Ireland and Scandinavia in the early Viking age.

Ireland and Scandinavia in the early Viking age. HOWARD B. CLARKE, MAIRE NI MHAONAIGH & RAGHNALL O'FLOINN(ed.). Ireland and Scandinavia in the early Viking age Viking Age is the term denoting the years from about 800 to 1066 in Scandinavian History[1][2][3]. The vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. . xxiii+468 pages,64 figures, 9 tables. 1998. Dublin: Four Courts; 1-85182-235-6 hardbackIRL 1. (jargon, chat) IRL - In real life. Generally synonymous with f2f.2. (language, robotics) IRL - Industrial Robot Language. 25 [pounds sterling]. From their conference (1995) on exchange between Ireland,Scandinavia and Iceland and around the Irish Sea Irish Sea,arm of the Atlantic Ocean, c.40,000 sq mi (103,600 sq km), 130 mi (209 km) long and up to c.140 mi (230 km) wide, lying between Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected with the Atlantic by the North Channel and (on the south) by St. George's Channel. , CLARKE et al. presentthe nine papers on archaeology and seven on history. Readers ofANTIQUITY will find plenty of interest especially in the former set. Ittranspires from such a broad review that mortuary evidence bulks largeand that there is a dearth of landscape archaeology and more extensiveexcavations (cf. TWEDDLE et al., above); but it is probably inevitable,with this theme, that the emphasis for the archaeology is on artefact See artifact. distributions and classification rather than on functional contexts. Onthe other hand, Dr CLARKE's comparison of urbanization in Irelandand Britain greatly helps to make sense of the economic and politicalprocesses prompted by contacts around the northeast Atlantic. Theoft-drawn contrast between Ireland and supposedly more sophisticatedorganization in England is criticized by him and two other contributors.Reappraisal of Irish organization is clearly due. Grounding is alsoprovided by wide-ranging reviews of the archaeology in Norway andScotland (B. Myhre, E. Wamers and C. Morris) and an interesting generalaccount of Norwegian history (K. Helle). Compensating for the lack of`thicker' description, it is stimulating to compare thedistributions of Scandinavian material in Ireland with those of Irishfinds overseas. There is a couple of papers on sagas, which can be richsources of inference. The round towers of Ireland were for church bells. The core of MrLALOR's book is a gazetteer gazetteer(găz'ĭtēr`), dictionary or encyclopedia listing alphabetically the names of places, political divisions, and physical features of the earth and giving some information about each. of 73 towers and a couple of carvedimages of the buildings. He also lists literary references to towers nowlost. Accompanying the lists are chapters on the functions and sites,forms and construction of the towers, on the types and chronology, andon comparisons in England and on the Continent -- from which ittranspires that the Irish round towers are sui generis [Latin, Of its own kind or class.] That which is the only one of its kind. sui generis(sooh-ee jen-ur-iss) n. Latin for one of a kind, unique. . Mr LALORassesses the prehistoric background in `archaic architecture'. Thebook opens with a summary of the historical setting in Ireland. Mostattractively and elegantly designed, the treatment includes plenty ofexcellent photographs of the towers, including pictures of landscapecontexts and architectural details; and there are analytic drawings anddiagrams. The gazetteer includes route directions and notes on access. See also `Ireland ...' (pp. 232-4, below), and the picturereview of The Golden Age of Irish art. The Classical world and its development As usual, there are lots of new titles on the Greeks & Romans.The first is a treasure chest assembled in honour of Prof. Sir JohnBoardman. Next comes a pair on the Greeks in France. There are half adozen on material culture. The survey rounds off with the Romans,including a treatment of The later Roman Empire by Dr Reece which alsoemphasizes material culture.