Published in 2015, Deborah Vischak's monograph based on her PhD thesis (Reference Vischak2006) addresses a broad topic: community and identity in Ancient Egypt. Focusing on a rather limited dataset, the 12 Old Kingdom elite tombs at Qubbet el-Hawa, the cemetery of Elephantine on the west bank of Aswan (primary publication: Edel et al. Reference Edel, Seyfried and Vieler2008), one cannot help but wonder how the author will address these all-encompassing themes. As the traditional southern border of Egypt and contact point with the Nubian population, Elephantine always occupied a unique position in Egyptian history and perception of territory and the land beyond. At times guarding the border, at times opening on to a much larger region that the Egyptians subjugated at various points in the Old and Middle Kingdom and further expanded in the New Kingdom (Smith 2003), Elephantine dealt with the Other like almost no other place in Egypt. The interaction with different ethnic groups as it is commonly encountered in borderland zones necessarily led to ‘different’ expressions of individual and community identity of the borderland population that can potentially be seen in the archaeological, iconographic and written record (Lightfoot & Martinez Reference Lightfoot and Martinez1995). These identities are usually difficult to extract, as the élite of such places, who produced most of the iconographic and textual account, usually emphasize their strong affiliation with the home country, heightened by the official interests of the crown securing the border and displaying power for everyone beyond. The archaeological record is, in that sense, a much more worthwhile and reliable account to scrutinize when it comes to borderland interactions and perceptions of identity in those places.

It is exactly at this point that Vischak intervenes with her study of a group of tombs (that yield rich evidence in iconographic and textual material) situated in this contact zone, a study which reveals new perspectives on the community living in this place by closely analysing the archaeological record. While this is in no way a new claim, previous studies of decorated tombs from the Old Kingdom have largely focused on the iconographic programme and the presence and arrangement of particular scenes, as well as the inscriptions informing about the tomb owner's sociological setting, his family relations and profession in the form of titles, and often also his upbringing and important stages in his career preserved in an autobiography written on the tomb walls. Departures from this standard set of elements so well known from the core of Egypt and its capital at that time, Memphis, have in the past often been addressed as ‘provincial’, deviating from the norm and thus considered ‘inferior’ to the art of the empire.

With her introduction on theories of style and agency of material culture, Vischak opens a new perspective on how to approach and look at this archive of a community in an innovative way. She advocates for an ‘archaeology of style’, a close reading of the different types of decorating techniques, be they various forms of sunken and raised relief as well as painting in its different combinations, executed in the prominent panel style in which not all of the tomb walls are fully covered with decoration, but smaller panels are placed at various points in the tombs. That these were carefully chosen in relation to the cult axis of the tomb, established by a direct line from the entrance to the focal point, the false door in which the tomb owner would appear to receive his offerings, as well as places that received an emphasis by incoming light, rejects previous theories of insufficient means to execute a full decoration programme. The same observation applies to the meticulous analysis of the combination of different decoration styles in various tombs resulting in purposeful arrangements that seem to follow a programme developed in earlier tombs and are thus not a sign of untrained artists and ad hoc decisions. With her analysis, Vischak is able to show that the decoration programmes of the Qubbet el-Hawa tombs from the Old Kingdom form a coherent group of a community of tomb owners and their families building on the style of predecessors and previous generations. Commissioned by the tomb owners, artists experimented with different arrangements and styles, thus creating a unique expression that differs from the Egyptian norm, but is in no way sub-standard. This is convincingly explained by the unique situation of the place in which the community had to define their identity along different lines, and foremost in interaction with the Other.

Textual evidence adds to this argument, especially as the many titles of the different tomb owners, their family members and personnel exhibit a strong focus on expedition activities and the likely activity of most of the population in this border zone, omitting and neglecting typical professions and tasks expected in the setting of a provincial capital of the first Upper Egyptian nome. In stressing the community bond, the tombs furthermore display an unusual integration of subsidiary burials within the actual tomb chapels, but also in the forecourts. In itself not atypical for Egyptian cemeteries, the arrangement at Qubbet el-Hawa shows a closeness and intimacy that likewise demonstrate the importance of the group and close-knit community in this place. A large focus in the analysis is placed on the many figures appearing in different scenes that do not have an obvious connection with the tomb owner through familial or professional bonds or are not named at all in the accompanying text. In this group the author would like to recognize the larger community of Elephantine occupying lower ranks, but nevertheless being part of the system of patron–client dependencies well known for the Egyptian social structure (Lehner Reference Lehner, Kohler and Gumerman2000) and receiving a pronounced expression in the material record of the Old Kingdom Qubbet el-Hawa tombs.

Vischak's monograph and convincing analysis are an engaging read. The text is well crafted and the implementation of endnotes, text translations in an appendix as well as many plates, some coloured, throughout the text make this book a pleasant experience. At times one would like to see a more comprehensive survey of the available literature on the topic of cultural interaction and community and identity building in borderland zones (e.g. various articles and monographs by S.T. Smith). The situation Vischak so vividly describes for the southern border zone can be effectively compared with the same processes happening along the other borders of Egypt, such as in the eastern Nile Delta. A close study of the archaeological record also revealed here the development of new identities and unique expressions of cultural interaction in exchange between local Egyptians and neighbouring and migrating ethnic groups (Müller Reference Müller2015). While in the case of places like Tell el-Dab^ca in the eastern Nile Delta settlement and cemetery remains can be studied in close relationship due to their spatial proximity, Elephantine and Qubbet el-Hawa also represent a close enough dataset to include evidence from the settlement more extensively. It would be interesting to see how Vischak's theory of a stronger focus on the community's role and identity plays out within the different households of the city and whether foreign influences enhanced or contributed to those new identities. Elephantine and Qubbet el-Hawa furthermore allow an extraordinary diachronic insight into a long history of border life with data, for example from the Middle Kingdom, to compare. Community and Identity in Ancient Egypt is certainly not the last word spoken. It opens up a range of different inquiries into the exciting field of borderland studies that should be an inspiration to everyone interested in this topic.