The Cultural Landscape of Prehistoric Mines

The Cultural Landscape of Prehistoric Mines PDF Author: Society for American Archaeology. Meeting
Publisher: Oxbow Books Limited
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
The papers in this volume came out of a symposium focusing on mining and its wider impact, at the 66th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A number of fundamental questions were posed to the presenters, including: did the raw mined material have a symbolic value?, were the mines considered special places? were the miners craft specialists? did they have a particular social niche? In the wider landscape perspective, it was hoped that the case studies would also throw some light upon the choices of site locations: were mines and quarries simply positioned at the most convenient source of raw material, or were other considerations such as quality, rarity or colouration involved? Arguably the special nature of certain mining locations was linked to the local communities worldview, they must have been associated with traditional stories and oral histories. The presence of graffiti or rock art can often betray a 'special' location. Similarly, assemblages of carefully placed artefacts or pottery can also reveal specialised deposition, even amongst relatively mundane 'functional' tool types. Finally, the rare occurrence of burials in some mines and quarries offers further perspectives on how these sites may have been perceived by contemporary communities. The archaeological record does suggest a multiplicity of activities were focussed upon some mining sites, which do not easily fit with interpretations of extraction strategies. Although it could never be effectively argued that all mining had ritualised or ceremonial undertones, in some cases there was a definite and demonstrable special nature to the mining activity: this book presents some of those case studies.(Oxbow Books 2004)

The Cultural Landscape of Prehistoric Mines

The Cultural Landscape of Prehistoric Mines PDF Author: Society for American Archaeology. Meeting
Publisher: Oxbow Books Limited
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

Get Book

Book Description
The papers in this volume came out of a symposium focusing on mining and its wider impact, at the 66th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A number of fundamental questions were posed to the presenters, including: did the raw mined material have a symbolic value?, were the mines considered special places? were the miners craft specialists? did they have a particular social niche? In the wider landscape perspective, it was hoped that the case studies would also throw some light upon the choices of site locations: were mines and quarries simply positioned at the most convenient source of raw material, or were other considerations such as quality, rarity or colouration involved? Arguably the special nature of certain mining locations was linked to the local communities worldview, they must have been associated with traditional stories and oral histories. The presence of graffiti or rock art can often betray a 'special' location. Similarly, assemblages of carefully placed artefacts or pottery can also reveal specialised deposition, even amongst relatively mundane 'functional' tool types. Finally, the rare occurrence of burials in some mines and quarries offers further perspectives on how these sites may have been perceived by contemporary communities. The archaeological record does suggest a multiplicity of activities were focussed upon some mining sites, which do not easily fit with interpretations of extraction strategies. Although it could never be effectively argued that all mining had ritualised or ceremonial undertones, in some cases there was a definite and demonstrable special nature to the mining activity: this book presents some of those case studies.(Oxbow Books 2004)

Prehistoric Flint Mines in Europe

Prehistoric Flint Mines in Europe PDF Author: Françoise Bostyn
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1803272228
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 522

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Book Description
This volume offers a review of major flint mines dating from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. The 18 articles were contributed by archaeologists from Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden, using the same framework to propose a uniform view of the mining phenomenon.

Mining and Quarrying in the Ancient Andes

Mining and Quarrying in the Ancient Andes PDF Author: Nicholas Tripcevich
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461452007
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Book Description
​Over the millennia, from stone tools among early foragers to clays to prized metals and mineral pigments used by later groups, mineral resources have had a pronounced role in the Andean world. Archaeologists have used a variety of analytical techniques on the materials that ancient peoples procured from the earth. What these materials all have in common is that they originated in a mine or quarry. Despite their importance, comparative analysis between these archaeological sites and features has been exceptionally rare, and even more so for the Andes. Mining and Quarrying in the Ancient Andes focuses on archaeological research at primary deposits of minerals extracted through mining or quarrying in the Andean region. While mining often begins with an economic need, it has important social, political, and ritual dimensions as well. The contributions in this volume place evidence of primary extraction activities within the larger cultural context in which they occurred. This important contribution to the interdisciplinary literature presents research and analysis on the mining and quarrying of various materials throughout the region and through time. Thus, rather than focusing on one material type or one specific site, Mining and Quarrying in the Ancient Andes incorporates a variety of all the aspects of mining, by focusing on the physical, social, and ritual aspects of procuring materials from the earth in the Andean past.

Prehistoric Copper Mining in Michigan

Prehistoric Copper Mining in Michigan PDF Author: John R. Halsey
Publisher: U OF M MUSEUM ANTHRO ARCHAEOLOGY
ISBN: 0915703890
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
Isle Royale and the counties that line the northwest coast of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula are called Copper Country because of the rich deposits of native copper there. In the nineteenth century, explorers and miners discovered evidence of prehistoric copper mining in this region. They used those “ancient diggings” as a guide to establishing their own, much larger mines, and in the process, destroyed the archaeological record left by the prehistoric miners. Using mining reports, newspaper accounts, personal letters, and other sources, this book reconstructs what these nineteenth-century discoverers found, how they interpreted the material remains of prehistoric activity, and what they did with the stone, wood, and copper tools they found at the prehistoric sites. “This volume represents an exhaustive compilation of the early written and published accounts of mines and mining in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It will prove a valuable resource to current and future scholars. Through these early historic accounts of prospectors and miners, Halsey provides a vivid picture of what once could be seen.” —John M. O’Shea, curator of Great Lakes Archaeology, University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology

The Cultural Landscape & Heritage Paradox

The Cultural Landscape & Heritage Paradox PDF Author: Tom Bloemers
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
ISBN: 9089641556
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 753

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Book Description
The basic problem is to what extent we can know past and mainly invisible landscapes, and how we can use this still hidden knowledge for actual sustainable management of landscape's cultural and historical values. It has also been acknowledged that heritage management is increasingly about 'the management of future change rather than simply protection'. This presents us with a paradox: to preserve our historic environment, we have to collaborate with those who wish to transform it and, in order to apply our expert knowledge, we have to make it suitable for policy and society. The answer presented by the Protection and Development of the Dutch Archaeological-Historical Landscape programme (pdl/bbo) is an integrative landscape approach which applies inter- and transdisciplinarity, establishing links between archaeological-historical heritage and planning, and between research and policy.

Mining and Quarrying in Neolithic Europe

Mining and Quarrying in Neolithic Europe PDF Author: Anne Teather
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1789251494
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
The social processes involved in acquiring flint and stone in the Neolithic began to be considered over thirty years ago, promoting a more dynamic view of past extraction processes. Whether by quarrying, mining or surface retrieval, the geographic source locations of raw materials and their resultant archaeological sites have been approached from different methodological and theoretical perspectives. In recent years this has included the exploration of previously undiscovered sites, refined radiocarbon dating, comparative ethnographic analysis and novel analytical approaches to stone tool manufacture and provenancing. The aim of this volume in the Neolithic Studies Group Papers is to explore these new findings on extraction sites and their products. How did the acquisition of raw materials fit into other aspects of Neolithic life and social networks? How did these activities merge in creating material items that underpinned cosmology, status and identity? What are the geographic similarities, constraints and variables between the various raw materials, and how does the practise of stone extraction in the UK relate to wider extractive traditions in northwestern Europe? Eight papers address these questions and act as a useful overview of the current state of research on the topic.

Mining and Materiality

Mining and Materiality PDF Author: Anne M. Teather
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1784912662
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Book Description
In this book Anne Teather develops a new approach to understanding the Neolithic flint mines of southern Britain.

Extracting Stone

Extracting Stone PDF Author: Anne S. Dowd
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1785706276
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
A comprehensive view of quarrying activities from three key regions in North America. This exciting new addition to the the American Landscapes series provides an in-depth account of how flintknappers obtained and used stone based on archaeological, geological, landscape, and anthropological data. Featuring case studies from three key regions in North America, this book gives readers a comprehensive view of quarrying activities ranging from extracting the raw material to creating finished stone tools. Quarry landscapes were some of the first large-scale land modification efforts among early peoples in the New World. The chronological time periods covered by quarrying activities, show that most intensive use took place during parts of the Archaic and Woodland periods or between roughly 4000–1000 years ago when denser populations existed, but use began as early as the Paleoindian Period, about 13,000–9000 years ago, and ended in the Historic or Protohistoric periods, when colonists and Native Americans mined chert for gunflints and sharpening stones or abrasives. From the procurement systems approach common in the 1980s and 1990s, archaeologists can now employ a landscape approach to quarry studies in tandem with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) computer mapping and digital analysis, Light and RADAR (LiDAR) airborne laser scanning for recording topography, or high resolution satellite imagery. Authors Dowd and Trubitt show how sites functioned in a broad landscape context, which site locations or raw material types were preferred and why, what cultures were responsible for innovative or intensive quarry resource extraction, as well as how land use changed over time. Besides discussions of the way that industrialists used natural resources to change their technology by means of manufacture, trade, and exchange, examples are given of heritage sites that people can visit in the United States and Canada.

Signalling and Performance: Ancient Rock Art in Britain and Ireland

Signalling and Performance: Ancient Rock Art in Britain and Ireland PDF Author: Aron Mazel
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 180327252X
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
This lavishly illustrated volume presents a state of the art survey of the ancient rock art of Britain and Ireland. Bringing together new discoveries and new interpretations, it enhances our understanding and further establishes ancient British and Irish rock art as a significant archaeological assemblage worthy of attention and additional study.

Mineral Resources of Turkey

Mineral Resources of Turkey PDF Author: Franco Pirajno
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030029506
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 749

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Book Description
This book furnishes detailed information about Turkey's existing mineral resources, besides providing concepts and ideas which may help the search for potential mineral resources in the future. It is a first book in the English-language international literature on mineral resources of Turkey and it is aimed at economic geologists, mining engineers, and mining investors, as well as graduate and undergraduate students. This work focuses mainly on a range of mineral systems and related geological features throughout Turkey. Taking into account the lack of international literature on these resources, a considerable portion of the book explains the geological context of the region and the settings in which the mineral resources occur. The genetic characteristics of these mineral resources are emphasized and important information is also presented on their economic aspects. All chapter contributions are prepared by researchers and professional geologists.