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Understanding Roman Inscriptions
Lawrence Keppie
(Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1991)
This book about Roman inscriptions and their significance is a valuable resource for nonspecialists. Written on permanent materials, inscriptions help archaeologists confirm and amplify what they know about great events and provide a direct link to the lives and occupations of ordinary people. The 101 illustrations include 85 black-and-white photos of inscriptions in situ.
Burial Patterns & Cultural Diversity in Late Bronze Age Canaan
Rivka Gonen
(Eisenbrauns, 1992)
American Schools of Oriental Research Dissertation Series. From bench burials to open-pit burials from anthropoid coffins to structural tombs—this volume provides an updated and revised version of the author’s doctoral dissertation (under Benjamin Mazar and Trude Dothan). Changes in burial customs become an aid to understanding culture and social structures in Canaan during the settlement period. Illustrated with drawings of site plans and pottery styles, with an extensive bibliography.
The Biblical Lands
P. R. S. Moorey
(Peter Bedrick, 1991)
The latest addition to this publisher’s valuable Making the Past Series, The Biblical Lands tells how the history of the region was gradually pieced together over the centuries by travelers and chroniclers of the Middle Ages and by Biblical scholars. Building on this foundation, modern archaeologists have been able to illuminate the background of the Old Testament.
Four visual stories, using photos and reconstruction drawings, describe the Canaanite city of Hazor, the art of pottery in Phoenicia, Solomon’s Temple and the magnificent palace of Persepolis, home of the Persian kings. The volume is enhanced by many color and black-and-white illustrations, five maps and a valuable glossary. The author is keeper of the Department of Antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
The Crisis Years: The 12th Century B.C., From Beyond the Danube to the Tigris
ed. William A. Ward and Martha Sharp Joubowsky
(Kendall/Hunt Publishing, Dubuque, IA, 1992)
These articles examine archaeological and philological evidence for a crucial period in Mediterranean history—the transition from the Bronze to the Iron Age. They were compiled following an international conference sponsored by the Center for Old World Archaeology and Art at Brown University that identified problems in interpreting the Bronze/Iron Age transition and proposed guidelines for future research. The contributors, many familiar to BAR readers—William Hallo, William Dever, Trude Dothan—raised fundamental questions about traditional views and suggested different possible answers to long-known problems.
Understanding Roman Inscriptions
