by Bob Brier.Oxford University Press, 2022ISBN 978-0-1976-3505-6Hardback, £21.99. The present volume is a reminder of how writing (rather than just the theories) about Tutankhamun has in some ways changed quite markedly over time – and in some ways stayed the same. Brier’s book combines both well-worn accounts and presents a…
Review by Ronan Toolis The excavation of Clachtoll in 2017 examined the interior of a broch buried beneath a conflagration that had occurred during the early 1st century AD and untouched since. This book examines an impressive assemblage of finds including iron tools and implements, a securely dated pottery assemblage,…
Review by Stephen Rippon Silbury Hill in Wiltshire is one of our best-known prehistoric monuments, but was it unique? It seems not, as a similar – if somewhat smaller – mound appears to have lain ‘hidden in plain sight’ just 8km away in the grounds of Marlborough School. This fascinating…
Review by Andrew Tibbs Stretching for 38 miles across central Scotland, between the Firths of Forth and Clyde, the Antonine Wall is perhaps not as well-known as its southern counterpart, Hadrian’s Wall, but it is no less of an enigmatic and interesting relic of Scotland’s Roman past, as Alan Montgomery…
Review by Al McCluskey The Roman Frontiers in Wales is one of the latest tranche of publications in the ‘Frontiers of the Roman Empire’ series. Co-authored by David Breeze and Peter Guest, this neat, informative, and accessible volume brings a frequently overlooked aspect of Roman Britain into the limelight, placing…
Review by Murray Andrews This exciting new book is the definitive publication of the Watlington Hoard, a remarkable find of precious metal coins, ingots, and jewellery hidden in Oxfordshire in the late 870s AD and rediscovered in October 2015. Richly illustrated in full colour, it blends sophisticated numismatic, archaeological, and…
by Prof. Joyce Tyldesley.Headline, 2022ISBN 978-1-472-28984-1Hardback, £22. Do we need another book on Tutankhamun? The author herself has already published two Tutankhamun-focused works – the 2012 Tutankhamen’s Curse (reviewed in AE 71) in particular already covers much of the same ground. The answer in this case is ‘yes’! Joyce Tyldesley…
Review by Claire Hodson Over the last decade, numerous studies have challenged the traditional assumptions that the words ‘Roman Britain’ may incite. Included within this re-evaluation has been the increase in osteological analyses to reveal further insights into those working, living, and dying within Romano-British communities. Yet, despite this, the…
by Katja Broschat et al.AUC, 2022ISBN 978-1-617-97997-2Hardback, £29.95. This is a lavish production from American University in Cairo Press, though at 62 pages long it is a rather slim volume. The book provides, for the first time, a complete account and reference work for all the iron objects that were…
by Aidan Dodson.AUC, 2022ISBN 978-1-6490-3161-7Hardback, £29.95. Aidan Dodson continues his pharaonic series with a volume on Tutankhamun “offered unapologetically” as an addition to the numerous books released or reprinted in time for the centenary. The book follows the format of his previous volumes (introduction to the period, birth, reign, death…
by Garry J. Shaw.Yale University Press, 2022ISBN 978-0-300-26743-3Hardback, £16.99. So much has been written about Tutankhamun and his tomb since its discovery that it is an achievement for any writer to find an original angle to illuminate their narrative. Garry Shaw attempts this, using the available evidence to tell the…
by Nicholas Reeves.Thames & Hudson, 2022ISBN 978-0-5000-5216-7Hardback, £40. Who does not have a copy of the 1990 The Complete Tutankhamun on their bookshelves? This new, expanded, centenary edition follows the same format, but is updated to incorporate the “extraordinary advances” in research over the last thirty years, enhanced by stunning…
Archaeologists tend to reserve the term ‘civilisation’ for the settled villages and towns of the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Many of the innovations that we think are characteristic of human civilisation were, however, the inventions of Ice Age hunter-gatherers. Just think of eyed-needles and tailored clothing, drawing, painting and sculpture,…
The title of this book is perhaps rather misleading. Although a hundred objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun (among which are counted two scenes from the walls of its burial chamber) are indeed listed, mentioned, and illustrated, they are arguably not the vehicle for structuring the narrative that one might…
War, Spectacle, and Politics in the Ancient Andes by Elizabeth N Arkush provides a well-organised analysis of the external/environmental and internal/psychological factors that shaped pre-contact Andean warfare. More specifically, the key argument is that Andean conflict was entwined with the internal politics of local societies and groups. Arkush is a…
REVIEW BY DAVID FLINTHAM At the outbreak of the English Civil War, Parliament organised much of its fighting strength geographically; in the case of East Anglia (eventually including Huntingdonshire and Lincolnshire) this was the Eastern Association, which would become arguably the most successful of all of Parliament’s armies in the…
REVIEW BY DAVID PORTER This is a hefty (913 pages!) study, which is not restricted to ‘modern’ Germany but extends to cover the military history of Switzerland and the Holy Roman/Austrian/Austro-Hungarian empires. (The author makes the point that national identity was vague until well into the 17th century: ‘Early modern…
REVIEW BY TAYLOR DOWNING Ben Macintyre is well known for his books on spies and espionage, like Agent Zigzag, Double Cross, and Philby. Earlier this year, one of his other works, Operation Mincemeat, was adapted into a hugely successful movie (see MHM June/July 2022). So I was surprised to find…
REVIEW BY TOBY CLARK Anyone who enjoyed the HBO television series The Pacific or Eugene Sledge’s memoir With the Old Breed will want to read Saul David’s new book, Devil Dogs: first in, last out – King Company from Guadalcanal to the shores of Japan. All three are closely linked:…
REVIEW BY ANDREW MULHOLLAND Strategic history may seem dry or even daunting to some, but Robin Prior has broken new ground here. Not only has he tackled a huge subject in a different way, but he has presented his material in a deft and engaging manner. These 700 pages will…
