Free e-book!

Aarhus University Press has another free e-book of the month that might be of interest for you: Things from the Town. Artefacts and Inhabitants in Viking-Age Kaupang.

It's a thick volume with its 485 pages, listing many different items. The official description for the book is this:

In this third volume deriving from the excavations of the Viking town of Kaupang of 2000-2003, a range of artefacts is presented along with a discussion of the town's inhabitants: their origins, activities and trading connexions. The main categories of artefact are metal jewellery and ornaments, gemstones, vessel glass, pottery, finds of soapstone, whetstones and textile-production equipment. The artefacts are described and dated, and their areas of origin discussed. The volume is lavishly illustrated.

There's a chapter about textile equipment which is mostly focused on spindle whorls, but it is not one of the most lavishly illustrated ones - and in fact, while the book does contain quite a few photos and drawings, they are not of very good quality, but rather strongly pixellated. Which is a pity, as the objects are really interesting.

I don't want to really complain though - it is still a free e-book with lots of information about finds from Kaupang, and having some more data about spindle whorls is never a bad thing!