The Book of Beasts: A New Manuscript Facsimile

From the tiny mole to the monstrous Leviathan, superb illustrations abound in a facsimile reproduction of one of the country’s finest medieval manuscripts. And theres a substantial discount for Oxbow customers until the end of the year!

New Bargains

Your regular chance to get 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

Snails: Archaeology and Landscape Change
by Paul Davies
Hardback. GB £40.00

The remains of snails in ancient soils and sediments are one of the most important biological indicators of past landscapes, and have attracted study for well over a century. In spite of this, the only English-language textbook was published in 1972 and is long since out of print. Snails provides a comprehensive, up to date reference text on the use of snails as indicators of past environments in Quaternary landscape studies and archaeology. It considers the use of terrestrial and freshwater sub-fossil snail remains as indicators of Late Quaternary (c. last 15,000 years) environmental change and as indicators of past environments and human impacts on the landscape. The volume also demonstrates how an understanding of modern snail ecology can be used to enhance our interpretation of landscape archaeology, and provides a detailed contextual approach to the main types of deposits in which snail remains are found. Davies also puts forward an agenda for future research on the use of snails in archaeological and environmental reconstruction.

Experiencing Archaeology by Experiment: Proceedings of the Experimental Archaeology Conference, Exeter 2007
edited by Penny Cunningham, Julia Heeb and Roeland Paardekooper
Paperback. GB £25.00, GB £6.95

There is a growing trend among archaeologists to re-create artefacts and actions at a 1:1 scale in order to answer questions and gain new insights into the past. In November 2007, the University of Exeter hosted a one-day conference on experimental archaeology, and it was soon discovered that experience is a key issue in understanding the use of materials and past processes. Papers presented in this volume consider both theoretical issues and practical case studies. The scope ranges from skinning animals or dyeing wool the Roman way, to producing sound with flint tools, carving stone on Chalcolithic Cyprus, or casting bronze objects both as art and science in Ireland. The eight chapters in this book demonstrate the myriad possibilities of archaeology by experiment. Experimental archaeology is multi-disciplinary by nature, with examples from anthropology, ethnography, taxidermy, finite element analysis and manufacturing systems theory all being present in this volume. Not only does this sub-discipline have a colourful and meaningful past, but it will surely have a significant future.

Childhood in the Past (2008)
edited by Eileen M. Murphy
Paperback. GB £25.00

The Society for the Study of Childhood in the Past, in conjunction with Oxbow Books, publishes the new international journal, Childhood in the Past. This journal provides a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, international forum for the publication of research into all aspects of children and childhood in the past, which transcends conventional intellectual, disciplinary, geographical and chronological boundaries. The editor welcomes offers of papers from any field of study which can further knowledge and understanding of the nature and experience of childhood in the past.

Rethinking Celtic Art
edited by Duncan Garrow, Chris Gosden and J D Hill
Paperback. GB £35.00

Early Celtic art' - typified by the iconic shields, swords, torcs and chariot gear we can see in places such as the British Museum - has been studied in isolation from the rest of the evidence from the Iron Age. This book reintegrates the art with the archaeology, placing the finds in the context of our latest ideas about Iron Age and Romano-British society. The contributions move beyond the traditional concerns with artistic styles and continental links, to consider the material nature of objects, their social effects and their role in practices such as exchange and burial. The aesthetic impact of decorated metalwork, metal composition and manufacturing, dating and regional differences within Britain all receive coverage. The book gives us a new understanding of some of the most ornate and complex objects ever found in Britain, artefacts that condense and embody many histories.

Life in a Late Medieval City: Chester, 1275-1520
by Jane Laughton
Paperback. GB £20.00, GB £7.95

In the late medieval period Chester was the most important place in north-western England, serving as administrative centre of the county palatine and as the regional capital. The city was not large but its status was further enhanced by its role as ecclesiastical capital and garrison town. Chesters location ensured close links with Wales and Ireland. This study of Chester is based on a wide range of sources, written and archaeological, and contains much that is new. It reveals a city with its own distinctive character but one which shared the experiences of towns throughout medieval England. Particular use is made of the court rolls, records that have the potential to illuminate social relationships at the neighbourhood level. The book therefore makes an important contribution to the study of medieval urban history. The focus is on the ordinary townspeople and they appear throughout: Alice the launder assaulted on the river bank by a millwards son on Whitsunday in 1306; the butcher John Daa, occupant of the property adjoining St Peters who was arrested in 1407 on suspicion of having purchased herring from the French allies of Glyn Dwr; the smith John Smith who paid for ale with two horseshoes in 1489. The picture that emerges is of a lively community that responded to social and economic change with enthusiasm and enterprise.

Landscapes Volume 9.1 (Spring 2008)
edited by David Austin and Paul Stamper
Paperback. GB £15.00

Articles include: A Photo by Bill Brandt, and the Intimacy of Perceptions of Stonehenge and Landscape (Mike Pitts); The Ribble Valley: A Methodological Study in Landscape Development (Jo Cook, Elizabeth Huckerby, Jamie Quartermaine, Neil Wearing); Evolution of a Floodplain Landscape: A Case Study of the Harnham Water Meadows at Salisbury (Hadrian Cook); Debating Landscape Archaeology (Andrew Fleming); What Landscape Means to Me (David Hey); Reviews. 104p col pls, b/w figs (Windgather Press, an Imprint of Oxbow Books 2008)

Medieval Adaptation, Settlement and Economy of a Coastal Wetland: The Evidence from Around Lydd, Romney Marsh, Kent
by Luke Barber and Greg Priestley-Bell
Hardback. GB £30.00, GB £9.95

Romney Marsh is the largest coastal lowland on the south coast of England. Since 1991 excavations in advance of gravel extraction around Lydd on Romney Marsh, have uncovered large areas of medieval landscape, one of the largest to be exposed in southern England. Features uncovered include 12th-13th century drainage ditches, ditched field systems and sea defences. Also of particular significance is the identification of a series of occupation sites and their enclosures. The excavation of dispersed settlements is particularly difficult, because of the scale of work required to produce meaningful results. In this case it has been possible to work on sufficiently large areas to allow significant conclusions to be drawn. The excavations at Lydd Quarry have shown how dispersed settlement existed alongside the nucleated market settlements on Romney Marsh. This extensive report details the archaeological investigations of the field systems and occupation sites, finds and environmental material. There is also a section by Sheila Sweetinburgh on the documentary evidence. Two final chapters set out broader conclusions from the evidence for the field systems, settlements, and economy, and set the area in its wider context. The research has provided an unprecedented opportunity to study reclamation, occupation and economy of a large tract of marginal landscape through a considerable period of time.

Cicero's Speeches: The Critic in Action
by Stephen Usher
Paperback. GB £25.00, GB £6.95

Cicero made a multiple bid for literary acclaim with his oratory and his writings on rhetoric, together with his works on politics, religion and philosophy. He was both orator and critic and his efficiency in preserving written versions of his speeches have left us with an abundance of material for the comparison of theory with practice. In this book Stephen Usher gives a detailed account of how Cicero viewed oratory, and what influenced the formation of his ideal. Cicero himself identifies eight desirable qualities and refinements that oratory should contain: literary knowledge and culture, knowledge and understanding of philosophy, knowledge of law, knowledge of history, wit and humour, emotional appeal, digression and dilatation. His assessment of both past and his contemporary orators exposes the intensity of the rivalry which underlies much of Cicero's rhetorical writing, and adds impetus to how he measures up to his own criteria. Usher sets each speech in its historical and forensic context, in chronological order, and examines to what extent and how successfully Cicero employs these definitions of great oratory.

Anatolian Interfaces: Hittites, Greeks and their Neighbours
edited by Billie Jean Collins, Mary R Bachvarova and Ian C Rutherford
Paperback. GB £35.00
Hardback. GB £45.00

The papers in this collection are the product of the conference "Hittites, Greeks and Their Neighbors in Ancient Anatolia: An International Conference on Cross-Cultural Interaction," hosted by Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. They cover an impressive range of issues relating to the complex cultural interactions that took place on Anatolian soil over the course of two millennia, in the process highlighting the difficulties inherent in studying societies that are multi-cultural in their make-up and outlook, as well as the role that cultural identity played in shaping those interactions. Topics include possible sources of tension along the Mycenaean-Anatolian interface; the transmission of mythological and religious elements between cultures; the change across time and space in literary motifs as they are adapted to new milieus and new audiences; the ways in which linguistic data can refine our understanding of the interrelations between the various peoples who lived in Anatolia; and the role that the Anatolian kingdoms of the first millennium played as cultural filters and conduits through which North Syrian or Near Eastern ideas or materials were transmitted to the Greeks.