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…
Maryport is home to one of the largest and most-impressive collections of Roman altars in the world, with the role of religion at the site debated by academics and archaeologists over many years. Deliberately buried in pits, the altars – which now form part of the Senhouse Roman Museum at…
This book is the third in Routledge’s ‘Archaeologies of the Viking World’ series, and maintains the high standard of the others in terms of content. The book’s core idea is that groups with connections to southern Scandinavia established an often-loose hegemony over a ‘network kingdom’ centred on Dublin and York.…
In the middle-to-late Neolithic in southern and eastern Britain a number of important monumental landscapes were host to a series of cremation cemeteries, the deposition of the dead in some cases being a catalyst and inspiration for the elaborate monument-building and prolonged acts of remembrance that occurred at these central places…
Under normal circumstances, archaeologists tend to report on ancient ceramics, discussing the age, condition, colour/lustre, whether it is glazed or unglazed, sometimes focusing on the petrology of the fabric. To understand the petrology element, Quinn’s book is an essential reference tool. The book is organised into nine chapters, each centred…
In this slim and accessible volume, Palaeolithic archaeologist Paul Pettitt writes with confidence about the recent history of history, or, rather, prehistory. A prologue introduces us to the immersive world of Palaeolithic archaeology, introduces its intent, and from there we are whisked down the road of human evolution, neatly summarised…
Ever fancied a behind-the-scenes tour of Hadrian’s Wall? While there are many ways to explore its Roman past on the page or in the field, securing an insider’s peek at the day-to-day management of the monument has always been more of a challenge. Until now. In the preface of this…
Review by Eugenia Ellanskaya Why do we spend what makes up almost 20 per cent of our life being children? What is the purpose of our incredibly drawn-out pregnancies and post-birth investment into our offspring? These are just some of the questions addressed by the biological anthropologist Brenna Hassett in…
What Carter and his Egyptian team found at the bottom of the stairs and along a short corridor stunned the world, of course – especially those countries barely beginning to recover from the dreadful losses of the First World War.…
Review by Sadie Watson Scholars of Roman London might wait years for a major synthesis such as Dominic Perring’s London in the Roman World to be published. This is hardly surprising when you consider the amount of research that has gone into its production. Perring alludes to this in his…
Review by Graham Keevill The Historic Towns Trust was established in 1965 as part of the International Commission for European Towns to publish analytical maps of our historic urban centres. The early publications in the 1960s-1970s were multi-town volumes covering the likes of Banbury, Bristol, Salisbury, and Coventry. In recent…
Review by Andrew Tibbs The Antonine Wall in Falkirk District is the culmination of more than 35 years of archaeological research and excavation along Scotland’s Roman wall by the local authority: the Keeper of Archaeology and Local History in Falkirk, Geoff Bailey. Based on his work over the decades, the…
Review by CH As the last vestiges of official Roman administration flickered out in Britain, the resulting power vacuum produced a patchwork of small kingdoms. Some – Mercia, Northumbria, East Anglia, Kent – have come to dominate popular imaginings of early medieval Britain, but the histories of many more have…
Review by George Nash L ittered throughout much of southern Britain are stark reminders of the later prehistoric landscape: the Iron Age hill enclosure (or hillfort). As the generic name – ‘hill enclosure’ – suggests, these enigmatic features are located around the summit of many hilltops, including those within North Wales. …
Review by Timothy Darvill Using archaeological sites and museum collections in new and imaginative ways to improve people’s wellbeing has become a significant theme in recent years. This wide-ranging volume of essays provides a welcome addition to the fast-growing literature on the subject, its chapters exploring the context of heritage…
Review by KK. This thought-provoking book reimagines how we approach maritime archaeology – demonstrating that it is not solely for the adventurous diver but can, and should, be practised from the comfort of dry land. Specifically, by examining all of the archaeological evidence available – from rock art and artefacts,…
Review by George Nash. Throughout prehistoric Europe, there are significant areas where rock art was commissioned, executed, consumed, and abandoned. One of these is southern Scandinavia. Here, during the later prehistoric period, ancient artists provided a sometimes- cryptic insight into their world through the medium of figurative and abstract images…
Review by Roger Bland. This volume, based on a conference that was held in 2016, is the first publication to come out of the Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire project, which is creating a record of all coin hoards from across the Roman Empire and beyond, from the start…
Review by Charlotte Spence. Stuart McKie’s reassessment of curse tablets sets itself up as a ‘paradigm shift’ in the scholarship and our understanding of these objects; and this is something he well achieves. The focuis on the examination of the tablets within the physical and social lived realities of the…
A besieged city, a hostile army enveloping on all sides, and a ruthless commander refusing to surrender – this was not 1942, but 1919, when the city in southern Russia then known as Tsaritsyn was on the verge of being captured by the anti-revolutionary Whites. The Bolsheviks had taken power…
REVIEW BY SIMON BAKER Anyone with more than a passing interest in the history of the SAS may well be familiar with the regiment’s genesis myth: in 1941, a tall Commando called David Stirling, in hospital after a nasty parachute training jump, came up with the idea of a small…
