Social dimensions of food in the prehistoric Balkans. Oxford: Oxbow ; 978-1-78925-080-0 hardback £48

Maria Ivanova, Bogdan Athanassov, Vanya Petrova, Desislava Takorova & Philipp W. Stockhammer (ed.). 2018. Social dimensions of food in the prehistoric Balkans. Oxford: Oxbow ; 978-1-78925-080-0 hardback £48. This volume comprises 19 chapters covering sites and material spanning the Late Mesolithic to the Early Iron Age, and geographically ranging from Greece and Turkey to Romania. In their introduction, the editors state that the volume aims to improve our understanding of foodways in the Balkans and contribute to the fields of both archaeology and food studies. By taking a transcultural approach that integrates numerous archaeological sub-disciplines, from environmental archaeology to sensory archaeology and practice-oriented approaches, they hope to show that the prehistoric Balkans were not simply a bridge or a buffer zone, but a dynamic region of cultural change and interaction. Broader contributions to archaeology can be found in their diachronic approach to foodways and close analysis of seemingly mundane objects such as grinding stones and cups. For readers in the field of food studies, the editors seek to remind them not to oversimplify the archaeological evidence and project modern practices into the past. As a single volume, the book is lofty in its aims yet excellent in its execution. It achieves all it sets out to do.