Since 1955 when Hector Catling launched the Cyprus Survey Project, numerous archaeologists have surveyed the island, applying increasingly sophisticated methods. The field survey in the Vasilikos Valley, which was carried out between 1976 and 1989, is one of the most important of these projects. It is also among the best documented, thanks to the efforts of Ian A. Todd and his collaborators. Volume I (Todd Reference Todd2004) of the final publication presents the survey methodology and a catalogue of the sites identified; volume III (Todd 2013) concerns ‘Human settlement in the Vasilikos Valley’. The book under review here, volume II, deals with the artefacts collected by the survey. Some of the contributors note that their chapters were submitted for publication a number of years ago, and this is reflected in the bibliography where, out of 439 titles, only 17 were published in 2013, 7 in 2014, and just 2 each in 2015 and 2016. Such a time lag, however, is almost inevitable in publications of this nature, co-written by several authors over an extended period of time.

The volume is divided into two parts. Section A deals with ceramics, presented and discussed by period (Neolithic–Chalcolithic, Joanne Clarke; Early Bronze Age/Middle Bronze Age, Mara T. Horowitz; Late Bronze Age, Alison South; Geometric–Archaic, Anna Georgiadou; Classical–Late Roman, Marcus Rautman; and Medieval–Colonial, Bethany Walker). Section B, which is more site-oriented, is concerned with non-ceramic artefacts (chipped stone industries, Carole McCartney; ground stone tools and a summary of other artefacts, Todd). There are also three appendices concerning a stamp seal from Kalavasos-Arkangelos and a wall bracket fragment with a Cypro-Minoan sign from Kalavasos-Kaparovouno, both authored by Joanna S. Smith, and a catalogue of artefacts by Ian Todd, which is available for download at www.astromeditions.com.

The volume is, however, more than an artefact catalogue—although that would be no mean feat in itself. Many of the authors set their material in an archaeological and geographic context, and in so doing they make interesting observations that add considerably to our knowledge of the history of the survey area and, by implication, of Cyprus as a whole, from the earliest times through to the Colonial period. The presentation of the lithic finds is very thorough, but it would have been interesting to see a general discussion of how this material can contribute to our knowledge of the development of Neolithic Cyprus. It is gratifying, though, that the evidence from the Hellenistic period onwards has been analysed with the same attention to detail as that given to the earlier periods—in the past, the vast majority of scholars, Cypriot and foreign alike, have tended to focus their attention on the island's prehistory.

We live in a time of increasing scholarly specialisation, and it is unlikely that many readers will find time or have the inclination to peruse the volume in its entirety. Most will presumably focus on the chapters within their own particular field of expertise, and they are therefore sure to find a great deal of interest. I was, for instance, struck by Anna Georgiadou's conclusion (pp. 105–106) that the majority of the pottery in the Vasilikos survey from the Cypro-Geometric and Cypro-Archaic periods is stylistically similar to ceramics from the urban centre of Amathus, some 15km to the west of the survey area. This fits well with my own conclusions regarding the regionality of the island in the Hellenistic and Roman periods (Lund Reference Lund2015). The same applies to the percentages of the predominant fine wares within the same time frame cited by Marcus Rautman in his useful discussion of “A living landscape” (pp. 136–40, tab. 5.3); his reference to Amathus as an “important Seleucid centre” (p. 132) must be a slip of the pen because Cyprus was unquestionably part of the Ptolemaic Empire in the Hellenistic Age.

The numerous distribution maps, tables and drawings of the individual finds make it relatively easy for the reader to navigate through the mass of material encompassed in the volume. Still, it would have been helpful if all of the authors had quoted both the name and reference number of the survey sites they discuss, as only the numbers are shown on the accompanying maps. Then again, one can easily look up this information in the list of sites by name and number at the end of the book (pp. 353–56). Also, it can be difficult to distinguish between the different shades of black and grey in some of the graphs; this could have been overcome by printing in colour. The same could also be said for the plates—in particular those showing ground stone tools (pls VI–XX). But these are mere quibbles. The volume as a whole represents the state of the art, and it will surely serve as a useful tool for future scholarship. Moreover, it constitutes—together with the other volumes in the series—an invaluable record of a landscape under threat of increasing commercial and industrial development, not to say destruction (pp. xxxiii–xxxvii).

Finally, it is to be hoped that Ian Todd and his collaborators might one day publish a broad synthesis of the important results and implications of the survey and other investigations in the Vasilikos Valley targeted at the public at large. Such a volume would also provide scholars who have a general interest in the archaeology and history of Cyprus with a convenient guide to one of the most comprehensively researched, and now documented, parts of the island.