1Prehistoric Anatolia and Cyprus: studies in honour of Ian A. Todd, edited by D. Baird and J. Clarke, constitutes a timely and long-overdue tribute to a scholar whose doctoral dissertation inaugurated the SIMA series and whose work has profoundly improved the study of Anatolian and Cypriot prehistory.

2The introductory chapters honour Ian A. Todd both professionally and personally. Tributes by distinguished scholars offer insight into the intellectual and personal relationships that informed his career, while a biographical overview illustrates his professional path within the broader development of Anatolian and eastern Mediterranean archaeology.

3The volume brings together seventeen contributions – six devoted to Anatolia, ten to Cyprus, and one to Jordan – reflecting the geographical scope of Todd’s research. Most chapters address early prehistory, in keeping with his primary scholarly interests, and are supported by generally clear, well-integrated illustrations. Arranged alphabetically by author and varying considerably in length and theme, the volume lends itself more readily to selective consultation than to linear reading. Topics range from historiography and methodological reflection to detailed analyses of material culture, settlement development, and the reinterpretation of legacy data through contemporary theoretical frameworks.

4Rather than following the book’s internal sequence, this review adopts a thematic organisation to highlight the principal ways in which Todd’s work has shaped the research trajectories represented in this collection.

5At the outset of his career, Todd participated in archaeological fieldwork at Çatalhöyük under James Mellaart, where he was responsible for photographic recording. A few years later, he undertook a pioneering field survey in central Anatolia (1964–1966) for his doctoral research. As Summers (Chapter 16) emphasises, this survey systematically documented hundreds of mounded sites, revealing long-term patterns of settlement continuity, demographic change, and regional organisation from the Neolithic through the Iron Age (IA). Todd’s careful recording of site morphology, environmental context, and surface assemblages provided a robust framework later refined through GIS-based and quantitative reassessments. The forthcoming publication of pottery drawings, photographs, and gazetteers will further consolidate its enduring significance, confirming Todd’s pivotal role in demonstrating the diachronic cultural developments of the region.

6Todd’s work in the 1960s was part of a broader innovative wave that opened new avenues for the investigation of Neolithic Anatolia. As Baysal (Chapter 3) observes, early twentieth-century scholarship – influenced by assumptions that linked the Neolithic primarily to the Fertile Crescent – had portrayed Anatolia as inhospitable to early settlement. From the 1950s onwards, landscape-based surveys and excavations at sites such as Çatalhöyük and Aşıklı Höyük overturned this view by demonstrating extensive Neolithic occupation. Nevertheless, Anatolia continues to be treated as peripheral in many broader narratives of southwest Asian prehistory, while later periods, including the Chalcolithic (Chal), remain comparatively underexplored.

7A similar imbalance is addressed by Bachhuber (Chapter 1) in his reassessment of research into Hittite political geography in the Konya region. Drawing on nineteenth-century travellers’ accounts, debates over monumental sites, and twentieth-century survey traditions, he highlights the long-lasting imbalance between Neolithic and Bronze-Iron Age archaeology. While the first benefit from the intensive excavation of important sites, Hittite research has largely relied on field surveys and epigraphic work, lacking substantial stratified evidence.

8Only recently has Todd’s emphasis on regional-scale analysis, paleoenvironmental data, and laboratory-based approaches been fully integrated into Hittite studies in the region. New excavations at Türkmen Karahöyük and Konya Karahöyük demonstrate a more balanced focus on Hittite political geography, bringing research on the Konya plain closer to the intensity long devoted to Neolithic contexts.

9Todd’s integrative approach to regional archaeology continues to resonate in contemporary multi-proxy studies. A clear example is provided by Baird’s work (Chapter 2) on the Epipalaeolithic site of Pınarbaşı, which investigates whether developments commonly associated with the Levant – such as increasing residential stability, intensified symbolic practices, and broad-spectrum subsistence strategies – also occurred in Anatolia. Despite the scarcity of securely dated Late Glacial sites in central Anatolia, Pınarbaşı provides a long-term sequence supported by excavation data and laboratory analyses (e.g. stable isotope analyses and archaeogenetics). The evidence points to recurrent seasonal occupation, flexible subsistence strategies, and complex mortuary practices, predating or paralleling Natufian developments. The paper thus critiques Levantine-derived evolutionary models of Epipalaeolithic social change, demonstrating that Anatolian sedentarisation and targeted resource exploitation arose from social differentiation within networks of intensive interaction, rather than ecological determinism or demographic pressure.

10One of the most significant discoveries resulting from Todd’s survey was the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) site of Aşıklı Höyük. Özbaşaran and colleagues (Chapter 12) present the site as a high-resolution case study for the emergence and transformation of early sedentism in central Anatolia. Thanks to a stratigraphic sequence spanning roughly a millennium, they reconstruct changing patterns of habitation, subsistence, and social interaction, alongside shifts in engagement with external networks.

11The site exhibits alternating phases of outward engagement and inward consolidation: early and late phases show renewed interaction, innovation, and knowledge exchange, while the middle occupation reflects pronounced social cohesion and introversion. Aşıklı Höyük thus offers a precious perspective on how long-term settlement histories underlie economic strategies, social organisation, and participation in regional interaction networks during the Neolithic.

12Hodder (Chapter 9) offers a re-evaluation of Çatalhöyük sequence, drawing on Todd’s 1960s photographic slides to illuminate excavation practices and reassess site formation, abandonment, and rebuilding. Mellaart’s excavations employed a rapid, building-by-building strategy, prioritising the exposure and conservation of complete rooms – especially wall paintings – at the expense of detailed stratigraphy. Walls were quickly delineated and infills removed, producing a largely static record emphasising discrete architectural episodes. By contrast, post-1993 micromorphological studies and fine-grained stratigraphic recording highlight continuous and dynamic architectural life cycles characterised by adaptive reuse, overlapping building histories, and complex abandonment practices. Burning episodes, previously interpreted as accidental or purely destructive, are recontextualised as socially meaningful acts of closure and renewal, contributing to deliberate processes of memory-making and historical continuity within the settlement.

13Todd’s fieldwork in Cyprus began with his participation in Peltenburg’s excavation at the Ceramic Neolithic site of Ayios Epiktitos-Vrysi, on the island’s north coast. Following the Turkish occupation of 1974, which abruptly halted work in northern Cyprus, he focused on the Vasilikos Valley Project (VVP), which constitutes his principal contribution to Cypriot archaeology. In fact, the VVP generated one of the most systematic and influential datasets for the study of Cypriot ancient landscapes. Beyond its research impact, the project also contributed to the preservation of cultural heritage in the valley amid increasing demographic and construction pressures. As Kearns and Andreou (Chapter 10) demonstrate, the legacy data produced by the VVP continue to support innovative research and the formulation of new interpretative questions. Conceived as a diachronic survey and excavation project documenting millennia of human activity within the Vasilikos watershed, the project created a substantial archive of site catalogues, artefact assemblages, specialist reports, and synthetic publications. Through re-survey and re-analysis, the authors situate their work within broader Mediterranean research trends and underscore the value of reassessing earlier survey data using updated methodologies. While acknowledging some methodological limitations – particularly its site-centric approach, lack of quantified surface densities, and absence of georeferenced coordinates, mostly due to the resources available at the time of the fieldwork – they demonstrate that its detailed descriptive records retain considerable heuristic value for reconstructing landscapes and settlement patterns. Case studies such as Late Bronze Age Tochni-Lakkia and Iron Age Kalavasos-Vounaritashi demonstrate the interpretative potential of reassessing legacy data, while also highlighting the enduring significance of the VVP as a foundational dataset and as a catalyst for reflexive, theoretically informed research based on the productive reuse of legacy survey material.

14One of the VVP’s most significant achievements lies in its contribution to redefining the chronology of early Neolithic settlement on Cyprus and to broader debates concerning the continuity or episodic nature of pre-Chalcolithic occupation. Exploring Cypriot demographic patterns during the 7th-6th millennia BC, Manning (Chapter 11) offers a methodologically important intervention through a critical assessment of summed probability distributions (SPDs) derived from the Near Eastern Radiocarbon Dates (NERD) database. Manning cautions against treating SPD as a direct proxy for population history, highlighting biases introduced by uneven excavation histories, shifting research priorities, calibration-curve effects, legacy data limitations, and geopolitical constraints, particularly in the inaccessibility to updated information from northern Cyprus. By situating Cypriot patterns within the wider NERD dataset, he shows that small regional samples are especially prone to distortion, whereas larger supra-regional datasets yield more robust long-term signals. The apparent decline in radiocarbon density between the Aceramic and Ceramic Neolithic periods – observable both in Cyprus and across much of the Near East – is therefore interpreted not as demographic collapse but as a prompt to consider alternative explanations, such as changes in settlement practices, archaeological visibility, survey recognition, and climate-environment dynamics. Through comparison with sites such as Çatalhöyük and consideration of the 8.2 ka climatic event, the chapter exemplifies a reflexive, process-oriented approach to archaeodemography, demonstrating that SPD – when biases are acknowledged – remain valuable tools for interrogating longue durée population histories.

15The impact of the VVP extends beyond settlement and demographic studies, fostering research on material culture across a broad chronological range. Reflecting the project’s diachronic scope, several contributions address technological, productive, and domestic practices from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age.

16Chapter 6, by Crewe, examines shaft straighteners in PPN contexts, focusing on three key sites – Ayia Varvara-Asprokremnos, Ayios Tychonas-Klimonas, Parekklisha-Shillourokambos – and providing comparative material for a recent discovery at Kissonerga-Skalia. Neolithic evidence at Kissonerga primarily derives from the sites of Mylouthkia and, more occasionally, Mosphilia. At the nearby BA site of Skalia, early Neolithic material is recovered from pits truncated by later activity, likely originating from quarrying of the abandoned mud structures at Mosphilia. To date, ten shaft straighteners are known from Cyprus ; their close formal and decorative parallels with Levantine PPNA examples indicate long-term use, interregional connections, and the possibility that Cypro-PPNB occupation at Kissonerga was more substantial than currently recognised.

17In Chapter 5, Clarke presents an original analysis of a distinctive category of Neolithic Coarse Ware trays. Although ubiquitous at Ceramic Neolithic sites, these vessels typically occur in small quantities and are here interpreted as having specialised functions. Drawing on combined analyses of raw materials, fabric composition, morphology, and construction techniques, Clarke traces the continuity of the type from the EChal through the EBA. Ethnographic parallels and residue analysis are combined to support a hypothesis linking these trays to salt production, with their low, porous walls and flat bases facilitating evaporation, and possible ‘seasoning’ with fat or oil to prevent cracking.

18Clarke further explores ritual practices (Chapter 17) through an analysis of modified triton shells from some Ceramic Neolithic contexts at Kalavasos-Kokkinoyia. The site’s subterranean architecture and lack of domestic subsistence evidence suggest specialised or episodic use. The site returned three triton shells deliberately modified by apex removal, a rare practice paralleled in the Aegean and Neolithic Italy, where these items have been interpreted as trumpets or libation vessels associated with ritual or funerary contexts. Contextual analysis indicates that the Kokkinoyia shells were used in non-domestic gatherings, possibly linked to pigment processing or seasonal olive-related activities, and deposited in souterrains as part of deliberate closure or post-abandonment rituals. These finds extend the known distribution of ritualised triton shell use eastwards to Cyprus, situating the island within maritime symbolic networks spanning the western and eastern Mediterranean during the 5th millennium BC. Comparative evidence from Kalavasos-Tenta further suggests that triton shells might have held symbolic significance on Cyprus as early as the Middle to Late PPNB, making the island a possible predecessor of practices later expanded westward.

19In Chapter 4 Bolger provides a comprehensive reassessment of Chalcolithic pottery production at Kalavasos and Kissonerga, using ceramic technology to explore regionalism and the social organisation of craft production. EChal assemblages display strong continuity with Late Neolithic traditions and a marked island-wide homogeneity. From the MChal onwards, increasing stylistic complexity in painted wares accompanies the emergence of new vessel forms associated with changing economic and storage needs. The LChal shows a clearer rupture, characterised by greater regional divergence, reduced fine pattern-painted wares, increased standardisation of forms and fabrics, thinner vessel walls, new raw materials, and changes in fabrication techniques. Experimental work supports a cooperative, household-based model of production, with different stages requiring varying degrees of skill and labour. In this framework, it seems that Chalcolithic potters made deliberate technological choices, selectively expressing regional variation despite sustained interregional connections.

20LBA evidence is explored by Steel’s (Chapter 15) analysis of Building 1 at Aredhiou-Vouppes. Moving beyond economic and politico-administrative frameworks typically applied to contemporary contexts, Steel foregrounds daily life, habitus, and embodied experience within a rural household. Drawing on Ingold’s concept of taskscapes and Lévi-Strauss’ notion of société à maison, the chapter examines how architecture, fixed installations, and portable material culture structured everyday activities and social interactions independently of kinship models. Through detailed spatial and artefactual analysis, supported by proxemics and theories of personal and territorial space, Steel reconstructs Building 1 as a socially dynamic environment composed of interconnected passageways, workrooms, storage areas, and a central courtyard. These spaces mediated access, regulated movement, and facilitated both productive and convivial practices, from food processing and storage to hospitality and informal social exchange. By applying interpretative frameworks often reserved for elite or urban contexts to a rural setting, Steel shows that hinterland households adhered to broader LBA architectural conventions while actively participating in networks of production, control, and social reproduction. The chapter offers a nuanced, people-centred perspective on rural life grounded in the materiality of social organisation.

21Several contributions explicitly synthesise Todd’s legacy by examining interconnections between Anatolia and Cyprus. Düring (Chapter 7) reassesses Neolithic links between the island and the mainland, drawing on updated evidence from both regions. Using Kalavasos-Tenta as a case study, he challenges longstanding Levantine-centred models of Cypriot interaction during the PPN. Traditional comparisons between Cypriot material culture and Levantine sites – often widely separated in space and time – are interpreted as reflecting a “lamplight effect” arising from the limited number of well-studied sites available for meaningful comparison. A more prominent role for Anatolia is suggested by multiple lines of evidence, including the provenance of the substantial obsidian assemblage at Akanthou-Arkosyko and recent DNA analyses from Kissonerga-Mylouthkia. Reassessments of Tenta’s chipped-stone industries and architectural traditions – previously interpreted as retaining Levantine PPNA traits long after their disappearance on the mainland – reveal close affinities with contemporary Anatolian sites such as Aşıklı Höyük. When considered alongside Levantine traits in the Cypriot lithic assemblages at Parekklisha-Shillourokambos and Kritou Marouttou-Ayis Yiorkis, Düring proposes either the existence of a Neolithic koinè linking Central Anatolia, Cilicia, and Cyprus or a convergence of Anatolian and Levantine cultural traditions on the island. In either scenario, Tenta’s material culture reflects a far more complex network of interactions than previously recognised, highlighting the need to move beyond traditional interpretations and reconsider Cyprus’ role within early Neolithic exchange and cultural networks.

22Related arguments are developed by South (Chapter 14), who reconsiders the wall painting from Kalavasos-Tenta in light of revised chronology and interregional comparison. Redated to around 7500 cal BC, the painting is situated within a broader symbolic repertoire characteristic of the early PPNB. Formal parallels with evidence from Cyprus (Khirokitia) and Anatolian sites such as Göbekli Tepe and Çatalhöyük suggest the circulation of visual conventions and symbolic practices. The modest scale and non-domestic context of the structure in which the painting was found further imply that its significance may have resided more in its creation than in its architectural setting.

23Georgiou (Chapter 8) further extends the discussion of Cypriot-Anatolian contacts into the EBA, focusing on an EBAI-II Red Polished jar decorated with a rare incised anthropomorphic “stickman” motif, characterised by limbs bent at right angles. This motif again recalls the wall painting from Kalavasos-Tenta, emphasising how, despite a gap of some five millennia, Cyprus periodically participated in wider Anatolian cultural networks. Stylistically, the use of double parallel lines and the absence of articulated joints align the figure with earlier parallels found across southeastern Europe, mainland Greece, and the Levant, likely originating in Neolithic Anatolia. Persisting into the 3rd millennium BC in Anatolian terracotta, metal, and ceramic artefacts, this iconographic type appears to have conveyed widely recognised symbolic meaning, and its appearance in Cyprus is interpreted as a mid-third millennium reintroduction via maritime exchange networks connecting Asia Minor, Cilicia, and the island.

24Although geographically peripheral to the volume’s main focus, Reese’s contribution (Chapter 13) illustrates Todd’s broader engagement with regional prehistory, recalling his work on the Jordan excavation at Beidha. Presenting the first comprehensive publication of the site’s marine shell assemblage, the study analyses 691 shells spanning the Natufian to later PPNB phases. Despite Beidha’s inland location, the assemblage documents sustained long-distance connections and selective engagement with coastal resources. Diachronic shifts in species representation and ornament forms, shell distribution, and evidence for on-site manufacture point to structured practices of production, use, and deposition. Burial contexts further highlight the symbolic role of shells in mortuary display and identity construction.

25Except for this paper, the volume coherently assembles studies that exemplify current research trends in the regions to which Todd devoted his career, namely Cyprus and Anatolia. Minor issues include inconsistent chronological terminology across chapters, particularly in references to the Cypriot Bronze Age (variously referred to as Late Bronze Age in chapters 10 and 15 or Early/Late Cypriot in chapter 8), which may complicate cross-regional comparison for non-specialist readers. A comparative table aligning Anatolian and Cypriot relative and absolute chronologies would have also facilitated consultation.

26Nonetheless, the book represents an excellent and up-to-date resource of clear value to specialists, as well as to students and early-career researchers. The collection functions not only as a state-of-the-art overview of current debates, methods, and datasets, but also as a critical guide to the reuse of legacy data through contemporary theoretical and analytical frameworks. In this sense, the volume acts as a bridge between generations of scholarship. Todd emerges not simply as a historical figure whose work laid important foundations but as a methodological interlocutor whose integrative, regionally grounded approach continues to shape and inspire archaeological research in Anatolia, Cyprus, and beyond.