Michael Parker Pearson

The Archaeology of Death and Burial (Texas a&M University Anthropology, 3)

Despite its being one of prehistory?s most alluring landmarks, before the Stonehenge Riverside Project led by noted archeologist Mike Parker Pearson, only half of Stonehenge itself?and far less of its surroundings?had ever been investigated, and many records from previous digs are inaccurate or incomplete. With fresh evidence based on seven years of unprecedented access to the Stonehenge World Heritage Site, this excavation replaces centuries of speculation about even the most fundamental mysteries of Stonehenge with hard proof. Stonehenge changes the way we think about the site, correcting previously erroneous dating, filling gaps in our knowledge about its builders and how they lived, clarifying the monument?s significance both celestially and as a burial ground, and contextualizing Stonehenge?which sits at the center of one of the densest prehistoric settlements in history?within the broader landscape of the Neolithic Age.

a new understanding : solving the mysteries of the greatest stone age monument

Stonehenge

The archaeology of death is a central aspect of our attempts to understand vanished societies. Through funeral remains we learn of the attitudes of prehistoric peoples to death and the afterlife, and also of their social organisation.

The Archaeology of Death and Burial

It was only 4,000 years ago when, for the first time in history, homes of the living replaced tombs of the dead as the most permanent human-made features of the landscape. The key was the shift from stone to bronze, in tools from axes to swords. Over 100 photos and drawings freshly document these years of British prehistory, when vast forests were hewn into managed woodlands, and effective weapons helped defend forts and settlements. Archeologists interpret recent challenging, tantalizing evidence that shows how farmers and villagers perfected the making and manufacture of metals, and invented hundreds of practical uses.

Bronze Age Britain

Karen Godden

Pirates, shipwreck and slavery - these are the key themes in this story of an Englishman who spent 14 years of his life in captivity in Madagascar. Although Robert Drury wrote a book about his adventures in 1729, it has long been out of print. This book aims to track down the truth of his story.

Shipwreck and Captivity in Madagascar

In Search of the Red Slave

Colin Richards

Architecture is a powerful medium for representing, ordering and classifying the world, and understanding the use of space is fundamental to archaeological inquiry. Architecture and Order draws on the work of archaeologists, social theorists and architects to explore the way in which people relate to the architecture which surrounds them. In many societies, houses and tombs have encoded cultural meanings and values which are invoked and recalled through the practices of daily life. Chapters include explorations of the early farming r archi*eye of Europe, from before the use of metals, to the Classical and Medieval worlds of the Mediterranean and Europe. Research of the recent past and present include an overview of hunter-gatherers' camp organization, a reassessment of the use of space amongst the Dogon of West Africa and an examination of mental disorders relating to the use of space in Britain. The volume goes beyond the implication that culture determines form to develop an approach that integrates meaning and practice.

Approaches to Social Space

Architecture and Order

Looks at the 4000 years of British prehistory, including an examination of the ways in which we interpret the challenging and tantalizing evidence thrown up from this period, and the arguments and theories of archaeologists.

English Heritage Book of Bronze Age Britain

Stonehenge Riverside Project

Our knowledge about Stonehenge has changed dramatically as a result of the Stonehenge Riverside Project (2003-2009), led by Mike Parker Pearson, and included not only Stonehenge itself but also the nearby great henge enclosure of Durrington Walls. This book is about the people who built Stonehenge and its relationship to the surrounding landscape. The book explores the theory that the people of Durrington Walls built both Stonehenge and Durrington Walls, and that the choice of stone for constructing Stonehenge has a significance so far undiscovered, namely, that stone was used for monuments to the dead. Through years of thorough and extensive work at the site, Parker Pearson and his team unearthed evidence of the Neolithic inhabitants and builders which connected the settlement at Durrington Walls with the henge, and contextualised Stonehenge within the larger site complex, linked by the River Avon, as well as in terms of its relationship with the rest of the British Isles. Parker Pearson's book changes the way that we think about Stonehenge; correcting previously erroneous chronology and dating; filling in gaps in our knowledge about its people and how they lived; identifying a previously unknown type of Neolithic building; discovering Bluestonehenge, a circle of 25 blue stones from western Wales; and confirming what started as a hypothesis - that Stonehenge was a place of the dead - through more than 64 cremation burials unearthed there, which span the monument's use during the third millennium BC. In lively and engaging prose, Parker Pearson brings to life the imposing ancient monument that continues to hold a fascination for everyone.

Exploring the Greatest Stone Age Mystery

Andrew T. Chamberlain

The preserved remains of other human beings hold a special fascination for the living. Earthly Remains explores the history and science behind such phenomena as: the bodies of Abraham Lincoln, Lenin, Eva Peron and other famous politicians, embalmed and displayed for political ends; bog bodies, including the famous Lindow Man - how and why did they meet their fate?; mummies from ancient Egypt and even earlier examples from South America; frozen corpses, such as the 5,000-year-old Tyrolean Ice Man; bodies preserved in outline form, including those of Pompeii and Sutton Hoo; and cryonics, embalming and other modern preservation techniques. Illustrated with the images of many of the cases discussed, Earthly Remains is a book that will appeal to everyone's sense of mystery in the history and origins of our ancestors.

The History and Science of Preserved Human Bodies

Earthly Remains

Marc Aronson

Explores the mysterious monument of Stonehenge and reveals some of its secrets and history.

Unlocking the Secrets of Stonehenge

If Stones Could Speak

I. J. Thorpe

It is a common assumption that prehistory was a time of war and violence, between species of humans competing for supremacy, between cultures and within communities. These nineteen papers, from a Prehistoric Society conference held in Sheffield, consider the archaeological evidence from sites across Europe, demonstrating how the prevalence, nature and experience of warfare and violence differed between regions and investigate the causes of war between hunter-gatherers. General studies of prehistoric warfare and how to detect it in the archaeological record, can be found alongside analyses of butchered human remains and mass burials at sites in Scandinavia, Iberia, Italy, Germany and Britain. Other evidence is also considered, covering the Mesolithic to the Iron Age, such as rock art, weaponry and deposited weapons. In addition to the editors, some familiar names can be found here: Pia Nystrom, Robert Layton, Christopher J Knuesel, Jorg Orschiedt, George Nash, Andreas Harde, Eduardo Sanchez-Moreno, Lynne Bevan, Richard Osgood, David Fontijn, Miranda Aldhouse Green, Rebecca Craig, Gillian Carr, Gonzalo Aranda Jimenez, Margarita Sanchez Romero, Jose Freire, Neil A Bishop, John Carman, Patricia Carman, Tim Taylor .

Michael K. Price

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