Editorial

Welcome to the third issue of the European Journal of Archaeology for 2016: a special issue dedicated to the theme of Viking mortuary citations, followed by our regular reviews section containing ten evaluations of recently published books and exhibitions.

Before I comment on these contributions, I wish to pause for a moment to remember Mark Pluciennik, who passed away on the 7 May 2016, at the age of 62. Mark was a valued member of the EJA’s editorial team, who helped polish the texts of book reviewers for whom English is not their first language — a job that he undertook with amazing speed and efficiency. Mark's own publications included a book on social evolution, edited volumes on archaeological ethics and archaeological approaches to the human body, and numerous journal articles and book chapters on topics ranging from narrative analysis in archaeology to the history of hunter-gatherer studies, not to mention reports on his collaborative archaeological fieldwork at rock-shelters in Sicily. On behalf of the EJA, I would like to record our appreciation of Mark as a generous colleague and to offer our condolences to his family.

Returning to our special issue, Howard Williams has written an excellent introduction to the theme of Viking mortuary citations and to the six articles that follow, so I shall not comment further on them, apart from noting that the stimulating concept of citation has the potential to be widely applicable across and beyond European archaeology. Here, citation is understood as a mnemonic or commemorative strategy involving material culture in both conscious symbolic allusions to the past and cumulative, unanticipated relationships accrued through the assembling, juxtaposition, deposition, and transformation of materials in various contexts. The idea for this special issue was Howard's and I would like to acknowledge the energetic work he has put in: commissioning the articles, recommending peer reviewers, offering encouragement and advice to the authors, and co-editing their texts.

In our reviews section, we begin with a superb commentary by James Whitley on a useful collection of essays about the archaeology of ancestors, which prompts the tricky question of whether or not we should distinguish heroes from ancestors. Turning to more practical concerns, the next two books to be reviewed deal with forensic anthropology and with pottery analysis. We then move in loose chronological order across other new books extending from the Mesolithic of Britain and Ireland, to the rock art sites of Alta in Arctic Norway, to the lake dwellings of the Circum-Alpine region, to Mycenaean palaces, the Celts, Egypt, Rome, Assyria, Byzantium, and finally to the Roman stone trade. Look out, in particular, for the murder mystery in Rob Sands’ review to find out if we reveal the culprit behind the demise of the lake-dwelling tradition.

If you are interested in submitting an article on any aspect of European archaeology, or have recently published a book that you would like us to review, do please get in touch with a member of our editorial team or visit us on http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/yeja20.