David Freke. Excavations on St Patrick's Isle, Peel, Isle of Man, 1982-88: prehistoric, Viking, Medieval and later.

David Freke. Excavations on St Patrick's Isle, Peel, Isle of Man, 1982-88: prehistoric, Viking, Medieval and later. xv+463 pages, 117 figures, 51 plates, tables. 2002. Liverpool:Liverpool University Press; 0-85323-336-5 hardback 99.95 [poundssterling]. Peel is the principal town on the west coast of the Isle of Man Noun 1. Isle of Man - one of the British Isles in the Irish SeaManBritish Isles - Great Britain and Ireland and adjacent islands in the north Atlantic . Atits harbour mouth is a steep-sided rocky islet islet/is��let/ (-lit) an island.islets of Langerhans? irregular microscopic structures scattered throughout the pancreas and comprising its endocrine portion. known as StPatrick's Isle St Patrick's Isle (Manx: Ellan Noo Perick) is a small island off the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, largely occupied by Peel Castle and noted for its attractive and relatively well preserved historic castle ruins. which, in recent centuries, has been attached to themainland by a causeway. It is enclosed by the defences of Peel Castle For the fortifications located in Northern England and the Scottish Borders, see Peel tower Peel Castle is a castle in Peel, Isle of Man originally constructed by Vikings. The castle stands on St Patrick's Isle which is connected to the town by causeway. ,within which is the roofless shell of the medieval St German'scathedral and its ancillary buildings. West of the cathedral stands anintriguing sandstone round tower of probable Early Christian Irish type. The excavations took place in 1982-8. Although originally intendedto be more limited, the encouraging discoveries of the 1982 season,including a Hiberno-Norse coin hoard, led to the establishment of awide-ranging programme of investigation. Their long-awaited publicationin this monograph is a tribute to editorial tenacity in the face ofdrawn-out delays (the reasons for which are explained on p. xv). Itcomprises site and project histories, with skeletal, artefactual adj. 1. of or pertaining to an artefact.2. made by human actions.Adj. 1. artefactual - of or relating to artifactsartifactual andenvironmental reports and analyses. These are accompanied by discussionsof the development of St Patrick's Isle from prehistoricsettlement, through probable Early Christian monastery and Vikingstronghold, to Medieval and Post-medieval castle and cathedral. Variousplans and sections are included, although more detailed explanations ofthe contexts depicted will have to wait until the site archive isavailable. The excavations were concentrated largely on the eastern side of StPatrick's Isle, amongst roofless stone buildings in the cathedralcomplex. Other areas had previously been subjected to piecemealexcavation, and this project provided an opportunity for a comprehensivereappraisal. As work began, the complexity of past alterations to theground surface became apparent. One slight disappointment here is thelack of a detailed topographical survey plan of the castle interior--avery general (and rather small) contour plan is included but there issurely a greater wealth of fine surface detail still waiting to berecorded. North of the cathedral, a large multi-period accumulation ofburials, the earliest of which were Early Christian in date, overlay agroup of Iron Age round houses which seem to have gone out of use in thefourth century AD. Beneath these were less coherent hints of Mesolithicto Bronze Age Bronze Age,period in the development of technology when metals were first used regularly in the manufacture of tools and weapons. Pure copper and bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, were used indiscriminately at first; this early period is sometimes called the activity in the form of individual finds and cut features. It was the discovery of a group of seven furnished graves dating tothe Viking period which most captured public imagination during theexcavation. Two of these included Anglo-Saxon coins of the mid-tenthcentury, which suggests that 'pagan' burial customs lasteduntil surprisingly late, and given their location in an existingcemetery, may have coexisted with Christian rites. A stone lintel gravecontaining a female skeleton, with (amongst other objects) a necklace of71 glass, amber and jet beads, became known as the 'PaganLady' grave (despite the fact that lintel graves are a common EarlyChristian type). The grave objects are written up as a group by JamesGraham-Campbell and the beads were analysed by Julian Henderson.Graham-Campbell was able to show the strong links with the Norse tradingsettlements around the Irish Sea, and his discussion adds to emergingindications of a distinctive 'Irish Sea' theme intenth-century insular Viking metalwork. The Viking-age graves were a key to phasing the multi-periodcemetery, distinguishing a group of pre-Norse burials from the overlying overlyingsuffocation of piglets by the sow. The piglets may be weak from illness or malnutrition, the sow may be clumsy or ill, the pen may be inadequate in size or poorly designed so that piglets cannot escape. mass of less-easily datable Medieval graves. A 'keill' orrectangular stone chapel together with a domestic building and defencesdating to the later Norse period were also discovered below thecathedral buildings. There are detailed studies of the Medieval masonryand contemporary artefacts, including a substantial chapter on thepottery by Peter Davey. Given the editorial difficulties encountered in collating thisreport, it seems churlish churl��ish?adj.1. Of, like, or befitting a churl; boorish or vulgar.2. Having a bad disposition; surly: "as valiant as the lion, churlish as the bear"Shakespeare. to point out its shortcomings. However, it islet down by the indifferent quality of the black & white plates, andthe lack of colour photographs (apart from the cover) is a particularshame given the vibrancy of the 'Pagan Lady' necklace. Onewould have thought that the back cover at least would have provided aneasy opportunity to display it in its colourful glory, but instead weare left with a disappointing monochrome image on p. 70. The stylisticoddity of placing the title box of each chapter above the right-handcolumn of the starring page (therefore some way into the text) isslightly confusing to the eye at first reading. The lack of a summary,coupled with the absence of an index, makes it a laborious prospect forthe uninitiated. But putting these quibbles aside, this report is a verywelcome and important contribution to Irish Sea archaeology, and itscompletion is a laudable achievement. DAVID GRIFFITHS Rewley House, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2JA, UK (Email: david David, in the BibleDavid,d. c.970 B.C., king of ancient Israel (c.1010–970 B.C.), successor of Saul. The Book of First Samuel introduces him as the youngest of eight sons who is anointed king by Samuel to replace Saul, who had been deemed a failure. .griffiths@archaeology.oxford.ac.uk)