British Archaeology, no 9, November 1995: Book reviews

THE WETLANDS OF MERSEYSIDE
RW Cowell and JB Innes
Lancaster, UKP25.00
ISBN 0-901800-40-6 pb

Recognising the threat to the archaeology of wetlands, the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments (now English Heritage) began its survey of wetlands some 20 or more years ago. The North West Wetland Survey (1990-1998) is the third in the programme (after the Somerset Levels and the Fens). Covering seven counties, Merseyside is the first of the counties to reach full publication; and is presented in a card folder accompanied by unbound maps and a separate key. This method of presenting a survey is unusual and ineffective: the folder creases and tears, the maps do not stand alone, and will no doubt become separated from the volume into which they should have been bound.

Despite this, the authors have succeeded in providing an interesting and wide-ranging appraisal of Merseyside's wetlands from the end of the last Ice Age to the post-medieval period. It is a well-written and succinct synthesis of widespread fieldwork and diverse types of evidence, satisfying the specialist without baffling the general reader.

The survey discovered over 100 prehistoric sites, many within or on the edge of peat deposits. The coastal peats have revealed most evidence, including an interesting transition period (early 5th millennium BC) of hunter-gatherer activity with associated selective agricultural practice. Such activity is now becoming associated with our western seabord.

Expectations of lake villages and trackways, reflecting the results of the Somerset Levels Project, have not yet been realised. Of far greater significance, however, is the survey's demonstration of the enormous variety in past use and exploitation of what were, and still are, valuable ecosystems.

Dr Margaret Cox teaches archaeology and environmental protection at Bournemouth University

HABITATIONS OF THE GREAT GODDESS
Cristina Biaggi
KiT, UKP35.00
ISBN 1-879198-18-5 hb

What do Malta, Orkney and Shetland have in common? Certainly not the weather! According to Cristina Biaggi, the answer is goddess worship.

Champions of the Great Goddess theory believe that prehistoric people worshipped a female, life-giving force. In parts of Europe, there is some evidence to substantiate this, for instance in the form of figurines. There are some of these from the `temple' sites in Malta, but the only artefactual evidence cited by Biaggi for Orkney and Shetland takes the form of `eyes' - that is, circles - drawn onto pottery or pecked into stone in about six instances in Orkney. The lack of evidence does not deter the determined Biaggi, and indeed she appears to have obtained her PhD from an American Institution as a result.

In the 1960s, Charles Calder (Alexander Calder throughout chapter one!) drew attention to the fact that the Neolithic site which he excavated at Stanydale in Shetland had similarities in plan with a site interpreted as a temple in Malta. Biaggi develops this theme with a vengeance. The Orcadian and Shetlandic `temples' (including Orkney's stone circles), tombs and houses were associated with the Great Goddess, she argues, as is obvious from their internal shapes: circular, figure of eight, or more irregular. The chambers within tombs represent wombs.

Biaggi illustrates her text with anecdotes of her visits: it took her `a frantic two-hour search over hill and dale' in order to find the Beenie Hoose, by her own admission only 90m from Yoxie; she `searched for Punds Water for three hours and finally, after climbing four hills saw it, a pile of stones,' in reality a wonderfully preserved chambered cairn to which I have taken parties of visitors, not in their first flush of youth, there and back in less than half the time. Meanwhile, she found Stanydale between two towns (?), failed to find Gruting School and failed to realise this, and swam with seals on Vementry in a freshwater (!) loch.

Biaggi has decided that Shetland's Neolithic is late, although she dates it later than perhaps she intended. She appears not to have calibrated her dates, or to have done so incorrectly. Thus the first Neolithic settlers appear in Biaggi's Shetland around 50BC and continue until about AD550. I know that some people live under the misapprehension that island dwellers are in some way behind the times, but that would suggest that Shetland is now in the Bronze Age.

Val Turner is Shetland's archaeologist

THE ART OF ROMAN BRITAIN
Martin Henig
Batsford, UKP55.00
ISBN 0-7134-5430-X hb

Until now, the standard book on the art of Roman Britain has been Jocelyn Toynbee's Art in Britain under the Romans, published in 1964; and the existence of a systematic catalogue by a distinguished scholar may have discouraged new research. Henig makes his debt to Toynbee very clear, but his book is not just an updated version of hers. It builds upon Toynbee's work and goes well beyond it.

By exploring the place and function of art in Romano-British life, Henig demonstrates clearly how central art is to our understanding of Roman Britain. Romano-British society was highly complex, the result of a loosely-knit tribal organisation which had been assimilated into a centralised, highly-bureaucratic world empire. This is why the period is such a fascinating one; the themes of conquest, nationalism, ethnicity and social stratification are all implicit in the interaction of native and Roman. Art, from life-size sculpture down to engraved gemstones, from religious icons to pottery tableware, constitutes some of our very best evidence for the nature of Romanisation, that elusive process which we recognise but find so hard to define.

Discussions of artists and patrons, native and foreign elements, the distinctive characteristics of the conquest and late-Roman periods, and a brilliant survey of the history of research on Romano-British art, are all illustrated with a well-chosen and up-to-date variety of examples; but sadly, many of the half-tones are far too murky, and the layout of illustrations is unsympathetic. Colour is restricted to the polychrome subjects of mosaics and wall-paintings. That criticism aside, this publication marks a new step forward in research on the art of Roman Britain, and triumphantly proves its importance within the wider context of Romano-British studies.

Catherine Johns is Assistant Keeper of Romano-British Antiquities at the British Museum

MIRRORS BY THE SEA
Richard N Scarth
Hythe Civic Society, UKP3.50
ISBN 1-900101-00-9 pb

There can be few better illustrations of the cyclical nature of military thinking than the contention that `the bomber will always get through'.

Suitably adapted to the nuclear missile age it underpinned the concept of deterrence through mutually assured destruction. Between the two great wars of this century it bolstered the politics of appeasement whilst ensuring the independence of the RAF and its early commitment to offensive action. Then, as now, there were powerful vested interests in fear and uncertainty.

Given the competition for public money between the armed forces of the 1930s, it is tempting to speculate that the Hythe sound mirrors were intended to emphasise the invincibility of bombers rather than to combat them through effective early detection. Certainly, the extraordinary structures described by Dr Scarth would not seem out of place amongst the whimsy of W Heath Robinson.

Perhaps the most surprising revelation in this account, therefore, is that the gigantic accoustic listening devices on our southern coast continued to attract public funding for almost 15 years.

Specially trained listeners, perched on platforms like latter-day stylites, managed at the height of the sound mirror experiments to detect aircraft up to 24 miles away. Impeded by cumbersome stethoscopes, confused by the propellers of passing ships and ultimately, confounded by the increasing speed of modern aircraft, their dedication in the face of boredom and physical discomfort was never less than impressive.

Scarth's documentary research has yielded fascinating insights on the construction and operation of sound mirrors; but his approach is essentially parochial, and the work suffers from scant regard for the broader picture. References to contemporary strategic theory are confined to the last few pages, and the result is a competent local guide rather than thorough history. Protracted scientific experiments frequently owe much to the determination and vision of one man, and it is disappointing in this case not to learn more about the unusually academic sapper, Major WS Tucker.

These reservations notwithstanding, Mirrors by the Sea contains much of interest for anyone intrigued by military archaeology or the ancestry of radar.

Jim Earle is Project Co-ordinator of the Defence of Britain Project