The site of Buhen formed part of the Egypt Exploration Society's (EES) concession during the Nubian Rescue Campaign of the late 1950s and 1960s. W.B. Emery, director of the mission, noticed the area of the Old Kingdom town during the 1960 campaign at the main fortress. Work began at the town site in 1962, with a second season in 1964. Emery's subsequent work priorities, mainly at Saqqara, prevented him from writing a final report on the Old Kingdom town, and he died unexpectedly in 1971. Emery was only able to publish a couple of reports on his work, principally in the journal Kush (Reference Emery1963) and a briefer note in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (James Reference James1962). Over the past 40 years, the EES has worked hard to publish Emery's Nachlass; in the case of the Old Kingdom town, David O’Connor, who had worked on the site, agreed to take on the task. It is never easy working on the records of others or combining that with one's own duties, but nonetheless, O’Connor was able to finish the text in 1988. Various editors were assigned to the volume at different times, but another 25 years were needed; the reviewer recalls the non-appearance of this volume as an ongoing issue during his time on the Society's publications sub-committee in the early 2000s.

Settlement sites, especially Old Kingdom ones, are uncommon, so the publication of Buhen is most welcome. Recent work at Giza and elsewhere has provided scholars with further examples of such sites, but Buhen's location in Nubia makes it particularly important. The book is divided into 12 chapters, plus an introduction to the records used by the author and the methods employed. After Chapter 1, describing the location of the site and an outline of the excavations, come seven chapters dealing in great detail with the separate parts of the town, mostly termed ‘Terraces’ and ‘Blocks’. Two further chapters deal with the Egyptian and Nubian ceramic remains, plus one on the artefacts. The last chapter presents O’Connor's conclusions.

The descriptions of the contexts and reconstructed stratigraphy are detailed and complex, and may be impenetrable for the reader less than familiar with the material. I concentrate on O’Connor's overall conclusions. He rejects Emery's speculation that there may have been Egyptian occupation at the site prior to the Old Kingdom, but suggests that a Classic A-group settlement may have existed there at some point (the use of calendar dates would have helped those only vaguely versed with Nubian chronology). The main occupation of the site dates from around the time of Khufu through to perhaps that of Djedkare, spanning some 250 years (c. 2600–2350 BC; again, use of actual dates by the author would have been preferable). Dates based on the names of the Egyptian kings found on the Old Kingdom sealings—to be published separately by J.-P. Pätznick—are also supported by archaeological evidence. Buhen may have been abandoned because of the government's inability to hold on to outlying areas, perhaps due to the development of the C-group culture.

The most interesting part of the conclusions is that pertaining to the purpose of the settlement. Ever since Emery published his preliminary reports in the early 1960s, it has been assumed that Buhen was a copper-smelting settlement. O’Connor re-examines this interpretation in great detail (pp. 221–28), concluding that the evidence for copper smelting at Buhen is not as great as Emery supposed. Whatever smelting existed was on a small scale, and, taking his cue from an analysis of an ore fragment (El Gayar & Jones Reference El Gayar and Jones1989), O’Connor speculates that gold may have been as or more important than copper at Buhen. He also argues that the site was in a strategically important location and may have been a storage facility for expeditions to Nubia, as well as also being an important trading place, and perhaps even a location for exploiting the wood resources of the area.

In addition to the provision of detailed information on an often overlooked site, this book is also interesting for insight into how the archaeologist works. O’Connor is constantly evaluating Emery's thought processes on how specific conclusions were derived, and frequently coming to his own, different conclusions. Given that O’Connor was one of the team who actually excavated the site, it can be seen just how difficult it is to interpret the notes of a colleague. O’Connor has done a magnificent job on this, but the book is a strong, silent advocate for how important it is for the director of any excavation to write up his or her own records; it is all too easy to succumb to the temptation to keep digging and to postpone publication. Combine this with the delays in the editing process and we should be hugely grateful that this book ever saw the light of day. It is sincerely to be hoped that O’Connor will be able soon to publish his own very important excavations.

What is missing from this book? A number of further reports in the EES archive relating to the site to which the reader is referred. There is no consolidated bibliography, so following some of the references to source is tricky, especially those quoted using op. cit., and an index and page-specific cross-referencing in the text would have made the mass of data more accessible. Technically, the printing of the review copy seems to be quite faint, and many photos could have done with greater definition. In general, the reviewer wishes for the EES to go back to the former hardback format for their fieldwork reports.

One problem with the timescale over which this book has been produced—as explained in the Foreword—in that it largely reflects the state of knowledge c. 1990. Nubian studies have grown immensely since that date and, while I understand the imperative to publish this book, one cannot wonder whether it should have been further updated. But the data in it are now available for further re-evaluation in the light of recent work. David O’Connor, and Patricia Spencer, the editor, deserve everyone's praise and thanks for ensuring that this important book has finally been published.