Jesus Don't Want Me for a Sunbeam – The Holkham Bible

The British Library have produced another of their superb facsimiles - this time of an unusual medieval "picture book" Bible

Damaged Books Again

Wear and tear means that we will have to offer some more books at knock down prices.

New Bargains

A first look at our most recent bargain books.

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

Mesolithic Studies In The North Sea Basin And Beyond
edited by Clive Waddington and Kristian Pedersen
Hardback. GB £48.00, GB £14.95

The North Sea has acted as both physical barrier, separating regions from each other, and as the principal means of communication between the same. This duality can also be seen in its potential to be both yielding and destructive; providing food and resources, but also being capable of causing catastrophe. These paradoxical qualities are unlikely to have been lost on our hunter-gatherer ancestors, and they remain relevent to the way that the sea is perceived today. The sixteen papers in this edited volume look at the impact the North Sea had on Northern Europe in the Mesolithic period.

The Early Medieval Settlement Remains from Flixborough, Lincolnshire: The Occupation Sequence, c. AD 600-1000
by Christopher Loveluck and David Atkinson
Hardback. GB £30.00, GB £9.95

Between 1989 and 1991, excavations in the parish of Flixborough, North Lincolnshire, unearthed remains of an Anglo-Saxon settlement associated with one of the largest collections of artefacts and animal bones yet found on such a site. In an unprecedented occupation sequence from an Anglo-Saxon rural settlement, six main periods of occupation have been identified, dating from the seventh to the early eleventh centuries; with a further period of activity, between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries AD. The remains of approximately forty buildings and other structures were uncovered; and due to the survival of large refuse deposits, huge quantities of artefacts and faunal remains were encountered compared with most other rural settlements of the period. The quality of the overall archaeological data contained within the settlement sequence is important for both the examination of site-specific issues, and for the investigation of wider research themes and problems, facing settlement studies in England, between AD 600 and 1050. Volume 1 focuses on the occupation sequence, looking at the artefacts that date the site, and interpreting the activites they were associated with.

Farmers, Monks and Aristocrats: The environmental archaeology of Anglo-Saxon Flixborough
by Keith Dobney, Deborah Jaques, James Barrett and Cluny Johnstone
Hardback. GB £30.00, GB £9.95

The environmental archaeological evidence from the site of Flixborough (in particular the animal bone assemblage) provides a series of unique insights into Anglo-Saxon life in England during the 8th to 10th centuries. The research reveals detailed evidence for the local and regional environment, many aspects of the local and regional agricultural economy, changing resource exploitation strategies and the extent of possible trade and exchange networks. Perhaps the most important conclusions have been gleaned from the synthesis of these various lines of evidence, viewed in a broader archaeological context. Thus, bioarchaeological data from Flixborough have documented for the first time, in a detailed and systematic way, the significant shift in social and economic aspects of wider Anglo-Saxon life during the 9th century AD., and comment on the possible role of external factors such as the arrival of Scandinavians in the life and development of the settlement. The bioarchaeological evidence from Flixborough is also used to explore the tentative evidence revealed by more traditional archaeological materials for the presence during the 9th century of elements of monastic life. The vast majority of bioarchaeological evidence from Flixborough provides both direct and indirect evidence of the wealth and social standing of some of the inhabitants as well as a plethora of unique information about agricultural and provisioning practices associated with a major Anglo-Saxon estate centre. The environmental archaeological record from Flixborough is without doubt one of the most important datasets of the early medieval period, and one which will provide a key benchmark for future research into many aspects of early medieval archaeology.

Rural Settlement, Lifestyles and Social Change in the Later First Millennium AD at Flixborough, Lincolnshire: Anglo-Saxon Flixborough in its Wider Context
by Christopher Loveluck
Hardback. GB £30.00, GB £9.95

Between 1989 and 1991, excavations in the parish of Flixborough, North Lincolnshire, unearthed remains of an Anglo-Saxon settlement associated with one of the largest collections of artefacts and animal bones yet found on such a site. In an unprecedented occupation sequence from an Anglo-Saxon rural settlement, six main periods of occupation have been identified, dating from the seventh to the early eleventh centuries; with a further period of activity, between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries AD. The remains of approximately forty buildings and other structures were uncovered; and due to the survival of large refuse deposits, huge quantities of artefacts and faunal remains were encountered compared with most other rural settlements of the period. The quality of the overall archaeological data contained within the settlement sequence is important for both the examination of site-specific issues, and for the investigation of wider research themes and problems, facing settlement studies in England, between AD 600 and 1050. Volume 4, offers a series of thematic analyses, integrating all the forms of evidence to reconstruct the lifestyles of the inhabitants. These comprise settlement-specific aspects and wider themes. The former include relations with the surrounding landscape and region, trade and exchange, and specialist artisan activity. Whereas the wider themes consider approaches to the interpretation of settlement character, the social spectrum of its inhabitants, changing relationships between rural and emerging urban centres, and the importance of the excavated remains within contemporary studies of early medieval settlement and society in western Europe.

Socialising Complexity: Approaches to Power and Interaction in the Archaeological Record
edited by Sheila Kohring and Stephanie Wynne-Jones
Paperback. GB £32.00

Socialising Complexity introduces the concept of complexity as a tool, rather than a category, for understanding social formations. This new take on complexity moves beyond the traditional concern with what constitutes a complex society and focuses on the complexity inherent in various social forms through the structuring principles created within each society. The aims and themes of the book can thus be summarised as follows: to introduce the idea of complexity as a tool, which is pertinent to the understanding of all types of society, rather than an exclusionary type of society in its own right; to examine concepts that can enhance our interpretation of societal complexity, such as heterarchy, materialisation and contextualisation. These concepts are applied at different scales and in different ways, illustrating their utility in a variety of different cases; to re-establish social structure as a topic of study within archaeology, which can be profitably studied by proponents of both processual and post-processual methodologies.

Prehistoric Journeys
edited by Vicki Cummings and Robert Johnston
Paperback. GB £35.00

This collection of thirteen papers focuses on what it meant to be 'on the move' at different times in prehistory. Ideas of journeys and travel are integral to many traditions of interpreting the prehistoric archaeological record. Travel was after all the driving force behind the formation and transformation of identity. How ironic it is that this feature of prehistory has been so overlooked when the ancient world's 'discovery' in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries occurred primarily as the result of travel. The contributors to this volume see journeys as an integral part of prehistoric life - socially meaningful - which must be understood within their (pre)historic contexts.

Beyond the Grave: New Perspectives on Barrows
edited by Jonathan Last
Paperback. GB £35.00, GB £14.95

This collection of fourteen papers presents the latest research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age barrows of Britain.

An Atlas for Celtic Studies: Archaeology and Names in Ancient Europe and Early Medieval Ireland, Britain and Brittany
by John T. Koch, in collaboration with Raimund Karl, Antone Minard and Simon O'Faolain
Hardback. GB £50.00

An Atlas for Celtic Studies is a unique and comprehensive reference book that presents a huge amount of information on what is known about the Celts in Europe in the form of detailed maps. It combines thousands of Celtic place- and group names, as well as Celtic inscriptions and other mappable linguistic evidence. Moving away from a narrative story of the Celts, the aim of this ground-breaking publication is to empower the reader with a wide range of evidence, lucidly presented, to show the geographic relationship of Celtic-language and non-linguistic cultural evidence, allowing individual interpretation. The Atlas has 64 large format pages of colour maps alongside pages of explanatory text, theoretical discussion, map details, bibliography, and index. This will be an essential work for anyone studying the Celts. Special offer price valid until January 31st 2008.

Wood Use in Medieval Novgorod
edited by Mark Brisbane and Jon Hather
Hardback. GB £60.00, GB £19.95

Novgorod has probably the most comprehensive collection of excavated wooden objects and structures from any site in the world. The town and its material culture were completely dominated by wood. Equally important, the preservation of this material has been excellent due to benign anaerobic waterlogged conditions. This book describes various aspects of the use of wood in medieval Novgorod in twenty-five chapters written by the world's leading authorities on this material. It provides fascinating detail on the way wooden material was used in structures such as buildings, streets, yards, fences; industrial activity, for example spinning and weaving, footwear production; transport, such as skis, sleighs or boats; household objects, for example containers, furniture, combs, toys and games; musical instruments; accountancy and commerce (tally sticks, tribute seals); and ritual and decoration. Most of the objects discussed date from the 10th century AD to the 15th, but the book includes comparisons to ethnographic evidence from more recent periods. Importantly, many of the chapters are written by Russian authors, bringing their work to the English audience for the first time.A bibliography of previously published material and extensive illustration make this volume a necessary addition to any serious archaeological research library shelf and the wealth of information provided about everyday life in this important medieval centre of commerce will be a great interest to medievalists and historians of Russia.

The Ancient Red Sea Port of Adulis, Eritrea: Report of the Etritro-British Expedition, 2004-5
edited by David Peacock and Lucy Blue, assisted by David Glazier
Paperback. GB £30.00, GB £9.95

The port of Adulis was one of greatest significance in Antiquity. It is best known for its role in Aksumite trade during the fourth - seventh centuries AD. However it is also a major port of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a sailors' hand-book of the first century AD. Not only did it offer a good harbour on the route to India, but it was a source for luxuries such as ivory, tortoise-shell and rhinoceros horn. The site was first identified by Henry Salt, in 1810, but there have always been a number of problems, both chronological and topographical with the identification. Firstly, the surface pottery is late in date and accords with Aksumitic importance rather than the Roman. Secondly, Adulis is referred to as a port, but it is today 7 km from the sea. The Periplus refers to an island approached by a causeway, which suggested to some that the site was originally at Massawa, 60 km to the north, a town which today comprises islands connected by causeways. The work of Cosmas Indicopleustes 'Christian Topography' written in the 6th Century AD mentions two other places, Gabaza and Samidi, which have never been identified. The fieldwork on which this book is based resolves these issues. It is suggested that Roman Adulis underlies the Aksumite city. Also the pottery and structures on the Galala hills to the south, show that this was almost certainly 'the site of Aksumite Gabaza. However, off the seaward end of the hills is a rock which would have been a small island in Roman times and on it was a scatter of 1st century AD Roman wine amphorae (Dressel 2-4). The Periplus tells us that ships used to moor of Diodorus Island which was connected to the mainland by a causeway, but was later moved to an island called Oreinê (hilly) for greater security. The latter can be none other than Dese which is the only hilly island in the area and on it field survey has located a fine harbour and an early Roman settlement. The remaining site, Samidi, has also been found, for 7 km north of Adulis are large stone mounds. Architectural fragments and fragments of human bone suggest that this may have been an impressive mausoleum, perhaps the burial place of the kings of Adulis.

The North Through its Names: A Phenomenology of Medieval and Early-Modern Northern England
by Dave Postles
Hardback. GB £35.00, GB £10.00

The North of England and northern-ness are elusive concepts, both academically and in popular perception. This volume in the English Surnames Survey series looks at what can be learned about the idea of the 'North' of England as a distinct identity from its surnames. The personal names from the north during the medieval/early modern period are linguistic phenomena, incorporating dialect speech that defined a northern consciousness, and in this way are an invaluable resource in exploring a northern identity. Dave Postles attempts to reconstruct the language of the speech community and communities of northern England through the reporting and recording of personal name elements, examining the evidence from patronyms, metronyms and personal names, as well as occupational bynames, and even nicknames. He identifies many distinctions including the longer continuity of insular personal names in the north which implies a cultural dissonance with the south perhaps in terms of a residual culture, but equally perhaps in terms of a resistant or oppositional culture. Since (what others might assume to be) insalubrious nickname bynames continued later in the north than in more southerly environments, northern speech through names could be represented as (by northerners) direct and (by southerners) uncivil.

The Best Training Ground for Archaeologists: Francis Haverfield and the Invention of Romano-British Archaeology
by P W M Freeman
Paperback. GB £24.95, GB £9.95

To his contemporaries, Francis John Haverfield was the 'father of Romano-British studies', and his death on September 30th 1919 was greeted with widespread lamentation. In the decades immediately following his death, Haverfield's reputation survived largely undiminished, in fact his view of the Romanisation of Britain became so widely accepted that it held sway for almost a century, and is only now being re-examined by both positive and negative interpreters of his views. What is clear however, is that his immense contribution to the study of Roman Britain is worthy of attention.

The Kellis Literary Texts, Vol 2
edited by Iain Gardner
Hardback. GB £50.00, GB £15.00

Volume 2 completes the account of the literary texts primarily deriving from the Manichaean community in ancient Kellis. House 3 and surrounding domestic buildings have yielded up important texts which reflect the faith and practice of lay followers of the Manichaean religion. Of particular import are the substantial and previously unknown parts of Manis own Epistles. These show an authentic Christian voice, and may begin to solve the single greatest difficulty in Manichaean studies the loss of the scriptures. These texts provide us with a great opportunity to examine the context of belief as it was lived out in a fourth-century provincial village, along with its social and economic frameworks. Other notable texts include the Prayer of the Emanations, a Manichaean composition in Greek which makes no attempt to hide its polytheistic message.

Sender: Requiem for a Spanish Peasant
edited and translated by Graham Whittaker
Paperback. GB £15.00
Hardback. GB £40.00

Ramón José Sender Gracés was born on 3rd February 1901. He was a prolific writer, who published a vast quantity of novels, stories, plays, essays, poetry and articles throughout his life. He wrote Réquiem por un campesino español during one week in 1952, with the intention that it be part of a collection of short stories. That book never materialised, but Sender's novella was published by Aquelarre in Mexico in 1953 under the title Mosén Millán. The title was changed in 1960 by New York publisher Las Américas to something that could be meaningfully translated into English. The political message conveyed within the book meant that it was not published in Spain until 1974. Requiem for a Spanish Peasant relates the thoughts and memories of Mosén Millán, the parish priest, as he sits in the vestry of the church in a nameless Aragonese village, preparing to conduct a Reqiuem Mass to celebrate the life of a young peasant, Paco el del Molino, killed by the Nationalist army a year earlier, at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. As he waits, his thoughts are interrupted by the occasional comings and goings of an altar boy, who hums to himself an anonymous ballad. This ballad, along with Millán's thoughts and the voice of an omniscient narrator, creates three strands of narration for the reader to follow.

Well Built Mycenae, Fascicule 13: The Service Areas of the Cult Centre
by E B French and W D Taylour
Paperback. GB £26.00, GB £5.00

The 'Service Areas' of the Cult Centre comprise a number of rooms, open spaces and passages adjacent to the buildings which form the Temple Complex (WBM 10) and the Room with the Fresco Complex (WBM 11, forthcoming). Excavation of these areas has helped to determine their history and the changes that took place in their orientation and in access to them during the 13th C BC. The finds made are of considerable interest, individually and as groups, and contribute to our understanding of the activities which took place in the areas around the principal Cult Centre buildings. The importance of Area 36, in particular, was apparent during excavation: among the finds, apart from extraordinary quantities of once whole pottery vessels, was a steatite block carved as a jewellery mould, a number of glass beads and bronze tools as well as mortars and other objects of stone. The stratigraphic position of this material confirmed that it was deposited at the same time as the ivories and other objects in the Room with the Fresco. The printed text of c 50 pages provides an illustrated account of the excavation, the structures and the principal finds together with discussions of the significance of each. The accompanying CD-ROM contains over 375 pages of data including Room and Materials analyses similar to those presented in Fascicule 10. The full catalogues of nearly 300 intact or restorable pottery vessels of a wide variety of shapes and uses are accompanied by photographs and line drawings of each item. These are a remarkable addition to our knowledge of Mycenaean pottery, whether for comparative studies of style and decoration or for questions of function.

Well Built Mycenae, Fascicule 24: The Ivories and Objects of Bones and Antler and Boar's Tusk
by Olga Krzyszkowska, series edited by W.D. Taylour, E.B. French, and K.A. Wardle
Paperback. GB £26.00, GB £5.00

The use of ivory for small scale sculpture, for furniture inlays and other decorative elements is one of the hallmarks of Mycenaean civilisation, demonstrating the extent of its trading contacts, the prosperity of its users and the skill of its craftsmen. The pieces found during the excavation of the 'Cult Centre' area at Mycenae greatly extend our knowledge of their range and character. In this fascicule, the leading expert on the study of Aegean ivories, Dr Olga Krzyszkowska, provides a full discussion of the material supported by a detailed catalogue and wide range of photographs and line drawings. The material includes not only the well known head and lion, fully published here for the first time, but also an intriguing range of raw material, prepared blanks, off-cuts and waste pieces. Dr Krzyszkowska also presents the wide range of items of bone and antler which reflect practical everyday use in contrast to the exotic imports of elephant and hippopotamus ivory. As with the previous fascicules in the series, the key text and illustrations are provided in the printed text of 80 pages with 15 figures and 21 plates. The supporting data and full illustration of over 175 objects and other items are supplied on 350 pages on CD-Rom.