Qatna Studien is a series devoted to the publication of Tomb VI at Tell Mishrife (ancient Qatna), Syria. Found in 2002, this tomb is the largest and most elaborate of seven royal tombs located beneath the palace. Volume 1, which appeared in 2011 and presented an overview of the preliminary results, will be followed by others containing the final analyses of the royal tomb and its contents. Of these, Roßberger's volume 4 on the jewellery is the first to be published.

Volume 4 combines the author's MA and PhD theses, which were submitted to the University of Tübingen in 2006 and 2010 respectively. The book consists of fifteen chapters divided into four parts. Following a brief introduction, Part I (chapters 2–4) lays the theoretical foundations of the study. Fundamental issues are raised here about how we determine the relationship between people and objects, gauge the value of jewellery, and interpret burial practice. Each is discussed in terms of past approaches to the problem and their theoretical underpinnings by way of background to the proposed line of investigation. Given the nature of the evidence at our disposal, the author advocates a widely cast, integrated approach to the study of jewellery taking into account its temporal and spatial findspot together with the associated material remains including the texts.

Part II (chapters 5–9) forms the bulk of the book. The corpus consists of 1,174 items of jewellery. Beyond a catalogue of the assemblage from Tomb VI, Part II presents a comprehensive picture of the typological, technological, stylistic and functional development of jewellery in Syria during the second millennium bc. The vast majority of the jewellery comes from the main room of the four-chambered, rock-cut tomb and dates to the last phase of its use in the LBA IIA period. Tomb VI contained the remains of between 19 and 23 unidentifiable but evidently royal, individuals, between 8 and 11 of whom were associated with wooden stretchers and colourful displays of textiles and jewellery assemblages that represent primary burials. The jewellery is divided into two categories: body decoration (necklaces, rings and bands) and clothing decoration (applications, pins, buttons and plaques). Gold is the predominant material, followed by lapis lazuli, amber, various quartzes and glass. The vast majority of pieces belong to necklaces, including more than 700 beads, several pendants as well as a few cylinder seals and scarabs. Most of the items display a high standard of manufacture and their similarity in shape, style and decoration suggests that they were produced locally over a relatively short time period (LB I–IIA), probably within the palace workshop. Only a few pieces are identified as heirlooms from the MB II period or imports from Egypt. Trade contacts via the Aegean are attested by the frequent use of Baltic amber and the presence of amethyst.

Part III (chapters 10–12) reviews the textual record of the Middle and Late Bronze Age. The administrative Mari archive, the international Amarna correspondence and the Qatna inventory texts provide information on the use and significance of jewellery within the context of the royal court. Produced by the palace workshops, jewellery features in connection with gift exchange, as a component of dowries and as a votive offering to the gods. Its social, political and economic value is clear from the differential outfitting of women according to their rank, and from the rich possessions of the gods that derive from royal donations and were amassed over many generations.

Part IV (chapters 13–15) combines the archaeological and textual evidence. Together they clarify some hitherto unidentified terms and objects as well as materials and their manufacturing techniques, they provide insights into the meaning and value of jewellery among the royal entourage of Syria, and they help to understand the role of jewellery within the funerary ritual. On the whole, there is little difference between the jewellery found in Tomb VI and that associated with the living. Indeed, signs of wear combined with the late date of the assemblage suggest that most of the items were personal belongings although the author hesitates to draw this conclusion on account of the even distribution of the jewellery. Interesting is the apparent preference for local products, contrary to the impression one gets from the texts, where jewellery is a highly prized component of international exchange. According to Near Eastern texts, jewellery is associated with beauty and glamour, two characteristic attributes of gods, kings and women. As an item that can be accumulated, donated and exchanged, it was also a statement of status, wealth and power. Because of the temporary nature of the primary burials that were disassembled following the decay of the corpses, Roßberger argues that beauty, glamour and prestige played no role in the afterlife. Lack of proof leads her also to dismiss the importance of any magical qualities associated with the multi-coloured beads, although the odd cylinder seal and scarab are considered to be apotropaic. Rather, the lavish adornment is thought to reflect the desire of the living to prolong the presence of the deceased by means of a lifelike image. This conclusion challenges the traditional view that burial contents reflect the needs of the dead. It could be a temporary expression of the widespread custom of worshiping statues in the image of the dead. The creation of a lifelike scene that connects the worlds of the living and the dead is a concept that has recently also been applied to the interpretation of high status burials involving human sacrifice (Anne Porter and Glenn Schwartz (eds), Sacred Killing: The Archaeology of Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2012).

The archaeology of death and burial is a rapidly growing field of study. Future scholars seeking to test new theories and analytical methods will find everything they need to know about the jewellery from Tomb VI presented here in a user-friendly fashion, accompanied by informative maps, plans, graphs and tables, and illustrated by superb line drawings and colour photographs. The time, effort, and expense invested in the preparation of this lavish volume are fully justified.