Review by Bryony Coles The blurb on the back of this book gives an uncommonly accurate description of its contents: ‘a popular science book that tells the story of one of the most important, but least known major archaeological sites in Europe’. Before turning to this story, though, I should…
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…
A selection of the latest publications on Egypt and Egyptology, assessed by AE’s team of experts.…
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…
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…
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…
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 of research on the body in the past. This book…
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…
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 the last 1,000 years. Female voices are often conspicuously absent…
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 continued to play a significant role in shaping the various…
REVIEW BY KATE WADDINGTON This very readable book discusses the archaeology from a beautiful stretch of coastal north-west Wales: the LlÅ·n peninsula. As this volume demonstrates, it has produced a diverse range of well-preserved monuments that are of national importance. Despite the potential of this archaeological resource, the archaeology is…
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,…
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 Romans were doing it all the time. In his stimulating…
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 date. While the field is relatively small, there is much…
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…
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 (in his own phrase) used ‘deep research’ to comb the…
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…
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…
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…
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…