
Guayabo de Turrialba
Space of power
In the heart of Costa Rica lies an archaeological site known as Guayabo de Turrialba, the principal city of a pre-Columbian civilization.

Understanding Early Civilizations (2003)
A book by Bruce Trigger
This book by the late Bruce Trigger offers a fascinating comparative analysis of seven early complex societies or “civilizations”.

Together forever
Publius Aiedius Amphio and his wife
We take a closer look at a realistic portrait of a Roman Republican couple from ca. 30 BC, identified as Publius Aiedius Amphio and his wife.

The dead are many
A polyandrion from Paros
In the 1980s, excavations in Paroikia, the capital of the Cycladic island Paros, revealed the mass cremation burial of dozens of young men. It is believed to be the earliest Greek polyandrion, a grave for war dead.

Aristeia and philotimia
Two key concepts of the ancient Greek world
In this article, we explore two important concepts of the warrior ethos that was at the heart of ancient Greek culture.

Romantic love in Homer
Some material in a doctoral thesis never makes the final cut, but can instead be turned into articles. An example is a peer-reviewed article that I wrote about romantic love in the Homeric epics.

The death of Seneca
Seneca, a proponent of Roman Stoicism, calmly committed suicide when ordered to do so by Emperor Nero.

An Egyptian Game of Thrones?
The Second Intermediate Period
Ancient Egypt had periods of political instability, in which different factions vied for control, not unlike the drama seen in Game of Thrones.

Bending in the grave
Killing weapons in the Early Iron Age Aegean
Most of the objects recovered in archaeological excavations are broken. Sometimes this breakage is intentional. In Early Iron Age Greece, particularly the tenth and ninth centuries, intentionally destroyed weapons were deposited in burials.

Etruscan women
Ostentatious display and social power
I hope to write a number of pieces for Ancient World Magazine about women in pre-Roman Italy over the next year, so consider this the first of a much more ambitious project.