Cat Jarman - River Kings (2nd Hand Paperback)

Synopsis

Subtitled : The Vikings From Scandinavia to The Silk Roads.

A Sunday Times Bestseller & The Times History Book of The Year 2021.

Follow bioarchaeologist Cat Jarman - and the cutting-edge forensic techniques central to her research - as she uncovers epic stories of the Viking age and follows a small 'Carnelian' bead found in a Viking grave in Derbyshire to its origins thousands of miles to the east in Gujarat.

Dr Cat Jarman is a bioarchaeologist, specialising in forensic techniques to research the paths of Vikings who came to rest in British soil. By examining teeth that are now over one thousand years old, she can determine childhood diet, and thereby where a person was likely born. With radiocarbon dating, she can ascertain a death date down to the range of a few years. And her research offers new visions of the likely roles of women and children in Viking culture.

In 2017, a carnelian bead came into her temporary possession. River Kings sees her trace its path back to eighth-century Baghdad and India, discovering along the way that the Vikings' route was far more varied than we might think, that with them came people from the Middle East, not just Scandinavia, and that the reason for this unexpected integration between the Eastern and Western worlds may well have been a slave trade running through the Silk Road, and all the way to Britain.

Told as a riveting story of the Vikings and the methods we use to understand them, this is a major reassessment of the fierce, often-mythologised voyagers of the north, and of the global medieval world as we know it.

Details

• Format : Thick 2nd Hand Paperback
• Condition : Very Good
• Category : Non-Fiction - Europe
• Published : 2021 (William Collins Books)
• ISBN : 9780008353117
• SKU : B002669
• PPC : SP400gm
• RRP : £9.99
• Quantity Available : 1 only.

External Reviews

"A riveting piece of historical detective work, River Kings tracks bioarchaeologist Jarman’s investigation of a Viking ‘Carnelian’ bead from twenty-first century England to eighth-century Baghdad, proving that the Norse warriors travelled much further than originally thought." - Waterstones.

'A masterly history . . . River Kings is a mystery and an adventure, the tale of a quest that took Jarman from Repton to Scandinavia, across the Baltic Sea, over to Baghdad and finally to India. I was held captive. In addition to being a wonderful writer, Jarman is a skilled bioarchaeologist . . . River Kings is like a classical symphony, perfectly composed and exquisitely performed. Tiny trills of detail give way to pounding drums of drama' - Gerard deGroot, The Times.

'Cat Jarman will transform the way you think about the Vikings' - Dan Snow.

'A bead was discovered in a Viking warrior's grave, and that discovery led Cat Jarman on an amazing journey which is described in this extraordinary story. That bead, in Cat Jarman's hands, taught me more about the Vikings than a score of history books. River Kings is an astonishing and compelling triumph!' - Bernard Cornwell.

' . . . a brilliantly, beautifully told story' - Alice Roberts.

The Author

Dr Cat Jarman is a bioarchaeologist and field archaeologist specialising in the Viking Age, Viking women, and Rapa Nui. She uses forensic techniques like isotope analysis, carbon dating, and DNA analysis on human remains to untangle the experiences of past people from broader historical narratives.