With his latest book, Peter Magee presents an outstanding and comprehensive overview of the multifarious history of the Arabian Peninsula before the introduction of writing in the eighth century BC. It has its foundation in almost 20 years of field research spent there, and benefits from Magee's experience as an academic teacher. The book represents not only an extension and updated version of another classic—The Arabian Gulf in Antiquity (Potts Reference Potts1990a & b)—but introduces concepts that will clearly contribute to a better understanding of Arabia's past. At the same time, the book is a call to colleagues to continue and to intensify their scientific work on the history of Arabia. This appeal still seems necessary as the “depiction of Arabia as a uniform inhospitable environment and its inhabitants as ‘timeless’ has discouraged detailed archaeological research” (p. 14).

The structuring of the book is conventional. The first chapter is devoted to the history of the research. The archaeological study of Arabia has long been determined by scholars with an academic background in Ancient Near Eastern Studies and hence particularly interested in monuments, inscriptions and ‘complex’ societies. From such a perspective, societies in Arabia are seen as static, marginal and determined by external civilisations (p. 10). Magee strongly opposes this approach. Adopting the emic concept of ‘asabiyya’, commonly translated as group feeling or social cohesion, he impressively demonstrates the dynamics of economic and social change on the Arabian Peninsula, which stand in sharp contrast to the hierarchical complexity prevailing in the mindset of Near Eastern archaeologists (pp. 11–12). The second chapter describes the natural environment of the Arabian Peninsula and its changes during the Holocene. It conclusively deconstructs the prevailing view of a static and uniform hostile environment, and emphasises Arabia's great ecological diversity.

With these two introductory chapters, Magee sets the foundation for the main body of the book that reveals the complex adjustments of human societies to sometimes extreme and fluctuating environmental conditions in Arabia, and the emergence of asabiyya that characterises these societies. The central hypothesis of the book is that human occupation in Arabia was neither static nor homogenous.

Chapter 3 discusses the emergence of the Neolithic and places special emphasis on both indigenous developments and external influences. Magee does not persist in simple either/or scenarios, but balances these arguments, discussing the field evidence in detail (pp. 49–52). He considers the Neolithic period in Arabia to be essential for subsequent developments of Arab societies in later millennia, as characteristic cultural elements can already be recognised. These are, on one hand, a high degree of mobility in order to ensure access to resources and, on the other, the increasing importance of close social bonds both within and between different groups of people in order to avoid conflict. These social bonds were maintained by different forms of commensality and rituals. Although mainly a synthesis of present knowledge, this chapter also provides inspiring original considerations and, in particular, a better understanding of the role of ritual and associated human actions for the explanation of archaeological observations, which are otherwise incomprehensible.

Chapters 4–6 are devoted to the Bronze Age between 3000–1300 BC. This period of time is characterised by intensive exchange and interaction, both within Arabia and with its neighbouring regions. Contemporaneously, the first permanent settlements occur in well-watered areas (oases). Despite intensive contacts with Mesopotamia during this time, and the presence of exotic prestige goods, there exists only limited evidence for the development of social elites in Arabia. Magee argues that the largely egalitarian tribal societies in Arabia developed in opposition to the hierarchical societies characteristic of Ancient Mesopotamia (p. 120). Evidence for political elites and the emergence of complex societies can only be found in the late Bronze Age. From the fifteenth century BC onwards, eastern Arabia is directly influenced by southern Mesopotamian city states, which are dependent on copper from Oman. A direct result is the emergence of a hierarchically organised society in Bahrain, the historical Dilmun. Again, one of the major concerns of the book becomes apparent in these chapters: the emphasis on autonomous development.

A separate chapter describes the economic and social changes induced by the domestication of the dromedary in Arabia, which was fundamental for the transport of goods and thus for exchange with neighbouring regions. It was only the use of domesticated camels from the tenth century BC onwards that allowed the inhabitants of Arabia to open up the desert areas of the peninsula again after the end of the Early to Mid-Holocene moist phase. The domestication of the dromedary therefore played an important role in the stabilisation of the political, economic and social developments of the societies of Arabia. At the same time, the emergence of new forms of rituals and pilgrimages were mechanisms that strengthened social cohesion. Although this chapter disrupts the strictly chronological order of the book, the importance of camel domestication for social dynamics during the subsequent Iron Age—presented in Chapter 8—clearly justifies this structure.

The final two chapters discuss the diverse relationships between the Arabian Peninsula and neighbouring regions, as well as the specific adjustments and changes of Arabian societies. Again, Magee highlights the importance of domesticated dromedaries. They enabled local populations from the ninth century BC onwards to determine both the method of transport (by land) and the locations at which trade could take place.

With his emphasis on specific ‘Arabian’ social and economic developments, Magee not only treads the path laid out by Maurizio Tosi (Reference Tosi1986), but develops it into a coherent view of Arabia's past in light of recent archaeological research. I highly recommend this book for scholars and students of all disciplines with an interest in the history of Arabia. Although some of the chapters reveal slight chronological and geographical biases, it will be difficult to find a more comprehensive book on the topic, combining the presentation of the latest research with stimulating and prospective thoughts.