Sculpting southern Scotland A new project, coordinated by Dr Christina Cowart-Smith and funded by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, is set to start this autumn with the aim of documenting around 200 fragments of sculpture south of the Forth–Clyde…
In our high-speed modern world, it can be easy to forget that the ancient world was experienced at a slower speed. Rubina Raja shares the insights that can spring from exploring the edges of the Roman world on foot.
REVIEW BY CH Nicholas Higham’s comprehensive exploration of how ‘Roman Britain’ transitioned into ‘Anglo-Saxon England’ brings with it a wealth of topics that still resonate today – discussions of migration, integration, and cultural influences; Britain’s relationship with continental Europe; and…
REVIEW BY ADAM KLUPS Are Muslims native to Europe? Should Islam, in a historical and cultural sense, be considered an indigenous European religion? Readers who believe they already know the answers to these questions may find themselves reconsidering after accompanying…
REVIEW BY NICK HEWITT Historian and broadcaster Tessa Dunlop has energetically breathed life into the ‘history in a hundred’ format with her enthralling new book, which should be essential reading not just for those with an interest in war and…
REVIEW BY JODY JOY Many books have been written about the ancient Celts, whether from the standpoint of a shared identity across a connected Europe, or a more sceptical perspective, arguing for regional diversity and more complicated histories. This book…
REVIEW BY ANNA GARNETT The histories, cultures, and archaeologies of ancient Nubia remain a source of much scholarly debate, and centring our research on the people of the ancient Nile Valley is especially important at this time of political turmoil…
REVIEW BY HARRIET HAUGVIK Ben Paites’ addition to the ‘50 Finds’ series is a well-researched and nuanced exploration of the history of sexuality through material culture. The book approaches the topic from five distinct angles: from the more standard ‘Historical…
REVIEW BY JOANIE WILLETT Growing up in Cornwall has been indelibly etched throughout my social learning, which makes reading (and viewing) material about Cornwall tricky. The overwhelming most books, TV, and films are written about middle-class escape or escapism which,…
Marwan Kilani reconsiders our ideas about collective identities in New Kingdom sources.
REVIEW BY CH ‘Linn gu linn, bho ainm gu ainm – “from one generation to the next, from one name to another” – people make this story what it is.’ So writes Alistair Moffat in the introduction to this energetic…
I was in Greece, rolling off a ferry at Kyllini, about to visit its mighty castle, when I received the text message accusing me of being a Greek spy. Almost at once, I got an avalanche of emails from angry…
REVIEW BY MICHAEL TUNNICLIFFE This work comprises 14 essays spanning the late Roman Period to the present day, focusing on the daily life of the Copts, who have always been a minority community. The aim is to understand daily concerns…
Jason S Whitmarsh explores the revolutionary impact of Egypt’s so called ‘heretic king’.
REVIEW BY CAMPBELL PRICE One of the major issues in Egyptology is how prone we are to repeat assertions that were made – often provisionally – more than a century ago. Thus the lazy explanation of ancient Egyptian society as…
Water may separate the Mediterranean islands from the mainland, but the sea also offers a vital link. Anastasia Christophilopoulou considers how objects from Crete, Cyprus, and Sardinia reveal aspects of shifting island identities over time, and stories of their connections.
Ancient Egypt has provided endless inspiration for artists and designers, whether ancient or modern. Benjamin Hinson and Anna Ferrari, curators of a new exhibition on Egypt’s artistic legacy, investigate this cultural phenomenon, its links to politics and power, and how contemporary Egyptian artists have made ancient imagery their own.
While the subject of immigration remains perennially high up the modern political agenda, there is a tendency still in Britain to view the movement of people to these shores as a relatively recent phenomenon – as if it only began in the post-war period, with the arrival of the 'Windrush generation' and other migrants from countries that once were part of the British Empire. But multiculturalism has been a fact of life for much longer than that, of course.
Last month we explored the evolution of Roman and medieval Leicester. Now Mathew Morris explains how recent University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) excavations in the city have revealed links between its Roman predecessor and North Africa.
Many researchers dealing with prehistoric and historic rock art tend to remain firmly entrenched within their respective comfort zones. Throughout much of the contemporary world, the application and use of rock art is a fundamental part of society; moreover, it…
Recent analysis of a 1st-century lead figurine at Wall Roman site in Staffordshire, depicting a man from sub-Saharan Africa, has shed new light on perceptions of identity in Roman Britain. Carly Hilts spoke to Cameron Moffett to find out more.
This excellent volume addresses two key questions of archaeological research. First, can archaeology create the grand narratives practised by public historians? Second, what is the return on the long history of archaeological research, accumulating big data, often funded by the…
This remarkable and important study of the art and culture of northern Roman Britain has been published almost two decades after my own – The Heirs of King Verica (Tempus, 2002; 2nd edition: Amberley, 2010), which dealt almost entirely with…
The cross is ubiquitous in medieval Christian iconography. As it was on the cross that Jesus died, bringing believers salvation, it is a critical component of the religion. But, despite the ubiquity and apparent simplicity of the instantly recognisable form,…
It has been more than two decades since Sam Lucy’s seminal book The Anglo-Saxon Way of Death, and in the intervening years new cemeteries, methodologies, and mortuary archaeology theory have advanced to the point that we are due a sequel.…
Is Ithaca, in fact, Odysseus’ island, where Penelope faithfully weaved, steadfastly waiting for her mischievous prince in their well-appointed palace?
This short book in connection with a project at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, looking at its own forgotten ‘Ancient Europe’ collection, which was dispersed in the 1950s.