Caithness: A cultural crossroads

Edinburgh, Scotland: Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 1982. Paperback. Very Good-/None. Our photos depict actual book for sale. B&W pictorial softcover with wear and toning at edges. Interior is unmarked. 8vo. Ships from our family-owned, independent bookstore in the US. BOOK INFO: Papers originally presented at the conference of the Scottish Society for Northern Studies held at Thurso in April 1979. '...Caithness has indeed been a cultural crossroads, not once but many times. As Donald Omand has shown in his analysis of its geographical form and landscape this ahs been in great part through its location at the extreme north-eastern tip of Britain and its attraction as an area for settlement, low-lying and relatively fertile beyond the forbidding rocks and moors of the northern highlands. The early significance of Caithness is attested by the great burial cairns of the late Stone Age and the standing stones of the Bronze Age, while its numerous Iron Age defensive structures -- including well over a hundred brochs -- are indicative of the conflicts for its control in this period. But the emphasis of the conference was on historic rather than pre-historic times. That four of the papers should deal with the Viking and post-Viking age, from the eighth to the theirteenth centuries is understandable, for it was beyond doubt the most crucial phase in the historical evolution of the area. And although in the outcome the Norse settlements were drawn into the political structure of the Scottish kingdom, Caithness has remained different from all other mainland territories through its retention of strong Scandinavian characteristics in its population and way of life. The papers concerned with this problem not only illustrate particularly interesting aspects of its character. They also demonstrate the use of contrasting forms of evidence in the elucidation of historical developments.' (~from the Introduction by Ronald G. Cant)