Archaeology Magazine - December 1962 - 74

history, is the maker- have been tion, which is interesting but somehow out of keeping with Professor
seriouslyinept?"
I should like to be a fly on the Arbman's text, had been added to
wall when Tatiana Proskouriakoff, this chapter, which I think must
Anna Shepard and Gisela Richter originally have been more exhaustive. When this is said, one can only
see this.
John Howland Rowe recommend the book warmly- it
certainly fills a need for non-ScanUniversityof California
dinavian readers.
Berkeley
Charlotte Blindheim
''i ^B»^iÍP"ftâRI^^I^^^II
!»
Museum of Antiquities
iBP~»...>^^¿j^l£?w%i^BBBMMMMi^M
ArBMAN. Universityof Oslo
by HOLGER
* THEVIKINGS,
^HB|i^^H^^^BrPv
^HflnHSlgraHraSB
212 pages, 38 figures, 67 plates, 6
|H|^^^^^^Hyn4in^HHHH^H|
maps. Frederick A. Praeger, New
LANGUAGES,
by P. E. CleaTOR.
York 1961 (Ancient Peoples and LOST
192 pages, 21 figures. John Day
Places. 21) $6.50
Company, New York 1961 $4.95
Arbman is the leading
Professor
i
DICTIONARY
~|
authority on Viking archaeology VOICESIN STONE:The Decipherment
His book will certainly be of AncientScripts and Writings,by
today.
!
OF EGYPTIAN
welcomed by all interested in Vik- Ernst Doblhofer, translated by
ing archaeology and history. Its Mervyn Savill. 327 pages, 94
CIVILIZATION
compositionindicates,however,that figures, 16 plates. Viking Press,
j*
it is meant mainly for students and New York 1961 $6.00
Georges Posener, Serge
j* ! By
Sauneron & Jean Yoyotte. '
general readers outside Scandinavia.
These two books are composed
In four chapters out of six Profes- after the same standard and serviceI Every aspect of Egyptianlife j
}I since1500B.C.Entries on his- V sor Arbman describesand discusses able pattern. Their aim is the ad! j tory, art, culture, religion, J
the Viking expeditions and life in mirable one of narrating the ways
other topics.A master- *
!
the new oversea realms. He bases in which various extinct systems of
' jj many
piece of modern scholarship. I
his discussionspartly on the archae- writing have been made readable by
1 315 illustrations, 145 in full !
ological evidence, partly on the the efforts, the genius and the luck
7.95
! color.Indexed.
or from j! { rather confusing literary sources, of a series of decipherers from the
At yourbookseller
I
COMPANY
PUBLISHING
TUDOR
of the nineteenth century
¡ I and he succeeds in giving a re221ParkAvenue
South,NewYork3 11 markably clear and balanced survey beginning
to today. In each book an introducI
of the many intricate problems con- tory chapter indicates generally the
nected with the Viking expeditions. problems put to the decipherers,
To Scandinavian readers, however, showing the utter loss of any
is
the original paperbacks. There
who will be familiar with Professor knowledge of the writing involved,
no improvement in accuracy, how- Arbman's excellent books,
Vikingar the peculiar operations of systems
a
has
edition
hard-cover
The
ever.
M. Stenberger) of writing
i Vasteried
unlike our own, the imnew introduction and a new chron- and Svear i (with
Österviking, the chapof speech and
ologicaltable of little merit, but the ters "The Background in Scandi- precise relationship
to writing, and the histheir
lost
language
have
notes
bibliographical
navia" and "The Art of the Viking
of writing from its remote
page references. The line drawings Age" will be of greater interest. tory
in
than
origins. Then in turn the decipherare more clearly reproduced
latter is brilliant clear, un- ments of Egyptian hieroglyphics
the paperback editions, but the re- The
conventional and up to date at the and of the cuneiform scripts are rethe
of
photographic
production
illu- lated, followed by the more recent
same time. Excellent
plates is less clear. The color plates minate the account drawings
a deciphermentsof Cypriote,Byblian,
(certainly
ColBliss
are reproduced from the
good thing since the plates are of Hittite hieroglyphs or Mycenaean
lection catalogue.
chapter Linear B. There are always a few
The archaeologypresented in this variable quality). This is a well
as scripts to be describedas still waitwhich
as
to
archaeologists
a
on
book is
Sunday supplement
readers will return again ing for their decipherers, say from
level, and the historical ethnology general
is not much better. The following and again. It is delightful reading! the Indus valley or Easter Island.
The first chapter, on the back- It is a good pattern, with built-in
observations, quoted from a footin Scandinavia, is, to my suspense, interesting personalities
the
ground
reflect
note on page 265,
depth
of Von Hagen's thought: "Is there opinion, not of the same standard. and all the excitement of an evernot ground to suppose that all Knowing the author's intimate receding frontier of scientific disarchaeologists,insofar as they have knowledge of the Viking material covery.
With two books to discuss, combeen dogmatists, have failed to from the whole of Scandinavia,one
understand woman? That the ter- feels disappointed that this is dis- parison is unavoidable. The differrible seriousnessthey have attached cussed in seventeenpages in a book ences appear greatest where they
to pottery shards as a measurement called The Vikings and not The have less of a tradition to work
of cultural time has been misguided, Viking Expeditions. Personally I with. The classic, the intelligible,
and their efforts to understand the think the book would have gained a the effectiveway to tell of Chammeaning of symbols in art- of great deal in usefulness if the space pollion's deciphermentof the hierowhich woman, the determiner of used by the editor for his introduc- glyphs has long since been found.
294

Archaeology Magazine - December 1962

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - December 1962