Few scholars have influenced landscape archaeology as has the late Tony Wilkinson. This volume presents one of his last great projects in the Near East, and his final edited volume. Typical of a publication led by Wilkinson, the book combines an interdisciplinary team that integrates archaeological, historical, geographic and geoarchaeological data to understand fully the site of Carchemish in its environmental and landscape context. Given Wilkinson's long illness, it is also a testament to his diligence and scholarship in the face of difficult circumstances. We are lucky to have this volume completed and so thoroughly presented.

The work itself focuses on an archaeological landscape survey of the area around Carchemish to the south of the Syria-Turkey border. While most of the site of Carchemish lies within Turkey, large parts of the outer town fall within Syria to the south. Now a distant memory as a result of the region's current conflict, at the time of the survey, improved ties between Syria and Turkey enabled the area to be de-mined and collaborative research to commence on a site that had previously been too strategically sensitive to investigate. Understanding the ecological and landscape context of one of the larger Near Eastern sites outside of the alluvium of Mesopotamia was a major goal of the project.

After the introductory chapter, Hawkins and Weeden discuss the enigmatic transition between the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age at Carchemish, and the larger regions once dominated by the Hittites. There remains much uncertainty about the period between the twelfth and tenth centuries BC, although events surrounding the demise of Carchemish were probably overstated in the past. Parts of the city may have declined during this period, but it largely withstood the upheavals of the era to continue as an important Iron Age centre. Brown and Smith, in Chapter 3, apply settlement, off-site feature and historical data to chart the transition of Carchemish throughout the Iron Age as it became a strong independent state before eventually being subsumed by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the late eighth century BC.

Chapter 4, by Lawrence and Ricci, covers the long-term settlement trends, from the Neolithic to the Islamic period, identified by survey over the past decades in the immediate area and across the wider region. The benefits of remote sensing are made evident; far more sites can now be located, and more efficiently, than by earlier traditional surveys. Chapter 5 by Wilkinson integrates the surrounding geology and archaeological data related to on- and off-site features to recreate the landscape surrounding Carchemish, largely complementing Chapter 4.

Chapter 6 by Eidem looks at the landscape south of Carchemish through an historical-archaeological lens to understand the types of settlements or sites located there. Chapter 7 discusses some of the results of the Jerablus Tehtani excavations, which help us to understand Carchemish in the third millennium BC when historical data about the region are scarce. Chapter 8, by Eleanor Wilkinson and Ricci, examines the outer town with a focus on the Iron Age, although later periods are also discussed. Newson's Chapter 9 looks at the changing nature of the Carchemish landscape from the Hellenistic to the early Islamic periods. The final data chapter, Chapter 10 by Cunliffe, considers how the site of Carchemish has been affected by urban encroachment and looting over the last 60 years. This is a particularly useful chapter, giving a sense of what is being, or has been, lost.

The discussion in Chapter 12, by Tony Wilkinson and Peltenburg, draws together the previous chapters on archaeological survey, historical analysis, use of remote sensing and geoarchaeology to present Carchemish and its landscape in their totality, emphasising the changing nature of the region and how it shifted through key historical events. An appendix contains descriptions of the survey sites, along with their coordinates, which will be useful for others interested in using these data in their own work.

There is, in my opinion, additional work that could have further expanded the results of the project. In particular, microarchaeological and analytical techniques, including diatom studies, phytoliths, residue analysis and micromorphology all could have been applied to understand the past environment and landscape in greater detail (e.g. Haslam et al. Reference Haslam, Gail, Crowther, Nugent and Kirkwood2009). Such techniques could improve understanding of both on- and off-site contexts. Geophysical prospection, particularly for the determination of features on the outskirts of Carchemish, including palaeochannels or water features, could also have added to our understanding of the wider landscape (e.g. Afshar et al. Reference Afshar, Abedi, Norouzi and Riahi2015). While remote sensing above ground has revolutionised archaeology in the Near East, we sometimes forget that below-ground prospection could be as, or even more, revealing in many regions. The relative ease of satellite-based remote sensing has perhaps made projects overly dependent on these data sources, with insufficient time and funding directed to other techniques that could prove very useful.

Ultimately, this volume is a testament not just to the late Tony Wilkinson's great efforts, but also to the wider project team and co-authors. It represents a true interdisciplinary undertaking that now has become the standard for understanding past social and ecological landscapes. The volume presents a great deal of new information about a fascinating region and why it developed the way it did during different periods, and it helps us to make sense of the context in which Carchemish is located. I highly recommend this volume as a resource not only for understanding this region, but also as an example of how interdisciplinary research can be conducted in order to improve archaeological understanding.