Library resources for
Engineering & Astronomy of the Ancients

Save time with a strategic approach to research:

First, collect a list of leads (authors, titles, relevant keywords or subjects, themes and concepts) from reference sources (bibliographies, research guides, topical encyclopedias, etc.). Use Reference Universe (an index to many reference sources) as a guide, but browse the relevant areas of the reference stacks, too. Browse in the Humanities & Social Sciences Reference area in Library West as well as the reference areas of Marston Science Library or the Latin American Collection, depending on your topic. The MSL instruction & workshops page has tutorials and advice on Search strategy techniques that may be useful.

When browsing reference sources, look for general overviews of the relevant discipline, topic, country, culture, etc. relating to your problem or research question. Try to back up to a more general search if specific searches yield few results and refine your search terms or filter results if general searching produces too many results to review. Issues and themes (regional case studies, surveys of indigenous technologies, etc.) relating to your topic may be collected together in more general materials (i.e. world history, Third World or developing areas, indigenous peoples, history of technology, archaeology). Be sure to check for suggested readings, references cited and bibliography sections as you review relevant items. The preface and, if available, chronology sections of these resources can also be valuable starting points for your research. You may wish to jot down alternate and related subject and keyword terms in your list of leads as you peruse these sources to help develop and maintain an effective search strategy for your problem or question.

Second, use these results to narrow your search for books and primary sources in the library catalog. Check the long or detailed view of any promising records in your results list to see the subject headings and consider alternative keyword terms. Also, pay close attention to the library location since materials for your work may be located in several different branch libraries. See Overview of Collections & Services for a brief orientation.

Third, use your developing list of leads to search for relevant scholarly articles in the journal index databases (see the research gateway and project starters for general suggestions). Like Reference Universe, Google Scholar integrates UF Libraries' electronic holdings and provides links back into resources available to UF faculty, students and staff. Continue to apply your developing list of leads iteratively, using new terms in the research tools that you may have already used with only your initial list.

Selected reference sources (examples in Library West and other branches)

The Ancient Art of Warfare. Jacques Bourdet. Paris: R. Laffont; distrib. New York Graphic Society, Greenwich, Conn, 1968. 2 vols.
U27 .H5713 1968 LIBRARY WEST Reference (3rd Floor)

Egyptological Bibliography, 1822-1997. [CD ROM]. Leiden: Netherlands Institute for the Near East, 2001.
DT60 .E39 2001 LIBRARY WEST Reference (3rd Floor)

Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. New York: Facts On File, 2004.
DS12 .H5 2004 LIBRARY WEST Reference (3rd Floor)

Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece. Nigel Wilson, editor. New York : Routledge, 2006.
DF16.E52 2006 Library West Reference (3rd Floor)

Encyclopedia of Ancient Mesoamerica. New York: Facts on File, 1996.
F1219 .B932 1996 SMATHERS, Latin America Reference

Encyclopedia of Archaeology. History and Discoveries. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Abc-Clio, 2001. 3 v.
CC100 .E54 2001 LIBRARY WEST Reference (3rd Floor)

Encyclopedia of Asian History. 4 vols. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988.
DS31.E53 1988 LIBRARY WEST Reference (3rd Floor)

Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Dordrecht ; Boston: Kluwer Academic, 1997.
Q124.8 .E53 1997 SCIENCE LIBRARY: Reference.

Oxford Classical Dictionary. 3rd rev ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
DE5 .O9 2003 LIBRARY WEST Reference (3rd Floor)

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. 3 v.
DT58 .O94 2001 LIBRARY WEST Reference (3rd Floor)

Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. 5 v.
DS56 .O9 1997 LIBRARY WEST Reference (3rd Floor).

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures: The Civilizations of Mexico and Central America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. 3 v.
F1218.6 .O95 2001 SMATHERS, Latin America Reference

Books in the libraries' general collections (check various locations)

Ancient Egyptian medicine. Nunn, J. F. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, c1996.
LIBRARY WEST General Collection R137 .N86 1996

Ancient medicine. Nutton, Vivian. New York : Routledge, 2004.
HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER LIBRARY General Collection WZ51 .N988a 2004
SCIENCE LIBRARY General Collection R135 .N88 2004

Ancient Technology. John William Humphrey. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2006.
LIBRARY WEST General Collection T16 .H86 2006

Astronomy across cultures: the history of non-Western astronomy. Selin, Helaine (ed.). Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000.
SCIENCE LIBRARY General Collection -- QB16.A75 2000

Astronomy and Mathematics in Ancient China: The Zhou bi suan jing. Christopher Cullen. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
LIBRARY WEST General Collection QA27.C5C85 1996

The Aztecs: new perspectives. Van Turenhout, Dirk R. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, c2005.
SMATHERS, Latin America General Collection F1219.73 .V35 2005

The complete pyramids. Lehner, Mark. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1997.
LIBRARY WEST General Collection -- DT63.L45x 1997

Connectivity in antiquity: Globalization as a long-term historical process. Oakville, Conn.: Equinox Pub., 2006. Approaches to anthropological archaeology
LIBRARY WEST General Collection CB311.C75 2006

Current studies in archaeoastronomy: conversations across space and time. Fountain, John W. and Rolf M. Sinclair (eds.). Oxford International Symposium on Archaeoastronomy (5th : 1996 : Santa Fe, N.M.). Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, c2005.
LIBRARY WEST General Collection GN799.A8 O96 1996x

Diseases in antiquity; a survey of the diseases, injuries, and surgery of early populations. Don Brothwell and A. T. Sandison. Springfield, Ill., C. C. Thomas [1967]
SCIENCE LIBRARY General Collection R135 .B83 1967

Echoes of the ancient skies: the astronomy of lost civilizations. Krupp, E. C. New York: Harper & Row, c1983.
SCIENCE LIBRARY General Collection -- QB16.K78 1983

Environmental change and human adaptation in the ancient American Southwest. Doyel, David E. and Jeffrey S. Dean (eds.). Salt Lake City, UT : University of Utah Press, c2006.
LIBRARY WEST General Collection E78.S7 E68 2006

Exploring Ancient Skies: An Encyclopedic Survey of Archaeoastronomy. Kelley, David H. and E. F. Milone. New York: Springer, 2005.
SCIENCE LIBRARY QB16 .K45 2005

The flow of power: ancient water systems and landscapes. Scarborough, Vernon L. Santa Fe, N.M. : SAR Press, c2003.
LIBRARY WEST General Collection GN799.E4 S33 2003

Greek and Roman Technology: A Sourcebook; Annotated Translations of Greek and Latin Texts and Documents. New York: Routledge, 1998.
LIBRARY WEST General Collection T16 .G74 1997 (also available in Netlibrary).

A history of engineering in classical and medieval times. Hill, Donald R. La Salle, Ill.: Open Court Pub. Co., c1984.
SCIENCE LIBRARY General Collection -- TA16.H55 1984 [2 copies]

A History of Technology. Singer, Charles Joseph, Richard Raper, and American Council of Learned Societies. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954. 8 v.
SCIENCE LIBRARY T15.S53 Also available in electronic format from History Ebook Project

A History of Technology & Invention; Progress through the Ages. Maurice Daumas. New York: Crown Publishers, 1970. 3 v.
LIBRARY WEST General Collection T15 .D2613; 609 and SCIENCE LIBRARY

Landscapes of war: the archaeology of aggression and defence. Paul Hill & Julie Wileman. Hill, Paul curator Stroud : Tempus, 2002.
LIBRARY WEST General Collection U21 .H55 2002

Mechanics of pre-industrial technology: an introduction to the mechanics of ancient and traditional material culture. Cotterell, Brian and Johan Kamminga. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
LIBRARY WEST General Collection QC125.2.C68 1990

Primitive surgery: skills before science. Rogers, Spencer Lee 1905- Springfield, Ill. : Thomas, c1985.
HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER LIBRARY General Collection WO 11.1 R729p 1985

Science in the Ancient World: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio, 2004.
SCIENCE LIBRARY Q124.95 .L39 2004

The seventy wonders of the ancient world: the great monuments and how they were built. Scarre, Chris (ed.). New York, N.Y.: Thames & Hudson, 1999.
MEAD LIBRARY General Collection -- 722Sev

Southeast Asia: A historical encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor. Ooi Keat Gin (ed.). 3 vols. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, c2004.
LIBRARY WEST General Collection DS524 .S68 2004

Technology and Culture in Greek and Roman Antiquity. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007
LIBRARY WEST General Collection T16 .C78 2007

Water management in ancient Greek cities. Crouch, Dora P. New York : Oxford University Press, 1993.
LIBRARY WEST General Collection TD275.A1 C76 1993

Selected databases

General databases

Google Scholar [results displayed include subscription electronic sources available at UF]
JSTOR
Web of Science / Web of Knowledge (Science Citation Index and Social Science Citation Index)

Subject specific databases

ABZU: a Guide to information related to the study of the Ancient Near East
L’Année Philologique [for Ancient Greece and Rome]
Anthropology Plus
AnthroSource
Bibliography of Asian Studies
Egyptological Bibliography [on CD ROM]
eHRAF Archaeology and eHRAF World Cultures [see help tab, OCM codes explanation and teaching resources site]
Ei Compendex and Engineering Index
GeoRef [includes articles and books on geographic topics]
History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Index Islamicus

Selected library subject guides

Anthropology http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/cm/anthropology/
Classics http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/cm/classics/
Egyptology http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/cm/egyptian
History of Science http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/msl/subjects/vk/histsci.html [see Browsing guide for Marston Science Library]
Latin American Studies http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/lac/