Collins, St. James's Place, London, 1981. Hard cover, 287 pp. Black and white illustrations throughout. Contents include: LIST OF PLATES; LIST OF FIGURES; INTRODUCTION; Figures in a Landscape; The Monument Builders; The Farming Community of Later Prehistory Roman Provincials; Continuity and Change, 400-900; Medieval Farmers and Townsmen; Wealth from the Land; RETROSPECT; GLOSSARY ; RADIO CARBON DATES; PLACES TO VISIT; BIBLIOGRAPHY, INDEX. [From front jacket flap] Scattered across Britain's south-western peninsula are a rich variety of monuments-Neolithic tombs, stone circles, prehistoric enclosures and settlements, churches and carved stones, bridges and mine houses which fascinate curious laymen and professional archaeologists alike. In her new book Susan Pearce shows how these remains can be interpreted to give us a coherent picture of human life in the south west over the last six thousand years. She traces the activities of Old and Middle Stone Age hunters in the world which finally emerged from the Ice Age, and describes how corm-growing and cattle- grazing farmers then settled in the peninsula, erecting their imposing tombs and mysterious stone alignments. She examines the farming communities of later prehistory, whose land boundary systems in areas like Dartmoor are only now being unravelled. She considers the impact of the Roman empire, and of its religion, Christianity, upon the peninsula's inhabitants; and looks in some detail at the intriguing history of the south west's villages, hamlets and towns. Finally she gives an account of the crucial role played by the mineral-rich peninsula in Britain's Industrial Revolution. This is the first attempt to tell the whole story of man in the south west, and much of the material presented here is new. With its highly illustrated text, useful bibliography and glossary, and information on places to visit, Susan Pearce's book provides an invaluable introduction to south west Britain and its past.

The archaeology of South West Britain (Collins archaeology)

History

Pearce, Susan M

Europe

Collins

Addressing archaeological curators, including museum staffs, the author of this book considers those museums which undertake the preservation, better recording and interpretation of the stored material culture of the past (up to about 1700; after this date the material belongs to the social historians), and of its associated archive. Several themes run through the book: the nature, care and the interpretation of the material culture archive; the principles by which the archive is presented, and the legitimate relationship between the museum archaeologist and their public.

Archaeological Curatorship (Leicester Museum Studies Series)

Politics & Social Sciences

Archaeology

UNKNO

Reference

Museums hold the collected objects that have come to us from the past, and which now constitute one of the most important ways in which we can understand that past. Museums are social phenomena characteristic of the modernist Western tradition, and their collections of both human and natural history material are a significant part of how that tradition has shaped itself. This book explores the nature of museums, of their collections and of the objects which form these collections; the psychological and social reasons why people collect; and the nature of relics, fetishes and systematic assemblages. It considers the nature of the curatorial process and the narratives it produces: collections in store, acquisition and disposal, documentary description and exhibition. It discusses how museum objects operate as signs and symbols, as mediators of a functionalist perspective in a world of goods, and as actors in the process of change. It examines the relationship between museums, museum objects and ideology and concludes with an attempt to define the curatorial project.

Museums Objects and Collections (Leicester Museum Studies)

Leicester University Press

Explores the philosophies, approaches, and practices of museums that acquire and hold the material culture of the ancient, medieval, and post-medieval past, in light of new perspectives in the last two decades of the ways the past can be experienced both by archaeologists and by the general public. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Archaeological Curatorship

Business & Money

Smithsonian

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