Subscribe now for full access and no adverts
REVIEW BY AB
Once characterised as a ‘Dark Age’, Britain’s early medieval period is dark no more. These days, impressions of the era have been transformed by headline finds like the intricate gold filigree metalwork from Sutton Hoo and the Staffordshire Hoard. However – as this new book in the Portable Antiquities Scheme’s ‘50 Finds’ series demonstrates – the archaeological record is also full of countless individual discoveries that reflect the period’s spectacular craftsmanship and artistic developments.
It was a time of immense cultural change, too. Just a few centuries took Britain from Roman departure, through the emergence of new kingdoms and regional identities, the conversion to Christianity, the arrival of the Vikings, and up to the Norman Conquest. The 50 objects selected here offer glimpses into the ways in which people’s lives were affected by these dramatic shifts. Many are clearly products of a world in transition: a belt buckle in Roman form with early medieval motifs, a gold signet ring combining pagan and Christian symbolism, a brooch of Continental design with quintessentially Anglo-Saxon imagery. All paint a rich and colourful picture of the early medieval period.
50 Early Medieval Finds
Jo Ahmet and Simon Maslin
Amberley, £15.99
ISBN 978-1398118911
Just Out and Coming Soon
The North Pennines from Prehistory to Present
Paul Frodsham, Martin Green, and Greg Finch
Archaeopress, £48
ISBN 978-1803278513
Neolithic Tombs of Wales
George Nash
Logaston Press, £25
ISBN 978-1910839720
The Vikings in the Hebrides
Niall Sharples
Windgather Press, £38
ISBN 978-1914427398
Encountering Material Culture through Archaeological Fiction
Kerry Dodd
Bloomsbury Publishing plc, £85
ISBN 978-1350367425
Life in the Viking Great Army: raiders, traders, and settlers
Dawn Hadley and Julian Richards
Oxford University Press, £25
ISBN 978-0198848554
Cultural Landscapes of North-east Scotland
Colin Shepherd
Oxbow, £45
ISBN 979-8888571576
Hidden History in the Welsh Mountains
Richard Hayman
Logaston Press, £17.99
ISBN 978-1910839805
You must be logged in to post a comment.