Oxen Summer Special

We take a look at some of the latest guides aimed at the traveller with an interest in the past.

The Herodas Factor

Fancy yourself as a composer of Mimiambs? We're holding a competition to find the worthiest successor to Hellenistic poet Herodas, whose work has just been released in the Aris & Philips Classical Texts series.

More Damaged Books

More damaged books for you to grab at some seriously low prices!

New Bargains – General Interest, Prehistory, Egypt and the Ancient Near East

A first look at our most recent bargain books.

New Bargains - the Classical World

A first look at our most recent bargain books.

New Bargains - the Medieval World

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

Managing Archaeological Landscapes in Northumberland: Till-Tweed Studies, Volume 1
by David G. Passmore and Clive Waddington
Hardback. GB £45.00

The Till-Tweed river catchment areas in Northumberland contain outstanding archaeological and palaeoenvironmental remains which have been in general only poorly understood. This study has assembled detailed data that will provide a platform for future landscape-based research and site-based investigation. Written from a landscape, or geoarchaeological perspective, this study develops a methodology and management tool that will allow planners, curators and developers working in the region to to easily access information across sectors, and provide a transparent and easily comprehended record of sensitive archaeological and palaeoenvironmental sites.

Herodas: Mimiambs
edited with a translation, introduction and commentary by Graham Zanker
Hardback. GB £19.99
Paperback. GB £19.99

Before the publication of the second-century AD papyrus containing eight and a fragmentary ninth of the Mimiambs of Herodas in 1891, Herodas was known only through approximately twenty lines which had survived in quotations found principally in Athenaios and Stobaios. Even after the publication of the papyrus and subsequent work on it, scarcely anything is known of their author. The scant evidence that has survived suggests that he lived in during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphos (285-247 BC), on the island of Kos, and was a direct contemporary of the greatest of the Hellenistic poets, Callimachus, Theocritus and Apollonius. His Mimiambs are short humorous dramatic scenes written in verse, often bawdy, reflecting everyday life and dialect. In this Aris & Phillips Classical Text, Graham Zanker explores what we do know of the poet including the language, dialect and metre that he uses. Each poem is translated and accompanied by an individual commentary with synopsis, information on date, setting, sources and purpose, as well as close examination of vocabulary and grammar. This edition reveals Herodas' work in all its skill and subtlety.

Poisonous Plants: A Cultural and Social History
by Robert Bevan-Jones
Paperback. GB £25.00

The botanical history of Britain and North West Europe has a dark and a light side. Plants have been used as weapons to harm people, taken deliberately as addictive drugs and also employed as tools in witchcraft and used as magical amulets. Yet many of these same plants have been medicinally vital to numerous European communities; as the author notes, frequently the only difference between a benevolent medicine and a poison is dosage. In this book, which is richly illustrated with modern colour photographs and illustrations from herbals, Robert Bevan-Jones brings together a wealth of documentary and archaeo-botanical sources to discuss the cultural, social (and anti-social) role of the fifty most significant species of poisonous plants and fungi found in Britain, either as natives or as introductions. An introductory essay puts into context the development of British society's knowledge of toxic plants: the 'cultural botany' applied in Britain today has evolved over thousands of years, absorbing information from European texts and importing useful plants from Europe, such as the mandrake. The book's central A to Z section - from aconite to yew - then informs the reader about the history and uses of 43 species of poisonous plants, especially those that have a documented history of medicinal usage. Four important fungi species - death cap, liberty cap, fly agaric and ergot - also have separate essays. As well as the plants' histories and appearance, their chemical constituents receive coverage; these give them powerful and diverse properties, which demand our admiration and respect. The book aims to add to the knowledge offered by field identification guides, and help reduce the risk associated with accidental ingestion. Case histories are given in as much detail as possible and the information will hopefully help the reader understand the properties of plants they may encounter, either in an archaeological, botanical or horticultural context. Most of these plants can yet be found growing in woodlands, parks, botanical gardens, roadsides, waterways, churchyards and abbey sites. This is an essential book not only for botanists and historical ecologists, but also for anyone interested in the toxic plant traditions of Britain and Europe.

From Foragers to Farmers: Papers in Honour of Gordon C. Hillman
edited by Andrew S. Fairbairn and Ehud Weiss
Hardback. GB £55.00, GB £12.95

This volume celebrates the career of archaebotanist Professor Gordon C. Hillman. Twenty-eight papers cover a wide range of topics reflecting the great influence that Hillman has had in the field of archaeobotany. Many of his favourite research topics are covered, the body of the text being split into four sections: Personal reflections on Professor Hillman's career; archaeobotanical theory and method; ethnoarchaeological and cultural studies; and ancient plant use from sites and regions around the world. The collection demonstrates, as Gordon Hillman believes, that the study of archaebotany is not only valuable, but vital for any study of humanity.

Athenian Potters and Painters Volume II
edited by John H. Oakley and Olga Palagia
Hardback. GB £70.00

This volume presents the proceedings of the second Athenian Potters and Painters conference, which was held at the American School of Classical Studies, Athens 2007. Together with the 1994 conference (Volume I, Oxbow 1997), these are the first of their kind - focusing purely on Athenian pottery and addressing key aspects of its study. The thirty-two papers contained here are the result not only of a large amount of new material but also the dynamic appearance of a younger generation of scholars dealing with the subject. Subject areas range from the study of the potters and painters themselves, to shape, subject matter, chronology, export, excavation pottery, context, and the influence of Athenian vases on pottery from other regions of the Mediterranean and vice versa. Three papers in Greek.

The Land of Boudica: Prehistoric and Roman Norfolk
by John Davies
Paperback. GB £19.95

Modern Archaeology is showing Norfolk to be a distinct region of national and international significance. This book traces the story of this area from the Ice Age and the first appearance of people, to the end of Roman Britain. In particular it focuses on the many remarkable and exciting discoveries made across what is now Norfolk, often through the contribution of amateur enthusiasts. The remarkable and continuing pace of new finds, principally in the form of individual artefacts, as well as through the more conventional processes of aerial photography and fieldwork, has served to transform our understanding of the county's past in recent years. Norfolk's distinctive landscape provides a dramatic backdrop against which the achievements of the inhabitants are followed. Evidence is sought for the ancestors of Boudica, who responded to a series of changes and challenges, from very earliest prehistoric times through to the early historical period under the Romans. Many images previously never published before and many in full-colour.

The Cities of Pamphylia
by John D Grainger
Paperback. GB £30.00, GB £6.95

Pamphylia, in modern Turkey, was a Greek country from the early Iron Age until the Middle Ages. In that land there were nine cities which can be described more or less as Greek, and this book is an investigation of their history. This was a land at the margins of other great empires - Hellenistic, Roman, Arab and Byzantine - and is still off the beaten track, though Aspendos, Perge and Phaselis are all visited for their archaeology. Only one ancient source, Strabo, discusses the area at any length, and John Grainger therefore has to bring together a wide variety of exiguous and fragmentary sources to tell the cities' story. His focus is not only regional - he is interested in the impact of outside forces on a particular civic culture. He considers the processes of city foundation, settlement, urbanisation and evolution, and the cities' mutual relations. Coastal piracy drew Pamphylia into the Roman empire, and finally, in the seventh century AD, the Arabs destroyed the cities in their wars with the Byzantine empire.

The Journal of Roman Pottery Studies, Volume 14
edited by Pamela V. Irving and Steven Willis
Paperback. GB £24.00

Volume 14 contains papers on recent and current work on Roman pottery from around Britain, with papers also on case studies from the Netherlands and Gaul. Contents: Roman pottery from the Channel Tunnel Rail Link section 1, Kent (Paul Booth); Grey face jars in East Anglia: their possible connection with veteran settlement in Britain in the 2nd and early 3rd centuries (Gillian Braithwaite); The Rowland's Castle Romano-British pottery industry (Jonathan Dicks); Roman miniature pots and their contents from Frensham Common, Surrey (David and Audrey Graham); Consuming the exotic: carrot amphorae and dried fruit in early Roman Britain (Daniel Howells); Terra sigillata from the Nijmegen canabae the canabae as a market (Esther van der Linden); A ceramic suspended cauldron found at Scole Romano-Celtic temple, Norfolk (Alice Lyons); Pottery consumption at the Roman fort in Oudenberg, Northern Gaul (Sofie Vanhoutte, Wouter Davies and Wim De Clercq).

Saddling the Dogs: Journeys Through Egypt and the Near East
edited by Diane Fortenberry and Deborah Manley
Paperback. GB £20.00, GB £4.95

This Arab proverb, suggesting the uncompromising determination of nomads to keep moving, whatever the obstacles, epitomizes also the travelling ethos of many early visitors to the 'exotic East'. The journeys examined here are linked by the light they shed on the experience of travel in Egypt, Greece and the Ottoman Balkans, and the Near East from the 17th to the early 20th century not so much what was seen as how one got there and how one got around once arrived; the vicissitudes and travails, both expected and strange that characterised the passage. The purpose of the trips examined range from religious pilgrimages to diplomatic, commercial and military journeys, to middle-class package tours. Each of them is of interest for what it reveals about the realities of travel in Egypt, the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East at different times: the means by which travel was carried out, the dangers and discomforts encountered and the preparations made.

Creating Communities: New advances in Central European Neolithic Research
edited by Daniela Hofmann and Penny Bickle
Paperback. GB £40.00, GB £12.95

The aim of this book is to raise questions about the investigation of identity, community and change in prehistory, and to challenge the current state of debate in Central European Neolithic archaeology. Although the LBK is one of the best researched Neolithic cultures in Europe, here the material is used in order to further explore the interconnection between individuals, households, settlements and regions, explicitly addressing questions of Neolithic society and lived experience. By embracing a variety of approaches and voices, this volume draws out some of the cross-cutting concerns which unite LBK studies in their different regional research contexts and paves the way for further debate on the subject.

Conferences we will be attending

The 21st International Limes (Roman Frontiers) Conference
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK (Monday 17 August 2009 – Sunday 23rd August 2009)
The Congress will take place from Monday 17th August to Sunday 23rd August, 2009, at Newcastle upon Tyne, at the invitation of Tyne and Wear Museums. The first Congress was held at King's College (now the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) in July 1949, and the 2009 meeting will mark its 60th anniversary.
http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/archaeology/conferencesandevents.html

Association for Environmental Archaeology 30th Anniversary Conference
York, UK (Thursday 03 September, 2009 - Saturday 05 September, 2009)
Held at the Dept. of Archaeology, York University.