Annales Du Service LXXVIII Vol. 78 Reviews

2012 American Publishers (PROSE) Awards winner for Best Archaeology & Anthropology Book

For most of the modern world, ancient Nubia seems an unknown and enigmatic land. Only a handful of archaeologists have studied its history or unearthed the Nubian cities, temples, and cemeteries that once dotted the landscape of southern Egypt and northern Sudan. Nubia’s remote setting in the midst of an inhospitable desert, with access by river blocked by impassable rapids, has lent it not only an air of mystery, but also isolated it from exploration. Over the past century, particularly during this last generation, scholars have begun to focus more attention on the fascinating cultures of ancient Nubia, ironically prompted by the construction of large dams that have flooded vast tracts of the ancient land. This book attempts to document some of what has recently been discovered about ancient Nubia, with its remarkable history, architecture, and culture, and thereby to give us a picture of this rich, but unfamiliar, African legacy.

The British Museum Concise Introduction to Ancient Egypt provides a lively and accessible introduction to ancient Egyptian life and culture set in the specific geography of the land and its river, the Nile, within the historical framework of the dynastic sequence. The nearly independent chapters provide a comprehensive and entertaining survey of ancient Egypt and its rich and well-documented culture. The principal topics incorporate significant older as well as more recent scholarship, spiced with ideas based on the author’s long experience in the study of ancient Egypt, making stimulating and thought-provoking reading. In addition to individual chapter bibliographies there is a general bibliography, an annotated list of important museum collections, a king list with a selected set of illustrated royal cartouches, and a general index. Highlights include: • Lively overviews distilled from the latest discoveries and research • Maps, plans, reconstruction drawings, chronologies, site lists and recommendations for further reading • Hundreds of color and black-and-white illustrations