The Archaeology of Ironbridge Gorge in 20 Digs

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 Revolution. Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, the region is often regarded as…

Objects of Daily Use (Oxbow Classics in Egyptology)

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. These contained detailed descriptions of items representing all aspects of…

Vestiges of Ancient Egypt:  The Bubasteion Votive Cachette at Saqqara

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 of ritual objects – is attested from sacred sites throughout…

Broken Pots, Mending Lives: The Archaeology of Operation Nightingale

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 has been done for military veterans. This is primarily their…

Fabric of the Frontier: Prospection, use, and re-use of stone from Hadrian’s Wall

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 geological complexity can enhance understandings of its construction, function, and…

The Scythian Empire

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 readings and arguments from Akkadian, Chinese, Tibetan, Sogdian, Slavonic, Indic,…

Buried Beneath the City: An archaeological history of New York

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 for an emphasis on the future, not the past. Almost…

In View

MHM’s round-up of the latest military history titles.…

The Savage Storm: The battle for Italy 1943 

REVIEW BY JONATHAN EATON James Holland has established a firm reputation as one of the leading British historians of the Second World War. He has published a series of books that have transformed our understanding of the conflict, most recently Brothers in Arms: one legendary tank regiment’s bloody war from…

Women in Intelligence: The hidden history of two World Wars

REVIEW BY CALUM HENDERSON Mata Hari was the ultimate femme fatale. The Dutch-born exotic dancer and courtesan was famously beautiful and enigmatic, and equally notorious for her many affairs – often with military officers. But Mata Hari led a double life, spying for the French in the early part of…

Pax: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age

REVIEW BY MARC DESANTIS Over several centuries, Rome met and bested every other organised state of the Mediterranean basin. By overcoming all rivals, Rome extinguished the ability of other states to make war, which was now its monopoly. It was an empire the likes of which had never been seen…

Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt: An eyewitness history

REVIEW BY PATRICK MERCER When I joined the army there were sphinxes all over the place: on cap badges, collar badges, sporran badges, embroidered on Regimental Colours… The Gloucesters even wore two, one fore and another aft, to commemorate fighting back-to-back in the desert sands of Egypt. That was such…

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