Some Books of the Week
THE great need of archaeology at the moment is rationaliza- tion. Many scholars in many countries are digging up the past or theorising about the objects found, and each has more or less been a law unto himself so that confusion prevails. There should be a warm welcome for Professor Gordon Cltilde's compact little study of The Bronze Age (Cambridge 'University Press, 8s. 6d.), because, like Mr. Burkitt's simnibe volume on the earlier ages, it seeks to bring order out of chaos and relate the results attained in different regions and under different names to one another. Professor Childe summarizes a vast amount of scattered material in his chapters on metallurgy and trade and on the types of pottery, weapons and utensils of the Bronze Age, and his tentative survey of the early, middle and late periods in Europe is admirably clear. Ile emphasizes the fact that Europe was. then as far behind Western Asia and Egypt as Darkest Africa or the llialay jungle is behind us to-slay in civilization. The book, with its many really useful illustrations, is the best intro- duction so far available to a fascinating and important study.
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