Overview

Empires of Antiquities is a history of the rediscovery of civilizations of the ancient Near East in the imperial order that evolved between the outbreak of the First World War and the 1950s. It explores the ways in which Near Eastern antiquity was redefined and experienced, becoming the subject of new regulation, new modes of knowledge, and international and local politics. A series of globally publicized spectacular archaeological discoveries in Iraq, Egypt, and Palestine, which the book follows, made antiquity visible, palpable and accessible as never before. The new uses of antiquity and its relations to modernity were inseparable from the emergence of the post-war world order, imperial collaboration and collisions, and national aspirations. Empires of Antiquities uniquely combines a history of the internationalization of a new ""regime of archaeology"" under the oversight of the League of Nations and its web of institutions, a history of British passions for Near Eastern antiquity, on-the-ground colonial mechanisms and nationalist claims on the past. It points to the centrality of the mandate system, particularly mandates classified A, in Mesopotamia/Iraq, Palestine and Transjordan, formerly governed by the Ottoman Empire, and of Egypt, in a new culture of antiquity. Drawing on an unusually wide range of archives in several countries, as well as on visual and material evidence, the book weaves together imperial, international, and local histories of institutions, people, ideas and objects and offers an entirely new interpretation of the history of archaeological discovery and its connections to empires and modernity.

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9780198824558

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Reviews

Melman provides a fascinating discussion of archaeological discoveries in the Middle East from 1914 to 1940, based primarily on a rich, diverse set of primary archival materials and secondary sources. Scholars of this period will find this complex, sophisticated, and well-documented volume to be both fascinating and instructive. Highly recommended. Graduate students and faculty. * W. Kotter, Weber State University, CHOICE * Billie Melman's exploration of the regime of antiquities (p. 9) and the internationalisation of the (material) past offers an important contribution to a wide range of fields, including the history of the interwar period, the history of archaeology and mandate politics and mechanised technology... Overall, this book demonstrates the author's considerable research skills and her eminently readable style... The strength of Melman's volume lies in her elucidation of the entangled and manifold connections between archaeology, imperial and colonial politics and modernity. The result is an important contribution to understanding the complexity of the internationalisation of the material past and the role of archaeology in that process. * Helene Maloigne, University College London, Antiquity *

"Ambitious, capacious, and impressive...at once an integrated and a comparative history of Britain's Middle Eastern empire. It is also a sharp study of hands-on archaeological practice and an important history of ideas...Such a sweeping history of archaeology's many registers is immensely ambitious and welcome...an excellent new British imperial history and work of cultural history. * Sarah Griswold, Arab Studies Journal; H-Net Middle East * Billie Melman's masterful Empires of Antiquities brings new perspectives and significant knowledge to the entangled relationships between empire building and antiquities… an important book for many reasons. It makes innovative arguments, asks difficult questions, presents fascinating case studies, and is based on critical readings of documents accumulated through many years of meticulous research. Melman's insistence on the political significance of antiquities and their multiple uses …makes Empires of Antiquities an indispensable addition to the literature on the history of archaeology. * Zeynep Çelik, Columbia University, Bustan The Middle East Book Review * this is an excellent study, filling a real gap in our understanding of the history of Near Eastern archaeology. This is a book to buy and read repeatedly. * Thomas W. Davis, Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies * Melman provides a fascinating discussion of archaeological discoveries in the Middle East from 1914 to 1940, based primarily on a rich, diverse set of primary archival materials and secondary sources. Scholars of this period will find this complex, sophisticated, and well-documented volume to be both fascinating and instructive. Highly recommended. Graduate students and faculty. * W. Kotter, Weber State University, CHOICE * Billie Melman's exploration of the ""regime of antiquities"" (p. 9) and the internationalisation of the (material) past offers an important contribution to a wide range of fields, including the history of the interwar period, the history of archaeology and mandate politics and mechanised technology... Overall, this book demonstrates the author's considerable research skills and her eminently readable style... The strength of Melman's volume lies in her elucidation of the entangled and manifold connections between archaeology, imperial and colonial politics and modernity. The result is an important contribution to understanding the complexity of the internationalisation of the material past and the role of archaeology in that process. * Hélène Maloigne, University College London, Antiquity *"

Billie Melman's exploration of the regime of antiquities (p. 9) and the internationalisation of the (material) past offers an important contribution to a wide range of fields, including the history of the interwar period, the history of archaeology and mandate politics and mechanised technology... Overall, this book demonstrates the author's considerable research skills and her eminently readable style... The strength of Melman's volume lies in her elucidation of the entangled and manifold connections between archaeology, imperial and colonial politics and modernity. The result is an important contribution to understanding the complexity of the internationalisation of the material past and the role of archaeology in that process. * Helene Maloigne, University College London, Antiquity *

Author Information

Billie Melman is Professor of History and Henri Glasberg Chair in European Studies at Tel Aviv University. She is a cultural historian of Britain and has written extensively on colonialism and orientalism, on uses of the British and imperial past, on memory and on gender.

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