Issue no 39, November 1998

MARGINAL EUROPE
Sidney Pollard
Clarendon, £40.00
ISBN 0-19-820638-0 hb

Sidney Pollard, formerly Professor of Economic History at Bielefeld University in Germany, has set himself two tasks in this densely-packed and farranging text. The first is to set out a general framework of the history and role of economically `marginal' areas, and the second is to investigate how these came to take a leading role in the industrialisation process.

The book deals with uplands, forests and marshes to the north and west of the Alps, and particularly focuses on the German-speaking mining areas of central Europe in the early modern period, and on the textile industries of the Pennines in the proto- and early industrial phases. In this it is useful, but there are inaccuracies when Pollard summarises other areas and seeks to make broad generalisations. How valid, for example, is his view that the industrialising uplands were independent regions, more important to the progress of industrialisation than the influence of nation states? Pollard is partially correct in that there was less effective social and economic rigidity in the marginal lands but the difference between nation states, rather than regions, seems likely to have been more significant.

My own view is that the ready accessibility of coal, minerals and water-power in the uplands was the key to their crucial importance. Technical innovation happened anywhere where sufficient entrepreneurial resources were directed at developing a new centre of industry but was not necessarily concentrated in marginal areas. Three factors responsible for industrialisation - the availability of capital, the agricultural revolution of the 17th century, and the development of foreign markets - were more a result of lowland, than of marginal upland activity. This is therefore an interesting if flawed overall synthesis, which causes one to ponder the meaning, and significance, of industrial archaeology in the uplands.

Dr Stephen Hughes is Head of Survey at the Welsh Royal Commission and a specialist in industrial archaeology

FISHBOURNE ROMAN PALACE
Barry Cunliffe
Tempus, £14.99
ISBN 07524-1408-9 pb

The Roman palace at Fishbourne in Sussex is widely regarded as the home of King Togidubnus (or Cogidubnus, as he used to be called), a client king who ruled this area for the Romans in the mid-1st century AD. The link was first made by Barry Cunliffe in 1971 in his book Fishbourne, A Roman Palace and its Garden, and the idea has now become firmly established. It is a good story and Prof Cunliffe repeats it in this new edition of his book.

This is not a thorough revision. For example, the view that numerous hypocausts are to be expected in the domestic rooms of 1st century houses is an anachronism and should have been cut. Most of the illustrations are retained and there are a few new ones. Maps and plans have been amended by the addition of new discoveries. However, with the exception of the discovery of a major masonry building, the reader is not really made aware of the extensive work that has taken place in the 1980s and 1990s to the east of the palace.

It is the link with Togidubnus that catches the imagination and has made Fishbourne so valuable as an educational resource. So is there any reason to doubt it? Although it is generally agreed that Togidubnus was made king soon after AD43, there is no evidence for how long he lived. Some scholars think it possible that he died well before the construction of the palace. Prof Cunliffe dates the palace to c 75-80, based on the latest coins from its construction levels (AD72-3). The latest samian pottery from the same levels is dated c 70-85/90. It is unclear, however, how much of this material is contemporary with the construction of the palace and how much is redeposited from earlier occupation layers.

There is no doubt that there was a change on the site c 75-80 from relatively frequent to scarce coin loss but it does not follow that this was when the palace was under construction. Prof Cunliffe seems to be aware of this, as he writes: `The very latest of the construction levels . . . produced two coins of Vespasian's successor, Domitian, suggesting that the finishing touches were being made to the palace in the 80s'. One of these Domitianic coins was minted in AD87, so work must have been continuing until at least then and quite possibly later. By so late a date the only possible link with Togidubnus could be that it was built as his retirement home.

Ernest Black teaches Classics at St Mary's School, Colchester

INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY, PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE
Marilyn Palmer and Peter Neaverson
Routledge, £25.00
ISBN 0-415-16769-8 pb

For someone who has always regarded horizontal steam engines, inclined planes and similar industrial remains as the focus of mysterious cults served by arcane priesthoods, the prospect of reviewing a work on the principles and practice of industrial archaeology evoked mixed feelings. Happily, this book is much more than a guide to industrial technologies, their material remains and the methods of their study.

There are chapters introducing industrial landscapes, buildings, structures and machinery, as well as techniques of field investigation and documentary research. The space devoted to some of these themes is rather uneven, and the absence of illustrations exemplifying detailed fabric analysis of standing buildings is particularly noticeable. Nevertheless, the content and style of these chapters make them accessible to the non-specialist; particularly welcome are the simplified line drawings which relate technicalities of power transmission and industrial process to the structures which encased them.

The introductory and concluding chapters are the most intriguing, pulling `principles and practice' towards `theory', aimed as much at fellow practitioners as newcomers to the subject. The intention seems to be to widen the horizons of the industrial archaeologist: relating industries to associated transport networks and housing, and relating the material culture of industrial production to its social context. They introduce, for example, ideas about the social controls which are both explicit and implicit in the architecture and spatial organisation of industrial buildings; ideas about the ways in which social relations were both constructed and expressed in the housing built to accommodate those involved in industrial production; ideas about the meaning of our own acceptance of industrial remains as a legitimate part of our `heritage'.

All in all, this is a book full of ideas which seeks to align the theory and practice of industrial archaeology more closely with current trends in archaeology as a whole. It has that slightly breathless and untidy feel which presages (or ought to presage) a deeper and more tightly structured exploration of some of these themes.

Stuart Wrathmell is County Archaeologist for West Yorkshire

PREHISTORIC RITUAL AND RELIGION
Alex Gibson and Derek Simpson (eds)
Sutton, £40.00
ISBN 0-7509-1597-8 hb

The front cover, above a montage of superb images by Mick Sharp, proclaims ritual and religion as the subject matter of this book, but the subtitle given inside - Essays in honour of Aubrey Burl - points the way to the real subject. Aubrey Burl has had a long and distinguished career, and his achievements - both in the detailed study of stone circles and other monuments and in writing prolifically about them in a way which can appeal to several audiences (from technical and specialised to general-interest) - should be enough to inspire anyone.

It is a combination we could do with more often, and is rightly acknowledged by the contributors. I think that his Prehistoric Avebury (1979) remains one of his best books, and his comparison of downland long barrows to whales on the surface (in The Stonehenge People, 1987) makes me smile every time I think of it.

The book is really therefore about the kind of archaeology that Burl likes and has practised so well, and for once in a Festschrift all the authors pull together, to show how much can be achieved by patient observation and relentless but imaginative questioning of the evidence. The range of subjects covered should also be inspiring for anyone looking for dissertation topics or simply a focus for their interest: to give just a few examples, from stone circles and astronomy (inevitably) to (less obviously) double-entrance henges as route-markers, the roles of colour in the selection of stone for stone axes and in architecture, and the choice of wood species for different kinds of figurine.

Dr Alasdair Whittle is Reader in Archaeology at the University of Wales, Cardiff