E B Rennie's The Recessed Platforms of Argyll, Bute and Inverness (BAR British Series 253, 0xford, 1997) was reviewed by Bob Diamond in PAS Journal 11 (Summer 1997). The author has now published a shorter work on the same subject to complement the more exhaustive and academic BAR volume, omitting its extensive lists of platform sites, and designed to serve as an introduction to this class of monument for the general reader.

The pocket-sized booklet, illustrated with numerous black and while photographs and distribution maps, summarises the main points in all known aspects of 'recessed plaltform studies', the field that Elizabeth Rennie has made uniquely her own in Scottish archaeology: size, distribution, differences with the more ancient unenclosed platform sites of the Borders, excavation evidence, date, possible historical background and so on. To the Pictish enthusiast, the latter would perhaps be the most interesting aspect: Rennie postulates that the platforms, which often appear to occur in concealed and remote locations, may often have been refuges fo 'natives' fleeing the encroaching Scots in the early centuries AD, and/or later refuges for the Scots, now the 'natives' - of the kingdom of Dal Riata - themselves, seeking safe havens from the Viking assaults.

The excavation evidence, presented in summary form, gives irrefutable proof that these platforms were the stances for wooden round houses, and not charcoal-burning platforms of the eighteenth century or later as was formerly assumed (although sometimes re-used as such), and Rennie's work as a whole gives ample demonstration of the valuable work that can still be done by the amateur in Scottish archaeology: in this case bringing to the attention of the archaeological community a hitherto almost wholly neglected class of site, quite likely the places where a large percentage of the 'ordinary' people of DaI Riata lived.

Niall M Robertson

Who Built the Platforms can be obtained directly from Elizabeth B Rennie at: Upper Netherby, Kirn, Dunoon, Argyll PA23 8DT for £3.50 (incl. p&p), or from 'BOOKPOlNT', Argyll St, Dunoon, or the Kilmartin Museum, Kilmartin, by Lochgilphead.