This study considers the detailed archaeological and documentary records of Cyprus and Ugarit (Syria) to gain new insights into the long-term relations between two of the best known, well-connected polities in the Late Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean.

I engage with concepts such as maritime space and spheres of interaction, merchants and mercantilism, actors and agents. Some background on both Ugarit and Cyprus is presented, followed by examination of the common material features of both (e....

The main goal of this volume is to look at social groups involved in economic activity other than members of the palace-based institutions and “elites” in Late Bronze Age Mycenaean Greek societies. The palaces and elites are the usual subject of studies of ancient economies, often from a top-down approach, but here we consider a fuller range of the members of a society, their organization, their institutions, and their contributions to the economies of those societies from bottom-up appro...

The human past is unimaginable without the horse. From our ancestors hunting and painting horses in the Upper Palaeolithic, to the earliest riders, the rise of equestrian empires, and the critical role of horses in war, settler colonialism, and modern state formation, human history is undeniably equestrian. Because of the deep and varied entanglements between people and horses, the study of horses of the past is inherently, and increasingly, interdisciplinary. However, scholars often do not u...

In the rich archives of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities lies a fascinating manuscript dealing with the autopsy on an Ancient Egyptian mummy. This was performed in 1878 by the Museum’s curator Willem Pleyte. Thanks to Pleyte’s detailed procès-verbal, the mummy (which did not survive the dissection) can be reconstructed at least on paper. The name of the deceased has been inscribed on the mummy’s cartonnage, on some of the linen bandages, and on the Book of the Dead papyrus retrieved by...

St. Eustatius, a small island in the Lesser Antilles, has played an important role in Atlantic World history. Since its first permanent European settlement in 1636, the island changed hands 22 times between the Dutch, French, and English. As a result of the Dutch free trade policy, St. Eustatius became one of the Caribbean’s main transshipment centers in the eighteenth century. During the American War of Independence (1775-1783), large amounts of arms, ammunition, and gunpowder were shipped...

'Chariots on Fire, Reins of Power' presents the first comprehensive overview of 5th century BC elite graves from the Lower Rhine-Meuse region. Characterised by imported grave goods such as bronze vessels, horse tack, weapons and occasionally two-wheeled vehicles, these strikingly rich cremation burials are the northernmost representatives of an elite culture that had its roots in the Late Hallstatt and Early La Tène culture of more southern regions in France and the German Rhineland.

This b...

Heritage and Education are often cited together as two areas that could equally benefit from co-application and dialogue. This book includes some of the papers that were presented at the ‘Education VIA Culture’ conference, which was held online in December 2020. The chapters of this volume focus on how people can learn about heritage and engage with heritage through educational (formal or non-formal) processes.

In the VIA Culture understanding, the best way to create awareness about cultu...

Ancient Egyptian animal mummies can be found in almost every Egyptological museum collection. These mummified bodies of animals—from cats and falcons to scarabs and fish—played a role in animal cults and religion, but could also represent a favourite pet or serve as food for the deceased. Especially in Graeco-Roman Egypt, large numbers of animal mummies were deposited as votive offerings related to animal cults, thus playing a significant role in local economies. Studying their remains he...

One of the largest collections of Egyptian and Sudanese antiquities worldwide was accrued by the Egyptologist Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bissing (1873–1956). As a scholar, university professor, and politically engaged Prussian nobleman he was an important link in the international network of Egyptology and in the distribution of archaeological objects to museums. He was also active in other disciplines regarding the ancient world, such as Etruscology. Already during his life, the collec...