (ICAZ) meetings in Durham last week, where they had an exhibit for their company, Bodies to Bones. | |||||||
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Meet the Author ... or Publisher? or Archaeologist?: Mike Bishop Mike Bishop is the driving force behind The Armatura Press, publisher of The Journal of Roman Military Equipment Studies and a new series of monographs on the same subject. He is also an author and a practicing archaeologist. But when he visited our office recently, what I really wanted to ask him was ... "Do you like to dress up?" | |||||||
The Archaeological Institute of America, the world's largest archaeological organization, is in
the process of compiling its authoritative 2003 edition of the Archaeological Fieldword Opportunities
Bulletin (AFOB), a leading source of information about voluntary archaeological work overseas. The
directory is now on-line but a printed version will be published in December, so the AIA would like to
encourage all dig directors to get to the website and list their digs as soon as possible. They are
particularly eager to get more local UK digs into the new volume ... so log on and sign up!
http://www.archaeological.org/webinfo.php?page=10015
Conferences - A Reminder
This is just a reminder to look out for Oxbow Books' stalls at conferences around Europe this September.
On the 14th of September we will be driving a large van of medieval archaeology titles to Basel (Switzerland) for Medieval Europe 2002, a 5 yearly festival which celebrates scholarship on medieval and post-medieval studies from throughout the EU. This year's focus is "Centre and Periphery". Further details are available at the conference website at: http://www.mebs-2002.org
The 24th September sees a large Oxbow contingent rumbling eastwards along the Egnatian Way to Thessaloniki (Greece) for the European Association of Archaeologists extravaganza. There are already 600 delegates pre-registered ... clearly indicating archaeologists' complete aversion to the beaches and cafes of Greece's most beautiful region. For more details go to the conference website at: http://www.symvoli.com/gr/eaa8/index.html
New Catalogue!
We have just printed a new complete and up-to-date catalogue containing all the new and
forthcoming titles published and distributed by Oxbow Books, as well as backlists for all our
distributed publishers. Since our last catalogue several new publishers have joined us, including
Francis Cairns Publications, the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, and the Museum
of London Archaeology Service. Whilst primarily intended for trade customers and institutes,
dedicated Oxbow followers and archaeology book buyers may find it useful. This catalogue can be
downloaded from our website in PDF format, or is available in 'old-fashioned' paper format.
PDF - Information on new books (1.4 Mb)
PDF - Full backlist of available titles (0.3 Mb)
Request a paper version.
New Releases
Two new publications have arrived at the Oxbow Books warehouse during the past month. First is the eagerly awaited:
Prehistoric Britain: The Ceramic Basis
Studies of prehistoric pottery in Britain have changed dramatically over the past decade, and many of the more exciting developments are considered in this book by members of The Prehistoric Pottery Research Group. They argue that key aspects of pottery technology and usage can provide us with powerful indicators for some of the many things that we wish to know about people in prehistory: how they lived, worked and subsisted on a daily basis, how their activities varied by the seasons, how they celebrated festivals and rites of passage at home and with other people, how they interrelated and socialised with their neighbours at local and regional levels, and how they related to the world around them.
The second new title looks at a completely different aspect of the distant past:
Credit and Debt in Medieval England, c.1180-c.1350
Four of the six papers in this volume were given at a conference on 'Credit and debt in medieval and early modern England', held in Oxford in September 2000. The other two papers both draw on important recent postgraduate theses. They all build upon an established tradition of approaches to the study of credit and debt in the middle ages, looking at the wealth of historical material, from registers of debt and legal records, to parliamentary rolls and statutes, merchant accounts, rents and leases, wills and probates.