This is a very welcome paperback reprint of S.’s detailed analysis of the temples at Kition, Cyprus, during the transitional Bronze–Iron Age (originally published 2009). This publication presents the material from a very intricate and contradictory archaeological sequence and succeeds in making what is a complicated and poorly understood period in Cypriot prehistory relevant and accessible to the non-specialist reader. Cyprus is pivotal to current interpretations of the social, economic and political changes wrought throughout the East Mediterranean in the years bridging the collapse of the Late Bronze Age (LBA) palaces and the emergence of the very different world of the Early Iron Age (EIA), but all too frequently these two periods are treated separately and according to the regional biases of different scholars. This book provides a timely overview of these changes in microcosm – focusing on a rare complete sequence at the site of Kition that connects the two phases. Clear chronological guidance is provided at the outset to help the reader navigate their way through the convoluted Cypriot dating system: both the traditional dates in Table 2 (p. xvii) as well as the revised dating system put forward by S. in this book in Table 3 (p. xviii). The complex floor sequence (and its relationship to S.’s chronological sequence is outlined in Table 4 (p. xviii).

The introduction sets out various intricate arguments that underpin the following chapters. S. clearly states her own personal definition of the ‘art’ of the title: ‘to include not only how an object was fashioned and what it represented, but also how it facilitated communications among people and their deities’ (p. 1). This innovative approach to the material record allows S. to develop intricate arguments about how the community at Kition may have mediated social relations, in particular through the manipulation of visual imagery. This highlights the material focus developed by S. throughout the rest of the volume, and is well supported by illustrations of objects. The introduction goes on to review the historical and geographical setting, and provides a detailed discussion of the site of Kition, as known through various archaeological explorations. One of the key themes developed by S. is the idea of ‘problem solving’ (pp. 13–14) and how archaeologists can explore an ancient community's approach to this through an analysis of administrative paraphernalia, visual imagery and the use of documents to record history.

The second chapter, ‘Setting the Record’, interweaves two themes connected to the economic organisation of the temple quarter at Kition Kathari as well as the domestic areas at Kition Chrysopolitissa. The first part focuses on the material culture of administration, including writing systems, seals, and weights and measures, while the second part looks at economic production in the temple area, namely textiles and metallurgy. This discussion is set against a detailed review of the architecture, use of space and how the finds from these buildings allows S. to present new interpretations of the functions of some of the buildings: most notably Temples 2 and 4 being redefined as buildings that housed workshops and stores rather than religious structures. This analysis would have been significantly aided by detailed illustration of the individual structures discussed; however, area plans of the temple quarter from Floors IV to 2A are provided (pp. 35–49). Detailed analysis of the find spots of the administrative equipment in this chapter reveals a scattered distribution, suggestive of a lack of centralisation of economic control during the LBA. In contrast, the chapter concludes with a discussion of the use of stone maceheads as new symbols of power and authority during the Iron Age (c. 850 b.c.). These are restricted to Temple 1, the pre-eminent religious building at Kition, reflecting increased centralisation of religious/Phoenician authority.

Chapter 3, ‘Sizing Up Images’, reviews how imagery is manipulated for social control, allowing (some of) the ancient inhabitants of Kition to enforce their political authority and communicate with the divine. Particularly innovative is her approach, which moves between scales of representations – from landscapes and the built environment to miniaturised objects: building models, miniature people, representations of plants and animals. This refers back to the introduction, where S. explored how the differing scale of imagery affects people's perception of time (pp. 21–3). The theme of human representation is taken further in the following chapter, ‘The Human Perspective’. In addition to the figurines, which facilitated communication with the divine, Chapter 4 also explores the material evidence for divination, such as inscribed terracotta balls, astragali and incised bovine scapulae.

The following three chapters focus on the archaeological framework used to interpret the site continuously over many centuries: the stratigraphy from the three main areas of excavation at Kition, including the sequence of pits (Chapter 6) and the ceramic typology that forms the basis of the relative chronology. In Chapter 7 S. proposes a revision of the traditional typological sequence established by Gjerstad, removing the problematic Type II from the EIA ceramic sequence, which she convincingly argues should be lumped together with Type I pottery, thereby resolving the apparent gap in occupation at the settlement in Cypro-Geometric II. The traditional sequence proposed the abandonment of the ancient, LBA town c. 1000 b.c., followed by a 200-year period in which there was no occupation at the site. Subsequently a new harbour town was built over the remains of the earlier settlement by a new incoming population group – the Phoenicians – c. 800 b.c. Instead, the revised chronology allows for continuity of occupation at the site throughout the formative years of the EIA, which certainly makes more sense in relation to the development of the main religious building – Temple 1 – from the twelfth century onwards and is perhaps one of the more significant contributions of this book.

At times the very detailed focus on the intricacies of the material record obscures the argument, and the reader can get lost in what can occasionally be rather dense text. Likewise, the flow of thought within and between each chapter on occasion appears rather disordered, and the rich diet of objects and arguments covered could be streamlined or given a more logical sequence. Notwithstanding these points, the real value of the book is its focus on the materiality – moving beyond mere description of a complex and confusing archaeological record to a convincing attempt at engaging with people's lives and experiences in the ancient community of Kition.