The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Archaeology brings together expert work by leading scholars of the archaeology of Early Christianity and the Roman world in the Mediterranean and surrounding regions. The thirty-four contributions to this volume survey Christian material culture and ground the history, culture, and society of the first seven centuries of Christianity in archaeological method, theory, and research. The essays emphasize the link between archaeological fieldwork, methods, and regional and national traditions in constructing our knowledge of the Early Church and Christian communities within the context of the ancient Mediterranean, Near East, and Europe.

Three sweeping introductory essays provide historical perspectives on the archaeology of the Early Christian world. These are followed by a series of topical treatments that focus on monuments and environments ranging from Christian churches to catacombs, martyria, and baths, as well as classes of objects of religious significance such as ceramics, lamps, and icons. Finally, the volume locates the archaeology of the Early Christian world in fifteen regional studies stretching from Britain to Persia, highlighting the unique historical contexts that have shaped scholarly discussion across time and space. The thorough, carefully-researched essays offer the most intensive, state-of-the-art treatment of recent research into the archaeology of Early Christianity available.

Table of Contents

1. The Archaeology of Early Christianity: The History, Methods, and State of a Field
William R. Caraher and David K. Pettegrew
PART I. THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY
2. Archaeology of the Gospels
James F. Strange
3. New Testament Archaeology beyond the Gospels
Thomas W. Davis
PART II. SACRED SPACE AND MORTUARY CONTEXTS
4. The Catacombs
Vincenzo Fiocchi Nicolai
5. Martyria
David L. Eastman
6. Burials and Human Remains in Early Christian Context
Sherry C. Fox and Paraskevi Tritsaroli
7. Churches
Charles Stewart
8. The Archaeology of Early Monastic Communities
Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom
9. Baptisteries in Ancient Sites and Rites
H. Richard Rutherford
10. Baths, Christianity, and Bathing Culture in Late Antiquity
Dallas DeForest
PART III. ART AND ARTIFACTS IN CONTEXT
11. The Art of the Catacombs
Fabrizio Bisconti
12. Visual Rhetoric of Early Christian Reliquaries
Galit Noga-Banai
13. An Anarchéologie of Icons
Gleen Peers
14. Spolia, its Viewers, and the 'Victory of Christianity'
Jon Michael Frey
15. Early Christian Mosaics in Context
Karen C. Britt
16. Pottery
R. Scott Moore
17. Lamps
Maria Parani
18. Statues
Troels Myrup Kristensen
19. Amulets and the Ritual Efficacy of Christian Symbols
Rangar H. Cline
PART IV. CHRISTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY IN REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE
20. Christian Archaeology in Palestine: the Roman and Byzantine Periods
Joan E. Taylor
21. Jordan
Robert Schick
22. Syria
Emma Loosley
23. The Church of the East until the 8th century
Stefan R. Hauser
24. Armenia
Christina Maranci
25. The Holy Island: An Archaeology of Early Christian Cyprus
Jody Michael Gordon and William R. Caraher
26. Asia Minor
Peter Talloen
27. Community, Church and Conversion in the prefecture of Illyricum and the Cyclades
Rebecca Sweetman
28. The Early Christian Archaeology of the Balkans
William Bowden
29. The Archaeology of Early Italian Churches in Context, AD 313-569
Alexandra Chavarría
30. The Christianization of Gaul: Buildings and Territories
Bastien Lefebvre
31. Britain and Ireland, AD 100-700
David Petts
32. Constructing Christian Landscapes in the Iberian Peninsula: The Archaeological Evidence (4th-6th centuries)
Alexandra Chavarría
33. Incorporating Christian communities in North Africa. Churches as bodies of communal history
Susan T. Stevens
34. Archaeology of Early Christianity in Egypt
Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom
Index