This volume is the third and last of the complete publication of the Campovalano cemetery in Abruzzo, Italy. This represents an important contribution to the archaeological understanding of the region, which has improved greatly in recent decades thanks to the efforts of the archaeologists of the Soprintendenza, thereby demonstrating the value of this institution in a time of great uncertainty about its future. The book builds on two doctoral theses, one by Martellone, on the tomb assemblages, and the other by Cesana, on the skeletal remains; these are complemented by additional texts from d'Ercole.

The volume starts somewhat abruptly with a rather minimalist tomb catalogue, which omits descriptions of pottery fabrics or discussion of comparanda. The typological chapter is clearly written. The chapter on relative chronology explains the method followed to produce the ‘tables of association’, where two main phases—each further divided into two sub-phases—are identified. The passage from relative to absolute chronology is problematic because the author uses neither of the two best-known diagnostic classes of artefacts of Hellenistic Italy (Black Gloss pottery and unguentaria) as dating evidence. Instead, she relies on glass beads and ornaments, which are much less precise as chronological indicators. The reason for this questionable decision is that the Black Gloss pottery of the Adriatic area is less well known than that of the Tyrrhenian, and that the unguentaria of Campovalano would not fit into Camilli's typology. The exclusion of these two categories of evidence appears to be unjustified, especially given the scarcity of other well-dated comparanda from Abruzzo. Indeed, the Black Gloss vessels of Campovalano are not unique local shapes but belong to well-known types. As for the unguentaria, there are other typologies that are more usable and reliable than Camilli's, and more importantly, there are dozens of well-dated exact comparisons for each of the Campovalano pieces. They show that the author's proposed end date for the use of this cemetery—the start of the second century BC—should be moved to the mid second century BC, if not later. The following chapter provides an informative description of the structure of the tomb assemblages in each of the phases.

Next comes a chapter somewhat inaccurately entitled ‘Analisi planimetrica’. In fact, this section covers not only the topography of the necropolis, but also the composition of the tomb assemblages. The area is divided into two main sectors, I and II, plus two smaller sectors that receive much less attention. On the accompanying CD there are four illustrations of rather low quality: a general site plan and maps of three sectors, where colours are used to identify the sex of the deceased and their date (either Archaic or Hellenistic; the latter is not further differentiated by phases or sub-phases). The tomb numbers are not always easy to read and there are inconsistencies between the printed text and the plans, as the two sectors are here labelled A and B. Reading the topographical chapter without adequate illustrations is at times difficult and frustrating. For example, better plans would help to visualise the use of different areas of the cemetery for male and female burials. The fact that burial location was determined by sex seems to indicate that the group had a strong community ideology that downplayed its subdivision into nuclear families. Phase plans, which are surprisingly absent, would be particularly useful in this example, as the segregation of burials based on sex seems to be limited to the earliest sub-phase, becoming less apparent over time. The second part of the chapter, titled ‘Distinzioni topografiche’, is actually a synthesis of the trends mentioned in the first part, with a longer discussion of the tomb assemblages in the two sectors of the cemetery.

In the following chapter, d'Ercole discusses artefacts and rituals of Celtic origin in Abruzzo, and at Campovalano in particular, putting forward the theory that the cemetery was used by a group of Gauls settled in the area. According to d'Ercole, the tombs without any grave goods would belong to enslaved or captured individuals. The differences between Campovalano and the other burial grounds of Abruzzo therefore reflect the former's immigrant population. This argument, however, is in part undermined by the strong variability of funerary behaviour across ancient Abruzzo. In fact, the peculiarities of Campovalano might be interpreted as the local ‘dialect’ in a regional picture marked by particularism. There are also signs of continuity between the Archaic and Hellenistic phases, such as the use of the same area for infant burials. Even though at Campovalano there are artefacts of Gallic type and spearheads bent according to a ritual of Celtic origin, it remains uncertain whether these are sufficient indicators of the ethnicity of the population or simply of the diffusion of Gallic fashions.

The section on the skeletal remains authored by Cesana presents a catalogue of the human bones and a discussion of the results of the analysis of this material. This reveals interesting patterns, among which is the strong sexual dimorphism of lifestyles and the fact that the bones of those individuals buried without grave goods—‘subordinates’ according to d'Ercole— show no difference in lifestyle from that of their ‘masters’. The short final chapter offers a summary of the volume, making the case once again for the attribution of the cemetery to a band of Gauls.

In conclusion, this volume contains a great deal of new data and is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of ancient Abruzzo. The discussion is not exhaustive and the interpretation is only preliminary, but works such as these are primarily intended to make new data available to the academic community, for which we must be thankful to the authors.