Archaeology Magazine - March 1951 - 61

(which the illustrations of the present
volume exemplify) of rememberingto
put measuring scales in all photos of
pottery. Meanwhile we may well express to Professor Robinson appreciation of his immenselabors and congratulations for the richnessand importance
of the ceramic finds from Olynthus,
publishedin spite of the interruption of
the war and the consequentdifficultyof
studying his material.
Clark Hopkins
Universityof Michigan
The Ancient World, by Joseph Ward
Swain. 2 vols, xx, 578 and xiv, 658
pages, plates, maps. Harper and Brothers, New York 1950 $4.00per volume
The story of man's activities in the
Mediterraneanarea perhaps forms one
of the most interesting chapters of the
history of mankind. It has been told
often, but archaeologicaland other discoveriesmake imperative its periodical
restatement. To Professor Swain we
are indebted for an up-to-date, clear,
and comprehensivediscussionand evaluation of the story.
The Prehistoric era and the Empires
and States of the Ancient Orient and
Greece before 334 B.c. are covered in
the first volume. The world empire of
Alexander and the Romans after 334
b.c. to the sixth century of our era form
the subject matter of the second volume.
The material is vast and varied, and
only the great ability of the author and
his intimateknowledgeof the times and
placeshave enabledhim to write a clear,
accurate, and at the same time colorful
account that keeps the interest of the
reader to the end. The author treats in
a more general way the military, political, and constitutional events, but
stresses the intellectual, social, economic, religious, and literary activities
of the peoples. The discussion of the
rise of Judaism and of Christianity, a
discussionoften omitted by historians,
is of especial importance and merit.
His account of the historic periods is
accurate, modern, and well-balanced.
Perhaps the chapter on the "Dawn of
History"- on the Old and New Stone
Ages- is the weakest,is marred by generalizations,by an effort to see definite
races and movementsof people in every
phase of prehistoricart, and is based on
information that has been modifiedby
recent discovery.The text is made clear
Spring 1951

The Polish state was created in the
tenth century from a tribe, called
"Polanes." The name "Polanes" is derived from the word pole "field,"which
proves their agricultural character.
Some earlier theories that the Polish
state was created by the Goths or the
Vikings in the tenth century is denied
and held to be fantastic. There is no
Les Origines de la Civilisation Polo- doubt about the local origin of the Polnaise.Prehistoire-Protohistoire,
byJOZEF ish state. The pure Slavic names and
Kostrzewski. 261 illustrations. 671 the distribution of the typical Slavic
pages. Presses universitairesde France, sites and fortified hills are the best
Paris 1949.
proof for the local origin.
The neighbor nations of the early
The monumental work, written by
one of the most eminent Polish prehis- Polish state were the Czechs, Slovaks
torians, is a great achievementin post and Moravians to the south, Germans
war conditions. The book was written to the west, Prussians (Baltic Jatduring the German occupation in Po- vinges) to the north and Russians
land at which time the author was liv- to the east. The cultural relations being incognito in a village. Later, the tween the neighboringlands are easily
book was translated into French by M. traced by the borrowed words in their
Bernard Hamel and published in language. During the eighth to eleventh
centuries inclusive, the Poles accepted
France in 1949.
The book is significant for its wide some German vocabulary.With the inscope including not only Polish pre- troduction of Christianityat the end of
history but prehistoric research in gen- the ninth century the ecclesiasticalvoeral.
cabulary was adopted from the southThe author covers the region be- ern neighbors.Someof these new words
tween the rivers Oder and Vistula (the were later transmitted to the northern
Oder valley was the heart of the Polish neighbors. Trade relations with the
state founded by Mesco I in the 10th Arabs were known to exist in the tenth
century) and the time betweenthe fifth century. Jewish merchants also apand the eleventh century a.D., several peared in Poland at the end of the tenth
centuries before and after the Polish century.
The basis of the reconstructionof the
state was founded. The main purpose
of the book is to give a clear picture of material culture was the excavationsof
the culture which existed during the the sites and fortified hills, known by
time in which the Polish state appeared the name "grody," of the seventh to
in European history. The author speaks tenth century, in Great Poland, Pomabout the material and spiritual cul- erania, Silesia and Dobrzyn. By means
ture, using not only the archeological of the systematic investigationof sites
finds, but the linguistic and ethnologi- and additional material from philological records. Reviewing this book, we cal and ethnologicalstudies, the author
give credit to A. Bruckner and C. has been able to describe,even in some
Moszynski, whose important lin- detail, economiclife, crafts, etc. In the
guistic and ethnologicalstudies Profes- chapter on agriculture, for example,he
sor Kostrzewski used in his research. reconstructs the history of corn, vegetThe author is to be congratulated on ables and fruits, stating their age or inhis use of so many sourcesin compiling dicating the ways, through which they
this book. In Poland, as in the other came from foreign countries. He also
regions of eastern Europe, the primitive describes with precision all kinds of
life of a farmer and the language have food and food production, implements,
preserved valuable material for the re- male and female clothing and hygienic
conditions. Special attention was paid
constructionof ancient times.
The author is of the opinion that the to 17 different crafts, including not
territory of Poland was inhabited by only pottery, wood-, bone- and metal
the Slavs for more than 3,000 years. work, weaving and sewing, but even
The "Lusatian" culture of the Bronze shoe-making, saddlery, goldsmithing
Age at the end of the second millen- and many others.
nium b.c. is held by Polish prehisDescribing the spiritual and social
torians to be an original Slavic culture. culture in the second and the third

and vivid by means of excellentillustrations (32 plates in the first volume and
29 in the second) and outline maps.
The volumes are a decided contribution to our knowledge of the ancient
world and will prove of inestimable
value to the scholar and to the layman.
G. E. M.

Archaeology Magazine - March 1951

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - March 1951