[Regia-NA] In need of book reviews

[Nicholson, Andrew]

Hi Wil,

I've got Dickinson and Harke. Its a very useful coverage of =
archaeological
material, focussed on Early Saxon shields, mostly recovered from pagan
graves. Generally a very sound book, and well worth a look at.=20

Can't comment on the other as I've not seen it.

As for shield bosses from Ireland, I suspect that one of the attributes
which they consider as markedly different is the angled flange - a =
feature
also noted on bosses recovered from Norse graves in Man and the =
Hebrides.
Note the careful phraseology - it would be unwise to refer to them as =
Viking
shields, since there are often other artefacts of a non-Norse origin =
within
the grave-goods of these burials. Anyway, these sharply angled flanges =
are
also seen on some Early Saxon shields, and discussed in Dickinson and =
Harke.


One possibility is that they were placed on flat shield-boards, and =
that the
angling enabled the rim of the boss to 'bite' into the shield, and at =
the
same time kept the rivets under tension [or is that torsion - I'm an
archaeologist not an engineer) - both factors contributing to keeping =
the
boss securely located on the shield. On the other hand, they could be
designed to fit on a domed shield.

That's the most obvious difference that springs to mind. Some of the =
bosses
are of a slightly smaller diameter than is usual elsewhere, but since =
I'm
not aware of a book doing comparative analyses of medieval European =
shield
bosses, it would be hard to quantify. Where did you come across the
suggestion that the bosses were noticeably different?

cheers

Gu=F0rum