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Archaeology: Books & eBooks
Information about books, journals, databases and other useful archaeology resources
Where in the Library?
Most print material related to archaeology can be found in the 900's on Level 2 of the James Joyce Library.
See map for location.
Science related material can be found on Level 4 of the James Joyce Library. The Health Sciences Library has materials related to skeletal analysis.
Finding Books using OneSearch
Watch a short tutorial on how to find print books and ebooks using OneSearch:
Books for Archaeology
Books and eBooks are listed in OneSearch, our resource discovery service. You can also browse the collection to find books for your research. The relevant shelf marks include, but are not limited to:
- 910 Geography and travel
- 911 Historical geography
- 912 Graphic representations of surface of earth and of extraterrestrial worlds
- 913–919 Geography of and travel in specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds
- 930 History of ancient world to ca. 499
- 930.1Archaeology
- 931–939 Specific places
- 940-949 History of Europe
- 950-959 History of Asia
- 960-969 History of Africa
- 970-979 History of North America
- 980-989 History of South America
- 990-999 History of Australasia, Pacific Ocean islands, Atlantic Ocean islands, Arctic islands, Antarctica, extraterrestrial worlds
A selection of useful book titles, reference works and Open Educational Resources (OER) for archaeology are listed in the follwing tabs.
- ACLS Humanities E-Books This link opens in a new window
This comprehensive electronic library consists of scholarly and peer reviewed books in the humanities.
- Academic Complete
A multidisciplinary collection of over 180,000 scholarly titles from hundreds of leading academic publishers. eBooks are made available on ProQuest's eBook Central platform. Offers unlimited, multi-user access. To view content for specific disciplines, simply select from the "Browse Subject" option page
Archaeology by Publication Date: 2010Archaeology: An Introduction looks behind the popular aspects of archaeology such as the discovery and excavation of sites, the study of human remains and animal bones, radiocarbon dating, museums and 'heritage' displays, and reveals the methods used by archaeologists.
Archaeology: theories, methods and practice by Publication Date: 2020This book presents an overview of the world of archaeology. The box features that appear throughout illustrate specific examples of excavation projects, and explain particular techniques or theoretical approaches. The chapter notes and bibliography function as a gateway to the full range of current scholarship— in this way it is also a work of reference for graduate students and professional archaeologists.
Anthropology by Publication Date: 2018Humanity is at a crossroads. We face mounting inequality, escalating political violence, warring fundamentalisms and an environmental crisis of planetary proportions. How can we fashion a world that has room for everyone, for generations to come? What are the possibilities, in such a world, of collective human life? These are urgent questions, and no discipline is better placed to address them than anthropology.
The Origins of Modern Humans by Publication Date: 2013he Origins of Modern Humans: Biology Reconsidered allows field leaders to discuss and assess the assemblage of hominid fossil material in each region of the world during the Pleistocene epoch. It features new fossil and molecular evidence, such as the evolutionary inferences drawn from assessments of modern humans and large segments of the Neandertal genome.
Deep History by Publication Date: 2011Humans have always been interested in their origins, but historians have been reluctant to write about the long stretches of time before the invention of writing. In fact, the deep past was left out of most historical writing almost as soon as it was discovered. This breakthrough book, as important for readers interested in the present as in the past,brings science into history to offer a dazzling new vision of humanity across time.
The Neolithic of Britain and Ireland by Publication Date: 2017The Neolithic of Britain and Ireland provides a synthesis of this dynamic period of prehistory from the end of the Mesolithic through to the early Beaker period. Drawing on new excavations and the application of new scientific approaches to data from this period, this book considers both life and death in the Neolithic.
Archaeological Artefacts As Material Culture by Publication Date: 2014This book is an introduction to the study of artefacts, setting them in a social context rather than using a purely scientific approach. Drawing on a range of different cultures and extensively illustrated, Archaeological Artefacts and Material Culture covers everything from recovery strategies and recording procedures to interpretation through typology, ethnography and experiment, and every type of material including wood, fibers, bones, hides and adhesives, stone, clay, and metals.
Paleoethnobotany by Publication Date: 2015This new edition of the definitive work on doing paleoethnobotany brings the book up to date by incorporating new methods and examples of research, while preserving the overall organization and approach of the book to facilitate its use as a textbook. In addition to updates on the comprehensive discussions of macroremains, pollen, and phytoliths, this edition includes a chapter on starch analysis, the newest tool in the paleoethnobotanist's research kit.
Environmental Archaeology by Publication Date: 2014Environmental Archaeology: Theoretical and Practical Approaches outlines and assesses the various methods used to reconstruct and explain the past interaction between people and their environment.
Orderly Anarchy by Publication Date: 2015Orderly Anarchy delivers a provocative and innovative reexamination of sociopolitical evolution among Native American groups in California, a region known for its wealth of prehistoric languages, populations, and cultural adaptations. Scholars have tended to emphasize the development of social complexity and inequality to explain this diversity.
Exploring the Materiality of Food 'Stuffs' by Publication Date: 2016From remote antiquity to contemporary contexts, food and the 'stuff' of food remains central to people's daily experiences as well as their sense and expression of identity. This volume explores the materiality of foodstuffs past and present, examining humanity's intriguingly complex relationships with, and experiences of, food.
A Future in Ruins by Publication Date: 2018Best known for its World Heritage program committed to "the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity," the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) wasfounded in 1945 as an intergovernmental agency aimed at fostering peace, humanitarianism, and intercultural understanding.
Understanding Collapse by Publication Date: 2017Understanding Collapse explores the collapse of ancient civilisations, such as the Roman Empire, the Maya, and Easter Island. In this lively survey, Guy D. Middleton critically examines our ideas about collapse - how we explain it and how we have constructed potentially misleading myths around collapses - showing how and why collapse of societies was a much more complex phenomenon than is often admitted.
UNESCO Biosphere Reserves by Publication Date: 2019UNESCO Biosphere Reserves (BRs) are designated areas in geographical regions of global socio-ecological significance. This definitive book shows their global relevance and contribution to environmental protection, biocultural diversity and education. Initiated in the 1970s as part of UNESCO's Man and Biosphere (MAB) Programme, BRs share a set of common objectives, to support and demonstrate a balance between biodiversity conservation, sustainable development and research. T
World Heritage Conservation by Publication Date: 2017The UNESCO World Heritage Convention has become one of the most successful UN instruments for promoting cultural diplomacy and dialogue on conservation of cultural and natural heritage. This book provides an overview of the convention through an interdisciplinary approach to conservation.
Historical GIS by Publication Date: 2007Historical GIS is an emerging field that uses Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to research the geographies of the past. Ian Gregory and Paul Ell's study, first published in 2007, comprehensively defines this field, exploring all aspects of using GIS in historical research.
Reference items are helpful for finding background information; definitions and spelling; facts and figures; translations; statistics and topical overviews of subjects. Reference books can be found both in print and online. See here for further information.
Useful online reference material for Archaeology include:
The Oxford Companion to Archaeology by Publication Date: 2012The second edition of The Oxford Companion to Archaeology is a thoroughly up-to-date resource with new entries exploring the many advances in the field since the first edition published in 1996.
Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology by Publication Date: 2010A wide-ranging, comprehensive, and up-to-date dictionary of archaeology. Over 4,000 entries cover the terms encountered in academic and popular archaeological literature, in lectures, and on television.
- Encyclopedia of Archaeology (Elsevier)
This major reference work encompasses all aspects of archaeology, including the nature and diversity of archaeology as a scientific discipline, the practice of archaeology, archaeology in the everyday world and the future of the discipline. - Sage Knowledge
Covering the social and behavioural sciences, SAGE Knowledge provides access to thousands of scholarly eBooks published by SAGE. The collection also includes hundreds of award-winning reference titles including subject encyclopedias, dictionaries and handbooks which provide students with the perfect place to start their research.
Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others. (source: UNESCO)
- Atlas of HillfortsThe Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland was produced as part of a four year collaborative project between archaeologists at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Oxford, assisted by colleagues at University College Cork for Ireland
- Beazley Archive Pottery DatabaseThe BAPD is the world's largest database of ancient Greek painted pottery (‘Greek vases’). It contains records of more than 130,000 ancient pots and 250,000 images. Nearly all of the pots included were made during the 6th to 4th centuries BC, and about three quarters of them were made in Athens. This database has its origins in the physical Beazley Archive, which is kept in the Classical Art Research Centre in Oxford. The great majority of its images were collected by the great pottery expert, Sir John Beazley (1885-1970). However, the Archive grew further after his death, and the BAPD contains even more images acquired later from a variety of sources, including major museums, auction-houses, digitized volumes of the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum series, and Beazley’s own drawings.
- Celtic Coin Index DigitalThe introduction of coins is seen as a marker of change in Iron Age society in Britain. It is easy to see these early coins as equivalent to today's money, but current research challenges this assumption. Through the resources created by the More than Money project, you can learn how coins were made, the history of their use in Britain via a factsheet, and explore different Iron Age coin iconography through various imaging techniques.
- Directory of Open Access BooksDOAB is a community-driven discovery service that indexes and provides access to scholarly, peer-reviewed open access books and helps users to find trusted open access book publishers. All DOAB services are free of charge and all data is freely available.
- EAMENA DatabaseEAMENA’s primary aim is to rapidly record and evaluate the status of the archaeological landscape of the MENA region in order to create an accessible body of data which can be used by national and international heritage professionals to target those sites most in danger and better plan and implement the preservation and protection of this heritage.
- Flame: Archaeometallurgical ResourcesThis page provides details and links to all of the publically accessible data, tools, and resoucres managed by the FLAME Project. It also links to other important archaometallurgical resources curated at the Research Lab in Oxford and further afield.
- OER CommonsOER Commons is a public digital library of open educational resources. Explore, create, and collaborate with educators around the world to improve curriculum
- Pressbooks DirectoryPressbooks Directory is a free, searchable catalog that includes 5,387 open access books published by 157 organizations and networks using Pressbooks. It's easy to copy, revise, remix, and redistribute any openly licensed content found here using Pressbooks' publishing platform. Nearly all books are highly accessible, and many include interactive H5P learning activities to engage learners.
Special Collections
Special Collections contains unique book, archival and manuscript collections. UCD students and staff, and external users can consult the collections in the Special Collections reading room. Special Collections is located on Level 1 of the James Joyce Library.
Reviewing the Archaeology Literature
Writing the Literature Review by Publication Date: 2018This accessible text provides a roadmap for producing a high-quality literature review--an integral part of a successful thesis, dissertation, term paper, or grant proposal. Each step of searching for, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing prior studies is clearly explained and accompanied by user-friendly suggestions, organizational tips, vignettes, and examples of student work.
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