Early Hominid Activities at Olduvai

Early Hominid Activities at Olduvai PDF Author: Richard Potts
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351329278
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
The earliest sites at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania are among the best documented and most important for studies of human evolution. This book investigates the behavior of hominids at Olduvai using data of stone tools and animal bones, as well as the results of work in taphonomy (how animals become fossils), the behavior of mammals, and a wide range of ecological theory and data. By illustrating the ways in which modern and prehistoric evidence is used in making interpretations, the author guides the reader through the geological, ecological, and archeological areas involved in the study of humans.Based on his study of the Olduvai excavations, animal life, and stone tools, the author carefully examines conventional views and proposals about the early Olduvai sites. First, the evidence of site geology, tool cut marks, and other clues to the formation of the Olduvai sites are explored. On this basis, the large mammal communities in which early hominids lived are investigated, using methods which compare sites produced mainly by hominids with others made by carnivores. Questions about hominid hunting, scavenging, and the importance of eating meat are then scrutinized. The leading alternative positions on each issue are discussed, providing a basis for understanding some of the most contentious debates in paleo-anthropology today.The dominant interpretive model for the artifact and bone accumulations at Olduvai and other Plio-Pleistocene sites has been that they represent home bases, social foci similar to the campsites of hunter-gatherers. Based on paleo-ecological evidence and ecological models, the author critically analyzes the home base interpretation and proposes alternative views. A new view of the Olduvai sites - that they represent stone caches where hominids processed carcasses for food - is shown to have important implications for our understanding of hominid social behavior and evolution.

Early Hominid Activities at Olduvai

Early Hominid Activities at Olduvai PDF Author: Richard Potts
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351329278
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
The earliest sites at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania are among the best documented and most important for studies of human evolution. This book investigates the behavior of hominids at Olduvai using data of stone tools and animal bones, as well as the results of work in taphonomy (how animals become fossils), the behavior of mammals, and a wide range of ecological theory and data. By illustrating the ways in which modern and prehistoric evidence is used in making interpretations, the author guides the reader through the geological, ecological, and archeological areas involved in the study of humans.Based on his study of the Olduvai excavations, animal life, and stone tools, the author carefully examines conventional views and proposals about the early Olduvai sites. First, the evidence of site geology, tool cut marks, and other clues to the formation of the Olduvai sites are explored. On this basis, the large mammal communities in which early hominids lived are investigated, using methods which compare sites produced mainly by hominids with others made by carnivores. Questions about hominid hunting, scavenging, and the importance of eating meat are then scrutinized. The leading alternative positions on each issue are discussed, providing a basis for understanding some of the most contentious debates in paleo-anthropology today.The dominant interpretive model for the artifact and bone accumulations at Olduvai and other Plio-Pleistocene sites has been that they represent home bases, social foci similar to the campsites of hunter-gatherers. Based on paleo-ecological evidence and ecological models, the author critically analyzes the home base interpretation and proposes alternative views. A new view of the Olduvai sites - that they represent stone caches where hominids processed carcasses for food - is shown to have important implications for our understanding of hominid social behavior and evolution.

The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Scripture and the scrolls

The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Scripture and the scrolls PDF Author: James H. Charlesworth
Publisher: Baylor University Press
ISBN: 1932792198
Category : Bible
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
The recovery of 800 documents in the eleven caves on the northwest shores of the Dead Sea is one of the most sensational archeological discoveries in the Holy Land to date. These three volumes, the very best of critical scholarship, demonstrate in detail how the scrolls have revolutionized our knowledge of the text of the Bible, the character of Second Temple Judaism, and the Jewish beginnings of Christianity.

The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years, Volume 2

The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years, Volume 2 PDF Author: James C VanderKam
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004676856
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 846

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Book Description
The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years is being published to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of the first scrolls at Qumran. The two-volume set contains a comprehensive set of cutting-edge articles on a wide range of topics that are archaeological, historical, literary, sociological, or theological in character. Since the discovery of the first scrolls in 1947 an overwhelming number of studies has been published. Now, half a century later, nearly all scrolls found have been published in critical editions, and scholars can begin to assess the true relevance of the scrolls for the study of the Bible, Second Temple Judaism, and Early Christianity. The contributors to these volumes form an international team of leading specialists in the field. They have written critical surveys of particular aspects of Dead Sea Scrolls research, focusing on significant developments, theories and conclusions, while also indicating directions for future study.

A History of Ancient Philosophy III

A History of Ancient Philosophy III PDF Author: Giovanni Reale
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780887060274
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 532

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Book Description
Reale's volume supplies a synthesis previously lacking--a synthesis in the historical treatment of the great philosophies of the Hellenistic Age: the Academy, the Peripatos, the Stoa, the Garden of Epicurus, Scepticism, and Eclecticism. Reale's extensive and fully documented treatment of the major schools of the period is unified by his thesis that the ethics developed by these major schools were secular faiths that sprang from intuitions about the meaning of life first emotionally grasped and then systematically and rationally developed. It is for this reason that the teachings of these schools endured almost continuously for about 500 years. It is for the same reason that the founders of the schools were considered gods and were actually, in a certain sense, the saints of secular faiths and religions. In this book, Reale traces the decline of the philosophical schools of the classical period, the post-Platonic Academy, the post-Aristotelian Peripatos, and the minor socratic schools. The destruction of the polis and the incapacity of the schools to address the concerns of the new age were the fertile grounds from which the new schools developed. The Garden of Epicurus, the Porch of Zeno, and the sceptical movement initiated by Pyrrho form the core of the volume. The volume contains a select bibliography and an index of names and Greek terms, as well as an index of citations.

The Excavations at Ismant al-Kharab

The Excavations at Ismant al-Kharab PDF Author: Gillian E Bowen
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1789259649
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 490

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Book Description
The adoption of Christianity by the Egyptian populace was well underway by the late third century, but evidence for its presence in the archaeological record from the Nile valley is sparse. This is due, in part, to the loss of ancient settlement sites beneath modern cultivation. By comparison, Ismant al-Kharab, ancient Kellis, in Dakhleh Oasis, was abandoned at the end of the fourth century and many of its structures survive intact. The villagers, moreover, left behind a wealth of artefacts and documentation. By the late third century some had converted to Christianity and by the early fourth century three churches were built to accommodate their growing numbers. The churches afford an unparalleled window into three ecclesiastical complexes that served a single village. The Large East Church, moreover, is the earliest surviving example of a purpose-built basilica in Egypt known thus far. It provides a better understanding of the development of Egyptian church architecture and has forced a reappraisal of the dates of certain features that were previously attributed to the fifth century. The community established three burial grounds: Kellis 2, with an estimated 3,500–4,000 graves, a funerary church and associated graveyard, and in a reused monumental mausoleum. Christian cemeteries are known throughout North Africa, Europe, and Britain, but in Egypt few are published in anything but a cursory manner. At Kellis, 800+ graves have been excavated; the earliest burials date to the late third century confirming the evidence of an early conversion by some villagers and its rapid expansion thereafter. This volume provides the first detailed publication of the churches and Christian burial grounds. It incorporates a discussion of the spread of Christianity in Egypt’s Southern Oasis, drawing upon data from the rich textual documentation from the site. The material culture is presented in detail, especially the extensive collection of ceramics, glass, and coins.

Inscriptions of the Iron Age

Inscriptions of the Iron Age PDF Author: John David Hawkins
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110804204
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 1068

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Book Description
This is an edition of the Hieroglyphic inscriptions of the Late Hittite states of Turkey and Syria. These inscriptions, surviving largely on stone, include monuments of kings to their reigns and works as well as the humbler memorials of subordinates. A few precious survivals of documents in the form of lead strips give us a different type of document: letters and economic texts. Recent discoveries have improved the decipherment and understanding of these inscriptions to a point where new and comprehensive translations can be offered, and the presentation of this in English will make them available for the first time to the wide audience of the English-speaking world. At the same time we are in a position to present more reliable texts than those which have appeared in editions hitherto regarded as standard.

Geological Survey Circular

Geological Survey Circular PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Geology
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Book Description


Apalachicola Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve

Apalachicola Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve PDF Author: Nancy Marie White
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Apalachicola River Valley (Fla.)
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description


Aphrodite's Kephali

Aphrodite's Kephali PDF Author: Philip P. Betancourt
Publisher: INSTAP Academic Press
ISBN: 1623032830
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
The small site of Aphrodite's Kephali, among several other Minoan and later sites, took advantage of the valley topography in the Isthmus of Ierapetra in eastern Crete by establishing themselves along the nearby hills, resulting in easy access to the natural trade route between the Aegean and the Libyan Seas. A discussion of the architecture, artifacts, and ecofacts are presented from the excavation of this Early Minoan I watchtower. The conclusions challenge some of the commonly held views about Crete in the third millennium B.C. It is suggested that rather than being a precursor to a socially complex state that would arise later, early polities involving several communities probably already existed in the isthmus during the EM I period. Social and economic differentiation existed on a regional, not just a local level, and decisions for mutual defense could involve collaboration by groups of workers, including the building of the watchtower that is the focus of this volume.

Mohenjo-Daro

Mohenjo-Daro PDF Author: Jansen
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900466145X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description