The Graven Image Representation in Babylonia and Assyria Zainab Bahrani "A passionate and powerful polemic."--Antiquity "Bahrani opens up the field of discourse for the study of ancient Near Eastern art and brings it into dialogue with current disciplinary trends. . . . The book will stimulate further discussion about the nature(s) of Babylonian and Assyrian representation across the disciplinary divides."--Journal of the American Oriental Society "A welcome addition to the study of the ancient Near East. It breaks away from Eurocentric approaches and tries to do justice to...

A notion widely shared among the Japanese is that a unique culture has existed uninterrupted on the archipelago since the first human settlements more than 30,000 years ago. The idea of a continuous shared Japanese culture, often described as "Japanese-ness," is epitomized by material items ranging from Zen Buddhist stone gardens and tea ceremony equipment to such archaeological artifacts as the prehistoric Jomon clay figurines. An Archaeological History of Japan challenges this notion by critically examining archaeological evidence as well as the way it has been interpreted. By...

Race and Practice in Archaeological Interpretation Charles E. Orser, Jr. "An extraordinarily stimulating and provocative book, rich in ides and suggested new directions for archaeology."--Choice "Charles Orser outlines a research strategy for studying poverty and racism that is worthy of historical archaeology. . . . Much of this book is devoted to dealing with how people come to be worthy of being despised, usually by being seen as belonging to biologically inferior groups."--Journal of Anthropological Research Scholars who investigate race--a label based upon real or perceived...

"The book is extremely well researched, drawing on the cognitive sciences, psychology, sociology, art history, philosophy, the neurosciences, semiotics, semiology, and, of course, archaeology and anthropology. . . . A path-breaking book."--Current Anthropology Material culture surrounds us and yet is habitually overlooked. So integral is it to our everyday lives that we take it for granted. This attitude has also afflicted the academic analysis of material culture, although this is now beginning to change, with material culture recently emerging as a topic in its own right within the...