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The Creation of National Spaces in a Pluricultural Region

any evidence of their political supremacy over the eastern Baltic lands. Latvian archaeological material also could contribute to the analyses of oval brooches discussed by Jesch as signs of gender (94–97). In Latvia, up to 200 brooches are known that are usually found in female burial context as a part of the pectoral chain-ornament, and are dated mostly from the tenth century to the late-thirteenth century. The first specimens are of Scandinavian origin and appear as early as the turn of the eighth century, but they are very rare until mid-tenth century. Thereafter, oval brooches with attached chains and pendants became typical jewelry of the local Livs, whose origins are considered Finnic, but whose material culture displays influential input also from the Balts and the Scandinavians. On the territory of the Livs, this originally Scandinavian jewelry was easily adopted and became widely produced by local craftsmen, who gradually also modified its decorations, but maintained its shape. Thus, still bearing explicit connections with females, oval brooches from being an imported cultural item were transformed into an ethnocultural symbol of another culture. Of course, one can point out some other regions, topics, or sources that would deserve to be studied within the Viking diaspora framework. But even without, for example, an analysis of Scandinavians in Normandy or Kievan Rus’, the Viking structures of power, their legal texts, or art works, the book is fascinating in its breadth and intensity. The Viking Diaspora is not easy reading: it is quite a demanding book and requires at least some preliminary knowledge of Viking topics. But in reading it we are rewarded with an original, thoughtful, and wellwritten study of this turbulent age that influenced people, environment, and cultures across northern Europe.