Archaeology Magazine - June 1965 - 74

is simply incorrect to state that
radiocarbon dating supports the
Spinden correlation; if it lends clear
support to any correlation, it is the
standard Thompson formula.
Such criticism is applicable to
most sections of the book. I would
challenge a substantial portion of
his synthesis of Nuclear American
archaeology, but I concede that I
have seldom read a more intriguing,
though often exasperating, account
of the subject. Thoughtful new
views, cutting deep, are an exhilarating stimulus, whether or not
one finds them plausible.
While this review has not considered Kubler's study of Indian art
as aesthetic endeavor, it would be
improper to fail to note the frequent brilliance of his analyses.
The black-and-white plates following the text are of high quality,
while the plans, elevations and perspectives are of exceptional clarity.
John Graham
Universityof California,Berkeley

panied by technical data and extensive bibliographies which make
this colorful book, in addition to
all else, a general catalogue of the
monumentsdiscussed.
Although Professor Hanfmann
states that he could not legitimately
exclude acknowledged masterpieces
from the imperial capital in favor
of the arts of the Roman provinces,
the balance is extremely judicious.
We are treated to much more than
the same old fare that could be
culled from an afternoon's browsing in a retail outlet of Fratelli
Alinari. The great bronze Septimius
Severus as Mars Pater, temporarily
hidden behind sandbags in the Nicosia (Cyprus) Museum, appears
twice; this relatively little published statute comes from a shrine
that marked the beginning of the
Sevean aqueduct running across
the plains to Salamis. The awesome
portrait of a prominent citizen from
Sardis (no. 90), a sculptural revelation of around A.D. 270, was
found by the author himself. The
charming little head of Constantia,
sister of Constantine the Great (no.
ROMAN
ART:A ModernSurveyof the
in the Chicago Art InstiArt of ImperialRome,by GEORGE 98), now
was
found in Athens and is
tute,
M. A. Hanfmann. 319 pages, 145 the
descendant of the late
stylistic
figures, 52 color plates, 1 chart, 2 Trajanic to early Antonine girls
end maps. New York Graphic So- found
recently at Corinth. The Faciety, Greenwich, Connecticut 1964 yum portrait
of a man of about
$15.00
a.D. 170, with large eyes and curly
At last we have within two cov- hair showing influencesof high Aners both a lavish pictorial presenta- tonine court portraiture (XLVII),
tion of Roman art and a superior is a splendid lesson to modern portext, lucidly written. The general traitists in ways of applying paint;
essays and the paragraphs accom- shown gloriously in almost-tactile
panying each illustration will give color, this masterwork is now in the
both the jaded specialistand the en- Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo.
thusiastic student much to think It canot be unhappy amid the sensaabout. Each section of text for the tional modern art of that museum.
The old standbys like the Ara
illustrations, whether the blackand-whites of architecture and Pacis, the Arch of Titus, the Colsculpture or the color plates of umns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelpaintings and mosaics, is accom- ius, Agrippa and Hadrian's Pan-

162

theon are here, but many statements
about these and others make it
seem that we are meeting them
afresh. The aerial views of cities,
the use of Piranesi prints and the
cleverinterpolationof moderndrawings enhance the excitement of the
architecture. Clearly, everyonemust
own this book, which packs in an
amazing amount for its price.
Cornelius C. Vermeule
Museum of Fine Arts, Bostori
DESIGNING
ANDBUILDING
THEGREAT
pyramid,by August Mencken, vii,
60 pages, 22 figures, 2 plates, frontispiece. Privately printed, Baltimore, 1963
The author is a civil engineer,
and this reviewer, an archaeologist
and erstwhile excavator without
qualificationin engineering,finds it
no easy task to evaluate this study.
Nevertheless he has found it of
much interest, containing observations of value to an understanding
of this fascinating building and of
ancient Egyptian methods of construction.
In his first chapter the author attempts to show the evolutionof the
pyramid form in ten steps from the
Layer Pyramid of Zawiet-el-Aryan
(excavated by Reisner in 1911) to
the Pyramid of Cheops, citing as
intervening examples the Tomb of
Zoser at Sakkara, the Tomb of
Sekhem-khetat Sakkara, the Pyramid of Medm (Huni?), the two
stone pyramids at Dahshur and
three hypothetical buildings intervening between the Layer Pyramid
and the Step Pyramid, which he
designates A, B and C. One might
comment that he has omitted the
unfinished pyramid at Zawieh (excavated by Barsanti and thought to
be of the Third Dynasty) and has
not taken into account that the two
Dahshur pyramids are probably
contemporary,both being the work
of Sneferu. Nevertheless, the demonstration of the steady progression
in size, height and skill of the pyramid builders is sound enough over
the period involved of something
like 140 years. One might perhaps
disagreewith the statement that the
falling off in size of the pyramids
after Cheops had no relation to the
drain on Egypt's economy caused
by its construction.
Chapters II and III, on Designing
and Field Engineering, deal with
technicalproblemson which this re-

Archaeology Magazine - June 1965

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - June 1965