This volume deals with the cultural remains of Ancient Anatolia from Early Neolithic times to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 b.c.e. To cover this enormous time period of roughly 10,000 years, the editors have organised the volume in five thematic parts: ‘The Archaeology of Anatolia: Background and Definitions’, ‘Chronology and Geography’, ‘Philological and Historical Topics’, ‘Thematic and Specific Topics’ and ‘Key Sites’. Each part consists of several chapters, written by well-known scholars who, on the whole, provide an excellent overview of contemporary research in various fields of Anatolian cultural studies. All chapters are self-contained and include short and extremely useful conclusions as well as references.

The first part provides an overview of the history and archaeology of Anatolia, starting with the Anatolian landscapes found in Greek sources such as Homer and Herodotus (McM., ‘The Land and Peoples of Anatolia through Ancient Eyes’). R. Matthews, ‘A History of the Preclassical Archaeology of Anatolia’, outlines the history of archaeology in Turkey during the last centuries, mentioning the plurality and diversity of the land and its remains. Extremely useful is the introductory chapter ‘Anatolian Chronology and Terminology’ by J. Yakar who presents the various chronologies of Anatolia's diverse areas and discusses the different methods of establishing these, including philology and scientific methods such as dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating. Various charts facilitate his overview.

Part 2 presents the development of settlements in Anatolia – starting with the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Ages and continuing with Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age until the Iron Age. For a better understanding and overview Anatolia is geographically divided into several parts, mainly Plateau, South-eastern Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia, West and Aegean. Due to lack of space not all of the seventeen chapters can be reviewed here. However, each chapter, presented in a chronological and areal sequence, describes the regional cultural evolution by looking at the major settlements and their remains, going into chronological details when needed. Maps indicate the places mentioned and chronological charts, excavation pictures, floor plans or pottery drawings complete a perfect first approach to each region and culture that might be pursued with the help of the references. All chapters mention not only well-known places, but draw an excellent picture of the last years of archaeological research in Turkey.

After focusing mainly on archaeological remains, the third part concentrates on philological and historical topics. It begins with a short introduction to Hittite (G. Beckman, ‘The Hittite Language: Recovery and Grammatical Sketch’), also giving the history of its decipherment (see now also E. Rieken et al., Einführung in die hethitische Sprache und Schrift [2011] and T. van den Hout, The Elements of Hittite [2011]). Not as detailed but likewise highly informative are ‘Luwan and the Luwians’ by I. Yakubovich, ‘Urartian and the Urartians’ by P. Zimansky and ‘Phrygian and the Phrygians’ by L.E. Roller, the last including a summary of Phrygian architecture and cult. This Part also contains a sketch of Hittite history, ‘Hittite Anatolia: a Political History’, by R.H. Beal and of the first millennium, ‘Anatolia: the First Millennium b.c.e. in Historical Context’, by G.K. Sams.

The forth part concentrates on two main topics: first, the population of Anatolia. For many years, Anatolia has been seen as a cultural ‘bridge’ between East and West. This view is based on the fact that different groups of people inhabited Anatolia throughout the period and interacted with her neighbours (see for example H. Blum, B. Faist, P. Pfälzner, A.-M. Wittke [edd.], Brückenland Anatolien? Ursachen, Extensität und Modi des Kulturaustausches zwischen Anatolien und seinen Nachbarn [2002]). The contributors of this part draw attention to often overlooked regions and problems, as for example M. Özdoğan in ‘Eastern Thrace: the Contact Zone between Anatolia and the Balkans’ or A. Sagona, who focuses on the north-eastern neighbour of Anatolia, ‘Anatolia and the Transcaucasus: Themes and Variations Ca. 6400–1500 b.c.e.’. H.C. Melchert, ‘Indo-Europeans’, collects linguistic evidence and argues that Indo-European speakers had entered Asia Minor by at least the mid-second millennium b.c.e., also revealing the difficulties of argumentation. P. Jablonka deals with the site of Troy, ‘Troy in Regional and International Context’, the importance of which has recently been the subject of much discussion (see, for example, C. Ulf, R. Rollinger [edd.], Lag Troia in Kilikien? [2011]). K. Radner, ‘Assyrians and Urartians’, shows how limited the reconstruction of a culture can be due to one-sided sources. The important period of Greek settlement in Anatolia is treated by K.W. Harl, ‘The Greeks in Anatolia: from the Migrations to Alexander the Great’. The second section of Part 4 concentrates on critical archaeological issues such as the Halaf Period including recently excavated sites in south-eastern Turkey (G. Castro Gessner, ‘A Brief Overview of the Halaf Tradition’); the Chalcolithic period by B.S. Düring, ‘Millennia in the Middle? Reconsidering the Chalcolithic of Asia Minor’, who argues for different types of settlements providing a new picture of what has been until now a poorly understood time period in Asia Minor (c. 5500–3000 b.c.e.); the question of what was formally known as the Uruk ‘expansion’ by M.S. Rothman focused around Algaze's theories (‘Interaction of Uruk and Northern Late Chalcolithic Societies in Anatolia’); the situation of the upper Tigris Valley based on recent excavations started in the 1990s (J. Ur, ‘Ancient Landscapes in Southeastern Anatolia’); the use of ‘Metals and Metallurgy’ (by J.D. Muhly); and an article by C. Glatz, ‘The Hittite State and Empire from Archaeological Evidence’, who deals with possibilities and chances of Hittite Imperial archaeology beyond the discussion of what is known from textual sources (see already U.-D. Schoop, ‘Wo steht die Archäologie in der Erforschung der hethitischen Kultur? Schritte zu einem Paradigmenwechsel’, Colloquien der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 6 [2008], 35–60). T. van den Hout, ‘The Hittite Empire from Textual Evidence’, glances at the multilingual Hittite archives and shows the importance of Luwian language and with it Luwian population groups that survived the breakdown of the Hittite Empire.

Part 5, dedicated to key sites in Anatolia, presents selected archaeological excavations from the Neolithic sites (Göbekli Tepe, Çatalhöyük, Ilıpınar), the Chalcolithic period (Arslantepe-Malatya, also later periods), the Bronze Age (Titriş Höyük, Kültepe-Kaneš, Hittite key sites), the Iron Age (Ayanis, Gordion, Kaman-Kalehöyük with earlier periods) and the Hellenistic period (Sardis). Each chapter contains plans, basic stratigraphical information and important finds, thus providing an excellent overview of each site. All chapters include detailed bibliographical references.

The volume gives an excellent overview of Anatolian history and archaeology from its beginnings until Hellenistic times. Each of the 52 up-to-date chapters is written by a specialist in a comprehensive way. The structure of the volume, with its different key aspects, is such that several sites are mentioned repeatedly but under different aspects, on the whole enlarging our understanding of ancient Anatolia. Furthermore, the presentation of discussions without necessarily presenting solutions to each problem helps to access current research literature. The extended bibliography of each chapter is extremely valuable. One can only thank the editors for bringing to light such an informative and well-grounded book.