The first part of the book develops a battery of scientifically based tools to aid the reconstruction of biblical Dead Sea Scrolls, which, when applied together, substantially improve the quality of reconstruction attainable. The focus then moves to the important non-masoretic but fragmentary biblical scroll, 4QSamᵃ, for which sixty-two new fragment identifications and an analysis of the character of the scroll are presented. Based upon this, a detailed reconstruction of the 4QSamᵃ fragments of 2 Samuel is undertaken, revealing 55% more deviations from the Masoretic text than had...

A magisterial new handbook replaces the discussion of water technology in antiquity in R.J. Forbes Studies in Ancient Technology and the first two volumes of A History of Technology, edited by Charles Singer et al. It surveys water use and water technology in an area from Mesopotamia to the Atlantic Ocean, from the beginning of the Neolithic period up to ca. A.D. 600, based on the archaeological and written evidence. 11 authors from very different backgrounds and with varying scholarly perspectives discuss the socio-economic background, irrigation and drainage, water supply,...