British Archaeology, no 14, May 1996: Reviews

CHRONICLES OF THE VIKINGS
RI Page
British Museum, UKP14.99
ISBN 0-7141-0564-3 hb

This is the story of the Vikings as they saw themselves - or at least it is mainly that. The trouble is, the Vikings wrote in runes on wood and stone, and the texts that have survived are short, and sometimes difficult to interpret. To give the full picture, Page also draws on post-Viking Age Icelandic writers (often quoting older material), and on contemporary foreign observers. It is a scholarly book, but very readable, and accessible to interested laymen.

The book gives insight into Viking life and thought, at home and abroad. Women owned property, and we learn how one woman acquired a much larger tract of land than she was entitled to, by craftily circumventing the legal process. A runestone presents a novel angle on the Danegeld - it was simply regarded as payment from a commander to his mercenaries. Some Viking taunts before a fight would have done Mohammed Ali proud: `I'd rather cram birds full with your flesh than spend more time swapping insults with you'. Poems of popular wisdom show that not all Vikings were fighters, at least not all the time. Friendship, like kinship, was a bond, and breach of trust was wicked, among true friends at any rate.

The main sources for the section on myth and religion are Icelandic. Admittedly the rune inscriptions tell us little on this topic, but the Viking Age pictorial stones showing scenes from Norse mythology would have deserved a mention. The Vikings had a sophisticated legal system based on regular meetings of free farmers, and we learn how adopting the Christian faith was a democratic decision made on political rather than religious grounds, not only in Iceland but also in Sweden, where churches were ordered to be built `by the common agreement and assent of all'.

The impression Page leaves us with is that the Vikings were not ignorant ruffians, but people with a sense of poetry and a deal of common sense that can still speak to us today: `No future for the man who sleeps all morning./Hard work is half the fortune.' `Sensible men must question and answer/If they want to be thought wise.'

Dr Brita Green teaches Swedish at the University of York

ROMAN REPUBLICAN MONEYERS AND THEIR COINS 63BC-49BC
Michael Harlan
Seaby, UKP19.99
ISBN 1-85264-76729 pb

This is a book intended for those who like their history in anecdotal form. Consisting of gossipy snippets among more serious bits of history, presented in the form of short biographies about relatively (some almost completely) unknown young Romans, its interest for the modern reader derives from their position as moneyers in the period between 63BC and 49BC.

Although being a moneyer was a relatively junior position in the Roman political career structure it had two advantages. First, it was an early step on a ladder which led some (but only a few) to the pinnacle of a senatorial career, the consulship. Second, and more significantly, the position of moneyer allowed its holders the right to choose the designs which appeared on coins.

In the political turmoil which characterised the politics of the late Republic, in which power was based on networks of family alliances, this privilege allowed the moneyers to advertise both their family connections and their political allegiance by means which ranged from the obvious and explicit to references so allusive and obscure that they are difficult to interpret today. Consider the possibilities if modern politicians were allowed the same freedom in designing coins or banknotes on a yearly basis, and they used this means to produce the visual equivalent of the soundbite.

The book has, then, all the ingredients for an interesting read, as well as offering an opportunity to gain fresh insights into an ancient society. But the assumption of the author and, one supposes, of the series editor is that their potential reader is well-informed about the history of the late Roman Republic and its coinage and, sadly, unless one is, the book is dauntingly inaccessible.

Dr Cathy King is a Research Assistant in the Heberden Coin Room, at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

MANAGING ANCIENT MONUMENTS
eds Andre Berry and Ian Brown
Clwyd Archaeological Service, UKP27.95
ISBN 0-900121-99-8 pb

The management of archaeological monuments is not perhaps the most exciting of subjects, but it is attracting widespread interest and enthusiasm. Archaeological sites do not exist in isolation, but have an intimate relationship with their present-day environment. The wild descendents of formerly cultivated species of plant, for instance, or old coppiced woodland, not only add to the appearance of a monument but may also provide important evidence about past human activity there. Many sites may also support rare plant or marine communities, or provide habitats for wildlife.

This book bears witness to what has been a gradual removal of blinkers from the eyes of specialists involved in the management of the natural and historic environment. There are 26 short contributions, offering national perspectives and local case studies, and all emit the same message - that we need to take a holistic approach to care and conservation. Many case studies show that what is good for archaeology may also be good for nature conservation, and vice versa; others remind us of the potentially destructive effects of ignoring other interests, such as unnecessarily removing lichen from stone walls, and depriving bats of habitats. An integrated approach to site management can also help resolve potential conflicts at an early stage, such as when an ancient woodland lies over a deserted medieval settlement.

Few people can be immune to the surroundings of an historic monument, and gone are the days (one hopes) when monuments were so clinically managed for their archaeological interest alone that mown lawns and gravel paths eradicated the natural environment. This book is not just a handbook for the practitioner, but also explains the theory and practice of the management of monuments which so many people visit.

Debbie Griffiths is Head of Archaeology and Historic Buildings at Dartmoor National Park