Europe Between the Oceans: Themes and Variations: 9000 BC - AD 1000. Barry Cunliffe.

Europe Between the Oceans: Themes and Variations: 9000 BC - AD WOO. Barry Cunliffe. Yale University Pess. [pounds sterling]30.00. ix - 518 pages. ISBN 978-0-300-11923-7. As Sir Barry points out in his introduction, the blossoming of European civilisation and her domination of world history from ca. AD 1000 to the present is well known. Far less understood is the period before that, from "its recolonization following the Last Glacial Maximum around 10,000 BC to AD 1000 and it is this period which he describes here. Using his long experience as an archaeologist, teacher and writer he sets out to show the importance geography -mountain ranges, weather, winds, coastlines and soils - played in laying the foundation for the phenomenal growth that was European life in this period. The book began as a series of lectures which Prof. Cunliffe gave in 2002 which were concerned with the effect of the sea on Europe. In this remarkable volume he has expanded those lectures to give us a general yet learned survey that stimulates a reader's interest and challenges him lo read more. The text is greatly helped by the large number of high quality illustrations. (D.T.D.)