Welsh Journals

towards both countries, the proscription of Gaelic bards as prophets and inciters to disorder, the effects of political union on the Scots language, the impact of industry on religion and politics, and the particularly thoughtful postscript for contemporary Scottish nationalism. What they are also likely to wish for is that an author might be found to do for Wales what Mrs. Mitchison has so splendidly done for Scotland. GLANMOR WILLIAMS Swansea THE IRISH SEA PROVINCE IN ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY. Edited by D. Moore. Cambrian Archaeological Association, 1970. Pp. 125, plates 16, figs. 25. £ 0.90. Anyone re-reading British archaeological literature of the 1930s and earlier must be impressed by how much of it accepts, as an axiom not requiring discussion, that all influences reaching this country must have arrived from the nearer shores of Europe. The first suggestion that the sea might be a link and not a barrier was made by O. G. S. Crawford in 1912, but the idea took another generation to gain wide acceptance. When it did, the result was a transformation in the approach to the archaeology of the west. According to the older view, the Irish Sea was a barrier separating two regions both doomed to backwardness by the inescapable facts of geography. Using the newer approach, maps embellished with indications of sea routes made it appear not merely the major place of access for influences from Atlantic Europe and the western Mediterranean, but as almost dangerously congested with traffic between its opposite shores. Most of those who have contributed to this change in outlook have been members of the Cambrian Archaeological Association, so it was appropriate that that body should arrange a conference on the 'Irish Sea Province'. The meeting was held at Aberystwyth in 1968, and was organized, very successfully, by Dr. Lawrence Butler. The publication of the eleven papers contributed has been edited by Dr. Donald Moore, to whom congratulations are due for the high quality of the result. The objective of the meeting was not to set a seal on the idea of an 'Irish Sea Province' as a complete explanation of all the problems in the archaeology of the region, but in the words of the Preface 'to test its validity in as many periods and disciplines as could be covered in the space of three days'. The invitations to speakers were well-balanced between the east and west shores of the 'Province', and the choice of subjects, though inevitably selective in view of the wide range to be covered, did in fact leave few serious gaps. The first contribution, by Professor E. G. Bowen, shows how the recognition of the importance of the seaways developing from Crawford's early paper has transformed the interpretation of the prehistory and early history of western Britain. He illustrates the new outlook with two