Cinnamon and Elephants: Sri Lanka and the Netherlands from 1600

Abstract

aspect, then, this is also a study of maritime ethnography that has many comparisons to similar studies composed by Rieth’s nearcontemporary, Professor Seán McGrail. The book provides a French–English glossary of technical terminology that might be of assistance to readers, although it would benefit from being larger. Its main body consists of nine chapters, along with an introduction and conclusion, and these chapters are roughly divided into two sections. The first three chapters outline the theory and methods used for understanding wreckages. Each chapter thereafter considers shipbuilding within a certain geographical area, beginning with Scandinavia then moving across northern Europe and finishing with the Mediterranean. In doing so, it also traces the development of archaeo logical advancements from clinker to carvel technology. Nevertheless, this book avoids becoming a simple discourse on the design of ship architecture recovered from wrecks, and instead considers medieval architecture in relation to its geohistorical context. With this in mind, Rieth’s latest work has much to admire and will be of some interest to maritime historians in their own disciplines, as well as students of maritime archaeology in general. This study is perhaps no substitute for McGrail’s comprehensive contributions to the subject, although it does not intentionally aim to be, for it does focus on a more concentrated period. It is nevertheless a commendable revisionary study that offers a good insight into maritime archaeology and should be of interest to both the general reader and student. BenJAmin W. d. redding university of WArWick http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00253359.2017.1312154 © The Society for Nautical Research