Monographs

“As a whole, this volume is an invaluable contribution to the study of the cultural processes following the first encounters between Europeans and indigenous Americans. It captures the complexities characterizing the emergence of the early modern Atlantic world and should thus be of interest to scholars from a range of disciplines.”
 — Ray Hernández-Durán, Hispanic American Historical Review, 2018

During the Graeco-Roman period, Berenike served as a gateway to the outside world together with Myos Hormos. Commodities were imported from Africa south of the Sahara, Arabia, and India into the Greek and Roman Empire, the importance of both harbors evidenced by several contemporary sources. Between 1994 and 2002, eight excavation seasons were conducted at Berenike by the University of Delaware and Leiden University, the Netherlands.

Archaeology of the Chinese Bronze Age is a synthesis of recent Chinese archaeological work on the second millennium BCE-the period associated with China’s first dynasties and East Asia’s first “states.” With a focus on ea

“Tres Zapotes has long been recognized as a major Olmec site. Surveys by Pool and colleagues now provide more systematic context.”
  — Antiquity, 2005

The obsidian prismatic blade is one of the sharpest cutting implements ever produced in the prehistoric world. This volume explores the social and economic processes involved in its manufacture in ancient Mesoamerica.

Although the Cuzco Valley of Peru is renowned for being the heartland of the Incas, little is known concerning its pre-Inca inhabitants. Until recently it was widely believed that the first inhabitants of the Cuzco Valley were farmers who lived in scattered villages along the valley floor (ca. 1000 BC) and that there were no Archaic Period remains in the region. This perspective was challenged during a systematic survey of the valley, when numerous preceramic sites were found.

Moche civilization flourished on the north coast of Peru from AD 200 to 800. Although the Moche had no writing system, they left a vivid artistic record of their beliefs and activities on intricately painted ceramic vessels, several thousand of which are scattered in museums and private collections throughout the world today.

Moche civilization flourished on the north coast of Peru between approximately AD 100 and 800.

Using a study of stone adzes of the precontact period on the island of Hawai'i, Lass examines the role of a material resource in the development of cultural complexity. 

The twenty-eight contributors to this book show how experimental and ethnographic approaches are being used to shed new light on the process of domestication, and harvesting techniques, tools and technology in the period just before and just after the appearance of agriculture. The book takes an explicitly comparative approach, with chapters on SW Asia, Europe, Australia and Africa.