Ashlar

This volume focusses on ashlar masonry, probably the most elaborate
construction technique of the Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age, from a cross-
regional perspective. The building practices and the uses of cutstone
components and masonries in Egypt, Syria, the Aegean, Anatolia, Cyprus and the
Levant in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC are examined through a series of case
studies and topical essays. The topics addressed include the terminology of
ashlar building components and the typologies of its masonries, technical
studies on the procurement, dressing, tool kits and construction techniques
pertaining to cut stone, investigations into the place of ashlar in inter-
regional exchanges and craft dissemination, the extent and signifi cance of
the use of cut stone within the communities and regions, and the visual eff
ects, social meanings, and symbolic and ideological values of ashlar.