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AÂ Bramblebush Workroom Project
A Book Review
The Vikings
by James Graham-Campbell and Dafydd Kidd
80 color and 40 black and white illustrations
Tabard Press
ISBN: 0-914427-25-3
This book begins with the statement "The Vikings have had a bad press". Rather than adopt a trendy apologistic tone, though, the authors simply make the obvious point that, although they were at times cruel, Viking cruelty was not particularly notable for the times. It was a violent era.
The book tries to present a picture of life in the north from 600-700 c.e. to around 1200, and highlights trends and progressions in art and technology. It is, of course, heavy on archaeology because the Vikings were very nearly illiterate until the end of their period. Nor did they live in cities or towns in their homelands, although this was a feature of colonial Viking life, as at Dublin or York.
The facts presented deal to a great extent with A) homelife, which centered around the farmstead, B) the technology of sailing the sea, and C) metalworking, both large and small scale. Of course, these all overlap, and metalworking pervades every corner of Viking life. An interesting fact in that area--many molds of bone and antler have been discovered in metalworker's shops. After many experiments, these materials turn out to be surprisingly durable and reusable, even for direct casting of metals.
There are many good photos and illustrations, both of original finds and reconstructed sites and objects. The book also deals with the lives and enterprises of the various peoples known as Vikings, who spread out westward as far as Vinland in Newfoundland and, less well known, founded the nation of Russia in alliance with Slavic tribes of the Kiev area. This was the result of trading & raiding forays which took them as far south as Byzantium, where they became the favored Varangian Guard of the Emperor.
Rather than dwell on the sins of the Vikings, or else gloss them over, this book shows them to be real people with homes, families, aspirations and a certain national genius. It makes it easier to take them out of that Hollywood stereotype and place them somewhere in history, where their very real contributions to our world civilization can be appreciated.
The following pages include twelve photographs from this rich and informative volume. Â
---Robin the Hammer
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