In recent decades data provided by funerary archaeology has revolutionized our understanding of the proto-urban landscapes of Latium in the early Iron Age. The data that provide a compelling argument for the emergence of fixed systems of social hierarchy contribute greatly to the study of the first wave of urbanism that transformed the Italian…[Read more]

Book review of Ancient Samnium. Settlement, Culture, and Identity between History and Archaeology
By Rafael Scopacasa. Pp. xvi + 352, figs. b&w 22, tables 12. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2015. £75, $125. ISBN-13: 978-0-19-871376-0.

Book review of Borg ( B.) Crisis and Ambition. Tombs and Burial Customs in Third-Century CE Rome. Pp. xx + 308, ills, maps, colour pls. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Cased, £105, US$185. ISBN: 978-0-19-967273-8.

Review of Regter W., Imitation and Creation: Development of Early Bucchero Design at Cerveteri in the Seventh Century B.C. (Allard Pierson Series 15). Amsterdam: Allard Pierson Museum, 2003. Pp. 312, illus. ISBN 90-71211-36-3. €137.50.

Powerpoint accompanying invited presentation, “Gospel Thrillers: Fear, Desire, and the U.S. Bible” at Michigan State University, October 16, 2017

The second-century Protevangelium of James contains an enigmatic scene that has fascinated readers for centuries: the stilling of the natural world at the birth of Jesus. Joseph describes the spectacle as he departs the cave in which Mary is laboring: “I looked up at the vault of the sky and saw it fixed. I saw the clouds paused in amazement, a…[Read more]