Archaeology Magazine - April 1969 - 82

ARCHEOLOGIA
The Journal

for Lovers

of Antiquity

A wide and original panorama of excavations,
recent discoveries, exhibitions, meetings, of all
events of interest in the vast world of archaeology. Published bimonthly in Italian. $8.00
for an annual subscription.
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ARCHEOLOGIA

"single" phase or contemporary
group of phases. Here readers will
have to rely upon Collier's short
summary to find minimal bibliographical guidance to the previous
research. If Meggers had provided
a convenient glossary of terms
used by previous investigators,
which have become familiar as museum labels, equating them to her
simplified time-space terminology,
she would have added immeasurably to the utility of this volume.
If the reader is looking for a
guide that will enable him to pursue the multiple threads of the yet
undeciphered cultural history of
the prehispanic peoples of Ecuador,
he will be disappointed.
If he constantly keeps in mind,
however, that he is getting a guided
tour of the highlights of Ecuadoran archaeology,particularly the
new discoveries, he will find this
book highly satisfactory.
Richard P. Schaedel
Universityof Texas
A SOCIAL
HISTORY
OF ENGLAND,
55
B.c.to A.D.1215,by Ralph Arnold.
xvi, 423 pages, maps and illustrations, including frontispiecein color.
Barnes & Noble, New York 1967
$11.00
The question presented by this
entertaining and rather overwhelming book is that of its audience.One
doubts that it will be very serviceable for young students, as the
jacket suggests, since with the exception of a short bibliography it
162

Via Tacito, 41
Rome 00193 ITALY

lacks adequate documentation.Certainly its mass of fascinating detail
will entice a reader young or old
to inquire further, but he is not
given much clue as to where to
look.
The book is organized into four
sections: on Celtic, Roman, AngloSaxon, and Feudal Britain. The latter two are further subdivided into
historical periods. Each section or
period is treated in shorter sections,
each beginning with a historical
summary and followed by accounts
of political and economicorganization, aspects of religion, daily life
and the arts. The real difficulty in
organizing such a wealth of material is evident in these shorter
sections. Some matters must be
condensedto the point of meaninglesßness,while others are expanded
with much illustrative detail, in
which the author appears at his
best. The account of Roman villa
life, for example, is especiallyvivid,
clear and detailed; so are the summaries of feudalism and of the
Domesday Survey with a typical
entry included to help bring it to
life. But apart from such descriptions, most facts are necessarilycondensed- unfortunately without any
constant and clearly evident themes.
The postscript suggests that certain
patterns become apparent in the
work, as indeed they occasionally
do, but they are not imposed on it,
or fully under the control of the
author. As a result we finish each
section with a feeling of indigestion
and uneasiness as to the accuracy

of statements. How do we know
(page 24) that the Celtic "Heroic
Age" (whatever the term means)
had reached a stage of individual
land holding? Why are there "not
thought to have been many slaves
in Celtic Societies"(page 25) ? The
complicatedcourse of the fifth and
sixth centuries is treated summarily
as a list of conflicting historical
information from different sources,
most confusing to read, while the
Anglo-Saxon invaders themselves
are described straight out of Tacitus. The sectionson the law of the
English Kingdoms, the events of
the Viking settlement and learning
in the time of Alfred, among others,
all badly need space and documentation.
The necessary condensation does
not, happily, result in dryness of
style though there are occasional
difficult passages. Mr. Arnold manages to include in the pages on the
church in the twelfth century, for
example, the rise of new learning,
the foundation of the monasteries,
universities, architecture, literature
and some anecdotes about Wulfric
the hermit, all without quenching
our curiosity and interest. The hazards of such a technique, on the
other hand, appear in a scholarly
naivete, verging on the inaccurate:
"The Celts took their supernatural
beliefs very seriously," we are told
(page 35); nuns in the twelfth
century, though free to move about,
"never engaged in nursing or charitable activities" (page 346); and
"Courtly love . . . never really
caught on" (page 365), as witness
the difficulties between Henry II
and Eleanor of Aquitaine. In a
paragraph summarizing the nature
of Old English (page 161) the language is called "intractable," in
comparisonwith Latin on the basis
of its numerous inflectedforms.
Probably the author's task is impossible given the immense wealth
of material. A book of the same
length on a single period, or a
single century, might offer a more
promising field for his qualities of
enthusiasm and vividness. We
should, however, be grateful for
his efforts at collecting so much
that is useful into one volume. The
photographs, though not so many
as one would naturally wish, are
very good and all well chosen to
complementthe work.
Martha Heath Wiencke
Thetford Center, Vermont

Archaeology Magazine - April 1969

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - April 1969