Material Connections eschews outdated theory‎,‎ tainted by colonialist attitudes‎,‎ and develops a new cultural and historical understanding of how factors such as mobility‎,‎ materiality‎,‎ conflict and co‎-presence impacted on the formation of identity in the ancient Mediterranean‎.‎ Fighting against ‎'‎hyper‎-specialisation‎'‎ within the subject area‎,‎ it explores the multiple ways that material culture was used to establish‎,‎ maintain and alter identities‎,‎ especially during periods of transition‎,‎ culture encounter and change‎.‎ A new perspective is adopted‎,‎ one that perceives the use of material culture by prehistoric and historic Mediterranean peoples in formulating and changing their identities‎.‎ It considers how objects and social identities are entangled in various cultural encounters and interconnections‎.‎ The movement of people as well as objects has always stood at the heart of attempts to understand the courses and process of human history‎.‎ The Mediterranean offers a wealth of such information and Material Connections‎,‎ expanding on this base‎,‎ offers a dynamic‎,‎ new subject of enquiry ‎- the social identify of prehistoric and historic Mediterranean people ‎- and considers how migration‎,‎ colonial encounters‎,‎ and connectivity or insularity influence social identities‎.‎ The volume includes a series of innovative‎,‎ closely related case studies that examine the contacts amongst various Mediterranean islands ‎- Sardinia‎,‎ Corsica‎,‎ Sicily‎,‎ Crete‎,‎ Cyprus‎,‎ the Balearics ‎- and the nearby shores of Italy‎,‎ Greece‎,‎ North Africa‎,‎ Spain and the Levant to explore the social and cultural impact of migratory‎,‎ colonial and exchange encounters‎.‎ Material Connections forges a new path in understanding the material culture of the Mediterranean and will be essential for those wishing to develop their understanding of material culture and identity in the Mediterranean‎.‎