Up to a century ago there still stood on the farm Li in Bstre Gausdal, near Lifossen, Gausa, a stone bearing this runic inscription from the days of Olaf the Holy : ‘Eiliv Elg carried fish in Rausjøen’.

In ancient times, as in our own, to carry fish meant to transfer fry in the lakes and waters—to stock as ova and allow to spawn, All fish in our mountain tarns has been carried up by folk in this manner; the Gausdal inscription has commemorized this remarkable and, technically, very difficult chapter in the conquest and cultivation of the country. Eilif is merely one of a thousand and he had this inscription incised not as any memorial, nor in self-glorification, but to proclaim juridically that now the fishing rights of Rausjøen were his.

The silver plate in the Sutton Hoo treasure is not as uniform in technique and style as the gold ornaments. While the latter can be claimed as the work of a special ‘Sutton Hoo School ’ the silver is a haphazard collection of pieces differing in date and origin, and can only be discussed by taking each item separately.

On the northwest frontier of the Roman Empire, the upland country of northern England always belonged to the military zone. Even today, anyone traversing the wild fells of Pennine or Cheviot, which form its backbone, can soon appreciate why this should be: and understanding becomes complete when imagination has pierced the dark vista of medieval forest and outlaws’ haunts and apprehended a state of affairs when the bounds between man and nature were still more loosely defined. No Anglian settler had yet begun to clear the overgrown dales for farm, hamlet and township. Man was eking out an unenviable existence between forest and fell, selecting where he could the limestone shelves whose natural drainage afforded him good pasturage and meagre tillage. Two closely related factors thus determined the political character of the country. Forest and fell not only gave cover to enemies and outlaws but at the same time prevented the growth of flourishing agricultural communities, such as were capable of developing social instincts receptive of civilization. The result was chronic unrest and potential hostility to civil government.

When it was known that 40 gold coins had been found in the purse at Sutton Hoo, great hopes were entertained that they would enable the date of the burial to be fixed accurately. Those hopes have not yet, however, been realized. Under existing conditions little progress is likely to be made; but we may look forward to the day when they are again available for study, and when numismatists themselves are free to consider the problems presented.

To understand the beginnings of civilization in the Far East, we must view them in the light of the laws that govern cultural progress everywhere. Especially must we consider the region’s geographical position and relationship to other lands. As a glance at a map, or better still a terrestrial globe, will show, it occupies a marginal portion of the Eurasiatic continent taken as a whole. That this fact carries with it certain implications, the study of culture-building in general abundantly shows.

He various publications here reviewed consist of works which are united by their subject-matter but they differ widely from each other in character and scope. The work of Mr Kilbride-Jones1 is a monograph strictly confined to certain objects found in a certain part of Europe; that of Mr Hallstrom, on the other hand, consists of what may be called a comprehensive monograph—that is to say, it brings together and relates several straightforward descriptions of a sin le subject (rock-art), but covers many different parts of a large archaeological region. Messrs Kühn and Adama van Scheltema have touched upon a vast subject—prehistoric and protohistoric art in Germany—so that their productions assume the form of text-books.

The Roman villa at Lockleys, Welwyn (the excavation of which was described in Antiquaries Journal, 1938, XVIII, 339–76), happened to provide more evidence than is usual of the character of the superstructures which once stood upon the surviving foundations. It has therefore seemed worth while to attempt a restorcation-drawing of the house as it appeared in Roman times. The drawing, which is reproduced in the accompanying plate, is the work of Mr H. C. Lander, who has based it upon the results of the excavation, supplemented where necessary by analogies from other sites. It obviously cannot hope to claim complete accuracy of detail, but probably it does give a not wholly untrustworthy picture of a small middle-class native farmer’s house in the late second or early third century A.D.

The removal of the chief finds from the Sutton Hoo ship was an exciting and exacting task extending over more than a week. My own participation began when the gold purse and its trappings—as well as some other objects, such as the whetstone—had been found. The dominant feature in my first view of the ship was a great three-foot purple-grey disk: the silver dish (PLATE XVIII), beneath which the lip of at least one other vessel was promise of more treasure to come. Other things there were already exposed—especially the two bronze bowls at the southwest corner of the burial deposit. But the urgent interest was centred on the dish and on the problem of whether it could be lifted entire, or whether steps should be taken by means of drawings and photographs to record its complete character before the hazardous work of lifting it began.

I WAS unfortunately not able to be present at the inquest held on 14 August, but I understand that no satisfactory evidence of identity was offered. Indeed the prevalent view now seems to be that the tomb never contained a body—that it was constructed as a cenotaph.

For cenotaphs in the Anglo-Saxon period I do not know of any good evidence. But we can hardly say with certainty that any of the cemeteries previously known were royal—apart from St. Augustine’s, Canterbury. It is not impossible therefore that a cenotaph may have been constructed for a king who lost his life at sea or on some distant expedition, from which his body could not be brought home.