American Journal of Archaeology

It is surprising how much attention is paid in the modern study of ancient Greek art to change, for art is predicated on materially embodied objects, whereas change is an inherently immaterial logical structure. As Osborne puts it in his ambitious new book, “describing how the painting and sculpture of one period differs from that of preceding [periods] should not be mistaken for offering an account of the change that has occurred” (5).

This sizable volume, which presents the proceedings of a 2010 conference of the same name, has already taken its place as a benchmark volume for Aegean prehistorians. Like Problems in Greek Prehistory (E.B. French and K.A. Wardle, eds. [Bristol, U.K., 1988]), invoked by the editors in their introduction, Mycenaeans Up To Date seeks to address enduring scholarly questions but within the narrower chronological and geographical scope of Mycenaean archaeology of the northeastern Peloponnese.

The volume presents a collection of contributions dedicated to the archaeology of northern Anatolia in the Roman and Byzantine periods. By involving scholars from both museum and academic institutions, it explores the state of research in the region, offering an important glimpse of the results of several international projects in Paphlagonia and Pontus. The book stems from a conference held in Amasya in 2014 that was part of the research project Where East Meets West (University of Southern Denmark) sponsored by the Danish Council for Independent Research.

This volume collects 18 papers written in honor of Burton MacDonald, who is best known for his survey archaeology work in western Jordan. He was one of the first survey archaeologists in Jordan who employed sampling via walking transects. In the process, he was responsible for identifying over 2,400 archaeological sites. MacDonald’s primary interest lies in historical sites, particularly in the biblical and early Christian periods, but his work has been profoundly important for scholars of prehistoric periods as well.

Tell Kazel is identified as ancient Ṣumur, one of Egypt’s principal administrative centers in the Levant during the New Kingdom. It was no doubt chosen for its strategic location on the main trade route from the Mediterranean to inland Syria, the economic benefits of which are evidenced in the relatively large assemblages of imported Mycenaean and Cypriot pottery.

The study of ancient textiles, a major yet exasperatingly perishable commodity, has burgeoned in the past 25 years as awareness of fiber crafts and the technical means for their study have improved. These 21 papers, from a conference on ancient Mediterranean cloth and clothing associated with cult, provide yet more insights, focusing on central though little-studied uses of cloth.

Political Landscapes of Capital Cities is a project by architectural and art historians examining how such landscapes are created, manipulated, and contested across space and time. The editors explicitly derive inspiration from Smith’s The Political Landscape: Constellations of Authority in Early Complex Polities (Berkeley 2003).

Sometime in the future, scholars of the Roman world will be as conversant with stable isotopes and alleles as with inscriptions and coins. Scheidel’s edited volume aims to accelerate the integration of palaeoscientific data into Roman studies, offering seven stand-alone chapters that outline the state of science-based research about the ancient past and its most significant findings.

This volume publishes all stone reliefs and fragments of reliefs found in the excavations of the Athenian Agora from 1931 to “the present” (ca. 2015), 224 in number (except 135 dedications to the Mother of the Gods, to be published separately). The author’s aims are to describe and discuss each relief and determine what it can contribute to the religious topography of the Agora and its vicinity and to our understanding of the various cults in this area. The volume, exemplifying the high standards of the Athenian Agora series, succeeds admirably.