http://www.freebookspot.in Latest books added today en-us http://www.freebookspot.in/logorss.jpg http://www.freebookspot.in 160 43 http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=46299 Renowned for their monumental architecture and rich visual culture, the Moche inhabited the north coast of Peru during the Early Intermediate Period (AD 100-800). Archaeological discoveries over the past century and the dissemination ofMoche artifacts to museums around the world have given rise to a widespread and continually increasing fascination with this complex culture , which expressed its beliefs about the human and supernatural worlds through finely crafted ceramic and metal objects of striking realism and visual sophistication. In this standard-setting work, an international, multidisciplinary team of scholars who are at the forefront of Moche research present a state-of-the-art overview of Moche culture. The contributors address various issues of Moche society, religion, and material culture based on multiple lines of evidence and methodologies, including iconographic studies, archaeological investigations, and forensic analyses. Some of the articles present the results of long-term studies of major issues inMoche iconography, while others focus on more specifically defined topics such as site studies, the influence of El Nino/Southern Oscillation on Moche society, the nature of Moche warfare and sacrifice, and the role of Moche visual culture in decoding social and political frameworks. Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=44669 Travel to the Sahara Desert with Josh Smith, real-life archeologist, as he and his crew of intrepid dinosaur hunters face fierce sandstorms, long hours of difficult work, and, finally, the joy of discovering a new species of dinosaur! Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=44429 The archaeological record is a combination of what is seen by eye, as well as the microscopic record revealed with the help of instrumentation. The information embedded in the microscopic record can significantly add to our understanding of past human behavior, provided this information has not been altered by the passage of time. Microarchaeology seeks to understand the microscopic record in terms of the type of information embedded in this record, the materials in which this information resides, and the conditions under which a reliable signal can be extracted. This book highlights the concepts needed to extract information from the microscopic record. Intended for all archaeologists and archaeological scientists, it will be of particular interest to students who have some background in the natural sciences as well as archaeology. *Emphasizes the nature of the materials in which information is embedded and the problems associated with extracting a real signal. *Provides a comprehensive list of the types of information embedded in the microscopic archaeological record. *Offers an in-depth overview of the use of infrared spectroscopy for analyzing the microscopic record, the only one of its kind available. Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=42185 As geochronology has progressed in the last 20 years, the Archean has continued to attract interest. Advancements in our understanding of Archean crustal and mantle evolution can be traced through a series of meetings and published papers beginning in 1970 with the first International Archean Symposium in Perth in Western Australia (Glover, 1970). Among the exciting problems at that meeting were the relationship between low and high grade Archean terrains, the origin of Archean ultramafic rocks and, in particular, the recently discovered komatiites in South Africa, and the origin of various Archean mineral deposits. Only about 30% of the papers dealt with geochronology and Archean crustal evolution. Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=41730 Ireland is a country notably rich in archaeological sites and this guide is the ultimate handbook to its heritage. Covering the entire island from Antrim to Wexford, Dublin to Sligo, this latest volume in the acclaimed Oxford Archaeoological Guides series provides over 250 plans and illustrations of Ireland's major archaeological treasures and covers sites dating from the time of the first settlers in rephistoric times right up to the seventeenth century. Begining with a concise and readable introduction to the history of Ireland, the book offers an unparalleled journey through the major sites and places of interest. Each chapter combines specific regional information with historical background and essential survey facts for the visitors to the area and provides detailed descriptions of the major archaeological sites within each region, arranged alphabetically and including travel directions, historical overview, and details of the site's mojor features adn the latest available archaeological evidence. One of the most comprehensive adn detailed compact guides to the archaeological sites of Ireland, this new volume will prove invaluable to tourists, armchair travelers, archaeologists, and anyonw interested in the rich and varied history of Ireland. Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=41011 I thoroughly enjoyed the book. there were a few oh-hums but even they had important info to read. this is a good book to read for any dinosaur fan. got out a dinosaur dictionary to look up the animals that exist on the planet and even that was interesting to do. then in the second book is TOR a rock animal who flies, facinating and the nasty heavy-worlders from first book. you wonder if what the book tells you on how the dinosaurs got there could be true. read the book and enjoy. Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=40833 Underwater Archaeology: The NAS Guide to Principles and Practice provides a comprehensive summary of the archaeological process as applied in an underwater context. Long awaited second edition of what is popularly referred to as the NAS Handbook Provides a practical guide to underwater archaeology: how to get involved, basic principles, essential techniques, project planning and execution, publishing and presenting Fully illustrated with over 100 drawings and new colour graphics New chapters on geophysics, historical research, photography and video, monitoring and maintenance and conservation Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=40604 More wide ranging, both geographically and chronologically, than any previous study, this well-illustrated book offers a new definition of Celtic art. Tempering the much-adopted art-historical approach, D.W. Harding argues for a broader definition of Celtic art and views it within a much wider archaeological context. He re-asserts ancient Celtic identity after a decade of deconstruction in English-language archaeology. Harding argues that there were communities in Iron Age Europe that were identified historically as Celts, regarded themselves as Celtic, or who spoke Celtic languages, and that the art of these communities may reasonably be regarded as Celtic art. This study will be indispensable for those people wanting to take a fresh and innovative perspective on Celtic Art. Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=39378 This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the archaeology of Mediterranean prehistory. Its case studies, spanning the Neolithic through the Iron Age, are drawn from all the Mediterranean’s major lands, coasts, and islands. Written by fourteen of the leading archaeologists in the field, The Archaeology of Mediterranean Prehistory presents diverse theoretical approaches that enable students as well as other archaeologists to see the benefits of multivocality. The chapters look beyond Mediterranean diversity toward common links based on social interaction and geography. The book also includes an introductory overview that situates this work in wider Mediterranean scholarship and offers new insights into the histories and cultures of ancient Mediterranean peoples. Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=36218 Nine years ago, French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin became obsessed by the centuries-old mystery of how the Great Pyramid was built. For ten hours a day, he labored at his computer to create exquisitely detailed 3-D models of the interior of the Great Pyramid. After five years of effort, the images rotating on his computer screen provided evidence of an astonishing secret. Corkscrewing up the inside of the Great Pyramid is a mile-long ramp, unseen for 4,500 years. The pyramid was built from the inside. This revelation casts a fresh light on the minds that conceived one of the wonders of the ancient world. A specialist on Egyptian mummies, Brier relates that he receives many a missive purporting to have solved the mystery of the Great Pyramid’s construction. In one day’s e-mail, a plausible idea caught his fancy. Unlike theories that aliens lent Egyptians a helping hand, this message dwelt on the central engineering problem concerning the type of ramp the tomb’s architect used. Brier’s communication came from coauthor Houdin, a French architect who devoted years to studying the problem. Rather than immediately bowl readers over with Houdin’s proposal, Brier cleverly entices them by alternating Houdin’s quest with the trial-and-error development of pharaonic pyramids. Photos and computer-generated graphics illustrate the authors’ explanation of designs and building processes, in the course of which they describe defects in the theories that the ramp was a mile-long straighta Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=31968 Product Description Offers an overview of the analysis of art and archaeological materials using techniques based on mass spectrometry Illustrates basic principles, procedures and applications of mass spectrometric techniques. Fills a gap in the field of application on destructive methods in the analysis of museum objects Edited by a world-wide respected specialists with extensive experience of the GC/MS analysis of art objects Such a handbook has been long-awaited by scientists, restorers and other experts in the analysis of art objects From the Back Cover Chemical and physical analytical methods that are used to study art materials and archaeological objects have shown that such scientific investigation is an essential tool for acquiring information on the materials that make up these objects and for assessing their decay. Organic Mass Spectrometry in Art and Archaeology provides an overview of the analysis of art and archaeological materials, presenting the fundamental principles along with procedures and various mass spectrometric techniques used, including LC/MS, GC/MS, Tof-SIMS and compound-specific stable isotope analysis. Included within this text, from an international group of contributors, are: Case studies and examples illustrating how techniques can be used to reveal the history of objects, including how they were produced Didactic examples of the analytical results of real samples A comprehensive and relevant bibliography Edited by world-wide re Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=31568 Product Description In recent years, scholars have emphasized the need for more holistic subsistence analyses, and collaborative publications towards this endeavor have become more numerous in the literature. However, there are relatively few attempts to qualitatively integrate zooarchaeological (animal) and paleoethnobotanical (plant) data, and even fewer attempts to quantitatively integrate these two types of subsistence evidence. Given the vastly different methods used in recovering and quantifying these data, not to mention their different preservational histories, it is no wonder that so few have undertaken this problem. Integrating Zooarchaeology and Paleoethnobotany takes the lead in tackling this important issue by addressing the methodological limitations of data integration, proposing new methods and innovative ways of using established methods, and highlighting case studies that successfully employ these methods to shed new light on ancient foodways. The volume challenges the perception that plant and animal foodways are distinct and contends that the separation of the analysis of archaeological plant and animal remains sets up a false dichotomy between these portions of the diet. In advocating qualitative and quantitative data integration, the volume establishes a clear set of methods for (1) determining the suitability of data integration in any particular case, and (2) carrying out an integrated qualitative or quantitative approach. Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=31560 Review "This volume makes available priceless documents about the Maya of highland Guatemala. Their transcription and translation conserves vital legacies of Maya thought, conservation even more critical in light of the especially brutal repression and violence against Maya peoples in recent decades. . . . The three calendars are--individually and collectively--invaluable resources for scholars." -- Wendy Ashmore, University of California Riverside Product Description In Maya Daykeeping, three divinatory calendars from highland Guatemala--examples of a Mayan literary tradition that includes the Popul Vuh, Annals of the Cakchiquels, and the Titles of the Lords of Totonicapan--dating to 1685, 1722, and 1855, are transcribed in K'iche or Kaqchikel side-by-side with English translations. Calendars such as these continue to be the basis for prognostication, determining everything from the time for planting and harvest to foreshadowing illness and death. Good, bad, and mixed fates can all be found in these examples of the solar calendar and the 260-day divinatory calendar. The use of such calendars is mentioned in historical and ethnographic works, but very few examples are known to exist. Each of the three calendars transcribed and translated by John M. Weeks, Frauke Sachse, and Christian M. Prager--and housed at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology--is unique in structure and content. Moreover, except for an unpublished study of the 1722 ca Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=30891 Murray (La Trobe Univ., Australia), who edited this work's companion volume, The Encyclopedia of Archaeology: The Great Archaeologists (LJ 1/00), here offers three volumes detailing the history of archaeology through description of discoveries, sites, events, countries, institutions, and major figures. A distinguished editorial board and group of contributors give the work an international perspective. The signed entries (many written by Murray) number approximately 500, including 225 biographies as compared to the 58 biographies comprising Great Archaeologists. The two publications should be used together as they complement and in some measure depend on each other. Most entries have references, but archaeologists chronicled in The Great Archaeologists do not; readers are instead directed to consult that work. In addition, both publications have glossaries, which overlap and share definitions. As with many publications of this kind, one can fault the choice of entries and the unevenness of the writing, and some entries are too narrow (for example, only prehistoric archaeology is described for the United States). Nonetheless, these two sets represent a step forward for anthropology reference, joining The History of Physical Anthropology: An Encyclopedia (LJ 3/15/97) as essential reference tools for the history of anthropology in both general and research libraries. Joyce L. Ogburn, Univ. of Washington, Seattle Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist In Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=30765 Il y a pres de 6 000 ans, les bords du Nil ont vu l'eclosion d'une civilisation riche et florissante. Trente dynasties royales se sont succede en Egypte, jusqu'a la conquete du pays par Alexandre le Grand. Ce royaume prospere, porte par la foi en ses dieux et en ses pharaons, a connu durant trois millenaires un rayonnement culturel sans preceedent, de l'Afrique au monde greco-romain. Pensees et mythes se melaient alors en un vaste echange universel, dont nous sommes toujours les heritiers. Enrichi d'un lexique, d'une chronologie et de cartes, ce dictionnaire est une plongee erudite et passionnante dans les cultes et les croyances de l'Egypte ancienne. Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=27688 Fossils at a Glance By Clare Milsom, Sue Rigby * Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell * Number Of Pages: 172 * Publication Date: 2009-10-26 * ISBN-10 / ASIN: 1405193360 * ISBN-13 / EAN: 9781405193368 Product Description: Fossils provide a powerful tool for the study of the nearly 4-billion-year history of life, and its role in the evolution of Earth systems. They also provide important data for evolutionary studies, and contribute to our understanding of the extinction of organisms and the origins of modern biodiversity. Fossils At A Glance is written for students taking an introductory level course in paleontology. Short chapters introduce the main topics in the modern study of fossils. The most important fossil groups are discussed, from microfossils through invertebrates to vertebrates and plants, followed by a brief narrative of life on Earth. Diagrams are central to the book and allow the reader to see most of the important data “at a glance”. Each topic covers two pages and provides a self-contained suite of information or a starting point for future study. This second edition has been thoroughly revised and brought up to date. It includes new line diagrams as well as photographs of selected fossils Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=22665 The goals of this volume are twofold. First, it aims to provide a novel focus on adaptive explanations for cranial and postcranial features and functional complexes, socioecological systems, life history patterns, etc. in early primates. Second, it aims to offer a detailed rendering of the phylogenetic affinities of such basal taxa to later primate clades as well as to other early/recent mammalian orders. Thus, in addition to the strictly paleontological or systemic questions regarding Primate Origins, the editors plan to concentrate on the adaptive significance of primate characteristics. These questions are best approached through both paleontological and neontological comparative research on a variety of primate and non-primate materials. The volume is timely because it capitalizes on an increasing and important degree of novel independent museum, field and laboratory based research on many of the important outstanding issues regarding primate origins. Furthermore, by intergrating such a disparate sources of experimental, comparative, paleontological, ecological and molecular information into a single edited volume, it provides the broadest possible perspective on early primate phylogeny and the adaptive uniqueness of the Order Primates. Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=21316 This handbook is the first comprehensive overview of the field of satellite remote sensing for archaeology and how it can be applied to ongoing archaeological fieldwork projects across the globe. It provides a survey of the history and development of the field, connecting satellite remote sensing in archaeology to broader developments in remote sensing, archaeological method and theory, cultural resource management, and environmental studies. With a focus on practical uses of satellite remote sensing, Sarah H. Parcak evaluates satellite imagery types and remote sensing analysis techniques specific to the discovery, preservation, and management of archaeological sites. Case studies from Asia, Central America, and the Middle East are explored, including Xi’an, China; Angkor Wat, Cambodia and Egypt’s floodplains. In-field surveying techniques particular to satellite remote sensing are emphasized, providing strategies for recording ancient features on the ground observed from space. The book also discusses broader issues relating to archaeological remote sensing ethics, looting prevention, and archaeological site preservation. New sensing research is included and illustrated with the inclusion of over 160 satellite images of ancient sites. With a companion website with further resources and colour images, Satellite Remote Sensing for Archaeology will provide anyone interested in scientific applications to uncovering past archaeological landscapes a foundation for future res Read more...
]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:42:24 GMT http://www.freebookspot.in/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=14133 The Archaeology Coursebook is an unrivalled guide to students studying archaeology for the first time. Comprehensive and user-friendly, it will interest pre-university students and teachers as well as undergraduates and enthusiasts. Specially designed to assist learning it introduces the most commonly examined archaeological methods, concepts and themes and illustrates concepts and commentary with over 200 photographs and drawings of excavation sites, methodology and processes, tools and equipment. Review "Every archaeology prof I have ever met has complained about how few really useful introductory archaeological texts there are. These academics complain that they cannot find a text that discusses not just field and lab methods, but the reasons for the methods, how those methods intertwine to make a coherent whole, and how to make inferences from them. This is, no doubt about it, a lot to ask from a book. "The Archaeology Coursebook, substitled "An Introduction to Study Skills, Topics, and Methods," is an valiant effort from Routledge.Liberally assisted with additional resources for investigation--both Internet and standard text--the "Archaeology Coursebook is a welcome addition to available teaching guides. If you don't use it as a text, you will use it as a resource for teaching.." -K. Kris Hirst, About.com Read more...
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