(These books can all be obtained in America from :The David Brown Book Co, PO Box 511, Oakville, CT 06779. tel: 203-945-9329)

Choose the category of books you would like to read about.

Introductory books on archaeology

Prehistory

Classical and Roman

Medieval and later

General books

Archaeology overseas

Introductory Books

Archaeology: an Introduction

Is there a good book that one can safely recommend as an introduction to archaeology? This is an important question, particularly in America where introductory courses on archaeology produce thousands of potential readers annually. Brian Fagan is a favoured author in this category while Colin Renfrew and Paul Bahn recently produced a splendid book which is selling well in America. Now Batsford have an updated entry in this contest with a new edition of Archaeology: An Introduction by Kevin Greene (Batsford £17.99). It is the third edition of a book originally published in 1983 but this one is substantially rewritten and with an elegant new layout which makes it much more readable.

The core of the book consists of the four central chapters taking the reader through respectively fieldwork, excavation, dating the past and finally science in archaeology. The strength of this approach lies in his use of examples. Each statement tends to be followed by an example so that the reader can see just how it works out in practice.

I feel sure he has scored a bullseye and this book will be recommended widely in sixth forms and universities. I very much hope it will make the transition across the Atlantic. (CA145)

Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice

For what are we training the vast numbers of undergraduates who are reading archaeology today? In the 21st century only a very few lucky students are going to be able to become professional archaeologists and the rest will join the graduates in History, English and the Classics and enter the world of business for their jobs and do their archaeology for fun. Yet today very few archaeology graduates join their local society on graduating and the major part of the output of our universities is wasted as far as archaeology is concerned. What has gone wrong?

The answer is to be seen in the second edition of Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice by Colin Renfrew and Paul Bahn (Thames and Hudson) £19.95 for 606 pages (printed, and one suspects mostly sold, in America). This has already established itself as one of the leaders in the fiercely competitive American market to become THE text book for first year archaeology students, so it is perhaps time to sit back and ask whether undergraduates are being taught the right things.

Thus there are four case studies of Archaeology in Action, all virtually identical - academic projects carried out in the 1970s/80s, adorned with an elaborate research design (mostly concocted after the event?) and carried through to a triumphant conclusion. All are extremely unusual in the modern world where most excavations are rescue explorations carried out by professional rather than academic archaeologists. In addition, why not an example of an amateur project, such the long term, weekend by weekend uncovering the Piddington Roman Villa?

There is also an element of spoon feeding - one fears that undergraduates are never encouraged to get a good solid meal. In their next edition I hope the distinguished authors will think again and reorient the whole book towards the 21st century. The authors, and their colleagues ought to realise that universities should be producing amateur archaeologists, as well as professionals.

Historical Britain

Older readers of Current Archaeology may well remember the Collins Field Guide to Archaeology which went through five editions between 1963 and 1979. Its author, Eric Wood, was a Civil Servant who learnt his archaeology under Gordon Childe and became president of Surrey Archaeological Society. He has now produced a magnificent follow up: Historical Britain by Eric S Wood (Harvill Press, £30).

In appearance this is a stunning book in a square format with splendid line drawings by Rex Nicholls. The book is an encyclopedia of what I believe is now called the built environment in Britain from the Roman period onwards: houses, castles, churches, fields, roads are all here, laid out for our inspection. A fascinating but perhaps typical snippet is the discussion on letterboxes and their evolution from the hexagonal pillar boxes first introduced in Jersey in November 1852. All schools should hurry to acquire this for their library: it will be a splendid source-book for all sorts of class-room projects.

This is a great achievement: if I were Bill Gates I would sign up Eric Wood to transform this book into a magnificent CD-ROM as soon as possible: it is an obvious candidate for the new technology. (CA 146)

Nationalism

When two books on the same subject arrive simultaneously, it would appear that the subject is coming to the boil. This is the case with nationalism, where two books have just appeared, one American, one British. The American book is Nationalism, Politics and the Practice of Archaeology, edited by Philip Kohl and Clare Fawcett, following a conference in Chicago in 1991 and published by the Cambridge University Press, paperback, £14.95. This however fails to be worldwide and deals only with two areas, Europe and Eastern Asia. The other, Nationalism and Archaeology in Europe, edited by Margarita Díaz-Andreu and Timothy Champion (UCL Press, £45) deals specifically with Europe, but in a rather more comprehensive fashion.

Books on Prehistory

The Neanderthals

Perhaps the most exciting new idea in the world of archaeology today is the 'Out of Africa' hypothesis. This is based on an analysis of DNA, and suggests that modern man, or rather modern woman, is descended from a single ancestor who lived in Africa only 100,000 years ago. Thus all the 'ancients' have died out, and all living races have this comparatively recent common origin. The science behind all this seems to be still unproven - I gather the original work was based on an analysis of only some 100 samples - but it generates enormous excitement, and provides the spice behind this new book In Search of the Neanderthals, (Thames and Hudson, £18.95), by Chris Stringer (of the Natural History Museum) and Clive Gamble (Southampton University)

Implicit in the out of Africa hypothesis is that modern man replaced all the other men living in the world at the time. Among these were the Neanderthals. The Neanderthals were limited in both space and time: they first appeared 230,000 years ago, and lasted down to around 30,000 years ago. They ranged in place from Central Asia through Europe: they are not found in Africa or indeed in the Far East.

However there were other early forms of man, occupying much of the rest of the world. Some of these, such as Peking man and Java man, were probably Homo erectus. Others however appear to be homo sapiens. The authors therefore propose a new terminology: Homo sapiens sapiens they call 'modern man', but they contrast him with 'ancient' man, intermediate between Homo erectus and modern man.

These ancients were in existence before the Neanderthals, and had a more widespread distribution, and some researchers believe that they contributed to the gene pool of the far eastern peoples; but if the 'Out of Africa' hypothesis is correct, they all died out, or were wiped out, by the advance of the moderns.

And what about the moderns? They point out that in western Europe, around 30,000 BC there seems to be a giant leap forward: stone tools became more sophisticated, new materials such as bone began to be used, and there was also the beginning of art. There is also a wider geographical spread - it is only the moderns who make their way to America, and even, with rather more difficulty, (but it appears rather earlier) to Australia. They wonder whether this might not have been due to an improvement in speech, and the invention of syntactical language. (CA 141)

Timewalkers

Clive Gamble has also written a similar book, Timewalkers: The Prehistory of Global Colonization (Alan Sutton, £19.99). He begins by asking the question: when the explorers of the western world, from Christopher Columbus onwards were exploring the world, they almost always found people already living there and he suggests that the explorers should have been more surprised than they were. How did they get there? Who are these 'timewalkers'?

The book is in three parts. The best part is the latter part in which he explains how modern man peopled the world. This is very much his own subject and he says much that is new and refreshing. The earlier part, in which he explains the spread of the 'ancients', to a large part of Asia and Europe is less confident, perhaps because it is not really his own subject, though nevertheless he tells the story well. (CA 141)

Chauvet Cave

The Chauvet cave was discovered in December 1994 by three pot-holing enthusiasts, and their account of the discovery forms the first half of the book. The second part, modestly entitled An Epilogue, is the archaeological assessment by Jean Clottes. The book is magnificently adorned with numerous colour plates, apparently all taken by the three discoverers - and the description of their discovery makes a splendid guided tour round the cave and its paintings.

The number and magnificence of the paintings make it comparable to Lascaux, with two particularly fine friezes, the 'horse' frieze and the 'lion' frieze. However there are a number of surprises. Firstly, it is in a different area to Lascaux - it is in the Ardeche, 100 miles east of the Dordogne. Secondly, the range of animals is different; instead of the ubiquitous horses and bison, fierce animals are to the fore, and Rhinoceros, lions and mammoths are distributed throughout the cave and not confined to the innermost recesses as in the Dordogne.

However the most interesting point concerns the date: at around 30,000 BP.(before present), Chauvet is at least twice as old as Lascaux.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge in its Landscape: Twentieth Century Excavations, By Rosamund Cleal, K.E Walker and R Montague. English Heritage, £70

In 1967 Jacquetta Hawkes wrote “Every age has the Stonehenge it deserves - or desires.” For forty years we have had the Atkinson Stonehenge: a brilliant synthesis of all the available evidence drawn together by Richard Atkinson and published in 1956 by Hamish Hamilton at 16/- hardback (= 80p).

Unfortunately, university administration and ill health prevented Atkinson from producing the final and definitive report of his work at Stonehenge before his death last year. It has subsequently fallen to a team of some two dozen archaeologists and specialists to gather together all the available evidence for the structural history of the monument, based on the 20th century excavations, not only of Atkinson, Piggott and Stone (between 1950 and 64), but also of William Gowland (1901), William Hawley (1919-26) and a few other unpublished investigations.
At the cost of £70, few readers of Current Archaeology are likely to purchase copies of the new Report which runs into more than 600 pages of double-column, carefully developed argument, discussing every aspect of the recorded excavations. This has involved hours of painstaking reconstruction from incomplete notebooks, plans and sections, scrutiny of hundreds of photographs and the examination of often inadequately labelled finds. In attempting to summarise the Report, it has to be stressed that its authors were frequently faced with alternative or impossible solutions. The serious student must consult the original work and consider the alternatives on their merits. For the general reader, the gist of Cleal, Walker and Montague sequence for Stonehenge runs in three entirely new phases, plus an introduction. (CA 146)

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Stonehenge always seems to bring out the worst in archaeologists who either write books that are too technical or too philosophical. However in The Making of Stonehenge, (Routledge, £25) Rodney Castleden comes close to providing a straightforward account of Stonehenge. He is particularly good on Durrington Walls which is the huge henge monument only a mile away from Stonehenge which surely provides the key to any interpretation. He is at his best when synthesising good academic work, though occasionally he is less convincing when he tries to put forward his own views. This is a useful book, therefore, even if still not the perfect answer in the quest for the ideal book on Stonehenge. (CA 141)

Prehistoric Stones

Prehistoric stone rows have been one of the most neglected of all the neolithic ritual monuments: what is there to say about them? In From Carnac to Callanish: the Prehistoric Stone Rows and Avenues of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, (Yale University Press price £25), Aubrey Burl devotes a whole book to them.

He divides them up into seven different categories which existed in different areas and at different dates. This is a brilliant but at times infuriating book. It is beautifully published by the Yale University Press with superb black and white photos and numerous plans. But it is almost impossible to read through, for despite the enticing style, there are too many details and descriptions: it is a coffee table book crossed with a guide book and a card index.

Nevertheless Stone Rows will never be the same again. His categories will surely form the basis of all further research. He sticks his neck out particularly when allocating dates, and lesser scholars will, over the next generation, take great delight in proving some of his details wrong. But all those who deal in matters megalithic will find this an essential, and stimulating companion. (CA 141)

Guide to Stone Circles

The indefatigable Aubrey Burl has produced yet another book, a Guide to Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany published by the Yale University Press for £8. This is a smallish volume in a sensible tough paperback covering, ideal for a large pocket or anorak, listing and discussing all the principal stone circles in Britain, Ireland and to a lesser extent, Brittany.

I tested it on the grounds at Callanish and some of its surrounding stone circles and can attest that as usual Aubrey Burl is spot on, providing all the necessary information briefly and concisely. At only £8.95 this is a book that all readers of Current Archaeology - or at least all the prehistorians among our readers - should buy at once to add to their collection of guidebooks. (CA 144)

Skye and the Western Isles

Ian Armit originally studied under Dennis Harding at Edinburgh and directed many of the Edinburgh excavations: he is now an inspector for Historic Scotland. The book is modelled on the earlier book on the Orkneys, but whereas Orkney was a collaborative venture, this is by a single author who takes the story right through the first arrivals, down to the Lords of the Isles. Ian Armit proves to have a deft touch and the book is actually readable. The most interesting chapters are those on his very own subject - the Iron Age which he divides into two chapters, called respectively the Atlantic round houses and the wheel houses. The Atlantic round house is his new terminology for what are traditionally called brochs.

What is the difference between a broch and a wheelhouse? Traditionally wheelhouses have been thought to be later than brochs, but here the author argues that they are contemporary. Wheelhouses, too have a very different distribution, for whereas brochs are found throughout northern and western Scotland, wheelhouses are far more limited: they are found in the outer Hebrides but not on Skye, and in Shetland but not on Orkney.

This is an extremely interesting book which devotes a lot of space to discussing the recently excavated sites.

Colchester

Before the war, the young Christopher Hawkes began work at Colchester discovering the site of Sheepen and exploring the defensive system that stretches for mile upon mile around Colchester - the dykes. His work at Sheepen was published as Camulodunum I in 1947. His work on the dykes has now been published as Colchester Archaeological Report 11; Camulodunum II by C.F.C Hawkes and Philip Crummy (£27.50 from The Colchester Archaeological Trust, 12 Lexden Road, Colchester CO3 3NF).

The latest view on the dykes summarised by Philip Crummy sees them spread over four stages. The first dyke, surrounding Gosbecks Farm, may have been built in the time of Addedomarus around 25 BC. Around the time of accession of Cunobelin around AD 5, two more dykes were added to the north, focusing on the industrial site at Sheepen. The main dykes however appear to have been erected around the time of the invasion in AD 43. In particular Christopher Hawkes argues that the triple dykes, the most impressive of all, may have been built by the Roman army as a temporary encampment for the Roman invasion force. The final dykes appear not to have been added until after the Boudican revolt, possibly as late as AD 75.

Books on Roman Britain

Illustrated History of Roman Britain

The Art of Roman Britain

Was the art of Roman Britain “art”? In a famous diatribe in 1936, R G Collingwood condemned it by saying that the Romans with their ‘vulgar efficiency and lack of taste’ reduced the arts of the Britons “to the level of mere manufacturers”.“On any Romano British site the impression that constantly haunts the archaeologist like a bad smell is that of an ugliness which pervades the place like a London fog”. In The Art of Roman Britain (Batsford £55) Martin Henig sets out to challenge this view and to demonstrate that the art was not only art but should be studied as such.

His big innovation is to recognise the existence of distinctively high class British art. Jocelyn Toynbee, who laid the foundation for the study of Romano-British art, tended always to attribute the better pieces to Gaulish craftsmen. However David Smith undermined this approach with his study of mosaics where he recognised four different British schools of mosaicists. Now Martin Henig takes this a stage further by identifying a wide range of local styles, particularly in the minor arts which are quite different from those in Gaul.

He proposes a new scheme. Firstly there are the works of classical art which are clearly imported, such as the silver plates in the Mildenhall treasure. Secondly there is art which is strongly classical in character and may well have been made by foreigners from outside Britain. Thirdly there is art which approximates in quality to the previous group but which stylistically is British; and fourthly there are objects where Celtic influences are strong and the anti-naturalistic trends of treating the natural world are very much to the fore. It is in the definition of the third group that Martin Henig makes his major contribution.

There is also a very important sub-theme, in that he re-assess the art of Rome itself, indeed Roman civilisation as a whole. He sees this as being an enormous benefit, bringing peace and prosperity to a large empire. “The culture of Augustan Rome was probably the richest and most assured before the Renaissance, not excluding Classical Athens”. ”Which of us would really like to spend a year in an Iron Age hut? But most visitors to a Roman villa can imagine what it was like to dwell in such a place .

This is a major and exciting book: never again will it be possible to say: this piece is too good, it must be an import. We must now reply: if it is am import, then where did it come from? This is an outstanding book. (CA 144)

The Vindolanda tablets

Towards the end of the first century, the Romans transferred a group of native Gallic soldiers from their homeland in Batavia, in what is today Holland, probably under the control of their native king now transformed into a Roman Equestrian, Petillius Cerealis. Part of the correspondence files that he accumulated at Vindolanda have been miraculously preserved and recovered by Robin Birley which means we know more about the people of Vindolanda than virtually any other group in the Roman world outside Egypt and Rome itself. Alan Bowman of Christ Church, Oxford has been leading the team who have been transcribing the tablets and in Life and Letters on the Roman Frontier (British Museum publications, £14.95). he draws back the curtain for the first time on this fantastic treasure.

The book falls into two halves, one half discussing the army and the second part discussing the people and the social and economic aspects. The book concentrates on military matters, indeed began life as the Lees Knowle lectures in Military History given at Trinity College Cambridge in 1988 so perhaps there is an over emphasis on the military side. One of the most important things to realise is that for the most part we are not dealing with Britons but with Gauls and Batavians: none of the texts can be shown to be the work of native Britons.

However the most fascinating revelation is surely that we are dealing with what is essentially a market economy. These are accounts of goods bought and sold, long lists of food stuffs from garlic paste and pork fat through to semolina and pigs trotters with references to the local brewer (a cervesarius named Atrectus), presumably a civilian. Alan Bowman tends to play down this aspect and to minimize the role of the civilians but surely in all those cases where goods are bought in, they are bought in from civilians rather than from other soldiers. Alan Bowman brings to life the activities of those who lived on the Northern Frontier as never before. (CA 141)

Roman London

In Roman London, Gustav Milne, formerly of the Museum of London's Excavation Team but now at the Institute of Archaeology, has written one of the best, if not the best, book in the Batsford/English Heritage series (£14.99). The book is didactic in the very best sense - it gives us the information and then challenges us to interpret.

It begins with historical sources: there are just 14 direct documentary references to London, ranging from Tacitus down to Bede, and he quotes them all: it is, as he calls it, a meagre haul. He then describes the various bodies that have been established to rescue London’s archaeology, and only then goes on to describe the Roman city chapter by chapter. I enjoyed his re-analysis of the so-called Governor’s palace, where he suggests that the usual reconstruction conflates at least two different periods on two different alignments: the whole of the west wing is probably non-existent as recent excavations of the southwest corner have suggested. It was probably a less impressive series of buildings, - though the presence of stamped tiles on the site surely hints at an imperial connection. This is the very model of what such a book should be and a valuable introduction to archaeology generally. (CA 145)

Lindow Man

On 13th May 1983, a well preserved skull was found in Lindow Moss in Cheshire. A local inhabitant promptly recognised the skull as being that of his wife, whom he had murdered in 1960. He confessed his crime, and was subsequently convicted of murder on the basis of his confession. The skull was then sent to the Oxford Radiocarbon AMS dating laboratory who dated it to 210 ad. The body of the wife has still not been found.

Later that year a human foot was found by the peat cutters on the same elevator. The archaeologists were called in, and a flap of human skin was found projecting out of the section. The body was lifted in a block and taken to the British Museum where Lindow Man is now one of the prize exhibits. A book all about it - Lindow man, the Body in the Bog was published in 1986 and noted in CA 103.

Subsequently further bodies have been discovered, and another book has now been published: Bog Bodies, edited by R C Turner and R G Scaife, published by British Museum Press for £25

The latest view is that there were two men in all. The miscellaneous parts that form Lindow 4 are precisely the parts that are missing from Lindow 2, and are probably therefore the same man. He was a young man who had been buried naked apart from a fox-fur band on his left arm though there was slight evidence that his body had been painted. He had clearly been put to death in a fairly convincing fashion: first he was knocked on the head twice, with an axe; then a cord was tied round his neck and he was garotted; finally, his throat was slit with a deep cut at the side of the neck. This is said to be the Celtic triple death and demonstrates Celtic love of doing everything in threes.

The second man was recovered in 70 bits and pieces from the railway wagons and peat stacks. However he lacked a head, so it is tempting to assume that the original head, known as Lindow 1, is really part of the same body and is in fact male. He had been put to death comparatively simply, by having his head cut off.

There are considerable dating problems but it now appears that both men should be dated to the early, rather than the late Roman period.

Roman Religion

The husband and wife team of Leslie and Roy Adkins specialise in compiling handbooks and dictionaries of archaeology. However their publishers, Facts on File, are American, so the books are less well known in this country than they ought to be. (Distributed in this country by Roundhouse Publishing, PO Box 140, Oxford OX2 7FF) Dictionary of Roman Religion (£24.95) is a splendid volume on all the gods that the Romans ever worshipped or invented and will be an invaluable source of information about the more obscure gods and goddesses. Indeed, the authors suspect that the Romans often invented gods to fit the occasion - as they invite readers of CA to do on the Letters page in this issue!

Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome is more general than its title suggests: it deals with the Roman Empire rather than Rome itself. It is written for once from the archaeological viewpoint rather than that of the historian, and thus Samian ware has a bigger entry than the Emperor Augustus. There are good accounts of military affairs, it tells you how to survey towns and villas and it explains the way the economy works; many archaeologists will find it a useful source of information.

Books on Medieval archaeology

Chronicles of the Vikings

Do you know the difference between a Viking eddic poem and a skaldic poem? R I Page, the former Elvington and Bosworth Scholar of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Cambridge, has long been the person to contact whenever you have a particularly difficult rune to read and now on his retirement he has produced a book entitled Chronicles of the Vikings: Records, Memorials and Myths (British Museum Press £14.99).

The book can be divided into three main parts. The first deals with the Viking settlements. Here much depends on the Landnamabok- the book of land takings, a fascinating account of the settlement of Iceland. He then moves on to deal with Viking life - both heroic and non-heroic,

He then moves on to deal with Viking life and finally he comes on to Viking law and religion, and the conversion to Christianity.

And in case you don’t know the difference between a Scald and and Edda let us conclude with the author’s translation of a fine Eddic poem:

Don’t say “It’s been a good day” till sundown.
Don’t say “She’s a good wife” till she’s buried.
Don’t say “It’s a good sword” till you’ve tested it.
Don’t say “She’s a good girl” till you’ve married her off.
Don’t say “The ice is safe” till you’ve crossed it.
Don’t say “The beer is good” till you’ve drunk the last of it.

Timber Castles

Timber Castles by Robert Higham and Philip Barker published by Batsford arose out of Philip Barker's 30 year excavation of the timber castle at Hen Domen near Montgomery. He, and his collaborator Robert Higham realised that no-one had really studied timber castles, as opposed to the later stone castles. However there is a lot of evidence to be obtained from documents and pictures as well as archaeology, and here they bring them all together to reconstruct the chaotic mixture of the grand and sordid that was probably the reality inside these early timber castles. (CA 135 and 141)

Scottish Abbeys and Priories

Scottish Abbeys and Priories (Batsford/Historic Scotland, £14.99) is by Richard Fawcett an inspector for Historic Scotland. Scottish monasteries are often passed over as being somehow smaller than those in England, but Scotland has quite a distinct history from medieval England and there are a number of Abbeys of quite different orders such as the Tironesians and the Valliscaulians.

Mr Fawcett is an architectural historian who clearly does not care much for archaeology, and as a result his account of the early monasteries is rather thin. Nevertheless he gives a good account of the historical background and about life in a medieval monastery. (CA 146)

The Medieval Horse

The Museum of London continues its policy of publishing the numerous finds made by archaeologists from the museum in the 1970s and ‘80s by devoting successive volumes to different categories. The volumes on Knives and Scabbards, Shoes and Pattens, Dress Accessories, and Textiles and Clothing have already appeared, and the latest is that on The Medieval Horse and its Equipment 1150 - 1450, edited by John Clarke, (HMSO, £27.95)

The Archaeology of Shakespeare

Among the most spectacular discoveries of recent years have been two of Shakespeare's theatres - the Rose and the Globe. These involved the two entirely different worlds of Archaeologists and Shakespearean scholars and now in The Archaeology of Shakespeare: the Material Legacy of Shakespeare's theatre (Alan Sutton Publishing, £19.99) these are brought together by Jean Wilson, the wife of Professor Norman Hammond, the Times archaeological correspondent.

Although Shakespearean Theatre may have had its roots in the mystery plays of medieval England, the upsurge of theatricality was something quite new. In particular there was the development of what she called the major outdoor playhouses, such as the Rose and the Globe, modelled on classical amphitheatres and with their facades probably echoing the classical facades seen in tomb sculptures and surrounds of fireplaces. However most plays were probably performed indoors in halls such as the Banqueting Hall in Whitehall, though she is doubtful if plays were ever given in the courtyards of Inns.

The Elizabethans were great ones for processions, and these, and the clothes they wore, are Jean Wilsons's main study. Throughout she emphasises the theatricality of Elizabethan life.

The two favourite forms of entertainment - both of them free - were sermons, preached outdoors, and executions. The two best known executions are those of Mary Queen of Scots and her grandson Charles I, at both of which the protagonists played their role with notable theatricality demonstrating that they were executed as martyrs not rebels; though in the case of Mary Queen of Scots the effect was somewhat spoiled when the executioner went to hold up her severed head to display to the assembled crowd only to find that her hair was in fact a wig which came away in his hand.

This is a fascinating book introducing Shakespeare to archaeologists and in the final chapter introducing the material remains to Shakespearean scholars.

Fortress Scotland

When Cromwell introduced his New Model Army, the old military tradition came to an end and castles gave way to forts. The medieval castle was essentially a residence for the landed nobility and a defence in time of war. However, the rise of a professional army meant that castles were replaced by barracks where soldiers were quartered and in Fortress Scotland and the Jacobites, (Batsford/Historic Scotland £14.99), Chris Tabraham and Doreen Grove, both Inspectors from Historic Scotland, look at the fortresses that were built in Scotland from the time of Cromwell till the final pacification of Scotland following the battle of Culloden.

Today only Fort George survives intact, a splendid example of a Hanoverian defensive system. Fort William was demolished to make way for the railway station, and Fort Augustus became a monastery. Of the great barracks only Ruthven and to a lesser extent Bernera survive as roofless ruins. In this new book Chris Abraham and Doreen Grove lay the foundations for what is clearly going to be a new Scottish tourist industry. (CA 146)

Naseby

At the battle of Naseby in 1645, Cromwell’s Ironsides annihilated the Royalist forces. This was in many ways the turning point of the Civil War, changing the Parliamentarian forces from outsiders into the dominant power. More recently a rather different sort of battle has been fought about the siting of a new road through Naseby in which it appears that the traditional site of the battle field is the right one and that the road protestors who made the most noise were mostly wrong.

Glen Foard, the former County Archaeologist for Northamptonshire was in the forefront of developments and has gone on to research Naseby for himself and in Naseby, The Decisive Campaign (Pryor Publications, 75 Dargate Road, Whitstable, CT5 3AE, price £22.00) he gives a full account of the battle. (CA 146)

Studies in Crime

It is always fascinating to watch archaeologists making a take-over bid; currently an audacious attempt is being made to ‘take over’ the police. We are all accustomed to seeing pictures of policemen digging for bodies on a bleak moor and making a dreadful mess of it all by archeological standards: is this not something that archaeologists could do rather better? Now John Hunter of the Department of Archaeological Sciences at Bradford University has launched a takeover bid with a new book Studies in Crime: An Introduction to Forensic Archaeology by John Hunter, Charlotte Roberts, Anthony Martin, (Batsford £25).

Hidden away in this scholarly text there is plenty of gruesome detail about many of the more spectacular crimes which have entertained us in recent years - I am sure that the book will be a big success for all the wrong reasons. More important perhaps in the long term, next time the police have a missing body to find, perhaps they will do the sensible thing and call in the archaeologists right at the very start to do the job properly. (CA 146)

Death in a small Town

The hero, if that is the right term - (we have no heroes in the 1990s) - is a rescue archaeologist working in a unit. However rescue archaeology is becoming dull and boring so when he is approached by a young lad who is in possession of some Roman coins which may or may not be treasure trove, he is lured into further investigation. Our hero therefore joins forces with the young lad, they investigate further, find an underground grotto which appears to be post medieval, but which also appears to contain a major Roman burial. The mystery deepens when it turns out that the body is not Roman after all but modern: a murder victim? What is Roman, what is seventeenth century and what is the modern murder? And how is the archaeologist going to salve both his own conscience and the questioning of his colleagues by undertaking an investigation which is not proper archaeology but which gets results and which unlike his ordinary work is very exciting?

This is not only a good story but it also raises some fascinating questions about the condition of archaeology today and the broodings of its practitioners. It is available at the specially reduced price of £12.99 (incl. p p) directly from Tempus Reparatum, 29 Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2NP. (CA 145)

Guy Gibson, VC

Archaeologists are a versatile lot, producing books on subjects well outside archaeology. Now Richard Morris, the Director of the CBA, has produced a splendid biography of the War hero Guy Gibson VC, published by Penguin in hardback for £18. This kindly, affectionate but penetrating biography is a book to read and enjoy. (CA 146)

Books on archaeology outside Britain

Spain

Maria Cruz Fernandez Castro came to Oxford from 1991-93 as a visiting Research Fellow, acquired an English husband, Gavin Morris, and wrote an account of Iberia in Prehistory (Blackwells, £50). The book, in fact, only deals with later prehistory starting from the Bronze Age onwards, but she carries the story through the various Phoenician and Greek interventions down to the Roman conquest. (CA 146)