In Archaeology of Tibetan Books, Agnieszka Helman-Ważny explores the varieties of artistic expression, materials, and tools that have shaped Tibetan books over the millennia. Digging into the history of the bookmaking craft, the author approaches these ancient texts primarily through the lens of their artistry, while simultaneously showing them as physical objects embedded in pragmatic, economic, and social frameworks. She provides analyses of several significant Tibetan books—which usually carry Buddhist teachings—including a selection of manuscripts from Dunhuang from the 1st millennium C.E., examples of illuminated manuscripts from Western and Central Tibet dating from the 15th century, and fragments of printed Tibetan Kanjurs from as early as 1410. This detailed study of bookmaking sheds new light on the books' philosophical meanings.

Art and Architecture in Ladakh shows how the region’s cultural development has been influenced by its location across the great communications routes linking India with Tibet and Central Asia. Edited by Erberto Lo Bue and John Bray, the collection contains 17 research papers by experienced international art historians and architectural conservationists, as well as emerging scholars from Ladakh itself. Their topics range widely over time, from prehistoric rock art to mediaeval Buddhist stupas and wall paintings, as well as early modern castle architecture, the inter-regional trade in silk brocades, and the challenges of 21st century conservation. Taken together, these studies complement each other to provide a detailed view of Ladakh’s varied cultural inheritance in the light of the latest research.
Contributors include: Monisha Ahmed, Marjo Alafouzo, André Alexander, Chiara Bellini, Kristin Blancke, John Bray, Laurianne Bruneau, Andreas Catanese, Philip Denwood, Quentin Devers, Phuntsog Dorjay, Hubert Feiglstorfer, John Harrison, Neil and Kath Howard, Gerald Kozicz, Erberto Lo Bue, Filippo Lunardo, Kacho Mumtaz Ali Khan, Heinrich Poell, Tashi Ldawa Thsangspa and Martin Vernier.

Michael Loewe calls on literary and material evidence to examine three problems that arose in administering China’s early empires. Religious rites due to an emperor’s predecessors must both pay the correct services to his ancestors and demonstrate his right to succeed to the throne. In practical terms, tax collectors, merchants, farmers and townsmen required the establishment of a standard set of weights and measures that was universally operative and which they could trust. Those who saw reason to criticise the decisions taken by the emperor and his immediate advisors, whether on grounds of moral principles or political expediency, needed opportunities and the means of expressing their views, whether as remonstrants to the throne, by withdrawal from public life or as authors of private writings.

In honor of eminent archaeologist and historian of ancient Jewish art, Rachel Hachlili, friends and colleagues offer contributions in this festschrift which span the world of ancient Judaism both in Palestine and the Diaspora. Hachlili's distinctive research interests: synagogues, burial sites, and Jewish iconography receive particular attention in the volume. Archaeologists and historians present new material evidence from Galilee, Jerusalem, and Transjordan, contributing to the honoree’s fields of scholarly study. Fresh analyses of ancient Jewish art, essays on architecture, historical geography, and research history complete the volume and make it an enticing kaleidoscope of the vibrant field of scholarship that owes so much to Rachel.

First published in 1977, the Breviarium Urbis Romae Antiquae is a classic among the literary Rome guides for those who want to be guided by the classics on their walks through the Eternal City. It aims at providing the reader with a collection of texts giving the most important information on the building activities of the Roman aediles which can be drawn from Latin sources, covering a period of about eleven centuries. The texts have been arranged according to the division of Rome in fourteen regions and are grouped around a monument. This unique and charming booklet should be on the wish list of every classicist, archaeologist and art historian.

This book is based on an investigation of more than 2000 portraits of which around 500 have proven to be recarved. It provides thorough analyses of the different recarving methods, some of which can be attributed to geographically localized workshops, establishing classifiable categories, and an analytical text with special regard to the cultural historical changes in Late Antiquity. The investigation underpins a hypothesis on the late antique portraits style as a consequence of the many recarved portraits at the time, which relied on a syncretism of politics, religion and ideology. The conclusion gives a new understanding of how broad-scoped, culturally and politically encoded and comprehensive the practice of recarving was.

In Terracotta and domestic worship. Bestiary of the Graeco-Roman Egypt, Celine Boutantin proposes a new approach of terracotta produced in Egypt in the Greco-Roman period. A study taking into account the archaeological contexts allows to propose a synthesis of production workshops and to show, in some cases, an adaptation of the production of local cults. An inventory of figurines found in homes, temples and tombs allow to study the functions of these objects. Through the study of a particular theme, animal terracottas, the author raises questions about beliefs and personal or private practices.

Dans Terres cuites et culte domestique. Bestiaire de l’Égypte gréco-romaine, Céline Boutantin propose une nouvelle approche des figurines en terre cuite produites en Égypte à l’époque gréco-romaine. Une étude prenant en compte les contextes archéologiques permet de dresser un bilan des ateliers de production et de montrer, dans certains cas, une adaptation de la production à des cultes locaux. Elle permet aussi de dresser un inventaire des figurines trouvées dans les maisons, les sanctuaires et les tombes et de proposer une synthèse sur les fonctions de ces objets. A travers l’étude d’un thème particulier, les représentations animales, l’auteur aborde sous un angle nouveau la question des croyances et des pratiques personnelles ou privées.

Early Medieval Art and Archaeology in the Northern World brings together leading experts on the European early Middle Ages in a celebration of the life and work of internationally renowned scholar James Graham-Campbell. The geographical coverage of this volume reflects Graham-Campbell's interests and expertise which ranges from Ireland to Eastern Europe and from Scandinavia to Spain. The new perspectives and original studies offered represent a major contribution to the field of medieval studies, with papers on the art, archaeology, history and literature of European societies between the fifth and thirteenth centuries.
Contributors are Noël Adams, Barry Ager, Marion M. Archibald, Birgit Arrhenius, Coleen Batey, Cormac Bourke, Stuart Brookes, Ewan Campbell, Helen Clarke, Martin Comey, Rosemary Cramp, Wendy Davies, Ben Edwards, Signe Horn Fuglesang, Richard Gem, David Griffiths, Mark A. Handley, Birgitta Hårdh, Negley Harte, David A. Hinton, Ingegerd Holand, Judith Jesch, Alan Lane, Mick Monk, Richard North, Raghnall Ó Floinn, Patrick Ottaway, Raymond I. Page, Caroline Paterson, Neil Price, Barry Raftery, Mark Redknap, Andrew Reynolds, Ian Riddler, Else Roesdahl, John Sheehan, Alison Stones, Gudrun Sveinbjarnardóttir, Gabor Thomas, Nicola Trzaska-Nartowski, Patrick F. Wallace, Leslie Webster, Naimh Whitfield, Gareth Williams, Sir David Wilson and Sue Youngs.

Featuring eight innovative studies by prominent scholars of medieval art and architecture, this special issue of Medieval Encounters examines the specific means by which art and architectural forms, techniques, and ideas were transmitted throughout the medieval world (ca. 1000-1500). While focusing on the Mediterranean region, the collection also includes essays that expand this geographic zone into a cultural and artistic one by demonstrating contact with near and distant neighbors, thereby allowing an expanded understanding of the interconnectedness of the medieval world. The studies are united by a focus on the specific mechanisms that enabled artistic and architectural interaction, as well as the individuals who facilitated these transmissions. Authors also consider the effects and collaboration of portable and monumental arts in the creation of intercultural artistic traditions.
Contributors are: Justine Andrews, Maria Georgopoulou, Ludovico Geymonat, Heather E. Grossman, Eva Hoffman, Melanie Michailidis, Renata Holod, Scott Redford and Alicia Walker.

This two-volume publication explores the key factors determining the course and outcome of war in Late Antiquity. Volume 8.1 includes a detailed review of strategic and tactical issues and eight comprehensive bibliographic essays, which provide an overview of the literature. In Volume 8.2, thematic papers examine strategy and intelligence, fortifications and siege warfare, weaponry and equipment, literary sources and topography, and civil war, while papers focused on particular geographic regions home in on war and warfare in the West Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries, and the Balkans and the Eastern frontier in the 4th to 7th centuries AD.
Contributors are Susannah Belcher, Neil Christie, Ian Colvin, John Conyard, Jon Coulston, Jim Crow, Florin Curta, Hugh Elton, James Howard-Johnston, Jordi Galbany, Jordi Guàrdia, John Haldon, Michel Kazanski, Maria Kouroumali, Michael Kulikowski, Christopher Lillington-Martin, Marta Maragall, Oriol Mercadal, Jordi Nadal, Oriol Olesti, Alexander Sarantis, Conor Whately, Michael Whitby and John Wilkes.