Obsidian, a shiny volcanic glass, was first used to make vessels in the mid-sixth millennium BC in the Near East, although other stone had been exploited for vessel manufacture since the thirteenth millennium BC. Unlike the stone used to make the earliest vessels, which was acquired from local and regional sources, obsidian had to be obtained from volcanoes located hundreds of kilometers from where vessels were made and used. The obsidian from these sources had long been exploited for making tools and by the tenth millennium BC obsidian artifacts can be found in communities located far distant from the sources. Nevertheless, it was not until the mid-sixth millennium BC that it was used to make vessels and even then they are rare: less than 200 have been found spread over four millennia (c. 5400–1500 BC). This is perhaps in part due to obsidian’s exotic origins but also because its comparative hardness and brittle nature made it difficult to work.To obtain a wider perspective on the use of obsidian for making vessels this book looks briefly at the properties of obsidian and the characteristics of the relevant sources and gives an overview of how obsidian has been understood and used by various communities around the world. The main part of the book examines the obsidian vessels found in the Near East. Previous studies have tended to take a site-specific viewpoint but here the opportunity has been taken to adopt a more holistic and integrated approach. This approach brings together different aspects of the vessels, including the provenance of the obsidian from which they were made, their morphologies, evidence for techniques of manufacture and the socioeconomic contexts in which they were produced and used, and attempts to determine whether the use of obsidian was of itself meaningful or significant.

Hero of Belleau Wood, Lemuel Shepherd was the living embodiment of a Marine Corps legend, for Belleau Wood was synonymous with Marine valor and sacrifice.At the age of just 22, after early graduation from Virginia Military Institute following the United States’ entry into World War I, Lemuel Shepherd was made a platoon commander in the 5th Regiment of Marines. His first challenge was to help screen and organize the many recruits needed to convert the company up to war strength. Within just a couple of weeks of reporting for duty, he was on a ship bound for Europe. He would participate in the Aisne-Marne offensive, facing machine guns at the famous battle of Belleau Wood, receiving the DSC and Navy Cross for his gallantry. There he was twice wounded. He returned to the front in August, seeing action in the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives, being wounded for the third time.His career in the Marine Corps continued after the war, encompassing time as aide-de-camp to the commandant of the Marine Corps, duty in China and Haiti, and a period on the staff of Marine Corps Schools, Quantico. After the US entered World War II, Shepherd took command of the 9th Marine Regiment, training it and leading it overseas. Promoted to brigade command in July 1943, he served on Guadalcanal, then as assistant division commander in the Cape Gloucester operation. In May 1944, he assumed command of the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade and led them in the invasion and recapture of Guam. Finally, he commanded the 6th Marine Division through the battle of Okinawa, for which he received a Gold Star. He would command all Marines in the Pacific during the Korean War, and then in 1952 he was appointed as the 20th Commandant of the Marine Corps, introducing a number of important policies that increased military proficiency for the corps.This new biography utilizes Shepherd’s oral history, a wide range of archival records from the Marine Corps History Division and the Virginia Military Institute, and a personal interview conducted by the author with General Shepherd in the 1980s, to give a fuller picture of the consummate “Leatherneck.”

Textile tools offer a fascinating and yet intimate approach to ancient people. Textile production has been one of the core activities for millennia, spanning from domestic production to royal needs. Textiles were light and easy to transport goods, often exchanged over long distances. Technology and knowhow, however, might not have always traveled so easily. This work examines spinning and weaving tools from the Southern Levant (inland and coastal) and Egypt. The chronology of the study is broad, ranging from the Neolithic until the beginning of the Persian period (600 BC). The objects are investigated from both a diachronic and synchronic perspective to understand their evolution and continuity of use, as well as regional differences and textile production methods. The two areas present an only apparent discontinuity, as political boundaries gave way at various historical moments and the two areas had very close contacts, such as during the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt or the Egyptian domination of the Late Bronze Age. This seems to be reflected in textile documentation, which shows the appearance of Egyptian tools in the Levant, such as spinning bowls, and Levantine tools in Egypt, such as loom weights. However, the result is not so predictable.

The modern discipline of archaeology developed in tandem with the expansion of European imperialism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Cyprus, ruled by Britain between 1878 and 1960, is a fascinating example of how archaeology was practiced and developed in a specific colonial context. This volume explores the mechanisms, the institutions and the characters who contributed to the development of Cypriot archaeology, often within a fraught political environment. The 23 papers in this volume address aspects such as the role of local agents within a colonial environment; changing attitudes towards and interpretations of cultural heritage; the export of excavated materials and their onward journeys; the development of legal frameworks to prevent looting, and their practical application; co-operation and competition between different nation-states at the peak and decline of empires; the conflicts caused by economic priorities; and the impact of institutions and individuals who attempted to support or control rights over the heritage of the island. Through the lens of British-period Cyprus they trace the evolution of institutions and practices that remain important for archaeology in Cyprus to this day.This volume will be of interest to archaeologists, cultural heritage practitioners, museums, and anyone with an interest in the history of Cyprus.

This facsimile reissue of the 1975 second edition of Iversen’s Canon and Proportion brings back into print a seminal work originally published in 1955. Iversen describes a canon – that is, a set of rules of proportions – advanced and used by the artists of Egypt. In order to interpret the stylistic message of the Egyptian system of proportion he undertakes a study of the principles of its construction, an analysis of its modules and presents an unambiguous numerical definition of the ratios governing its units and parts, demonstrating its use with illustrated examples. He contends that much of the art, especially tomb art, was never intended to be seen by mortal eyes and, as such, was designed to follow a set of rules governed by the requirements of religious and cultic traditions rather than purely aesthetic considerations. Painting and sculpture were largely not primarily things of beauty but magical entities fraught with fateful significance. The development and use of a grid for practical application of the system can still be seen in tomb paintings and is demonstrated in the proportional correctness of statues. The system was based on an accurate standardization of the natural relations of the various parts of human anatomy, such as the relation of palm to forearm and forearm to height, expressed in simple numerical terms geometrically reflected in grids based on the fist. Iversen’s treatise was not without controversy but this fascinating study remains a hugely important contribution to the interpretation of Egyptian art.

This facsimile reissue of Anthea Page’s catalog of the stone and wooden statuary in the Petrie Museum makes available again a major corpus of material. The bulk of statuary in the museum was purchased since the finest sculpture from Petrie’s own excavations rightly went to Cairo and other museums. While the sculpture in his own collection covers the whole length of Egyptian dynastic history illustrating many different schools and qualities of workmanship, it does not provide a comprehensive view of the art of the Egyptian sculptor. Nevertheless, the 174 items described and discussed cover a wide range of subjects and forms. Statues of gods and animals and types loosely classifiable as ‘figurines’ or ‘models’ are deliberately excluded and the corpus focuses on representations of royalty, priests, officials and unknown individuals (men and women), of varying status and possible ethnicity in a variety of poses. Statues of multiple individuals are represented as well as a statuette of a man and a monkey. The catalogue is preceded by an introduction by H. S. Smith outlining the history of Egyptian portrait sculpture, the religious ideas behind it and nature of patronage, and is accompanied by detailed drawings and translations of associated inscriptions. All pieces are illustrated by photographs.

This is a facsimile reissue of part I of H.M. Stewart’s three part complete catalogue of the inscribed stelae, reliefs and paintings acquired by Flinders Petrie from his many Egyptian excavations and intended as a teaching collection. Over 200 monuments of the New Kingdom are described, translated and illustrated with comments on techniques and materials, and details of provenance, date and bibliographical references. The first section deals with royal monuments, mainly from the Theban mortuary temples and the Memphite temple of Ptah. This is followed by a section on relief sculptures for Amarna. Funerary stelae are divided into Osirian and Solar types and are followed by the votive stelae of private individuals. Many of the finest reliefs come from private tombs. The descriptions are accompanied by 53 plates of detailed scale line drawings. More than two-thirds of the monuments had never been published before this catalogue appeared and it was hailed, and remains, a major resource for scholars into this spectacular period.

This is a facsimile reissue of part III of H.M Stewart’s three part complete catalogue of the inscribed stelae, reliefs and paintings acquired by Flinders Petrie from his many Egyptian excavations and intended as a teaching collection. Over 140 monuments, primarily of the Late Period are described, translated and illustrated with comments on techniques and materials, and details of provenance, date and bibliographical references. Royal and official monuments are more sparsely represented than for the earlier periods but include several items of particular interest, including a stela with a long hymn to Osiris and another recording a work of restoration at Abydos under Osorkon I. the continuing development of private stelae includes a common type showing owner at worship with many examples displaying scenes and inscriptions painted rather than carved on wood or limestone. Small votive stelae are dedicated to, for example, Thoth, Min, Ptah and Isis and include magical stelae intended to cure snake bites, scorpion stings etc. The catalogue also includes miscellaneous statute fragments, some being more recently identified pieces from earlier periods, including those identified as representing prince Khaemwesat, son of Ramesses III and Rekhmire, vizier of Tutmoseis III. The descriptions are accompanied by 48 plates of detailed scale line drawings.

This book sketches the first archaeological history of the lower Sirwan/upper Diyala river valley of north-east Iraq and adjacent landscapes over a period of c. 12,000 years, from the earliest signs of human presence until the mid-first millennium BCE, based on data gathered between 2013 and 2023 by the Sirwan Regional Project (SRP).The central research objective of the SRP is to move beyond traditional historical topoi and their predominantly external and state-centric perspectives that have dominated narratives of the region thus far. Instead, we develop an in-depth, archaeological understanding of the nature of the region’s past communities, their cultural and economic practices, the modes of socio-political organisation they developed, adopted, and rejected, and their long-term developments.In order to reconstruct past Sirwan lifeways, the book interweaves regional-scale datasets with the results of ongoing and completed excavations at the Late Chalcolithic site of Shakhi Kora and the Late Bronze to Early Iron Age site of Kani Masi, as well as the results of a wide range of archaeological, Assyriological, art historical, and archaeometric analyses.

The essays in this book focus on archaeological approaches to the utilization of highland regions in southwestern and central Asia, examining the interplay between human communities and highland landscapes from the Paleolithic era to the present.Contributions combine case studies with theoretical considerations to explore adaptive strategies of movement. They discuss the significance of mobility within archaeological and anthropological discourse. Contributors engage with critical questions: How can archaeologists discern traces of movement and unravel material footprints of diverse mobility? How can they track shifts in mobility through time or regions? By systematizing observations on human spatial behavior across epochs and settings, these essays seek to test and refine traditional archaeological methodologies. They present nuanced frameworks and shed light on the adaptability and resilience of these communities.“Appropriating Height” aims to understand the human experience in highland environments. It is essential for those fascinated by the entanglement between people, place, and time, providing a comprehensive perspective on the legacy of human movement.This book is the second volume of a series published by the German-Iranian research cooperation “The Iranian Highlands: Resiliences and Integration in Premodern Societies”. The goal of the research project is to shine a new light on communities and societies that populated the Iranian highlands and their more or less successful strategies to cope with the many vagaries, the constant changes and risks of their natural and humanly shaped environments.

This year, with the centennial of Howard Carter’s discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, Martin Hense is presenting his meticulous research on the robberies that took place in the tomb of this Egyptian pharaoh, 3300 years ago. This book is the outcome of that research, presented like a true ‘cold case crime investigation’. Even though the tomb robberies took place more than 3300 years ago, the evidence for the way the robbers entered the tomb and the items they removed, could still be discerned when Howard Carter opened the tomb in 1922. Knowingly, but also unknowingly, Carter documented the last traces of evidence of these crimes. Now, one hundred years later in 2022, the evidence for the different robberies is presented through new analysis of the documentation of Howard Carter and his excavation team.

After decades in the Royal Marines, Andrew Canning spent four years working for coalition forces in Afghanistan as a civilian. During his time there, he met extraordinarily committed and brave civilians, not only on the program he was delivering but involved in supporting military forces in many other areas of the conflict. Coming to Afghanistan from across the globe, these civilians were making varied, crucial contributions to the conflict, much of it unseen to external observers. Canning brings his unique perspective to examine the part of civilians in supporting modern military operations, especially in campaigns of long duration. He was particularly impressed by the fortitude and resilience of those ensconced in some of the most remote forward operating bases in Taliban bandit-country and under repeated attack – isolated and utterly reliant on ISAF protection. He also explains some of the trials and tribulations of daily life for those living in a war zone, especially for civilians that do benefit from the “umbrella” of national government protection and provision, and pays tribute to the unheralded civilians who worked to the common good in Afghanistan.

The discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922 stands out as one of the most important finds of modern archaeology, revealing an enormous wealth of objects encapsulating techniques, vestiges of uses and re-uses of materials, as well as unrivalled clues regarding the complex set of beliefs associated with the pharaonic funerary material culture. Once cleared from the tomb, these objects have captivated the world with their irresistible charm and beauty ending up playing a role in contemporary popular culture. However, it seems that such magnetism rather hindered than facilitated the scholarly study of the find. One hundred years after the discovery of this magnificent tomb, most of its objects remain insufficiently studied to this day. This volume aims to show how it remains challenging to study Tutankhamun’s objects, gathering a collection of studies authored by leading scholars on conservation, materials, funerary beliefs as well as the reception of motifs and the impact of the discovery. Through these studies it becomes clear how ancient objects can help us reconstruct the complex fabric of the ancient Egyptian society and how they keep interacting with modern audiences.

The tombs, with their scenes, inscriptions, objects and human remains, represent our richest source of information for the understanding of Egyptian beliefs and practices, art and architecture and of many aspects of daily life. Detailed, scholarly reports on individual cemeteries and tombs are abundant but in this fully illustrated, more general work, reproduced in this facsimile edition, Kanawati provides an invaluable introduction to, and overview of, the key elements of Egyptian tombs from Predynastic to the Late Period. ¬The Egyptian dead enjoyed a continued existence in both the Netherworld and the land of the living – the individual possessing multiple entities that experienced different destinies after death. ¬The tomb provided an everlasting earthly dwelling and consisted of a chapel above ground where the deceased’s cult was maintained and offerings presented, and a burial chamber for the body. Either or both could be richly decorated with paintings, reliefs and inscriptions. Kanawati describes and illustrates the principal forms and features of architecture and nature and subject matter of decoration and demonstrates how tomb design and decoration changed through time.

This volume is a facsimile reissue of the full publication of the tomb identified as that of Amenemhab, a middle ranking priest of Amon. ¬The tomb lies within the lower enclosure of the major cemetery of Elwet Sheikh-Abdel Qurnah in ¬Thebes. It is cut into a perpendicular cliff of limestone and shale and is one of the private, so-called house-like chapel tombs of local dignitaries, mainly dating to the Ramesside Period. The plan is a common form for Theban tombs, comprising a short entranceway leading into a broad hall, an axial passage and a long hall or shrine with a niche and it is oriented north-east to south-west with a maximum length of c. 9.3 m. ¬There are no side chambers or columns. The tomb decoration was first recorded by Sir Robert Mond but not published by him. Although richly furnished with brightly coloured paintings and text, much of the decoration was badly degraded and damaged. The burial shaft was not discovered. In this volume Hassan El-Saady provides a summary description of the tomb itself with a panel by panel description of the inscriptions and paintings, accompanied by photographs and explanatory line drawings. He identifies the owner of the tomb and members of his family, and though close dating of the tomb is difficult as no ruling pharaoh is alluded to anywhere within it, scrutiny of the style, content and arrangement of both the actual tomb and the decoration points to the reign of Ramesses II.

The tomb of Re‘-wer lies in the south-eastern corner of the mortuary temple of King Teti, first King of the 6th Dynasty, beside the pyramid of Teti, in the Old Kingdom necropolis at Saqqara. Excavations in 1906–7 and in the early 1920s were not published and the tomb was re-excavated and partly restored in 1975–7. It comprised a paved courtyard within a temenos containing the rectangular chapel tomb, with surviving structure built of fine quality limestone blocks in inner and outer walls. It is unusual in having two false doors in the west wall. The roof was missing. Nothing was recovered from a burial shaft that lies close to the tomb. The walls and false doors are adorned with inscriptions and reliefs. ¬This facsimile reissue of Said el-Fikey’s detailed description of the surviving structure, decoration and transcription of the inscriptions is accompanied by a full set of photographs and illustrations. No biographical text survived and the author considers the possible date of the tomb in relation to the adjacent architecture and the style of the reliefs, concluding that it most likely dates to the reign of Pepi I. He discusses indications for the personality, family situation and official position of Re‘-wer, which may suggest that he was father to a wife of King Pepi and that both were disgraced for some reason.