In 2015 at Dalfsen (the Netherlands) archaeologists made an amazing discovery. They found a burial ground dating from the TRB-period (3000-2750 BC) comprising 141 burial pits. The TRB is dated in the last phase of the Middle Neolithic period and is well known for its megalithic monuments which are widespread through large parts of northern Europe.

Until recently few non-megalithic burial grounds were known and the find of the Dalfsen burials created new opportunities to study the mortuary rit...

Vijftien jaar was Domitianus als keizer van Rome aan de macht (81-96). Na de onverwachte dood van zijn oudere broer Titus, die slechts twee jaar regeerde, was hij de logische troonopvolger. Domitianus zette op veel punten het beleid van zijn populaire vader Vespasianus (keizer tussen 69-79) en Titus (79-81) voort. Met succes: er heersten vrede, rust en stabiliteit op de meeste plaatsen in het Rijk. De handel en bedrijvigheid floreerden, ook al plukte niet iedereen daarvan de vruchten. Intusse...

La publication des actes du colloque « Mégalithismes et monumentalismes funéraires : passé, présent, futur » reprend les trois grands thèmes de ces rencontres internationales en offrant une large place aux études récentes du mégalithisme en Europe ainsi qu’à l’ethnoarchéologie et aux questions de valorisation et de conservation de ce patrimoine fragile.

Les contributions d’experts internationaux montrent tout l’intérêt de voir au-delà du monument afin de comprendre son ...

Barrows at the Core of Bronze Age Communities argues exactly that. Round barrows do not just represent the death side of Early Bronze Age communities placed in set-a-side ritual landscapes, but were instead central to existence in many ways. This study of the Rother Region, where the Weald meets the Wessex massif, reports the results of the People of the Heath project, 2014–18. It integrates a wealth of data from comprehensive field study of all relevant sites in the region with that from e...

The Netherlands are internationally renowned for the archaeology of its wetland environments. The reclamation of the Flevoland Polders in the early half of the 20th century not only exposed hundreds of shipwrecks, but also remnants of prehistoric landscapes and traces of human occupation dating to Mesolithic and Neolithic times. Ultimately, this led to the ‘discovery’ of the Swifterbant Culture in the 1960s-1970s, and which was initially seen as a Dutch equivalent of the Ertebølle Culture.

Archaeological investigations conducted by the University of Groningen, and later also the University of Amsterdam, delivered important new data on the nature of the Swifterbant Culture. It became key in the discussion about the adoption of crop cultivation and animal husbandry by hunter-gatherers living in wetland environments. Also, the Swifterbant Culture became central in the debate on the meaning of archaeologically defined ‘cultures’, questioning relationships between social interaction and material culture. With the increase of urbanisation and infrastructural works, alongside changes in the Dutch Monuments Act, dozens of small and large-scale development-led investigations got initiated at the turn of the centur...

Tussen wetenschap en wandelgangen beschrijft de ontwikkelingen in de Nederlandse archeologie in de afgelopen vijftig jaar (1971-2020) tegen de achtergrond van het sinds 1971 jaarlijks gehouden congres: de Reuvensdagen.

Het is een halve eeuw met ingrijpende veranderingen in het bestel in Nederland, de bescherming en het onderzoek van archeologische vindplaatsen, de omvang van de beroepsgroep en de aard van de instellingen die het archeologische werk uitvoeren. Zijn de jaren zeventig nog te bes...

In life, the emperor Domitian (81-96 CE) marketed himself as a god; after his assassination he was condemned to be forgotten. Nonetheless he oversaw a literary, cultural, and monumental revival on a scale not witnessed since Rome’s first emperor, Augustus.

In tandem with an exhibition in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden and the Mercati Traianei in Rome, planned for 2021-2022, this volume offers a fresh perspective on Domitian and his reign. This collection of papers, produced by a gr...

If you want to understand ancient Egypt, the Nile Delta is of key importance. Excavations and surveys in the Delta keep unearthing new information about how the ancient Egyptians lived, how they envisaged the afterlife and how they interacted with other cultures. The study of finds from the Delta gives us a glimpse into the beliefs and everyday life of the ancient Egyptians.

From 1979 to 2014 Willem van Haarlem worked on several archaeological sites in the Nile Delta, focusing on the excavati...

Were men the only hunters and producers of tools, art and innovation in prehistory? Were women the only gatherers, home-bound breeders and caregivers? Are all prehistoric female depictions mother goddesses? And do women and men have equal career chances in archaeology? To put it short, no. However, these are some of the gender stereotypes that we still encounter on a daily basis in archaeology from the way archaeologists interpret the past and present it to the general public to how they prac...

Barrows at the Core of Bronze Age Communities argues exactly that. Round barrows do not just represent the death side of Early Bronze Age communities placed in set-a-side ritual landscapes, but were instead central to existence in many ways. This study of the Rother Region, where the Weald meets the Wessex massif, reports the results of the People of the Heath project, 2014–18. It integrates a wealth of data from comprehensive field study of all relevant sites in the region with that from e...