Posts tagged non-fiction books about Scotland
Book Review of The Real Valkyrie by Nancy Marie Brown

In the 1800s, a Viking burial site was unearthed in Birka, Sweden. The burial included a Viking ship, weaponry, game pieces, horses and riding accessories, and other tools. The grave was documented as that of a Viking warrior, as evidenced by the contents of the burial. As Brown shares in her book, most “sexing” (that is, determination of whether a skeleton is male or female) throughout the history of archaeology has been sexing by metal. That is to say, where weapons are found, it is deemed to be a male, where jewelry is found, female. There are a number of reasons why the field of archaeology has used this approach even as DNA testing has emerged, and Brown provides an interesting overview of this process.

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Scotland: Read Before You Go {Non-Fiction}

Scotland is a country with a long, sordid history. Perhaps its struggles match the dueling nature of its own environment: grandeur and beauty mixed with its hard-scrabble northern world. There were two non-fiction books I read before traveling to Scotland for our 10-day road trip that set the backdrop and provided context that made our trip more meaningful. Neither are quick reads, but both are truly worthwhile reads for those wanting to better understand this country that has long labored to define itself.

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