European Journal of Archaeology

Call for papers: Interpreted Iron Ages

Case studies, method, theory

3. Linzer Gespräche zur interpretativen Eisenzeitarchäologie

Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum Linz, Austria
14 – 16 November 2008

The aims of European Iron Age archaeologies are not only to classify material remains of the Iron Age past according to typological and chronological frameworks, but also to explain the societies that produced these remains. The Linzer Gespräche zur interpretativen Eisenzeitarchäologie are intended as a platform to present and discuss explanatory models, either as applied to individual case studies, or the methods employed in developing such models themselves, or the theoretical foundations underlying the interpretation of Iron Age sources, without being buried, as often the case at other conferences, amidst serial presentations of hardly interpreted masses of primary evidence. Read the rest of this entry »

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Free access to online archaeology journals

Maney Publishing offers a 30 days free trial to its online archaeology and heritage journals. You need to fill in a simple form here. Choose access to the “Archaeology Collection“. You will get access to the following periodicals:

Arms and Armour
Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 2006 - Volume 4, Number 2, October 2007

Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites
Volume 8, Number 1, January 2006 - Volume 8, Number 3, September 2007

Environmental Archaeology
Volume 11, Number 1, April 2006 - Volume 12, Number 2, October 2007

Industrial Archaeology Review
Volume 27, Number 1, May 2005 - Volume 29, Number 2, November 2007

Journal of the British Archaeological Association
Volume 158, Number 1, October 2005 - Volume 160, Number 1, September 2007

Medieval Archaeology
2000 - 2007

Palestine Exploration Quarterly
Volume 136, Number 1, 1 April 2004 - Volume 139, Number 3, November 2007

Post-Medieval Archaeology
Volume 39, Number 1, March 2005 - Volume 40, Number 2, September 2006

Public Archaeology
Volume 6, Number 1, Spring 2007 - Volume 6, Number 4, Winter 2007

Vernacular Architecture
Volume 36, Number 1, February 2005 - Volume 37, Number 1, February 2006

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Public Archaeology Swedish-style

Svanberg, Fredrik and Katty H. Wahlgren (2007) Publik Arkeologi. Lund: Nordic Academic Press. 152 pp., illustrations (many in colour), pbk, ISBN 978-91-89116-96-2, SEK 169 (= ca € 18). Order here.

Public archaeology is a fast growing area of Anglophone archaeology, with strong centres in both the UK and the US. Now a new book by archaeologists Fredrik Svanberg and Katty Wahlgren, both of the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities (Historiska Museet) in Stockholm, proves that in Sweden, too, much has been done in recent years concerning public archaeology, or publik arkeologi as the term has been swedified (see the Museum’s webpages for their publik arkeologi programme).
Read the rest of this entry »

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Call for Posters: 17th International Congress of Classical Archaeology

A message from Martina Della Riva:

Call for Posters: 17th International Congress of Classical Archaeology
Rome, Italian and foreign Archaeological Research Institutes
22-26 September 2008

The Organising Committee of the 17th International Congress of Classical Archaeology invites all archaeologists, scholars, postgraduate students and academics to submit proposals for posters around the theme: NEW WORK IN CLASSICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. Read the rest of this entry »

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New Books (not to be reviewed)

The following books have arrived on the Book Review Editor’s desk but will, for one reason or another, not be reviewed in the journal.

Smith, Claire and Burke, Heather (2007) Digging it Up Down Under. A Practical Guide to Doing Archaeology in Australia. New York: Springer. ISBN 978-0387-35260-2. Hbk. 326 pp. 20 figures. US$149.00.

This is the first volume in the new World Archaeological Congress Cultural Heritage Manual Series published (at an exorbitant price) by Springer. As the series editors explain, the “aim of this series is to provide the essential information needed to conduct archaeological fieldwork in various parts of the world”. This then is the account for Australia, explaining the “secrets to successful archaeology in Australia” (blurb). The content ranges from a brief history of Australian Archaeology and an introduction to Indigenous Australia, to obtaining funding, working in an Australian setting and understanding legalities and management traditions. The book will be invaluable to anybody contemplating to start fieldwork Down Under!

Silverberg, Miriam (2006) Erotic Grotesque Nonsense. The Mass Culture of Japanese Modern Times. Berkeley etc: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-22273-1. Hbk. 370 pp. 39 plates (b/w). US$49.95.

How this kind of nonsense (!) ended up on the Review Editor’s desk is anybody’s guess! This volume makes a scholarly contribution to our understanding of Japanese mass culture with no obvious significance to European archaeology that I can see.

Posted in New books (unreviewed) | 1 Comment »

NPS 2008 Archaeological Prospection Workshop

Steven DeVore writes:

National Park Service’s 2008 Archaeological Prospection Workshop

The National Park Service’s 2008 workshop on archaeological prospection techniques entitled Current Archaeological Prospection Advances for Non-Destructive Investigations in the 21st Century will be held May 19-23, 2008, at the Kelly Inn, Fargo, North Dakota. Lodging will be at the Best Western Kelly Inn with the meeting room at O’Kelly Event Center at the Kelly Inn. The field exercises will take place at the Biesterfeldt Site (a protohistoric village site on the Sheyenne River). Co-sponsors for the workshop include the National Park Service, the Archaeological Conservancy, Minnesota State University-Moorhead, and the State Historical Society of North Dakota. This will be the eighteenth year of the workshop dedicated to the use of geophysical, aerial photography, and other remote sensing methods as they apply to the identification, evaluation, conservation, and protection of archaeological resources across this Nation. The workshop will present lectures on the theory of operation, methodology, processing, and interpretation with on-hands use of the equipment in the field. The workshop this year will have a special focus on the soil magnetism and on the effects of plowing on geophysical signatures and site integrity. Read the rest of this entry »

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A Christmas Message from the EAA President

A Christmas greeting from Anthony Harding, President of the EAA:

Dear colleagues,

2007 is coming to an end and together with it the membership of the European Association of Archaeologists. Thank you for your involvement in our Association this year; I hope you have benefited from it. If you have not done so already, I would ask you to renew your membership for next year on-line, or by returning the completed form to be downloaded from www.e-a-a.org. 2008 will see major improvements in the membership services, for instance individualized access to your personal account, an on-line membership database, access to the new jobs service, etc. You will be notified how to proceed upon receipt of your payment. On the EAA web page www.e-a-a.org, or at http://events.um.edu.mt/eaa2008/, you will also find the latest information about the 2008 conference, to be held on September 16 - 21 in Malta.

For now, please let me wish you a very happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year.

Yours,

Anthony Harding, President, on behalf of the EAA Boards and Secretariat

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New Books (not to be reviewed)

The following books have arrived on the Book Review Editor’s desk but will, for one reason or another, not be reviewed in the journal.

Mannino, Katia (2006) Vasi Attici Nei Contesti Della Messapia (480-350 a.C.). Bari: Edipuglia. ISBN 88-7228-468-6. Pbk. 328 pp. 315 figs., a few in colour. €45.00. More information (and available) here.

This study (in Italian) consists mainly of a catalogue and analysis of Attic vases from the Italian region of Messapia. The publisher promises this:
“Il volume è dedicato alle ceramiche attiche di età classica scoperte nella Puglia meridionale − l’antica Messapia − che costituiscono un complesso documentario di rilevante importanza. Il campione analizzato comprende 314 vasi, figurati e a vernice nera, individuati attraverso lo spoglio dei repertori bibliografici e un lavoro di censimento condotto nei musei. I materiali, in gran parte inediti, vengono presentati facendo costante riferimento ai contesti di rinvenimento e con una ricca documentazione fotografica (in bianco e nero e colore) e grafica, unitamente a carte tematiche e tabelle. L’approccio utilizzato consente di leggere la documentazione attica sviluppando, oltre alla prospettiva commerciale, i principali temi connessi alla presenza delle importazioni negli insediamenti messapici. L’esame delle classi, delle forme e delle immagini attestate negli spazi funerari, sacri e abitativi offre infatti spunti per riflettere sulle dinamiche che regolano l’acquisizione dei manufatti ateniesi in ambito anellenico e stimola ad avanzare ipotesi sul “significato” che tali oggetti rivestono fra il 480 e la metà del IV sec. a.C., un periodo senza dubbio fra i più problematici e ricchi di interesse nella storia della Messapia.”

Russmann, Edna, Strudwick, Nigel and James, T.G.H. (2006) Temples and Tombs. Treasures of Egyptian Art from the British Museum. American Federation of Arts in association with University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-98618-0. Hbk. 136 pp. 12 figs., 90 colour plates. US$40.00.

A catalogue from a travelling exhibition organized by the British Museum and the American Federation of Arts. Nigel Strudwick’s introductory essay claims that the 85 objects shown “illustrate a variety of themes that permit us to shed some light on the ideological structure of the ancient Egyptian world…”. Perfect for your coffee-table.

Reeves, Nicholas (2007) The Complete Tutankhamun. The King. The Tomb. The Royal Treasure. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-051467. Hbk. 224 pp. 519 figs. of which 65 in colour. £9.95.

Such is the interest in anything to do with Tutankhamun that this beautiful book can be sold very inexpensively. A familiar story presented here in great detail and extremely well illustrated. There is even a Foreword by the Seventh Earl of Carnarvon who, he writes, met Howard Carter in 1933, when he himself was a boy. I would love to see published one day a similar book on Tutmania, old or new.

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Post-doc in European Archaeology at SUNY Buffalo

The University at Buffalo, State University of New York, seeks a 2008-2009 Post-doctoral Scholar (PS) for its interdisciplinary Institute for European and Mediterranean Archaeology (IEMA). Read the rest of this entry »

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International Summer School on Late Antique Art and Archaeology

Here’s a summer school opportunity for BA and MA students:

The Department of Classical Archaeology at the University of Aarhus is organizing an international summer school in 2008 on the topic of “Constantine the Great and the Making of Late Antiquity” (website still under construction). It will be held between 25 and 30 August.

The week-long summer school in English will be taught by a group of international and Danish specialists on Late Antiquity, including Professor Lea Stirling (Manitoba), Professor Niels Hannestad (Aarhus), Professor Siri Sande (Oslo/Rome), Arja Karivieri (Stockholm), Curators Mette Moltesen and Jan Stubbe Østergaard (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen), Curator John Lund (National Museum, Copenhagen), Birte Poulsen (Aarhus), and Rubina Raja (Aarhus). More names will be announced later.

The summer school is part of the research programme “Art and Social Identities in Late Antiquity”, based in the Department of Classical Archaeology. The following is a description of the thematic range of the summer school: Read the rest of this entry »

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