Mogens Bencard, Aino Kann Rasmussen & Helge Brinch Madsen. Ribe Excavations 1970-76, vol. 5.

Mogens Bencard, Aino Kann Rasmussen & Helge Brinch Madsen. Ribe Excavations 1970-76, vol. 5. MOGENS BENCARD, AINO KANN RASMUSSEN & HELGE BRINCH MADSEN. Ribeexcavations 1970-76, Volume 5 (Jutland Archaeological SocietyPublication 46). 287 pages, 185 b&w & colour illustrations,tables. 2004. Moesgard: Jutland Archaeological Society; 87-88415-25-2hardback DKr.248. Excavations in the southern Jutlandic town of Ribe hold a specialsignificance for the history of Scandinavian urbanism. The tree-ringdate of AD 704/10 for a timber-lined well associated with the firstplanned structures indicates an exceptionally early planned marketplace. Extrapolating perhaps a little too far, some commentators havetaken this as evidence for the existence of a unified Danish state fromthe early eighth century. It has also been suggested that if thedevelopment of international trading sites is a defining feature ofViking activity then Ribe provides further evidence that the start ofthe Danish Viking Age Viking Age is the term denoting the years from about 800 to 1066 in Scandinavian History[1][2][3]. The vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. needs revising to a century earlier than itstraditional AD 800 kick-off. Much discussion of the urban sequence in Ribe has been based oninterim reports of Stig Jensen's 19901991 Post Office excavations.These have not yet been fully published, although all the excavationsfrom 1984 onwards--23 sites in all--are being published by Jensen'scollaborator, Claus Feveile; the first two volumes are expected in2005-2006. However, major excavations also took place from 1970 to 1976,under Jensen's predecessor as Director of Ribe Museum, MogensBencard. These have gradually been brought to full publication in aseries of volumes of which this is the fifth. With the exception of acatalogue of the still outstanding 2000 items of glass and, we areinformed, analysis of a 'large amount of (calcified CalcifiedHardened by calcium deposits.Mentioned in: Heart Valve Repair ) dogturds' (p. 16), the present volume completes the task of publishingthe work of the 1970s. The stratigraphic stra��tig��ra��phy?n.The study of rock strata, especially the distribution, deposition, and age of sedimentary rocks.strat sequence was published in Volume 4; this volumemops up the key outstanding reports on the eighth- and ninth-centuryfinds, notably the bronze, silver and lead artefacts (Karen HoilundNielsen), the ironwork (Patrick Ottaway), the smithing debris (HelgeBrinch Madsen), and the pottery (Ham Jorgen Madsen). Ribe is importantfor its bead beadSmall object, usually pierced for stringing. It may be made of virtually any material—wood, shell, bone, seed, nut, metal, stone, glass, or plastic—and is worn or affixed to another object for decorative or, in some cultures, magical purposes. manufacturing evidence, and although the report on thebeads is still awaited (to the obvious frustration of the editors),Torben Sode has contributed an important discussion of the glass beadmaking technology. There is also a commentary by Marie Stoklund on therunic (jargon) runic - Obscure, consisting of runes.VMS fans sometimes refer to Unix as "RUnix". Unix fans return the compliment by expanding VMS to "Very Messy Syntax" or "Vachement Mauvais Systeme" (French; literally "Cowlike Bad System", idiomatically "Bitchy Bad System"). inscription found on a skull fragment, dated to the 720s--surelyone of the earliest examples of Danish literacy--and a report byFlemming Rieck on an early anchor from Set. Nicolaigaide, compared toother early anchors. The volume begins with a contribution on the datingof a bronze casting workshop which is important for two reasons: firstthat it demonstrates that oval brooches were being cast in Ribe beforeAD 720, i.e. thirty years before their earliest dating in Scandinaviangraves, and second that the recovery of Frisian style keys in theearliest levels shows that Frisian craftsmen and merchants were activein Ribe from the beginning. Was Ribe really founded by an unnamed earlyJutish Noun 1. Jutish - one of the major dialects of Old EnglishKentishOld English, Anglo-Saxon - English prior to about 1100 king, as is generally held, or was it the result of a consortiumof Frisian merchants? Finally, the volume is completed by short reportson the few human remains, wooden objects and day daub. Given the absenceof any definable buildings from the excavation, the presence of daubfrom houses is important evidence for permanent timber structures. The finds catalogues will provide important sources of comparisonfor all early medieval finds specialists, although several of thereports were submitted in the 1990s, and have not been updated since.This raises some interesting questions on how we publish urbanarchaeology Urban archaeology is a sub discipline of archaeology specialising in the material past of towns and cities where long-term human habitation has often left a rich record of the past.Humans produce waste. Large concentrations of humans produce large concentrations of waste. , particularly when interim statements have already enteredthe secondary literature. Although a fascicule approach has its ownproblems, it is unfortunate that authors--and readers--have had to waitup to fifteen years from completion of their research before theseprimary data can be accessed. For Viking scholars, however, it is probably the introduction byBencard that holds most interest. In discussing the historiography historiographyWriting of history, especially that based on the critical examination of sources and the synthesis of chosen particulars from those sources into a narrative that will stand the test of critical methods. ofRibe, Bencard does not hide his frustration that Danish writers havelargely ignored Ribe Volume 4 (published 1990), preferring instead tocite Jensen's 1991 popular volume; his harshest words are reservedfor Jensen himself who, in a 1998 report 'found room for all hisown publications until 1991, but not even a reference to the volumes ofRibe Excavations 197076' (p. 8). For the student of archaeologicalpolitics this is an extraordinary case of 'battle by excavationreport', although it is a charge to which--since his tragic deathin 1998--Stig Jensen is unable to respond. Nonetheless, after a detailedand valuable concordance between Jensen's phasing of the PostOffice site, and his own phasing of the 1970-6 excavations, Bencard isable to conclude that he is in agreement with Feveile and Jensen'sfinal dating. Each site goes through an identical build-up of layers,demonstrating that there was a similar sequence across the town. Theearliest horizon on both sites is a layer of blown or drifting sand, nolonger seen as deliberately deposited as once believed. The first ditchsystems and workshops are then established in the period 704-722,securing an essential place for Ribe in the history of European medievalurbanism. JULIAN D. RICHARDS Department of Archaeology, University of York This article is about the British university. For the Canadian university, see York University. The University of York is a campus university in York, England. , UK