UNIQUE PRE‐ROMANESQUE MURALS IN KOSTOĽANY POD TRÍBEČOM,SLOVAKIA: THE PAINTING TECHNIQUE AND CAUSES OF DAMAGE

Pre‐Romanesque murals at Kosto?any pod Tríbe?om, Slovakia, have been investigated by portable X‐ray fluorescence and by microanalytical methods to identify painting materials (pigments and binders), and to explain the degradation of colours. Today, missing green and blue shades have been reconstructed according to residual concentrations of Cu, which correspond to copper chlorides—products of salt corrosion of the copper carbonates azurite and/or malachite, accelerated by micro‐organisms. As confirmed by powder X‐ray microdiffraction, original minium (Pb₃O₄) has been transformed to brown–black plattnerite (PbO₂). In increased humidity, even insoluble pigments are washing down from the walls and the intensity of colours further diminishes.     

WHITE,VEINED MARBLE FROM ROMAN AMMAIA (PORTUGAL): PROVENANCE AND USE

A multimethod approach using petrography and strontium (Sr) isotopic analysis was applied to determine the geological source of 17 marble artefacts from the Roman town of Ammaia (Portugal). All samples are calcitic, with dolomite, quartz and muscovite as accessory minerals. The marbles are characteristically medium‐grained with a maximum grain size (MGS) between 0.98 mm and 1.82 mm, have a heteroblastic texture, and have curved to embayed calcite grain boundaries. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values of marble leachates range from 0.708488 to 0.708639. Comparison with Hispanic and Mediterranean marbles suggests the Estremoz Anticline as the most likely source for the Ammaia marble, especially for architectural marble. This hypothesis is supported by the geographical proximity of the Estremoz marble district and the long and expensive overland transport required for other marbles to reach Ammaia.     

Books received

FOLKLORE STUDIES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: PROCEEDINGS OF THE CENTENARY CONFERENCE OF THE FOLKLORE SOCIETY. Ed. VENETIA J. NEWALL. D. S. Brewer, 1980. Pp. 463, ill. £35.00. Reviewed by Jacqueline Simpson.

NINE LIVES: CATS IN FOLKLORE. By KATHARINE M. BRIGGS. Routledge and Kegan Paul. London and Henley, 1980. Pp. 222. ill. £7.95. Alicia C. Percival.

THE FOLKLORE OF STAFFORDSHIRE. By JON RAVEN. Batsford, London. 1978. Pp. 222. £4.95. Reviewed by Derek Froome.

A GUIDEBOOK TO ARTHURIAN BRITAIN. By GEOFFREY ASHE. Longman, 1980. £7.50. Reviewed by Richard Barber.

ÖSTERREICHS MÄRCHENSCHATZ by KARL HAIDING. Vienna 1980 (Kremayr &; Scheriau) 448 pp. ill. Reviewed by Ruth Michaelis-Jena.

PRIMITIVE RELIGION AND HEALING: A STUDY OF FOLK-MEDICINE IN NORTH EAST BRAZIL. By PAUL V. A. WILLIAMS. Brewer. Cambridge 1979. 212 pp. £12.00. Reviewed by Douglas Gifford.

ITALIAN FOLKTALES. Selected and retold by ITALO CALVINO. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. New York and London, 1980. Pp. 763. Reviewed by Neil Philip.

TOCHER: TALES, SONGS, TRADITIONS 33. School of Scottish Studies, Edinburgh, 1979. Pp. 71 £0.50. Reviewed by Neil Philip.

DER UNBEKANNTE BRUDER GRIMM. Edited by GERD HOFFMANN &; HEINZ RÖLLEKE. Düsseldorf (Verlag Eugen Diederichs) 1979. Pp. 144. 2 plates and 3 facsimiles. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.

DAS ALTE VOLKSSCHAUSPIEL DES BURGENLANDES. By LEOPOLD SCHMIDT. Theatergeschichte Österreichs vol. viii. Burgenland 1. Vienna (Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften) 1980. Pp. 358. 6 maps, 15 plates (1 coloured). ZUNFTZEICHEN; ZEUGNISSE ALTER HANDWERKSKUNST. Salzburg (Residenz Verlag) 1973. Pp. 160, 54 plates (48coloured). Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.     

A. L. Lloyd and Reynardine: authenticity and authorship in the afterlife of a British broadside ballad

This paper presents new evidence concerning the broadside ballad “Reynardine,” which became popular in the British folksong revival movement of the 1960s and 1970s. It argues that the revival versions of this ballad were not products of the folk tradition, but rather descendants of a text authored by A. L. Lloyd, who was both a singer and a folksong scholar. The paper goes on to suggest reasons why Lloyd might have authored the ballad, and reasons why he might have concealed that authorship, placing its evidence and observations in the context of folkloristic concerns about authenticity and authorship, folklore and fakelore.     

The Mythology of the Kalevala,with Notes on Bear-Worship Among the Finns.

MAKING A CURE. By PATRICK LOGAN. The Talbot Press. £2.50. Pp. 178. Illustrations. Reviewed by Eric Trimmer.

FOLKLORE AND DIALECT OF THE LOWER WYE VALLEY. By IVOR WATERS. The Chepstow Society, Chepstow, 1973. Pp. 39. 50p. Reviewed by Jacqueline Simpson.

NEW ZEALAND FOLKSONGS. Neil Colquhoun (Ed.) Bailey Brothers and Swinten. £1.35. Paperbound. Reviewed by Robin Maconie.

VOLKSKUNDE VON NIEDERÖSTERREICH. By LEOPOLD SCHMIDT. Vol. ii. Horn (Verlag Ferdinand Berger) 1972. Pp. 726,68 plates, 4 maps. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.