Hilary Wilson on… Bread, beer, and economics – Part 2
Hilary Wilson shows how the ancient Egyptians were paid in food and drink.
economy
A View from the Herd: Cattle, Sheep, Goats, and Pigs in Pharaonic Egypt
Throughout Egyptian history, pastoralists have played a vital role in food production, and the importance of domesticated animals is reflected in their abundant depictions in texts, tomb reliefs, and 3D art. Richard Redding highlights how critical animal-rearing was to all…
Over Land and Sea: the long-distance trade, distribution and consumption of ancient Greek pottery
REVIEW BY ROBIN OSBORNE Trade in Greek pottery long attracted little interest. Finley’s massively influential The Ancient Economy (1973) discouraged both the idea that archaeological data might have anything to add to study of the ancient economy and the idea…
Unveiling Female Social Power in Early Egypt (c.3080-2180 BCE)
REVIEW BY ANNA GARNETT This volume is the first to be published from BAR International’s exciting new specialist sub-series focused solely on the archaeology of Egypt and Sudan. Sue Kelly explores the roles of women at the very beginning of…
A Byzantine coin-balance
At first glance, it looks like an ornate coffee spoon… What is it? This curious object, which looks at first glance like a large, ornate, cruciform coffee spoon, is in fact rather an elegant counterpoised coin balance. Suspended on a…
Domestic Plants and Animals: The Egyptian Origins
REVIEW BY SG This second Oxbow Classics facsimile explores the history of domestication and the role of agriculture in the social economy, based on what was current evidence when it was first published in 1994, before presenting a comprehensive catalogue…
Ancient Egypt Letters 143
Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.
Science Notes: Tracing the origins of silver in medieval Europe’s revolutionary coins
In CA 411, we carried a news story about the exciting implications of recent research into early medieval silver coinage; for this month’s column, we delve deeper into the science behind the study to reveal how these conclusions were reached.…
Tracing the origins of early medieval silver coinage
During the mid-7th century AD there was an abrupt economic shift in north-west Europe, particularly around the North Sea, with silver coinage largely replacing the use of gold. Recent research has suggested that at least some of this coinage was…
Making Flour the German Way in Roman Britain: Distribution, use, and deposition of imported lava quernstones and millstones
REVIEW BY ROB IXER Broken fragmentary Niedermendig (Banfield convincingly suggests that Mayen is the better term) lava is commonly recorded, but seemingly in passing, from Roman (and later) sites. This 190-page, very well-figured text corrects this slight, and must now…
Tiny coins reshape monetary history
A study of ‘insignificant’ tiny coins known as nummi minimi has led to a re-evaluation of monetary circulation in Egypt during late antiquity. Researchers from the Polish National Science Centre examined thousands of previously ignored Byzantine and Umayyad coins found…
Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A new history of the Ancient Near East
REVIEW BY ECKART FRAHM Mesopotamian history, Amanda Podany argues in the introduction to her new book, ‘is more of a weathered mosaic than a grand narrative’. What she provides in her long but never boring account, which covers events and…
New evidence for the changing importance of cattle husbandry in Ireland
Although cattle were introduced to Ireland during the Neolithic period (specifically, by at least 3800-3700 BC), archaeological and documentary evidence indicate that early medieval communities in Ireland put increased value on cattle husbandry, so much so that it became the…
Making money in 18th-century America
Analysis of paper money produced by Benjamin Franklin is shedding new light on the monetary history of Colonial-era America.
Archaeology, Economy, and Society: England from the fifth to the fifteenth century (2nd edition)
Review by John Blair On the whole, classics are better left unrevised. New material unbalances a familiar format, and the less it feels like the same book the less one sees the point. But there are exceptions, of which this…
The Viking Age in Scotland: Studies in Scottish Scandinavian Archaeology
REVIEW SHANE MCLEOD This handsomely produced book acts as a 20-year celebration of the earlier Vikings in Scotland: an archaeological study by James Graham-Campbell and Colleen Batey, and as a continuation of that still indispensable work. Both of those authors contribute…
Rural Romanitas: rethinking the role of villas
It has been an undergraduate essay topic for the last 50 years and is a question that continues to challenge archaeologists studying the history of Roman Britain: what exactly is a villa, and is there even a simple definition that fits them all? The Association for Roman Archaeology recently brought together 20 experts to consider new discoveries, new interpretations, and the role of the villa in Romano-British culture, religion, and landscape. Their conclusions have just been published, as Chris Catling reports.
Hunter-Gatherer Ireland: making connections in an island world
Review by George Nash. When looking at the prehistory of Ireland, we are instantly drawn to the complex societies that were involved in the construction and use of burial monuments of the Neolithic, some five to six millennia ago. The…
Let’s go on a pub crawl around Pompeii!
Join Andrew Selkirk for a trip around the bars in Pompeii and find out where to go with your loved one for a slap-up meal.
The Roman Peasant Project, 2009-2014: excavating the Roman rural poor
Review by Luuk de Ligt The two volumes that make up this publication present the results of the ambitious Roman Peasant Project co-directed by Kim Bowes and Cam Grey. Geographically, the focus of the book is on the region of…
Analysis of Roman coinage sheds light on financial crisis
A study involving the scientific analysis of Roman coinage has revealed a significant debasement in the value of silver denarii at the start of the 1st century BC, shedding new light on a financial crisis alluded to by Roman statesman…
Weighing up the evidence: did Bronze Age Britons use gold as currency?
‘While gold would still have had an intrinsic value and probably could have been used for trading in any number of circumstances, it most likely wasn’t a generally recognised form of currency.’
Industrial-scale Roman silver extraction in Kent
The team also found the remains of a high-status, middle-aged woman who had been laid to rest in a lead-lined coffin.
Cultures of cloth in the medieval East Midlands
The Midlands was a key centre for wool-production and textile-making during the medieval period. Carly Hilts visited an exhibition at the University of Nottingham Museum and spoke to Chris King and Clare Pickersgill to find out more.
England’s largest Anglo-Saxon gold coin hoard found in Norfolk
Most of the hoard was discovered between 2014 and 2020 by a single anonymous metal-detectorist.
Shopping Quiz
In which city did Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer open their first retail outlet in 1894?
Medieval tannery found at Fountains Abbey
Animal hides, treated in tanneries, were used to produce essential materials like vellum for religious texts and leather for book bindings
London’s Roman Tools: craft, agriculture and experience in an ancient city
This new study of tools from Roman London is a hefty volume, but it more than justifies the bookshelf space. Thorough coverage of dozens of crafts and tool types will ensure that it becomes a standard reference work for artefact…
Byzantine wine factory unearthed in Israel
Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered the largest complex of Byzantine winepresses ever found. The industrial estate, where around 2 million litres of wine were produced every year, was recently unearthed in the city of Yavne and dated to c.1,500 years ago.
World’s oldest-known coin mint identified in China
The findings indicate the mint began operating between c. 640 and 550 BC.
The Dignity of Labour: image, work and identity in the Roman world
Immediately beyond the Porta Maggiore in Rome, at a busy intersection, lies the impressive tomb of Eurysaces, a baker who lived through the last days of the Roman Republic. In the ensuing centuries, his lavish funerary monument was swallowed up…
Dig finds 6,000-year-old salt production site in Yorkshire
The discovery includes a trench containing three hearths and hundreds of pottery fragments, as well as stone tools and a storage pit – all evidence of salt production.
Worcester Magistrates Court: excavation of Romano-British homes and industry at Castle Street
Worcester, like many historic cities, has had its share of undistinguished 20th-century development. As this has come up for redevelopment, it has afforded numerous opportunities for archaeological investigations, which have revealed the city’s Roman origins. Roman Worcester developed on the…
50 Finds of Roman Coinage: objects from the Portable Antiquities Scheme
This latest book in the ’50 Finds’ series from the Portable Antiquities Scheme is the first to focus on a specific artefact type rather than on a region or period. Roman coinage is a fitting choice for this new approach,…
Sifting through the remains of Scotland’s kelping industry
For a brief period, from around 1750 to 1820, the west coast and islands of Scotland experienced a boom in demand for kelp, a seaweed-derived substance used in the soap and glass-making industries. Kevin Grant – formerly St Kilda Archaeologist with the National Trust for Scotland, now Archaeology Manager at Historic Environment Scotland – has been studying the fragile and elusive remains of this once-thriving industry, as Chris Catling reports.
When women ruled the world: an interview with Egyptologist Kara Cooney
Egyptologist Kara Cooney talks to Richard Marranca about her research into Ancient Egyptian queens and into funerary practice