Martina Revello Lami - Böcker

The identification of ceramic imports within prehistoric and historic assemblages has long been the primary indicator for identifying connections between different sites and regions. Yet this has fostered a presence/absence diagnosis for contact between different communities. Approaches such as post-colonial perspectives and network analysis, which focus on the nature of the connections, are now beginning to offer more meaningful ways of considering past interactions. These approaches can bridge the traditional divide between prehistoric and historic and offer a valuable contribution to the wider study of past interactions in the ancient Mediterranean., The geographical or topographical setting of an archaeological site is often acknowledged as an important factor in their significance or how well connected the community was within the cultural landscape. But to what extent do geographical categories such as island, coast, mainland or hinterland influence modern ideas on the dynamics of these ancient communities? This volume uses ceramic studies across multiple spatial and diachronic scales to provide new insights into the connectivity of ancient Mediterranean communities.

Who owns the past? Archaeological heritage between destruction and idealization. This volume, part of the wider Ex Novo series, hosts papers exploring the various ways in which the past is remembered, recovered, created and used. In particular, contributions discuss the role of archaeology in present-day conflict areas and its function as peacekeeping tool or as trigger point for military action.

It has been abundantly demonstrated that theories and paradigms in the humanities are influenced by historical, economic and socio-cultural conditions, which have profoundly influenced archaeology’s representation of migration. This was mostly conceived as the study of the movement of large and homogenous population groups, whose identity was often represented as ethnically characterized. The present-day shift of attention from collective to individual agency and the countless facets of migration goes hand in hand with new socio-political and cultural scenarios such as the extraordinary migratory flows into Europe, shifting boundaries, alternative forms of citizenship and identity, and the emergence of emotive reactionism. The third volume of Ex Novo gathers multidisciplinary contributions addressing mobility to understand patterns of change and continuity in past worlds; reconsider the movement of people, objects, and ideas alongside mobile epistemologies, such as intellectual, scholarly or educative traditions, rituals, practices, religions and theologies; and provide insights into the multifaceted relationship between mobile practices and their shared meanings and how they are represented socially and politically.

The sixth issue of Ex Novo explores how ‘peripheral’ regions currently approach both the practice and theory of public archaeology placing particular emphasis on Eastern and Southern Europe and extending the analysis to usually underrepresented regions of the Mediterranean.

Ex Novo Issue 9 explores the diverse, dynamic, and often contested landscapes of African archaeology. Moving beyond long-standing colonial and Eurocentric frames, this volume highlights how African pasts are interpreted, represented, and sustained today. From the Sebou Basin in Morocco—where natural and cultural heritage intertwine—to the lived experiences of early-career African archaeologists navigating structural inequalities, the thematic core addresses both the material and institutional conditions shaping the field. A study of Roman Africa on screen interrogates enduring orientalist stereotypes, while reflections on the ATLAS project and the “Invisible Cities” exhibition showcase collaborative approaches to connectivity and urbanism across North Africa and southern Spain. Complementing the African focus, our Off-Topic section tackles broader disciplinary concerns: the limits of citation metrics, academic responsibility amid political crisis, and the epistemological foundations of archaeology. Together, these contributions reaffirm archaeology’s entanglement with the ethical and political urgencies of the present.