Continental and Mediterranean Imports to Atlantic Britain and Ireland AD 400-800

Campbell presents a cumulative list of pottery and glass imports into Britain and Ireland during the transition from the late Roman/late Iron Age period to the emerging kingdoms of the Middle Ages. For nearly a thousand artifacts from nearly 150 sites, he discusses the provenance, typology, dating and distribution, and their functions in society. He identifies two waves--from the eastern Mediterranean and northern Africa in the late fifth to middle sixth centuries, and from western France in the later sixth and seventh. The first was associated with Byzantium, and the second probably with Merovingian elites; neither seems to have been purely commercial operations, though both persisted over many decades. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)