Oxbow Spring 2013.pdf - Oxbow Books

Later Prehistory of the Badia
Excavation and Surveys in Eastern Jordan, Volume 2
A. V. G. Betts (Author); D. Cropper (Author); L. Martin (Author); C. McCartney (Author)
The Jordanian Badia is an arid region that has been largely protected from modern
development by its extreme climate and has preserved a remarkably rich record
of its prehistoric past. This is the second of two volumes to document extensive
surveys and excavations in the region from Al-Azraq to the Iraqi border over
the period 1979–1996. Broadly, it covers the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic of
the eastern badia. Over time, an outline prehistory of the region has emerged.
Late Epipaleolithic campsites have been found in the north-west of the harra
in the foothills of Jebel Druze, while the central basalt region saw a floruit of
activity in the late Aceramic Neolithic, when it was used extensively for hunting.
This volume covers the following period, which witnessed a further spread of
campsites and short-term occupation out around the edges of the harra and
across the hamad as far as the lands bordering the Euphrates to the north and
east. This period was marked by the first appearance of sheep and goat as one
element of the steppic economy alongside traditional practices of hunting and
foraging. The concluding chapter discusses these changes and proposes models
for the introduction of domesticated animals into the steppe as a precursor to
a full nomadic pastoral economy.
Ancient Near East
9781842174739, £48.00, May 2013
HB, 240p, Levant Supplementary Series 11, Oxbow Books in association with Council for British Research in the Levant
Ancient Irrigation Systems of the Aral Sea Area
The History Origin and Development of Irrigated Agriculture
B. V. Adrianov (Editor); Maurizio Tosi (Editor); Simone Mantellini (Editor)
Ancient Irrigation Systems in the Aral Sea Area , is the English translation of Boris
Vasilevich Andrianov’s work, Drevnie orositelnye sistemy priaralya , concerning
the study of ancient irrigation systems and the settlement pattern in the historical
region of Khorezm, south of the Aral Sea (Uzbekistan). This work holds a special
place within the Soviet archaeological school because of the results obtained
through a multidisciplinary approach combining aerial survey and fieldwork,
surveys, and excavations. This translation has been enriched by the addition
of introductions written by several eminent scholars from the region regarding
the importance of the Khorezm Archaeological-Ethnographic Expedition and
the figure of Boris V. Andrianov and his landmark study almost 50 years after
the original publication.
9781842173848, £20.00, June 2013
HB, 300p, American School of Prehistoric Research Monograph, Oxbow Books
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