Series: Bonner Jahrb Beih

Fouteeen of the contributions to the second Conference for Medieval Castle Studies are printed here; some relating to churches and towns rather than castles. The British contributions are M W Thompson's account of the excavations at Farnham Castle (Surrey), re-emphasising the importance of buried foundations for towers in mottes, and B K Davison's brief account of excavations at the Tower of London, Castle Neroche and Sulgrave. The articles dealing with early earthwork castles on the Continent, by Herrnbrodt, Piepers and Stiesdal, illustrate the complexity of structure lying behind the simple outward form of these monuments (and provide help for workers in Britain, where only one motte has been properly excavated). Prof de Bouard's survey of the etymology and usage of the term motte reveals that until the later 11th cent the word denoted a channelled watercourse, and this demonstrates the difficulty of finding adequately dated examples of this type of castle before mid-11th cent (see also 68/270). BKD

The first synthesis of Latin terms for the forms of vessels used in the Roman Empire. Definite identifications with surviving vessels are possible for only a few of the terms given in Classical writings -both epigraphic and literary. The work is divided into parts: 1) an assessment of the written sources, and of loan-words (which are nearly all from Greek); 2) a discussion of the various functions of the vessels (eg table and cooking-wares); 3) discussion of the Latin terms for forms, materials, techniques, and decoration of the vessels; 4) detailed observations (with drawings) on the 40 identifiable vessel-types; and 5) a catalogue of the 382 names of types of vessels known in Latin documents. The entries summarise the information given in these sources on the function, form, sizes, materials, and decoration of each type of vessel, with precise references. Five plates provide sketches of those vessels whose Latin names can be identified. MGS. A review, with detailed comments, of Hilgers work by W Binsfeld appears in Trierer Z, 33, 1970, 186-8.