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Shining a light on some of the most interesting research results on megalithic cultures, as well as their contemporaries, these 16 papers from the European Megalithic Studies Group symposium (Santiago de Compostela, Spain), cover monuments from Germany, moving down the Atlantic Facade across to Ireland and then back to the Western Mediterranean. Issues presented in this volume include temporality and mobility (both at the broad scale and at the local scale), social organisation & settings and external relationships. The methods used to investigate these themes are various: bio-molecular and isotopic analyses, typo-chronology, targeted excavations & radiocarbon dating, material cultural analyses, 3D models, ceremonial & funerary/burial practices (including osteometrics) and large-scale prospection. New methods researching the materiality and symbolism of monuments are also presented; some incorporate the role of the natural world. Alongside them are other contributions focusing on the key characteristic of megalithic monuments – the skilful and purposeful arrangement of large blocks of stone – and their interpretation. Discoveries include the intriguing return of large & complex ceremonial timber circles in active megalithic areas, presenting a significant contrast to what was considered the main funerary expressions in South Portugal. Ultimately, through the application of new, or differently applied, technologies and ways of thinking, this volume offers a series of studies that remove some of the mystery that surrounds these mementos of another time.

South-Eastern Anatolia at a Crossroads collects the papers presented in a thematic session at the 2018 EAA Congress held at Barcelona. The contributions analyse an area of the Mediterranean encompassing all the regions south of the Taurus range (Cilicia, Isauria, Pamphylia and Pisidia) facing the sea and, throughout their history, in direct contact with the island of Cyprus to the south and with the coast of northern Syria to the east. South-Eastern Anatolia is revealed as a key crossroads of people and cultures, at a crucial point between East and West. Due to its strategic geographic position connecting Anatolia and Syria via maritime and terrestrial routes and to the ease of contact with the whole eastern Mediterranean, the region was characterised by manifold processes of mobility, migration and cultural interchanges. The papers collected in this volume range chronologically from the Hellenization phase to the Byzantine age, concentrating on how the various cultural identities interacted and contributed to the formation of a very particular Mediterranean identity, revealed by manifold historical and archaeological aspects.

The Priory Field excavation, carried out between 2007 and 2010, was a research, training and engagement project that investigated a large courtyard store-building in the legionary fortress of Isca at Caerleon. This was the first building of its kind excavated to modern standards in the Roman Empire and the excavation exposed the building’s main entranceway, a guard chamber, a stairwell and four store rooms. The coins and pottery provide an excellent chronological sequence for the store, which was constructed around AD 90-100 and remained in use until the end of the 3rd century, after which it fell into a derelict state before being partially demolished and levelled by around 350. Debris from the building’s collapse and demolition sealed the floors of two store rooms, one of which was littered with items of military equipment, many of which survived in a very fragile condition. These included the highly fragmentary remains of a rare example of an elaborately decorated horse’s headpiece (chamfron), at least one set of dismantled Newstead-type lorica segmentata body armour, as well as another set of unusual scale armour. Two new buildings were constructed among the ruins of the partially demolished legionary store, including a cottage-like building that radiocarbon dating demonstrates was in use between 430 and 600. This wide-ranging and comprehensive report of the Priory Field excavation contains many fascinating stories about life in Caerleon during the Roman period and in the years after the ending of Britannia at the beginning of the 5th century.

The earliest contacts between the Aegean and the Indus were once thought to begin in the sixth century BCE, and yet there is now growing evidence of much earlier, indirect connections that extend into the third and fourth millennia BCE. There and Back Again evaluates the evidence for such contacts, particularly commodities such as tin and lapis lazuli, and discusses recently discovered objects, new methods of materials analysis techniques and topics, as well as iconographic investigation. Such studies clearly indicate the presence of indirect, or ‘trickle down’ contacts, where Mesopotamia functions as an intermediary between Africa and Europe in the west and Asia. In such a system, objects, iconography, and culture accumulate material and social value as they were exchanged through Mesopotamia and the Near East, to the Aegean and beyond. From the Early through Late Bronze Age, the Indus (and more broadly South Asia) remained critical to western regions for valuable, indispensable commodities destined for elites from Mesopotamia and other regions to the west. The volume’s case studies are complex and multifaceted, including but not limited to linguistics, iconography, paleobotany, archaeology, ancient disease and medicine, as well as scientific, materials, and technological analysis. As such, this collection of 11 papers constitutes the first of a series that seek to address a lingering lacuna in prehistoric studies: multi-disciplinary case-studies of Afro-Eurasian exchange.

Who were the Dioskouroi? This study sets out to revisit the evidence and explore the Greeks’ experience of the Spartan brothers Kastor and Polydeukes in image, myth and cult. Commonly equated with the Roman Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, first by Roman writers in antiquity and subsequently by their western successors, the Greek Dioskouroi are here examined as they were represented in the period before the Roman hegemony of Greece. The evidence is explored through a series of case studies, chosen to focus chiefly on the brothers’ homelands in myth – Sparta, Messene and Argos in the Peloponnese. Also reviewed is their presence on Eastern Aegean shores, and on trading routes where Greeks and other mariners may have sought the protection of the Dioskouroi, above all Thera, Kyrene and Naukratis. Our journey of rediscovery also includes Delos, crossroads of cultures in antiquity. In the process, some fresh perspectives have emerged, not least that Kastor and Polydeukes may not always have been synonymous with the Dioskouroi and, when they were, that appellation may have carried a specific and votive meaning.

Ergasteria offers insights into aspects of creation, manufacture and processing in antiquity, viewing craftsmen and artists in their socio-cultural and geopolitical setting. New finds from Greece, North Africa, the Black Sea, Italy and Central Europe provide a trigger for discussion. Bronze foundries for life-size statues were the birthplace of proportions and harmony which imbued the perception of beauty, but could also be a source of nuisance. The mastery of modelling in any material evolved from coping with constraints in the course of manufacture, and craftsmen invented ways of overcoming obstacles. Polyvalent ateliers suggest the artisans’ adaptability, in addition to their specialisation. An investigation of the first step in the process, namely the extraction of material, reveals that quarries were manned with a specialised workforce (stonecutters, sculptors) who carved the marble volumes to an advanced stage, prior to their refinement. Meticulous preparation was also crucial in the field of logistics, particularly in large-scale public works, such as temples or fortifications. Interaction of artists with architects and the workforce in general can be primarily observed in sanctuaries, which became open-air workshops of stonemasons, carpenters etc. Accordingly, part of the book is devoted to construction-sites, the mobility of craftspeople who propelled the diffusion of knowledge, and the range of practices employed in individual settings thereby allowing us to grasp both the diversity of artistic expression and the composite population that it may reflect. The mountainous, littoral, urban or suburban space in which manufacturing took place is also taken into account, along with the socio-historical context, which had an impact upon artisans, as politics and military coalitions could instigate or disrupt a creative process. Cases of adaptive reuse are evaluated from the viewpoint of aesthetics, ergonomics, managerial issues concerning spolia, and the technical skills required. The book benefits from the intersection of the contributors’ perspectives, mirroring the multifaceted nature of the topic.

Coming of Age is a collection of the AnthroEthics 2021 conference proceedings, featuring additional chapters that, although not presented at the conference, align with its theme and contribute to the global perspective on ethical issues in biological anthropology. This approach enhances the book’s international profile and ensures diverse viewpoints.

The AnthroEthics 2021 Conference took place online on the BioantTalks channel and continues to be accessible for viewing. The conference aimed to be inclusive by aggregating the work of early-career and senior scholars worldwide on issues related to ethics and anthropology. The topics explored ranged from social, cultural, biological and applied anthropology, with participants from Mexico, Brazil, Poland, Lithuania, the UK, the USA, Portugal, and Switzerland.

The diversity of talks, their content, and the overall public interest beyond academic boundaries were the foundation for developing this book. It expands on ethical issues related to biological anthropology, not being limited to a single research topic (e.g., human remains and living communities). Furthermore, it combines views from people working in various countries and continents, allowing for a worldview on ethical discussions within biological anthropology. Also, it is not focused on a hierarchical academic perspective alone, as it aggregates contributions from non-academic professionals and mature students, early-careers, and senior scholars.

Life and Death in Roman Carlisle makes an important contribution to the study of burials and identity in the region of Hadrian’s Wall. The book presents the results of excavations beneath Cumbria House, a new municipal building on Botchergate in the city centre. In Roman times this was the location of part of a roadside cremation cemetery associated with a fort established by the Roman army in AD 73. Those buried in this part of the cemetery died in the years just prior to and during the building of Hadrian’s Wall, when Luguvalium was emerging as the most important Roman military base and largest urban centre in northwest Britain. As a result of this swift rise in profile, the early settlement-edge funerary enclosures quickly went out of use, being swallowed up and overbuilt by the expanding extramural settlement.

Early Roman Carlisle would have boasted a vibrant multicultural population, and this is reflected in its burial evidence. Among the remains of some twenty cremation burials excavated at Cumbria House are the two most richly furnished examples from northern Britain. While the large assemblages of ceramic grave goods are unlike those of any other burials in the military north, close parallels are known from the France/Belgium border, in the former territory of the Nervii. The Nervians were described by Julius Caesar as having the fiercest fighters of all the Gallic tribes and this area was a major source of recruitment for the Roman army. Most of the pottery vessels placed in the graves were produced locally, probably at kilns within Roman Carlisle, and thus must have been made to order by those familiar with both the burial rites and the ceramic repertoire of the Nervian region.

The presence of a community of Nervians living in Luguvalium in the early second century is a new discovery but fits well with previous arguments made about the possible replacement of the Ala Gallorum Sebosiana with another unit from Gallia Belgica when the fort at Luguvalium was completely rebuilt around AD 105.  Meticulously referencing the relevant literature from Roman Britain and the Continent, the authors explore the significance of the new data for our understanding of the make-up of Roman Carlisle’s population and the identity of its various garrisons.

The North Pennines from Prehistory to Present is the first comprehensive survey of the archaeology of the region, from Mesolithic to modern times. Sometimes described as ‘England’s last wilderness’, the area is a vast but relatively little-known swathe of the English northern uplands. It is a land of contrasts: lush green dales, high windswept moorland, purple with heather in late summer, turbulent rivers and dramatic crags. Traces of 10,000 years of human activity survive to be studied today, including flint scatters at Mesolithic campsites, earthworks of prehistoric and later settlements and field systems, and extensive remnants of the post-medieval ‘miner-farmer’ landscape.

Aspects of the area’s past have been studied over many decades. Recently, since 2010, much new knowledge has been generated through the work of Altogether Archaeology. Initially a North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) project, largely funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, this has subsequently developed into an independent charitable community group. The authors of this volume have been involved in its work from the outset.

This wide-ranging overview weaves together the results of projects by Altogether Archaeology and others. Lavishly illustrated, it includes numerous newly processed lidar images, demonstrating the value of lidar imagery in archaeological survey. It should appeal to the general reader interested in the area, as well as to students and specialists.

Roman Military Tribunes is a historical and prosopographical study of the men who served in that rank between the first century BC and the third century AD, presented in three volumes. Volumes I and II contain the prosopographical catalogue in two parts, while Volume III will offer an analysis of the evolution of the rank of military tribune.  

This volume (I) presents a catalogue of 285 Romans who held the military rank of tribune, divided into two main groups. The first of these, Tribuni militum in exercitu, i.e. military tribunes in the army, contains the biographies of 133 military tribunes who received their appointment during the first century BC and first century AD. This group of Roman officers includes those whose later status – following the reforms of Augustus – would qualify them to serve as senatorial tribuni laticlavii, and a much more numerous group who as equites would have qualified to serve as tribuni angusticlavii. 

The second group of 152 individuals, Tribuni militum in praetorio, features Roman military tribunes who, between the first century BC and the third century AD, were assigned to serve in the cohortes praetoriae, cohortes urbanae, cohortes vigilum and equites singulares Augusti. These formations formally belonged to the Roman military system, although they had a special status. As they alone were stationed on Italian soil, they formed the garrison in Rome, and served to protect the person of the Emperor.

The Argive Plain in the northeastern Peloponnese, Greece, was central to the Mycenaean culture during the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1600–1200 BCE). While known for its settlements and treasures, little is understood about its agricultural sustainability. This study examines Mycenaean farming in the Argive Plain and its societal implications, investigating if resource depletion contributed to the Bronze Age collapse.

Using agricultural potential modelling, it reconstructs farming practices within the region’s political hierarchy, assessing sustainability through food consumption, energy needs, and land usage. Results indicate sustainable agriculture despite challenges like drought. However, ruling elites’ additional production needs may have strained resources. The thesis also addresses estimations of Neolithic and Bronze Age Aegean subsistence space, highlighting the overlooked impact of livestock on agricultural potential. By incorporating dairy and meat production, future models can better represent food production and environmental sustainability.

This research enhances understanding of Mycenaean agricultural practices before the Bronze Age collapse, illustrating how elite formation likely influenced local communities and broader society.

Late Antique Stamped Amphorae as Evidence for Imperial Policy: The Halasarna Workshop, Cos Island  is the culmination of over 15 years of research. It suggests the administrative stamping throughout the Late Antique (5th-7th centuries) Mediterranean of amphorae known as LRA 1 at city level and of the type LRA 13 at state level. It also presents new evidence related to the so-far unique stamped amphora workshop at Halasarna in Cos, excavated by the University of Athens. The stamps are presented in a unified catalogue and comparative study with the increasing numbers of similar examples.

Special attention is given to the LR 13 stamped amphorae as the Halasarna workshop offers the historical and archaeological frame to study them. The workshop started production at Halasarna in the second half of the 6th century AD and continued for 70-100 years, during which time Cos was administered by the quaestor exercitus or ‘eparch of the islands’ who operated under the direct control of the emperor. Precisely this historical situation is reflected in the archaeological evidence of the LRA 13 stamps.

Codename SICILYWAR is a multidisciplinary, innovative investigation into the impact of World War II on archaeological sites and museums in Sicily (1940–45). The island’s cultural and archaeological heritage was under major threat from Allied bombing, landing and military occupation. The book has three main aims. Firstly, it investigates how national, local civilian and military authorities dealt with discoveries of archaeological finds in the area from construction of military structures by the Italian and Allied forces to the protection of antiquities. Secondly, it looks to reconstruct contexts and social networks involving the national and military authorities, archaeologists and local communities, acting and ‘clashing’ in a state of war and emergency. Finally, it contextualises Sicilian archaeology on the wider European stage, comparing Sicily with other European contexts.

The book benefits from a thorough analysis of hundreds of newly-discovered documents (dispatches, letters, reports, pictures, etc.) which are included in a substantial appendix. Social contexts are assessed by a four-level system to identify networks on a national, regional, local and supranational scale. Through the lens of archaeology, history, archival records, museum, social and military studies, the book will benefit a variety of scholars and experts who are jointly interested in the study of Sicilian antiquities, local communities and war contexts in the 1930s and 1940s.

Across many regions, the materiality of rural settlements, particularly their domestic context, tends to be poorly studied and represented. Furthermore, between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (4th to 12th centuries), the countryside was greatly transformed: changing settlement patterns, trade routes and connections all contributed to the emergence of new modes of living.

Mirroring Worlds aims to connect the domestic spaces of rural settlements from these periods with other rural contexts, such as cemeteries or production areas, which were also part of the living and organisational dynamics of the communities that inhabited them. Particularly, it focuses on approaches that study faunal, environmental, spatial or bioarchaeological data arising from funerary contexts, husbandry and crop dynamics, and/or production centres and domestic spaces, with the aim of gaining more knowledge on the associated rural settlements and/or of integrating pre-existing knowledge. Additionally, the contributions present new findings that result from systematic excavations in the broader context of landscape archaeology and that by the use of new technologies (geomagnetic, spectrometers, Lidar, drones, etc.) and archaeometric analyses, provide promising and accurate new data. Topics include human-animal or human-plant interactions, trade and exchange, populational dynamics (such as domestic and industrial spaces related to materiality), paleoenvironment, landscape archaeology, and living conditions, all expressly connected to the rural domestic settlements they represent.

Magia y brujería en el Mundo Antiguo analyses magic and witchcraft in its different aspects and forms in the ancient world from an international and multidisciplinary perspective. Case studies come from Egypt, the Greek and Roman world and from Late Antiquity, and even cover the reception of ancient magic in the modern world. From an archaeological perspective, contributions study magic through everyday objects, focusing on the Iberian period and on the Roman period in the colony of Clunia Sulpicia. A further chapter investigates how magic transforms the landscape. On the other hand, disciplines such as history and philology are employed to explore specific examples of the use of magic and its evolution in different periods from Egyptian times to Late Antiquity. Overall the volume demonstrates how magic is present, adapts and is reshaped over the centuries, while maintaining its basic formulas, structures, acts and words with the aim of transforming reality.

Focusing on the Western half of Stod, this is the fourth in a series of five volumes that comprehensively document rock art in Upper Tibet. It examines a panoply of graphic evidence found on stone surfaces, supplying an unprecedented view of the long-term development of culture and religion on a large swathe of the Tibetan Plateau. The pictographs (rock paintings) and petroglyphs (rock carvings), host sites, and descriptions and analyses presented are the direct result of intensive fieldwork conducted by the author in Upper Tibet between 1995 and 2016. Information on rock art production techniques, subject identification, thematic class, mode of presentation, physical condition, estimated age, and relative location are supplied for each piece of rock art. In addition to the datasets, the book offers rock art site descriptions and assesses the cultural, religious and artistic development of these locations.

Sealing practices were widespread across the Mediterranean and Southwest Asia from prehistoric to historic times. The practice of impressing ceramic vessels with seals before firing is relatively unusual, but appears to have been a flexible custom that emerged, disappeared and reemerged over time. Judging by the sheer number of instances, it was particularly important to the Early Bronze Age populations of the Levant. This study is based on the author’s analysis of the large assemblage of impressed ceramics from the site of Ḫirbet ez-Zeraqōn in northern Jordan. A full revision of the excavation records allows for the exploration of the role of these artifacts in relation to the broader dynamics of ceramic consumption through the lifetime of the settlement. The picture is then enlarged to include the evidence from the entire Levant and northeastern Syria. This work builds on recent research that has redefined the complex chronological sequences of the regions to provide a detailed and updated overview of the practice of impressing ceramic vessels with seals in the fourth and third millennia BCE from its first appearance through to its demise. The evaluation of manufacture, distribution, and use of seal-impressed vessels fills gaps in our understanding of the emergence and development of the pot-sealing phenomenon, while providing evidence for assessing the long-standing questions about the function(s) and meaning(s) of these artifacts.

Harbours of the Aegean in Late Antiquity and the Medieval Period presents the first comprehensive introduction to the archaeological study of harbours and maritime connectivity in the Aegean that goes beyond the investigation of individual sites. By synthesising the evidence for different harbour infrastructures and their functionality, a framework for the correct interpretation and thus hierarchical interaction of coastal facilities is developed. This offers a general understanding of the complex picture of seascapes in the Eastern Mediterranean in Late Antiquity and the medieval periods.

In contrast to most studies, the book examines not only port cities and major harbour sites, but incorporates and focuses also on local and regional infrastructures as the diachronic backbone of the maritime economy. This results in a comprehensive analysis of historical and architectural developments, as well as an in-depth understanding of port networks and maritime connectivity in the Byzantine East.

A detailed archaeological examination of the province of Thessaly is used as a representative case study. It constitutes not only an ideal region to gain a balanced spread of information for the Early to the Late Byzantine periods, but also to compare independent regional and imperial building activities. Furthermore, by featuring very diverse maritime and coastal landscapes, it encompasses a large variety of coastal sites and thus reflects the full spectrum of maritime activities in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. These include gulfs, open coastlines, peninsulas, archipelagos and river deltas.

Bronzization is a collection of state-of-the-art articles which integrate new insights from the many advances in research on the subject into a new and up-to-date vision of the Bronze Age as a Europeanised or even globalised period. Though written by different authors, the papers form a cohesive whole, discussing new data and critically reflecting on old data in a new way. In so doing, they revise current understanding of the crucial prehistoric process of bronzization and bronzification in line with a holistic view of the new scientific advances the past decades have brought about.

The investigations of bronzization within the book show that it can take many forms and can be examined from many different perspectives. From the British Isles to Central Europe and from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia, Bronzization highlights case studies and examples which show how Europe was united in its unique representation of local differences and that that unity was highly dependent upon long-distance relationships of varying characters. The book includes contributions from the world’s foremost Bronze Age researchers who give concrete examples by which to compare local practices and global processes. While such connections have been hypothesised in the past, it is only now, at the current state of scientific research, that we can draw the first transnational insights into the globalised Bronze Age in this way. Furthermore, the book weaves in discussions linking the theoretical concept of bronzization with the latest scientific investigations on Bronze Age mobility. The unique range of authors, from natural scientists to classical archaeologists, mirrors the depth and breadth of variations from the Bronze Age world, allowing the reader to experience globalised research on the Bronze Age as a globalised period in and of itself.

The Black Sea: Hub of Peoples and Cultures (8th Century BC–5th/6th Century AD) presents the Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress on Black Sea Antiquities, held in Thessaloniki in September 2022 and dedicated to the memory of Prof. Alexandru Avram. This volume continues the tradition of bringing together leading scholars from across Europe and beyond, showcasing new research on the diverse cultures, interactions, and archaeological discoveries that shaped the Black Sea region in antiquity.

Despite the challenging global context in which the Congress took place, it successfully facilitated scholarly exchange on topics ranging from Greek colonisation and local indigenous societies to trade networks, religious practices, and imperial influences from the Archaic to Late Antique periods. The volume comprises contributions from specialists in archaeology, history, and numismatics, as well as reports on new excavations and projects, reinforcing the Black Sea’s role as a crucial crossroads of civilisations.

Maintaining the high standards set by previous congresses, this publication offers fresh perspectives and significant advances in Black Sea studies, ensuring its place as an essential resource for scholars of the ancient Mediterranean and Eurasian worlds.

Instrumentum navis: Le àncore litiche e plumbee della Soprintendenza del Mare della Regione Siciliana is the result of a study carried out in collaboration with the Sicilian Region's Superintendency of the Sea. It concerns the study of all the lithic, lead and metal anchors from the Sicilian underwater environment, deposited in the rooms of the Arsenal of the Royal Navy in Palermo, in the warehouse of the former Roosevelt Institute in Addaura, and in the courtyard of Palazzetto Mirto in Palermo, the headquarters of the Superintendency of the Sea.

The study on the anchors was conducted through an extensive census, documentation and archive study that offered a chance to understand the numerical consistency of the property and its value.

The census and cataloguing activity continued with historical research on the types of anchors over the centuries and the impact they had on navigation, routes and ports in ancient times, as well as on the birth of the underwater collection in Sicily and the creation of the Superintendency of the Sea, which has carefully and innovatively managed the entire Sicilian underwater archaeological sector over the last twenty years.

For the anchors described here, and through the entry registers and ancient publications, it was possible to trace the data on the places where the anchors were found, which covered the entire coastline of Sicily, including the smaller islands, thus providing the starting point for the creation of a digital mapping of the finds through the G.I.S. (Geographic Information System) and providing a guideline for future research.

Between Peak and Plain, produced on behalf of the Mellor Archaeological Trust, presents the results of 12 seasons of community-based excavations carried out with the support of the former University of Manchester Archaeological Unit. Mellor is part of the metropolitan borough of Stockport in north-west England and lies in the foothills of the Peak District and southern Pennines. The excavations were centred on the Old Vicarage on a hilltop spur commanding extensive views westward over the Cheshire Plain. The investigations revealed a multiperiod site with evidence of activity from the Mesolithic to the post-medieval period. The principal remains were of the Iron Age and the medieval period. The Iron Age evidence included rock-cut ditches defining an inner enclosure and an extensive outer enclosure, ring-gullies, and linear gullies, with elements of material culture which included a regionally significant assemblage of pottery. The main medieval remains were the post pits of an aisled hall, which from historical evidence probably belonged to a forester of the royal hunting preserve of Peak Forest. The site also produced lithics of the Earlier and Later Mesolithic, a smaller Late Neolithic–Early Bronze Age group which included a flint dagger and polished flint chisel, and an assemblage of pottery and other artefacts demonstrating Romano-British occupation. Radiocarbon dating points to activity in the early medieval period. From the post-medieval period the site produced an important assemblage of clay tobacco pipes. Findings from the excavations are considered in this volume within their wider regional context.

Waterscapes Archaeology: Multi-scalar Human-Environment Interactions in Coastal Lagoons presents papers from a session of the 7th International Landscape Archaeology Conference (Iași-Suceava, Romania, and online 2022). It brings together a series of interdisciplinary studies that investigate the historical, ecological, and socio-economic significance of coastal lagoons across various regions and time periods. The chapters delve into long-term human-environment interactions within these dynamic ecosystems, focusing on themes such as resource exploitation, settlement patterns, and paleo-environmental reconstructions. The volume highlights diverse case studies, including the historical and cultural roles of lagoons in the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions, the socio-economic interdependencies revealed by prehistoric coastal settlements in the Persian Gulf, and diachronic changes in Italy’s Apulian wetlands. Innovative non-invasive techniques, such as magnetometry and ground-penetrating radar, are also examined for their contributions to marshland archaeology, offering new insights into previously hidden archaeological landscapes. Additionally, the volume explores the evolution of landscapes in the Venetian lagoon through archaeobotanical analyses and the complexities of lagoon management in the Roman world, addressing the challenges of resource control and ownership in shifting environments. Each chapter contributes to a comprehensive understanding of how ancient societies adapted to environmental changes and managed waterscapes, while also emphasizing the contemporary relevance of these findings for sustainable management and conservation of these vulnerable anthropo-ecological systems.

“It’s tempting to think that we can learn little from people who ate and drank, laughed and cried, between 40 and 12,000 years ago, but I think we should – because these remarkable people not only lived but survived through a period of unimaginable change on our planet.” – from the foreword by Chris Packham

Living in the Ice Age takes you on a journey through life in Ice Age Europe, and the things you’d need to know to survive! This book looks at the daily life of biologically modern humans from about 40,000 to 12,000 years ago, a time when the climate and environment were changing rapidly. Explore the types of houses, food, clothes and toys people created in the Ice Age to see whether you would have liked to live back then.

Recent studies have revealed the existence of great social mobility in Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries, contrary to the previous historiographical consensus. The archival research carried out by various specialists – and above all by Dr. Enrique Soria Mesa and his team – has been decisive in this discovery. Indeed, over the last two decades, the existence of a system based on significant mobility has been established as a new historiographical paradigm. This newly discovered system, however, preserved the appearance of eternity and statism that the prevailing ideological order required to perpetuate itself.

Nevertheless, not all this social progression was aimed directly towards the achievement of integration into the nobility. Quite often, under the veil of aristocratic or noble appearances, impressive artisanal and mercantile activities were developed over extensive periods. These activities were in fact closely related to the economic boost that for more than a century converted a large part of Spain – including Andalusia – into a first-rate economic power.

This book aims to rescue the history of a powerful intermediate category – formerly referred to as the bourgeoisie – that the contributors have been detecting in their research in national and local archives for more than twenty years. Based on that evidence, they suggest using the term mesocracy, since all these groups occupied intermediate spaces of power while they slowly tried to move upwards in the social ladder, a movement developed by resorting to long-term family strategies that created dynasties of officials that ranged from middle municipal positions (jurados or jurors) to public notaries, also including merchants, artisans, doctors, and lawyers.

In addition, in all these groups a very significant presence of Jewish converts – conversos – was noted, and it was these roles that the descendants of Jews found settled professional status, thus achieving not only socioeconomic success but also definitive assimilation, despite the repressive effects of the Inquisition and the racist blood purity statutes. Therefore, the overarching chronology, before and after the time under our scrutiny, suggests a fall in the 15th century from prominent power and status in many cities of Castile for the majority of Jews and conversos, followed by a slow recovery in the 16th and 17th centuries using a variety of means (such as minor institutional positions, like jurors in the city councils; professional associations – merchant guilds, for instance; or some noteworthy professions – doctors, notaries or prominent servants of the aristocracy), ending in a period of obscurity and oblivion in the 18th century. The book focuses on the Early Modern period, when for many conversos these mesocratic stages seem to have formed an acceptable, though discrete, solution. Nothing, however, should be taken for granted, and where possible the contributions survey the importance of the converso condition within the groups under study.

All seven contributions are based on a great variety of primary sources and together substantiate the book’s claims with a considerable weight of documentary evidence.

This double Festschrift honours the distinguished careers and academic accomplishment of art historians Elisabeth de Bièvre and John Onians, as well as their shared life as a married couple on the occasion of the 55th wedding anniversary. Their intellectual paths together and individually have led to unexplored territories extending their discipline and leaving a profound impact on those who have encountered them. We have chosen to felicitate Elisabeth and John together in a book that is personal, creative, and visually engaging. This book offers a platform for the many people who have accompanied them on their journeys, whether for brief moments or across decades and is honoured by contributors from diverse fields, including practising artists, fellow art historians and former students, colleagues from other professions, as well as friends. Since this is a volume for married couple, some chapters are in pairs or jointly authored.

The first section of the book features artworks that resonate with the lives and work and is including paintings, drawings, photography, poetry, fiction and travel writing. The second section presents personal and professional accounts of the roles of Elisabeth and John as teachers, colleagues, scholars, and friends. Some recall first encounters, others collaborations, memorable events, visits, travels and conversations. The third section compiles scholarly articles of traditional Festschrift fare. Here are saluted the theoretical approaches Elisabeth and John have innovated and their influence: the World Art Studies so closely connected to the University of East Anglia, Elisabeth’s geography of art and John’s neuroarthistory.

Following two Delta Conferences (funded through the British Academy Special Project of the Egypt Exploration Society), the first online in 2021 and the other at Ain Shams University in 2023, selected papers have been gathered in this first volume of a new series of Delta Reports. They detail archaeological work in the north of Egypt in the form of a series of reports from Predynastic sites at Minshat Abu Omar and the eastern delta, survey work in the Wadi Tumilat, and ongoing work at the fortress of Tjaru (Tell Hebou II) and the Tell el Basta ka-chapel of Pepi II. On the western side of the Delta, Ptolemaic and Roman material is reviewed from Tell Trugi, Taposiris-Magna and Naukratis. An overview article by the BEAST project discusses a method for calculating population distributions in the delta over the whole of ancient times to provide a broader context for the archaeological reports.

In 2013, during the excavation of the archaeological site of Pétermonostora (Hungary), two exceptionally large enamel plaques were discovered. The reliquary they belonged to was made by a Mosan artist, possibly in the Meuse Valley, a major intellectual and artistic centre of the period. The artwork's remains constitute one of the greatest discoveries in medieval Hungarian archaeology. Even though the site was completely destroyed by the Mongols in 1241, its remains, and especially artefacts like the reliquary, create a unique image of a large, thriving settlement, home to a Latin Christian masterpiece. Given the destruction of sources and artworks in the region, Pétermonostora offers a rare opportunity to examine artistic, cultural, and historical aspects of high medieval East-Central Europe.

Dr. Sophie Balace (Curator of metalworks at the Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels): “The discovery of the Pétermonostora plaques is as extraordinary as it is unexpected. Although Mosan goldwork remains are still relatively numerous, their discovery in an archaeological context is rare. The archaeological discovery of important goldsmith ornamental fragments on the site of Pétermonostora constitutes a major contribution to Mosan heritage. This attribution, which seems to be irrefutable, brings sensational new information to the study of medieval art.”

Many years ago, archaeologist George Hanfmann wrote that: ‘a word of caution must be added regarding the so-called ‘absolute’ dates. Because the Near East is so vital for the chronologies of the European, Central Asiatic … areas, it is well to remind ourselves from time to time that the two great pillars of the chronology of the Bronze Age, the Egyptian and the Mesopotamian, are not two stout towers resting on immovable foundations.’ His first pillar, the chronology of Egypt, has come under increasing scrutiny, particularly with respect to the ‘Third Intermediate Period’, which separates the 26th Dynasty from Egypt’s earlier history. To establish firmer dates for New Kingdom Egypt, scholars now point to synchronisms with Mesopotamia. Yet, how valid are these synchronisms? In many respects, Mesopotamian chronology seems antagonistic rather than complementary to the Egyptian. Egypt provides the dates for the Late Bronze Age Hittite empire, while Assyria controls those of the Neo-Hittite kingdoms that succeeded it in northern Syria during the Iron Age. Here, Imperial Hittite styles come into conflict with indications from Assyrian-dated artistic sequences. Similarly, at Byblos, links with Neo-Assyrian art have raised a mystery concerning its royal inscriptions, while Israel remains the focal point of heated debates in Iron Age archaeology. An option is simply to lower the start of the Iron Age, and there is much evidence from Mesopotamia consistent with this. The articles in this volume deal with several important aspects of ‘Assyria and the West’ (as related to the so-called ‘Dark Age’).