Roman Britain from North to South

We make no excuse for the fact that this month's OXeN features another glut of brand new books on the Romans. Four new titles explore Roman Britain from the north of Scotland to the south coast of England.

Damaged books in need of a quiet retirement

Another chance to snap up some damaged stock at bargain prices. Please handle with care...

Some more old books... On European Archaeology

We're selling off our second-hand stock! This week - bundles of European Archaeology books (Egypt and the Near East to follow!)

Obituary

Malcolm Willcock 1925 - 2006

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.

New Releases

Making a Landscape Sacred: Outlying Churches and Icon Stands in Sphakia, Southwestern Crete
by Lucia Nixon
Paperback. GB £28.00, GB £4.95

This book examines the landscape in southwestern Crete from AD 1000-2000, using a phenomenological approach. Specifically, the positioning of outlying churches (exokklisia) and icon stands (eikonostasia) around Sphakia is looked at in terms of spatial and social reasoning. What is certainly clear, is that people choose the location of sacred buildings particularly carefully, so the locations themselves cannot be seen as random. Routes, resources and boundaries are all factors but primarily these locations are symbolic: such monuments mark, protect and preserve the memory of significant locations in the landscape.

The Mote of Mark: A Dark Age Hillfort in South-West Scotland
by Lloyd Laing and David Longley
Hardback. GB £45.00, GB £10.00

The Mote of Mark is a low boss of granite rising from forty-five metres above the eastern shore of Rough Firth, where the Urr Water enters the Solway, between the villages of Kippford and Rockcliffe. The summit comprises a central hollow between two raised areas of rock and was formerly defended by a stone and timber rampart enclosing one third of an acre. The Mote of Mark appears to have first attracted the attention of antiquaries in the late eighteenth century, and first assumed national importance with Alexander Curle's major work in 1913. After the interruption of the First World War, the site was left largely alone until it was re-excavated in the 1970s. These excavations, in 1973 and '79 were designed to answer three specific questions: How many phases of activity are represented in the structural history of the defences? How many phases of activity are represented by the evidence for Early Medieval metalworking and occupation? And, how does the evidence of occupation within the defences relate to the structural history of the defences? This book presents the results of the excavations and their interpretation within the framework of these questions.

Integrating Zooarchaeology Zooarchaeological research has great potential to investigate areas of interest to other archaeologists, such as diet, trade, ritual, spatial usage, rubbish disposal, production, specialisation, land use, and more. Contributions to this volume cover North and South America, the Near East, Great Britain and Conti
Maltby, Mark

Zooarchaeological research has great potential to investigate areas of interest to other archaeologists, such as diet, cuisine, trade, ritual, spatial usage, rubbish disposal, production, specialisation, land use, and so on. All too frequently, though, the findings of such studies are not effectively integrated archaeologists and zooarchaeologists often failing to collaborate with each other. It was with this in mind that the organisers of the ICAZ conference in Durham were keen on having a session on "Integrating Zooarchaeology", which the majority of these papers come from. Contributions are wide-ranging in geographical area, period coverage and subject matter. They cover North and South America, the Near East, Great Britain and Continental Europe, over a period from c.19,000 BP to AD 1778, and explore such themes as hunter/gatherers, early farming, Bronze Age and Iron Age societies, Classical civilisations, the medieval world, New World explorers and the American War of Independence. It is hoped that this volume will encourage further integrated research.

Recent Advances in Ageing and Sexing Animal Bones This volume deals with the technical advances made over the last twenty years in the field of aging and sexing animal bones. The analysis of ancient DNA holds great possibilities for sexing certain faunal assemblages, which is an urgent issue in the study of hunting and animal husbandry. T
Ruscillo, D

This volume in the ICAZ series deals with the technical advances made over the last twenty years in the field of ageing and sexing animal bones. The analysis of ancient DNA holds great possibilities for sexing certain faunal assemblages (though by no means all), which is an urgent issue in the study of hunting and animal husbandry. It can be assumed that our forebears used more subtle taxonomic criteria than we do today, and it is important therefore that we are able to recognise traits that will allow for more accurate classification in terms of calendar age or sex. The eighteen papers in this book examine the state of research for various techniques of age/sex determination and assess potential future development.

The Social Archaeology of Funerary Remains
edited by Rebecca Gowland and Christopher Knüsel
Paperback. GB £40.00

Human bones form the most direct link to understanding how people lived in the past, who they were and where they came from. The interpretative value of human skeletal remains (within their burial context) in terms of past social identity and organisation is awesome, but was, for many years, underexploited by archaeologists. The nineteen papers in this edited volume are an attempt to redress this by marrying the cultural aspects of burial with the anthropology of the deceased.

Juan Ramón Jimenez: Selected Poems (Poesias Escogidas)
edited by Salvador Ortiz-Carboneres
Paperback. GB £15.00
Hardback. GB £40.00

Juan Ramón Jimenez (1881-1958) was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1956, yet his work remains far less well-known in the English-speaking world than it deserves. Jimenez was a prolific writer - his collected verse fills twenty volumes - and his early poems were first published whilst still in his teens. During the early twentieth century Jimenez wrote and published voraciously and was very active within Spanish-speaking literary circles. In 1939, he left Spain for America, eventually settling in Puerto Rico until his death in 1958. It is difficult to hang a label on Jimenez' work, for his influences were many and his output vast. These selected poems, published here in English and the original Spanish, give the reader a chance to explore this remarkable talent.

Gabriela Mistral: Selected Poems
translated and edited by Paul Burns and Salvador Ortiz-Carboneres
Paperback. GB £18.00
Hardback. GB £40.00

Gabriela Mistral (1889-1967), Chile's 'other' great poet of the twentieth century, is little known outside the Spanish-speaking world, and unlike Pablo Neruda has not been extensively translated into English. She deserves better, particularly as the first Latin American recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature (1945), and this selection of her poetry is designed to introduce her to an English-speaking public. Born Lucila Godoy Alcayaga in the Elqui valley in the 'little north' of Chile, she became a schoolteacher at the age of fifteen and went on to become an educator of international renown, an architect of educational reform in Mexico, and a cultural administrator at the League of Nations. She began publishing prose and verse pieces in newspapers and reviews at about the same age. Four major collections of her poems were published in her lifetime: Desolación (Desolation) in 1922, Ternura (Tenderness) in 1924, Tala (Felling) in 1938, and Lagar (Wine Press) in 1954, followed by Poema de Chile published after her death. Poems from each of these five collections are included here. The landscape and people of her native Chile are a constant theme in her work, even though she lived most of her adult life away from Chile, largely as a consul - unpaid for many years - in Europe, Brazil, and the U.S.A., where she died. Her great love of children, who were the main preoccupation of her life and whom she both understood and respected; motherhood, and her lack of it; loss of people she loved; religious faith, tested and at times unorthodox, are other abiding themes. Her language is direct, passionate, rooted in local usage. The whole of her work, in prose as well as in verse, is a reflection of the absolute integrity of her life.

Animals in the Neolithic of Britain and Europe
Edited by Dale Serjeantson and David Field
Paperback. GB £30.00

The twelve papers in this edited volume originated from the Neolithic Studies Group seminar held at the British Museum on 10th November 2003 on the subject of Animals in the Neolithic. This book includes most of the papers delivered and debated at the meeting and others contributed later. The aim of the book is to cover the range of current approaches to animals in the Neolithic, and to encompass as wide a geographical scope as possible in Europe. In particular, it is attempted to ensure that both wild and domestic animals are discussed and that their social as well as economic roles are given appropriate attention. Umberto Albarella, a discussant at the meeting in 2003, has rounded off the volume with a commentary and discussion on the papers which puts them into the perspective of changing views of animals in the Neolithic of Europe.

Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 13
edited by Sarah Semple
Paperback. GB £45.00

Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History is an annual series concerned with the archaeology and history of England and its neighbours during the Anglo-Saxon period. Volume 13 can be said to be truly interdisciplinary, carrying papers from diverse areas such as place-name studies, art history, historiography and archaeology. A strong theme in this issue is the early Anglo-Saxon period, with a range of papers touching on aspects of migration. Another shared theme is the complexity and multiplicity of meaning in iconography and art, whilst military strategy and military kit take this volume into the Late Saxon period.

Conferences we will be attending

EES Study Day
London (Saturday 17th June 2006)
The Egypt Exploration Society hosts a study day - "The Heavens on Earth: Astronomy and Ancient Egypt". Chaired by Lisette Petrie, speakers will include Prof. Malcolm Coe, Dr. Kate Spence, Dr. Luc Gabolde, and Dr. Sarah Symons. EES Members only. See the EES website for full details.
http://www.ees.ac.uk/membership/events.htm

International Medieval Congress
Leeds (Monday 10th July 2006 - Thursday 13th July 2006)
Now established as the primary annual Medieval gathering in Europe. 1300 participants from all over the world cover every aspect of medieval studies: Literature, history, art and archaeology, religious studies and more.
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/imc/index.html/