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Journal article
Weathering climate change in archaeology: conceptual challenges and an East African case study
Research on the social dimensions of climate change is increasingly focused on people's experiences, values and relations to the environment as a means to understand how people interpret and adapt to changes. However, a particular challenge has been making seemingly temporally and geographically distant climate change more immediate and local...Petek-Sargeant, Nik ; Lane, Paul J.
Weather, Climate change, Kenya, Environmental humanities, East Africa, and Ilchamus
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Book
Precious Treasures from the Diamond Throne: Finds from the Site of the Buddha’s Enlightenment
The Mahābodhi temple at Bodhgayā in eastern India has long been recognised as the place where the Buddha sat in meditation and attained enlightenment. The site, soon identified as the ‘Diamond Throne’ or vajrāsana, became a destination for pilgrims and a focus of religious attention for more than two thousand...Willis, Michael
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Book
Charles Masson: Collections from Begram and Kabul Bazaar, Afghanistan, 1833–1838
From 1833–8, Charles Masson (1800–1853) was employed by the British East India Company to explore the ancient sites in south-east Afghanistan. In return for funding his exploration of the ancient sites of Afghanistan, the British East India Company received all of Masson’s finds. These were sent to the India Museum...Errington, Elizabeth
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Book
Pots, Prints and Politics: Ceramics with an Agenda, from the 14th to the 20th Century
From the introduction of woodblock printing in China to the development of copper-plate engraving in Europe, the print medium has been used around the world to circulate knowledge. Ceramic artists across time and cultures have adapted these graphic sources as painted or transfer-printed images applied onto glazed or unglazed surfaces...Ferguson, Patricia F.
European art, Asian art, and Ceramics
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Book
Imagining the Divine: Art in Religions of Late Antiquity Across Eurasia
This groundbreaking volume brings together scholars of the art and archaeology of late antiquity (c. 200−1000), across cultures and regions reaching from India to Iberia, to discuss how objects can inform our understanding of religions. During this period major transformations are visible in the production of religious art and in...Elsner, Jaś ; Wood, Rachel
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Book
Objects as Insights: R.H. Codrington’s Ethnographic Collections from Melanesia
R.H. Codrington (1830–1922) graduated from Oxford University in 1856 and was ordained in 1857. He volunteered to work in Nelson, New Zealand, from 1860–4 and was appointed as headmaster of the Melanesian Mission training school on Norfolk Island in 1867. He spent the next twenty years in this post and...Stanley, Nick
material culture, Melanesia, Codrington, collecting history, anthropology, and Pacific studies
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Journal article
Coin hoards from England, Scotland and Wales 2021
Early Medieval, archaeology, hoards, Post-Medieval, numismatics, coins, Medieval, Iron Age, and RomanGhey, Eleanor ; Andrews, Murray
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Journal article
FLAME‐D database: an integrated system for the study of archaeometallurgy
This paper discusses the reorganisation of archaeometallurgical legacy data for future research. When archaeometallurgical research aims to answer questions that involve significant movements of raw material or metal objects, it needs to rely on large sets of data. These data are available but scattered across hundreds of publications, where they...Perucchetti, L. ; Bray, P. ; Felicetti, A. ; Sainsbury, V. ; Howarth, P. …
Bronze Age, archaeometallurgy , and database
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Journal article
Between Apollo and Osiris: Egyptianising East Greek pottery, translating gods and cross-cultural interaction in the 6th century B.C
Relatively few Greek fine ware vessels have been uncovered in Egyptian contexts of the late 7th and 6th centuries B.C., the majority of East Greek production. Remarkably, though, the shape and imagery of a good number of them seem to reference local Egyptian customs and ideas, notably Osirian religion and...Villing, Alexandra
Apollo, East Greek pottery, Typhon, Greeks in Egypt, and Greek mythology
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Journal article
Pandemic, protests and building back: 20 months at the British Museum
This article is a personal reflection that examines the impact of the pandemic on the British Museum’s (BM) onsite interpretation and audiences; however, it is informed by robust visitor insight and evaluation as well as by direct experience. Quotes from the public are incorporated throughout. Covid-19 led to the BM’s...Frost, Stuart
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Book
Mummies of Ancient Egypt, Rediscovering Six Lives
This exhibition book explores the lives of six mummified individuals who once lived in Egypt between the Third Intermediate Period (about 1069-664 BC) and the Roman time (30 BC - AD 395). Using cutting-edge scientific investigations, each mummy offers insights into specific aspects of their lives and deaths, which are...Vandenbeusch, Marie ; Antoine, Daniel
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Journal article
New insights on interpersonal violence in the Late Pleistocene based on the Nile valley cemetery of Jebel Sahaba
The remains of 61 individuals buried in the cemetery of Jebel Sahaba (site 117) offer unique and substantial evidence to the emergence of violence in the Nile Valley at the end of the Late Pleistocene. Excavated and assessed in the 1960s, some of the original findings and interpretations are disputed....Crevecoeur, Isabelle ; Dias-Meirinho, Marie-Hélène ; Zazzo, Antoine ; Antoine, Daniel ; Bon, François
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Journal article
Ancient anomalies: Twinned and supernumerary incisors in a medieval Nubian
During the analysis of a skeletal assemblage from a medieval cemetery in Nubia (c. AD 500–1550), a young adult female with abnormally developed maxillary incisors was discovered. The possible causes of the two dental anomalies found in this individual and their archaeological context are discussed. The remains are from a...Phillips, Emma L.W. ; Irish, Joel D. ; Antoine, Daniel
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Journal article
Time to be nosy: Evaluating the impact of environmental and sociocultural changes on maxillary sinusitis in the Middle Nile Valley (Neolithic to Medieval periods)
Objective To investigate the prevalence of maxillary sinusitis in people who lived in the Middle Nile Valley across different periods, cultures, and environmental conditions. Materials 481 skeletons from 13 sites, curated at the British Museum, London, were analysed. The sites ranged in date from the Neolithic to Medieval periods (c....Davies-Barrett, Anna M. ; Roberts, Charlotte A. ; Antoine, Daniel
Particulate matter, Upper respiratory tract disease, Air quality, and Sudan
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Book
Ceramic Exchange and the Indian Ocean Economy (AD 400–1275) Volume I: Analysis
From AD 500–1000, the Indian Ocean emerged as a global commercial centre, and by around 750–800 a sophisticated trade network had been established involving the movement of goods from Japan and China in the east, to southern Africa and Spain in the west. However, the Indian Ocean’s commercial system has...Priestman, Seth M.N.
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Book
Ceramic Exchange and Indian Ocean Economy (AD 400–1275). Volume II: Indian Ocean Pottery Classification
From AD 500–1000, the Indian Ocean emerged as a global commercial centre, and by around 750–800 a sophisticated trade network had been established involving the movement of goods from Japan and China in the east, to southern Africa and Spain in the west. However, the Indian Ocean’s commercial system has...Priestman, Seth M.N.
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Book
A Royal Renaissance Treasure and its Afterlives: The Royal Clock Salt
At centre stage in this volume is the Royal Clock Salt, an exceptional national treasure from the courtly culture of the Renaissance. Most probably made in Paris around 1530 by Pierre Mangot, the royal goldsmith to Francis I, the Clock Salt is somewhere between a jewel and a table ornament....Schroder, Timothy ; Thornton, Dora
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Journal article
Tackling conservation challenges using erbium lasers: case studies at the British Museum
Research was conducted at the British Museum to investigate the potential of Er:YAG lasers to address challenging conservation problems where traditional conservation methods had failed. The approach followed was to perform laser tests on model samples and unregistered objects to determine the laser alteration threshold fluence on each substrate and...Pereira-Pardo, Lucía ; Melita, Lucia N. ; Korenberg, Capucine
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Journal article
Finding Sustainability in the Desert: Conservation of the Archaeological Site of Dangeil, Sudan, and Its Associated Collections
An extreme environment poses challenges, and forces one to implement solutions that require mixing state-of-the-art techniques with local knowledge and resources, to achieve results that are appropriate, effective, and sustainable in the long term. This is the case at Dangeil, Sudan, site of a first-century CE Kushite temple and cemeteries....Guiducci, Francesca ; Sweek, Tracey ; Anderson, Julie
conservation, Sudan, sustainability, and archaeological site
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Book
Hunnic Peoples in Central and South Asia: Sources for their Origin and History
This volume is a comprehensive compilation of primary textual sources pertaining to the history of Hunnic peoples in the vast area encompassing Central and South Asia. Sources in nearly a dozen languages have been carefully selected by scholars with a specialisation in the particular language and relevant research experience. Each...Balogh, Dániel
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Book
Sylloge Nummorum Parthicorum 2, Mithradates II
The second volume of “Sylloge Nummorum Parthicorum” examines the history and culture of the reign of Mithradates II (c. 122/1‒91 BC), who consolidated and expanded the Parthian state. In addition to his coinage, the present volume draws on other primary sources, such as cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia, in order to...Sarkhosh Curtis, Vesta ; Magub, Alexandra ; J. Pendleton, Elizabeth ; C.D. Hopkins, Edward
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Book chapter
Sex and Sensitivities: Exhibiting and Interpreting Shunga at the British Museum
Sexually explicit paintings, prints, and illustrated books known as shunga (“spring pictures”) were produced in Japan in considerable quantities between 1600 and 1900. For most of the twentieth century, although shunga was actively collected and represented in major museum collections, it was rarely exhibited publicly, particularly the more explicit works....Frost, Stuart
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Book chapter
Of Kushite kings and sacred landscapes in the Middle Nile valley
An overview of Kushite kings and sacred landscapes in the Middle Nile Valley in a collection of invited and peer-reviewed essays by friends and colleagues of Julian Edgeworth Reade.Anderson, Julie
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Journal issue
Sudan & Nubia Volume 24
Sudan & Nubia journal, volume 24, edited by Julie Anderson (with 58 authors). PDF available for free download from http://www.sudarchrs.org.uk/resources/publications/journal-sudan-nubia/#toggle-id-24Anderson, Julie
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Journal article
Investigating the Potential of the Er:YAG Laser for the Removal of Cemented Dust from Limestone and Painted Plaster
A successful application of Er:YAG laser for the cleaning of a restored Assyrian relief sculpture from the British Museum collection is presented. Displayed in the gallery, the sculpture has darkened over time due to the natural deposition of dirt, in particular on restored parts. Since traditional cleaning methods have demonstrated...Melita, Lucia Noor ; Węgłowska, Katarzyna ; Tamburini, Diego ; Korenberg, Capucine
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Journal article
There's a lot I have to tell everyone!': Medals by Marie Uchytilová-Kučová
‘How could an unknown girl from a tiny country tell something to the world and be heard?’ This was the question that preoccupied Marie Uchytilová (1924-89), twenty-one years old and living in war-torn Czechoslovakia in 1945. The answer came through art, ‘which can speak all the languages of the world’,...Hockenhull, Tom
Czechoslovakia, medals, and socialism
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Journal article
Excavations at Klipfonteinrand reveal local and regional patterns of adaptation and interaction through MIS 2 in Southern Africa
Research interest in patterns of cultural transmission in the southern African Palaeolithic is complicated by poor resolution of site occupation, technological behaviour, and underlying environmental conditions. Here, we describe the Pleistocene Later Stone Age sequence from Klipfonteinrand rock shelter, dating 22.3–13.4 ka, in light of local and regional data. Analysis... -
Journal article
Pigments, incense, and bitumen from the New Kingdom town and cemetery on Sai Island in Nubia
An analysis of paints found in ceramic sherd palettes from the 18th Dynasty (1548-1302 BCE) Pharaonic town on Sai Island in Upper Nubia using polarised light microscopy and infrared spectroscopy revealed pigments from the standard Egyptian repertoire: red and yellow ochres, Egyptian blue, calcite, gypsum, anhydrite, and the bright white...Fulcher, Kate ; Budka, Julia
Egyptian blue, Canopic jars, Incense, Ancient Nubia, Pigments, Pistacia resin, and Bitumen
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Journal article
The wood charcoals from Sheri Khan Tarakai: a case study in environmental archaeology and palaeoecology
The wood charcoals from the early village site of Sheri Khan Tarakai (c. 3800 – 2900 cal. BC) in the west of Bannu District (Pakistan) are the principal focus of this paper. Twenty six taxa of woody plants (trees and shrubs) were identified and their spatial, contextual and temporal distributions... -
Journal article
Using analytical pyrolysis and scanning electron microscopy to evaluate charcoal formation of four wood taxa from the caatinga of north-east Brazil
People in north-east Brazil mostly rely on fuelwood and charcoal for domestic energy consumption. Traditionally, four local wood taxa (Mimosa tenuiflora, Mimosa ophthalmocentra, Croton sonderianus and Cenostigma pyramidale) from the caatinga have been selected for this purpose. As the final quality of charcoal is directly related to the charring conditions,... -
Journal article
Journal of Wetland Archaeology Bog Bodies Special Edition: Foreword
An introduction outlining the background to this special edition of the Journal of Wetland Archaeology, co-edited by Julia Farley and Benjamin Gearey, and the aims of the papers. This volume is the result of an international workshop on bog bodies held at the British Museum in March 2019, the most... -
Journal article
Medieval commercial sites: as seen through Portable Antiquities Scheme data
This paper explores some 220,000 medieval objects recorded in the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) online database of archaeological small finds through Geographic Information System analysis of their relationship with contemporary market sites. First, an overview of the contents of the PAS database is presented in terms of its spatial and... -
Journal article
Trends in Myanmar wall paintings from the eleventh to the twentieth centuries
Wall paintings in Myanmar have a long history. Extant remains date as far back as the eleventh century, and murals continue to be produced today. This paper is based on the survey of more than 150 temples in the central zone of Myanmar, exploring the imagery to consider its role...Green, Alexandra
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Journal article
KOLEKSI RAFFLES DARI JAWA: BUKTI DARI EROPA TENTANG SEBUAH PERADABAN
Stamford Raffles was promoted to Lieutenant Governor of Java when the island was captured from the Dutch by the British East India Company in 1811 as part of the Napoleonic wars in Europe. During Raffles’ years on Java, he collected substantial cultural materials, including theatrical objects, musical instruments, coins and...Green, Alexandra
Collecting history, Art history, Colonialism, and Stamford Raffles
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Journal article
Raffles’ collections from Java: European evidence of civilisation
Stamford Raffles was promoted to Lieutenant Governor of Java when the island was taken from the Dutch by the British East India Company in 1811 as part of the Napoleonic wars in Europe. During Raffles’ years on Java, he collected substantial cultural materials, among others are; theatrical objects, musical instruments,...Green, Alexandra
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Journal article
Archaeology at ras Muari: Sonari, a Bronze Age fisher-gatherers settlement at the Hab River mouth (Karachi, Pakistan).
This paper describes the results of the surveys carried out along Ras Muari (Cape Monze, Karachi, Sindh) by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Lower Sindh and Las Bela in 2013 and 2014. The surveyed area coincides with part of the mythical land of the Ichthyophagoi, mentioned by the classical chroniclers.... -
Journal article
Harold-as-Aeneas? The influence of the Aeneid on a rescue scene in the Bayeux Tapestry
This article examines a particular scene in the Bayeux Tapestry where Earl Harold of Wessex rescues Normans from the River Couesnon (Brittany/Normandy) in reference to a similar scene in the Aeneid. It considers the qualities of the 'heroes' in both scenes - Harold and Aeneas - and considers the a...Rollason, Nikki K. ; Michael, Lewis
art, Aeneas, Harold of Wessex (Harold II), Aeneid, and Bayeux Tapestry
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Journal article
Early Levallois core technology between Marine Isotope Stage 12 and 9 in Western Europe
Early Levallois core technology is usually dated in Europe to the end of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 9 and particularly from the beginning of MIS 8 to MIS 6. This technology is considered as one of the markers of the transition from lower to Middle Paleolithic or from Mode 2... -
Journal article
The palm tree ryal of Mary Queen of Scots revisited
An investigation of the unusual design of this coin, a tortoise climbing up a palm tree.Cook, Barrie ; Archibald, Marion
palm tree, coinage, tortoise, ryal, and Mary Queen of Scots
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Journal article
The WEAP method: a new age in the analysis of the Acheulean handaxes
This paper presents a unified methodology to describe critical features in lithic assemblages, in order to better interpret the Middle Pleistocene hominin occupation of western Europe, in the context of the Western European Acheulean Project (WEAP). This project aims to characterise the Acheulean technology of the western side of Europe...Middle Pleistocene; Acheulean handaxes; typology; chaîne opératoire; geometric; morphometrics
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Journal article
Ethnobotany of Hawaiian figure sculpture
Anecdotal theories about traditional uses of Polynesian woods in relation to social and religious practices were tested using comparative wood identification. The woods used to make 135 figure carvings from the Hawaiian archipelago were identified and compared with 23 figure carvings from elsewhere in Polynesia (especially Tahiti and the Marquesas)....Rudall, Paula J. ; Cartwright, Caroline
ethnobotany, Polynesia, and wood anatomy
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Journal article
Bitumen from the Dead Sea in Early Iron Age Nubia
Bitumen has been identified for the first time in Egyptian occupied Nubia, from within the town of Amara West, occupied from around 1300 to 1050 BC. The bitumen can be sourced to the Dead Sea using biomarkers, evidencing a trade in this material from the eastern Mediterranean to Nubia in...Fulcher, Kate ; Stacey, Rebecca ; Spencer, Neal
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Journal article
Objectifying processes: The use of geometric morphometrics and multivariate analyses on Acheulean tools
Nowadays, the fruitful discussion regarding the morphological variability of handaxes during the Middle Pleistocene has reached a decisive moment with the use of more accurate statistical methods, such as geometric morphometrics (GM) and multivariate analyses (MA). This paper presents a preliminary methodological approach for checking the utility of these new...García-Medrano, Paula ; Maldonado-Garrido, Elías ; Ashton, Nick ; Ollé, Andreu
Boxgrove, Middle Pleistocene, handaxes, multivariate analyses, geometric morphometrics, Swanscombe, and Acheulean
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Journal article
The origins of decorated ostrich eggs in the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East
Decorated ostrich eggs were traded around the Mediterranean during the Bronze and Iron Ages. Research on their origins has focused primarily on decorative techniques and iconography to characterise the producers, workshops and trade routes, thereby equating decorative styles with cultural identities and geographic locations. This is problematic, as craftspeople were...Mediterranean; Middle East; North Africa; Bronze Age; Iron Age; stable isotopes; ostrich eggs
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Journal article
Khirbet Ghozlan
The site of Khirbet Um al-Ghozlan sits on a steep knoll overlooking the Wadi Rayyan in north Jordan. Because it is only 0.4 ha in size, most surveys would classify the site as a hamlet or village. In this respect, Khirbet Ghozlan sits comfortably within our traditional understanding of the...Fraser, James ; Cartwright, Caroline
olive oil, olives, Jordan valley, Early Bronze Age IV, Olea europaea, and Khirbet Um al-Ghozlan
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Journal article
A scientific study of Eastern Zhou bronze weapons with tin-rich surface decoration
In this paper we examined three bronze weapons with tin-rich surface decoration from the Eastern Zhou period: a sword (1966,0222.1) with a trellis pattern, a spearhead (1947,0712.426) with a hexagonal star pattern in the British Museum collections, and a sword (GT698) with a trellis pattern from a private collection. These...Wang, Quanyu ; Chen, Yi ; O'Flynn, Daniel
bronze weapon, tin-rich decoration, trellis pattern, and Eastern Zhou
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Journal article
Tello/Girsu: first results of the autumn 2019 archaeological season
This article’s aim is to present the preliminary results of the British Museum archaeological fieldwork in Tello (ancient Girsu) that took place in the autumn of 2019. Since the launch of the Iraq Scheme in 2016, we have carried out five seasons of excavations at the site, focusing mainly on...Rey, Sebastien
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Journal article
The Beau Street Hoard - what happened next?
Interpreting over 17,000 Roman coins Since the discovery of the Beau Street Hoard in Bath in 2007, years of research have illuminated the contents of this huge collection of late 3rd-century Roman coins, revealing new clues to why it might have been buried.Ghey, Eleanor
archaeology, numismatics, and Roman
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Journal article
A conversation with Roger Keyes
Impressions asked Timothy Clark, newly retired Head of the Japanese Section, Asia Department at the British Museum, to ask Roger Keyes about his work and his recollections. They sat down together in the Asia Study Room at the British Museum on March 26, 2019.Clark, Timothy ; Keyes, Roger