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"Excavations (Archaeology)"
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At Home with the Sapa Inca
By examining the stunning stone buildings and dynamic spaces of the royal estate of Chinchero, Nair brings to light the rich complexity of Inca architecture. This investigation ranges from the paradigms of Inca scholarship and a summary of Inca cultural practices to the key events of Topa Inca's reign and the many individual elements of Chinchero's extraordinary built environment. What emerges are the subtle, often sophisticated ways in which the Inca manipulated space and architecture in order to impose their authority, identity, and agenda. The remains of grand buildings, as well as a series of deft architectural gestures in the landscape, reveal the unique places that were created within the royal estate and how one space deeply informed the other. These dynamic settings created private places for an aging ruler to spend time with a preferred wife and son, while also providing impressive spaces for imperial theatrics that reiterated the power of Topa Inca, the choice of his preferred heir, and the ruler's close relationship with sacred forces. This careful study of architectural details also exposes several false paradigms that have profoundly misguided how we understand Inca architecture, including the belief that it ended with the arrival of Spaniards in the Andes. Instead, Nair reveals how, amidst the entanglement and violence of the European encounter, an indigenous town emerged that was rooted in Inca ways of understanding space, place, and architecture and that paid homage to a landscape that defined home for Topa Inca.
eBook
The Archaeology of Greek and Roman Troy
The Archaeology of Greek and Roman Troy provides an overview of all excavations that have been conducted at Troy, from the nineteenth century through the latest discoveries between 1988 and the present. Charles Brian Rose traces the social and economic development of the city and related sites in the Troad, as well as the development of its civic and religious centers from the Bronze Age through the early Christian period, with a focus on the settlements of Greek and Roman date. Along the way, he reconsiders the circumstances of the Trojan War and chronicles Troy's gradual development into a Homeric tourist destination and the adoption of Trojan ancestry by most nation-states in medieval Europe.
eBook
Tombs and cursed treasure
\"Long-told tales of lost tombs and hidden treasure have survived even into today's atmosphere of skepticism. Some of these artifacts definitely exist, their locations have just been forgotten. Others are truly myths. Readers want to know what is legend and which treasure to pursue. This compelling tome is their guide! There's plenty of history to explore as they learn about lost Inca gold, cursed Egyptian crypts, poisoned tombs in China, the missing grave of Genghis Khan, and untold amounts of shipwrecked treasure\"--Provided by publisher.
Book
Reclaiming a Plundered Past
The looting of the Iraqi National Museum in April of 2003
provoked a world outcry at the loss of artifacts regarded as part
of humanity's shared cultural patrimony. But though the losses were
unprecedented in scale, the museum looting was hardly the first
time that Iraqi heirlooms had been plundered or put to political
uses. From the beginning of archaeology as a modern science in the
nineteenth century, Europeans excavated and appropriated Iraqi
antiquities as relics of the birth of Western civilization. Since
Iraq was created in 1921, the modern state has used archaeology to
forge a connection to the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia
and/or Islamic empires and so build a sense of nationhood among
Iraqis of differing religious traditions and ethnicities.
This book delves into the ways that archaeology and politics
intertwined in Iraq during the British Mandate and the first years
of nationhood before World War II. Magnus Bernhardsson begins with
the work of British archaeologists who conducted extensive
excavations in Iraq and sent their finds to the museums of Europe.
He then traces how Iraqis' growing sense of nationhood led them to
confront the British over antiquities law and the division of
archaeological finds between Iraq and foreign excavators. He shows
how Iraq's control over its archaeological patrimony was directly
tied to the balance of political power and how it increased as
power shifted to the Iraqi government. Finally he examines how
Iraqi leaders, including Saddam Hussein, have used archaeology and
history to legitimize the state and its political actions.
eBook
Dariali
The Huns, invading through Dariali Gorge on the modern-day border between Russia and Georgia in AD 395 and 515, spread terror across the late antique world. Was this the prelude to the apocalypse? Prophecies foresaw a future Hunnic onslaught, via the same mountain pass, bringing about the end of the world. Humanity’s fate depended on a gated barrier deep in Europe’s highest and most forbidding mountain chain.Centuries before the emergence of such apocalyptic beliefs, the gorge had reached world fame. It was the target of a planned military expedition by the Emperor Nero. Chained to the dramatic sheer cliffs, framing the narrow passage, the mythical fire-thief Prometheus suffered severe punishment, his liver devoured by an eagle. It was known under multiple names, most commonly the Caspian or Alan Gates.Featuring in the works of literary giants, no other mountain pass in the ancient and medieval world matches Dariali’s fame. Yet little was known about the materiality of this mythical place. A team of archaeologists has now shed much new light on the major gorge-blocking fort and a barrier wall on a steep rocky ridge further north. The walls still standing today were built around the time of the first major Hunnic invasion in the late fourth century – when the Caucasus defenses feature increasingly prominently in negotiations between the Great Powers of Persia and Rome. In its endeavor to strongly fortify the strategic mountain pass through the Central Caucasus, the workforce erased most traces of earlier occupation. The Persian-built bastion saw heavy occupation for 600 years. Its multi-faith medieval garrison controlled Trans-Caucasian traffic. Everyday objects and human remains reveal harsh living conditions and close connections to the Muslim South, as well as the steppe world of the north. The Caspian Gates explains how a highly strategic rock has played a pivotal role in world history from Classical Antiquity into the twentieth century.
eBook