Jebel Aruda, a prominent mountain ridge overlooking the Taqba Dam lake in northern Syria, was the location of a remarkable settlement that flourished between c. 3300 and 3100 BC during the so-called Uruk period. For the inhabitants the sacredness of this high place, evidenced by the discovery of a large temple complex, seems to have taken precedent over its impractical location far above the valley of the Euphrates River. The site was destroyed under unknown circumstances, leaving behind the ...

Archaeology has gone digital for some time now! Topics such as GIS databases, 3D models, drone photography, meta- and para-data, semantic mapping, text mining, simulation, and social network analysis have become commonplace in archaeological discourse and practice. Digital and technological advancements seemingly offer limitless promises for data recording, analysis and dissemination. Yet, after several decades of innovation, we must ask ourselves which of these promises are actually fulfille...

While terrestrial archaeology has engaged with contemporary philosophy, maritime archaeology has remained in comparative disciplinary – or subdisciplinary – isolation. However, the issues that humans face in the Anthropocene – from global warming to global pandemics – call for transdisciplinary cooperation, and for thinking together beyond the confines of the human-centered philosophical tradition. Growing areas such as the “blue humanities” and “oceanic thinking” draw directl...

Expeditie Egypte verhaalt de geschiedenis van twee eeuwen fascinerende archeologische ontdekkingen en de totstandkoming van de Egyptische collectie vanhet Museum Kunst & Geschiedenis in Brussel. In de negentiende eeuw leefde er in Belgische diplomatieke en industriële kringen een grote belangstelling voor het verleden van Egypte, dat toen een belangrijke plaats bekleedde in de internationale politiek en economie. In de eerste decennia van de twintigste eeuw speelde de flamboyante egyptoloo...

Face to face. The people behind mummy portraits (Ben van den Bercken, Olaf Kaper, eds) accompanies the first exhibition on Ancient Egyptian mummy portraits in the Netherlands.

Who were the people portrayed? How were they depicted and why? Who were they seen by? And: how do we think about self-presentation and being remembered in an age of selfies and fluid identities? In this lushly illustrated book, readers not only get to know the people portrayed, but also the makers, relatives, collectors...

From a mummy on board the Titanic to the pyramids’ alignment with the stars, from psychoactive mushrooms to the lost realm of Atlantis: alternative Egyptology has always focused on subjects that others shunned. Ever since the birth of mainstream Egyptology with the decipherment of the hieroglyphic script two hundred years ago, alternative interpretations and imaginative theories have flourished alongside it. They intertwined with egalitarian and spiritual tendencies in society during the ni...

The volume in hand throws light on historical encounters with troubled pasts in contemporary Dutch and Greek historiography. Contributors, experts in their respective research fields with a wide range of scholarly publications, eschew dominant national accounts, deconstruct top-down narratives, and situate the historical subject(s) at the centre of the analysis.

Troubled pasts are the outcome of local, national and international conflicts, of the continuous quest for growth and dominance, of...