The concept of the border as a metaphor has been widely exploited across the Arts and Humanities and a body of Border Theory has been developed, critiqued and "rethought". It is remarkable that this body of theory has largely been ignored by archaeologists, who have instead preferred to examine social and cultural boundaries, frontiers, marginality and ethnicity. This book, which grew out of a session at TAG in 2008, explores some of the possibilities offered by the study of borders from an archaeological point of view and presents new perspectives on borders, both metaphorical and geographical, from locations as diverse as Somerset and China, from the Neolithic to the Cold War.

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Contributors
• 1. Border Crossings: the Archaeology of Borders and Borderlands. An introduction David Mullin
• 2. All Quiet on the Eastern Front Anna McWilliams
• 3. Bioarchaeology of Border Creation: from Feast to Famine Along the Medieval Anglo-Scottish Border Jaime D. Jennings
• 4. Barrows and the Boundary Between the Living and the Dead Richard Bradley & Elise Fraser
• 5. Borders in a Limestone Lanscape: Neolithic Cave Use in the Mendip Hills, South-West England Jodie Lewis
• 6. Sleipnir and his Siblings: Some Thoughts on Loki's Monstrous Offspring Anne Monikander
• 7. Constructing and Deconstructing Roman City Walls: the Role of Urban Enceintes as Physical and Symbolic Borders Isobel Pinder
• 8. Historical and Archaeological Views of the Liao (10th to 12th centuries) Borderlands in Northeast China Naomi Standen & Gwen Bennett
• 9. Towards an Archaeology of Borders and Borderlands David Mullin