Feast!

Two new books this month take a good look at eating. Martin Jones shows how feasting has shaped human culture and for that matter the environment, while Brian Fagan argues that medieval fish consumption led to the discovery of America.

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

Current Research in Egyptology 2005: Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Symposium
edited by Rachel Mairs and Alice Stevenson
Paperback. GB £28.00

The sixth annual Current Research in Egyptology symposium took place from 6th-8th January 2005 at the University of Cambridge. Although the topics covered by the papers were many and varied, if there is a general theme it would be that of exploring the borders and parameters of the discipline of Egyptology.

Current Research in Egyptology 2006: Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Symposium
edited by Maria Cannata

The Seventh annual Current Research in Egyptology Symposium (CRE 2006) was held on 6-8 April 2006, at the University of Oxford, and brought together graduate and postgraduate students of Egyptology from institutions world-wide. A total of 44 students presented their new and on-going research on a variety of topics including archaeology, art and architecture, history and society, literature and language, religion, museum studies, scientific analysis, history of Egyptology and 'egyptomania,' spanning the entire period of Egyptian history from Predynastic to Coptic times. The papers published here cover the same wide range of research areas and multi-disciplinary approaches.

Place and Memory: Excavations at the Pict's Knowe, Holywood and Holm Farm, Dumfries and Galloway, 1994-8
edited by Julian Thomas, with the assistance of Matt Leivers, Julia Roberts and Rick Peterson
Hardback. GB £48.00, GB £14.95

This volume is concerned with the investigation of three complexes of prehistoric ceremonial monuments in the immediate environs of Dumfries in the south-west of Scotland, conducted between 1994 and 1998. These were the Pict's Knowe henge, the Holywood cursus complex, and the post alignments/cursus at Holm. The field research was designed in such a way as to recognise that prehistoric monuments often have complex and individual sequences of construction and use, while also acknowledging that detailed studies of particular sites and local contexts will ultimately advance our understanding of monumentality in prehistoric Europe. The three sites of the Pict's Knowe, Holywood and Holm have proved especially helpful in addressing questions of how particular places maintained their importance over long periods of time. In each instance the location was characterised by features which possess a high degree of archaeological visibility. In the former case it was the upstanding earthwork of the bank and ditch that identified the site as a henge monument, while Holywood and Holm were discovered through aerial photography. Each of the sites investigated had complex sequences of development, in which the structural elements that were recognised prior to fieldwork were not necessarily the most important or the most long-lived. This book considers the details of the excavated features, environmental and artefactual evidence, as well as more general concerns. The first part of the volume concentrates on the Pict's Knowe, while the second looks at the more spatially and typologically related sites of Holywood and Holm.

Land, Power and Prestige: Bronze Age Field Systems in Southern England
by David T Yates

A major phase of economic expansion occurred in southern England during the second and early first millennium BC, accompanied by a fundamental shift in regional power and wealth towards the eastern lowlands. This book offers a synthesis of available data on Bronze Age lowland field systems in England, including a gazetteer of sites. The research demonstrates the importance of large-scale animal husbandry in the mixed farming regimes as evidenced in the design of the field systems which incorporate droveways, stock proof fencing, watering holes, cow pens, sheep races and gateways for stockhandling. It is argued that the field systems represented a form of conspicuous production, an "intensification" of agrarian endeavour or a statement of intent, to be understood in relation to the maintenance, display and promotion of hierarchical social systems involved in exchange with their counterparts across the English Channel.

Beyond Stonehenge: Essays on the Bronze Age in Honour of Colin Burgess
edited by Christopher Burgess, Peter Topping and Frances Lynch
Hardback. GB £90.00, GB £25.00

Celebrating Colin Burgess 65th birthday and more than 45 years studying the Bronze Age, thirty-six contributors, friends, colleagues, former students and members of the Bronze Age Studies Group have come together to provide their latest thoughts on the Bronze Age in Europe. Topics range from the rock art of Northumberland to the nuraghe of Sardinia, from mining in Wales to cross-Channel trade links and from the Cave of Covsea to that at Heathery Burn. Artefact studies include, re-assessments of Scottish Ceramics, Swords from the European Lowlands and from Scotland, hair rings in France, Gold from Iberia, a woodworkers toolkit from Ireland and the first analysis of the most recent bronze and gold hoard discovered in northern England. Wider topics are also considered including the dating of the Bronze Age in Britain in light of the latest European discoveries.

People and Places: Essays in Honour of Michael Aston
edited by Michael Costen
Hardback. GB £50.00, GB £15.00

This volume of thirteen essays came out of a conference in December 2004 at Bristol University, to celebrate the career of Mick Aston on the occasion of his retirement. They reflect his enthusiam for landscape and monastic archaeology in particular, and range in time from prehistory to the nineteenth century. Mick's ability to communicate archaeology to the masses has rightly seen him earn the title of 'The Ambassador of British Archaeology'.