This is an impressive volume by an author who over the last twenty years has made the field of Viking gold and silver in Scotland his own. Its main part consists of a comprehensive and fully illustrated catalogue of thirty-four hoards and twenty-five single finds. It is attractively produced and illustrated with very few noticeable errors. Pictish hoards are omitted (pp. 3-4) and there is very little native material in this corpus. Pictish silver presumably fell into Viking hands but it was not deposited in Viking hoards in Scotland of the period c. 850-950 (Chapter III), possibly because of its relatively low silver content (p. 26), even although Pictish brooches have been found in Scandinavia and an interlace strip and comb fragment from the 10th century hoard from Cuerdale, Lancashire, are probably Pictish (p. 26 for further references to these). Two silver Pictish finds from the Brough of Birsay are included as single finds, a pin head [S21] and the terminal of a penannular brooch [S22], as these come from Norse contexts (pp. 162-63). 1 am not entirely convinced by the argument that Pictish silver is absent from these hoards because of its low precious metal content. Perhaps the Vikings were less successful at raiding than is generally thought, or the Picts were particularly skilled at hiding things, and relations between the two groups may not have been so uniformly hostile as they are normally portrayed. The Norse material previously erroneously associated with the Pictish hoards at the Broch of Burgar [115] (p. 103) and Norrie's Law [S8] (p. 157) is also included. Finds of coins are also listed, though in less detail. some of these are of Pictish interest such as an Alfredian example [c. AD 871-75] from Burghead (p. 86).

While there is little in this volume directly to do with the Picts it is important for comparison with Pictish material. For this Chapter VI which deals with 'Contents and Contexts' is the most useful part (pp. 57-62). The hoards contain a fairly restricted range of material -- mainly neck/arm/finger rings, brooches, pins and ring-money (p. 57). Even though we possess far less Pictish material it includes a much wider range of material including leaf-shaped plaques, sword pommels and chapes, combs and bowls. Additionally, while there are a few pieces of exceptional quality in the Viking hoards, in general the Pictish material appears to be of far higher artistic quality. Viking hoards were buried in stone vessels, cloth bags, cattle horns and wooden vessels while prehistoric or natural mounds, peat bogs, churches and monastic sites seem to have been preferred locations for deposition (pp. 59-61). Pictish hoards were probably buried in similar containers and locations, for example the St Ninian's Isle hoard was found in a larchwood box under a medieval chapel. The section on why hoards were deposited (pp. 61-62) is rather tentative and unsatisfactory. While this is, of course, a difficult question, recent work on prehistoric hoarding has managed to advance much further than this. In particular, Richard Bradley's ideas concerning Late Bronze Age material, which he considers comparable to Viking hoards (1990, 14748 and 19~95), are not mentioned. Also omitted is Anna Ritchie's 1993 publication, Viking Scotland, which, while not intended to be highly academic, does raise a number of relevant ideas.

This book is primarily meant to be a catalogue so the relative lack of discussion on the implications of the material is understandable. These minor criticisms should not deflect from the fact that this is an important and definitive work which while rather expensive is nevertheless good value.

Craig Cessford.

REFERENCES

Bradley, Richard 1990 The Passage ofArms, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Ritchie, Anna 1993 Viking Scotland Batsford, London/ Historic Scotland, Edinburgh.