Product Description: Over recent years, there has been an explosion of interest in the multidisciplinary archaeology and anthropology of modern conflict. Yet whilst students from a variety of backgrounds are increasingly inspired by an anthropological approach to this new type of archaeology whose subject matter has shaped the modern world, few books have actively addressed the subject from this perspective...read more

Product Description: In the aftermath of the horrific trench warfare of the First World War, the poppy — sprouting across the killing fields of France and Belgium, then immortalized in John McCrae’s moving poem — became a worldwide icon. Yet the poppy has a longer history: as the tell-tale sign of human cultivation of the land, of the ravages of war, and of the desire to escape the earthly realm through Romantic opium dreams or the grim reality of morphine drips...read more

Contested Objects breaks new ground in the interdisciplinary study of material culture. Its focus is on the rich and varied legacy of objects from the First World War as the global conflict that defined the twentieth century. From the iconic German steel helmet to practice trenches on Salisbury Plain, and from the ‘Dazzle Ship’ phenomenon through medal-wearing, diary-writing, trophy collecting, the market in war souvenirs and the evocative reworking of European objects by African soldiers, this book presents a dazzling array of hitherto unseen worlds of the Great War. The innovative and multidisciplinary approach adopted here follows the lead established by Nicholas J. Saunders’ Matters of Conflict (Routledge 2004), and extends its geographical coverage to embrace a truly international perspective. Australia, Africa, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium and Britain are all represented by a cross-disciplinary group of scholars working in archaeology, anthropology, cultural history, art history, museology, and cultural heritage. The result is a volume that resonates with richly documented and theoretically informed case studies that illustrate how the experiences of war can be embodied in and represented by an endless variety of artefacts, whose ‘social lives’ have endured for almost a century and that continue to shape our perceptions of an increasingly dangerous world.

Product Description: Icons of Power investigates why the image of the cat has been such a potent symbol in the art, religion and mythology of indigenous American cultures for three thousand years. The jaguar and the puma epitomize ideas of sacrifice, cannibalism, war, and status in a startling array of graphic and enduring images...read more

Product Description: The new interdisciplinary study of modern conflict archaeology has developed rapidly over the last decade. Its anthropological approach to modern conflicts, their material culture and their legacies has freed such investigations from the straitjacket of traditional 'battlefield archaeology'...read more

Product Description: Trench art is the evocative but misleading name given to a dazzling array of objects associated mainly with the First World War and the inter-war years (191439). Many items are recycled battlefield debris, notably artillery shell cases, often decorated with Art Nouveau motifs...read more

Product Description: At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the Great War stands at the furthest edge of living memory. There are a handful of men alive who fought in the trenches of the Somme and Flanders. Within their own lifetimes, their memories have become epic history...read more

Product Description: Alexander the Great is a towering figure in world history, but despite our long-held fascination with him, his burial site is unknown. The search for Alexander's tomb began soon after his untimely death in 323 B.C. and continues even today...read more

In AD 1492, Christopher Columbus stumbled across the Americas while searching for a route to the spice rich Orient. Through an account of the major civilizations in Mesoamerica and the Andes, this book aims to give syntheses of each culture, and build a living picture of the fundamentally different nature of indigenous Amerindian societies.

Product Description: Alexander the Great is a towering figure in world history, but despite our long-held fascination with him, his burial site is unknown. Alexander’s Tomb is the epic tale of the ongoing quest to unlock one of the world’s great mysteries.

Offers a comprehensive guide to the archaeology and traditional culture of the Caribbean.

Focusing on the work of archaeologists, this book highlights the drama and excitement of archaeological and historical discovery, whilst introducing and exploring key aspects of each civilization. Supporting Key Stage 2 History, it examines major finds and their significance, and includes mini-biographies, quotes and timelines.

Explores the civilizations of the Native peoples of Mexico, Central America, and South America before the arrival of the Spanish in 1519.

Looks at the history of the Inca city of Cuzco, describing its major sites, people, and culture.

Matters of Conflict looks at the definitive invention of the twentieth century - industrialised war - and its vast and varied material legacy. From trench art and postcards through avant-garde art, museum collections and prosthetic limbs to battlefield landscapes, the book examines the First World War and its significance through the things it left behind. The contributions come from a multidisciplinary perspective, uniting previously compartmentalized disciplines such as anthropology, archaeology, cultural history, museology and art history in their focus on material culture. This innovative, hybrid approach investigates the 'social life' of objects in order to understand them as they move through time and space and intersect the lives of all who came in contact with them.The resulting survey sets a new agenda for study of the First World War, and ultimately of all twentieth-century conflict.

Product Description: Trench art is the evocative name given to a dazzling array of objects made from the waste of industrialized war. Each object, whether an engraved shell case, cigarette lighter or a pen made from shrapnel, tells a unique and moving story about its maker...read more

Product Description: Engraved shell-cases, bullet-crucifixes, letter openers and cigarette lighters made of shrapnel and cartridges, miniature airplanes and tanks, talismanic jewelry, embroidery, objects carved from stone, bone and wood – all of these things are trench art, the misleading name given to the dazzling array of objects made from the waste of war, in particular the Great War of 1914-1918 and the inter-war years...read more

Product Description: Written by an expert, this book is a brief history of one of the world's greatest civilizations.

Explores how animals, in the past and present, have been seen as repositories of spiritual energy, and discusses animal myths and symbols, and beliefs about animal intelligence and the soul

Product Description: Ten thematic articles illustrating the broad scope, diversity and cultural significance of contemporary studies in archaeoastronomy. Contents: The Study of Cultural Astronomy ( Clive Ruggles and Nicholas Saunders ); The Yao Dian and the Origins of Astronomy in China ( Chen Cheng-Yih and Xi Zezong ); The Riddle of Red Sirius: An Anthropological Perspective ( Roger Ceragioli ); Astronomies and Rituals at the Dawn of the Middle Ages ( Stephen McCluskey ); Folk Astronomy in the Service of Religion: The Case of Islam ( David King ); Cosmos and Kings at Vijayanagara ( John McKim Malville and John Fritz ); Medicine Wheel Astronomy ( David Vogt ); Venus-Regulated Warfare and Ritual Sacrifice in Mesoamerica ( John Carlson ); Astronomical Knowledge, Calendrics, and Sacred Geography in Ancient Mesoamerica ( Johanna Broda ); The Pleiades in Comparative Perspective: The Waiwai Shirkoimo and the Shipibo Huishmabo ( Peter G...read more

Describes the folklore surrounding cats, shows examples of the cat motif in art, and discusses the meanings associated with cats

Product Description: Book by Saunders, Nicholas J.