ReViews: Ancient Levantine Cooking Pots: 10,000 Years of Cooking Memories

This book is an important contribution to the study of ethnoarchaeology, ceramics and food preparation in the southern Levant. Gloria London, Ph.D. (University of Arizona), is an independent scholar with an impressive background in ethnoarchaeology and ceramics. Her ethnoarchaeological field projects include traditional potters in the Philippines, Cyprus and Jordan, and her archaeological fieldwork covers industrial, domestic, burial and ceremonial sites in Jerusalem, Tel Beersheba, Mt. Carmel caves, Negev Salvage excavation, Arava Expedition to Sinai and the Arava, Timna copper mines, Tel Yarmut and Tall al-‘Umayri, among others. Scholars and students interested in ancient food preparation will find this book an essential addition to their library.

Ancient Cookware from the Levant is organized into three main parts—Part I: Traditional Ceramics in the Levant and Cyprus, Part II: Ancient Manufacturing Techniques for Cookware and Part III: Cookware Through the Ages. The study is bookended with a preface and introduction with implications for study and a glossary.

Ethnoarchaeological studies related to the ancient southern Levant have until now focused on ovens and baking, with little interest in the preparation of other foods. London’s book corrects this neglect by providing one of the few ethnoarchaeological studies on cooking pots.