Reviews the palaeoenvironmental evidence and its incorporation with landscape archaeology across the Mediterranean, from the Early Neolithic to the end of the Roman period.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the archaeology of Mediterranean prehistory and an essential reference to the most recent research and fieldwork. Only book available to offer general coverage of Mediterranean prehistory Written by 14 of the leading archaeologists in the field Spans the Neolithic through the Iron Age, and draws from all the major regions of the Mediterranean's coast and islands Presents the central debates in Mediterranean prehistory---trade and interaction, rural economies, ritual, social structure, gender, monumentality, insularity, archaeometallurgy and the metals trade, stone technologies, settlement, and maritime traffic---as well as contemporary legacies of the region's prehistoric past Structure of text is pedagogically driven Engages diverse theoretical approaches so students will see the benefits of multivocality

The study of landscape has in recent years been a field for considerable analytical archaeological experimentation. Although the Mediterranean is the home of classicism, it has seen the implementation of projects of this new kind, and in regions of Spain and Italy, after some delay, the proliferation of landscape archaeology studies.

Contents include: Introduction ( K Walsh ); Palynology ( S Bottema ); A database for the palynological recording of human activity ( V Andrieu, E Brugiapaglia, R Cheddadi, M Reille and J-L de Beaulieu ); The contribution of anthracology ( J-L Vernet ); Dendroclimatology ( F Guibal ); Techniques in Landscape Archaeology ( A G Brown ); L'apport de la micromorphologie des sols ( N Fédoroff ); Reconstructing past soil environments ( R S Shiel ); The Geochemistry of Soil Sediments ( D D Gilbertson and J P Grattam ); Searching the Ports of Troy ( E Zanagger, M Timpson, S Yazvenko and H Leiermann ); The pontine region in central Italy ( P Attema, J Delvigne and B J Haagsma ); Population pressure on agricultural resources in Karstic landscapes ( P Novacovic, H Simoni and B Music ); La Pianura padana centrale tra il Bronzo Medio ed il Bronzo finale ( M Cremaschi ); The ancient ports of Marseille and Fos, Provence, southern France ( C Vella, C Morhange and M Provansal ); The evolution of field systems in the middle Rhône valley ( J-F Berger and C Jung ); La línea de Costa en época histórica en el Golfo de Valencia ( P Carmona ); The Vallée des Baux, Southern France ( P Leveau ); The étang de Berre, southern France ( F Trément ); Geoarchaeology in mediterranean landscape archaeology ( G Barker and J Bintliff ).

This monograph focuses on the use of GIS modelling as applied to the collection and interpretation of data relating to the archaeology of the Mediterranean landscape.

This book addresses the true 'landscape' perspective approach that archaeologists in Italy, and in many parts of the Mediterranean, use to study the archaeology of landscapes, marking a departure from the traditional site-based approach. The aim of the book is to promote the broader application of new paradigms for landscape analysis, combining traditional approaches with multidisciplinary studies as well as comparatively new techniques such as large-scale geophysical surveying, airborne laser scanning and geo-environmental studies. This approach has yielded tangible and striking results in central Italy, clearly demonstrating that identifying the 'archaeological continuum' is a realistic aim, even under the specific environmental and archaeological conditions of the Mediterranean world.

The Mediterranean landscape record is recognized for its length and richness and the opportunity it offers to study the interaction between humans and their landscape. This volume explores a variety of current archaeological issues in the context of specific landscapes from southern Spain through Greece and Cyprus to Jordan and from antiquity to recent times. Over the last 25 years, researchers have initiated a dramatic expansion in theoretical approaches—both anthropological and classical. Over the same time span, a huge volume of field survey projects has been carried out in the Mediterranean arena. The contributors to Mediterranean Archaeological Landscapes take stock of what has been learned, identify lacunae, and consider new approaches to our understanding of the rich surface landscape record of the Mediterranean. Their goal is to explore theoretically diverse interpretative themes and the methods that make those approachable.