The original package tours

Been on holiday this summer? We take a look at Brian Fagan's new book - an anthology of travel writing from when travel was still a real adventure!

Best sellers and bargains from the Byzantine Congress

The Congress is over, but you can still snap up some tempting Byzantine bargains!

The XV UISPP Congress, Lisbon: How was it for you?

We have been busy this month! While in Lisbon, we did get a chance (despite the heat and the lure of the city's fantastic bars and restaurants) to sell some books. These are the ones we think were the stars of the show...

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

Sophocles: Fragmentary Plays I
edited with an introduction, translation and commentary by Alan H Sommerstein, with David Fitzpatrick and Thomas H Talboy
Paperback. GB £18.00
Hardback. GB £45.00

The Athenian tragic dramatist Sophocles wrote over 120 plays in his sixty-year career, of which only seven have survived complete. This volume presents what is known, or can be inferred or conjectured, about half a dozen plays known to us only from quotations, indirect references, and occasionally a papyrus. The selection includes four plays about the Trojan War and its aftermath, all concerned with Achilles or his son Neoptolemus (The Diners, Troilus, Polyxene, and Hermione), and two presenting episodes from Athenian legend (Tereus and Phaedra). The editors have taken a special interest in the history of the myths that Sophocles dramatised and the often startling modifications he made to them; several of the plays also throw important light on parallel dramas of Euripides such as Hippolytus, Andromache, and Hecuba. A second volume of Fragmentary Plays will follow.

Raunds Area Survey: An archaeological study of the landscape of Raunds, Northamptonshire 1985-94
by S J Parry
Hardback. GB £30.00, GB £10.00

The Raunds Area Survey forms part of the Raunds Area Project - a major programme of archaeological research into landscape development in Northamptonshire and the wider midland region of England. The Project includes extensive open area excavations of early prehistoric ritual and burial monuments beside the River Nene, Iron Age and Roman settlement at Stanwick, and Saxon and medieval settlement in north Raunds and West Cotton, as well as complementary landscape, historical and biological studies. A series of monographs are planned to cover each aspect of the study. The present volume gathers the results of a detailed fieldwalking survey, cropmark analysis, magnetometer surveys and excavations, accompanied by allied environmental and documentary researches to provide a dynamic picture of landscape development. The study considers the distribution of worked flint scatters and has identified favoured locations for prehistoric activity. A model for the gradual intensification of settlement and land-use throughout the Iron Age and Roman period including greater exploitation of the Boulder Clay plateau is suggested. Good survival of early-middle Saxon pottery in the plough soil indicates that settlement at this time was mostly confined to the flanks of the Nene valley and tributary streams. The Survey, aided by documentary research, complements the open area excavations and provides a comprehensive model for the creation and early development of villages and open fields.

Dogs and People in Social, Working, Economic or Symbolic Interaction
edited by Lynn M. Snyder and Elizabeth A. Moore

This, the final title to be published from the sessions of the 2002 ICAZ conference focuses on the role of man's best friend. As worker or companion, the dog has enjoyed a unique relationship with its human master, and the depth and variety of the papers in this fascinating collection is a testament to the interest that this symbiotic arrangement holds for many scholars working in archaeology today.

Connected by the Sea: Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology, Denmark 2003
edited by Lucy Blue, Fred Hocker and Anton Englert
Hardback. GB £75.00, GB £15.00

The 10th International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology was held in Roskilde, Denmark in 2003. The theme of the meeting was "Connected by the Sea", and was designed to emphasise the role of the sea, seafaring and watercraft as bridges rather than barriers. Maritime archaeology tends to take place within national borders, with a national focus, yet the very premise of seafaring is the desire to travel beyond the horizon to establish contact with other places and cultures. The conference theme was chosen to encourage the maritime archaeological community to think in international terms.

Conferences we will be attending

EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF ARCHAEOLOGISTS
Cracow (Tuesday 19th - Sunday 24th September, 2006)
The Annual Meetings of the EAA have become major archaeological events in Europe, gathering archaeologists from different national, institutional, and professional areas. About 600 participants.
http://www.e-a-a.org/