REVIEW BY IAN RALSTON This monograph on Welsh hillforts is by a man who knows them well. It builds on Driver’s innovative doctoral examination of those in Ceredigion, and his general book on Cardigan Bay, to consider the entirety of…
REVIEW BY KK This volume brings together the current evidence of dogs in the past: from their evolution from wild animals to domesticated pets, to their presence in the archaeological record, through to their importance in myths and legends. Combining…
REVIEW BY PETER HALKON This book aims to provide a guide to the main sites of prehistoric Yorkshire that remain above ground and are possible to either visit or to view from a distance. It begins with an introduction to…
REVIEW BY AB It is easy to think of castles as a static part of the historical landscape, towering relics of a bygone era, but these buildings have rich stories, many of which are still being written. In Castles of…
REVIEW BY ANDREW SELKIRK Let’s do some biblical archaeology. Nazareth is not well known. Bethlehem, where the Bible tells us that Jesus was born, has a magnificent basilica; Jerusalem has the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; but Nazareth, which was…
REVIEW BY GINA L BARNES As an archaeologist, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book – a personalised adventure into the science of detecting tsunami deposits in the sedimentary record. This detective story begins with investigations into geological tsunami deposits, then…
REVIEW BY GEORGE NASH The burial monumentality associated with the Neolithic is very much a global phenomenon. This desire to bury the dead in an artificial cave covered with an earthen or cairn mound occurs over at least six millennia.…
REVIEW BY BRYAN SITCH This authoritative work by one of the UK’s leading sinologists explores the early history and archaeology of China through 12 tombs and discoveries, some already well known in the West – including Sanxingdui with its otherworldly…
REVIEW BY MARC DESANTIS In ancient times, following the fall of Carthage, only Persia on Rome’s eastern frontier would be, to adopt a modern term, her ‘peer adversary’. It was the only state that bore any comparison in power and…
REVIEW BY GRAHAM GOODLAD Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted the appearance of several books, setting the war in its historical context. This is the first study, however, to view the conflict in the long-term perspective of military history since…
MHM’s round-up of the latest military history titles
REVIEW BY KAVEH FARROKH With this book, Nicholas Morton has filled a gap in the field in the study of the Mongol military genius and the immense impact of their conquests in the 13th century. This impact was truly international…
REVIEW BY CALUM HENDERSON Leningrad – today known as St Petersburg – was a key military and industrial target in the early years of the Second World War. But the city also held a psychological attraction for the invading armies…
REVIEW BY COLIN POMEROY Despite the title of this book, there is little detail about the Mosquito’s development or performance within its pages. But that is the only disappointment, for Rowland White’s new history of the ‘wooden wonder’ is otherwise…
REVIEW BY ANDREW MULHOLLAND Few recent military books can have been quite as timely as this one. For while conceived several years ago, Richard Dannatt and Robert Lyman’s study of the British Army brings us right up to date and…
REVIEW BY KK For those not familiar with the eponymous ‘bone chests’, they are the – rather innocuous-looking – wooden chests placed high atop the choir screens in Winchester Cathedral, which, based on the names written on the outsides, purportedly…
REVIEW BY CH In the 4th century AD, a modest defended farmstead was established close to what is now Roscommon, in the Irish county of the same name, and over the next 1,000 years it evolved into a much more…
REVIEW BY VICKI CUMMINGS Six miles from Belfast city centre is the monumental complex at Ballynahatty. Today, the circular earthwork known as the Giant’s Ring, with a small megalith set at its centre, is still visible, but once this was…
REVIEW BY CH This magazine should reach you in November, bridging the period between Hallowe’en and Christmas – both dates traditionally associated with the sharing of spooky stories. If you would like your frights to have an archaeological flavour, this…
REVIEW BY KK Rogers’ book serves well as a succinct introduction to the Roman towns of Britain. It starts by discussing how these towns evolved, whether de novo or through the expansion of pre-existing settlement sites, and highlights the different…
REVIEW BY AB Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire might be a peaceful spot today, but this steep valley on the River Severn was once a hub of industry and manufacturing, and the site of several key developments that drove the Industrial…
A selection of the latest publications on Egypt and Egyptology, assessed by AE’s team of experts.
REVIEW BY CAMPBELL PRICE The book’s introduction sets the scene by briefly describing the find, with a chronological sketch of the archaeological landscape of Saqqara the subject of the first chapter. The caching phenomenon – the deliberate gathering and deposition…
REVIEW BY HILARY FORREST William Flinders Petrie, known to many as the ‘Father of Egyptology’, left a huge legacy of Egyptological material – not only artefacts, but also many writings. He also produced many typological catalogues based on his excavations.…
REVIEW BY KATE WADDINGTON This very readable book discusses the archaeology from a beautiful stretch of coastal north-west Wales: the Llŷn peninsula. As this volume demonstrates, it has produced a diverse range of well-preserved monuments that are of national importance.…
REVIEW BY GEORGE NASH One of the most impressive archaeological site-types in the British Isles is the Iron Age hillfort. Archaeological evidence has shown that it took many generations to construct and remodel these structures. Even after Roman occupation, hillforts…
REVIEW BY AB A hive of bees, ‘nine pair of bedde stockes’ (bed socks), ‘my worst petticoat’, and the famous Sutton Hoo treasure: these are just some of the objects left to friends, relatives, and institutions by Britain’s women over…
REVIEW BY ANTONY LEE This volume, an output of the WallCAP project (2018-2022), directly and successfully addresses historic disconnects between archaeological and geological studies of Hadrian’s Wall. It presents a thoughtful and accessible study into how consideration of the Wall’s…
REVIEW BY MICHELLE GAMBLE This book is the culmination of almost two decades of research on Bronze Age burial practices and the social context of the body by Marie Louise Stig Sørensen and Katharina Rebay-Salisbury, evolving from a wider corpus…
REVIEW BY IAIN BANKS This is a landmark publication, summarising as it does the 12 years (and counting) that Operation Nightingale has been in existence. During this period, some excellent archaeology has been carried out and some excellent therapeutic work…
REVIEW BY TIMOTHY TAYLOR Christopher Beckwith’s The Scythian Empire represents a major challenge for archaeological understandings of what many pre- and proto-historians have been inclined to see as a merely ‘tribal’ phenomenon. His book is magisterial, presenting a wealth of crucial new…
REVIEW BY ANDREW SELKIRK Edward J Watts, Professor of History at San Diego University, is not a fan of politicians who claim that society is rotten and only they can make it better. This claim, however, is nothing new: the…
REVIEW BY META F JANOWITZ Archaeologists who work in New York City often get incredulous looks from people who ask about their careers: You work where? There’s archaeology in NYC? New York City is famous for many things, perhaps especially…
REVIEW BY EMILY C KRACHT Lucayan Legacies evaluates the lives of the early Indigenous peoples in the Bahama archipelago and celebrates their legacy, identity, and descendants today. The book presents one of the most comprehensive discussions of Bahamian archaeology to…
MHM’s round-up of the latest military history titles.
REVIEW BY TOBY CLARK This new book by Dr Ben Wheatley of the University of East Anglia can claim success in the fields of both academic and popular history. With a nod to the Soviet ideal of ‘deep battle’, Wheatley…